Of the sixteen madrassahs built in Tripoli by the Mamluks, four -the Zuraqiyyah, al-Attar, Rifa'iyyah, and Umariyyah- are no longer standing and will not be dealt with here. At least eight of the remaining twelve were built within the same sixty or so years between 1310 and 1373. This concentration in the time of construction is paraleled by a concentration of site, the immediate vicinity of the Great Mosque being the most popular spot. Six Madrassahs ranging from the earliest (Khayriyyah Hasan) to what is probably the latest (the anonymous Mashhad), from the largest and most impressive (the Qartawiyyah) to the least well known Nasiriyyah, were erected around the Great Mosque. Two are set by the main entrance to the mosque, and one adjoining its eastern wall, suggesting that by the fourteenth century madrassahs may no longer have been as much used as before and simply as pious foundations tented to be concentrated around the Great Mosque.

The other Madrassahs are scattered around the city, but two of them, the Saqraqiyyah and the Khatuniyyah, face each other. One, the Zurayqiyyah (now destroyed), the earliest madrassah in Tripoli, was built, not near the Great Mosque, but on the right bank of the river, because that was an area developed by the first Mamluk governor of Tripoli.

These Madrassahs had a variety of patrons. Five were built by official members of the Mamluk ruling aristocracy: three governors of Tripoli, one Chamberlain, and one sultan.

Of the remaining Madrassahs, two (the Qadiriyyah and the Umarriyah) were associated with religious orders.

Only the Qartawiyyah was built according to a traditional Syrian Madrassah plan with a central covered courtyard, three raised iwans, and a prayer area along the qiblah wall. The others all include the tomb of their founder, but otherwise follow a variety of room arrangements with no common pattern, though they almost all include, in addition to a tomb chamber, an entrance area, a prayer hall, and an area for teaching.