Islamic Cairo in the context of Bab al-Futuh

Downtown Cairo (Arabic: وسط البلد Wust al-Balad, "middle of town") is the colloquial name given to the 19th-century western expansion of Egypt's capital Cairo, between the historic medieval Cairo, and the Nile, which became the commercial center of the city during the 20th century. Given its rich architectural heritage from the era of Khedive Ismail, it has been officially named Khedival Cairo and declared by the government as a protected Area of Value, with many of its buildings also deemed protected. Administratively Wust al-Balad covers areas of qism Qasr al-Nil, and the Abdeen and Ezbekia districts. The protected Khedival Cairo covers a larger area extending south to Sayida Zeinab.

The Mokattam Formation is a Middle Eocene-aged geological formation in northern Egypt. Consisting of nummulitic marine limestone outcropping across the Mokattam Hills, it has been extensively quarried from Ancient Egypt to the present day, and represents the source material for most of the famous archeological sites of Greater Cairo, most notably the Giza pyramid complex, the Great Sphinx, and much of Historic Cairo.

The age of the formation is thought to span from the late Lutetian to the Bartonian, depending on the member (Building Stone or Giushi). However, some authors treat the Giushi Member as its own geologic formation, which would restrict the Mokattam to just the Lutetian.

Abdeen District is the home of Abdeen Palace (Arabic: قصر عابدين), a 19th-century Cairo palace built by Khedive Ismail and served as the Egyptian royal household's primary official residence from 1874 until the July coup in 1952. Since then it has been one of the presidential palaces. The palace is centered in its eponymous district, administratively part of the Western Area of Cairo, and part of the Khedival Cairo Area of Value to the west of Historic Cairo.

Azbakeya (Arabic: أزبكية; also spelled Al Uzbakeya or Auzbekiya) is one of the districts in the Western Area of Cairo, Egypt. Along with Wust Albalad (Downtown) and Abdeen, Azbakiya forms Cairo's 19th century expansion outside the medieval city walls known officially as Khedival Cairo and declared as an Area of Value. It holds many historically important buildings and spaces. One of these is the Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, which was inaugurated by Pope Mark VIII in 1800 and served as the seat of the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria from 1800 to 1971. Azbakeya was the place where the first Cairo Opera House was established, in 1869.

The Al-Azhar University (/ˈɑːzhɑːr/ AHZ-har; Arabic: جامعة الأزهر, romanized: Jami'at al-Azhar, IPA: [ˈɡæmʕet elˈʔɑzhɑɾ eʃʃæˈɾiːf]) is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is known as one of the most prestigious universities for Islamic learning. In addition to higher education, Al-Azhar oversees a national network of schools with approximately two million students. As of 1996, over 4,000 teaching institutes in Egypt were affiliated with the university.

Founded in 970 or 972 by the Fatimid Caliphate as a centre of Islamic learning, its students studied the Qur'an and Islamic law, along with logic, grammar, rhetoric, and how to calculate the phases of the moon. Today it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world. In 1961 additional non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.

Moses ben Maimon, commonly known as Maimonides and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam, was a Sephardic Jewish rabbi who is widely acknowledged as one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. Originally from Córdoba, where he was born on Passover Eve of 1135 or 1138, his family was exiled from Muslim-ruled Spain when they refused to convert to Islam shortly after the Almohad Caliphate conquered the Almoravid Caliphate in 1148. Over the course of the next two decades, Maimonides resided in Fez, Acre, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Cairo before finally settling in Fustat between 1168 and 1171. During this period, he advanced his vocations and became renowned for his achievements as an astronomer, philosopher, and physician—even being appointed to serve as personal physician to Saladin of the Ayyubid Sultanate.

Most contemporary Jews as far as Iraq and Yemen greeted Maimonides' writings on halakha and Jewish ethics with acclaim and gratitude. Yet, while he rose to lead the Jewish community in Egypt, he also had vociferous critics, particularly in Spain. He continued to live in Fustat until his death in 1204 and is said to have been buried in Tiberias. Accordingly, the Tomb of Maimonides in Tiberias holds importance as a Jewish pilgrimage site.

The Amr ibn al-As Mosque (Arabic: مَسْجِد عَمْرِو بْنِ الْعَاصِ, romanized: Masjid ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ) is a mosque, located in the Fustat neighbourhood of Old Cairo, Egypt. Named in honour of the Arab Muslim commander Amr ibn al-As, the mosque was built in c. 642 CE as the centre of the newly founded capital of Egypt, Fustat. The original structure was the first mosque built in Egypt and one of the first in Africa. For 600 years, the mosque was also an important centre of Islamic learning until it was replaced by al-Muizz's Al-Azhar Mosque in Islamic Cairo. Through the twentieth century, it was the fourth largest mosque in the Islamic world.

The mosque's location was the site of the former tent of Amr ibn al-As. One corner of the mosque contained a room related in some significant way to his son, Abd Allah ibn Amr ibn al-As. Due to extensive reconstruction over the centuries nothing of the original building remained, but the rebuilt mosque is a prominent landmark and can be seen in what today is known as Old Cairo. It is an active mosque with a devout congregation, and when prayers are not taking place, it is also open to visitors and tourists.

