Talk:Madrasa al-Ashrafiyya

Another Madrasa Al-Ashrafiyya? Any connection to Al-Ashraf Khalil?

I wonder if there is another Madrasa Al-Ashrafiyya, say, in Cairo? And did it have something to do with Al-Ashraf Khalil?

According to al-Maqrizi, writing about Mamluk rule in 1291, several places were mentioned when sultan al-Ashraf Khalil allocated their revenue to a waqf named Medreseh-Aschrafieh.(al-Maqrizi, 1845, vol 2, p. 131)

So was there another Madrasa Al-Ashrafiyya? Or was this Madrasa first funded by Al-Ashraf Khalil? Huldra (talk) 21:54, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

I'm confident that's referring to two different places. According to Behrens-Abouseif ("Cairo of the Mamluks", page 142-143) Al-Ashraf Khalil's mausoleum in Cairo had a madrasa attached to it (as most Mamluk mausoleums did): it was founded in 1288, before he came to the throne, and then he expanded it and its waqf in 1291 after his capture of Acre. So those dates seem to fit and Maqrizi must be referring to the one in Cairo. Today I think very little of the Cairo monument is left other than the mausoleum, so English sources would just refer to it as the "Tomb of al-Ashraf Khalil" or something like that. R Prazeres (talk) 22:14, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

User:R Prazeres thanks! Very interesting! My second question though: Any connection to Al-Ashraf Khalil? Huldra (talk) 22:56, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

Between him and this madrasa in Jerusalem? I don't think so. I don't know of any reference to al-Ashraf Khalil and the madrasa on this site. The coincidence is simply with the fact that Qaytbay was named al-Ashraf too. I just remembered that Khushqadam apparently founded a madrasa on the same site just before Qaytbay, so I'll go add a mention of that to the page now, but Qaytbay completely rebuilt it anyways. R Prazeres (talk) 23:12, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

Very interesting, thanks! If any "Tomb of al-Ashraf Khalil" in Cairo was identified (any pictures on commons?) it would be great, Huldra (talk) 23:34, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

There's no article about it as far as I know but there are a few pictures at the Commons category here. I've seen it myself and I can upload pictures of the exterior if helpful in the future. You can see a picture of the interior decoration here. There are apparently plans to renovate it too (see this). Cheers! R Prazeres (talk) 23:57, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

Thanks, that was very useful! I hope you start an article about it! Cheers, Huldra (talk) 23:08, 3 June 2021 (UTC)