The Cairo Takiyya Mawlawiyya (1033H/ 1623AD): Spirit of the Arts and Sufi Inscriptions

Abstract

The Takiyya Mawlawiyya in Cairo is a unique example of architecture in form, design and function, and the complete model of the takiyya, which was created specifically for the ceremonial Mawlawi Derwishes rituals, as well as the rest of the architectural complex includes the mausoleum, the service building and Sufis rooms retain their form, character and original architecture. It is also a vivid example of the splendor of this architectural style that combines Islamic poetry, music and rituals of the Sufi order. This architectural complex of the Turkish Mawlawi Derwishes in Cairo witnessed the legacy of the Mamluk architecture represented by the dome and the original minaret, and the characteristics of Ottoman architecture distinctive in the domes construction; it comprises buildings of different ages, recovered and reused by Mawlawis, between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries. Based on the previous introduction, this research aims to study this unique architectural structure; which seems to have been one of the last and comprehensive example of such constructions, Ottoman takiyya, to be built in the Islamic world and Egypt. The research paper addresses, using the analytical-archaeological method, the importance of this establishment from architectural and artistic point of view, as a symbol of Sufi architecture and arts in Egypt. Where it briefly sheds light on the Mawlawis order as one of Sufi doctrine in Egypt during the Ottoman era, then tracing the history of construction of the architectural complex before building of the Mawlawiyya. It is mainly based on a study of history and architecture of the Mawlawi Derwishes theatre “Sama'-khana”, aiming at highlighting the architectural symbolism of the Mawlawi takiyya, its Ottoman decorative arts, and inscriptions written in Arabic letters and Persian script that considered to be tangible model of the spirit of the Sufi Mawlawiyya order in Egypt.

Keywords

• the takiyya mawlawiyya; sama'-khana – tha arabian art – arabic inscriptions; sufism