Mamilla Cemetery: Difference between revisions
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==History== |
==History== |
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The cemetery is mentioned in ''Concerning the (religious) status of Jerusalem'', a treatise penned by Abu Bakr b. Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Wasiti, the preacher of [[Al Aqsa Mosque]] in 1019-1020 (AH 410).<ref name=Gil>{{cite book|page=422, 634|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=tSM4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA634&dq=mamilla+cemetery&hl=en&ei=F9AdTsSKFsbSsgbL36WyDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CEgQ6AEwCDgy#v=onepage&q=wasiti&f=false|title=A history of Palestine, 634-1099|author=Moshe Gil|publisher=CUP Archive|year=1992|ISBN=0521404371, 9780521404372}}</ref> He gives its name as ''zaytun al-milla'', [[Arabic language|Arabic]] for "the olive trees of the religion", which [[Moshe Gil]] says was "a commonly used distortion of the name Māmillā," along with ''bab al-milla'' (meaning, "the olive trees of the door").<ref name=Gil/> Al-Wasiti outlines the benefits of being buried in Jerusalem, also detailed by al-Zarkashi in his 14th century work ''A'lam'', a collection of traditions on the value of prayer in Jerusalem.<ref name=Gil/> Al-Zarkashi says those buried in Jerusalem will avoid ''fitnat al qabr'' or the "purgatory of the tomb," and for those buried in ''zaytun al-milla'' itself, it would be as if they were buried in heaven.<ref name=Gil/> |
The cemetery is mentioned in ''Concerning the (religious) status of Jerusalem'', a treatise penned by Abu Bakr b. Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Wasiti, the preacher of [[Al Aqsa Mosque]] in 1019-1020 (AH 410).<ref name=Gil>{{cite book|page=422, 634|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=tSM4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA634&dq=mamilla+cemetery&hl=en&ei=F9AdTsSKFsbSsgbL36WyDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CEgQ6AEwCDgy#v=onepage&q=wasiti&f=false|title=A history of Palestine, 634-1099|author=Moshe Gil|publisher=CUP Archive|year=1992|ISBN=0521404371, 9780521404372}}</ref> He gives its name as ''zaytun al-milla'', [[Arabic language|Arabic]] for "the olive trees of the religion", which [[Moshe Gil]] says was "a commonly used distortion of the name Māmillā," along with ''bab al-milla'' (meaning, "the olive trees of the door").<ref name=Gil/> Al-Wasiti outlines the benefits of being buried in Jerusalem, also detailed by al-Zarkashi in his 14th century work ''A'lam'', a collection of traditions on the value of prayer in Jerusalem.<ref name=Gil/> Al-Zarkashi says those buried in Jerusalem will avoid ''fitnat al qabr'' or the "purgatory of the tomb," and for those buried in ''zaytun al-milla'' itself, it would be as if they were buried in heaven.<ref name=Gil/> |
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[[Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi]] writes of the cemetery's name in ''al-Haqiqa'', a work based on his travels to [[Palestine]] in 1693-4, that, "It is said that its original name is Ma'man Illah and sometimes it was called Bab Illah [Gate to God]. It is also called 'Zeitun il-Milla'. Its name, according to the Jews, is Beit Milo and to the Christians, Babilla. But it is known to the common people as Mamilla."<ref name=JQF>{{cite journal|title=Jerusalem quarterly file|issue=17-21|publisher=Institute of Jerusalem Studies|year=2003|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=BR0XAQAAIAAJ&q=ma'man+illah&dq=ma'man+illah&hl=en&ei=YOcdTo7uEJCy8QOiw4X9Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA|page=61}}</ref><ref name=Khalidi>{{cite book|page=14|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=o51FWqrYp84C&pg=PA14&dq=nabulsi+haqiqa&hl=en&ei=KOodTuiTC4Os8QPWuvm2CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=nabulsi%20haqiqa&f=false|title=Transformed landscapes: essays on Palestine and the Middle East in honor of Walid Khalidi|author=Walid Khalidi and Kamīl Manṣūr|editor=Leila Tarazi Fawaz|publisher=American University in Cairo Press|year=2009|ISBN=9774162471, 9789774162473}}</ref> |
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==History of damage== |
==History of damage== |
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Revision as of 19:05, 13 July 2011
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Mamilla Cemetery is an historic Muslim cemetery, located in the central Mamilla area of Jerusalem.[1] The cemetery contains the remains of figures from the early Islamic period,[2] several Sufi shrines and Mamluk-era tombs.[1] The cemetery, including the Mamilla Pool that forms its center, was used as a burial site up until 1927 when the Supreme Muslim Council decided to preserve it as a historic site.[1] Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the cemetery and other waqf properties in West Jerusalem fell under the control of Israeli governmental bodies.[3] The cemetery was managed by the government's Muslim Affairs Department of the Ministry of Religious Affairs.[4]
History
