Islamic Cairo – an open-air museum in the Egyptian capital

“So, tell me honestly, what is your opinion about Islam?”, the guide asked. We were a group of five women, on our way to visit and tour Islamic Cairo. The guide was a young guy with a tendency for the theatricals. And I was not about tel tell him what my true feelings were about Islam. Or for any religion for that matter. But how could any of us, young Western women, have any positive feelings towards a religion that treats the female gender so badly? Or at least that’s how you would see it from a western pair of eyes. And how I have felt visiting Islamic countries too. Our guide for the morning was a young Muslim man, who was trying to be funny to impress the foreigner ladies. I don’t want to be too harsh – he was quite nice and a great guide. Yet, as a woman, I know when I’m being charmed. Or at least, when people are trying to do so. It’s just too obvious 🙂

This tour wasn’t in our plans, originally. I knew Cairo was a big city, but I still managed to be impressed by it, and somehow caught by surprise by how spread apart different points of interest were. Since I was on an organised tour, I had barely researched the city – I knew I wanted to visit the Egyptian Museum and the Pyramids in Giza. Turns out, we ended up having more days in Cairo than expected, due to a last-minute change in itinerary. This meant we had more time in Cairo than we thought, and looking back I see this was for the best. There is a lot to do in this city, and exploring its own history is one of them.

That’s when we decided to do this private tour with three other women from our tour. We all sort of just shrugged our shoulders when asked that question. He proceeded to explain the reason women were separate from men in mosques was to ensure men wouldn’t be distracted by the women praying – pointing at his chest as if it was a matter of the heart. I wanted to laugh then. Women who follow Islam’s strict rules, are completely covered, from head to toe… and still are seen as a distraction for the men who want to pray? He was not helping us feel much sympathy, especially when we were visiting the mosques and noticed that the space reserved for women was much, much smaller than the one for men.

Belief, religion and faith aside….To start, we were taken to the Citadel of Saladin, a medieval fortress that overlooks the city. You will immediately be distracted by the imponent Mohamed Ali Mosque, impossible to miss its silver domes. I was surprised that to enter the mosque I simply had to take off my shoes and not to cover myself. In Cairo, I never had to cover myself, a huge contrast to what I had experienced in Istanbul, where if my scarf slipped a little exposing a tiny fraction of my hair, I’d have a man yelling at me to cover myself. We were given enough time to admire its interior – I always find the interior of Mosques stunning, the lack of imagery provides a vision of a universe of which humans are so little, so insignificant. I understand why it is the ideal place for prayer and reflection.

We moved on to visit the Mosque of Sultan Hassan, which is considered one of the largest and most majestic mosques in the world. Its opulence is quite obvious – as you’d find in the Catholic world as well when it comes to build places of prayer, no expenses are considered too high. Just next to Sultan Hassan’s Mosque you’ll find the Al-Rifa’i Mosque, another opulent structure that was also home (or playground or nap place) for some cats.

We finished the tours in Khan al-Khalili Bazaar to which I had high expectations that were pretty much failed. It’s just another market selling made-in-China stuff, didn’t feel local or authentic at all, and the aggressive selling was as always intimidating and put me off even looking at the products. A look is enough to have a man chasing you, and very honestly asking what can they do so you give them your money…. we did end up sitting at a cafe, where I sipped some strong Turkish coffee, the fuel that I needed in the last days of a trip.

If you are around Cairo, definitely don’t miss Islamic Cairo – I recommend to do it with a tour so you can learn a little more about the history of this part of Cairo but also about Islam overall.

Love, Nic