affording ample space for the
multitude, while the large east end sanctuary gave room for persons of
distinction to kneel. The mihrab, or niche, where worshippers turned
toward Mecca, the pulpit, and the tribunal were also features of the
edifice. We now see little of the original mosque, for it has been
remodelled from time to time; but it still remains the best type of the
congregational mosque (called Gami, meaning "assembly"), and to me it
seemed, as I looked upon it, one of the most impressive monuments of a
dead past that I had ever seen.

With the political change in 868, which introduced the Turkish period,
Ibn Tulun became the ruler, and another era of mosque and palace and
hospital building prevailed. The Mosque of Ibn Tulun is the only
monument that survives; it is also a congregational type and has the
same general style as Amr; it is the earliest instance of the use of the
pointed arch throughout a building, this being two centuries earlier
than its use in England. Five rows of arches form the arcade, or
cloisters, on the Mecca end of the building, with two rows on the other
three sides. The ornaments on the arches and around the windows are in
stucco, and are worked by hand in the plaster, instead of being moulded
as is the stucco work of the Alhambra. These consist of a bud, flower,
and rosette pattern. Another century passed on, when, in 969, the
victorious Gauhar forced the passage of the Nile and assumed possession
in behalf of a Fatimid caliphate (named Fatimid, for a daughter of
Mohammed). This event presaged a religious as well as a political
change, for the Fatimids were apostates from the true faith and
advocated the doctrines of Shi'a, one of the tenets being that the Koran
had been created, and another that there had been Mohammeds or inspired
men in every century. Shi'a now became the State religion, and for two
centuries held sway over Egypt.

This period was famous for palace building, and the descriptions of the
magnificence and luxurious furnishings read like a fairy tale. Mosque
building was not neglected, and there are two notable examples of the
congregational form, El Azhar and El Hakim. El Azhar was founded by
Gauhar on April 3, 970, and in 988 it was especially devoted to the uses
of learning. It soon became one of the chief universities of the time,
and in 1101 there were nine thousand students and two hundred and
thirty-nine professors. The foreign students even now pay no fee and