Mausoleum of Abu Hurayra
{{Short description|Maqam and synagogue in Yavne, Israel}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox religious building
| name = {{ubl|Mausoleum of Abu Huraira|{{small|(Rabban Gamaliel's Tomb)}}}}
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| image = PikiWiki Israel 10149 rabbi gamliel tomb in yavneh.jpg
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| caption = The portico façade, in 2010
| religious_affiliation = Orthodox Judaism
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| organisational_status = {{ubl|Mausoleum / maqam|Synagogue}}
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| functional_status = Active {{small|(as a synagogue)}}
| religious_features_label = Former denomination
| religious_features = Islam
| location = HaSanhedrin Park, Yavne, Rehovot Subdistrict, Central District
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| country = Israel
| map_type = Israel center ta
| map_size = 250
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| map_caption = Location of the mausoleum and synagogue, in Central Israel
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| architecture_style = Roman architecture
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| year_completed = {{circa|13th century}}
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The mausoleum of Abu Hurayra, or Rabban Gamaliel's Tomb, is a maqam turned synagogue in Sanhedrin Park in Yavne, Rehovot Subdistrict, in the Central District of Israel, formerly belonging to the depopulated Palestinian village of Yibna. It has been described as "one of the finest domed mausoleums in Palestine."{{rp|[https://www.academia.edu/21620272/Gazetteer_6._S-Z 313]}}
The mausoleum is located on a cemetery northwest of Yibna that residents have used for burial since at least the Roman period. Since the early 13th century, Muslims identified it as one of the purported burial places of Abu Hurairah, a companion of Muhammad. However, most Arabic sources give Medina as his resting place. The date of the inner tomb chamber is uncertain, with contemporary sources allowing the assumption that a tomb chamber existed at the site and was associated with Abu Hurairah already before Mamluk sultan Baybars's additions.{{rp|121}} In 1274, Baybars ordered the construction of the riwaq featuring a tripartite portal and six tiny domes together with a dedicatory inscription,{{rp|31}} with the site expanded further in 1292 by Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil.{{efn|The most famous construction project financed by Baybars in Yavneh was the magnificent addition to Maqām Abu Hureira (the "Raban Gamaliel tomb"), which consisted of double stoai with domes (riwāq). The construction activity was carried out in 1274 by the governor of Ramla, Khalīl Ibn Sawīr. The tomb itself existed at least since the beginning of the 13th century, as shown by Alī al-Harawī (1215 CE) and the geographer Yāqūt (1225 CE).{{rp|249}} }}
The tomb is known to Jews as the tomb of Gamaliel II, the first Nasi of the Sanhedrin after the fall of the Second Temple.{{cite book|last1=Mayer|first1=L.A.|author-link1=Leo Aryeh Mayer |last2=Pinkerfeld|first2=J.|last3=Yadin|first3=Y.|author-link3=Yigael Yadin |title=Some Principal Muslim Religious Buildings in Israel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ePVAAAAMAAJ |year=1950|publisher= Ministry of religious affairs|location=Jerusalem}}{{rp|22}} A Hebrew travel guide dated to between 1266 and 1291 attributes the tomb to Gamaliel and describes it as being occupied by a Muslim prayer house.{{rp|70}} The site was frequently visited by Jewish medieval pilgrims.{{efn|Following the War, this Muslim tomb with its typical cupola was converted into a Jewish sacred place, gradually drawing more and more Jewish worshippers. The change in Yavneh had much to do with the new local Jewish settlers, immigrants who came primarily from Arab countries to settle in the nearby vacated Arab village of Yubna. These settlers adopted the adjacent tomb and reused it as the tomb of Raban Gamaliel. As in many similar cases throughout the State of Israel, the tradition that connected Jews to Yavneh was not unfounded and was based mainly on the literature of medieval Jewish pilgrims, who frequently mentioned visits to that place. Jewish claim of ownership over this tomb was based on the argument that it, as well as many other Muslim sacred tombs, were originally Jewish burial places that were Islamized during the later history of the region. During the decades before 1948, no visible active or large-scale Jewish pilgrimage to Yavneh was recorded, as was true for most of the sacred places that formed the Jewish sacred space later, during the 1950s.{{cite journal |last=Bar |first=Gideon |date=2008 |title=Reconstructing the Past: The Creation of Jewish Sacred Space in the State of Israel, 1948–1967 |journal=Israel Studies |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=1–21 |doi=10.2979/isr.2008.13.3.1 |jstor=30245829}}{{rp|9}}}} Following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War the mausoleum was officially designated as a shrine for Jews by Israel.{{cite journal |author=Taragan, Hana |url=http://www.academy.ac.il/SystemFiles/21117.pdf |title=Historical reference in medieval Islamic architecture: Baybar's buildings in Palestine |journal=Bulletin of the Israeli Academic Center in Cairo |volume=25 |year=2002 |doi= |issn= |page=31-34}}{{rp|31}}{{rp|22}}{{rp|313}}
