Chapter VI : Palestine as a Holy Country

The position of Palestine as a holy country for Muslims derives very strongly from the Crusades. As already stated, these wars were not only inspired by religious zeal for the safeguarding and protection of the Christian holy shrines in Jerusalem and its environs, but were also inspired by the desire for conquest and expansion. The Crusaders did not conquer Jerusalem alone, but they conquered the whole of Palestine. ‘When the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I dispatched appeals to the West for volunteers to help stem the advance of the Turks through Asia Minor, Pope Urban II, at the Council of Clermont in 1095, skilfully utilized this plea to call for a great independent military expedition not so much to aid the Greek Christians as to expel the Muslims from Palestine. . . The First Crusade was launched in an atmosphere of intense religious emotion, and was conceived as part of the grand counter-offensive against Islam which was already being conducted on two fronts, in Spain and across the central Mediterranean towards North Africa. A third front was now to be opened in the Levant. . . This unprovoked assault was by the “Franks” of the distant West …’ [p. 158, ‘A History of Medieval Islam’ by J. J. Saunders, London, 1965].(23) This inimical spirit continued to smoulder even until the end of the First World War. More than one book was written in the West about ‘The Last Crusade’.(24) General Sarrail, the French High Commissioner in Syria, went on his first visit to Damascus to see the tomb of Saladin. He is reported to have said: ‘Saladin, nous sommes ici!’ – ‘Saladin, we are here!’

It is little wonder that Arabs and Muslims regard Palestine as holy, as a reaction to such aggressive designs. When the Syrian Congress met in March of 1920 in Damascus, Feisal was proclaimed King of both Syria and Palestine. The reaction to the Balfour Declaration of 1917 from the Arab and Muslim world is understandable. The same historical pattern was repeated after nearly 800 years. The Jewish immigration into Palestine under the Mandate (1920-48), and the establishment of Israel in 1948, have had the electrifying effect of making Palestine holy in a wider Islamic frame and in a narrower Arab one. Now the question of Palestine, especially after the Israeli Occupation of Jerusalem in June 1967, with the subsequent partial burning of Al-Aqsa Mosque, is no longer a local one, concerning only the Arabs of Palestine or the Arab world, but it has also become the concern of the Islamic world, as attested by the Islamic summit conference held in Rabat, Morocco, from 22 to 24 September 1969. The speeches of the heads of states at the conference and the communiqué at its conclusion emphasized the importance and significance of Palestine as a whole in the eyes of the Muslims. The Pakistani President said at the conference that ever since the Balfour Declaration of 1917, Pakistanis had constantly supported the Arab cause ‘which we have looked upon as the collective Islamic cause of Palestine.’.(25)

All these major factors, religious and otherwise, play their collective role in making Palestine a holy country to all Muslims. Inside Palestine, there are many minor factors which reinforce this sentiment. There are, for instance, the religious and popular festivals all the year round. In Jerusalem, there is the festival of Nabi Musa (the Prophet Moses) which begins on the Friday before the Orthodox Good Friday.  It is believed that the original purpose of this festival was for Muslims to come from Hebron and Nablus and gather in Jerusalem in large numbers to be ready in case the Christians, under Crusading influence from Europe, took it into their heads to start trouble during Easter. This festival concerns mainly Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablus, and the environs of Jerusalem, including Jericho. The other festival, held for three days in June, is that of Nabi Salih (the Prophet Salih, an Arab prophet), which takes place in Ramla, between Jaffa and Jerusalem. This is also thought to have been originally a pretext for the concentration of the largest number of Muslims as a precaution against any mischief intended by the Crusaders or their sympathizers in the country. Another popular festival is held for ten days in September around Jaffa and is called Nabi Ruben (Prophet Ruben). In Gaza, another festive gathering takes place outside the town.

In the north of Palestine, there is the festival of Nabi Shu’aib (Prophet Jethro), somewhere near Hittin, a locality famous for Saladin’s victory in 1187. It is now almost exclusively a Druze Festival.

