WAKF YACOUB SABRY was created on 11 April 1848 (7 Jumaada al-Awal, 1265 A.H.) consisting in Cairo of a large wikala in Cairo's Gamalia district and a 640 sq.m.cemetery and mausoleum on Imam al-Shafei Street in Cairo's Khalifa district. Outside Cairo the wakf included a large khan or wikala known as Khan Yacoub Sabry in the historic center of the Delta town of Tanta, and about 500 feddans of the best agricultural land at Shuber/Mit Sudan in the province of Gharbieh.

According to the related documents subject Wakf (Trust; see below) was created by Amir al-Lewa Yacoub Bey Sabry three years after he purchased the said Gamalia wikala from Hussein Laz Ibn Abdalla (his brother in law?), precisely on 18 March 1845. Henceforth the unassuming rectangular box-like wikala would be known as Rab'a Yacoub Sabry.

Yacoub Sabry an Albanian brought to Egypt by Viceroy Mohammed Ali was appointed superintendent of Tchifliks an Ottoman-Albanian term denoting agricultural properties. In this case it probably meant the ruler's privy domains.

Yacoub Sabry died on 18 November 1847 two years before his employer willing his property and assets to his three young imported wards: Bakir Abaza, Hussein Zohdi and Khorshed Talaat.

WIKALET YACOUB SABRY

Introduced in Egypt during the Fatimid period, wikalas (a.k.a caravansarays, khans, okells) were large buildings, usually two stories high, where merchants and traders assembled in a large open-air interior hall to sell/trade their goods. Surrounding the communal area were chambers used for storing goods while the upper floor(s) functioned as a hostel for transit traders.

Wikalet Yacoub Sabry was no different.

The said wikala is about 200 meters from al-Azhar University and the Mosque of Hussein Ibn Ali (Sayedna al-Hussein).

Located in the heart of Fatimid Cairo in what is more commonly known today as the Muski / Khan al-Khalili bazaar district, the wikala stands on al-Mu'izz al-Din Allah Street (West) and is attributed the Nos. 84, 84-A and 88 by the Cairo Tanzim (town planning) department. A 1.5 meter wide alley separates it from the heritage 1425 A.D. Madrasa-Khanqah of Sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay.

Although the precise date of its construction during the 16th century is unknown, this particular building was either part of or simply abutting the wonderful Sultan Qansuh al-Ghouri complex made up of a mosque, a mausoleum and a madrasa or school. In 1925-6 during the laying out of new streets and thoroughfares in historic Cairo, the new Al-Azhar Street would henceforth separate Wikalet Yacoub Sabry from its alleged parent complex.

al-Mu'izz al-Din Allah Street Al-Mu'izz Street was the most renowned thoroughfare in medieval Cairo and over the centuries was subjected to name changes: al-Qassaba, bab al-Fetouh Street, Bein al-Qasrein, al-Ghuri.

In his writings about al-Gamalia district urban chronicler Ali Pasha Mubarak (1823-93) mentions Wikalet Yacoub Sabry in the following terms:

Among the wikalas on Ghouria [later Mu'izz] Street is that of Yacoub Bey. It is a large wikala with two doors, the larger one facing al-Ghouria Street and the second facing Tarbi'a Street. Inside the wikala are several hawanit and counters selling textiles and silk. Above are rooms for habitation. Khorshed Effendi an elder presently manages the wikala. Nearby on al-Ghouria Street, stands the khan of Mustafa Bey al-Hagin specialized in cotton. (al-Khitat al-Tawfiqiyya al-Jadida)

The three-story wikala was allegedly rebuilt/re-designed by Khawaga Farahat al-Hinawi & Youssef al-Mawardi during the 19th century. Originally used as a depot and an inn for traveling merchants, it included a large central courtyard surrounded by hawanit(s)--depots at ground level, and living accommodations above.

