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[English edition] القاهرة عاصمة مصر، وأحد أهمّ مراكز الحياة الدّينيّة والثّقافيّة والسّياسيّة في العالم الإسلاميّ. تقع المدينة على ضفّتي نهر النّيل على خطّ العرض 30°6′ شمالا، وخطّ الطّول 31°26′ شرقا، وعلى بعد 20 كم تقريباً جنوب الدّلتا حيث ينخفض جبل المقطّم حتّى يكاد يبلغ النّهر. وقد كان هذا الموقع الاستراتيجيّ للمدينة الّذي يهيمن على منافذ مصر السّفلى مأهولا بالسّكّان منذ القدم، ولكنّه اكتسب أهمّيّة قصوى خلال الغزو العربيّ في العام 22/643، حين أرسى عمرو بن العاص أسس مخيّم عسكريّ دائم في الفسطاط. …

[English edition] (أ) الحجّ إلى مكّة، وعرفات ومنى، هو خامس أركان الإسلام الخمسة. ويسمّى أيضاً بالحج الأكبر على عكس العمرة [راجع هنا عمرة] التي تسمى بالحجّ الأصغر. كان لشعائره، التي تقام سنويّا في الماضي، كما في وقتنا الحاضر، تأثير عميق في العالم الإسلامي. فأولئك الذين لا يشاركون فيه يتبعون الحجّاج بتفكيرهم، يساعدهم على ذلك رجال الدّين والصحافة والراديو والتلفزيون في أيّامنا، عن طريق مدّهم بنشرات أخبار وتثقيفهم عقائديا. وهذا الحدث بالنسبة إلى الأمّة الإسلاميّة نفسها هو مناسبة لمراجعة امتدادها وعظمتها. وقد أضيف إلى رمزيته الدينيّة والاجتماعية السياسية التي ما زال هذا التجمّع …

[English edition] الكعبة أشهر معبد في الإسلام، ويعرف ببيت الله. تقع الكعبة تقريباً في مركز المسجد الحرام في مكّة، ويتوّجه المسلمون من كلّ أرجاء العالم في صلواتهم إلى هذا الحرم، حيث يؤدي مئات الآلاف من الحجّاج كلّ سنة الحجّ الأكبر(الحجّ) أو الحجّ الأصغر(العمرة)؛ فيعتكفون حولها ويطوفون بها. وقد قضّت الأمّة المسلمة الفتّية سنوات الإسلام الأولى حول الكعبة. وتحتلّ الكعبة، عند جماعة المسلمين مكانة تضاهي مكانة الهيكل في القدس عند يهود اليهود القدامى. 1. الكعبة وما جاورها يرتبط اسم الكعبة بمظهر البناء الذي يشبه المكّعب، وفي السّابق كان الاسم يستخدم لوصف كلّ المعابد ذات الشكل ال…

[English edition] الفسطاط أول مدينة أسّسها الفاتحون المسلمون في مصر وأول مكان أقام فيه الولاة العرب. شيدت على الضفة الشرقية بمحاذاة بابيلون أوبابليون المدينة الإغريقية القبطية التي ما زالت آثارها قائمة في حصن قصر الشمع حتى اليوم. كان القصر متصلا بمدينة الجيزة على الضفة الأخرى لنهر النيل عبر جسر من القوارب تقطعه جزيرة الروضة [انظره]. شيد قسم من الفسطاط على شاطئ النهر، الذي كان مجراه عندئذ أبعد من مجراه الحاليّ إلى الشرق، والقسم الآخر على المرتفعات الصحراوية على شكل سرج يمتد على أكثر من أربعة كم من الشمال إلى الجنوب. بعد سنة 513هـ/1119م، أطلق على المرتفع…

[English edition] الجامع الأزهر. هذا الجامع العظيم، «الجامع الأزهر»(قد تكون هذه التّسمية إحالة ممكنة على فاطمة الزّهراء، رغم عدم وجود ما يؤكّد ذلك في الوثائق القديمة)، يعدّ واحدا من أهمّ جوامع القاهرة اليوم. وهذا المعقل العلميّ إسماعيليّ منذ زمن تأسيسه الفاطميّ (ق4 هـ/ق9م). وخفّت إشعاعه تحت حُكْم العبيديين السّني، لكنّه استردّ كامل نشاطاته طيلة فترة حكم السلطان بيبرس، وظلّ سُنّيّاً من هذا الوقت فصاعدا. ويعود إشعاع الأزهر من جهة أولى إلى الوضعيّة الجغرافيّة والسّياسيّة التي كانت القاهرة تتمتّع بها ف…

[English edition] الإسلام كلمة تعني الانقياد والخضوع التام(لله)، وهو مصدر من الجذر (س ل م). 1. التعريف ونظريات المعنى 1.1 المراجع القرآنية ـ «الخاضع لله» هو المسلم وجمعه مسلمون، تواتر ذكره في السُّوَر القرآنية. بينما لم يردْ ذكر إسلام إلا ثمانيَ مرّات؛ ولكن يتعيّن النظر في أنّ فعل أسلم استُعمل على نطاق واسع بمعني «الخضوع لله»(وهو فعل باطني) و«اعتناق الإسلام» ومعناه الالتزام برسالة النبي.والمواضع الثمانية التي ذكر فيها [لفظ] إسلام في القرآن هي كالتالي: 1. ثلاث آيات تؤكّد البعد الباطني (النفسي أو القلبي): «فَمَنْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ أَنْ يَهْدِيَهُ يَشْرَحْ صَدْرَهُ لِلْإِسْلَامِ» (الأنعا…

, lit. “pebble”, (pl. d̲j̲mār ). The name is given to three halts in the Vale of Minā, where pilgrims returning from ʿArafāt during their annual pilgrimage ( ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ ) stop to partake in the ritual throwing of stones. The Lisān al-ʿArab explains that the place acquired its name either through the act of throwing, or through the stones themselves, which accumulate as more pilgrims perform the rite. Travelling from ʿArafāt, one comes first to al-d̲j̲amra al-ūlā (or al-dunyā ), then, 150 metres further on, to al-d̲j̲amra al-wusṭā . They are in the middle of th…

, the first city to be founded in Egypt by the Muslim conquerors and the first place of residence of the Arab governors. It was built on the east bank of the Nile, alongside the Greco-Coptic township of Babylon or Bābalyūn [ q.v.], traces of which are still preserved in the ramparts of the Ḳaṣr al-S̲h̲amʿ. A bridge of boats, interrupted by the island of al-Rawḍa [ q.v.], linked the Ḳaṣr with the city of Giza (al-D̲j̲īza) on the other bank of the Nile. Al-Fusṭāṭ was partly built beside the river, which at that time followed a more easterly course, and partly on …

(a.), pilgrimage to Mecca, ʿArafāt and Minā, the fifth of the five “pillars” ( arkān ) of Islam. It is also called the Great Pilgrimage in contrast to the ʿumra [ q.v.] or Little Pilgrimage. Its annual observance has had, and continues to have, a profound influence on the Muslim world. Those not taking part follow the pilgrims in thought; the religious teachers, and nowadays the press, radio and television help them in this by providing doctrine and news bulletins. For the Muslim community itself this event is the occasion fo…

, Maḥmūd Pas̲h̲a , was born in 1230/ 1815 at al-Ḥiṣṣa (province of al-G̲h̲arbiyya), and received his early schooling in Alexandria. He subsequently attended, firstly as a pupil, and then as an officer-instructor, the polytechnic school at Būlāḳ (Muhandisk̲h̲āne) founded by Muḥammad ʿAlī. In 1850-1 he was sent to Paris, to specialize in astronomy under Arago. He returned to Cairo in 1859. Afterwards he directed the team which, on the orders of the Khedive Saʿīd, mapped Egypt. H…

, or dikkat al-muballig̲h̲ . During the prayer on Fridays (or feast-days) in the mosque, a participant with a loud voice is charged with the function of muballig̲h̲ . While saying his prayer he has to repeat aloud certain invocations to the imām, for all to hear. In mosques of any importance he stands on a dikka . This is the name given a platform usually standing on columns two to three metres high, situated in the covered part of the mosque between the miḥrāb and the court. In Cairo numerous undated platforms are to be found. The oldest dated inscription, with the word d-k-t, dates back to Sulṭā…

