Islamic Art

Islamic Arts Feature: Masjid Al-Azhar Special

Published

January 30, 2010

Welcome to the another edition of MuslimMatters.org’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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Dr. Mehzabeen b. Ibrahim (iMuslim)

Dr Mehzabeen b. Ibrahim joined MuslimMatters as a blogger in late 2007 under the handle 'iMuslim', whilst still a struggling grad student. Since then, she has attained a PhD in Molecular Biology and a subsequent Masters in Bioinformatics, and now works as a specialist in this field for a well-known British, medical charity, masha'Allah. Somewhere in between she found the time to get married, alhamdulillah. She likes to dabble in photo and videography, a sample of which can be found on her personal blog: iMuslim.tv.

22 Comments

iMuslim

January 30, 2010 at 3:45 PM

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

Reply
- Amatullah
  
  January 31, 2010 at 12:23 AM
  
  There are cats everywhere here. literally.
  
  there were a few in the musullah as well, but the pictures didn’t come out so great.
  
  Reply
Sakina

January 30, 2010 at 4:04 PM

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

Reply
- Amatullah
  
  January 30, 2010 at 11:13 PM
  
  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.
  
  Reply
TheAlexandrian

January 30, 2010 at 4:51 PM

Awesome pics mashAllah :)

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

Reply
- Amatullah
  
  January 31, 2010 at 12:21 AM
  
  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.
  
  Reply
MW_M

January 30, 2010 at 5:54 PM

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

Reply
- Sayf
  
  January 30, 2010 at 6:44 PM
  
  lol, someone caught that.
  
  Reply
- iMuslim
  
  January 30, 2010 at 9:04 PM
  
  Wow, that is an embarrassing error! It has now been fixed. No insult intended! :/
  
  Reply
  - iMuslim
    
    January 30, 2010 at 9:06 PM
    
    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. :)
    
    Reply
Amatullah

January 31, 2010 at 12:26 AM

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).

Reply
- TheAlexandrian
  
  January 31, 2010 at 6:17 AM
  
  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
  
  Reply
  - Amatullah
    
    January 31, 2010 at 1:28 PM
    
    as soon as they heard some English, sneaking in as egyptians went out the door lol.
    
    Reply
Niamah

January 31, 2010 at 3:30 AM

How i post pictures ?Pls help me

Reply
Masry

January 31, 2010 at 7:07 AM

classic :)
eshta 3alek ya m3allem

Reply
UmA

January 31, 2010 at 7:39 AM

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

Reply
- Amatullah
  
  January 31, 2010 at 11:49 AM
  
  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
  
  Reply
Arif

January 31, 2010 at 11:51 AM

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!

Reply
FearAllah

January 31, 2010 at 4:09 PM

The two minaret pics are beautiful subhanAllah …. well-taken!

Reply
Sadaf

January 31, 2010 at 11:16 PM

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

Reply
Hafsa

February 18, 2010 at 2:50 AM

So pretty, MashaAllah!

Reply
AnonyMouse

February 20, 2010 at 11:30 AM

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

Reply