The Foundation of Ba Ybars Al-Jashankir: Its Waqf, History, and Architecture

LEONOR FERNANDES THE FOUNDATION OF BA YBARS AL-JASHANKIR: ITS WAQF, HISTORY, AND ARCHITECTURE The purpose of this study is to examine one of the Muhammad is known to have built or restored several earliest extant Mamluk khanqahs, that of Baybars al zawiyas, among them those for the two Tarturiyya Jashankir (Index 0] Mohammedan Monuments in Cairo, no. brothers, Muhammad and Ahmad, and for Shaykh 32; built in 1306-10), in the light ofits endowment deed Taqiy al-Din Rajab al-CAjami. 5 (waqfiyya) and the historical sources contemporary to it. Despite their sponsoring of shaykhs, however, and The reasons for selecting this particular foundation are their involvement in the construction of zawiyas, three: first, the building is in fairly good condition; sultans as weil as amirs were not yet ready openly to second, its waqfiyya and contemporary sources provide endorse the institution still disapproved of by the information that allows us to determine its plan and majority of the ulema and]uqahä) Only on rare occa functions with a reasonable degree of darity; and third, sions do we see the name of a royal or amirial patron both the building and the sources enable us to deter appear on the inscriptions of zawiyas they built or mine how the monument was inserted into a complex endowed with waqfs. One ofthese rare exceptions is on urban fabric and thus grasp the difficulty of the task the zawiya built in 1379 for Shaykh Hajji Rajab al the "architect"l was given when he was asked to Shirazi al-Haydari by Amir Barquq.6 put up a building that would satisfy both his patron While patronage of popular Sufism by the ruling and the unwritten architectural laws defining funerary dass was cautious and restrained, its endorsement of architecture of the period. 2 In addition, the political orthodox Sufism based on the Sunna was more open considerations that reinforced the historical importance and led to the sponsorship of official Sufi foundations. of this particular Sufi foundation will be examined in Despite the founding of a number of khanqahs before the light of the development of organized orthodox Baybars's time, however, non€ had been built in the Sufism and the evolution of the khanqah, its official religious center of al-Qahira proper since Salah al institution. Din' s transformation of the F atimid palace of Sacid al The introduction of the khanqah into Egypt by Salah SuCada) into a foundation for Sufis. It was precisely in al-Din in 1173 and its establishment as a religious an effort to identify himselfwith Salah al-Din, the great institution officially sponsored by the state set the champion of Sunnism, that Baybars put up his monu precedent for patronizing Sufi foundations. Although it ment to Sufism in the midst of Fatimid Cairo. By so was not until the Mamluks came to power that the doing he opened the way for the fuH integration of the institution underwent the full development that led to khanqah institution into Mamluk society and ensured its complete acceptance by the rcligious dass and its the historical importance of his foundation forever. integration into Egyptian society, 3 from the early The building complex-khanqah, qubba, ribat Ayyubid period onward, the ruling dass nurtured a Baybars al-Jashankir had built lies within the walls of growing interest in Sufism in the popular form al-Qahira on Bab al-Nasr street in what is now the expressed by the orders (tarzqa). Accordingly a special quarter of al-Jamaliyya. Like his peers, Baybars chose rclationship developed between some Sufi shaykhs and to build his religious foundation on a valuable site-his members of the ruling elite who sought to extend their was once occupied by the Dar al-Wizara, a Fatimid patronage to their mentors by building them founda palace. It had stood near the Rahbat Bab al-cId, the tions (zäwiya) and providing them with rich endow famous square from which the Fatimid caliph used to ments (waqf). Shaykh al-Khidr (d. 1277), a protege of leave his palace surrounded by his private guard and Baybars al-Bunduqdari, for example, built a number of retinue and, joined by the rest of the army, attend the 4 zawiyas for Baybars in Egypt and Syria. Al-Nasir prayers of Cld. 7 22 LEONOR FERN AN DES Between the Fatimid overthrow in 1171 and the year master's complex and on a Fatimid palace site. In 1203, the morphology of the square (ra~ba) had Baybars's case, other factors mayaIso have affected his remained practically unchanged. From the early thir choice oflocation, the most important ofthem being his teenth century, however, urban development began to admiration for Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, whom he tried encroach upan it, and it was gradually filled in with to emulate. Like hirn, Baybars was a strong supporter houses, mosques, and other structures. 