The design of this mosque resembles the design of the small Fatimid mosques, such as the Esna Mosque in Aswan and Al-Mashhad el-Bahari on the bank of the Nile.
The mosque was built on a small square area and has a small dome. The entrance to the mosque is on the west side. It is well known that some changes were made to the mosque in the Ayyubid era. The mosque was built in the northeast area of Luxor Temple. It probably dates back to the middle of the Fatimid era.
The entrance of the mosque has three arches, with heights of about 12 meters or 39 feet, covered with marble and faience. Probably this was one of the changes that was made in the Ayyubid age as manifested by the artistic style.
Inside the mosque, there is a niche of simple design that is free of ornaments. There is also a small grave in which Yousef Ibn Abdel-Raheem, known as Abu Al-Haggag, was buried. On the top of the mosque, there is also a row of balconies that were built with baked bricks as it was restored in AD 1914 by Khedive Abbas Helmy the Second.
The slim minaret is located at the top of the northeast side of Luxor temple. Its height is about 14.15 meters or 46.41 feet and it was constructed on the thresholds above the four granite pillars in the temple, which form an invisible base. The minaret's base is set on those thresholds.
The base was constructed from adobes, or sun-dried bricks, was made square-shaped, and had a height of 6.85 meters or 22.47 feet. The base has three belts made of wood, slightly sloping to the inside as it goes upwards. The base has three openings for lighting and an arched entrance in the eastern corner. Four small domed pillars are located on the top of the four corners of the square-shaped base. There is also a sloping cylindrical body on the top of that base with a diameter of 2.58 meters or 8.46 feet at the bottom and 1.80 meters or 5.90 feet at the top, with its height at 7.66 meters or 25.12 feet.
Krizol and Al-Hawary have attributed that minaret to the Fatimid Vizier Badr Al-Gamali, while some of the scientists and researchers have attributed it to the Abbasid era of the third century AH (ninth century AD). |