[2] The shops of Khan al-Tujjar carried a variety of cloth from throughout the Islamic world and merchants from India, Baghdad, Mosul, and Aleppo paid regular visits to the marketplace.

In the 1850s, Reverend John Mills wrote of Khan al-Tujjar saying, "The principal bazaar is arched, and is very large and fine for Nablus.

"[4] The significance of the khan was also attributed to its central location in the city, dividing it in half physically, but also psychologically between "easterners" and "westerners"—labels still used today.

During the Nabi Musa festival, Arab youth would descend upon Khan al-Tujjar shouting slogans praising their part of the city.

In the middle of the khan they would play a game in which they would face off and make forays into the other side, with the aim capturing more "prisoners".