Plain Talk
By
Mursi Saad El-Din
The recent Sony Gallery exhibition Creswell's Cairo: Then and Now, brought back memories of the last meeting I had with that great connoiseur of Islamic monuments. It was in 1969 during a seminar organised by the Ministry of Culture on the history of Cairo. The seminar was the brainchild of Tharwat Okasha, minister of culture at the time, and was supervised by the late Magdi Wahba. Creswell submitted a paper, "The Founding of Cairo" -- an impressive exercise in historical analysis.
Creswell loved Cairo. He not only lectured and wrote about it but organised rambles around the Islamic city, leading his group from the Mosque of Amr to the gates of the city and through the historic area of Khan El-Khalili. He had one of the most impressive libraries, which he bequeathed to AUC. It now forms the core of the Rare Books and Special Collections Library.
In "The Founding of Cairo" Creswell traced the history of the city from the Tulunid dynasty in 905 and the rise of the Fatimids, who ruled the country for 200 years.
According to Creswell Ubayed-Ullah, the first Fatimid caliph, founded his capital on a piece of land that projected into the sea between Sus and Sfex. The caliph had a thorough belief in astrology and traced the plan of his capital according to the sign of Leo.
Caliph Al-Muizz, who founded Cairo, also consulted the stars. He always had Egypt in his sights and when he ascended the throne in February 953 he began amassing a fortune to finance an invasion that was in planning for two years. One of the legends associated with Al-Muizz was that it was the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the sign of the Ram in 967 that led him to contemplate an invasion of Egypt.
As a result of internal disturbances, compounded by a famine caused by a low flood, Egypt was particularly vulnerable to attack. The afflictions of the country were, it was said, reported to the caliph by Yaqoub bin Killos, a wealthy merchant who was living in Egypt and conducting business with the country's ruler, Kafur.
Bin Killos, as reported by Creswell, rose high in the ruler's favour but then, as a result of palace intrigues, was imprisoned. He bribed his way out of prison and fled to the court of the Fatimid caliph. In revenge he managed to persuade Al- Muezz to instruct his commander, Jawhar, to prepare for an invasion of the country.
Al-Muizz only visited his new realm three and a half years after the conquest of Egypt. Jawhar arrived in Giza and on 6 July 969, forced a passage across the river and occupied Cairo. There is a story that Jawhar summoned astrologers and asked them to select a propitious moment to lay the foundations of a new city. All along the line of trenches, dug to receive the foundations of the walls, were fixed posts connected by ropes on which were hung bells so that when the exact moment arrived the astrologers could send a signal down the line by ringing the bells. The workmen stood by ready to throw the stones and mortar into the trenches. The plans went askew, so the story goes, when a crow which landed on the rope set the bells tinkling. The workmen, thinking that the signal had been given by the astrologers, dutifully set to work. At that moment Mars (Qahir Al-Falak) was in the ascendent.
Creswell discredits the story of the astrologers and the crow, reminding us that an almost identical story is associated with the foundation of Alexandria by Alexander.
Having provided this background Creswell went on to describe Cairo, its streets, its palaces, the canal that ran through the city.
His paper reads like an exciting piece of fiction, a necessary strategy, perhaps, for Creswell to speak about the city he loved.
