Al-Ghuri died of a heart attack while fighting the Ottoman Turks outside Aleppo, following the defection of Amir Khayrbak in the midst of the battle.

[citation needed] Harsh punishments were imposed on people during his reign for crimes committed or during money collection.

[4] In order to build his own funerary complex in the heart of Cairo's market zone along al-Muizz Street, al-Ghuri confiscated and demolished a number of properties including shops, residences, and an older madrasa founded by a eunuch named Mukhtass, which provoked strong criticism.

[4][1][5] The royal mausoleum was intended to not only house the sultan's tomb but also a number of relics related to Muhammad and a Qur'an volume alleged to have belonged to Caliph Uthman.

The mausoleum of Azrumuk in the Northern Cemetery, built in 1503-04 around the same time, is also decorated with blue tiles which must have come from the same workshop.

[7] The mosque was inaugurated with a great banquet in May 1503 on the eve of Eid al-Adha, with major officials and the symbolic Abbasid caliph al-Mustamsik in attendance.

After his conquest of Egypt in 1517, the Ottoman sultan Selim II had this marble decoration removed in turn and taken to Istanbul.

[1] The funerary complex has a remarkable layout as a double architectural composition, with two blocks straddling the main street in the heart of medieval Cairo.

Although the dome and the minaret are separated by the street, they were conceived as a single, harmonious composition and were united by blue ceramic decoration.

The columns at the corner of the mosque and the mausoleum have capitals of Coptic and Byzantine styles, indicating that the Mamluk craftsmen were imitating pre-Islamic designs.

[1] The central courtyard is open to the sky and was originally covered with a netting to prevent birds from flying inside.

Along the top edge of the dadoes, all around the courtyard, runs a fine and ornate Kufic Arabic inscription inscribed with black bitumen inset into a white marble background.

[1][11] The spandrels of the northern and southern iwan arches feature central medallions carved with the epigraphic blazon of Sultan al-Ghuri.

[10] The main facade of the funerary compound is paneled with recesses crowned with a rectangular muqarnas crest, unlike the mosque façade.

[12] Today visitors enter the building through a side entrance to the north on Sharia al-Azhar, instead of through the historic main portal on al-Muizz street.

[1] This leads to an internal open air-courtyard which gives access to the different parts of the complex and which formerly contained a graveyard for members of al-Ghuri's family.

[1][12] On the south side, behind a decorated façade with rows of windows and an elaborate cornice of muqarnas, is an enclosed maq'ad or qa'a, a reception hall.

[16][5] The mausoleum itself is a large square chamber covered by what was originally a brick dome, today replaced by a flat wooden roof.

[16] In addition to this, the chamber features a series of calligraphic compositions carved into vertical black marble panels along the walls, unprecedented in Mamluk art.

[1] The transition zone between the square chamber and the round dome is achieved through four very long pendentives carved with muqarnas.

Some of his family members were buried here, including his daughter in 1505, followed by his 13-year-old son (Nasir al-Din Muhammad) and his mother.