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Water has decisively conditioned the life of Al-Qods Al-Shareef. Although this city's existence has been dependent for its water supply on the Spring of Oumm Ad-Durj, which was the prime mover in siting and starting the earliest settlement form of Al-Qods, its inhabitants were to suffer severe occasional shortages of water from this spring. However, the city's inhabitants throughout the ages have struggled so hard to secure water supplies and have succeeded. In time, water availability has encouraged the setting up of constructions connected with water, including hammams (public Turkish baths), ornate drinking fountains, water conduits, and reservoirs in Al-Qods. The many pools and reservoirs indicate that this city had to deal with water shortages, particularly because of drought periods but also because of the fast-growing population. Thus, water has been piped to the city from the Valley of Al-'Arûb (360) which is located between Al-Qods and Al-Khalīl. As the demand grew further, water was also piped from other springs, such as 'Aïn Fāra and Ras Al-'Aïn.
In addition to the above-mentioned springs, the following is a list of the main
springs and wells that have supplied water to Al-Qods :
- 'Aïn Salwān,
which was the main water supply source to Al-Qods, and which had several names,
including 'Aïn Jījûn, 'Aīn Oumm Ad-Dourj, and 'Aīn Al-'Adhrā' (361)
Aïn Salwān is located 300 metres away from the south-east angle of Al-Haram.
From the earliest times, this spring has been mentioned many times in travel
books and travel literature in general. Some authors have even gone as far as
claiming that its waters could cure many ailments, that its underground 360.
There are seven springs in the Valley of Al-'آrûb
: Farīdīs, Al-Mazra'ā, Al-Ghouār, 'Aīn Al-Boss, 'Aïn Al-Barrāda, 'Aïn Ad-Dalba.
361. K. Al-'Aslī, Ancient Monuments in Al-Qods (Amman, 1982), p.
97.
Palestine Encyclopedia
(1984), Vol. 3, p.. 516.
362. Al-'Aref, A History of Al-Qods, pp. 189-190.
K. Al-Aslī, Ibid., p. 101
363. The Franks occupied Al-Qods in the 12th century A.D./6 th century A.H. They
founded in it "the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem", but the Muslim Arabs, led by
Salāhuddīn Al-Ayyûbī, liberated this city.
364. Al-'Aslī, Ibid., p. 103
365. Al-'Aslī, Ibid., p. 103
366. Al-آref,
A Detailed History of Al-Qods, p. 437.
Al-'Aslī Ibid., p.109
source is close to that of Zam-Zam (the well-known spring near Mekkah), and that
Caliph Othman bin 'Affān out of devotion had made it into waqf (pious
endowment) in favour of the poor in Al-Qods. (362) The Franks, for the time they
occupied Al-Qods (363) , gave great importance to 'Aïn Salwān, for they believed
that the Virgin Mary had washed in it the clothes of the new-born Christ. It was
for this reason, according to some, that it was also known as 'Aïn Al-'Adhrā'
(The Spring of the Virgin). Today, it is mostly known as 'Aïn Oumm Ad-Dourj (The
Stair Spring), for one has to climb stairs to get to it.
- Bir Ayyûb,
which is four hundred and fifty metres away from 'Aïn Salwān, and which gets
abundant water in winter. A legend has it that Prophet Dāoud (may Allah be
pleased with him) once bathed in the water of this well and, as a result of
this, healed from an otherwise incurable ailment. This well was also called Aïn
Rûjal and used to be the second most important source of water supply to
Al-Qods. In the Ottoman era, many water vendors filled their traditional
goat-skin containers with water from 'Aïn Salwān or Bīr Ayyûb then sold drinks
of water to passers-by on the streets of Al-Qods. (364) - Aïn Al-Laouza, which is located five hundred and thirty-four metres south of Bi'r Ayyûb, where Bāssûl Valley and Salwān Valley meet. (365)
- Wells : What with the growth of the city's population and the various
ways in which water was now being used, the water drawn from 'Aïn Salwān, Bi'r
Ayyûb, and 'Aïn Al-Laouza no longer sufficed for the daily needs of the
inhabitants, who resorted to boring wells, each family extracting water from a
well dug within their own house, or setting up a reservoir or a pool to catch
rain-water. Al-Maqdissī, in his work, Ahsanu At-Taqāssīm, writes
that "it
was
rare to find a house without a well or a water catch, and it was just as rare to
find a quarter without a drinking fountain or a water point for public use."
