Sultan Al-Nasir Hassan Mosque and its madrasa, or Sultan Hassan Madrasah, or Sultan Hassan Mosque, is one of the famous archaeological mosques in Cairo. It is described as the jewel of Islamic architecture in the East. It is considered the most symmetrical and harmonious monument of Islamic Cairo, and represents the stage of maturity of Mamluk architecture. It was established by Sultan Al-Nasser Hassan bin Al-Nasir Muhammad bin Qalawun during the period from 757 AH / 1356 AD to 764 AH / 1363 AD during the era of the Bahri Mamluk rule of Egypt. The building consisted of a mosque and a school for the four schools of thought (Shafi’i, Hanafi, Maliki, and Hanbali), and the sciences of interpreting the Qur’an, the Prophet’s hadith, and the seven recitations were also taught there, in addition to two librarians to teach orphans the Qur’an and teach them calligraphy.
In the past, the location of the mosque was a market called “Al-Khail Market,” and it contained a palace that Al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun ordered to be built for the residence of Prince Yalbugha Al-Yahyawi. Then Sultan Hassan demolished this palace and built this school in its place. The mosque is currently located in Salah al-Din Square (Rumaila Square) in the Khalifa neighborhood of the southern region of Cairo, and next to it are several ancient mosques, namely Al-Rifai Mosque, Al-Mahmoudiya Mosque, Qani Bay Al-Rumah Mosque, Jawhar Al-Lala Mosque, in addition to Muhammad Ali Mosque, and Al-Nasir Qalawun Mosque in Salah Al-Din Citadel. And Mustafa Kamel Museum.
Creator
Main article: Al-Nasir Badr al-Din Hassan
Copper chain pendants hanging from the ceiling
Sultan Al-Malik Al-Nasser Hassan bin Al-Nasir Muhammad bin Qalawun was born in the year 735 AH/1334 AD. He was first named Qamari, and when he became king of Egypt, he chose the name Hassan and was known by it. He assumed the throne of Egypt in the year 748 AH/1347 AD, when he was thirteen years old. Due to his young age, Prince Pipgha Rus took his place in managing the affairs of the state, and he bestowed blessings on Prince Mengak al-Yusufi and appointed him to the ministry and administration. In the year 751 AH/1350 AD, the judges proved that he had reached the age of majority. So he assumed power and arrested the two princes, Bebugha Rus and Mengek, who were in charge of ruling matters, which led the princes to conspire against him and remove him from the kingdom in the year 752 AH/1351 AD. He was arrested and his brother, King Saleh, was appointed in his place. In the year 755 AH/1354 AD, King Al-Nasir Hassan was restored to the king of Egypt. During that period, the rivalry between the Turkish princes increased, so the Sultan left the reins of the Sultanate to Prince Shaykhun Al-Amri. After his murder, Prince Sarghatmish Al-Nasiri took control of the affairs of the state and became tyrannical and greedy for the Sultanate. Sultan Hassan agreed with a group Of the princes wanted to get rid of him, so they arrested him and defeated his Mamluks that he inherited after him, in addition to his money, Prince Yalbugha Al-Khasaki Al-Omari, who was approved by the Sultan as the authority of a council, and he began to buy a large number of Mamluks, which raised the Sultan’s fears, so he followed a new policy in which he relied on people’s children., The strife between the Sultan and Prince Yalbugha intensified, so the Sultan tried to kill him but was unsuccessful, so Yalbugha attacked him in the castle, so the Sultan fled, then he and those with him were arrested in Matariyya in the year 762 AH/1361 AD while he was on his way to the Levant, and this was the last of his reign, and it was said. He was strangled and thrown into the sea, and his grave was unknown.
Engineer
Mystery surrounded the artist who built this building, and the name of the engineer remained unknown and none of the historians mentioned him, but Hurz Pasha concluded from its architectural style that it was foreign and most likely that it was a Byzantine that received the origins of the Islamic style in one of the Seljuk countries. As for Shad Al-Amarah, his archaeological name, Hassan Abdel-Wahhab, was discovered in 1944 on a text written in plaster style in the Hanafi school, which reads:
“In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Indeed, the righteous will be in gardens and springs, which they will enter in peace and security, and We will remove from their breasts any hatred that is in their breasts. They will be brothers on beds facing each other, in which no calamity will touch them, and they will not be able to escape from Us. O God, O Everlasting and inexhaustible, O Whose blessings are innumerable, honor, empowerment, victory, and conquest are evident through the survival of the one through whom you supported Islam and the Muslims and revived...... Hassan, the son of our Lord, the Sultan Al...... about him for what you have commanded him and immortalize him in his descendants as scribes who protect his state. . Its architecture was built by Muhammad Ibn Bilek al-Muhsani.
Prince Muhammad bin Bailik Al-Muhsani is one of the princes of thousands and the children of the people. He stood by Sultan Hassan in his ordeal with Yalbugha, and his family grew up during the era of Al-Mansur Qalawun, and its members moved through state positions.
History
Islamic decorations, entrance to the mosque
Sultan Hassan left behind a great building that immortalized his name, represented by his mosque and school, which historians and archaeologists consider to be the most beautiful mosques in Cairo and all of Egypt, the best of all Mamluk era buildings, and the pride of Islamic architecture in the entire East. The site of the mosque was known in the past as the horse market, and it contained a palace that was ordered to be built by King Al-Nasir Muhammad bin Qalawun in the year 738 AH/1337 AD for the residence of Prince Yalbugha Al-Yahyawi. This palace remained until the Sultan began construction of the mosque and the school in the year 757 AH/1356 AD, and work on it continued throughout his life, and it was allocated A huge budget was spent generously on it.
Sultan Hassan was killed, and the school was complete except for some supplementary works, some of which were completed after him by Al-Tawashi and Bashir Al-Jamdar, and some of them were left as they were. He completed the Dome of Al-Fasqiyya in the year 766 AH/1364 AD. It was a wooden dome built on eight marble pillars, with the verse of the Throne written on its circles and the date of its completion. He also completed the construction of the large dome of wood and covered it with sheets of lead, making it the fourth large dome in Egypt after the dome of Imam Al-Shafi’i and the dome of Al-Zahir Mosque. And the dome of Al-Nasir Qalawun Mosque. The school was opened during the lifetime of Sultan Hassan before its completion. He performed Friday prayers there, bestowed blessings on the builders and engineers, and held lessons there. He also established an endowment for it in the year 760 AH/1359 AD, appointed employees and readers, furnished it, hung beautiful chandeliers and lamps, and appointed an imam for it.
School system
Sultan Hassan School
Sultan Hassan appointed teachers and supervisors for the schools of the four sects, and appointed salaries for them. He appointed for each sect a sheikh and one hundred students, from each group twenty-five applicants and three teaching assistants. He appointed a teacher to interpret the Qur’an, appointed thirty students with him, appointed a teacher of the Prophet’s hadith, and a reciter to read the hadith and with them.