The Ottoman-School

The Ottoman School)

The Ottoman School

The Ottoman School in Al Aqsa Mosque is a historic school located in the southern part of Masjid Al-Aqsa Compound in Jerusalem. It was established during the Ottoman period in the late 16th century and is one of the oldest and most significant Islamic institutions in the city.

The Ottoman School is located at the Bab ut Tahara, next to Al- Ashrafiyah School. It is named after Asfahan Shah Khatun Bint Mahmoud Al-’Uthmaniyah, a Turkish Lady, who established this school in 840 AH/1436 CE. The school consists of two floors and several rooms and can be reached through a beautiful Mamluk entrance. There are two tombs to the left side of the entrance; one of them is for the lady who endowed it.

The School was designed to provide education and training to young Muslim students in the fields of Islamic law, theology, and Arabic language.

The school's architecture reflects the Ottoman style, with its distinctive use of domes, arches, and intricate tilework. The building is made of local Jerusalem stone, which gives it a warm, reddish hue, with alternating red and white stones and it is adorned with a series of intricate geometric patterns and calligraphy that are typical of Ottoman design.

The Ottoman School played an important role in the intellectual and cultural life of Jerusalem during the Ottoman period. It served as a center for Islamic learning and scholarship, attracting students and scholars from across the Islamic world. Many of the most prominent scholars and religious leaders of the time taught and studied at this school, and it was known for its rigorous academic standards and its commitment to preserving Islamic traditions.

The Ottoman School was damaged in the history by Zoinists. The Supreme Islamic Council restored the structure, but it was subsequently damaged by Israeli excavations. The school musallah was seized by the Israel extremists, giving the pretext that they have to create ventilation for a Zionist tunnel underneath Masjid al Aqsa.

Reference

"The Ottoman School of Al-Qibli in Al-Aqsa Mosque: An Archaeological and Architectural Study," by Mahmoud Hawari, Journal of Islamic Archaeology, vol. 3, no. 1 (2016): 55-76.

"The Al-Qibli School in Al-Aqsa Mosque: An Ottoman Legacy in Jerusalem," by Ibrahim Abu Shindi, in Jerusalem in History: Essays in Memory of Michael Avi-Yonah, ed. by Yoram Tsafrir, Joshua Prawer, and Shimon Applebaum (Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1991), pp. 355-370.

"Ottoman Jerusalem: The Jerusalem of Suleyman the Magnificent and his Successors," by Sylvia Auld, in The Ottoman Empire and its Heritage, vol. 26: The Ottoman City between East and West: Aleppo, Izmir, and Istanbul, ed. by Edhem Eldem, Daniel Goffman, and Bruce Masters (Leiden: Brill, 1999), pp. 307-332.

"The Ottoman School of Al-Qibliya in Al-Aqsa Mosque: Architecture, History and Current Uses," by Ali Qleibo, Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Studies, vol. 6, no. 1 (2018): 1-9.