Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, Volume One: -A- (Handbook of Oriental Studies: Section 1; The Near and Middle East) (English and Arabic Edition) 9004108335, 9789004108332

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CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM ARABICARUM PALAESTINAE

HAND BUCH DER ORIENTALISTIK HANDBOOK OF ORIENTAL STUDIES ERSTE ABTEILUNG

DER NAHE UND MITTLERE OSTEN THE NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST HERAUSGEGEBEN VON

H. ALTENMDLLER · B. HROUDA · B.A. LEVINE · R.S. O'FAHEY K.R. VEENHOF · C.H.M. VERSTEEGH

DREISSIGSTER BAND

CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM ARABICARUM PALAESTINAE

CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM ARABICARUM PALAESTINAE (CIAP) VOLUME ONE

-ABY

MOSHE SHARON

BRILL LEIDEN· NEW YORK· KOLN 1997

The publication of this volume was supported by the Fondation Max van &rchem, Geneva This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sharon, Moshe. Corpus inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, (CIAP) I by Moshe Sharon p. cm. - (Handbuch der Orientalistik. Erste Abteilung, Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten, ISSN 0169-9423; 30. Bd. =Handbook of Oriental studies. The Near and Middle East) Includes bibliographical references (p. ). Contents : v. 1. A ISBN 9004108335 (cloth: alk. paper). Inscriptions, Arabic - Palestine. 2. Epitaphs - Palestine. I. Title. II. Series : Handbuch der Orientalistik. Erste Abteilung, Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten ; 30. Bd. PJ7599.P19S53 1997 492.7-dc21 97-19195 CIP

Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme Handbuch der Orientalistik I hrsg. von B. Spuler unter Mitarb. von C. van Dijk... - Leiden ; New York ; Koln : Brill. Teilw. hrsg. von H. Altenmiiller. - Literaturangaben. - Teilw. hrsg. von B. Spuler. - Teilw. mit Parallelt.: Handbook of oriental studies

Abt. 1, Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten - The Near and Middle East I hrsg. von H Altenmiiller ... Bd. 30. Sharon, Moshe : Corpus inscriptionum arabicarum palaestinae. Vol. I. A. - - Leiden ; New York ; Koln : Brill, 1997 (Handbuch der Orientalistik : Abt. I, Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten ; Bd. 30 ISBN 90 04 I 0833 5

ISSN 0169-9423 ISBN 90 04 10833 5 (Vol. 1) ISBN 90 04 11006 2 (Set)

© CopyrighJ 1997 by Koninldijke Brill, Leiden, Tu Nethrrlands All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval -!)'Stem, or transmitted in any form or by any means, ekctronic, meclianical, photocopying, recording or othnwise, without prior written permission from the publishn. Authorization to photocop_~ items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninldijke Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid direct{y to Tu CopyrighJ Ckarance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Darwers MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS

Dedicated to the memory of Max van Berchem who established Arabic epigraphy as art and of Gaston Wiet who initiated me into this art.

CONTENTS List of maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

VIII

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

IX

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

XI

Abu Dis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1

Abu Ghush (Qaryat al-'Inab) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3

'Abwin

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

14

Al).madiyyah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

16

'Ajjul

17

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

'Akko ('Akka, Acre)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

22

'Arnawas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

79

'Anatah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

87

'Aqabah (Aylah) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

89

'Aqabat Fiq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

102

'Aqir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

107

'Aqrabah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

110

Arsuf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

112

Arµs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

117

'Arura . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

121

Ashdod (lsdud) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

124

Ashqelon ('Asqalan, Ascalon) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

129

'Avdat ('Abdah) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

190

Unidentified inscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

195

Bibliography

197

Glossary

207

Index

209

Plates

LIST OF MAPS AND PLANS Map of Acre ('Akko)

21

Jazzar's Mosque and its courtyard: General plan, and cross section

48

Jacotin's map of St.Jean d'Acre

78

Map of Arsuf

114

Map of medieval Ashqelon

137

Late 19th century plan of Ashqelon

143

Ashqelon: proposed reconstruction ofJaffa gate

165

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research on the Arabic inscriptions is supported by the Israel Scientific Foundation (founded by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities), and the Getty Grant Program. During the former stages of the research, it was supported by the following individuals and institutions: the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities; the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; the Fund for Encouraging Scholars and Writers in the Office of the President of Israel; the Jerusalem Municipality; the Hagop Kevorkian Fund, New York; the Karen Fredman Memorial Fund, South Africa; Mr. Leon Levy, New York. The research has been carried out in co-operation with the Israel Antiquities Authority, that put its archives at the disposal of the author, including the old ones from the time of the British Mandate, and permitted the publication of its photographs of many inscriptions, some of which no longer exist. The material from the British Mandatory Department of Antiquities is kept in the Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem, and referred to by the letters PAM (an abbreviation of Palestine Antiquities Museum). This material is now incorporated into the system of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). Thanks are due to the Islamic Waqf Authorities, Jerusalem, for the generous help which they have extended during the work in the lfaram and its Islamic Museum, and to Fondation Max van Berchem, Geneva, its director, Professor Charles Genequand, and Mme. Antoinette Harri, for facilitating the work on van Berchem's archives. Many colleagues and students were involved, in some way or another, with the project of the Corpus during the past two and a half decades. Some of them, such as Amikam El'ad and Reuven Amitai-Preiss, began their academic careers working on it. The professional help and encouragement of the following friends is gratefully acknowledged: Amir Drori, the Director General of the IAA, and his deputy Rudolph Cohen; the archaeologists Uzzi Avner, Don Glick, Yehoshua Lendner, Isaac Magen, and Dov Nahlieli; colleagues from the Hebrew University: David Ayalon, Albert Arazi, Joshua Blau, Isaac Hasson,

