Sabil (fountain)

A sabil or sebil (sabīl ; Turkish: sebil) is a small kiosk in the Islamic architectural tradition where water is freely dispensed to members of the public by an attendant behind a grilled window. The term is sometimes also used to refer to simple unmanned fountains with a tap for drinking water, though other names often exist for such fountains (such as çesme in Turkish). Historically, sabils are structures of both civic and religious importance in Muslim cities, most prominently in the cities of the Ottoman Empire, based in Istanbul, and of the Mamluk Empire, based in Cairo. They were built at crossroads, in the middle of city squares, and on the outside of mosques and other religious complexes to provide drinking water for travelers and to assist ritual purification (ablutions) before prayer. The word sabil comes from the Arabic verb root sabala (سبل) meaning "to let fall, drop, to let hang down, to close eyes or to shed tear". Sabil initially meant "road" or "path" and is used both metaphorically and literally in multiple instances in the Qur'an. Its use as an architectural term for a public water building or fountain likely derives from a more abstract meaning it acquired to refer to general acts or provisions done for the sake of God (such as a charitable act). A typical sabil was built over an underground cistern which supplied the water for distribution. In some cases, the water drawn from the cistern then ran down a decorative carved marble panel called a salsabil, which may also have served the purpose of aerating the water as it came from the cistern. An attendant collected the water and distributed it to passers-by outside the sabil, usually through a window with a metal grille. This service was free to members of the public, and was paid for by the revenues or funds of a charitable endowment, an Islamic waqf, provided or set up by the patron who commissioned the building. Endowing money for the construction of sabils was considered an act of piety, and the construction of many sabils was considered the hallmark of a beneficent ruler.

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