The dome is fluted (ribbed) and pointed, with an octagonal drum or base. On the inside, the transition from the octagonal base of the dome to the rest of the square chamber is achieved through a series of superimposed niches acting as squinches and giving the vague impression of muqarnas (stalactite-like) forms. These foreshadowed the more elaborate muqarnas pendentives that would increasingly be used in later Islamic architecture in Cairo. The drum of the dome also is pierced with ornate lobed windows with stucco grilles, a rare form for such windows that is only seen again in the windows of the much later Sinan Pasha Mosque.