The cemetery is mentioned in Concerning the (religious) status of Jerusalem, a treatise penned by Abu Bakr b. Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Wasiti, the preacher of Al Aqsa Mosque in 1019-1020 (AH 410).[5] He gives its name as zaytun al-milla, Arabic for "the olive trees of the religion", which Moshe Gil says was "a commonly used distortion of the name Māmillā," along with bab al-milla (meaning, "the olive trees of the door").[5] Al-Wasiti outlines the benefits of being buried in Jerusalem, also detailed by al-Zarkashi in his 14th century work A'lam, a collection of traditions on the value of prayer in Jerusalem.[5] Al-Zarkashi says those buried in Jerusalem will avoid fitnat al qabr or the "purgatory of the tomb," and for those buried in zaytun al-milla itself, it would be as if they were buried in heaven.[5]
Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi writes of the cemetery's name in al-Haqiqa, a work based on his travels to Palestine in 1693-4, that, "It is said that its original name is Ma'man Illah and sometimes it was called Bab Illah [Gate to God]. It is also called 'Zeitun il-Milla'. Its name, according to the Jews, is Beit Milo and to the Christians, Babilla. But it is known to the common people as Mamilla."[6][7]
History of damage
In 1929, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, The Mufti of Jerusalem, decided to build the Palace Hotel on what was assumed to be outside the border of the cemetery. During excavation for the foundations, Arab workers uncovered Muslim graves. The Mufti, afraid that his political rival Jerusalem mayor Raghib al-Nashashibi would issue a cease work order, told the contractor Baruch Katinka to quietly rebury the bones elsewhere. The secret got out, however. Shari'a law permits the transfer of graves in special cases with the approval of a qadi (Muslim judge). Husayni, acting as head of the Supreme Muslim Council, authorized the disinterment. But rival factions disagreed and filed a suit against Husayni at the Muslim court, arguing that he had desecrated ancient graves. The mufti's fatwa has reverberated for decades.[8][9]
The western side of the cemetery is bordered by Independence Park and prior to 2005 its northwestern side was paved over for use as a parking lot. In 2005, the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) revealed plans to build a Center for Human Dignity, as part of its Museum of Tolerance on the northwestern portion of the cemetery, which has long been a parking lot. The Museum of Tolerance and Human Dignity is to be modeled after the SWC's museum in Los Angeles.[10] The museum was initially due for completion in 2009 but the plan has been delayed due to accusations that the museum would be built over the historic Muslim cemetery.[11]
The SWC's plan has elicited considerable outcry from some in the Israeli archaeologist community and other prominent academics such as Yehushua Ben-Arieh as well as Muslim authorities, and has been stayed several times by the courts. In response to these critics, Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the SWC, called the charges "slander." He further wrote, "Our opponents would have you believe our bulldozers are preparing to desecrate ancient Muslim tombstones and historic markers. Let me be clear: The Museum of Tolerance is not being built on the Mamilla Cemetery, but on an adjacent 3-acre site where, for a half-century, hundreds of people of all faiths have parked in a three-level underground structure without any protest."[12]
Following the outcry from Palestinian and Israeli advocacy groups, it was discovered in February 2007 that a November 1945 article in The Palestine Post reported Muslim plans to build a commercial center directly over the cemetery. The article stated, "An area of over 450 dunams in the heart of Jerusalem, now forming the Mamilla Cemetery, is to be converted into a business centre. The town-plan is being completed under the supervision of the Supreme Moslem Council in conjunction with the Government Town Planning Adviser." Citing supportive rulings from prominent Muslim clerics at the time, the council planned to transfer the remains buried in the cemetery to a separate "walled reserve" in favor of "the public interest." In response to this revelation, the Simon Wiesenthal Center accused opponents of its building plans of "sheer hypocrisy," stressing that the museum was “not even being built on the cemetery itself.”[13] Rabbi Hier added that this new information "substantiates much of what Israel's Supreme Court said in its recent ruling: That the Mamilla Cemetery was regarded by many Muslim religious leaders as 'mundras,' or abandoned and without sanctity."[12]
Fake tombstone controversy
In August 2010, the municipality of Jerusalem removed about 300 tombstones from the Independence Park next to the cemetery after Arutz Sheva wrote an article on fake tombs planted there.[14] The Islamic Movement claimed these were recently built or renovated Muslim graves. The city claimed that the court approved removal was of "dummy gravestones" which were laid in the last seven months.
