style buildings, including the first opera house
built in the Middle East. Today it is where many
of the embassies, international hotels, banks,
department stores, and cinemas are located. Thus,
visitors to Cairo will find a modern city and
its suburbs coexisting with what remains of its
medieval architectural core. Fustat has virtually
disappeared except for an archaeological park and
a district called Old Cairo, where the Mosque of
Amr, several churches and monasteries, and the
Ben Ezra Synagogue still stand.
See also christianity and islam; dhimmi;
Fatimid dynasty; JUdaism and islam; mamluk;
ottoman dynasty.
Further reading: S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society:
An Abridgement in One Volume. Edited by Jacob Lass-
ner (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999);
Andre Raymond, Cairo. Translated by Willard Wood
(Harvard, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000); Max
Rodenbeck, Cairo: The City Victorious (London: Pica-
dor, 1998); Caroline Williams, Islamic Monuments in
Cairo: The Practical Guide (Cairo: American University
in Cairo Press, 2002).
calendar
The Islamic calendar is comprised of 12 lunar
months, based on the cycles of the moon rather
than upon those of the Sun, which forms the basis
of the Western Gregorian calendar. Each month in
the Islamic calendar lasts from one first sighting of
the crescent moon to the next. The 12 months of
the Islamic calendar in order are Muharram, Safar,
Rabi al-Awwal, Rabi al-Thani, Jumada al-Ula,
Jumada al-Thaniyya, Rajab, Shaban, ramadan,
Shawwal, Dhu al-Qada, and Dhu al-Hijja.
The Islamic calendar, comprised of 354 days,
shifts with respect to the solar calendar, with
each month in the former beginning 10 or 11
days earlier every year. Since the sighting of the
moon sometimes varies with respect to longitude
and latitude, the Islamic calendar may vary from
one part of the world to another. Because the
Islamic calendar shifts, solar calendars are often
used in addition to Islamic calendars. In iran, for
instance, three calendars are in common use: the
Persian solar, the Islamic, and the Gregorian.
Muslims mark the first year of their calendar
(sometimes called the hiJra calendar) with the
establishment of the first Islamic community and
governmental structure in the city of medina (in
modern-day saUdi arabia), following mUhammad’s
and the early Muslims’ emigration from mecca
in 622 c.e. Muslims designate this year as 1 a.h.
(i.e., anno Hegirae, or “hijra year”). Two of Islam’s
most significant months are Ramadan and Dhu
al-Hijja. During Ramadan, Muslims abstain from
food, drink, and sexual relations from sunup to
sundown. They mark the end of this month by
id al-Fitr, which celebrates the final breaking of
this fast. Dhu al-Hijjah is the month of the haJJ,
or pilgrimage to Mecca, and at the end of the hajj,
Muslims commemorate id al-adha, which cel-
ebrates Abraham’s readiness to offer his son Ismail
as a sacrifice.
While the above rituals are celebrated by
Sunnis and Twelve-Imam Shiis, there are oth-
ers that are celebrated exclusively by the Shia,
or that they emphasize more than the Sunnis.
These holidays include the birth and death anni-
versaries of Muhammad, his daughter Fatima,
and the Twelve Imams (or sacred leaders) of
shiism. The Shia also celebrate other significant
occurrences, such as Muhammad’s public decla-
ration of Ali as successor at ghadir khUmm near
Mecca during the Prophet’s final pilgrimage; the
meeting between Muhammad, his family, and
the Christians from Najaran at Mubahila; and
most significant for Shia, ashUra, or the 10th of
Muharram, which is the day Husayn, one of the
Prophet’s grandson’s, was martyred at karbala
in modern-day Iraq. The annual rituals in which
Shia engage on this day and their related mean-
ings form a cornerstone of their collective iden-
tity and worldview.
The Islamic calendar is also punctuated by the
weekly Friday congregational prayers that involveK 124 calendar