Aleppo: Masons
Date: 1183-96
The Mashhad al-Husayn was started soon after 1174 with construction continuing until 1237. A medallion above the mihrab in the prayer hall names two other masons, Abi al-Raja and Abi ʿAbdallah, sons of Yahya. Yahya’s name is followed by an epithet (nisba) that could be read as al-Kistafi, al-Rustafi or al-Rastani. This inscription belongs to the late twelfth century. The same craftmen appear in an inscription above the mihrab of the Madrasa al-Shadbakhtiyya (completed in 1193).
Citation: Yasser Tabbaa, Constructions of Power and Piety in Medieval Aleppo (University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997), pp. 119-20.
Date: 1193
The Madrasa al-Shadbakhtiyya was completed in 1193 (589 H). This is first Ayyubid madrasa in the city and carries a foundation inscription naming the imām Abu Hanifa, the ruler, al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi, and the patron, Shadbakht, a manumitted slave of al-Malik al-ʿAdil Mahmud. A circular medallion located below this inscription gives the name of the mason as Qasim son of Saʿid. A medallion above the mihrab in the prayer hall names two other masons, Abi al-Raja and Abi ʿAbdallah, sons of Yahya. The same craftmen appear in an inscription above the mihrab of the contemporary, Mashhad al-Husayn.
Citation: Yasser Tabbaa, Constructions of Power and Piety in Medieval Aleppo (University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997), pp. 134-35.