Beautiful Egypt 228 – Al Qata’I City – December 2, 2017

   How difficult do words become when we use their letters to form an image of our grief and suffering! How tough is it when we try to use them in order to relief people’s grief and suffering!! Yet, we have nothing but raising our hands and hearts to God so He would send His comfort and patience to every injured pained soul for losing a dear one on the hands of terrorism which murdered innocent souls in Al Rawda Mosque, Al Arish. We ask the Creator to bestow peace upon Egypt and the entire world, how greatly do we need the breaths of the Almighty which fill souls with hope and life!

   In the previous articles, we spoke about the founder of the Tulunid dynasty in Egypt “Ahmad Ibn Tulun” (254 – 270 AH) (868 – 884 AD), his upbringing and military life, after the death of his father “Tulun”, Caliph “Al Mutawakkil” committed to his hand all what his father had, we then broached the revolutions of “Bugha Al Asghar” and “Ibn Al Sufi” the Alawite with the onset of the Tulunid rule of Egypt.

   Historian “Al Kindi” said that in 256 AH: “Ahmad Ibn Tulun” led his armies and headed to confront “Isa ibn al-Shaykh”, the governonr of Palestine and Jordan who took over Damascus and overpowered it, refusing to pay money to the Caliph.

   Moreover, he robbed “Ibn Al Mudabber” the tax collection official of Egypt,   while he was on his way to Iraq, he resumed: “Caliph ‘Al Muhtadi’ wrote to ‘Ahmad Ibn Tulun’ asking him to hand over all his responsibilities. ‘Ahmad Ibn Tulun’ made assumptions and took over Sudan, and was about to meet him, this was in Safar, 256 AH, then he decided to write to him before getting met, so he wrote to him via “Qais Ibn Hafs”, the clerk of “Bakkar Al Qady” and “Ahmad Ibn Yahia Al Serag” but they came back with what wasn’t accepted by “Ahmad Ibn Tulun”…”

   And thus, “Ahmad Ibn Tulun” decided to wage war against him, but he returned to Fustat reportedly because of a message he received from Iraq, then he sent an army to confront “Isa” headed by “Magor” who achieved victory and killed the former’s son in Egypt, “Magor” then ruled over the Levant.

AL Qata’I City

   In 256 AH (884 AD), “Al Muhtadi” died, and Caliphate was accrued to Al Mutawakkil’s son, “Al Mu’tamied”, who appointed “Ahmad Ibn Tulun” as the ruler of Egypt. In that year, “Ibn Tulun” embarked on building a huge forty – gate palace, whose all signs are obliterated now, one of the gates was Bab Al Midan Al Kabir, which was allotted to the army’s entrance and exit, others were Bab Al Khassa, Bab Al Jabal, Bab Al Haram, Bab Al Darmoun and Bab Al Salah,   from which Ibn Tulun used to go out for praying.

   This palace was a core of Al Qata’I city which was built to be Egypt’s capital (After Fustat and Al Askar), he designed it in the likeness of Samarra city.

   Al Qata’I was located in the area between “Yashkor” mountain and “Al Mokattam” mountain foot, “Ibn Tulun” founded it after he found Capital Fustat was no longer wide enough for him and his soldiers.

   Al Qata’I was called so because every sect of his men assumed a piece of land for itself and named it after its residents and their profession, for example; “Sudan piece”, “Romans piece”, “Sorters’ piece” and so on.

   In Al Qata’I, palaces, hospitals, mosques, windmills and bathrooms were built, which all shared in making it a big city. Now, the old Al Qata’I occupies the districts of Al Sayyeda Zeinab, Al Qal’a, Al Darb Al Ahmar and Al Helmya.

   He as well ordered a square to be constructed, “Al Kindi” states that “Ahmad Ibn Tulun” ordered the cultivation of the Jews and Christians’ graves to construct it.

   “Al-Maqrizi” mentioned that square, known as “Ibn Tulun’s Square” and said: “It was built and was excessively decorated, he maintained climate, made a mercury pond and a golden dome in it. This square was a big one in which musical instruments were played, thus the whole palace was called “The Square”. He founded gates for the square; each was called with a name.”

It cost him fifty thousand dinars.

“Ahmad Ibn Tulun” and “Saeed Ibn Katib Al Ferghani”

   The historians of the Church history state that “Ahmed Ibn Tulun” asked the Coptic engineer, “Saeed ibn Katib Al Ferghani” to construct a canal delivering water to “Al Qata’I”; so, the Coptic engineer constructed a canal which stunned whoever saw it for it was skillfully made. While “Ahmad Ibn Tulun” was riding his horse and wandering around to watch the canal, his horse stumbled in a pile of dust left behind. This made him furious against the Coptic engineer and ordered him to be imprisoned.

   Yet, afterwards, he thought to construct a mosque that would be of the greatest constructions in Egypt, he reportedly wanted it: “to be affected neither by fire, nor by flood water, if Egypt gets burnt, the mosque shall remain safe, and if Egypt gets overflowed by water, the mosque shall remain safe.”

   He also desired to construct it over 300 marble columns, and in order to achieve this, he was told that churches must be destroyed in order to secure such number of columns. When “Saeed Ibn Katib Al Ferghani” about this during his imprisonment, he wrote to “Ahmad Ibn Tulun” telling him he was able to construct the desired mosque using two columns only.

   “Ahmed Ibn Tulun” read the petition of engineer “Saeed” and remembered what he had done before releasing him. He entrusted him with building the mosque according to what he had designed, and he completed the construction in the most magnificent form in 265 AH (878-879 AD). It took two years to be constructed and about one hundred and twenty thousand dinars were expended.

“Ahmad Ibn Tulun” the ruler of Egypt and the Levant

   In 257 AH (871 AD), “Ahmed Ibn Tulun” received a message from the ruler of Egypt, Yarguch, that he had taken over the duties which were outside “Fustat”    He took Alexandria from its ruler then “Ishaq Ibn Dinar” and returned to Egypt. Some said that “Isaac” had well received “Ibn Tulun”, so “Ibn Tulun” assigned him to be the ruler of Alexandria. And thus, “Ahmed Ibn Tulun”, the ruler of Egypt, had the upper hand of all aspects except for collecting taxes, which continued to be done by “Ahmad Ibn Al Mudabber”. In 259 AH (872-873 AD), Yarguch, on whom behalf “Ahmad Ibn Tulun” ruled Egypt, died. So, the Caliph “Al Mu’tamied” assigned “Ibn Tulun” as a governor, and hence he became the ruler of Egypt directly assigned by the Caliphate. For that, historians deem that year the founding year of the Tulunid State in Egypt, in the same year, “Ahmad Ibn Tulun” received a letter from Caliph “Al Mu’tamied”, ordering him to send tax money. “Ibn Tulun” replied that he could not do so, as he was not the one in charge but rather “Ibn Al Mudabber”. The Caliph then sent him a servant to charge him with collecting taxes in Egypt, as well as ruling the Levant ports, and thus, “Ahmad Ibn Tulun” was handed over the ruling of Egypt and the Levant.

The Mosque of Yashkor Mountain

   In the same year, “Ibn Tulun” ordered a mosque to be constructed on Yashkor Mountain and named “Illumination Mosque”, as fire were set in the mosque minaret at night in order to lead people to their way.

   Reportedly, the location of the mosque was specialized for setting fire during the age of Pharaoh of Egypt upon his departure, so he could prepare what he needed.

And… Stories never end in Beautiful Egypt…!

General Bishop

Head of Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center