Ottoman records indicate that a Mamluk fortress may have stood on the site. However, the Ottoman fortress was built following the publication of a firman in AD 1573 (981 H.):"You have sent a letter and have reported that four walls of the fortress Ras al-Ayn have been built, [..] I have commanded that when firman arrives you shall [..have built] the above mentioned rooms and mosque with its minaret and have the guards remove the earth outside and clean and tidy place.