'Ala ad-Din al-Basir

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Ê¿AlÄÊ¼ ad-DÄ«n al-Baá¹£Ä«r (see names below, died 1294) was a mamluk who became an emir. He was a supervisor of Jerusalem's waqf charitable endowments (nÄáºir al-awqÄf)^[1]^[2]

and inspector of the Two Noble Sanctuaries (nÄáºir al-á¸¤aramayn ash-SharÄ«fayn) of Jerusalem and Hebron.^[3]

He lived during the final years of the AyyÅ«bid dynasty (under aá¹£-á¹¢Äliá¸¥) and the beginning of the MamlÅ«k dynasty (under Baybars and QalÄwÅ«n).^[2]

Names

Ê¿AlÄÊ¼ ad-DÄ«n al-Baá¹£Ä«r (Ø¹ÙØ§Ø¡ Ø§ÙØ¯ÙÙ Ø§ÙØ¨ØµÙØ±): al-Baá¹£Ä«r is a nickname that means "astute, insightful" (âØ¨ØµÙØ±â).^[4] The nickname also becomes al-Baá¹£Ä«rÄ« (Ø§ÙØ¨ØµÙØ±Ù) and al-BÅ«á¹£ayrÄ«/al-BÅ«á¹£airÄ« (Ø§ÙØ¨ÙØµÙØ±Ù) in placenames.
Ê¿AlÄÊ¼ ad-DÄ«n AydughdÄ« ibn Ê¿AbdallÄh aá¹£-á¹¢aliá¸¥Ä« an-NajmÄ« (Ø¹ÙØ§Ø¡ Ø§ÙØ¯ÙÙ Ø§ÙØ¯ØºØ¯Ù Ø¨Ù Ø¹Ø¨Ø¯ Ø§ÙÙÙ Ø§ÙØµØ§ÙØÙ Ø§ÙÙØ¬ÙÙ): aá¹£-á¹¢aliá¸¥Ä« an-NajmÄ« is a nisba (noun + -Ä«), meaning he was a mamluk of aá¹£-á¹¢Äliá¸¥ Najm ad-DÄ«n, an AyyÅ«bid emir.^[5]
Ê¿AlÄÊ¼ ad-DÄ«n AydughdÄ« ar-RuknÄ« (Ø¹ÙØ§Ø¡ Ø§ÙØ¯ÙÙ Ø§ÙØ¯ØºØ¯Ù Ø§ÙØ±ÙÙÙ): ar-RuknÄ« may refer to Baybars (Rukn ad-DÄ«n), a MamlÅ«k sultan whom he served.^[2]

He is not to be confused with Ê¿AlÄÊ¼ ad-DÄ«n AydughdÄ« ibn Ê¿AbdallÄh al-KubakÄ« (al-KabakÄ«), buried in the Kubakiyya mausoleum in the Mamilla Cemetery.

Legacy

He was responsible for a number of building projects in Jerusalem. Some places in the city bear his name.

Aladdin Ribat (Ê¿AlÄÊ¼ ad-DÄ«n al-Baá¹£Ä«r Ribat) / al-Baá¹£Ä«rÄ« Mosque,^[6]^[7] a ribat outside the Inspector's Gate. During its construction, he used his cane as a yardstick and found a measurement mistake that sighted people overlooked.^[8] It includes his tomb/shrine and homes to a community of Afro-Palestinians.^[4]
- Inspector's Gate (Ê¿AlÄÊ¼ ad-DÄ«n al-Baá¹£Ä«r Gate) was named after the ribat.
- Aladdin Street: named after the ribat.^[9]
al-BÅ«á¹£ayrÄ« Sabil (al-Baá¹£Ä«r Sabil), a sebil (fountain) named after him.^[10]
Ablution Gate and the Ablution Place west (outside) of the gate: restored by him.^[11]^[12]^[3]

He also built structures in Hebron:

A bathhouse: He drew up its plan while he was blind.^[2]
A storage installation (maghÄliq) for wheat and barley.^[5]

