| Egyptian Journal of Archeological and Restoration Studies

Authors:
El-hussiny, F.(*) & Hemimy, W.
Islamic Archaeology dept., Faculty of Archaeology, Luxor Univ., Luxor, Egypt

Abstract:
This paper sheds light on two unpublished Mamluk decrees inscribed in Khalid b. al-Walid Mosque in Homs before rebuilding the Mosque in the late Turkish period. Despite the disappearance of these inscriptions, the German orientalist "Ernst Herzfeld" pho-tographed and preserved them in glass plate negatives in his archive, which were recently published on the internet by the Freer/ Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. The first decree dated in (865 AH./ 1460 AD.) It abolished fees on tanneries, dye houses, slaughterhouses, threshing floors, trading emporiums (khan, al-wakala), and the crossing of merchants on the roads of Homs. The second decree dated in (909 A.H/1499 A.D). It abolished fees, levies, taxes, and confiscations from the people of Homs, such as the financial obligation of the envoy of glad tidings of the Nile, the levy of barley, and the price of a camel paid by farmers to Bedouins but enforced fees on the textile industry, introducing fees on the Turkmen, confiscation the arrears of the endowment of el-Nuri Mosque every year, and the gifts dedicated to the ruler by dhimmis and porters. The decree forbade taking money from the vegetable farmers to repair the Canal of Mujahidiyya الساقية المجاهدية , and the displacement of the people from Homs as well.

Keywords:
Arabic inscriptions in Syria Mamluk decrees Khalid b. al Walid Mosque Excises Levies Vegetable farmers Mujahidiyya Canal

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