CAIRO, March 20 (MENA) - President Abdel Fattah El Sisi arrived early Thursday morning at the Sayyida Nafisa Mosque, in preparation for its reopening after undergoing extensive second-phase renovations that lasted several months.

The reopening ceremony began with the performance of the Fajr (dawn) prayers at the mosque, during which verses from the Holy Quran were recited by Sheikh Abdel Fattah el Tarouty.

The mosque is named after Sayyida Nafisa, the great granddaughter of Hasan, the older of the Prophet Muhammad's two grandsons. She was the wife of Ishaq al-Mutamin, the son of the sixth Shii imam, Jafar al-Sadiq. She emigrated with him from the Hejaz to Egypt and settled in Fustat (Old Cairo). She was famous for her piety and scholarship. She taught hadith to the jurist Imam al-Shafii and had a great reputation for possessing barakah (blessings from God) and performing miracles. Traditionally she is considered among the city's patron saints. Her shrine is located in Cairo's Southern Cemetery. It is said that she built it herself and read the Quran there long before her death. The shrine's prominence dates to the Fatimid period, and the structure has been repeatedly embellished and rebuilt. The present mosque dates to 1897.
(MENA)
R E E/