Sha'ab
Encyclopedia
Sha'ab is an Israeli-Arab town (a local council
) in the North District of Israel
. It has 5,442 dunam
s (6.4 km² (2.5 sq mi)) of land under its jurisdiction and in 2006 had a population of 6,000.
associated Sha'ab with Saab, a place mentioned by 1st-century writer Josephus
. In the 14th century, the tax income from the village was given to the wakf of the madrasah
and mausoleum
of the Shafi'i
Manjaq, Egypt
.
In 1517, Sha'ab was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire
along with the rest of Palestine
. In 1573 (981 H) Sha'ab was one of several villages in Galilee
which rebelled against the Ottomans. In 1596, the village appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Acre, with a population of 139 Muslim
households. It paid taxes on wheat, barley, fruit trees,"occasional revenues", and "goats and bees".
According to local tradition, the village started to flourish under anti-Ottoman rebel Daher el-Omar
(ca. 1768). In 1859, the population was estimated to be 1,500. Some were Catholic
, the majority Muslim. The cultivated fields were estimated to be 80 feddan
s. Guérin visited in the 1870s, and wrote that the village of Sh'aib consisted of four quarters. The inhabitants, he wrote, were for the most part Muslim, about 800, and some 20 "Schismatic Greek" families. The Muslims had two Mosques and two wali
s. In 1881, Sha'ab was described as being in a valley with fine olive groves, while part of the hill behind it was cultivated in corn.
At the time of the 1931 census
, Sha'ab had 284 occupied houses and a population of 1,277 Muslims, 19 Christians and 1 Jew. By 1945, Sha'ab had 1,740 inhabitants, all classified as Arabs
. They owned a total of 17,870 dunam
s of land, while 121 dunams were public.
Sha'ab was captured by the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) on July 19, 1948 during the First Arab-Israeli War
. The villagers surrendered without a fight, and their village was subsequently depopulated in the Palestinian exodus
. Still, Sha'ab was found by the IDF's Ninth Brigade
still to be inhabited in December 1948, and the residents were expelled on foot. The locality was later repopulated by the Israelis with Arabs expelled from elsewhere, to prevent its inhabitants from returning.
of Zahir al-Umar is situated in the centre of the old village. In 1933 it was inspected by Na'im Makhouly from the Palestine Antiquities Museum
, who found that the mosque dated from the time of Zahir al-Umar. In 1933 the mosque was in disrepair. Pictures from the time show two arcades
: one had four arch
es connected with the side wall, with two column
s in the centre. A reused Ionic
capital
could be seen, and above the doorway was a reused Roman lintel
(first noticed by Guérin in the 1870s).
Andrew Petersen, an archaeologist specializing in Islamic architecture
, surveyed the mosque in 1994. He found that the present mosque, built in the 1980s, encased the old building. The old part is the prayer hall, has an entrance to the north. This hall is square, covered with a dome
. The dome rests on large squinch
es, which are supported by corbel
s. According to Petersen, the domed prayer hall is consistent with an 18th-century construction date.
.
The building is rectangular, 10 x 20 m, with an interior divided into two. The southern part contains a mihrab
and is covered with a barrel vault
. The northern end is covered with a dome, and has two large cenotaph
s. According to Petersen, the buildings appear medieval.
Local council (Israel)
Local councils are one of the three types of local government found in Israel, with the other two being cities and regional councils. As of 2003, there were 144 local councils in Israel, these being settlements which pass a minimum threshold enough to justify their operations as independent...
) in the North District of Israel
North District (Israel)
The Northern District is one of Israel's six administrative districts. The Northern District has a land area of 4,478 km², which increases to 4,638 km² when both land and water are included...
. It has 5,442 dunam
Dunam
A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...
s (6.4 km² (2.5 sq mi)) of land under its jurisdiction and in 2006 had a population of 6,000.
History
French scholar Victor GuérinVictor Guérin
Victor Guérin was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Minor, North Africa, Syria and Palestine.-Biography:From 1840, Guerin was a professor of rhetoric...
associated Sha'ab with Saab, a place mentioned by 1st-century writer Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
. In the 14th century, the tax income from the village was given to the wakf of the madrasah
Madrasah
Madrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...
and mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
of the Shafi'i
Shafi'i
The Shafi'i madhhab is one of the schools of fiqh, or religious law, within the Sunni branch of Islam. The Shafi'i school of fiqh is named after Imām ash-Shafi'i.-Principles:...
Manjaq, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
In 1517, Sha'ab was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
along with the rest of Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. In 1573 (981 H) Sha'ab was one of several villages in Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
which rebelled against the Ottomans. In 1596, the village appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Acre, with a population of 139 Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
households. It paid taxes on wheat, barley, fruit trees,"occasional revenues", and "goats and bees".
According to local tradition, the village started to flourish under anti-Ottoman rebel Daher el-Omar
Daher el-Omar
Daher el-Omar was the Arab-Bedouin ruler of the Galilee district of the southern Levant during the mid-18th century...
