unfortunate would be seized and given to another. This was very much
the case in Cairo in the olden days, and khalifs and cadis, muftis and
pashas, were not very scrupulous about whose money or possessions they
administered, and even to-day in some Mohammedan countries it is not
always wise for a man to grow rich.

[Illustration: A MOSQUE INTERIOR.]

And so it was that in order to escape robbery in the name of law many
wealthy merchants preferred to build during their lifetime a mosque or
other public building, while money left for this purpose was regarded
as sacred, and so the many beautiful sebīls and mosques of Cairo
came into existence.

Egypt is so old that even the Roman times appear new, and one is
tempted to regard these glorious buildings of the Mohammedan era as
only of yesterday. Yet many of the mosques which people visit and
admire are older than any church or cathedral in England. We all think
of Lincoln Cathedral or Westminster Abbey as being very venerable
buildings, and so they are; but long before they were built the
architecture of the Mohammedans in Egypt had developed into a perfect
style, and produced many of the beautiful mosques in which the Cairene
prays to-day.

As a rule the mosque was also the tomb of its founder, and the dome
was designed as a canopy over his burial-place, so that when a mosque
is _domed_ we know it to be the mausoleum of some great man, while the
beautiful minaret or tower is common to all mosques, whether
tomb-mosque or not.