On the thirteenth day of Ramadan, Omar bin al-Khattab arrived in Jerusalem in 15th Hijri (AH). He performed Friday prayers at the Gyooshi Mosque in Mount Mokattam in 484 AH.
Muhammad Ali Pasha died in 1256 AH, and member of Egypt’s Revolutionary Command Council, Salah Salem, died in 1381 AH.
Omar bin al-Khattab
On this day of the year 15 AH, Omar bin al-Khattab entered Jerusalem. Upon his arrival, Bin al-Khattab searched for a top Jewish priest who converted to Islam to guide him toward the location of the rock and al-Aqsa Mosque, heritage researcher Wassim Afifi said.
Omar bin al-Khattab found the location of the rock (the place where the Prophet had ascended to heaven on Isra’ and Mi’raj night) and ordered it to be cleaned up. It is also said that he cleaned it with his own garments along with his followers. They performed Dawn prayers by the grave of Prophet Dawood (David) and it was the first time Adhan (the call for prayer) was heard in Jerusalem. He then ordered that Al-Aqsa Mosque to be built at that location as it was just a wall within a large area.
On 13 Ramadan in 484 AH, the first Friday prayer was held at the Zawiyat al-Juyashi Mosque, the first mosque built with stone in Cairo. Its architectural significance stems from its minaret, which is considered the oldest Fatimid minaret in Egypt. The minaret was adorned with great decorations and it overlooked Cairo views from the top of Mount Mokattam.
The mosque is registered under the number 304 in the list of Islamic monuments. It was built by Badr al-Jamali, the minister of the Fatimid Caliph al-Mustansir in 478 AH (1085 AD) on the edge of Mount Mokattam behind The Citadel. The name of the mosque is the Emir of armies Badr al-Jamali who was the father of Al Najm Badr al-Jamali, an Armanian Mamlook bought by Gamal al-Dawla bin Emad (known by al-Gamali) who served in the army until he ruled over the emirate of Damascus in 455 AH.
Muhammad Ali Pasha
Muhammad Ali Pasha, ruler of Egypt, died this day on the year 1256 AH.
Muhammad Ali was born on March 1, 1769 in Qula. His father was Ibrahim Agha was from a family of Albanian origin. His father married from the family of Shurbaji, who was the governor of Qula at the time and he got appointed head of the road guard.
Mohammed Ali’s mother died when he was 6 followed by all his brothers. He had 17 brothers all of whom died during the life of their father.
When Ali reached the age of 10, his father involved him in tobacco trade, before he ventured on military path as a leader of soldiers. He did not receive any education and began to learn to read and write at the age of 45.
Mohammed Ali Pasha was abandoned by his wife Amina after the infamous massacre of the Citadel, where she condemned the carnage committed by him against the Mamelukes and they were separated for life.
He fell ill in his final days as he turned 80 and suffered mental health issues and loss of his memory. As he failed to follow up on the leadership responsibilities, an urgent council under the presidency of Ibrahim Pasha was established to run the government. In 1848, the Egyptian Chronicle published that due to Muhammad Ali’s illness it was unanimously decided to appoint Ibrahim Pasha Ruler of Egypt in April 1847.
Salah Salem
Salah Musatafa Salem was born on September 1920 in Sankat city, eastern Sudan.
He spent his childhood there and learnt his first science lessons from its Katatib – schools for learning Qur’an, and principles of writing and reading.
Salah’s father returned to Cairo, so that both Salah and his brother, Jamal, received their primary education there. Salah got his baccalaureate and graduated from the Military Academy in 1948.
When he was 18, he graduated from the Military Academy in 1948 and joined the Fedayeen group -a military group willing to sacrifice themselves – under the leadership of Ahmad Abdul Aziz.
He was famous for his strange habit of wearing his black glasses all the time, even in official meetings. Salah fought in Palestine where he met Gamal Abdel Nasser during the siege of his battalion in Faluja. He joined the Free Officers Movement and was a member of the Executive Committee of the Revolutionary Command Council.
During the revolution of July 23, 1952, he was in charge of controlling the troops stationed in El-Arish. Salah took over the Ministry of National Guidance from June 18, 1953 to October 7, 1958. He bet that he will unite Egypt and Sudan and in 1954 he traveled to southern Sudan to do that.
He became the first Egyptian official to go there and imitate their habits. One of the most famous southern Sudanese habits was to dance almost naked.
He did not succeed in his mission, as the Sudanese people chose to be independent from Egypt. Therefore, he resigned on August 31, 1955 from his post as the Minister of National Guidance (In modern days: Media) and soon returned to his ministerial post.
In his last days, he suffered from kidney failure and had to travel abroad to do the dialysis. Because of him, the first dialysis machine was imported to Egypt.
On February 18, 1962, he died at 42 from his illness. He was the first member from the Revolutionary command council to die.
Gamal Abdel Nasser held a magnificent funeral for him, which started from the Circassian Mosque next to the Ministry of Awqaf to Ibrahim Pasha Square.
