The story
An ascetic’s tomb in his garden west of the city, with a 19th-century minaret and dome.
- 1The tomb of Sheikh al-Qabbari
- 2The 19th-century minaret and dome
- 3The story of Baybars and the sheikh
The Alexandria Governorate’s landmarks page says Sheikh al-Qabbari’s mosque stands in western Alexandria, in the area known by his name, El Qabbari, in West District. Al-Qabbari was the ascetic Sheikh Abu al-Qasim Mohamed ibn Mansour ibn Yahya al-Maliki of Alexandria, born in 587 AH (1191); he died in the house he had built in the middle of his garden and was buried on its western side on 6 Shaaban 662 AH (1264).
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The same page tells, after the historian Ibn Wasil, how Sultan Baybars visited him in his garden and asked whether he needed anything, and the sheikh answered: “I want you to see to the fortifying of Alexandria.”
A small mosque was raised over his tomb and enlarged in the 19th century, the work to which the minaret and the dome belong. The landmarks page credits the enlargement to Mohamed Said Pasha; the visitors’ guide on the district’s page credits Mohamed Ali Pasha.
The picture here is a historic postcard of about 1900, published by “Khardiache F.” as “Mosquée de Gabbari”, showing the mosque with its crenellated walls and minaret among palms. The card does not name the saint, but what it shows matches the governorate’s description.
