Saladin’s Pious Foundations in Damascus: Some New Hypotheses Anne-Marie Eddé

Abstract

Throughout his life, Saladin displayed a particular affection for Damascus. It was there he spent much of his youth and where he embarked on his political career under the tutelage of his father, uncle and master Nur al-Din. Damascus was the city in which Saladin liked to live between military campaigns, and it was there that he died in 589/1193. This chapter examines a set of historical reports that shed light on the associational affiliations of some of the buildings and institutions in Damascus during the twelfth century. It questions the allocation of some of these reports to either Saladin or Nur al-Din, and to either to Maliki or Shafi، schools of law. In the chapter, the focus is on the al-Kallasa madrasa and the Malikite madrasa. The chapter looks at the nature of al-Kallasa and determines whether it is simply a madrasa as it has always been assumed, or whether it is simply an annexe of the Umayyad Mosque. It also focuses on the founder of the Malikite madrasa near the hospital of Nur al-din. The chapter seeks to determine whether this work should be seen as Nur al-Din’s or Saladin’s. Determination of the founder of the Malikite madrasa provides a glimpse into the interest and concern shown by these rulers.