User:Tiamut/Maqam
Maqam (Arabic: maqām) is a classical Arabic word for a "sacred place".[1]It is used to denote a "sanctuary", such as a commemorative burial shrine or an actual tomb.[1] Its meaning can be restricted only to built structures that can be entered at such sites.[1] The literal meaning of maqam is "the place where one stands."[1]
History
[edit]Almost every village in Palestine has a wali, a patron saint, whom people, predominantly rural peasants, would call upon for help at his or her associated sanctuary.[2] While wali can refer to both the saint and sanctuary, a sanctuary for a common saint is more precisely known as a maqam.[3]
Maqams were dedicated to biblical and quranic, real or mythical, male and female figures from ancient times to the time of the Arab conquest or even late Ottoman rule.[4] The built structure of most maqams is of a single room topped with a dome, often situated by an ancient carob or oak tree or a spring or rock cut water cistern.[5] [6] The positioning of maqams on or near these nautral features is seen as indicative of ancient worship practices adapted by the local population and associated with Muslim saints.[7] Ali Qleibo, a Palestinian anthropologist, states that this built evidence constitutes "an architectural testimony to Christian/Moslem Palestinian religious sensibility and its roots in ancient Semitic religions."[5]
Mosques were uncommon in Palestinian villages until the late 19th century, but practically every village had at least one maqam which served as sites of worship in the Palestinian folk Islam popular in the countryside over the centuries.[2][6] Christians and Jews also held some of the maqams to be holy, such as that of Nabi Samwil.[3] In the period of Ottoman rule over Palestine, most of these sites were visited collectively by members of all three faiths who often travelled together with provisions for a multi-day journey; by the Mandate Palestine period, politicization led to segregation.[4] Some maqams, like Nabi Rubin and Nabi Musa among others, were also the focus of seasonal festivals (mawsims) that thousands would attend annually.
Footnotes
[edit]- ^ a b c d Prochazka 2010, p. 112
- ^ a b Hourani 1993, pp. 470–471
- ^ a b Sharon 1999, pp. 142
- ^ a b Pappe 2006, pp. 78
- ^ a b Dr. Ali Qleibo (28 July 2007). "Palestinian Cave Dwellers and Holy Shrines: The Passing of Traditional Society". This Week in Palestine. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
- ^ a b Kark 2001, pp. 260
- ^ [1]
References
[edit]- Hourani, Albert Habib; Khoury, Philip Shukry; Wilson, Mary Christina (1993). The Modern Middle East: a reader. University of California Press. ISBN 0520082400, 9780520082403.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - Kark, Ruth; Oren-Nordheim, Michal (2001). Jerusalem and its environs: quarters, neighborhoods, villages, 1800-1948 (illustrated ed.). Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0814329098, 9780814329092.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - A history of modern Palestine: one land, two peoples Author Ilan Pappé Edition 2, illustrated, revised Publisher Cambridge University Press, 2006 ISBN 0521683157, 9780521683159.
{{cite book}}: horizontal tab character in|title=at position 60 (help) - Procházka-Eisl, Gisela; Procházka, Stephan (2010). The Plain of Saints and Prophets: The Nusayri-Alawi Community of Cilicia (Southern Turkey) and Its Sacred Places. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 3447061782, 9783447061780.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - Sharon, Moshe. Corpus inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, (CIAP) Volume 30 of Handbuch der Orientalistik. 1. Abt., Der Nahe und der Mittlere Osten Volume 2 of Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1, The Near and Middle East, v. 30 (illustrated ed.). BRILL. ISBN 9004110836, 9789004110830.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help)