In all likelihood, neither Rabban Gamaliel nor Abu Hurairah are buried in the tomb.{{rp|117}}
History
=Pre-Muslim times=
=Crusader/Ayyubid period=
Ali ibn Abi Bakr al-Harawi (d. 1215), followed by Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1229){{cite book |title=Geographisches Wörterbuch |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.70333 |author =Yaqut (Jacut)|author-link=Yaqut al-Hamawi|volume=4|year=1869|editor=Ferdinand Wüstenfeld|editor-link=Ferdinand Wüstenfeld|language=ar, de|location=Leipzig|publisher=F.A. Brockhaus}}{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.70333/2015.70333.Geographisches-Worterbuch-Vol4#page/n1008/mode/1up 1007]}}{{cite book|title=Bones of Contention: Muslim Shrines in Palestine|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ZRVBDwAAQBAJ |first=Andrew|last=Petersen|year=2017|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-9811069659}}{{rp|[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZRVBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 58]}} and the Marāṣid al-ʾiṭṭilāʿ ({{langx|ar| مراصد الاطلاع }}, an abridgement of Yaqut's work by Safi al-Din 'Abd al-Mu'min ibn 'Abd al-Haqq, d.1338),{{cite book |editor=Speake, Jennifer |editor-link=Jennifer Speake |title=Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xZyOAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1302 |date=12 May 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-45663-4 |pages=1302–}} mention that in Yubna there was a tomb said to be that of Abu Hurayra, the companion of the Prophet.{{rp|553}} The Marāṣid also adds that the tomb seen here is also said to be that of Abd Allah ibn Sa'd, another companion of the Prophet.{{cite book|title=Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500|url=https://archive.org/details/palestineundermo00lestuoft |first=G.|last=Le Strange|author-link=Guy Le Strange|year=1890|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}}{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/553/mode/1up 553]}}
Yavne's population at the time was a mixture of Muslims, Samaritans, and - during the Crusader period - Christians, with Benjamin of Tudela (12th century) finding no Jewish inhabitants there. During the Middle Ages, apart from Muslims (and Christians in the Crusader period), Samaritans continued to inhabit Yibna. The Tolidah, a Samaritan chronicle written sometime during the 12th−14th centuries, mentions a Samaritan family that moved from Ashkelon to Yibna, called here "Iamma", and other Samaritans that moved from the city to Egypt. According to Ben-Zvi, this event occurred when Yibna fell to the Ayyubids in 1187 (1976: 108). The Samaritan presence in Yavneh was continuous and lasted from the late Roman period at least until the 12th century. As mentioned previously, there are no records from the early Islamic period about a Jewish presence in Yavneh, yet no records exist to refute such a presence. On the other hand, Benjamin of Tudela (12th century), who passed through Yavneh on his way from Jaffa to Ashkelon, clearly states that no Jews were living there (Benjamin of Tudela 43).{{rp|250}}
=Mamluk period=
Most of the current structure was built during the Mamluk period, with successive additions to a pre-existing tomb chamber already associated with Abu Hurayra.{{rp|121}}
A Hebrew travel guide from between 1266 and 1291 mentions that the tomb of Rabban Gamaliel in Yavne is used as a Muslim prayer house.{{cite journal |last=Taragan |first=Hana |date=2000 |trans-title=Baybars and the Tomb of Abu Hurayra/Rabban Gamliel in Yavneh |title=הכוח שבאבן: ביברס וקבר אבו-הרירה/רבן גמליאל ביבנה |journal=Cathedra: For the History of Eretz Israel and its Yishuv / קתדרה: לתולדות ארץ ישראל ויישובה |issue=97 |pages=65–84 |jstor=23404643 |lang=he }}{{rp|70}} The following century, another Jewish traveler, Ishtori Haparchi, described Abu Hurayra's mausoleum as 'a very fine memorial to Rabbi Gamliel.'{{rp|139 n. 11}}
=Ottoman and British Mandate periods=
File:Sketch of Mausoleum of Abu Huraira 01.png
In 1863 Victor Guérin visited, describing the site as a mosque.{{cite book|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongog02gu |volume=1: Judee, pt. 2|year=1869|publisher= L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=fr}}{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongog02gu#page/56/mode/1up 56]-57 }} In 1882, Conder and Kitchener described it: "The mosque of Abu Hureireh is a handsome building under a dome, and contains two inscriptions, the first in the outer court, the second in the wall of the interior."{{rp|441-442}}
During the British Mandate of Palestine the porch of the building was used for school rooms.{{rp|313}}
=State of Israel=
