The shrine
An enclosure under a tall dome.
ولاء — Public domain · ولاء — Public domain · لا روسا — CC BY-SA 3.0 · لا روسا — CC BY-SA 4.0 · لا روسا — CC BY-SA 4.0
Sayyida Zaynab Mosque is one of Cairo's largest and best-loved mosques, at the heart of the district that bears its name. It is built around a shrine attributed to Zaynab, daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib and granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad, whom Egyptians also call Umm Hashim. Pilgrims come from across Egypt, and Sufi orders treat it as one of their centres. No record says when the first mosque rose here. The Ottoman governor Ali Pasha renewed it in 1547 and Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda in 1768. In 1940 the Ministry of Endowments pulled down the old building and put up the present mosque, doubling its area in 1969, which is why it is not registered as an Islamic monument. Historians differ over her burial place: some accept this site, others point to the shrine bearing her name in Damascus. The prayer hall's aisles run parallel to the qibla wall, and the shrine lies at the opposite side, in an enclosure under a tall dome. Each year in the month of Rajab her moulid fills the square with thousands of visitors for several days, and in Ramadan its restaurants and cafés stay busy at night. Yahya Haqqi set his novel The Lamp of Umm Hashim around the shrine. The mosque faces Sayyida Zaynab Square. Allow about half an hour, then walk to the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, 800 m south-east in a straight line.
An enclosure under a tall dome.
Cafés and restaurants, packed on Ramadan nights.
Huge popular celebrations in Rajab.
Sayyida Zaynab Square, Sayyida Zaynab district, Cairo
Mosque of Ibn TulunThe oldest mosque in Egypt surviving in its original form, and the largest in ar10 minutes walk4.6
Gayer-Anderson Museum (Bayt al-Kritliyya)Two joined old houses beside the Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun, the older from the s11 minutes walk4.5
Amir Taz PalaceAmir Taz Palace is a Mamluk palace on al-Suyufiyya Street, just off Saliba Stree14 minutes walk
Manial PalaceA lavish palace on Rhoda Island in the Nile, built in the early twentieth centur15 minutes walk4.7
Abdeen Palace MuseumThe palace Khedive Ismail built in the mid-nineteenth century as the official se17 minutes walk4.5Historians differ: some say she came to Egypt after Karbala and was buried here, others place her grave in Damascus, and some think the woman buried here was another Zaynab of the Prophet's family.
The present building is modern, put up after the old one was demolished in 1940, so it is not a registered monument despite the age and standing of the site.