(ca. 1768). In 1859, the population was estimated to be 1,500. Some were Catholic
Roman Catholicism in Israel
The Catholic Church in Israel is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome.There are just 100,000 Catholics in Israel, just over 1% of the total population. Most Israeli Catholics are members of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, but there...
, the majority Muslim. The cultivated fields were estimated to be 80 feddan
Feddan
A feddan is a unit of area. It is used in Egypt, Sudan, and Syria. The feddan is not an SI unit and in Arabic, the word means 'a yoke of oxen': implying the area of ground that could be tilled by them in a certain time. In Egypt the feddan is the only non-metric unit which remained in use...
s. Guérin visited in the 1870s, and wrote that the village of Sh'aib consisted of four quarters. The inhabitants, he wrote, were for the most part Muslim, about 800, and some 20 "Schismatic Greek" families. The Muslims had two Mosques and two wali
Wali
Walī , is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "sponsor", or authority as denoted by its definition "crown". "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" over somebody else. For example, in Fiqh the father is wali of his children. In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walīyu 'llāh...
s. In 1881, Sha'ab was described as being in a valley with fine olive groves, while part of the hill behind it was cultivated in corn.
At the time of the 1931 census
1931 census of Palestine
The 1931 census of Palestine was the second census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine. It was carried out on 18 November 1931 under the direction of Major E. Mills. The first census had been conducted in 1922...
, Sha'ab had 284 occupied houses and a population of 1,277 Muslims, 19 Christians and 1 Jew. By 1945, Sha'ab had 1,740 inhabitants, all classified as Arabs
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
. They owned a total of 17,870 dunam
Dunam
A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...
s of land, while 121 dunams were public.
Sha'ab was captured by the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
(IDF) on July 19, 1948 during the First Arab-Israeli War
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
. The villagers surrendered without a fight, and their village was subsequently depopulated in the Palestinian exodus
1948 Palestinian exodus
The 1948 Palestinian exodus , also known as the Nakba , occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs left, fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Civil War that preceded it. The exact number of refugees is a matter of dispute...
. Still, Sha'ab was found by the IDF's Ninth Brigade
Oded Brigade
The Oded Brigade was an Israeli infantry brigade, one of ten brigades fielded by the Haganah . It was headquartered in Jerusalem...
still to be inhabited in December 1948, and the residents were expelled on foot. The locality was later repopulated by the Israelis with Arabs expelled from elsewhere, to prevent its inhabitants from returning.
Mosque
The mosqueMosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
of Zahir al-Umar is situated in the centre of the old village. In 1933 it was inspected by Na'im Makhouly from the Palestine Antiquities Museum
Rockefeller Museum
The Rockefeller Museum, formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum, is an archaeological museum located in East Jerusalem that houses a large collection of artifacts unearthed in the excavations conducted in Ottoman Palestine beginning in the late 19th century.The museum is under the management...
, who found that the mosque dated from the time of Zahir al-Umar. In 1933 the mosque was in disrepair. Pictures from the time show two arcades
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
: one had four arch
Arch
An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
es connected with the side wall, with two column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s in the centre. A reused Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
capital
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
could be seen, and above the doorway was a reused Roman lintel
Lintel (architecture)
A lintel can be a load-bearing building component, a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. It is often found over portals, doors, and windows.-Structural uses:...
(first noticed by Guérin in the 1870s).
Andrew Petersen, an archaeologist specializing in Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture....
, surveyed the mosque in 1994. He found that the present mosque, built in the 1980s, encased the old building. The old part is the prayer hall, has an entrance to the north. This hall is square, covered with a dome
Dome
A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
. The dome rests on large squinch
Squinch
A squinch in architecture is a construction filling in the upper angles of a square room so as to form a base to receive an octagonal or spherical dome...
es, which are supported by corbel
Corbel
In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...
s. According to Petersen, the domed prayer hall is consistent with an 18th-century construction date.
Shayk's tomb
The Maqam Shaykh Alami is situated south of the mosque, within its enclosure. It is built at a slope, where the ground rises to the south. On the east side there are two entrances; to the maqam, and to an underground cisternCistern
A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings...
.
The building is rectangular, 10 x 20 m, with an interior divided into two. The southern part contains a mihrab
Mihrab
A mihrab is semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying...
and is covered with a barrel vault
Barrel vault
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve along a given distance. The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design...
. The northern end is covered with a dome, and has two large cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
s. According to Petersen, the buildings appear medieval.
See also
- List of Arab localities in Israel
- List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
- Kirad al-GhannamaKirad al-GhannamaKirad al-Ghannama was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Safad. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 22, 1948 by the Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. It was located 11 km northeast of Safad...
- Kirad al-BaqqaraKirad al-BaqqaraKirad al-Baqqara was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Safad. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 22, 1948 by the Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach...