The Art And Architecture of Islamic Cairo

112 The Art and Architecture of Islamic Cairo
pilgrimage. He commissioned a cenotaph and initiated some
restoration work, but the major rebuilding occurred during the
reign of al-Kamil, who also developed it as a dynastic mausoleum.
Then, as now, the Southern Cemetery (al-Qarafa) was a hive of
activity, forming the focus for individual and collective acts of
pilgrimage, as well as a place to honour and visit the graves of
deceased relatives. During the reign of al-Kamil a number of
pilgrimages were formalized on a weekly basis, and he often led the
Friday night procession from the mashhad of Sayyida Nafisa to the
shrines of the seven sheiks. 12
Ibn Jubayr provides the following contemporary description
of al-Qarafa, the mausoleum and the madrasa:
The night of that day [Wednesday 8 April 1183] we
passed in the cemetery known as al-Qarafa. This
also is one of the wonders of the world for the
tombs it contains of prophets … of the kindred of
Muhammad … of his Companions, of the followers
of the Companions, of learned men and ascetics,
and of saintly men renowned for their miracles
and of wonderful report … The tomb of Shafi’i
imam … a shrine superb in beauty and size. Over
against it was built a school the like of which has
not been made in this country, there being nothing
more spacious or more finely built. He who
walks around it will conceive it to be a separate
town. Beside it is a bath and other conveniences,
and building continues until this day. The measureless
expenditure on it is controlled by the
sheik, imam, ascetic, and man of learning called
Najm al-Din al-Khubashani. The sultan of these
lands, Salah al-Din, bounteously pays all for this
purpose ... Al-Qarafa is remarkable for being all
built with mosques and inhabited shrines in which
lodge strangers, learned men, the good and the
poor. The subsidy for each place comes from the
sultan, and likewise it is for the theological colleges
in Misr [Fustat] and al-Qahira. 13
The mausoleum of al-Shafi’i now forms part of a nineteenthcentury
mosque complex and access to it is through this building.
It is one of the largest mausoleums in the Muslim world and its