Women also championed the building of ribats (religious fortifications) and khanqahs, (dervish convents), first as a refuge for religious warriors but later used as places of worship and accommodation for the poor.
Education was another sphere where women were active as patrons, exemplified by the elaborate educational complex in Cairo, Madrasa of Umm Sultan Sha‘ban, built by the mother of the Mamluk Sultan Sha‘ban. Others provided schools (kuttabs, madrasas) to further the education of girls. Yet other charitable work included the patronage of hospitals (bimaristans) such as that adjoining the Great Mosque of Divriği, commissioned by Turan Melik who lived in the 7th / 13th century, and that constructed by order of Aziza Othmana, who lived in the 11th / 17th century.