Mashhad of Sayyida Ruqayya
The Mashhad of Sayyida Ruqayya (Arabic: مَشْهَد ٱلسَّيِّدَة رُقَيَّة, romanized: Mashhad As-Sayyida Ruqayya),[1] sometimes referred to as the Mausoleum or Tomb of Sayyida Ruqayya,[2][3] is a 12th-century Islamic religious shrine and mosque in Cairo, Egypt. It was erected in 1133 CE as a memorial to Ruqayya bint Ali (also known as Sayyida Ruqayya), a member of the Islamic prophet Muhammad's family.[4] It is also notable as one of the few and most important Fatimid-era mausoleums preserved in Cairo today.
For the shrine in Damascus, Syria, see Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque.Mashhad of Sayyida Ruqayya
active
Mashhad, mausoleum, mosque/oratory
16 El-Khalifa, Al Abageyah, El-Khalifa, Cairo Governorate, Egypt
1133
2014-2015
Location and environment[edit]
The mausoleum is located along a street leading across the al-Khalifa area (also referred to as the Sayyida Nafisa Cemetery) which is part of the wider Qarafa Necropolis of Cairo. Along the street is a concentration of important mausoleums from different periods, including those of Egypt's only female ruler since Cleopatra, Shajar ad-Durr, and of the Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil. More importantly, from a religious point of view, is the mosque and mausoleum of Sayyida Nafisa (granddaughter of Hasan, grandson of Muhammad, and buried here in 824 CE) and the mosque and mausoleum of Sayyida Sukayna (also known as Ruqayya), a daughter of Husayn (brother of Hasan).[1] Sayyida Nafisa's life in Egypt is better-documented but Sayyida Sukayna's tomb here is apocryphal[1] as she is believed to be buried in either Damascus or Medina.[15] Right next to the mausoleum of Sayyida Ruqayya are a pair of modest domed tombs, also Fatimid in origin, which are attributed to Sayyida 'Atika (believed to be an aunt of Muhammad) and to Muhammad al-Ja'fari (son of Ja'far al-Sadiq, the sixth Shi'i Imam).[1] With so many tombs associated to the family of Muhammad and of 'Ali, the area had notable religious importance for the Isma'ili Shi'a Fatimid dynasty, who built many of the original mausoleums here in their day.[13]