Fatima al-Shagra Mosque: Al-Ghouria Rejoiced at It, Then the Pandemic Closed It

“A Russian slave girl who lived during the Ottoman era and was buried in the mosque”
This is what we know about the “Honorable Lady” Fatima al-Shagra, whose name appears in the founding inscription of the small mosque located on Ahmed Maher Street near Bab Zuweila.

The mosque was built during the Mamluk era under Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbay by Prince Rashid al-Din al-Bahai, while the style of its minaret dates to the Ottoman era and its construction is attributed to Fatima.
A dangerously pronounced tilt in the minaret kept the mosque closed for years. Local residents repeatedly called for its restoration, even hanging signs asking the President of the Republic to order its restoration, since it stands among their homes and shops and is closer to them than al-Mu’ayyad Mosque or Salih Tala’i Mosque.

In 2013, former Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim issued a decision to restore the mosque. The Ministry of Awqaf covered the restoration costs, and the work was carried out by the major Arab Contractors Company, which dismantled and reassembled the minaret without losing any of its original stones. It also carried out some repairs inside the mosque, allowing it to reopen in May 2019 amid celebrations by the residents of Al-Ghouria and Bab al-Khalq.

Today, less than a year after the mosque reopened, a sign has been posted stating that it is closed to worshippers because of the current circumstances facing the country. The coronavirus pandemic spoiled the residents’ joy at the return of Al-Shagra Mosque to service, but we hope the difficult days will not last long and that the mosque will return to the embrace of its community.