Draft:Al-Khalifa District

Named after the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah, who established and built Cairo.^[3]

Al-Khalifa district includes several service institutions, including Al-Khalifa police station, the civil registry building for the district, Al-Khalifa General Hospital, and several sports centers for the neighborhood's youth, including:

• Mubarak Youth Center in Al-Amin and Al-Tunisi.^[4]

Located in the middle of Cairo, Al-Khalifa is the link between residents of the Basateen, Maadi, and Sayeda Zeinab neighborhoods and downtown Cairo.^[5]

Al-Khalifa neighborhood consists of fourteen chiefdoms^[6], which are:

• Abagiya.
• Imamin.
• Al-Baqali.
• Al-Tunisi.
• Al-Hattaba.
• Helmiya.
• Khalifa.
• Sayda Aisha.
• Saliba.
• Al-Qadiriya.
• Mahgar.
• Darb Ghaziya.
• Darb al-Hasar.
• Arab al-Yasar.

The most important streets are:

• Al-Alfy Street.
• Shaikhon Street.

Al-Khalifa is considered a historical district, specially with islamic historical mosques^[7][8], including:

• Imam Al-Laithi Mosque.
• Sheikhoun Mosque.
• Mosque of Ibn Tulun.^[9]
• Al-Khudairi Mosque.
• Sarghatmish Mosque.
• Sabeel Um Abbas

Sultan Al-Nasser Hasan built the mosque in 757 AH / 1356, it is considered an architectural showpiece from the Mamluk era, with bronze doors inlaid with gold and silver, marble slabs, colored marble floors, and a fountain from which sherbet comes out on special occasions, with an area of about 7906 square meters.^[10]

The mosque is attributed to Amna bint Al-Hussein ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib. She was born in the year 47 AH, and her mother was Rabab bint Amra' al-Qays bin Adi bin Aws, the chief of Banu Kalb. She was named after the grandmother of Muhammad's mother^[11], and then her mother nicknamed her Sakina as a metaphor for the souls of her family and household. She married Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr, then 'Abdullah ibn 'Uthman ibn 'Abdullah, then Zayd ibn 'Arwar ibn Uthman ibn Affan. In Medina, Sakina was known for her high literature, abundant knowledge, and delicate poetry, also known to be the first one to enact seminars. The mausoleum of Sayeda Sakina is located in Al-Khalifa district in Cairo.^[12] Historians have differed on the validity of the existence of the mausoleum there, and those who acknowledge its existence rely on the following story:

She was betrothed to Al-Asbagh ibn Abdul Aziz and sent to Egypt by the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, but she found out that he had cheated, so she went back.
The mosque dates back to the era of Abdul Rahman Katkhda in 1173 AH, the Ministry of Endowments renovated it in the thirteenth century AH, and wrote on the pulpit, "The pulpit was built in the era of Khedive Abbas Helmy II in 1322 AH, as well as on the qibla and the main entrance to the mosque."^[13]

The mosque is attributed to Aisha daughter of Jaafar al-Sadiq, son of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, son of Imam Ali Zain al-Abidin, son of Imam Hussein, son of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib, and she is the sister of Imam Musa al-Kazim. She died in 145 A.H. Her tombstone reads, "This is the tomb of the honorable Lady Aisha, one of the children of Jaafar al-Sadiq, son of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, son of Ali ibn Abi Talib". Her tomb remained a simple shrine until the sixth century AH, consisting of a square chamber topped by a dome resting on two rows of muqarnas. In the Ayyubid era, a school was built next to the dome, and when the Cairo wall was built, the school was separated from the tomb and a new wall was opened, called Bab Sayeda Aisha or Bab al-Qarafa. The mosque was rebuilt in the 18th century by Emir Abdul Rahman Katkhda, and consisted of a square with a nave in the center, surrounded by arcades. When the Sayeda Aisha Bridge was built, the Qarafa Gate was demolished and Fayda Kamel renovated the Sayeda Aisha Mosque to its current state.^[14]

The mosque is attributed to Ruqayya bint al-Hussein, the mosque consists of a rectangular mausoleum whose western side is the entrance and is divided into three sections and the middle one is the cemetery which covered by a dome. This section is separated from the other two sections by two arches, each of which rests on two columns close to the walls, and in the center of each section is a hollow mihrab. The main mihrab is three meters wide, twenty meters long and six meters high, a lobed conch-shaped cap with a medallion in the center, surrounded by the name Muhammad seven times. The mosque's history written on the wooden mihrab in the Museum of Islamic Art dates back to 528 AH 1134, which is corroborated by al-Maqrizi's text.^[15]

The Saladin al-Ayyubi Citadel is one of the monuments in Al-Khalifa District. Built on Mokattam Hill, the castle was established between 1176 and 1182, overlooking Cairo from the Mokattam Hills and offering a bird's eye view of the city. It was the seat of government of Egypt during the reign of the Mamluks and sultans from the reign of Sultan al-Nasser Saladin al-Ayyubi until the beginning of the rule of the Muhammad Ali dynasty. It contains many archaeological monuments such as Muhammad Ali Mosque, Al-Nasser Muhammad bin Qalawun Mosque, and The Egyptian National Military Museum.^[16]

On the road to visit the castle from Saladin Square, it was renovated by Emir Radwan Ketkhda al-Jalafi in 1160 AH 1747 AD, and the corridor with its small towers was built in 1868 AD. It's a large gate, also known as the chain gate or the stable door. In front of it is the mosque of Ahmed Ketkhda Azban, established in 1109 AH 1697 AD on the remains of the chapel and pathway of King Almoayyad Sheikh Al Mahmoudi. In the southern section are the remains of the Ibliq Palace with its colored stones and the tower built by Al-Nasser Muhammad Ibn Qalawun in 713 AH/1313 AD. In the north eastern wing is the rocky passageway where the castle massacre took place in 1811.^[17]

Al-Tunisi is considered an important area of Al-Khalifa district, bordered on the east by the Autostrad Cemetery area and Mokattam Hill, on the west by the Imam Al-Shafi'i Cemetery and Imam Al-Shafi'i area, on the south by the Basateen Cemetery and Basateen neighborhood, and on the north by the area and cemeteries of Sayeda Aisha.