Sanctifying Private Spaces

This article focuses on recording and analyzing inscriptions from the Quran that were placed to bless, protect houses and their residents from the Mamluk Cairo, while delivering certain messages shedding light on the social life of the city during this period. There are fifteen remaining Mamluk houses in Cairo, most of which surviving in part. Many of these surviving examples were the residences of the elite and were thus extravagant households. Eleven from these fifteen residences still carry inscriptions that contain verses from the Quran: four from the Baḥrī period (1250–1382) and seven from the Circassian period (1382–1517). Inscription programs not only added to the aesthetic value of this domestic space and showed us the artistic taste of the time, but they also glorified the founder and sometimes his ancestors, in addition to guaranteeing his/her right of ownership. More importantly they were symbolically charged and were used to imbue protection and baraka (blessings) on the residents by using the Word of God (verses from the Quran). This in addition to carrying an expressive content by conveying personal messages including piousness, wealth, happiness and modesty through the usage of certain verses from the Quran. For many Muslims throughout the ages the verses of the Quran are intertwined with their daily activities, and if understood from this angle one can easily appreciate their presence in domestic architecture.