The dispute erupted when Israeli bulldozers had begun destroying some 200 tombstones in the cemetery. The bulldozers returned later in the day to destroy dozens more after a Jerusalem court rejected a petition to halt the work. The municipality said that "fake" gravestones which were not erected over any human remains were placed in the park in an effort to "illegally take over state land" and that underneath the tombstones excavators found only "plastic bottles, cigarette packets and parts of a sprinkler system". Mahmud Abu Atta, a spokesman for the Al-Aqsa Foundation which is linked to the Islamic Movement said that "all the tombs that we built or renovated contain bodies. We are 100 percent sure of that".[15]
References
- ^ a b c Asem Khalidi (2009). "The Mamilla Cemetery: A Buried History". Jerusalem Quarterly. 37.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Philip Mattar (2005). Encyclopedia of the Palestinians (2nd, revised, illustrated ed.). Infobase Publishing. p. 261. ISBN 0816057648, 9780816057641.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - ^ Michael Dumper (1997). The politics of Jerusalem since 1967 (Illustrated ed.). Columbia University Press. p. 168. ISBN 0231106408, 9780231106405.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - ^ Alisa Rubin Peled (2001). Debating Islam in the Jewish state: the development of policy toward Islamic institutions in Israel (Illustrated ed.). SUNY Press. p. 168. ISBN 0791450783, 9780791450789.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - ^ a b c d Moshe Gil (1992). A history of Palestine, 634-1099. CUP Archive. p. 422, 634. ISBN 0521404371, 9780521404372.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - ^ "Jerusalem quarterly file" (17–21). Institute of Jerusalem Studies. 2003: 61.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Walid Khalidi and Kamīl Manṣūr (2009). Leila Tarazi Fawaz (ed.). Transformed landscapes: essays on Palestine and the Middle East in honor of Walid Khalidi. American University in Cairo Press. p. 14. ISBN 9774162471, 9789774162473.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - ^ The Jerusalem Post Grand Hotel 30th July 2009
- ^ A guide to buildings in Jerusalem 25th January 2010
- ^ Donald Macintyre (9 February 2006). "Israel plans to build 'museum of tolerance' on Muslim graves". The Independent.
- ^ BBC on the Museum of tolerance
- ^ a b Rabbin Marvin Hier (19 February 2010). "Hypocrisy and lies fuel enemies of a Jerusalem museum". New York Daily News.
- ^ Abe Selig (17 February 2010). "Muslims planned Mamilla project in '45". The Jerusalem Post.
- ^ "Arabs Faking Graves to Grab Jerusalem Land" Gil Ronen, Chezki Ezra and Shimon Cohen, Aug. 4, 2010, (Arutz Sheva).
- ^ "Destroyed Muslim graves in Jerusalem were 'fake': Israel," Hazel Ward, Aug. 12, 2010, (AFP).
Further reading
- Clermont-Ganneau, Charles Simon (1896): Archaeological Researches in Palestine 1873-1874, [ARP], translated from the French by J. McFarlane, Palestine Exploration Fund, London. Volume 1.
- p.279 ff: The cemetery of Mamilla.