The Attarine Mosque in Alexandria

The Attarine Mosque was originally a church dedicated to Saint Athanasius in 370 AD. It was named so because of its location in the Attarine area in Alexandria. When Islam came to Egypt, the church was converted into a small mosque which eventually came to be known as the Mosque of a Thousand Columns. History has it that Badr El Gamaly, the General of the army, restored the mosque of Al Attarine in 1057 AD and it eventually became a congregational mosque for Friday prayers.

Features of The Attarine Mosque in Alexandria

The mosque was designed in a rectangular shape that looks triangular from outside with the minaret in the corner of the triangle in the southeastern part of the mosque.

The mosque actually has two facades. The first one is in the northeast portion of the mosque where the main entrance door is located.

The other entrance door of the mosque is located on the eastern side of the mosque and it leads to the mausoleum of the mosque.

The southern part of the mosque consists of eight commercial stores. The profit from these stores is used to pay for the expenses of the mosque.

The minarets of the mosque are believed to be one of the most beautiful in Egypt.

It consists of four levels. The first level of the minaret is square in shape. The second level is an octagon shape.

The third level is circular shaped and has stunning decorations all around it.

The fourth level is a marvelous small circular dome with beautiful decorations.

The interior of the mosque consists of two floors. The first floor hosts the prayers of men while the second floor is only for women.

The ceiling of the middle part of the mosque was covered with an open square dome or a shokhsheikha.

This is actually more of a skylight than a dome, with four embellished windows on each side.

The windows have lines of Islamic inscriptions from the Quran under them.

The qibla wall which is always on the side of the mosque facing Mecca, lies in the northeast part of the mosque.

The mihrab of the mosque which is wider than most of the Mihrabs in Egypt, is located here.

Decorated with green and brown paint, it features two gold plated columns on its sides.

The top of the mihrab has a verse from the Quran which says that the angels asked the Muslims to pray in the direction of the mihrab.