The mausoleum of Abu Hurayra, or Rabban Gamaliel's Tomb, is a ''

maqam Maqam, makam, maqaam or maqām (plural maqāmāt) may refer to: Musical structures * Arabic maqam, melodic modes in traditional Arabic music ** Iraqi maqam, a genre of Arabic maqam music found in Iraq * Persian maqam, a notion in Persian clas ...

'' turned

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

in Sanhedrin Park in

Yavne Yavne () is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel. In 2022, it had a population of 56,232. Modern Yavne was established in 1949. It is located near the ruins of the ancient town of Yibna (known also as Jamnia and Jab ...

Rehovot Subdistrict The Rehovot subdistrict is one of Israel's subdistricts in Central District. The principal city of the subdistrict is, as the name implies, Rehovot. History The subdistrict is composed mostly of the western half of what has been, during Mandat ...

, in the Central District of Israel, formerly belonging to the depopulated Palestinian village of

Yibna Yibna (; ''Jabneh'' or ''Jabneel'' in Biblical times; ''Jamnia'' in Roman empire, Roman times; ''Lordship of Ibelin, Ibelin'' to the Crusades, Crusaders), or Tel Yavne, is an archaeological site and List of villages depopulated during the Arab– ...

. It has been described as "one of the finest domed mausoleums in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

." The mausoleum is located on a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

northwest of Yibna that residents have used for burial since at least the

Roman period The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. Since the early 13th century, Muslims identified it as one of the purported burial places of

Abu Hurairah Abū Hurayra ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ṣakhr al-Dawsī al-Zahrānī (; –679), commonly known as Abū Hurayra (; ), was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and considered the most prolific hadith narrator. Born in al-Jabur, Arabia to ...

, a

companion of Muhammad The Companions of the Prophet () were the Muslim disciples and followers of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who saw or met him during his lifetime. The companions played a major role in Muslim battles, society, hadith narration, and governance ...

. However, most Arabic sources give

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

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 The following is a list of Mamluk sultans. The Mamluk Sultanate was founded in 1250 by ''mamluks'' of the Ayyubid sultan as-Salih Ayyub and it succeeded the Ayyubid state. It was based in Cairo and for much of its history, the territory of the ...

Baybars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari (; 1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), commonly known as Baibars or Baybars () and nicknamed Abu al-Futuh (, ), was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria, of Turkic Kipchak origin, in the Ba ...

's additions. In 1274, Baybars ordered the construction of the

riwaq Riwaq may refer to: *Riwaq (arcade) or rivaq, an arcade in Islamic architecture *Riwaq (organization) Riwaq () or Centre for Architectural Conservation is a center for the preservation of architectural heritage of rural Palestine. The organizatio ...

featuring a tripartite portal and six tiny domes together with a dedicatory inscription, with the site expanded further in 1292 by Sultan

al-Ashraf Khalil Al-Malik Al-Ashraf Salāh ad-Dīn Khalil ibn Qalawūn (; c. 1260s – 14 December 1293) was the eighth Turkic Bahri dynasty, Bahri Mamluk Sultanate, Mamluk sultan, succeeding his father Qalawun. He served from 12 November 1290 until his assassi ...

. The tomb is known to Jews as the tomb of

Gamaliel II Rabban Gamaliel II (also spelled Gamliel; ; before –) was a rabbi from the second generation of tannaim. He was the first person to lead the Sanhedrin as '' nasi'' after the fall of the Second Temple in 70 CE. He was the son of Shimon ben G ...

, the first

Nasi Nasi may refer to: Food Dishes Nasi Goreng is an Indonesian and Malay word for ''cooked rice'', featured in many Southeast Asian dishes *Nasi goreng, a popular rice dish often simply called ''nasi'' *Other Southeast Asian ''nasi'' dishes: ** Nasi ...

of the

Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Middle Aramaic , a loanword from , 'assembly,' 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was a Jewish legislative and judicial assembly of either 23 or 70 elders, existing at both a local and central level i ...

after the fall of the

Second Temple The Second Temple () was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod ...

. 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. The site was frequently visited by Jewish medieval pilgrims. Following the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

the mausoleum was officially designated as a shrine for Jews by Israel. In all likelihood, neither Rabban Gamaliel nor Abu Hurairah are buried in the tomb.

History

Pre-Muslim times

The ground on which the structure stands, northwest of Yibna, has been used by residents for burial since at least the Roman period.

Crusader/Ayyubid period

Ali ibn Abi Bakr al-Harawi (d. 1215), followed by

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...

(d. 1229) and the ''Marāṣid al-ʾiṭṭilāʿ '' (, an abridgement of Yaqut's work by Safi al-Din 'Abd al-Mu'min ibn 'Abd al-Haqq, d.1338), mention that in Yubna there was a tomb said to be that of Abu Hurayra, the companion of the Prophet. The ''Marāṣid'' also adds that the tomb seen here is also said to be that of

Abd Allah ibn Sa'd Abd Allah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi al-Sarh () was an Arab administrator, scribe, and military commander, who was an early convert and a companion of the prophet. He was a scriber of the Quran (كاتب الوحي) and governor of Upper Egypt for the Mu ...

