Islamic Arts Feature: Masjid Al-Azhar Special

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Islamic Arts Feature: Masjid Al-Azhar Special

January 30, 2010 by iMuslim Islamic art
22 comments Tags: azhar · Cairo · Egypt · Islamic art · Market · masjid · Mosque · photography · Souk · University

Welcome to the another edition of MuslimMatters.orgâ€™s regular Islamic Art feature. If you want to see your work on MM, then either email us your images to art[@]muslimmatters[.]org or submit them to our Flickr group.

This week, sister Amatullah kindly donated some beautiful shots of the famous centre of Islamic learning: Masjid Al-Azhar in Cairo.

Click on the images below to view the original.

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Tags: azhar · Cairo · Egypt · Islamic art · Market · masjid · Mosque · photography · Souk · University

About author

iMuslim

Mehzabeen (iMuslim) is a UK born n' bred sister of Gujarati Indian descent. She has spent a good chunk of her life trying to scrape together a formal education in the Biological Sciences, and in 2008, was awarded a doctorate for research conducted at Imperial College London, masha'Allah. Her interests include all things Apple Mac, all things chocolate-based, and all things Islam (not necessarily in that particular order). Other online projects include iMuslim.tv, SignLabs.org, and the Muslim Bloggers Directory.

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http://muslimmatters.org/author/imuslim/ iMuslim

The ‘Al-Azhar cat’ shot is my personal fave. :D

http://muslimmatters.org/author/amatullah Amatullah

There are cats everywhere here. literally.

there were a few in the musullah as well, but the pictures didn’t come out so great.

http://www.examiner.com/x-8519-Detroit-Muslim-Examiner Sakina

Asalaamu Alaykum,

Are we allowed to use these images if we credit the person?

I ask because I am paid writer for Examiner.com and often I need ‘Islamic’ pictures to go with my articles. It would really help me out if any of the Muslim artists would give me creativecommons access to use them on my channel.

You can see my page here: http://www.examiner.com/x-8519-Detroit-Muslim-Examiner As you see, generally I rely on flickr creative commons or my own resources.

Can someone please get back to me about this? Thanks so much.

~Sister sakina

http://muslimmatters.org/author/amatullah Amatullah

wa alaykum salam wa rahmatullah Sakina,

Sure you can use them inshaAllah :)

Credit goes to my brother who took the pictures, but he doesn’t mind if others use them. He enjoys photography as a hobby, not as a profession :)

In fact, I will send you an email with some more photos you can use inshaAllah.

http://twitter.com/thealexandrian TheAlexandrian

Awesome pics mashAllah :)

And you even caught a couple of clear blue skies! Not all that common in Cairo, unfortunately, heh

http://muslimmatters.org/author/amatullah Amatullah

Not all that common in Cairo, unfortunately, heh

coming from someone who lives in NYC!!

haha no really, Cairo isn’t that bad…just depends on which part of the city.

MW_M

infamous? infamous means famous for a bad reason, I don’t think we’re trying to convey that message here…..

Sayf

lol, someone caught that.
http://imuslim.tv iMuslim

Wow, that is an embarrassing error! It has now been fixed. No insult intended! :/

http://imuslim.tv iMuslim

Just to add, this post did not go through our technical editing team – clearly! I didn’t think it would need to considering how little I usually write on the Arts posts. Maybe I should rethink that, haha. :)

http://muslimmatters.org/author/amatullah Amatullah

The masjid was built around 970 AD and the courtyard dates back to the 10th century as well. Egypt has really taken care of it mashaAllah. It was nice to see since many historical places in the Muslim world aren’t in the best conditions anymore. Maybe it has something to do with all the knowledge that has surrounded it all these years. I wish we could have access to the library though! Supposedly it’s been around since the 1890s.

It’s a tourist area with Khan el Khalili right across from it, but unlike other tourist areas in Egypt, masjid al Azhar was free. I visited the Mohammed Ali Masjid (aka the Citadel/Qal’ah) and entry for foreigners was a whopping 50 egyptian pounds (around $10USD).

http://twitter.com/thealexandrian TheAlexandrian

They tried to stick me with a foreigners entry fee once at one of those sites b/c of my lagh2a….grrrr…

“3aab 3alaak ya ragel!” I remarked angrily giving him only the Egyptian rate. “Maashi maashi, khalas, itfaddal” the guy at the counter replied as he let me in. :D

http://muslimmatters.org/author/amatullah Amatullah

as soon as they heard some English, sneaking in as egyptians went out the door lol.

Niamah

How i post pictures ?Pls help me
Masry

classic :)
eshta 3alek ya m3allem
UmA

Explain the chameleon lizard dude on the pile of extremely colourful things

http://muslimmatters.org/author/amatullah Amatullah

No idea :) Allah knows best.

That’s not part of the masjid, it’s a stall from the khan el khalili sooq. The guy had a lot of dried up animals/animal parts :S

http://www.muslimyouthmusings.com Arif

Masha’Allah, the fifth picture is soooo amazing! That’s probably the most picturesque…picture (first time I think I ever used that description lol) of Masjid Al-Azhar I’ve ever seen!
FearAllah

The two minaret pics are beautiful subhanAllah …. well-taken!
http://muslimmatters.org/author/sadaf-farooqi Sadaf

Great post! Jazakum Allahu khair.
I liked the cat’s picture too.
Hafsa

So pretty, MashaAllah!
http://www.almadinahacademy.com AnonyMouse

I really need to get out more :/
Or at least more in the daytime!

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