Al-Rifa’i Mosque

Located on Salah al-Din Square (or Maydan al-Qal’a “Citadel Square”), al-Rifa’i Mosque was built in the nineteenth century to Equivalent its fourteenth-century neighbor, the mosque of al-Sultan Ḥassan. The mosque gets its name from the tomb of Ali who was known as "Abu Sheibak", he was the grandson of imam Ahmad al-Rifa’i. when the mosque was completed, it was imputed directly to Ahmad al-Rifa’i who founded the Rifa’i Sufi order. Although he was never buried here, the mosque witness a joyous annual Sufi celebrations commemorating his birth.

          The original structure was a Fatimid mosque, which was then transformed into a shrine for Ali Abu Sheibak. Finally,

Hoshiyar Hanim, the mother of Khedive Ismail, commissioned the current design of the mosque and put in charge of the construction the architect Hussein Pasha Fahmi. Part of the plan was to have a mausoleum for the family of Muhammad Ali as part of the extension, which was made by imported building materials from Europe, such as Italian marble. The construction has stopped for years until it was completed in the region of Khedive Abbas Helmi II in 1330Ah\ 1912 AD.​

          Al-Rifa’i Mosque’s architectural design is as interesting as its construction history. Visitors stand in awe of the detailed decoration of the outer walls and massive columns of the outer gate. The minarets are distinguished by their beauty and elegance. Additionally, cement was used in the construction of the mosque for the first time in any of Islamic monument in Egypt, signaling the transition into modern times.

          While a section of the mosque is dedicated to prayers, another is reserved for the members of the family of Muhammad Ali Pasha, which was in power from the early nineteenth century until the 1953, when the modern Egyptian republic was born. Khedive Ismail and his mother Hoshiyar Kadin, as well as Kings Fuad I and Farouk, the last two rulers of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty, are buried here, all enshrined in elaborate tombs. The mosque contains the burial chamber of Muhammad Reza Pahlavi (d. 1400 AH/1980 AD), the last Shah of Iran.