   When Amr Ibn Al-Aas built the first mosque in Africa in the area of Fustat, it was a simple mud-brick structure, rectangular in shape, its roof supported by columns and covered with palm trunks and branches much like contemporary Egyptian buildings -- a far cry from these computer renditions of the dome and colonnades of today's restored building in marble, mosaics and gilded Quranic inscriptions photo: Amr Gamal parent page (13 - 19 October 2005, issue #764) |