Following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, immigrant Sephardic Jews from Arab countries began to pray at the site due to their belief that the tomb is the burial place of Rabban Gamaliel of Yavne, the first Nasi of the Sanhedrin after the fall of the Second Temple.{{rp|22}}{{efn|In 1950, following the instructions of J. L. Hacohen Maimon of Israel's Ministry for Religious Affairs regarding the possibility of restoring Muslim edifices in Israel, L. A. Mayer referred specifically to the intriguing memorial at Yavne: "Its legend-creating qualities have lasted till our own days: quite recently we heard of a belief prevalent among Oriental Jews that here is situated the tomb of Rabbi Gamliel of Yavne."The said belief has only gained in strength since then, and over the past three years, during my frequent visits to the site, I have been witness to Rabbi Gamliel's "creeping annexation" of the site, as it were.'{{cite book|last=Taragan|first=Hana|editor=Asher Ovadiah|title=Milestones in the Art and Culture of Egypt |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260141293 |year=2000|publisher=Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts, Tel Aviv University|pages=117–143|chapter=Politics and Aesthetics: Sultan Baybars and the Abu Hurayra / Rabbi Gamliel Building in Yavneh}}{{rp|137-138}}}} The identification of the site as Gamaliel's tomb was based on the literature of medieval Jewish pilgrims, who frequently mentioned visits to the site. The claim of previous Jewish origin was based on the argument that many such maqamat (Muslim sacred tombs) were originally Jewish tombs that had been Islamized during the later history of the region.{{rp|9}} The Ministry of Religious Services of Israel has maintained authority over the site since 1948,{{cite book |author=Bar, Doron |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nROPAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |chapter=Wars and sacred space: the influence of the 1948 War on sacred space in the state of Israel |editor1=Breger, Marshall J. |editor2=Reiter, Yitzhak |editor3=Hammer, Leonard |title=Holy Places in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Confrontation and Co-existence |publisher=Routledge |year=2009 |pages=67–91 |isbn= 978-1-135-26812-1}} and the structure was thereafter appropriated by Haredi Judaism and transformed into a tomb of the righteous.{{clarify|reason=Is "tomb of the righteous" a religious term? If yes, pls add quotation marks; if not: remove, as it only looks like an awkward copy-and-paste leftover.|date=September 2021}}{{rp|138}} Gideon Bar cites it as one of many cases of the Judaization of Muslim holy places, where the Jewish heritage of a site has been showcased at the expense of other local cultural traditions.{{rp|7-8}}
Architecture
Until 1948 the building stood within a walled compound containing other graves (the compound wall and the graves have since been removed). There were two inscriptions above the gateway; one in the name of Sultan Baybars dated 673 H. (1274 C.E.) and another dated to 806 H. (1403 C.E.).{{rp|313}}
A cenotaph is located in center of the tomb chamber. The cenotaph is a rectangular structure with four marble corner posts formed as turbans. The four lower courses are made of ashlar blocks, while the upper course is of marble ornamented with niches in Gothic style.{{rp|[https://www.academia.edu/21620272/Gazetteer_6._S-Z 316]}}
Much of the construction materials of the building are reused Byzantine marble, mainly columns and Corinthian capitals.{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/3218807 |last1=Fischer |first1=M. |last2=Taxel |first2=Itamar |date=2007 |title=Ancient Yavneh: Its History and Archaeology |journal=Tel Aviv |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=204–284 |doi=10.1179/tav.2007.2007.2.204}}{{rp|[https://www.academia.edu/3218807/Fischer_M._and_Taxel_I._2007._Ancient_Yavneh_Its_History_and_Archaeology._Tel_Aviv_34_204]-284}}
Inscriptions
The first inscription, dated 1274, described how Mamluk Sultan Baybars (reigned 1260–77) ordered the construction of the riwaq.{{rp|31}} It also refers to the Wali of Ramleh, Khalil ibn Sawir, who was named by the chronicler Ibn al-Furat as being responsible for instigating the famed attempted assassination of Edward I of England in June 1272 in the Ninth Crusade.{{cite book |author1=Venning, Timothy |author2=Frankopan, Peter |title=A Chronology of the Crusades |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ubflCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA375 |date=May 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-49643-4 |pages=375–}}{{cite book |last=Clermont-Ganneau |first=C. S.|author-link=Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau |title=[ARP] Archaeological Researches in Palestine 1873–1874, translated from the French by J. McFarlane |url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologicalre02cler |volume=2 |year=1896 |publisher=Palestine Exploration Fund |location=London}}{{rp|[https://archive.org/stream/archaeologicalre02cler#page/175/mode/1up 175]}}{{rp|[https://www.academia.edu/21620272/Gazetteer_6._S-Z 313]}}
The second inscription described further construction ordered in 1292 by Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil (reigned 1290–93).