, ʿAbd Allāh Pas̲h̲a , an Egyptian statesman, poet and prose-writer, regarded as one of the authors who have helped to give a simpler, more modern character to Arabic literary style. Born in 1250/1834 in Mecca where his father, an Egyptian officer, was serving, and later brought up in Cairo, he studied at al-Azhar and consorted with the Ṣūfīs. From 1267/1851 he was an administrative official and attracted the attention of Khedive Ismāʿīl who, in 1284/1866, chose him to teach Ar…

or the “House of Sciences”, (a) an establishment for higher instruction founded in 1872 by ʿAlī Pas̲h̲a Mubārak [ q.v.]. Its aim was to introduce a certain number of students of al-Azhar [ q.v.] to modern branches of learning by means ¶ of a five year course, in order to fit them for teaching in the new schools. In fact, as other centres were created in Cairo for the teaching of science, its curriculum was remodelled a number of times and the exact sciences were relegated to the background. The length of the course was reduced to four …

, king of Egypt. Aḥmad Fuʾād was born in the Gizeh palace on 26 March 1868, of a Circassian mother. In 1879 his father, the Khedive Ismāʿīl, who had been deposed by the Sublime Porte, took him with him into exile. He studied in Geneva and Turin, and in 1885 entered the Italian military academy. At Rome in 1887, as a second-lieutenant in the artillery, he frequently visited the Italian royal family. Having been Ottoman military attaché at Vienna, he finally returned (1892) to Egypt after a stay a…

, al-Sayyid Muḥammad b. Ṣafdar , was one of the most outstanding figures of nineteenth century Islam. Cultured and versed in mediaeval Muslim philosophy, he devoted his life and talents to the service of the Muslim revival. He was, in the words of E. G. Browne, at the same time a philosopher, writer, orator and journalist. Towards colonial powers he was the first to take the political attitude since adopted by many movements of national liberation. He is known above all as the f…

, one of the centres of intellectual and scientific life in present-day Cairo. Its history is in fact that of two separate institutes. (a) The first was the Institut d’Égypte founded by Bonaparte in Cairo, under the presidency of Monge, on 20 August 1798 (3 Fructidor). Its creation had been made possible by the existence in Bonaparte’s expedition of a “Commission of the Sciences and the Arts”, in effect an intellectual general staff which Bonaparte had decided should accompany him when he left France. The Institut d’É…

(modern pronunciation of the word vocalised by the lexicographers maḥmil or miḥmal ), a type of richly decorated palanquin, perched on a camel and serving in the past to transport people, especially noble ladies, to Mecca (cf. al-Samʿānī, Kitāb al-Ansāb , under the word al-maḥāmilī ). The famous al-Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲ b. Yūsuf is said to have been the first to use them. In a more restricted and precise sense, the word designates palanquins of this same type which became political symbols and were sent from the 7th/13th century by sovereigns with their caravan…

, a small town quite close to the Cairo of Mamlūk and Ottoman times, and its port on the Nile for traffic with Lower Egypt. It was built on the sand which the Nile left when its bed shifted one to one-and-a-half kilometres westwards between the time of Saladin and the 8th/14th century [see al-kāhira ]. It was separated from Cairo by the Nāṣirī canal, dug in 725/1325 by the sultan Muḥammad b. Ḳalāʾūn, who encouraged people of affluence to build their villas ( manẓara ) at Būlāḳ, to which were added later mosques, ḥammāms , etc. The customs transferred there from Cairo…

, leader of the caravan of pilgrims to Mecca. In 9/630, after which date non-Muslims were excluded from the ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ , the Prophet nominated Abū Bakr to conduct the pilgrimage and to prevent pagans from taking part in it. In 10/631 he presided over it himself. There-after this duty belonged directly to the caliphs, who either undertook it themselves or nominated an official to act in their place (e.g. the Governor of Mecca or Medina, a high official etc.). When the authority of the Caliph wa…

( al-ḏj̲āmiʿ al-azhar ). This great mosque, the ‘brilliant one’ (a possible allusion to Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ, although no ancient document ¶ confirms this) is one of the principal mosques of present-day Cairo. This seat of learning, obviously Ismāʿīlī from the time of its Fāṭimid foundation (4th/9th century), whose light was dimmed by the reaction under the Sunnī Ayyūbids, regained all its activity—Sunnī from now on—during the reign of Sultan Baybars. Its influence is due on the one hand to the geographical and politic…