Khanqah
The Khanqah is located in the area of al-Saliba, outside Cairo proper. It is directly opposite the Mosque of Shaykhu, which it is associated with. It was built in 756 or 1355 C.E., six years after the Mosque by Shaykhu with the intention that it would serve as both a madrasa, a school, and a khanqah, a Sufi monastery. It is the earliest known khanqah-madrasa of the Mamluk period. It had the capability to house residences of the general populace. In addition to the khanqah, there were also two baths and a row of stores with small residences in the second story above the shops constructed by Shaykhu. He arranged lectures of each of the four legal schools (Shafi‘i, Hanafi, Maliki, and Hanbali), a lecture on the hadith of the prophet, and a lecture on the seven readings of the Qur’an. He assigned a teacher and a group of students to each lecture. Shaykhu “appointed as teacher of the Shafi‘i legal scholars Baha’ al-Din Ahmed ibn ‘Ali al-Subki; for the Maliki legal scholars, the Shaykh Khalil, who had a military manner and ran the study group like his own fief; for the Hanbali legal scholars, the chief judge Muwaqqif al-Din al-Hanbali. He installed our Shaykh Akmal al-Din Muhammad ibn Mahmoud as head of the khanqah and teacher of the Hanafis. He also organized and financed food for the students and a monthly allotment of basic necessities. The reputation of the khanqah grew across the region and many notable persons of learning from the era graduated from there. It had the prestige of increasing its prosperity beyond every pious endowment in Egypt. This surplus ultimately led to the khanqah’s downfall, as the Sultan al-Nasir Faraj confiscated the money. The condition of the khanqah, once meticulously kept, declined until falling behind in payments promised to the holders of various positions needed to support the khanqah.
The building itself took seven months to complete. A faddan of land is 4200sqm and Shaykhu acquired a little more than that for the khanqah and surrounding baths and shops. The foundation inscription in the entrance portal mentions the founder’s name with the humble sufi attribute ‘al-‘abd al-faqir’ which translated means ‘the poor slave.’ The inscription on the khanqah’s minaret differs from the mosque, as the khanqah includes the Qur’an passage XXII, 27 referring to the Hajj under the title “The Pilgrimage:” “Proclaim the Pilgrimage to all people. They will come to you on foot and on every kind of swift mount, emerging from every deep mountain pass” (Qur'an). Presumably, the khanqah was used to host foreign travelers passing through Cairo on their way to Mecca.
The khanqah is constructed around a courtyard, with an arcaded prayer hall on one side and living units occupying three floors on the other three sides. Instead of increasing the thickness of the wall to even out the irregular shape of the building, the prayer hall is extended past the courtyard along the street, which is similar to the style of the mosque, creating an additional space in the eastern corner, covered by a wooden dome. This is the tomb of Akmal al-Din, who died during the reign of Sultan Barquq in 786 or 1384 C.E. The Sultan revered Akmal al-Din that he ordered his burial within the khanqah, not a common occurrence for a shaykh, but Akmal al-Din was the supervisor of the endowment and even Shaykhu might have stipulated the location of his burial. Shaykhu himself is reportedly buried within the khanqah, indicating that he changed his mind after the completion of the mausoleum attached to his mosque. This modification would be coherent with his self-view as a Sufi, as expressed in the foundation inscription of the Sufi monastery he built.
The Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hasan is a monumental mosque and madrasa located in Salah al-Din Square in the historic district of Cairo, Egypt. It was built between 1356 and 1363 during the Bahri Mamluk period, commissioned by Sultan an-Nasir Hasan. The mosque was considered remarkable for its massive size and innovative architectural components, and is still considered one of the most impressive historic monuments in Cairo today.
A khanqah or khangah, also known as a ribat (رباط), is a building designed specifically for gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood or tariqa and is a place for spiritual practice and religious education. The khanqah is typically a large structure with a central hall and smaller rooms on either side. Traditionally, the kahnqah was state-sponsored housing for Sufis. Their primary function is to provide them with a space to practice social lives of asceticism. Buildings intended for public services, such as hospitals, kitchens, and lodging, are often attached to them. Khanqahs were funded by Ayyubid sultans in Syria, Zangid sultans in Egypt, and Delhi sultans in India in return for Sufi support of their regimes.
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The Mosque and Mausoleum of Amir Ahmad al-Mihmandar which is also referred to as the al-Mihmandariyya college (madrasa) was founded during the third reign of al-Nasir Muhammad in the area of Darb al-Ahmar in Cairo.
