Wilkins|141al-Hanbali noted as the consummate skill of the architects and masons who built
the structure. Upon hearing the news of the damage, al-Qaramani was enraged,
to the extent that he suffered a catastrophic stroke and within three days died.
Ibn al-Hanbali concludes the notice by asking God’s pardon for him and for all
Muslims.
How much of this account is embellished is hard to say. Ibn al-Hanbali’s
moral lesson is clear—namely, that public acts of charity go only so far to re-
deem acts of atrocious brutality, specifically against slaves. But if we examine
the subsequent history of the mosque, known locally as the Qaramaniyya, the
prayer wall might have cracked and teetered, but it was repaired and stood the
test of time. Law court documents and architectural surveys attest to the sur-
vival of the mosque complex as a functioning institution until the present day.
The early twentieth-century Aleppan historian al-Tabbakh records that in the
early 1920s the Qaramaniyya mosque complex was demolished and rebuilt on a
grander scale, with shops erected on the street level and the prayer hall elevated
to a second story with commanding views of the city. Surprisingly, according to
al-Tabbakh, the persons buried in the courtyard of the mosque are not members
of the Qaramani family but rather members of the ɇUlabi family, a well-known
Aleppan urban notable family of merchants. Why the Qaramani name persisted
as the appellation of the mosque may well be testament to the favorable local
(neighborhood) reputation of the founder, despite the claims of Ibn al-Hanbali.
As we shall see, members of the ɇUlabi family would come to administer the
foundation, or waq f, that supported the mosque, and the presence of their tombs
clearly indicates their close association with the mosque complex.
The Local Law Courts and al-Qaramani’s Business Practices
While the biographical notice of Ibn al-Hanbali offers a moralizing portrait of
al-Qaramani as a temporary resident whose legacy crumbled, the architectural
evidence belies that portrait, showing the tenacity of his reputation as local bene-
factor. The records of the local law courts shed additional light on al-Qaramani,
showing the sources of his wealth, the social alliances he established, and the
human setbacks he suffered as a father. These documents, found in the earliest
law court registers of Aleppo (Nos. 1–4), cover only the last three years of al-
Qaramani’s life (1555–1557), but there are other informative court documents
from some years after his death narrating the settlement of his estate.
With respect to al-Qaramani’s wealth, the court records in a number of
ways confirm him as a highly respected international trader with complex com-
mercial operations and enormous material assets. Symbolically, the law court
recognized his importance by referring to him in Arabic as khawāja (Turkish
hoca), the honorary title granted to wealthy merchants, and more emphatically,