Mosque description
[Picture source: © 2018 Naeim] [Picture source: © 2018 Naeim] From the waqfiyya, summarized by Ghazzi, we learn that the mosque was endowed by Muhammad Khass Bek in 768 / 1366-67. (Fig. 1) He relates a description of the building at the moment of its foundation: On the eastern (Fig. 2) and western side (Fig. 3) of a central courtyard is a riwaq and the prayer hall on the southern side. (Fig. 4) The mosque had two entrances, one in the west (more exactly at the north-western corner), (Fig. 5) the other on the northern side.[1] (Fig. 6) This description based on the waqfiyya still basically corresponds to the current state of the building, although its rather heterogenous character probably implies different stages of construction or reconstruction. The irregular layout is certainly due to the fact that the mosque had to fit into the already existing urban fabric, next to the busy suq at the starting point of the major highway to the east.
Historian Tabbakh mentions that Khass Bek did not finish the construction of the mosque, but that ‘benefactors’ (ahl al-khayr) added the minaret on the northern side next to the northern entrance and paved the courtyard with yellow stones.[2] He mentions as well that the cistern below the rectangular courtyard is abundantly supplied with water from the main water pipe (Qanat Halab) passing next to the mosque and entering the city intra muros at the Bab al-Hadid (or – for that reason – also called Bab al-Qanat).[3] Today’s ablution facilities are situated in the center of the courtyard accessible by a flight of stairs. (Fig. 7)
The prayer hall has three naves and a recently constructed portico,[4] instead of the usual one or two naves only of mosques in Aleppo. (Fig. 8) The vaults rest on pillars, the space in front of the mihrab is covered by a cupola above spheric pendentives. (Fig. 9) The mihrab, as well as the whole mosque, is almost totally void of any decoration. (Fig. 10) A stone on the mihrab’s left side displays a handprint of the Prophet Muhammad. (Fig. 11) It is not clear, since when this object is venerated in the Banqusa Mosque, but it is mentioned for the first time – as the tomb of the ‘Prophet Banqusa’ – in the early 19th century.[5] (Fig. 12)
Another structure for the use of a Sufi community was added on the eastern side of the mosque. It was called ‘ribat’ by Sibt Ibn al-Ajami and later ‘zawiya’.[6] These expressions, it seems, were used interchangeably in Mamluke Aleppo. An inscription above a window on the eastern wall of the prayer hall mentions that Ahmad b. Musa as-Saʿdi endowed the ribat for the Sufis of the Abayazidiyya community in 828/1425.[7] (Fig. 13) This structure was accessible from the mosque. Ghazzi calls this institution ‘madrasa’ (school) and mentions that it consisted of two rooms (sing. hujra) and a well, indicating that the institution probably had a multifunctional character.[8]
