| Famous
Mosques in Tripoli :
|
History
Emir Saif al-Din Tinal, twice governor
of Tripoli (1326 to 1333 and 1335 to 1340) built a many-domed mosque on the emplacement of
Tripoli’s Carmelite church .This church had been built by the Crusaders
outside their walled city and, after the fall of Tripoli in 1289, stood deserted and in
ruins. The main building, beneath a series of domes, has a number of granite columns with
late Roman or Byzantine capitals standing in two rows. In the center of the mosque under
the largest dome, the position of four large columns reveals the center of the Carrnelite
church. An elaborate portal of alternating black and white stone at the rear of the mosque
leads into another room. Its overhanging half dome ceiling with stalactites, the marble
plaques and inlay work competes in beauty with the main portal of the alQartawiya madrasah
.The mosque was built in the year 1336 (A.H.736).
The minaret is square with walled-up
Crusader type side windows, decorated with coussinets. It contains a double staircase.
This probably was the belfry of the Crusader church to which the governor’s
fourteenth century architects added a typical Mamluk enclosed balcony on top. Top
The mausoleum has nothing to do with
the original Carmelite church plan. It has a number of domes, one being deeply ribbed. It
is here that Saif al-DinTaylan wished to be buried besides the mosque which he built and
endowed for the inhabitants of Tripoli.
The foundation act (waqfiya) gives
a list of the properties of the Emir which he donated for the upkeep of the mosque. This
includes a garden, called al-Hamawi, on the bank of the Abou Ali River to the east of
Tripoli, two shops at the entrance of the mosque which do not exist today, a garden called
Altuntash, two shops near the market for the sale of armaments, facing the bath of
Esendemir (hammam al-Hajeb), one third of a caravanserai and the village of
ArzOntya, near Arqa. The income from this property was to go to the endowment fund of the
mosque. What remained, after expenses were paid, was to be given to the poor of Tripoli
and those in need passing through the city. But in no case, according to the wishes of the
donor, were regular sums to be given to the poor. The superintendent of the mosque had to
examine each case on its own merits, no doubt to discourage begging. Top
For the upkeep of his mausoleum,
Saif al-Din Taynal made a separate foundation act (waajiya) He appeared to be a man
of considerable means for he donated all the market-place next to the mosque Al-Arzuni
where the old clothes vendors of Tripoli were established. This included sixteen shops and
sixteen warehouses, two shops in the blacksmiths’ souk, all the shops and warehouses
which he himself had built on the emplacement called the "old court", six shops
recently built by him in the Suwaiqat al-qadi, between the two bridges which span the Abou
Ali River, a land around the mosque and a land which belonged to him near the hippodrome.
What remained, after all expenses were paid, was to be distributed to the poor, provided
each case was examined in order to avoid mis-use of the endowment fund.
Over the minbar (pulpit) of
the mosque is a short inscription stating that it was completed in the month (June11 to
July 10) 1336 (An. 736) Lastly, at the bottom of the pulpit, is a one line
inscription stating that this was the work of the carpenter Muhammad al-Safadi, the master
artisan." Top
Historical References |
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