Madrasā ar-Ruknīyyā, aṣ-Ṣālihīyyā

Madrasā ar-Ruknīyyā extra muros, built in 621 AH (1) by the emir Rukn ad-Dīn Mankūrs al-Falakī, ġulām (2) of Falak ad-Dīn, brother of al-malik al-ʿĀdil; he was one of the most virtuous emirs, who talked little and gave alms plentifully (3).

Mankūrs al-Falakī, great emir, Rukn ad-Dīn ʿĀdili, lieutenant of Egypt for al-ʿĀdil, once also of Damascus, built, on Qāsīūn, a turbā and a madrasā and endowed it with a great number of waqfs. He had built another madrasā in the quarter north of the Great Mosque, inside Bāb al-Farādīs. He died in 631 (4) at Ǧayrūd and was buried in his turbā (5). 

Foundation inscription:

١ - بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ. هذا ما أوقَفَهُ العبدُ الفقيرُ إلى رَحْمَةِ ريّهِ الغازي المجاهد

٢. ركن الدين منكورس الفلكي العادلي المعظّمي برسم دفنه بها، وقد وقفَ على مصالحِها وزيت وشمع وحصر

٣.  وجامكيّة قيّم ومقرئين جميع الدار التي داخل باب الفراديس من قبلي المدرسة الفلكيّة تُعْرَف 

٤. قديماً بدار قطلوتمر، تمّ وقفُ السدسِ من حانوتين بالخوّاصين، وجميع الجنينة التي قبلي نهر اليزيد بالصالحيّة، وثلث ونصف

٥. التسع من الدار المُجاوِرة للجنينة من غَرْبِها، والسدس من البستان والجوسق

٦. والطاحون الذي من أراضي النيرب يُعْرَف قديماً بالقاضي البهجة، كلّ ذلك على ما نصّ وشرح في كتاب الوقف، لا يحلّ لأحد 

٧. يؤمِنُ بالله العظيم تغيير ذاك ولا تبديله، فَمَن بَدَّلَهُ بَعْدَمَا سَمِعَهُ فَإِنَّمَا إِثْمُهُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ يُبَدِّلُونَهُ وذلك في سنة إحدى وعشرين وستّمائة

Over the windows on the south façade of the turbā, inscription in seven lines, Nasẖī, small letters:

1. In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate, this is what the humble, the one in need of his Lord's mercy, the warrior, the fighter of the Holy War, 

2. Rukn ad-Dīn Mankūrs, client of Falak ad-Dīn, al-ʿĀdilī, al-Muʿaẓẓamī, has founded as waqf (and) to be buried in it. He has established as waqf for its maintenance, for the oil, the candles, the mats, 

3. and the salary of a guardian and of reciters of the Koran (what follows): the entire house inside the Bāb al-Farādīs, south of the Madrasā al-Falakīyyā, 

4. formerly called the House of Qaṭlūtamar; furthermore, a sixth of the two shops in the basket-makersʾ bāzār; the entire garden south of Nahr Yazīd at aṣ-Ṣāliḥīyyā; a third and a half of 

5. the ninth of the house bordering upon the west side of the garden; a sixth of the entire garden belonging to the fields of an-Nayrab, formerly known under the name of the founder; a sixth of the garden and mansion 

6. and mill belonging to the fields of an-Nayrab, formerly called qāḍī al-Bahǧā; all this under the detailed stipulations of the act of the waqf. It is not permissible for anyone 

7. who believes in Allah the Most Great to change that or replace it. Then, whoever changes the bequest after hearing it, the sin shall be on those who make the change, and that in the year 621 (6). 

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1. 1224 CE. 

2. White slave. 

3. An-Nuʿaīmī (I-398). 

4. 1233-1234 CE. 

5. Aḏ-Ḏahabī. 

6. Sauvaire p. 306. 

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Ernst Herzfeld. Damascus, Studies in Architecture III. Ars Islamica XI-XII 1946 (p. 1-71).