[2][3] The mosque is located in Islamic Cairo, on the east side of al-Muʿizz Street, just south of Bab al-Futuh (the northern city gate).

[1] His successor, al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh, and his overseer Abu Muhammad al-Hafiz 'Abd al-Ghani ibn Sa'id al-Misri, resumed construction work in 1002–1003.

[12] In 1303, during the Mamluk period, the mosque was severely damaged by an earthquake and was subsequently restored by Sultan Baybars II al-Jashankir.

[1][13] In 1980, the mosque was extensively reconstructed and refurbished in white marble and gold trim by Mohammed Burhanuddin, the head of the Dawoodi Bohra, an international Shia sect based in India.

[3] Remnants of the original decorations, including stucco carvings, timber tie-beams, and Quranic inscriptions were preserved, but most of the mosque's present interior dates from this reconstruction.

[5] It also involved the demolition of the Mamluk-era tomb of Qurqumas, which stood right in front of the mosque and which was subsequently relocated to the Northern Cemetery.

The project encompassed various tasks such as addressing water damage, strengthening wooden structures, refurbishing chandeliers, installing security cameras, and updating electrical wiring.

This central aisle is further emphasized by its greater width and height, as well as by the presence of a dome, carried on squinches, that covers the space directly in front of the mihrab.

[citation needed] The minarets were originally built in 1003, but the massive bastion towers or salients (referred to as arkān in Arabic sources) that define their lower parts today were added in 1010, after their initial construction, for reasons that remain unclear.

[6] The outer wall of the southern encasing bastion also features an Arabic inscription in foliated Kufic carved in marble, from the Fatimid period.

[5] O'Kane suggests that the minarets of al-Hakim's Mosque were designed to reflect and symbolize Fatimid sovereignty over those holy sites at the time.

[5] In another analysis, art historian Jennifer Pruitt suggested that the modification to the minarets was due to al-Hakim's shifting ideologies and policies in his later reign.

[2][6] According to Pruitt, these latter inscriptions are relevant to al-Hakim's puritanical policies in his later years as well as his unusual order to destroy the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which happened around the same time in 1009 or 1010.

She also notes the austerity of the encasing bastions in contrast with the richly-decorated original towers, as well as their resemblance to other Sunni (i.e. non-Fatimid) minarets of the era.

Accordingly, she suggests that al-Hakim's decision to obscure the original minarets was part of his complex shift away from traditional Fatimid Isma'ili doctrines, his re-imagining of himself as a universal ruler and purveyor of justice, and his will to symbolize this in his architectural program.

[6] The upper parts of the minarets, which extend above the thick square towers that encase their lower sections and are visible today, have octagonal bodies culminating in a "mabkhara"-style head with carved muqarnas decoration.

[13][5][1] An Arabic inscription band in Naskhi script on the outer eastern flank of the northern minaret likely dates from the time of Baybars II.

At the top, colonnades of the arches of the mosque are embellished with a gypsum band of floriated Kufic inscriptions of the Quran which averages approximately 52 cms in width.