Facilities
The tomb contains a large hall, offices, and a small Orthodox synagogue. Facilities around the tomb include restrooms, water fountains, a Yahrzeit candelabra, and tables for festive meals (seudat mitzvah). The tomb indication itself is covered with a blue ornamental cloth. The tomb is renowned among some Jews as a matchmaking and fertility site.[http://www.mapa.co.il/%D7%9E%D7%A4%D7%94/%D7%90%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%A7%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA/65369 Sanhendrim Park in Yavneh], Mapa, Anat MadmoniDr. Noga Collins-Kreiner, Haifa University. [https://sites.hevra.haifa.ac.il/nogack/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2014/10/%D7%A7%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%99-%D7%A6%D7%93%D7%99%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%93-%D7%94%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA-final.pdf The characteristics and tourist potential of saintly grave pilgrimage: Report to Tourism office]
Gallery
Raban Gamliel 1.jpg|The mausoleum in 1985
RabanGamliel2.jpg|The mausoleum in 2009
Yavne 593.jpg|Side view from the east
Yavne 594.jpg|Side view
Yavne 596.jpg|Rear view from south-east, with stairs leading up to the roof
Yavne 599.jpg|North-east exposure of the tomb structure
Yavne-2-208.jpg|Interior, with faint inscription and ablaq-style masonry{{cite book|title=A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine: Volume I (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology) |url=https://www.academia.edu/21620272 |first=Andrew |last=Petersen |year=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-727011-0 }}{{rp|[https://www.academia.edu/21620272/Gazetteer_6._S-Z 315]}}
See also
{{stack|{{portal|Judaism|Israel}}}}
Notes
{{noteslist}}
References
{{Reflist|25em}}
Further reading
{{ref begin}}
- {{cite book |first=M. |last=Meinecke |author-link=Michael Meinecke|title=Die mamlukische Architektur in Ägypten und Syrien (648/1250 bis 923/1517): Chronologische Liste der mamlukischen Baumassnahmen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l9dOAAAAYAAJ|year=1992|publisher=Verlag J.J. Augustin|isbn=978-3-87030-076-0|pages=16, 36, 301}}
- {{cite book|last1=Pedersen|first1=J.|author-link1=Johannes Pedersen (theologian) |title=Inscriptiones Semiticae collectionis Ustinowianae |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a0WitwAACAAJ |year=1928 |pages=30–32 |publisher= Brgger }} Cited in Sharon, 2007.
- {{cite book|title=Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, Addendum |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1d8xHcor0psC |first=M.|last=Sharon|author-link=Moshe Sharon|year=2007|publisher=BRILL|isbn= 978-90-04-15780-4}}, (pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1d8xHcor0psC&pg=PA29 29] -31)
{{refend}}
External links
{{commons category|Mausoleum of Abu Huraira}}
- [http://archnet.org/sites/4283 Mausoleum of Abu Huraira] – archnet.org
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 16: [https://web.archive.org/web/20190402072741/http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8378 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.16.jpg Wikimedia commons]
{{Synagogues in Israel}}
Category:13th-century synagogues in Israel
Category:Jewish pilgrimage sites
Category:Jews and Judaism in the Roman Empire
Category:Orthodox synagogues in Israel
Category:Religious buildings and structures in Central District (Israel)