With time part of the wikala was transformed into a series of ground floor shops. Before the fire destroyed them, the upper floors were mostly ramshackle offices and sweatshops.

Whether because it was completely deformed or because it had no architectural value this wikala is not mentioned in Nicholas Warner's The Monuments of Historic Cairo (AUC Press 2005) a superb descriptive catalogue and map series of the surrounding area. Neither is it mentioned in Jim Antoniou's beautifully illustrated book Historic Cairo, A Walk Through the Islamic City (AUC PRESS 1998).

In fact, the building was in such an advanced state of deterioration, the descendants of the above-mentioned Khorshed Effendi anticipating a catastrophe filed a petition with the Cairo Governor in 1977 calling for its immediate removal.

The petition asked for the wikala's removal on the grounds that it had become a dangerous hazard for passers-by, for the wikala's tenants and for the adjacent historic mosque of Sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay.

Acting upon the petition the then Cairo governor asked the dean of the Faculty of Architecture at Cairo University to appoint a three-man team for the purpose of examining the building and to submit recommendations.

The team headed by professors Mohammed Zaki Hawas of Cairo University and al-Hosseini Abdel Zaher of al-Azhar University recommended that the wikala's first and second floors be removed without delay in anticipation of a secondary and more detailed examination of the building's ground floor.

Despite the urgency of the matter and the safety hazards involved the Cairo governorate refused to issue the necessary eviction orders. Moreover the motion to remove the wikala was mooted on 11 October 1979 on the basis of non-competence by a secondary court.

The building, which had become even more hazardous over the years perilously survived until the fire of 7 May 2005.

courtesy Nicholas Warner from his book 'The Monuments of Historic Cairo'. "Charles Goad, Fire Insurance Plan of Cairo, sheet 13, 1905. Shows area to the south and west of Mosque of al-Ashraf Barsbay before the construction of Al-Azhar Street. Wikalet Yacoub Sabry shown within red perimeter marked "Yacoub Okella". (al-Azhar Street superimposed for benefit of this study).

Up until the fire broke out the wikala housed 96 registered family-run stores leased out to 52 families and individuals. In this particular case the term 'stores' stretches from a miniscule standing-room-only perfume rack to a regular 8 - 12 sq.m. depot. Many of the latter have been turned into makeshift mini-factories producing items ranging from wedding candles and gold trinkets to copper utensils and glassware.

A famous ground-level outlet is spice retailer Khedr al-Attar located at No. 88.

Not unlike most of the district's aging wikalas, the central courtyard of Wikalet Yacoub Sabry disappeared as adjacent shops/stores squatted or expropriated what should have been a common area. Moreover, corridors within the wikala were reduced to minuscule passages for the same reason. The only item that survived in its original form is the main doorway leading into the wikala.

THE WAKF

At the time it was created the Wakf was restricted to 3/4 of the wikala (today Nos. 84 & 84-A) amounting to approx. 845 sq.m. The remaining 281 sq.m (today No. 88) was left to the discretion of Yacoub Sabry's spouse Foraida Bint Abdallah who died on 21 September 1875.

Beneficiaries of the Wakf were Yacoub Sabry's heir-designates: Bakir Abaza, Hussein Zohdi and Khorshed Talaat.

Terms of the Wakf stipulated that Bakir Abaza would own 41.66% (350 sq.m) the balance divided equally between Hussein Zohdi and Khorshed Talaat. All three were former wards of Yacoub Sabry.

In the occurrence that any one of the primary beneficiaries died interstate (childless and/or his issue became extinct), his share in the wakf reverted to the remaining primary beneficiaries and/or their descendants thereof.

Since the marriage of Bakir Abaza to Khadiga al-Baydaa' failed to produce an heir, upon their demise Bakir's 41.6% shares reverted to Hussein Zohdi and Khorshed Talaat. Each was now beneficiary of 50% of the Wakf.