Al-Muizz li-Din Allah al-Fatimi Street (Arabic: شارع المعز لدين الله الفاطمي), or al-Muizz Street for short, is a major north-to-south street in the walled city of historic Cairo, Egypt. It is one of Cairo's oldest streets as it dates back to the foundation of the city (not counting the earlier Fustat) by the Fatimid dynasty in the 10th century, under their fourth caliph, Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah (after whom the street is named).Historically, it was the most important artery of the city and was often referred to as the Qasaba (or Qasabah). It constituted the main axis of the city's economic zones where its souks (markets) were concentrated. The street's prestige also attracted the construction of many monumental religious and charitable buildings commissioned by Egypt's rulers and elites, making it a dense repository of historic Islamic architecture in Cairo. This is especially evident in the Bayn al-Qasrayn area, which is lined with some of the most important monuments of Islamic Cairo.

The Citadel of Cairo or Citadel of Saladin (Arabic: قلعة صلاح الدين, romanized: Qalaʿat Salāḥ ad-Dīn) is a medieval Islamic-era fortification in Cairo, Egypt, built by Salah ad-Din (Saladin) and further developed by subsequent Egyptian rulers. It was the seat of government in Egypt and the residence of its rulers for nearly 700 years from the 13th century until the construction of Abdeen Palace in the 19th century. Its location on a promontory of the Mokattam hills near the center of Cairo commands a strategic position overlooking the city and dominating its skyline. When it was constructed it was among the most impressive and ambitious military fortification projects of its time. It is now a preserved historic site, including mosques and museums.

In addition to the initial Ayyubid-era construction begun by Saladin in 1176, the Citadel underwent major development during the Mamluk Sultanate that followed, culminating with the construction projects of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad in the 14th century. In the first half of the 19th century Muhammad Ali Pasha demolished many of the older buildings and built new palaces and monuments all across the site, giving it much of its present form. In the 20th century it was used as a military garrison by the British occupation and then by the Egyptian Army until being opened to the public in 1983. In 1979, it was proclaimed by UNESCO as a part of the World Heritage Site Historic Cairo (Islamic Cairo) which was "the new centre of the Islamic world, reaching its golden age in the 14th century."

The fortifications of the historic city of Cairo, Egypt, include defensive walls and gates that were built, rebuilt, and expanded in different periods.

The first set of walls was built during the foundation of Fatimid Cairo in the 10th century. These were rebuilt in the late 11th century on the orders of the Fatimid vizier Badr al-Jamali. In the 12th century, the Ayyubid sultan Salah ad-Din (Saladin) restored the walls and began a major extension to the south. He also began construction on the Citadel of Cairo, a military complex that would serve as the center of power in Egypt for centuries afterwards.

The City of the Dead, or Cairo Necropolis, also referred to as the Qarafa (Arabic: القرافة, romanized: al-Qarafa; locally pronounced as al-'arafa), is a series of vast Islamic-era necropolises and cemeteries in Cairo, Egypt. They extend to the north and to the south of the Cairo Citadel, below the Mokattam Hills and outside the historic city walls, covering an area roughly 4 miles (6.4 km) long. They are included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of "Historic Cairo".

The necropolis is separated roughly into two regions: the Northern Cemetery to the north of the Citadel (also called the Eastern Cemetery or Qarafat ash-sharq in Arabic because it is east of the old city walls), and the older Southern Cemetery to the south of the Citadel. There is also another smaller cemetery north of Bab al-Nasr.

Mamluk architecture was the architectural style that developed under the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517), which ruled over Egypt, the Levant, and the Hijaz from their capital, Cairo. Despite their often tumultuous internal politics, the Mamluk sultans were prolific patrons of architecture and contributed enormously to the fabric of historic Cairo. The Mamluk period, particularly in the 14th century, oversaw the peak of Cairo's power and prosperity. Their architecture also appears in cities such as Damascus, Jerusalem, Aleppo, Tripoli, and Medina.

Major Mamluk monuments typically consisted of multi-functional complexes which could combine various elements such as a patron's mausoleum, a madrasa, a khanqah (Sufi lodge), a mosque, a sabil, or other charitable functions found in Islamic architecture. These complexes were built with increasingly complicated floor plans which reflected the need to accommodate limited urban space as well as a desire to visually dominate their urban environment. Their architectural style was also distinguished by increasingly elaborate decoration, which began with pre-existing traditions like stucco and glass mosaics but eventually favoured carved stone and marble mosaic paneling. Among the most distinguished achievements of Mamluk architecture were their ornate minarets and the carved stone domes of the late Mamluk period.

Al-Azhar Mosque (Arabic: الجامع الأزهر, romanized: al-Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, lit. 'The Resplendent Congregational Mosque'), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in the historic Islamic core of the city of Cairo, Egypt. Commissioned as the new capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 970 CE, it was the first mosque established in a city that eventually earned the nickname "the City of a Thousand Minarets". Its name is usually thought to derive from az-Zahrāʾ (lit. 'the shining one'), a title given to Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad.

After its dedication in 972, and with the hiring by mosque authorities of 35 scholars in 989, the mosque slowly developed into what it is today.

Bayn al-Qasrayn (Arabic: بين القصرين, lit. 'between the two palaces') is an area located along al-Mu'izz Street in the center of medieval Islamic Cairo, within present day Cairo, Egypt. It corresponds to what was formerly a plaza between two palace complexes constructed in the 10th century by the Fatimids, as part of their palace-city named al-Qahirah (now Cairo). This later became the site of many monumental buildings constructed during the Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman periods, up to the 19th century. Many of these historical monuments are still standing today.

Bab al-Nasr (Arabic: باب النصر, lit. 'Gate of Victory'), is one of three remaining gates in the historic city wall of Cairo, the capital of Egypt. The gate's construction is dated to 1087 and was ordered by Badr al-Jamali, a Fatimid vizier. It is located at the northern end of Shari'a al-Gamaliya (al-Gamaliya Street) in the old city of Cairo and slightly east of another contemporary gate, Bab al-Futuh.