During the Mamluk period, the number of mosques which served as venues for Friday prayers grew, especially in Damascus and Aleppo. Several historians estimate that there were one thousand mosques of different levels in the city of Damascus by the end of the Mamluk era. In the ninth/fifteenth century, many institutions, originally established for different functions, i.e. masjids, madrasas, khanqahs and others in Mamluk Syria, were apparently converted to jamis, to provide for the Friday prayers, just as had happened in Mamluk Cairo.

By the late Mamluk period, differentiations between the functions of the various institutions became considerably less clear so that the perception of educational and religious institutions and how they functioned became more complex. That is why different historical sources refer to numerous institutions by different functional names. This study traces the educational activities within mosques in late medieval Syria. It follows, in light of changing political and economic circumstances, developments in the building of new mosques and madrasa-jamis in the main cities of Mamluk Syria.

In the appendix, special attention is given to deciphering and editing some newly discovered epigraphic texts of Bengal, and to the analysis of information derived from them in their proper historical context, such as the names of the contemporary rulers, local administrative officers, religious figures, and military commanders. These findings provide rare clues to the political, administrative, social, religious and cultural life of the region at the time. Particular attention is given to the titles that invariably accompany the names appearing in the inscriptions and throw light on the personalities of the title-bearers and other contemporary issues. Many of these inscriptions record the construction of mosques and other religious monuments, which contribute to our understanding of the history of religious transformation in the region.

The article assesses the overall cultural continuity of the Muslims of Bengal with their counterparts elsewhere in the Muslim world, which binds them together as an umma. Thus, in spite of many distinctive local cultural features, one soon discovers in these wonderful epigraphic treasures the most vibrant message—unity within diversity—that is prevalent everywhere in Islamic culture.