(366)
Generally speaking, wells and reservoirs have been major sources of water supply
to Al-Qods throughout the ages. In the middle of the 19th century A.D., a
statistical survey showed that the Old City had nine hundred and fifty wells.
At the end of the Ottoman era, Al-Qods and its suburbs (i.e., inside and outside
the ramparts) had an estimated number of six thousand and six hundred wells.
In 1919 A.D., the volume of the water contained in wells, reservoirs, and pools
(including the wells of Al-Haram Al-Shareef) was estimated at one and a half
million cubic metres.
As to pools, they used to function as arteries that gave lifeblood to the city
in previous ages. Because of their important role, they were looked after;
today, however, they are abandoned and most of them seem to be useless since
they have been substituted for by modern water conduits which pipe water to the
city from the springs of Ras Al-'Aïn. (367)
Some of the best known pools in the history of Al-Qods (368) carried the
following names : As-Sayyida Mariam (Mary the Virgin), Al-Bahj, As-Sarray,
Al-Ghanam, Al-Burāq, Hammām Ash-Shifā', An-Na'āma, Hammām Al-Bassar, Hammām
Al-Batrik, Ard Al-Birka, Māmilla, As-Sultān, and the pool by the tombs of the
sultans. The pools communicated with springs and other water sources through water canals; the most important canals were : the canal which links the Spring of Sitti Mariam and Al-Hamra' Pool : the Salwān Canal, which links the Spring of Sitti Mariam and the Pool or the Spring of Salwān (a pool which links Māmilla and Hammam Al-Batrik); and the canal which links the Valley of Al-Bayyār and Bāb Al-Khalīl. (369) Among other constructions set up owing to the wide availability of water, one should point out drinking fountains, which were many in Al-Qods. These fountains provided cool water to quench the thirst of the people who walk by and those who had them constructed did so in the hope of securing divine mercy. Thus, sultans, governors, princes, wealthy merchants had drinking fountains set up to provide people with drinking water free of charge.
367. K. Al-'Aslī, Ibid., p. 114.
368. Al-'Aslī, Ibid., p. 117
Encyclopedia of the Holy Book
(Second Edition), p. 132.
Palestine Encyclopedia,
Vol.1, p. 379, for information on further pools in Al-Qods and throughout
Palestine.
369. Encyclopedia of the Holy Book, p. 132.
N. Shaheen (1977), The Siloam End of Hezekiah's Tunnel in PEQ n°
109, pp. 107-112.
On the problem of waterworks in Al-Qods, see J. Wilkinson (1974),
Ancient Jerusalem : Its
Water Supply and Population
in PEQ n° 106, pp. 33-51.
Al-'Aslī (1982) reports that there still exist in Al-Qods vestiges of twenty
eight such fountains, of which five date back to the Ayyûbid era, seven to the
Mameluke era, fourteen to the Ottoman era, and two of unknown date. The
enclosure of Al-Haram Al-Shareef by itself counts eleven of these twenty eight
vestiges, while the rest of the Old City has fifteen; the remaining two vestiges
are located outside the city ramparts.
These fountains are different from each other in point of architecture and style
of decoration. Thus, some are elaborately ornamented, others were built quite
soberly, and others yet are much less sober in style, depending on the financial
means of the benefactor or the economic situation of the city at the time when
the fountain was constructed. To point out two contrastive cases, one may
mention the Fountain of Qaytbay, which is sumptuously ornamented and set to
embellish the Esplanade of Al-Haram Al-Shareef and, on the other hand, the
Fountain of Bāb Hitta, which is well known for its sober design.
Among the best-known of these fountains are those built in the reign of Suleiman
Al-Qānûnī in the 10th century A.H. (370) The following is a list of drinking
fountains extant in Al-Qods and fountains that are in ruins, along with their
construction period and their location.
I. DRINKING FOUNTAINS OF THE AYYUBID ERA
These are five in number. (371) It should be observed here that all of these
fountains are located in Al-Haram Al-Shareef, with the exception of the first
one.
