Al-Daher

[1] According to the district map (below), and the census,[2] it is subdivided into the qisms (police wards) of al-Wayli and el-Daher, or al-Zahir (Arabic: الظاهر, IPA: [edˈdɑːheɾ, ezˈzˤɑːheɾ]).

[3] After the conquest of Cairo by the Mamluks, the new sultan al-Zahir Baybars built his eponymous mosque over the polo grounds in 1268.

[3] Until the mid 19th Century, the area north of the mosque was the rural fringe of Cairo, consisting of the villages of El-Waylia, El-Demerdash, El-Mohamady and the Kobba palace izba (hamlet).

[4] In 1849, Egypt's ruler, Abbass Pasha I, redeveloped the area into the Abbasia neighbourhood.

[4] However, by the late 19th Century the area was sparsely developed, where the contractor and real estate developer Sakakini Pasha bought a parcel of "swampy mosquito infested" land immediately north of al-Zahir mosque, and built a radial grid development in 1897, with his circular palace placed in the middle of the grid.