Al-Khanqah as-Salahiyya Mosque

Al-Khanqah as-Salahiyya Mosque
Al-Khanqah as-Salahiyya Mosque
مسجد الخانقاه الصلاحية
	Ottoman period
Religion
Affiliation	Islam
District	Jerusalem
Location
Location	Christian Quarter, Old City, Jerusalem
Architecture
Type	Mosque
Style	Ayyubid, Ottoman
Minaret(s)	1

The Al-Khanqah as-Salahiyya Mosque (Arabic: مسجد الخانقاه الصلاحية al-Khānqāh aṣ-Ṣalāḥiyya) is an Islamic place of worship located in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, north of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.^[1]^[2]^[3] It was named after Saladin, who endowed it. As the name indicates, the complex was originally a khanqah, a place for gatherings of Sufi Islamic adherents, including dervishes. The complex today comprises the mosque as well as a school, a public sitting room, rooms for military officers, a dining room for wayfarers, small rooms for guards, and a very small room for Saladin’s spiritual retreat.^[4]

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History

The building is situated on the former palace of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Following the Crusader surrender of Jerusalem to Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn (Saladin) in 1187, it became al-Khānqāh aṣ-Ṣalāḥiyya (lit. 'the lodge of Saladin'). The building comprised a mosque, a school, a public sitting room, rooms for military officers, a dining room for wayfarers, and small rooms originally for guards, as well as a very small room for Salah ad-Din (Saladin)'s spiritual retreat. As the name indicates, it has also been a Khanqah, a convent of Sufi adherents.^[4]

The minaret was built in 1417, during the Mamluk period.^[5]^[6] The minaret is almost identical to that of the Mosque of Omar, located on the other side of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.^[2] The two minarets were obviously designed as a pair; a line connecting the two minarets would intersect the door of the Tomb of Jesus inside the church, and the minarets are equidistant to that door^[7] with their tops at exactly the same elevation despite starting at different ground levels.^[8]