Similarly, when Hussein Zohdi's daughter Aicha from his wife Majbour Hanem died childless in 1910 with no evident heirs, her 50% of the Wakf reverted to the surviving descendants of primary Wakf beneficiary Khorshed Talaat and his by now deceased wife Gazbnour.

Since the Wakf excluded primogeniture or gender discrimination with regards to inheritance, Aicha Zohdi's share in the Wakf was divided in three equal parts.

• A third to Khorshed Talaat's youngest living son Mustafa-Rouchdi (d. 1920).
• A third to the offspring of Khorshed Talaat's deceased eldest son Abdelhalim-Helmi (d. 1906).
• A third to the six children of Khorshed Talaat's only daughter Fatma (wife of Amin Chamsi Pasha) who died on 12 June 1909.

When Wakf properties were nullified in 1953 all such holdings were henceforth subject to Shari'a law with regards inheritance. Furthermore, Wakf assets could now be sold to third parties.

It was therefore due to the application of the Shari'a inheritance law that following the death of Abdelhalim-Helmi Talaat's childless grandson in 1973, his paternal half brother (Anwar Ali Ragab) was able to inherit his share of the Yacoub Sabry Wakf even though he was no blood relation to Khorshed Talaat.

PRESENT LEGAL OWNERSHIP OF THE WIKALA

The 1/4 of the Wikala land and building (today No. 88) left by Yacoub Sabry to his wife Foraida's Bint Abdallah's somehow ended up Wakf Department property before it was sold by that department to a Dr. Ibrahim Abdel Khalek.

The rest of the wikala land, amounting to 840 square meters, remained with Khorshed Talaat's direct descendants. It was upon the death of one of his childless great-grandsons (Mounir A. Ragab) that the latter's 279 sq. m. share in Wikala land passed on to his half-brother Anwar A. Ragab, who as mentioned was no blood relation to Talaat or the rest of the heirs.

Between 1981 and and the 1990s several of Talaat great-grandchildren sold off their shares to outsiders which accounts for Moheb Kadouss a textile merchant from Mehalla to own a share in the wikala where he was already leasing a shop.

In the 1990s another heir (Kamal Saber) sold 105 sq. m to three separate tenants (35 sq.m each). Today only 379 sq.m of the Wikala land remain with Khorshed Talaat's descendants.

IMPORTANT DATES

• Deed of sale (No. 2) to Hussein Laz Ibn Abdallah dated 6 Zul-qeada 1259 (28 November 1843).
• Deed of sale (No. 2) from Hussein Laz to Yacoub Sabry 9 Rabie al-Awal 1261 (18 March 1845).
• Deed of re-construction (No. 2) 10 Zul-qeada 1262 (31 October 1846).
• Death of Yacoub Sabry in 1847
• Creation of Wakf covering 3/4 assets favoring Yacoub Sabry's designated heirs 7 Jumada al-Awal 1265 (1 April 1849).
• Agreement to Foraida Bint Abdallah's Wakf 19 Jumada al-Awal 1273 (16 January 1857).
• Wakf of Foraida Bint Abdallah covering 1 /4 of assets 29 Rajab 1290 (21 September 1873).
• Law 180 0f 1952 calling for the dissolution of all Ahli non-pious Wakfs.
• Wikala ownership defined and registered at the Cairo Notary Public Office under serial 2079 on 15 April 1970.
• Wikala gutted by fire on 7 May 2005.
• Cairo Governorate decree No. 14/2005 dated 28 May 2005 calling for the removal of what remained of the burnt Wikala.
• Electricity Authority directive 3114 dated June 14, 2005 to cut power from Wikala.
• State "temporarily" expropriates the Wikala land on Thursday, 9 June 2005 as per decree 811/2005.
• Higher Council for Islamic and Coptic Antiquities issues resolution No. 3637 dated 11 December 2005 for setting up a committee to study the best appropriate measures concerning the adaptive re-use of the Wikala land.

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diagram showing succession of wikala ownership