370. Al-'Aslī, Ibid., pp. 217 and 220.
371. Al-'Aslī, Ibid., p. 220
Name
Location
Date
1. Al-'آdil
Abī-Bakr
The Old City
589 A.H.
2. Al-Ka's
Between the Dome of the
3. Al-Malik Al-Mou'addham The Esplanade of
Al-Haram
607 A.H
4. Qāssim bin Abdallah
The Esplanade of Al-Haram
unknown
5. Sha'lān
The Esplanade of Al-Haram
613 A.H.
Qaytbay Fountain
II- DRINKING FOUNTAINS OF THE MAMELUKE ERA
All together, these are twelve fountains (372) , of which the most important are
:
III- DRINKING FOUNTAINS OF THE OTTOMAN ERA Further constructions set up owing to the wide availability of water are the hammams (public Turkish baths), commonly found throughout the Islamic world. These public baths are a major feature of the large Islamic cities, and people use them regularly to take a bath, to have their linen laundred, or to celebrate weddings and other happy events. Like other public facilities, hammams have social, sanitary, and sometimes economic functions. (373) Geographer Al-Maqdissī (10th century A.H.) reports that Al-Qods had many hammams in addition to three fantastic swimming pools which had attached
372. K. Al-'Aslī, Ibid., p. 222.
373. Al-'Aslī, Ibid., p.174.
Name
1. Bāb Al-Habs
2. Tankir
3. Al-Qaramī
4. At-Tushtumuriyya
5. Khān As-Sultān
6. Turbat Barkat Khātûn
7. Qaytbay
Name
1. Qāssim Bāshā
2. Al-Wād
3. Bāb As-Silsila
4. Suleimān
5. Bāb An-Nādhir
6. Sittna Mariam
7. Tekiyyet Khāskī Sultān
8. Darj Al-Wād
9. Bāb Hitta
10. Bāb Khān Az-Zayt
11. Ash-Shaourabajī
12. Al-Badīrī
13. Bāb Al-Khalīl
Sitti Mariam Fountain
Bāb An-Nādhir Fountain
baths set up next to them and which, by his account, were "squalid and
expensive." (374) Some of the hammams in Al-Qods were made into waqfs
(pious
endowments) so that they could supply regular funds for some
madrassas
(traditional Islamic schools) or caravanserais in the city. Such was the case of
Hammam Al-Batrick, which, along with the shops adjacent to it, were pious
endowments that provided regular funds for a caravanserai in the Ayyubid era.
Such also was the case of Hammam Bāb Al-Asbāt, which provided regular funds for
Al-Madrassa As-Salāhiyya. In the Mameluke and the Ottoman eras, hammams in
Al-Qods grew in number. Some of the best-known ones were : Hammam Ash-Shiffā'
(375) , Hammam As-Sultān, Hammam Al-'Aïn, (376) Hammam Al-Jamal, Hammam
Al-Batrick, Hammam Alā'udīn Al-Bassīr, Hammam As-Sayyida, Hammam Bāb Al-Asbāt,
Hammam Bāb Al-'Amoud, Hammam As-Sakhra, and Hammam As-Souq. (377)
History records indicate that these hammams functioned continually up to the
10th century of the Hegira, and that, from the 11th century A.H. on, their
number began to decline. This is reported by Turkish author-traveller Evliā
Tshelebī in his Siyyāhāt Nāmat, wherein he states that Al-Qods, in
addition to six large caravanserais, had six hammams, which were : Hammam Sittna
Mariam, Hammam As-Sultan, Hammam Ash-Shiffā', Hammam Al-Aïn, Hammam As-Sakhra,
and Hammam Al-Batrik. Tshelebī must be writing here about the best-known hammams
in Al-Qods in his own time. Hammams in Al-Qods varied in area and in degree of
luxury; however, regardless of these, they certainly did not match up to hammams
in such great Islamic cities as Istambul, Cairo or Damascus, for Al-Qods was a
relatively small city with a much smaller population and very limited economic
resources However, hammams in Al-Qods are similar to those in other Islamic
cities as to the lay-out of the rooms, the furnace location, and the general
interior features. (378)
374. Quoted by Al-'Aslī, Ibid., 169.
375. Hammam Ash-Shiffā is located within the Al-Qattānīn Market. It was built in
730 A.H. and functioned for a long time. It is now being restored.
376. This is about the best-known hammam in Al-Qods. It is located at the point
where Al-Wād Street ends at the Al-Qattānīn Market. It still functions as a
public bath today, but it needs restoration.
377. Al-'Aslī, Ibid., p. 170
378. Al-'Aslī, Ibid., p. 172
Cheikh Badīr Fountain Bāb Al-'Utm Fountain |
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