The Maghrebi Quarter beside the western side of the Temple Mount is conventionally associated with the patronage of al-Afdal, son of Saladin, in 1193. It provided an institutional setting for Muslim residence and religious life linked to North Africa.
“Maghrebi” identifies a regional connection, not a uniform Arab ethnicity. The quarter’s foundation, subsequent endowments and later disputes over access to the Western Wall are different events. Its position made it significant to the sacred geography of יהודים YEHUDIM, but later obstruction of worship cannot by itself establish the original founder’s intention. This entry concerns the residential institution; the Abu Madyan endowment is treated separately.
How is this dated?
The conventional attribution is 1193 CE, corresponding to AM 4953–4954. The cited modern reconstruction supports the institutional history but does not supply an original founding deed with a month or day. A much later copy or endowment date must not be substituted for al-Afdal’s act. The article therefore retains year-level approximation rather than a fabricated exact date.
Guided reflections
- How did a residential endowment beside the Temple Mount give an immigrant community institutional continuity?
- Why must later conflict over access to the Western Wall be distinguished from the evidence for the quarter’s foundation?
Footnotes
- 3D Modelling of Jerusalem’s Maghrebi Quarter — Dynastic sponsorship of an immigrant quarter. Maghrebi origin does not establish Arab ethnicity. ↩
- 3D Modelling of Jerusalem’s Maghrebi Quarter — Dynastic sponsorship of an immigrant quarter. Maghrebi origin does not establish Arab ethnicity. ↩