Turbat Rayḥān

 

On the lintel of a grilled window, on the façade, an inscription of five lines, in a strikingly awkward style, occupies a tabula ansata:

١. بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيم ............

٢. ............

٣. ............ هاذي تربة العبد الفقير إلى رحمة الله

٤. ريحان بن عبد الله عتيق الملك المعظّم ابن الملك العادل رَحِمَهُ الله المعروف بلالات الملك العزيز ابن الملك العادل

٥. رَحِمَهُ الله عمّروها في سنة أحد وأربعين وستّمائة رَحِمَهُ الله ورَحِمَ من ترحّمَ عليهِ ورَحِمَ جميعَ المسلمين 

Lines 1-3: Basmalā and Qurʾān or Ḥadiṯ, then

3. This is the turbā (1) of the slave in need of Allah's mercy

4. Rayḥān, son of ʿAbd Allah, freedman of al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam, son of al-Malik al-ʿĀdil, may Allah have mercy upon him, known as Lālāt (2) al-Malik al-ʿAzīz (3), son of al-Malik al-ʿĀdil

5. may Allah have mercy upon him; he built it in the year 641 (4). May Allah have mercy upon him and upon he who pleads for Allah's mercy upon him and upon all Muslims

1. Mausoleum.

2. Tutor.

3. ʿAzīz ʿUṯmān (son of al-Malik al-ʿĀdil) did not reign, and it is therefore unclear where the title "al-Malik" came from.  

4. 1243-1244 CE. 

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