Mausoleum of Imām Shāf‘ī

Imām Shāf‘ī (b. Gaza AD 767, d. Egypt 819) was the founder of one of the four Sunni legal schools, Shāfi‘isme. After two centuries of Shiism imposed by the Fatimids, honouring this figure was a strong political act for the new Ayyubid dynasty: Saladin (reigned 1169–1193) constructed a madrasa next to the place where he was buried; later, in 1211, Sultan al-Kāmil decided to build an enormous tomb for him, where he himself was buried next to his mother.

The monument is quite different—both in size and use—from the small, pious Shiite mausoleums that were so common in the Fatimid period. It comprises a single square hall under a dome, with two doors, which according to Creswell, are not the original entrances; visitors used to enter what is now a screened window, opposite the mihrāb. There are three of these mihrābs, like in some of the more ancient Fatimid tombs.

Outside, the edifice has three storeys: a lower part in solid stone, separated by a moulded torus, with a second storey with regular windows and blind niches. This storey is crowned with a balustrade in carved stucco (a large portion of which has been replaced with bricks), whose panels have carved motifs that are evocative of Andalusian decorations. Lastly, set back from the base, the dome rests on a solid square structure with cut corners that hide the transition zone. The square is adorned with blind pointed arches resting on slender columns. They are adorned with scallops and separated by a square on its corner (a Fatimid inheritance from the Aghlabids) or by a circular medallion. The spandrels are sculpted with vegetal motifs on which there are inscriptions in naskhī (one of the most common Islamic calligraphy styles). Above there is a frieze with geometric entrelacs, crowned with merlons with openwork in crosses and stars. All these decorative features are reminiscent of Egyptian monuments form the Fatimid dynasty.

The dome is surmounted with a barque, whose full, rounded shape is reminiscent of an almost contemporary Syrian illustration of the maqāmat (sanctuaries) of al-Harīrī[1]. According to D. Behrens-Abouseif, the Egyptian tradition of placing a boat above tombs is believed to go back to the pre-Islamic period, perhaps to the solar barque of Egyptian mythology, and it was continued after the conquest. Hence, one can observe boat models on several tombs, like that of Abū’l-Hajjāj in Luxor and that of Sīdī Sāryā in Cairo Citadel (which disappeared during the recent restoration).

The dome, with its two shells, is wooden and its exterior is covered with lead, which ensures waterproofing. It rests on a transition zone of squinches with three rows of wooden muqarnas, whose date is uncertain because the building has been restored many times. While they were designed in 1211, they represent a new stage in the development of muqarnas in Egypt, midway between the trilobed squinches of the mausoleum of Sayida Ruqaya (1133) and the transition zone of the complex of Sālih Najm al-Dīn (1250). Above, the decorations were probably originally in carved stucco, but were replaced during the Mamluk period with a marble plinth. The decorations are embellished with an epigraphic band.

The most important of the cenotaphs is that of Imām Shafi’ī. Commissioned by Saladin, it is rectangular in shape and surmounted by a pyramidal cover. The decorations are assembled from tongue and groove joints; these small, polygonal elements, decorated with vegetal motifs, are linked together to create star compositions. Inscriptions in naskhī and Kufic script recount Qur’anic verses, stories about the life of the Imām and give the artists’ name, Ubayd al-Najjar. Nearby, Sultan al-Kāmil built a marble column inscribed in naskhī celebrating the glory of the Imam, proclaiming his name and the dates of his birth and death. Imām Shafi’ī was highly revered in Egypt, where most Muslims in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods followed his rites. Many funerary buildings developed around the tomb.