Origin
The quarter was established in 1193 by Saladin's son al-Malik al-Afdal, according to the 15th-century historian Mujir ad-Din, as a waqf (charitable trust) dedicated to Moroccans ; he also established a school there, the Afdaliyyah. Later pious Moroccan donors extended this with several other waqfs: in 1303, one Umar ibn Abdullah ibn Abdun-Nabi al-Masmudi al-Mujarrad endowed a zaouia (religious school) for the benefit of Moroccans living in the Moroccan Quarter, while in 1320 Shuayb ibn Muhammad ibn Shuayb, a grandson of the major Sufi Abu Madyan al-Ghauth, endowed a second zaouia there to be funded by his lands at Ain Karim. In 1352, the Marinid sultan of Morocco himself, Abu Inan Faris, established a smaller waqf - a Qur'an donated to the al-Aqsa Mosque, together with a representative to ensure that it was read from regularly.
Read more about this topic: Moroccan Quarter
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