إشكالية العلاقة بين الروحي والسياسي والفضاء المكاني: التراث الصوفي في القدس أنموذجا

Abstract EN

T his paper sheds light on the Sufi presence in Jerusalem, as well as on its history and the tangible and intangible heritage it bequeathed.

It seeks to explain the problematic relationship between the political authority, the Sufi institution, and the spatial dimension in Jerusalem, and to answer the following questions: How and why the dominant political regime in Jerusalem since its re-conquest by Salah al-Din )Saladin( in 1187 used Sufis and their thought to tighten their control over the Holy City of Al-Quds al-Sharif ? How did this contribute to an architectural and intellectual renaissance in Jerusalem that helped rebuild what was lost during the Crusades? What is the relationship between the political use of Sufi thought and its presence in Jerusalem? How did the Sufi presence contribute to creating a tangible and intangible heritage in Jerusalem? T he paper concludes that Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi and other Sultans who lived through the period of foreign dangers that threatened the lands of the Islamic Nation, especially Jerusalem, used Sufism as a functional tool not only in the fight against colonialism but also in rebuilding the tangible and intangible heritage destroyed by the colonizer, through establishing Sufi institutions in Jerusalem.

T he paper shows how a special space was chosen for these Sufi institutions to counter the material, cultural and linguistic effects of the foreign invasion.

This was based on the Sultans’ awareness of the role of the mystic in rebuilding the Holy City architecturally and intellectually and purifying it from alien thoughts, as well as in defending the city’s cultural heritage, both material and spiritual.