Mosque, Waqf, And Education: Waqf-Based Educational Institutions at the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus in the 5th–10th / 11th–16th Centuries
In Islamic society, mosques have functioned not only as places of worship but also as multifunctional spaces. The Prophet Muhammad’s construction of al-Masjid al-Nabawī in Madina is considered the first and most foundational example of this multifunctional structure. The mosque served as a central institution where divine revelation was delivered, social issues were discussed, scholarly circles were established, and the Islamic community was shaped. This model was adopted in later periods in newly conquered or founded Islamic cities, where mosques became centers of both religious and scholarly activity. In this context, the Umayyad Mosque (al-Jāmiʿ al-Umawī) in Damascus stands out not only for its architectural and historical value but also for the intense scholarly activity it hosted over the centuries. Constructed during the reign of the Umayyad caliph al-Walīd b. ʿAbd al-Malik, the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus witnessed a growing scholarly vibrancy during the Zengid, Ayyubid, and Mamluk periods. Especially with the rise of the Zengids, Damascus once again became a significant political center, and this political prominence directly influenced the development of scholarly institutions in the city. The Umayyad Mosque and its surroundings thus became one of the most vibrant and institutionalized scholarly environments not only in Damascus but across the Islamic world.
This article examines the emergence and functioning of waqf-based teaching circles within the Umayyad Mosque between the 11th and 16th centuries. Although scholarly activities in the Islamic world often took place in informal settings, sources such as al-Nuʿaymī’s al-Dāris fī tārīkh al-madāris provide valuable insights into the presence of long-standing teaching assemblies held within the mosque, supported by endowments and referred to by various names. The sabʿ circles, for example, were gatherings of hundreds of students focused on Qurʾanic recitation, while the mīʿād sessions stood out as systematic hadith lessons attended directly by the broader community. According to al-Nuʿaymī, over a thousand students participated in the sabʿ, clearly demonstrating the educational intensity within the mosque.
The data derived from al-Nuʿaymī’s al-Dāris and subsequent analyses indicate that the influence of the Umayyad Mosque as a scholarly center shaped the spatial distribution of educational institutions throughout Damascus. Indeed, the area between the Umayyad Mosque and the Citadel of Damascus emerged as the most concentrated zone of waqf-based scholarly institutions in the city. The accumulation of various institutions in this area—such as madrasas, dār al-ḥadīth, dār al-Qurʾān, and khānqāhs—created an intense scholarly infrastructure rarely paralleled in the Islamic world. In this regard, the Umayyad Mosque stands as one of the most exemplary cases for observing the institutional and spatial interplay between mosque, endowment, and knowledge.
Moreover, it is noteworthy that some of the teaching circles in the Umayyad Mosque were supported by waqfs, allocated specific spaces, and became institutionalized under names such as madrasa, dār al-ḥadīth, or zāwiya. Institutions such as the Ḥimṣiyya, ʿUrwiyya, Khiḍriyya, Ghazāliyya, Kūsiyya, Tājiyya, Safīniyya, ʿIzzīyya Ḥanafiyya, Munajjāʾiyya, the Ḥanafiyya maqṣūra, and the Mālikī Zāwiya—analyzed in detail in this article—operated within the mosque and were often affiliated with specific legal schools. These institutions sometimes functioned as independent educational bodies and at other times as permanent study circles within designated areas of the mosque.
The architectural structure of the Umayyad Mosque allowed scholars from various disciplines and madhhabs to conduct educational activities in the same space, transforming it from a mosque into a veritable center of knowledge. Considering the qualifications of the teachers, the diversity of endowments, and the large student population associated with these waqf-based teaching circles, it becomes evident that the educational activities in the mosque exhibited a highly systematic and continuous character. The fact that prominent scholars such as al-Ghazālī, Ibn al-Ḥājib, al-Mizzī, al-ʿAlāʾī, and Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī taught here further demonstrates that the Umayyad Mosque was not only central to Damascus but also influential throughout the entire Islamic world.
In conclusion, this article reveals how the Umayyad Mosque transcended its classical role as a place of worship and developed into a multifaceted educational and scholarly center supported by the waqf system. It sheds light on the historical dynamics of the institutional structure shaped around the triangle of mosque, endowment, and knowledge.
Harun YILMAZ
