'Ala ad-Din al-Basir
ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn al-Baṣīr (see names below, died 1294) was a mamluk who became an emir. He was a supervisor of Jerusalem's waqf charitable endowments (nāẓir al-awqāf)[1][2] and inspector of the Two Noble Sanctuaries (nāẓir al-Ḥaramayn ash-Sharīfayn) of Jerusalem and Hebron.[3]
He lived during the final years of the Ayyūbid dynasty (under aṣ-Ṣāliḥ) and the beginning of the Mamlūk dynasty (under Baybars and Qalāwūn).[2]
Names[edit]
- ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn al-Baṣīr (علاء الدين البصير): al-Baṣīr is a nickname that means "astute, insightful" (بصير).[4] The nickname also becomes al-Baṣīrī (البصيري) and al-Būṣayrī/al-Būṣairī (البوصيري) in placenames.
- ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Aydughdī ibn ʿAbdallāh aṣ-Ṣaliḥī an-Najmī (علاء الدين ايدغدى بن عبد الله الصالحي النجمي): aṣ-Ṣaliḥī an-Najmī is a nisba (noun + -ī), meaning he was a mamluk of aṣ-Ṣāliḥ Najm ad-Dīn, an Ayyūbid emir.[5]
- ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Aydughdī ar-Ruknī (علاء الدين ايدغدى الركنى): ar-Ruknī may refer to Baybars (Rukn ad-Dīn), a Mamlūk sultan whom he served.[2]
He is not to be confused with ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Aydughdī ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Kubakī (al-Kabakī), buried in the Kubakiyya mausoleum in the Mamilla Cemetery.
Legacy[edit]
He was responsible for a number of building projects in Jerusalem. Some places in the city bear his name.
- Aladdin Ribat (ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn al-Baṣīr Ribat) / al-Baṣīrī Mosque,[6][7] a ribat outside the Inspector's Gate. During its construction, he used his cane as a yardstick and found a measurement mistake that sighted people overlooked.[8] It includes his tomb/shrine and homes to a community of Afro-Palestinians.[4]
- Inspector's Gate (ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn al-Baṣīr Gate) was named after the ribat.
- Aladdin Street: named after the ribat.[9]
- al-Būṣayrī Sabil (al-Baṣīr Sabil), a sebil (fountain) named after him.[10]
- Ablution Gate and the Ablution Place west (outside) of the gate: restored by him.[11][12][3]
He also built structures in Hebron:
- A bathhouse: He drew up its plan while he was blind.[2]
- A storage installation (maghāliq) for wheat and barley.[5]
References[edit]
- ^ Ibn Taghrībirdī, Abū al-Maḥāsin Yūsuf; Wiet, Gaston (1932). Les biographies du Manhal safi (in French). Imprimerie de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale. p. 85.
'Alā' ad-dīn Aidugdī, Ruknī, †693/1294. Nāẓir al-awḳāf, à Jérusalem
- ^ a b c d Berchem, van, M. (1922). Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum. 2e partie. Syrie du Sud. Tome 1er. Jérusalem «Ville» (in French). Cairo: Impr. de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale.
[p.198–199] inspectuer des fondations de Jérusalem (nāẓiru auqāfi l-qudsi)
p.198 "quant à Rukni, il se rapporte peut-être à Baibars, qui était surnommé Rukn al-dīn." - ^ a b Hawari, Mahmoud (2007). Ayyubid Jerusalem (1187-1250). Archaeopress. ISBN 978-1-4073-0042-9.
[The Ablution Gate] was ruined and was rebuilt by ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn al-Baṣīr, when he restored the Ablutions Place […] al-Baṣīr served as the nāzir al-Ḥaramayn (the superintendent of the Two Ḥarams of Jerusalem and Hebron) during the reign of al-Ẓāhr Baybars.
- ^ a b Teller, Matthew (2022). "The Dom and the African Palestinians". Jerusalem Quarterly (89). Institute for Palestine Studies: 94–95.
- ^ a b Sharon, Moshe (2013). Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae. Vol. 5. Brill. p. 188. ISBN 978-90-04-25481-7.
The great ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn the blind is Aydughdī b. ʿAbdallah aṣ-Ṣaliḥī an-Najmī (the Mamlūk of aṣ-Ṣāliḥ Najm ad-Dīn Ayyūb MS) ... during the reign of aẓ-Ẓāhir Baybars and al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn ... He built the lockable installation (al-maghlaq) in the town of our master al-Khalīl
- ^ "Mosques in Jerusalem". Madain Project.
The Aladdin Al-Busairi Mosque (مسجد علاء الدين البصيري) […] nine meters long and eight meters wide […] next to it is the shrine of Aladdin Al-Busairi […] in this Ribat, and it was restored it in 1971 after it was previously used as a prison.
- ^ "مسجد علاء الدين البصيري". Qudsinfo (in Arabic).
- ^ Rabbat, Nasser (2010). Mamluk History through Architecture: Monuments, Culture and Politics in Medieval Egypt and Syria. Bloomsbury. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-78673-386-3.
Using his cane as a yardstick, he even discovered a mistake in the measurement of a hall in his ribat […] that went unnoticed by his clear-sighted muhandisin [architects/surveyors مهندس] and their assistants.
- ^ Teller, Matthew (2022). Nine Quarters of Jerusalem. Profile Books. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-78283-904-0.
Tariq Ala ad-Din (Aladdin Street) – named not for the man but for his tomb
- ^ BAR International Series. British Archaeological Reports. 1978. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-86054-820-1.
Sabīl Baṣīrī […] is named after […] ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn al-Baṣīr, but the present structure was erected at the expense of a pious Muslim pilgrim, Ibrahīm al-Rumī, in 1435
- ^ "Siqayat al-Malik al-ʿAdil Abu Bakr / Cistern". Institute for International Urban Development.
- ^ "Map". Institute for International Urban Development.. A map of ʿUthmāniyya Madrasa, with the ablution place to its west.