x

ACKOWLEDGEMENTS

Simon Hopkins, Meir J. Kister, Salman Ma~al}:ia, Pessah Shinar. Linda Egger, the chief assistant, has accompanied the project for almost a decade; her contribution to its progress has been vital, and is deeply appreciated. Leigh Barron saw the first volume through the last stages of preparation for print with intelligence and dedication. Finally, this project could not have been carried out without the care and encouragement of my wife Judy and all my children, to whom words of thanks would be insufficient. May they all be blessed. M.S. Jerusalem, 1996

FOREWORD The work on this Corpus Inscription um Arabicarum Palaestinae ( CJAP) has been conducted, with many interruptions, for over 25 years at the Institute of Asian and African Studies, the Hebrew University, Jerusalem; the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London, and (for a short period) in the Fondation Max van Berchem, Geneva. I was introduced into the fascinating world of Arabic epigraphy by the late Gaston Wiet, who also gave me an intimate insight into the research methods of Max van Berchem, with whom he had co-operated very closely in the work on the CIA. Max van Berchem without any doubt established the study of Arabic epigraphy as an art, as well as a scholarly discipline of great importance for various fields of Arabic and Islamic studies: language, history, art and architecture. He showed that Arabic epigraphy must be studied in context. It is not enough merely to read an inscription (a highly professional task on its own); it is necessary also to analyze it against its cultural and historical background. This turns the study of almost every single inscription into an essay covering its time and place, as well as the biographies of the figures connected with it. Before his untimely death, Max van Berchem, in the course of his survey of Palestine in the later years of the 19th century, recorded many inscriptions, some of which have by now disappeared. He managed to read, and begin to study, most of them, but did not live to see them properly published. Each one of these inscriptions, now filed in the Archives of the Fondation Max van Berchem in Geneva, has been treated in this Corpus as a published inscription, and reference was made to the appropriate file in the Archives. Gaston Wiet, and the other editors of the RCEA, already adopted this attitude, and referred to van Berchem's carnets and "envelopes," when publishing any inscription which he had previously seen. Another scholar who planned intensive research on the Arabic inscriptions of Palestine and Transjordan was Uri Ben-Horin, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His sudden death prevented him from going much beyond the collection of the published inscriptions. He read a few new inscriptions; and in this case as well, such inscriptions are treated as published, and reference is made to Ben-Horin as their first reader. Yigael Sukenik (later Yadin) wrote his M.A. thesis at the Hebrew Uni-

XII

FOREWORD

versity on inscriptions which had a squeeze copy in the Rockefeller Museum (PAM). This unpublished M.A. thesis seems to have been lost, or misplaced somewhere, but Uri Ben-Horin copied the inscriptions from it, and also made notes about the studies which accompanied them, thus enabling me to refer to Sukenik's work, as well, as a source of publication. Geographical Scope The Corpus covers all the territory of Western Palestine from cAqabah in the south (today in Jordan) to Baniyas and the fortress of Subaybah in the north, and from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. In the south the Corpus also contains the inscriptions of northern Sinai, the natural continuation of the Negev. Under the rule of Islam this territory included, in the early Middle Ages, Jund al-Urdunn with its capital Tabariyyah (Tiberias), and Jund Filas~in with its capital Ramlah. The southern Negev and northern Sinai were an undefined territory called Tih Bani Isri/il, the Desert of Wanderings of the Children of Israel. The town of Aylah CAqabah) was included in another administrative division called ash-Sharat, which covered the southern part of Transjordan and the cArabah valley. Under the Mamluks (1250-151 7), Western Palestine was included in three Mamlakahs: in the north, Mamlakat Safad, or the Governorship of Safed, which included the Lower and Upper Galilee, the valleys of Esdraelon Qezreel) and Bethshean (Baysan) as far as Jinin, and most of the Lebanon. In the east, from Bethshean in the north down to about 40km. to the south of Hebron, the territory was included in the extensive and highly important Mamlakah of Dimashq, the Governorship of Damascus, which also included most of Transjordan (ancient Moab and Gilead), as well as the whole of the present territory of modern Syria, as far north as the Euphrates. The parallel of this territory in the west was the Mamlakah of Ghazzah, the Governorship of Gaza, which covered the coastal plain, reaching in the north to Lajjun, in the east to the western slopes of the mountains of Samaria and of Judea, and extending in the south to the town of Rafal).. The major cities in these three Mamlakahs within western Palestine, were usually (but not always) the ones which had districts Camal) called after them. In the Mamlakah of Safad, these were Jinin and Lajjun (in this case the camal was called