Bab al-Nairab Quarter, Aleppo

Bab al-Nairab is the quarter at the south-east mouth of old Aleppo. The gate that gave it its name is gone: its arch stood near the al-Tawba Mosque until the 1930s and was then removed. What is left is the name and a quarter that spills beyond the old wall. Its lanes hold Mamluk mosques, two bath houses named in the sources, a qastal (a public fountain) fed by its own channel, and the madrasa of the Aleppo historian Ibn al-Adim. On official records it is called Muhammad Bek.

Where the name comes from

Nairab is Syriac for flat land. The official name, Muhammad Bek, goes back to a marriage. Two men of the Makanisi family married two women from the family of Muhammad Bek, whose line went back to the Mamluk sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri. The name then passed to the quarter. It is also known as al-Takasira.

When the gate was built

The sources disagree. One account says the Ayyubid ruler al-Zahir Ghazi planned the gate and his son al-Aziz Muhammad built it between 1216 and 1237; the Ayyubids were the dynasty of Saladin’s family. Arabic sources place it in the reign of the Mamluk sultan Barsbay instead. Both dates are on record, and with no arch left to examine, the stone cannot settle the question.

How the quarter grew

From the end of the Mamluk period, produce from the villages entered the city here first. Under the Ottomans, villagers and semi-nomadic Bedouin families settled here, among them Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. Together with Banqusa it counted among the strongest quarters in the city. On Zaytuna lane, women held a wool yarn market on Mondays and Thursdays. In 1911 the moat in front of the wall was filled in and Bab al-Nairab street was opened. The 1922 census recorded 243 houses and 2110 people in the quarter.

In 1919 and 1920 the al-Baytar, Kanju Hamada and al-Barri families raised infantry, cavalry and machine-gun units against the French forces. In 1977 the antiquities authority declared the quarter a historic area; even so, large demolitions for urban planning took place in spring 1979 and summer 1982. The 2004 census counted 16771 people in the Muhammad Bek district.

What to see

The buildings are not gathered around one square; they are spread through the lanes. The sources list:

• The al-Turantaiyah Madrasa: the endowment of the Aleppo historian Ibn al-Adim, outside the wall.
• The al-Sakakini Mosque, also known after its founder as the Ashiqtimur Mosque.
• The Mamluk al-Tawba Mosque; the gate arch stood near it.
• The al-Jabiya Madrasa.
• The Barsin and al-Dhahabi bath houses, both Mamluk; part of al-Dhahabi was demolished in 1850.
• Qastal Ali Bey: a fountain dated 1509, with an inscription from the reign of Qansuh al-Ghuri, fed by its own channel and counted among the best known fountains in Aleppo.
• Qastal al-Sabarik: a fountain built by Yalbugha al-Salihi.

The sub-quarter of Badinjk is here too, with the mosque that carries its name. The official district also takes in the Baggara and Sakhaneh neighbourhoods.

Getting there

The quarter lies south-east of the citadel. The site of the old gate is about six hundred metres from the citadel in a straight line, and the middle of the quarter about one kilometre. The al-Sakakini Mosque stands on the inner side of the gate, on the road to Bab al-Maqam; the al-Turantaiyah Madrasa and the Badinjk Mosque are east of the gate, outside the wall. With the gate gone, it helps to ask using both names: Bab al-Nairab and Muhammad Bek.

How long it takes

An hour and a half. The buildings are within walking distance of each other, but most are neighbourhood mosques, and seeing inside depends on finding the door open.

The quarter today

There was fighting in the quarter in August 2012, and it came under artillery fire on 25 September 2012. Map records from 2022 show a neighbourhood police station and a working square. No dated post-war report on damage or repair in the quarter itself was found. The condition of each building needs checking on site.

What most people miss

Qastal Ali Bey. Sources count it among the best known fountains in Aleppo and note that it drew water from its own channel; its inscription of 1509 comes from the last years of Mamluk rule. Ask for it by name, and check on site whether it still stands.