Madrassah Al-Saqraqiyah

The best preserved is the al-Saqraqiya built in 1359 (A.n.760) with the attached mausoleum of its founder Saif ed-Din Aqturaq, the Chamberlain . His coat of arms appears on the lintel above and between each pair of windows on the façade It consists of a circular shield crossed by a horizontal bar, through which is thrust what appears to be a sword or a dagger. The inscription gives us fascinating details on the financial arrangements made by him before his death for the endowment of his madrassah Saifed-Din Aqturaq appears to have been a man of some means because he bequeathed the following for the permanent use of his institution: two adjacent fields in the district of Hisn al-Akrâd in the province of Tripoli, two adjoining gardens in the village of Rashin to the north of Tripoli, a group of four shops located on the east side of the “Souk of Pastry-makers in Tripoli, a house adjacent to the mosque, a group of three houses adjacent to the “Khan of the Egyptians,” three quarters of a house north of the caravanserai near the “Old Bridge” of Tripoli and the oven called Karr KhtiIid.

The revenues from these properties were destined for the construction and decoration of the madrasah and tomb-chapel or mausoleum. Next, a sum of money was set aside for salaries: forty dirhams for the imarn, fifty dirhams for two muezzin who were to take turns calling the faithful for prayer, thirty dirhams for the superintendent of the mosque and mausoleum,and fifty dirhams for five persons who were to recite one quarter of the Koran, one after the other, then all in unison.Fifteen dirhams were set aside for the purchase of oil, candles and the necessary equipment to sweep and to carry water. Water for the ablutions basin, it appears, was brought to the madrasah by the aqueduct of the city.Furthermore on Mondays and Thursdays the superintendent must distribute three dirhams of bread and one dirham of water, cooled by snow, at the door of the mausoleum. Eleven dirhams were put aside for the distribution each month of clothing for orphans, widows and the poor. Saif ed-Din Aqturaq also specified, if the income of the foundation was not all spent, that what remained should be gWen to his descendants, provided they were poor. If there were no needy among them, then the sum should be distributed among those who beg at the door of his mausoleum. The inscription further states -that the foundation act (waqfiya) was presented to the religious court of Tripoli and registered in its archives.