, another companion of the Prophet. Yavne's population at the time was a mixture of Muslims,

Samaritans Samaritans (; ; ; ), are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Hebrews and Israelites of the ancient Near East. They are indigenous to Samaria, a historical region of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah that ...

, and - during the Crusader period - Christians, with

Benjamin of Tudela Benjamin of Tudela (), also known as Benjamin ben Jonah, was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the twelfth century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years. With his ...

(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 The ''Tolidah'' or ''Tulida'' () is a Samaritan chronicle that is considered the oldest Samaritan historical work. Written mainly in Samaritan Hebrew, with sections in hybrid Samaritan Hebrew and Samaritan Aramaic, the book provides a concise sum ...

'', a Samaritan chronicle written sometime during the 12th−14th centuries, mentions a Samaritan family that moved from

Ashkelon Ashkelon ( ; , ; ) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The modern city i ...

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 The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish ori ...

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).

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. 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. The following century, another Jewish traveler,

Ishtori Haparchi Ishtori Haparchi (1280–1355), also Estori Haparchi and Ashtori ha-Parhi () is the pen name of the 14th-century Jewish physician, geographer, and traveller, Isaac HaKohen Ben Moses.''Encyclopedia Judaica'' Keter, Jerusalem, 1972, "Estori Ha-Parch ...

, described Abu Hurayra's mausoleum as 'a very fine memorial to Rabbi Gamliel.'

Ottoman and British Mandate periods

In 1863

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...

visited, describing the site as a mosque. 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." During the British Mandate of Palestine the porch of the building was used for school rooms.

State of Israel

Following the

, immigrant

Sephardic Jews Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

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

of the

after the fall of the

. 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. The

Ministry of Religious Services The Ministry of Religious Services (), formerly the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Ministry of Religion, is a government ministry of Israel that handles Jewish and other religious affairs. Responsibilities The Ministry of Religious Services a ...

of Israel has maintained authority over the site since 1948, and the structure was thereafter appropriated by

Haredi Judaism Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...

and transformed into a tomb of the righteous. 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.

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

dated 673 H. (1274 C.E.) and another dated to 806 H. (1403 C.E.). A

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have been lost. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although t ...

is located in center of the tomb chamber. The cenotaph is a rectangular structure with four marble corner posts formed as

turbans A turban (from Persian دولبند‌, ''dolband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Communities with promi ...

. The four lower

courses Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...

are made of

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

blocks, while the upper course is of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

ornamented with niches in

Gothic style Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque ar ...

. Much of the construction materials of the building are reused

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

marble, mainly columns and

Corinthian capital The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, ...

Inscriptions

The first inscription, dated 1274, described how Mamluk Sultan

(reigned 1260–77) ordered the construction of the

. It also refers to the

Wali The term ''wali'' is most commonly used by Muslims to refer to a saint, or literally a "friend of God".John Renard, ''Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008); John ...

of Ramleh, Khalil ibn Sawir, who was named by the chronicler

Ibn al-Furat Nāṣir al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥīm b. ʿAlī al-Miṣrī al-Ḥanafī () (1334–1405 CE), better known as Ibn al-Furāt, was an Egyptian historian, best known for his universal history, generally known as ''Taʾrīkh al-duwal wa � ...

as being responsible for instigating the famed attempted assassination of

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...

in June 1272 in the

Ninth Crusade Lord Edward's Crusade, sometimes called the Ninth Crusade, was a military expedition to the Holy Land under the command of Edward I of England, Prince Edward Longshanks (later king as Edward I) in 1271 – 1272. In practice an extension of t ...

. The second inscription described further construction ordered in 1292 by Mamluk Sultan

Al-Ashraf Khalil Al-Malik Al-Ashraf Salāh ad-Dīn Khalil ibn Qalawūn (; c. 1260s – 14 December 1293) was the eighth Turkic Bahri dynasty, Bahri Mamluk Sultanate, Mamluk sultan, succeeding his father Qalawun. He served from 12 November 1290 until his assassi ...

(reigned 1290–93).

Facilities

The tomb contains a large hall, offices, and a small

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

synagogue. Facilities around the tomb include restrooms, water fountains, a Yahrzeit candelabra, and tables for festive meals (

seudat mitzvah A ''seudat mitzvah'' (, "commanded meal"), in Judaism, is an obligatory festive meal, usually referring to the celebratory meal following the fulfillment of a ''mitzvah'' (commandment), such as a ''bar mitzvah'', '' bat mitzvah'', a wedding, a ' ...

). The tomb indication itself is covered with a blue ornamental cloth. The tomb is renowned among some Jews as a matchmaking and fertility site.Dr. Noga Collins-Kreiner, Haifa University
The characteristics and tourist potential of saintly grave pilgrimage: Report to Tourism office
/ref>

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 ''Ablaq'' (; particolored; literally 'piebald') is an architectural technique involving alternating or fluctuating rows of light and dark stone. It is an Arabic term describing a technique associated with Islamic architecture in the Arab world. It ...

''-style masonry

Notes

References

External links

Mausoleum of Abu Huraira
– archnet.org *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 16
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Synagogues in Israel 13th-century synagogues in Israel Jewish pilgrimage sites Jews and Judaism in the Roman Empire Mausoleums in Israel Orthodox synagogues in Israel Religious buildings and structures in Central District (Israel) Synagogue buildings with domes Yavne