thumbnail|Bab Zuwayla
Bab Zuwayla or Bab Zuweila () is one of three remaining gates in the city walls of historic Cairo in Egypt. It was also known as Bawabat al-Mitwali or Bab al-Mitwali. The gate was built in 1092 by the Fatimid vizier Badr al-Jamali. The two minaret towers on top of it were added between 1415 and 1422 as part of the construction of the adjacent Mosque of Sultan al-Muayyad. This name was given because Fatimid soldiers from this tribe were lodged in this area when the gate was first created during the Fatimid founding of Cairo in 969.
The gate later acquired the popular name Bab al-Mitwali According to art historian Caroline Williams, this name dates from the Ottoman period. The name Mitwali comes from Mitwali al-Qutub, a Muslim saint (wali), possibly fictional, who became associated with the area of the gate.
Historical uses
The gate also served as a venue for public executions and the heads of executed criminals or political enemies were often put on display on spikes above the gate. The last Mamluk sultan, Tuman Bay II, was hanged here in 1517 on the orders of Selim II after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt. The gate was still used as a place of execution in the time of Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century.
In the early Mamluk period, sultans would sit on the platform above the gate to watch the procession carrying the mahmal (ceremonial palanquin) as part of the annual pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca. This is then followed by the Throne Verse of the Qur'an. The Shi'i wording is indicative of the Fatimid period and the full inscription was probably similar to those of the contemporary Bab al-Futuh and Bab al-Nasr gates.