Name of Monument:

Zawiya al-Qadiriyya

Also known as:

Zawiya al-Afghaniyya

Location:

The zawiya is located within the old city on the northern side of Tariq Barquq, between Bab al-Ghawanima – one of the gates of the Haram al-Sharif – and Tariq al-Wad, Jerusalem

Date of Monument:

Hegira 15th Muharram 1043 (AD 22nd July, 1633)

Period / Dynasty:

Ottoman

Patron(s):

Muhammad Pasha, Ottoman Governor of Jerusalem, one of the most prominent overseers of architecture in Jerusalem in the first half of the AH 11th / AD 17th century, whose benevolence was particularly directed to the Sufi Orders.

Description:

The Zawiya al-Qadiriyya is considered to be one of the few buildings in Jerusalem whose original architectural design and fabric have been preserved without any fundamental changes and which still carries out its original function to this day. The zawiya was bestowed with a generous waqf (endowment) and a large number of people still work within it. It is associated with Sheikh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (d. AH 561 / AD 1166), the founder of the Qadiriyya Sufi Order in the Islamic world. It is called al-Afghaniyya because a group of Afghans have resided there for the past few decades.
It has two outer facades, one on the west and the other on the south. The western façade is simple in its construction and is composed of a series of cut-stone courses of medium size. There are no openings within the west façade except those for small windows that allow natural light into the interior. The principle, southern façade holds the zawiya's sole entrance accessed by means of three ascending steps from street level. The entrance portal, framed on each side by a stone bench or mastaba, is placed within a receding recess delineated by a pointed arch. Mounted in front of the arch is a stone panel on which a four-line inscription in naskhi script is carved. The inscription includes the name of the zawiya, the Sufi Order with which it was associated, the name of the Order's founder and the date of construction.
The entrance leads to a narrow barrel-vaulted passageway, 1.90 m long and 1.5 m wide, which leads to an irregularly shaped but rectangular open courtyard that measures around 400 sq m. A large area of the courtyard is planted with a variety of trees and plants corresponding with the description that appears on the waqf document that dates back four centuries. Eleven Sufi cells flank the south and west sides of the courtyard, they are similar in form and design but are different in their surface detail. Each cell is provided with a door and a small window overlooking the courtyard. On the north side of the courtyard are the quarters dedicated to the amenities of the zawiya and the assembly hall specifically for the Sufis, this area is composed of two levels: the ground level is original, while the upper floor was added subsequently and was used as the residence for the sheikh of the zawiya. The zawiya includes a mosque which is located to the east of the entrance and reached by means of a staircase. The floor plan of the mosque is rectangular. It is composed of a prayer hall which is divided into two sections by a tapered arch and covered with two shallow domes. Twelve windows allow light and air to enter into it.

View Short Description

Despite the passing of four centuries since the foundation of the Zawiya al-Qadiriyya, it still carries out the function that it was built for: the gathering of dhikr (singing) circles of the Qadiriyya Sufi order. No changes have been made to the original ground floor of the building. The building is composed of a gate which precedes a large open plaza cultivated with trees. Surrounding the square are cells for the Sufis, an assembly hall, a mosque and service rooms. The upper storey was added in a subsequent stage of the building history, as a residence for the sheikh of the zawiya.

How Monument was dated:

The building is dated by an epigraphic inscription found on the entrance arch. The waqf document in the registry of the Shari'a Court of Jerusalem (No. 122, pp.232–6) also helps to ascertain the date.

Selected bibliography:

Natsheh, Y., “Al-Zawiya Al-Qadiriyya”, in S. Auld and R. Hillenbrand (eds). Ottoman Jerusalem: The Living City 1517–1917 (Part I), London, 2000.
Pilgrimage, Sciences and Sufism: Islamic Art in the West Bank and Gaza, p.101.

Citation of this web page:

Yusuf al-Natsheh "Zawiya al-Qadiriyya" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;pa;Mon01;30;en

Prepared by: Yusuf Al-NatshehYusuf al-Natsheh

Yusuf Said Natsheh is a Palestinian and since 1997 he has been Director of the Department of Islamic Archaeology in al-Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem. He is a lecturer at al-Quds University. He was educated in Jerusalem and Cairo and in 1997 obtained his Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Dr Natsheh is a council member of many Palestinian societies for architectural heritage and a consultant for various projects on Jerusalem. He has written books and more than 40 articles about Jerusalem's architectural heritage including the architectural survey of Ottoman architecture in R. Hillenbrand and S. Auld (eds) Ottoman Jerusalem: The Living City 1517–1917 (London: Altajir World of Islam Trust, 2000). He has contributed to many international and national conferences. He supervised the restoration project, sponsored by the Arab League, on Mamluk monuments in and around al-Haram al-Sharif, and was Palestinian expert for the UNESCO mission to Jerusalem in 2004.

Copyedited by: Majd Musa
Translation by: Amal Sachedina (from the Arabic).
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: PA 30

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 Artistic Introduction

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Islamic Dynasties / Period

Ottomans

Almohads


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