Name of Monument:

Madrasat al-Firdaws

Location:

Outside the southern side of the old city walls, Aleppo, Syria

Date of Monument:

Begun before hegira 633 / AD 1235–6 and completed before AH 642 / AD 1240

Period / Dynasty:

Ayyubid

Patron(s):

Dayfah Khatun, Regent of Aleppo from AH 633-40/ AD 1236–42

Description:

Madrasat al-Firdaws is one of the greatest religious complexes to be erected during the Ayyubid period. Its patron was a powerful Ayyubid woman, Dayfah Khâtûn. She was Salah al-Din's niece and daughter-in-law who independently ruled Aleppo for nearly 20 years. As a resident of the Aleppo Citadel she intended that the complex be constructed as a royal mausoleum, endowing it with a turbe, a mosque, a ribat to house Sufis, a madrasa for religious education and an abundant waqf endowment.
Careful attention to proportion and geometric relationships are evidenced in the dimensions of the building. Entered by an off-centre muqarnas portal on its eastern side, the entrance leads into a long corridor that turns left into the courtyard arcade. The courtyard basin is octagonal in shape with a curvilinear and bracketed inner outline that is typically Ayyubid in design. Portions of the courtyard floor decoration, linear and geometric patterns made of basalt and limestone, have been reconstructed. The courtyard is surrounded by an iwan on its northern side and an arcade along its other three sides. Each arcade includes three bays that open up to rectangular halls with three domes each. The two corner chambers are also domed, achieving a total of 11 domes around the courtyard. The southern hall, with its central bay includes the minbar and the mihrab, made of marble in-lay and capped by a semi-circular design.
There are numerous grilled windows on all sides of the madrasa in order to ensure a view of the surrounding gardens. The most remarkable aspect of the madrasa is its exterior northern iwan, a highly unusual feature in Syrian madrasas. It probably captured a very pleasing view of the gardens as the word “Firdaws”, means both “Paradise” and “Garden” and is clearly an important part of this building's symbolism.
One of the longest continuous Arabic inscriptions in the world is carved along the entire periphery of the building's interior, measuring nearly 92 m. It is written in very elegant and clearly legible thuluth script. The eastern wall presents the patron Dayfah Khâtûn and the three other walls present religious inscriptions written in a rhyming meter. These do not relay typical Qur'anic verses usually found on monumental buildings. Rather, they offer compassionate descriptions of the Sufi experience of worship.
Another monumental inscription is located on the eastern exterior façade, emphasising the intended view of the building as well as the expansive garden. The inscription extends to nearly 40 m and it includes Qur'anic verses describing entrance into Paradise and continues with descriptions of grace, piety and other feminine royal titles of the patron. It also gives details of the complex's administration and maintenance and its obligation to the poor. The name of the building's supervisor is mentioned: 'Abd al-Muhsin; and it is dated AH 633 (AD 1235–6).

The name of this madrasa, 'al-Firdaws', means Paradise and it was certainly the intention of its patron, the famous mid AH 7th- / AD 13th-century female ruler of Aleppo, Dayfah Khatun, to invoke balance, harmony, heavenly bliss and peaceful gardens. She built this madrasa to promote religious education and spiritual growth, not just for scholars, but also for homeless travellers and wandering mystics. In addition to its architectural poise, it contains important Arabic inscriptions – some of the longest in the world – relating the piety of the patron and the charitable purpose of the building.

How Monument was dated:

The exterior and interior inscriptions refer to Dayfah Khâtûn as someone still alive, thus it was probably completed before her death in 640 / 1242.

Selected bibliography:

Allen, T., “Ayyubid Architecture”, Occidental (electronic publication 7th edition), 2003.
Burns, R., Monuments of Syria: An Historical Guide, London-New York, 1999, p.40; fig. 6.
Ettinghausen, R., Grabar, O., Jenkins-Madina, M., Islamic Art and Architecture 650–1250, New Haven,2001, p.225, p.227; fig 368.
Hammad, M., “Madrasat al-Firdaws: Essai D'Analyse” PROTéE, Vol. 33, Paris, 2005, pp.79–92; cat. no. 2.
Jalabi-Holdijk, R., Al-Madrasa al-Firdaus in Aleppo: A chef-d'œuvre of Ayyubid architecture, MA thesis, American University in Cairo, 1998.
Sauvaget, J., Alep, Essai sur le développement d'une grande ville syrienne des origines au milieu du XIXe siècle, 2 vol., Paris, 1941.
Tabbaa, Y., “Geometry and Memory in the Design of the Madrasat al-Firdaws in Aleppo”, Theories and Principles of Design in the Architecture of Islamic Societies, Massachusetts, 1988, pp.23–34.
Tabbaa, Y., Constructions of Piety and Power in Medieval Aleppo, Pennsylvania, 1997, pp.169–82.
Ghazzi, K., Nahr al-Dhahab fi Tarikh Halab [The River of Gold in the History of Aleppo], Aleppo, 1923–6, pp.289–90.
Talas, Muhammad As'ad, Al-Athar al-Islamiyya wa al-Tarikhiyya fi Halab [Islamic and Historic Monuments in Aleppo], Damascus, 1957, pp.63–4.

Citation of this web page:

Zena Takieddine, Samer Abd al-Ghafour "Madrasat al-Firdaws" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2025. 2025.
https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;sy;Mon01;4;en

Prepared by: Zena TakieddineZena Takieddine

Zena Takieddine is a researcher of Arab history and Islamic art. She received her BA in history (with distinction) from the American University of Beirut, and her MA in art and archaeology (with distinction) from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She has a diploma in art and antique connoisseurship from Sotheby's, London. Her fields of interest include pre-Islamic Arabian epigraphy and the development of the Arabic script, early Islamic art and architecture, Arab miniature painting, the study of intercultural influences between Islamic civilisation and the Christian West during the medieval period, and post-colonial methodology in the study of history and identity., Samer Abd al-Ghafour
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: SY 04