Tomb of Ibn al-'Arabi

The tomb of the mystic Ibn al-‘Arabi (Murcia, 1165 – Damascus, 1240) is situated in the Syrian capital, in a quarter of the former suburb of Salihiyya which bears his name ‘Muhi al-Din’. It was restored in 1516 to 1517 and adjoins a mosque and public refectory, constructed at the command of the Ottoman sultan, Selim I (1512-1520), who, following his conquest of Syria, was returning from his victorious campaign against the Mamluks of Egypt. On fith  February, 1518, Friday prayers were celebrated for the first time in the presence of the Sultan.

This complex constitutes the first architectural imprint of Ottoman domination over Syria, and the only example of Ottoman architecture to be built for two decades. The next Ottoman construction, the Husrev Pacha Complex, was built in Aleppo in 1531-1534.

According to tradition, the victorious sultan had been visited in a dream by the emblematic figure of Sufism.  Ibn Al-‘Arabi was born in Andalusia and following a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1194, spent the remainder of his life in Seljuk Anatolia and then from 1230 inDamascus, under Ayyubid protection. This prolific writer[1], whose teachings were carried as far as India by his disciples, was thought to have predicted Selim I’s conquest of Syria and Egypt.

The mosque is the largest building of the complex. It is reached through a broad portal which unites Syrian architectural traditions with Ottoman forms. The masonry in alternate courses of bi-coloured stone is characteristic of Syrian buildings of the Ayyubid[2] and Mamluk[3] periods. The canopy is a popular form in Ottoman architecture and is particularly common on mausolea[4].

The minaret with its profile accentuated by two muqarnas cornices each supporting a balcony and its octagonal tower reminiscent of its Mamluk counterparts, is situated just behind the entrance. The courtyard with its central hexagonal fountain and its portico delimited by a broken arcade of alternating stones is strongly reminiscent, in the purity of its volumes and the serenity it embodies, of the courtyards of Ayyubid Syrian madrasas[5]. Behind the west side of the portico is the prayer hall which is accessible by three entrances; the central entrance is emphasised by its higher arch. The hypostyle prayer hall, reflecting the tradition of Syrian mosques[6] rather than the architecture of Ottoman mosques, is organised in three spaces parallel to the qibla wall, each defined by an arcade supported by columns. The mihrab also follows the Syrian tradition, with its frame and niche decorated in alternating bi-coloured stone arrangements. The prayer niche with its columns and their austere capitals supporting the springing of the slightly broken arch reflects the mihrabs of the Ayyubid period[7].  

The tomb of Ibn al-‘Arabi is not the only sanctuary to have received the patronage of the Ottoman sultans.  At the time of the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 the sultan Mehmet II ordered the construction of a complex containing a mosque, an imaret, a mausoleum and a convent on the putative site of the tomb of Abu Ayyub al-‘Ansari, the standard bearer of the Prophet at the time of the Arab invasion of Constantinople in 666. The Sultan Bayazid II (1481-1512) ordered the extension of the tomb of Djalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273) in Konya, another eminent figure of Islamic Sufism, founder of the order of the Mawlawiyya and a celebrated poet. Then, in the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent (1520-1566), his tomb was connected to a mosque and a ritual hall (semahane). The extension however, unlike the tomb of Ibn al-‘Arabi, was realised in a purely Ottoman style.

[2] Al-Firdaws Madrasa, Aleppo, Syria, 1235-1241.

[3] Madrasa of the Emir Jamqaq, Damascus, Syria, 1421. konneman, p.193.

[4] Mausoleum of Süleyman the Magnificent, 1566, Istanbul, Turkey.

[5] See note n°2.

[6] Great Mosque of Damascus, Syria, 706.

[7] Mihrâb of the Sufi monastery, al-Fararfa, Aleppo, Syria, 1237-1238. konneman, p.180.