Mosques in Egypt

Egypt is home to close to ninety million Muslims, around ninety percent of the population, and one of the historic hearts of the Muslim world. The country has shaped Islamic scholarship, jurisprudence and reformist thought for more than a thousand years, and its mosques range from the earliest surviving monuments of Islam to modern purpose-built centres in the new desert cities. This page brings together the historical, geographical and practical landmarks to find your way among the Egyptian mosques listed on the map.

A foundational Islamic history

Islam reached Egypt in 641 with the conquest led by Amr ibn al-As, who founded Fustat and the Mosque of Amr, the first mosque built on the African continent. Cairo grew from that original settlement and became the seat of the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk dynasties, each leaving its mark on the city. Al-Azhar, founded in 970, is one of the oldest continuously operating universities in the world and remains a central authority in Sunni Islamic scholarship. The Ibn Tulun Mosque, the Sultan Hassan complex, the mosques of Sayyida Zaynab and al-Husayn and the Muhammad Ali Mosque in the Citadel are among the landmarks of that long history.

The main Muslim cities

Cairo holds the densest Muslim urban fabric in the country by far, with thousands of mosques across the historic core of Islamic Cairo, the neighbourhoods of Sayyida Zaynab, Bulaq, Shubra, Nasr City and Heliopolis, and the new satellite cities of 6th of October and New Cairo. Alexandria comes next, with the Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque as its most famous landmark and dense Muslim life across the coastal districts. Giza, Port Said, Suez, Ismailia, Mansoura, Tanta, Zagazig, Asyut, Sohag, Luxor and Aswan each hold their own networks, and the small oases of the Western Desert have their own long-standing mosques.

A state-supervised mosque network

Egyptian mosques operate within a framework set by the Ministry of Awqaf, which supervises the great majority of the country's mosques, appoints and trains imams, and sets the themes of Friday sermons. Al-Azhar retains its own religious authority, with a network of mosques and schools across the country, and the shrines of the ahl al-bayt in Cairo and the Delta remain major places of visitation. That framework translates into a fairly uniform organisation of daily worship, alongside a wide variety of architectures, from the mudbrick village mosques of Upper Egypt to the great historic monuments of Cairo and the large concrete mosques of the new cities.

Practical guidance

Egyptian mosques follow the five daily prayers, with the largest gatherings on Friday around midday and during Ramadan. Many historic mosques in Cairo and Alexandria welcome non-Muslim visitors outside prayer times, and some, such as the Muhammad Ali Mosque, charge a small entrance fee as part of a wider historic site. Modest dress is expected: shoulders and legs covered, hair covered for women, shoes removed before entering the prayer hall.

How to use this directory

The interactive map above brings together the Egyptian mosques listed from OpenStreetMap data. Each marker locates a place and gives access to its details. Coverage is stronger in Cairo, Alexandria and the Delta, and grows over time as the data is refined. City pages will strengthen this section in the months ahead, starting with the largest Muslim urban centres.