ʿAlā ad-Dīn al-Baṣīr (, died 1294) was a

mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

who became an

emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

. He was a supervisor of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

waqf A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...

charitable endowments () and inspector of the Two Noble Sanctuaries () of Jerusalem and

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

. He lived during the final years of the Ayyūbid dynasty (under aṣ-Ṣāliḥ) and the beginning of the Mamlūk dynasty (under

Baybars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari (; 1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), commonly known as Baibars or Baybars () and nicknamed Abu al-Futuh (, ), was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria, of Turkic Kipchak origin, in the Ba ...

and Qalāwūn).

Names

* ʿAlā ad-Dīn al-Baṣīr (): is a nickname that means "astute, insightful" (). The nickname also becomes () and / () in placenames. * ʿAlā ad-Dīn Aydughdī ibn ʿAbdallāh aṣ-Ṣaliḥī an-Najmī (): is a nisba (noun + ), meaning he was a

of aṣ-Ṣāliḥ Najm ad-Dīn, an Ayyūbid emir. * ʿAlā ad-Dīn Aydughdī ar-Ruknī (): may refer to

(), a Mamlūk sultan whom he served. p.198 "quant à Rukni, il se rapporte peut-être à Baibars, qui était surnommé Rukn al-dīn." He is not to be confused with ʿAlā ad-Dīn Aydughdī ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Kubakī (al-Kabakī), buried in the Kubakiyya mausoleum in the

Mamilla Cemetery Mamilla Cemetery, sometimes called Ma'aman Allah Cemetery (), is a historic Muslim cemetery in West Jerusalem that dates back to the Crusades, and lies just to the west of the north-west corner of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, near th ...

Legacy

He was responsible for a number of building projects in Jerusalem. Some places in the city bear his name. * Aladdin Ribat (ʿAlā ad-Dīn al-Baṣīr Ribat) / al-Baṣīrī Mosque, a

ribat A ribāṭ (; hospice, hostel, base or retreat) is an Arabic term, initially designating a small fortification built along a frontier during the first years of the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb to house military volunteers, called ''murabitun' ...

outside the

Inspector's Gate The Inspector's Gate (or the Council Gate, ) is one of the gates of the al-Aqsa Compound (). It is the second-northernmost gates in the compound's west wall, after the :commons:Ghawanima Gate, Bani Ghanim Gate. It is north of the :commons:Iron ...

. During its construction, he used his cane as a yardstick and found a measurement mistake that sighted people overlooked. It includes his tomb/shrine and homes to a community of Afro-Palestinians. **

(ʿAlā ad-Dīn al-Baṣīr Gate) was named after the ribat. ** Aladdin Street: named after the ribat. * al-Būṣayrī Sabil (al-Baṣīr Sabil), a

sebil A sabil or sebil (; ) is a small kiosk in the Islamic architectural tradition where water is freely dispensed to members of the public by an attendant behind a grilled window. The term is sometimes also used to refer to simple unmanned fountain ...

(fountain) named after him. * Ablution Gate and the Ablution Place west (outside) of the gate: restored by him.. A map of ʿUthmāniyya Madrasa, with the ablution place to its west. He also built structures in

: * A bathhouse: He drew up its plan while he was blind. * A storage installation () for wheat and barley.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ala ad-Din al-Basir Year of birth unknown 1294 deaths Slaves from the Ayyubid Sultanate 13th-century people from the Mamluk Sultanate Mamluk emirs Blind royalty and nobility