This mosque is known as the “Alabaster Mosque”, in reference to the marble panels on its interior and exterior walls.

​

The mosque's twin minarets are the tallest in Egypt, at 84 meters high each.

The mosque was built in the Turkish style and consists of an open courtyard and a prayer hall. The prayer hall is a square space topped by a large central dome surrounded by four semi-domes and four shallow domes at the corners. Inside the mosque are two minbars (pulpits). The original one is of wood decorated in green. The other is a later addition of marble.   

​

In the outer courtyard is a copper clock tower that Louis Philippe of France gave to Muhammad Ali Pacha in 1262/1845. Muhammad Ali Pacha reciprocated the gesture with an obelisk of Ramses II (c. 1279-1213 BC) that stood in front of the Luxor temple. Today it stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris.