Nūr al-Dīn ʿAlī al-Kharrūbī

Nūr al-Dīn ʿAlī belonged to a prominent Karimi merchant family, al-Kharrūbīs from Egypt. The family originated from Kharrūb square in Fustat where carob (karrūb), after which they are named, was usually sold. The al-Kharrūbīs were part of the Karimi merchant guild comprised of Muslim merchants that traded spices, perfumes, sugar, pottery, textiles and other goods between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea during the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. The sphere of the Kharrubi’s activities were Fustat, Cairo, Mecca, Yemen and Syria. Except of spices they were also involved in sugar refining and sale as well.

Nūr al-Dīn ʿAlī was one of the most notable merchants in Egypt who was granted the title “khwaja”, usually bestowed to wealthy merchants. He traveled to Mecca several times for religious and business purposes. He owned a madrasa in al-Fustat near the Nile, and as a pious sufi, he donated 100,000 dirhams to the reconstruction of al-Haram al-Sharif in Mecca. Nūr al-Dīn ʿAlī was one of the three wealthy Karimi merchants who provided the sultan Barqūq with 1,000,000 dirhmas for the war against Timur, a famous Mongol warrior who threatened to invade Syria in 1394. Upon his death at the age of 58, Nūr al-Dīn ʿAlī left behind a large fortune. Since he had no children, most likely his four nephews inherited most of his property.