As-Siqayah
As-Siqayah al-Mansurah (Arabic: السقاية المنصورة). A place for drinking water, ablution or washroom. (المتوضا أو المطهرة)
It is accessed through bab Al-Madharah - باب المطهرة - (western wall side of Al-Aqsa Mosque), near bab Al-Qattanin, outside the border of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Al-Malik Al-Adil Saf ad-Din Abubakr Ahmed ibn Najm ad-Din Ayyubi known as Saphadhin to the Crusaders and "sword of faith" to the western world. A gifted and effective administrator and organizer. (From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193-1260 by R. Steven Humphreys, SUNY Press 1977, P.155),who was also the brother of Salah ad-Din Ayyubi, ordered it to be built in the year 589 AH/1194 CE. The entire construction was during the Ayyubi period except for the entrance where there is an inscription panel dating the building (refer to inscription No:28).
It was supplied with water through Sabil Canal and it was renovated in the year 666 AH/1268 CE by Ala ad-Din al-Basir. (Al-Uns al-Jalil bi-tarikh al-Quds wa al-Khalil: P.31 by Mujir ad-Din al-Ulaym al-Hambali). Al-Basir is a nickname that means “astute, insightful” (Tellor, Mathew (2022) “The Dome and the African Palestinians” Jerusalem Quarterly Institute for Palestine Students (89): P.94-95). It was called as-Siqayah al-Mansurah named after sultan al-Mansur Qalawun.
It was described by the traveller ibn Fadl-Allah al-Umari in the year 746 AH/1345 CE: “and next to this gallery is bab at-Taharah which consists of two places of purification, one for women and the other for men. Men’s purification chambers include 23 rooms and a large fountain…” and he mentions that the ladies purification chambers are located above the men’s purification chambers. (Masalik ul-Absar by ibn Fadl-Allah al-Umari)
In the Ottoman period it was called al-Madharah -المطهرة- and it was renovated and expanded by the Supreme Islamic Council, and then recently through the reconstruction committee of Awqaf in order to accommodate the increase in the number of worshippers, especially in the month of Ramadan.
References:
1.From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193-1260 by R. Steven Humphreys, SUNY Press 1977, P.155
2.Al-Uns al-Jalil bi-tarikh al-Quds wa al-Khalil: P.31 by Mujir ad-Din al-Ulaym al-Hambali
3.Tellor, Mathew (2022) “The Dome and the African Palestinians” Jerusalem Quarterly Institute for Palestine Students (89): P.94-95
4.Masalik ul-Absar fi-Mamalik al-Amsar by ibn Fadl-Allah al-Umari
5.Inscriptions in Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa.