8 In the Ayyubid ofthe Sharica and was said to be fanatically religious;11 period, the sites occupied by the Fatimid palaces had he chose to build a khanqah to house Sunni Sufism, attracted royal religious foundations, mainly madrasas. and he chose to place it ne ar the Fatimid Dar Sacid al Salah al-Din, for example, soon after seizing power, SuCada) which had been transformed into a khanqah by authorized the building of a number of madrasas, and Salah al-Din in 1173Y the capital of the Shici caliphs was soon to become the Finally, a practical consideration mayaIso have main center for the diffusion of Sunni Islam. induced Baybars to choose the particular location he At the end of the Ayyubid period a woman named did: he was aware that building materials were Shajar al-Durr initiated a further development by available on the site ready to be reused. We are told by adding a funerary dome to a madrasa that had been Maqrizi that Baybars did take a considerable amount built in the center of al-Qahira by her husband, Salih of building material from the Fatimid Dar al-Wizara, Najm al-Din Ayyub, the last of the Ayyubid sultans. including the famous Abbasid window, one of the This madrasa, the Salihiyya, which had been com insignia of the caliphate in Baghdad. 13 Creswell, who pleted in 1243 on the Bayn al-Qasrayn,9 was already studied the architecture of this building, wrote: "Two the scene of an important ceremony-the swearing of pieces of woodwork from this building are preserved in the oath. By adding the mausoleum to commemorate the Museum of Muslim Art. One is a window shutter her husband's death in 1249, Shajar al-Durr enhanced consisting of a frame and two leaves ... (reg. # 480) ... the importance of the street to the point where sub se and is probably loot from a Fatimid palace, perhaps the quently this parade route became the symbolic and Palace ofthe Wazirate which occupied the same site. Its visual locus for Mamluk claims to power and legiti measurements show that it would exactly fit the lateral macy.l0 As a result, the Qasaba, the main artery of al window of this vestibule ... The other piece ... (reg. Qahira, became the "royal avenue" along which # 478) ... appears to be the door of a cupboard .... " 14 Mamluk rulers built funerary foundations for them selves and their families. Baybars al-Bunduqdari built According to Maqrizi, the construction of the his madrasa in 1262-63 next to that of Salih Najm al khanqah of Rukh al-Din Baybars al-Jashankir al Din; Qala)un built his complex in 1284-85 opposite Mansuri was begun in the year 706 (1306), when the that of his former master; and al-cAdil Kitbugha began latter was still amir. The foundation consisted of a canstruction on his madrasa next to Qala)un's com khanqah next to which Baybars built a large ribat, plex. Kitbugha's building was then bought and com whose access was from inside the khanqah. Next to it pleted by al-Nasir Muhammad, son of Qala)un, in he also erected a dome (qubba), under which his tomb 1304. Later al-Zahir Barquq, who had usurped power is located. The dome has windows giving onto the street from one of the descendants of Qala)un and put an end that runs between the Rahbat Bab al-cId and the Bab to Qala)unid rule, chose to build his funerary complex al-Nasr. Among them is a large window, the signifi next to the madrasa of al-Nasir Muhammad. The last cance of which Maqrizi explains in his discussion of the royal construction on this main avenue is that of al khanqah: Ghawri at the end of the Circassian period. While this avenue seemed at first to be reserved ... and this dome has windows glvmg onto the street mainly for royal religious foundations, the rest of the [that runs] from the Rahbat Bab al-cId to Bab al-Nasr. Among the windows is the large window (shubbiik) brought area was covered by Fatimid palaces and attracted by Abu'l Harith al-Basasiri 15 from Baghdad, when he high-ranking amirs. As a mamluk slave who had defeatcd the Abbasid Caliph al-Qa)im and sent [to the gradually risen to power during his master's lifetime Fatimid caliph] his turban and a window that had been in and reached high position under the latter's son al the Dar al-Khilafa in Baghdad and at which the caliphs Nasir Muhammad, Baybars was bound to follow the used to sit. This is the window that I have mentioned in the seetion on Akhbar Dar al-Wizara in this book.

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