But there are also many locally sacred shrines or spots all over Palestine. These are shrines of prophets, saints (awliya), sheikhs or great men, and the traveler will encounter them scattered from north to south and from east to west. Each of these is called in Arabic mazar, mesh-hed, qabr, qubbah, maqam or wali. There is in Jericho, for instance, a shrine, popularly thought to be the tomb of Ali, son-in-law of Muhammad. Near Nablus, there is the shrine of sheikh Nabi Billan, and on Mount Gerizim, to the south of Nablus, there is a shrine in the name of Wali Abu-Isma’il. On Mount Carmel, there was a sacred grove known as Shajarat Al-Arba’in, and a tomb called Qabr Al-Majdubi. In the village Al-Mesh-had (ancient Gath-Hipher), between Al-Raineh and Saffariya, north-east of Nazareth, there was, according to Dalman, a shrine for the Prophet Jonah, or Yunus in Arabic, which shows a clear association with Muslim tradition. At Safad, in the north, there was a maqam (shrine), very holy to the people around, called maqam Sheikh Abu-Qamis. Another one was that of Sheikh Hadid. On the northern shore of the Lake of Galilee, there was a shrine called maqam Sheikh Ali As-Sayyid. For further information, I would refer the reader to pp. 78-82, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. xi. There are also tombs of famous Muslim historical personages to be found all over the country. Aqaba (Elath), or Aila in classical Arabic, for instance, is the reputed burial place of Muhammad ibn Al-Hanafiyya, son of Ali and once a claimant of the caliphate.

Another very close tie between Palestine and Muslims, Arab and non-Arab, is the number of ancient Islamic and Arab families that still live in Palestine, or used to live in the areas captured by the Israelis in 1948 when almost all the Arabs were forced to leave their homes. For instance, in Nablus there are families which trace their ancestry to Al-Jarrah, father of the great Arab general Amir ibn Al-Jarrah. In Jerusalem, Jenin and Safad, there are, or were, families descended from Beni Makhzum, the tribe of Khalid ibn Al-Walid, the greatest Arab general in the very early period of Islam. The Tamimis, descendants of Tamim Al-Dari, a companion of the Prophet, spread in Hebron, Nablus, and Beersheba.

The foregoing account about how holy Palestine is for Muslims will, it is hoped, show that Arab and Muslim roots are very firmly embedded in the country. The 900 years-long Arab rule, and the subsequent Muslim rule for nearly 400 years, during which the Jews, not to mention the Zionists, had almost no religious or secular existence, cannot be expunged at will and denied capriciously. This long period of about 1 300 years of continuous and integrated rule should be contrasted with only about 73 years of united and truly independent Jewish rule in the country, after which the Hebrew United Monarchy broke up into two quarrelling and fighting kingdoms, those of Israel, which lasted until 722 B.C., and Judah, which lasted until 587 B.C. [p. 8; ‘The Decadence of Judaism in Our Time’, by Moshe Menuhin, Beirut, 1969].

If the Zionists claim that Palestine is their country on the basis of a religious sentiment dating from 2 000 years ago, the Arabs and the Muslims of Palestine have a more forceful claim. Of course, it is no good bringing forward cogent arguments in favour of the Arab and Muslim case at a time when the maxim Might is Right reigns supreme, even when there is a United Nations whose raison d’être is to safeguard legitimate rights and to settle disputes equitably and peacefully. It is as though Theodor Herzl, the founder of Political Zionism, was speaking on behalf of Palestine’s Arabs when he wrote: “In countries where we have already lived for centuries we are stigmatized as aliens, often by those whose ancestors were not yet settled in the land where our forefathers had always suffered affliction. Who is the alien in a country only the majority can decide, for it is a question of Might like everything else in relations between nations... In the present state of the world, and probably for a long time to come Might precedes Right. It is therefore useless for us to be good patriots, as were the Huguenots, who were forced to emigrate. If we could only be left in peace. . .’ [p. 92, Theodor Herzl by Israel Cohen, New York, 1959]. Yes, if the Arabs of Palestine had been strong enough to defy and defeat the Balfour Declaration, as the nationalist Turks under Mustapha Kemal were able through sheer military strength to tear up the iniquitous arrangements, Israel would not be in existence now.” Might is Right, as Herzl said.