Ǧāmiʿ at-Tawbā

 

North of Baradā, about 300 m. from Bāb al-Faraǧ, in the ʿUqaybā quarter, east of Sūq Sarūǧā, at the south end of the antique hippodrome, which extended over the Daḥdāḥ cemetery.

Masǧid at-Tawbā (1) is located outside Bāb al-Farādīs (an-Nuʿaymī).

Al-Malik al-ʾAšraf Mūsā, son of al-ʿĀdil, in the year 632 (2), demolished the H̱ān of emir Faẖr ad-Dīn al-Zinǧārī at al-ʿUqaybā, because it sheltered people of bad morals and blamable doings, and gave orders to transform it into a great mosque, the name of which should be Ǧāmiʿ at-Tawbā.

Ǧāmiʿ at-Tawbā, at al-ʿUqaybā, built by al-Malik al-ašraf Mūsā son of al-ʿĀdil, in the year 632, formerly known as H̱ān al-Zinǧārī, where all sorts of illicit deeds and sins were committed by singers and the like. . . . Something very amusing happened (3), as the poet ibn az-Zuwaytinīyyā told me in 647 (4) when in Cairo, on a diplomatic mission for the lord of Ḥimṣ. When al-ʾAšraf wanted a preacher for this new mosque, several were proposed, and he chose al-Ǧamāl as-Sibtī, then at al-Madrasa aš-Šāmīyyā, but who had been before dancer and ǧaġānā (5) player; after his death, al-ʿImād al-Wāsiṭī became his successor, a great drinker.

1. Mosque of Repentance.

2. 1234-1235 CE.

3. Ibn H̱allikān, and Sauvaire (p 238-239). 

4. 1249-1250 CE.

5. An instrument consisting of a stick to which three cymbals were attached. 

Ernst Herzfeld. Damascus, Studies in Architecture IV. Ars Islamica XIII-XIV 1948 (p. 118-138).