God's Fountains:
The Sabils of Cairo

June 25, 2006

Standing at a fork in the road which used to be the main thoroughfare of Cairo is a fancy building which those new to the Middle East may have difficulty identifying. We have stumbled onto a sabil, or public fountain. In this case it is the sabil (1744) of Abd al-Rahman Khatkhoda, a lieutenant governor of Cairo under the Ottomans.

The word sabil means "road" or "path" in Arabic.. and only later came to refer to a public fountain. The article by C.E. Bosworth in the Encyclopedia of Islam goes some way to explaining this strange word-evolution:

From the idea of doing something charitably or disinterestedly, fi sabil Allah [in the path of God], the word sabil acquired in later Islamic times the specific meaning of "drinking fountain, public supply of water provided by someone's private munificence and charity"... [see under sabil]

So t he idea of being "in the path of God" came to mean doing good works generally.. and a public fountain seems to have been one particularly clear example of such a good work.

As time went on these sabils became a popular way to create a landmark.. and obviously a lot of craftsmanship went into this small gem of a building. Under the Ottomans large-scale mosque construction slowed down considerably, but they added a number of these graceful smaller constructions to the urban landscape. Below is another picture to give a sense of the careful beauty of this building:

The inside of the building was no less handsome, being decorated with Ottoman Iznak tiles. The inside is being restored, and that is why some of the construction scaffolding is present in the photo:

The sabil is yet another structure that exerts some pressure on the modern imagination: why were these so popular? A world without city-wide plumbing and running water must needs be imagined. Was every household supposed to send someone to walk a few miles to the Nile and carry water back each day? That would be impracticable.. so people purchased water or got it free at these charitable fountains. The water itself would have been dispensed through the grating, which is the main identifying feature of a sabil.

In his account of Cairo, Ibn Battuta mentions some of the logistical realities of water provision:

It is said that in Cairo there are twelve thousand water-carriers who transport water on camels... [42, vol. 1, Gibb translation]

So when we think of these narrow urban streets, we have to think of them packed with water-carrying camels.

To the right side of this sabil is a doorway that leads to stairs.. The above photo captures the decorated lintel of this door. Within the small sabil is a living quarter for the person in charge of dispensing the water (this one actually has two living quarters), and on the top story of the structure is a small primary school.. where boys would come to learn the Qur'an. In the first picture above it is possible to see this open room, paneled with wood, where young students came to be instructed.

Compared to many of the buildings in Cairo, the above sabil is quite new.. I mean, 1744! Way recent. Then sometimes I remind myself that hey, all things considered that is still pretty old. Put this down in a state like Ohio and it will be the oldest thing standing anywhere. It was built a full generation before our Revolutionary War!

These sabils seem to be everywhere.. here is another (above and detail below) that is just a block or so away from the one examined above. It is also quite beautiful.. and more notably Ottoman in its details:

Many cities in the past have found ways to distribute water, but the religious tone in the Islamic urban system is striking. That religious tone still exists. On my way home from this trip I stopped to photograph a public water dispenser located in Ma'adi on Road 9. Two students were helping themselves to a drink (and had no idea what I wanted a picture of!):

To be noted here is the sign in Arabic posted to the left of those students. It is difficult to read at this size, but on top of that small sign there is a string of Arabic words surrounded by a yellow outline. That is a verse from the Qur'an about providing a drink. Then underneath that the sign reads: "We request from you the "Fatiha" for the owner of this sabil." The "Fatiha" is the first short chapter of the Qur'an. So the provider of this small, but obviously welcome, charity is directly asking for a prayer to be said in his behalf. I am not sure that these students offered anything of the sort.. but it is fascinating to note how even in our day of plumbing and bottled water, the religious side of the public fountain survives and thrives.