References

[1]
Ibn TaghrÄ«birdÄ«, AbÅ« al-Maá¸¥Äsin YÅ«suf; Wiet, Gaston (1932). Les biographies du Manhal safi (in French). Imprimerie de l'Institut franÃ§ais d'archÃ©ologie orientale. p. 85. 'AlÄ' ad-dÄ«n AidugdÄ«, RuknÄ«, â 693/1294. NÄáºir al-awá¸³Äf, Ã JÃ©rusalem
[2]
Berchem, van, M. (1922). MatÃ©riaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum. 2e partie. Syrie du Sud. Tome 1er. JÃ©rusalem "Ville" (in French). Cairo: Impr. de l'Institut franÃ§ais d'archÃ©ologie orientale. [p.198â199] inspectuer des fondations de JÃ©rusalem (nÄáºiru auqÄfi l-qudsi) p.198 "quant Ã Rukni, il se rapporte peut-Ãªtre Ã Baibars, qui Ã©tait surnommÃ© Rukn al-dÄ«n."
[3]
Hawari, Mahmoud (2007). Ayyubid Jerusalem (1187-1250). Archaeopress. ISBN 978-1-4073-0042-9. [The Ablution Gate] was ruined and was rebuilt by Ê¿AlÄÊ¼ ad-DÄ«n al-Baá¹£Ä«r, when he restored the Ablutions Place [...] al-Baá¹£Ä«r served as the nÄzir al-á¸¤aramayn (the superintendent of the Two á¸¤arams of Jerusalem and Hebron) during the reign of al-áºÄhr Baybars.
[4]
Teller, Matthew (2022). "The Dom and the African Palestinians". Jerusalem Quarterly (89). Institute for Palestine Studies: 94â95.
[5]
Sharon, Moshe (2013). Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae. Vol. 5. Brill. p. 188. ISBN 978-90-04-25481-7. The great Ê¿AlÄÊ¼ ad-DÄ«n the blind is AydughdÄ« b. Ê¿Abdallah aá¹£-á¹¢aliá¸¥Ä« an-NajmÄ« (the MamlÅ«k of aá¹£-á¹¢Äliá¸¥ Najm ad-DÄ«n AyyÅ«b MS) ... during the reign of aáº-áºÄhir Baybars and al-Maná¹£Å«r QalÄwÅ«n ... He built the lockable installation (al-maghlaq) in the town of our master al-KhalÄ«l
[6]
"Mosques in Jerusalem". Madain Project. The Aladdin Al-Busairi Mosque (ÙØ³Ø¬Ø¯ Ø¹ÙØ§Ø¡ Ø§ÙØ¯ÙÙ Ø§ÙØ¨ØµÙØ±Ù) [...] nine meters long and eight meters wide [...] next to it is the shrine of Aladdin Al-Busairi [...] in this Ribat, and it was restored it in 1971 after it was previously used as a prison.
[7]
"ÙØ³Ø¬Ø¯ Ø¹ÙØ§Ø¡ Ø§ÙØ¯ÙÙ Ø§ÙØ¨ØµÙØ±Ù". Qudsinfo (in Arabic).
[8]
Rabbat, Nasser (2010). Mamluk History through Architecture: Monuments, Culture and Politics in Medieval Egypt and Syria. Bloomsbury. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-78673-386-3. Using his cane as a yardstick, he even discovered a mistake in the measurement of a hall in his ribat [...] that went unnoticed by his clear-sighted muhandisin [architects/surveyors âÙÙÙØ¯Ø³â] and their assistants.
[9]
Teller, Matthew (2022). Nine Quarters of Jerusalem. Profile Books. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-78283-904-0. Tariq Ala ad-Din (Aladdin Street) â named not for the man but for his tomb
[10]
BAR International Series. British Archaeological Reports. 1978. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-86054-820-1. SabÄ«l Baá¹£Ä«rÄ« [...] is named after [...] Ê¿AlÄÊ¼ ad-DÄ«n al-Baá¹£Ä«r, but the present structure was erected at the expense of a pious Muslim pilgrim, IbrahÄ«m al-RumÄ«, in 1435
[11]
"Siqayat al-Malik al-Ê¿Adil Abu Bakr / Cistern". Institute for International Urban Development.
[12]
"Map". Institute for International Urban Development.. A map of Ê¿UthmÄniyya Madrasa, with the ablution place to its west.

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