The school consists of two floors downstairs facing three arches of the yard in a long nice mihrab was a chapel for the Hanbala.
It contains several shrines, one of which is the Mufti of the Shaafa’is and the Mufti of the Two Holy Mosques Sheikh Mohammed al-Khalili (1147 Hijri / 1734 AD).
Today, this floor is occupied by the manuscript department Islamic Awqaf, the upper floor is the most beautiful colored stones and engravings and multiple decorations, It was composed (according to the description of Mujair al-Din) of four valleys opposite Qibla, which is the largest with a mihrab, and the roof of the second floor (after 1105 AH / 1689 AD) was demolished some decorative walls indicate the beauty of the school building.
The beautiful entrance still covered by a radial chain, which leads to the second floor and to Alsesela minaret, denotes the grandeur of a school that has become extinct.
The description of the school
Also called the school (Al Sultania) and is considered one of the most beautiful and most important schools in the Al AQSA, described by Mujir al-Din al-Hanbali with the finest details in the “Al Anas Al Jalil”, where he considered it the third jewel in the Aqsa Mosque after the Dome of the Rock and Al-Qibli Mosque, and said about: people were saying: in the mosque of the house holy gemstones dome of the Mosque of Al-Aqsa (Al-Qibli Mosque), and the Dome of the Rock, I said ” Magir al din ” and this the school became a third jewel.
The school is beautiful construction, with elements on the rows of colored stones (colored in color) Red and white), and rich in architectural and decorative elements. Described by Mujair al-Din Al-Hanbali as the third jewel in the Al-Aqsa Mosque after the Dome of the Rock and the dome of AL-Qibli Prayer Hall.
The school is located between Bab al-Sikayneh in the south and the arches under the Ottoman school to the north beyond the corridor eastward included in the squares of Al-Aqsa Mosque, unlike other schools, located on the borders of the hallway.
The traveler Abdul Ghani al-Nabulsi said when he visited in the Ottoman era in (1105 Hijri / 1689 AD): “We saw a great door made of carved colored stone, the yard of the school built with marble pillars, large great stones, The high chain no “bow”.
When we ascended about fifty Stairs on a coiled drawer shared with the lighthouse staircase, we moved to a large space decorated space.
The school has two sections: a section inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the other outside it two floors: The first was the Hanbala chapel in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque in its origin, and part of it is used Now as the headquarters of the Manuscript Section of the Al-Aqsa Mosque Library (headquartered in Mosque of Women), and the bulk of it is the headquarters of Al-Aqsa Sharia school for girls, and also the tomb of Sheikh Khalili, and some small parts that use a role for habitation.
The second floor, is a school mosque, Due to the destruction of this part of the earthquake in 1346 – 1927.
Stages of construction
It took twelve years to be built.
First, Prince Hassan Al-Dhahiri began construction (875 AH / 1470 AD), in the name of King Al-Zaher Khosheqdam, but when the apparent king died, the ruler, Qatibay, took over and gave him the school and during his visit Jerusalem, did not like the port of the order to demolish and rebuild it again was built in September (887 AH / 1482 AD).
As the historian Mojair addin tells us as engraved on the side of the door of the school, in the Ottoman era.