Editing Al-Hakim Mosque (section)

=== The minarets ===
{{Multiple image
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| image1      = Al-Hakim Mosque DSCF5907.jpg
| caption1    = The southern minaret
| image2      = Al-Hakim Mosque DSCF9218.jpg
| caption2    = The northern minaret
}}
The most spectacular feature of the mosque is the minarets on either side of the facade. The northern minaret is 33.7 meters high while the southern minaret is 24.7 meters high.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} The minarets were originally built in 1003, but the massive bastion towers or salients (referred to as ''arkān'' in Arabic sources) that define their lower parts today were added in 1010, after their initial construction, for reasons that remain unclear.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name="auto" /> The two bastions, built of brick, are shaped like two superimposed cubic sections with an austere appearance and little decoration.<ref name="auto" /> The center of these bastions is hollow, as they were built around the original towers, whose original lower levels have been preserved inside.<ref name=":6" /> The inner towers are braced against the outer towers by supporting arches between them.<ref name="auto" /> 

The outer wall of the southern encasing bastion also features an Arabic inscription in foliated [[Kufic]] carved in marble, from the Fatimid period.<ref name="Behrens-Abouseif1989" /><ref name=":7" /> The top edge of this bastion's lower section also has ornate crenellations designed in an interlacing motif that resembles the crenellations found at the older Ibn Tulun Mosque.<ref name="auto" /> The northern minaret was later incorporated into the city wall by Badr al-Jamali in 1087, at which point the Kufic inscription on its encasing bastion was either moved to or recarved on the outside of the city wall.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=King |first=James Roy |date=1984 |title=THE RESTORATION OF THE AL-ḤĀKIM MOSQUE IN CAIRO |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20847278 |journal=Islamic Studies |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=325–335 |jstor=20847278 |issn=0578-8072 |access-date=2021-12-07 |archive-date=2021-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207151205/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20847278 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The inner (original) minaret towers have a multi-tier design with different forms: the northern minaret has a square base and a cylindrical shaft above it, whereas the southern minaret is composed of a taller square base with an octagonal shaft above it.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mosque of al-Hakim bi Amrillah - Discover Islamic Art - Virtual Museum |url=https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;isl;eg;mon01;4;en |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=islamicart.museumwnf.org |archive-date=2023-10-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021161027/https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;isl;eg;mon01;4;en |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":6" /> These sections, now hidden, have extensive carved decoration: the northern tower with horizontal bands with lozenge motifs, whereas the southern tower has decoration similar to the mosque's main entrance, including a carved inscription in floriated Kufic that mentions al-Hakim's name and the date of construction.<ref name="Behrens-Abouseif1989" /> The design of these towers was highly original and would have made them distinctive from other minarets that existed in this part of the Islamic world at the time.<ref name="auto" />

{{Multiple image
| total_width = 400
| image1      = Al-Hakim Mosque DSCF5901.jpg
| caption1    = Floriated [[Kufic]] inscription band on the southern minaret (1010)
| image2      = Bab al-Futuh al-Hakim inscription DSCF9959.jpg
| caption2    = Kufic inscription from the northern minaret, moved next to Bab al-Futuh circa 1087
}}

The reasons behind al-Hakim's decision to encase the original minarets in thick outer walls, while still preserving the original towers inside, have been debated by scholars.<ref name=":3" /><ref name="auto" /> Bernard O'Kane has proposed that the reason for the unusual decision to encase the minarets in these bastions may have been political and symbolic. At the time of construction, the only other mosques that had multiple minarets and had minarets with multi-level designs were the [[Masjid al-Haram|Haram Mosque]] in [[Mecca]] and the [[Al-Masjid an-Nabawi|Prophet's Mosque]] in [[Medina]], both located in the [[Hejaz|Hijaz]] under Fatimid control at the time.<ref name=":6" /> O'Kane suggests that the minarets of al-Hakim's Mosque were designed to reflect and symbolize Fatimid sovereignty over those holy sites at the time. However, by 1010, the [[Abu'l-Futuh al-Hasan ibn Ja'far|ruler of Mecca]] had rejected Fatimid authority in support of a rebellion in the [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] region, thus undermining Fatimid claims over those sites. Accordingly, al-Hakim may have ordered the new minarets in Cairo to be hidden in order to obscure this embarrassing political setback.<ref name=":6" /> In another analysis, art historian Jennifer Pruitt suggested that the modification to the minarets was due to al-Hakim's shifting ideologies and policies in his later reign.<ref name="auto" /> Both Pruitt and [[Jonathan M. Bloom|Jonathan Bloom]] note that the inscriptions on the original minaret towers (from 1003), which include Qur'anic verses that feature prominently in the Ismai'ili ''[[Esoteric interpretation of the Quran|ta'wīl]]'' of the Qur'an, differ strongly from the inscriptions on the outer towers (from 1010), which include Qur'anic verses that are focused on universal justice and on criticizing [[Kafir|unbelievers]].<ref name=":7" /><ref name="auto" /> According to Pruitt, these latter inscriptions are relevant to al-Hakim's puritanical policies in his later years as well as his unusual order to destroy the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]], which happened around the same time in 1009 or 1010. She also notes the austerity of the encasing bastions in contrast with the richly-decorated original towers, as well as their resemblance to other Sunni (i.e. non-Fatimid) minarets of the era. Accordingly, she suggests that al-Hakim's decision to obscure the original minarets was part of his complex shift away from traditional Fatimid Isma'ili doctrines, his re-imagining of himself as a universal ruler and purveyor of justice, and his will to symbolize this in his architectural program.<ref name="auto" /><!-- Note: Pruitt's points are a little hard to summarize succinctly and perhaps a little too abstract for Wikipedia. This description could possibly be improved or, if too challenging, removed. The purpose in including it (see June 2022 edits) was to offer another significant scholarly analysis of this issue. --> 

The upper parts of the minarets, which extend above the thick square towers that encase their lower sections and are visible today, have octagonal bodies culminating in a "''[[mabkhara]]''"-style head with carved ''[[muqarnas]]'' decoration. They are similar in design but not identical.<ref name="Behrens-Abouseif1989" /> These tops were rebuilt by the Mamluk sultan Baybars II al-Jashankir after an earthquake in 1303 and reflect an early [[Mamluk architecture|Mamluk style]] instead of an original Fatimid style.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Caroline |title=Islamic Monuments in Cairo: The Practical Guide |publisher=The American University in Cairo Press |year=2018 |isbn= |edition=7th |location=Cairo |pages=242–243}}</ref><ref name=":6" /><ref name="Behrens-Abouseif1989" /> An Arabic inscription band in [[Naskh (script)|Naskhi]] script on the outer eastern flank of the northern minaret likely dates from the time of Baybars II.<ref name="Behrens-Abouseif1989" />