Pilgrimage to Jerusalem (original) (raw)
Related papers
Hidden Heritage A Guide to the Mamilla Cemetery, Jerusalem
The Mamilla Cemetery is an ancient Muslim cemetery, and the largest in Jerusalem. Historical sources –some from as early as the 11th century – recount its great significance. Evidence of burials from the Mamluk period from the 13th-20th century has been discovered at the site. Leaders, high administration officials, intellectuals, the wealthy and notables of the Muslim religion as well as commoners were all buried here. Mamilla also has an ancient water system that was used by the residents of the city throughout the different periods. Urban development over the last century has had a great impact the cemetery, and all that remains of it is a 20-dunam area (20,000m2), surrounding the Mamilla Pool. The remains of the site and the stories of those who were buried have much to teach about Jerusalem’s society and its residents, from the Middle Ages to this day
Pilgrimage to Jerusalem Journeys, Destinations, Experiences across Times and Cultures
Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident | 19 Veröffentlichungen des Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus Mainz / Frankfurt, 2020
Jerusalem is a city holy to three world religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. From the early Byzantine period, Christian pilgrimage here and to other holy sites became a »mass phenomenon« after Saint Helen was said to have miraculously discovered the »True Cross of Christ«, and her son Constantine the Great had built churches in this area. Thousands of Christian believers made their way to holy sites in Palestine, Egypt and other places in order to physically experience salvation history and seek divine intervention in their lives. Numerous travel reports, pilgrim guides and other written sources highlight important aspects of pilgrimage. In addition, many well-preserved churches, monasteries, hostels and other buildings, as well as rich archaeological findings, provide us with a vivid and synthetic picture of the history of pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In the course of these religiously motivated journeys, people of the three »religions of the book« came into contact and interacted in a multitude of ways. Full download avalable here: https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeum/reader/download/711/711-29-89704-1-10-20200721.pdf
Jerusalem Quarterly, 2023
Fadi Ragheb, "Sharing the Holy Land: Islamic Pilgrimage to Christian Holy Sites in Jerusalem during the Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods," Jerusalem Quarterly 95 (Autumn 2023): 69-99. The Holy Land was the destination for many Muslim pilgrims during the late medieval and early modern period. In addition to worshipping in Jerusalem's Haram al-Sharif, Muslim pilgrims in the Holy Land also visited important Christian holy sites, such as the Mount of Olives, the Tomb of the Virgin Mary, the Church of the Ascension, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. With a genre of medieval Islamic pilgrimage texts known as Fada'il al-Quds (Merits of Jerusalem) serving as their guide, Muslims visited these places and joined Christian worshippers in contemplating the sacred. Fada'il al-Quds texts informed Muslim pilgrims of the blessings (fada'il) of Christian holy sites by citing Islamic traditions, such as Qur'anic verses, hadith literature, and Companions' sayings (athar), to sanctify each Christian site and to command Muslims to perform certain Islamic prayers and rituals there. Despite the debate on the legality of Muslim pilgrimage to churches and protestations against the practice by some conservative 'ulama', the Fada'il al-Quds corpus, along with travelogue literature, reveals that Muslims increasingly visited churches, shared sacred spaces, and even participated in Christian ceremonies into the Ottoman period. Using Fada'il al-Quds and travelogue literature from the medieval and early modern period, this study 1 demonstrates that Muslims in the Holy Land shared sacred spaces with Christians in Jerusalem for centuries before the onset of the modern era.
City as Liminal Space: Pilgrimage and Muslim Holy Sites in Jerusalem During the Mamluk Period
in The Friday Mosque in the City: Liminality, Ritual, and Politics, eds. Hilâl Ugurlu and Suzan Yalman, 75-122 (Chicago: Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 2020)., 2020
in The Friday Mosque in the City: Liminality, Ritual, and Politics, eds. Hilâl Ugurlu and Suzan Yalman, 75-122 (Chicago: Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 2020). (https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/F/bo68884202.html) This chapter investigates Islamic pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the network of Islamic holy sites in the city during the Mamlūk period. Using the Faḍā’il al-Quds pilgrimage guides on Jerusalem dating from the Mamlūk period, the study will first enumerate the holy sites visited by Muslim pilgrims on the Ḥaram al-Sharif complex. Second, the study will delineate the Islamic holy sites existing outside the Ḥaram and in and around the city. Third, the intensive building of Islamic religious institutions undertaken by Mamlūk authorities in Jerusalem will be examined to reveal how the sacred sphere further extended beyond the Haram complex and into the city and its environs, thus blurring the liminal spaces separating the sacred from the urban. Finally, the study will demonstrate how this phenomenon of blurred liminal spaces in Mamlūk Jerusalem also existed in another important Islamic holy city – Mecca. Research will demonstrate how medieval Mecca’s holy sites were also not restricted to al-Masjid al-Ḥarām complex and its Ka‘ba, but, rather, numerous secondary holy sites were scattered throughout Mecca city and its surrounding mountains, resulting in the blurring of liminal spaces in Mecca as well. This chapter will thus attempt to show how, just like in medieval Mecca, the sacred in Mamlūk Jerusalem transcended beyond the Ḥaram al-Sharīf complex, and that the presence of Islamic holy sites and religious buildings both inside and outside the Ḥaram rendered the boundaries delimiting the sacred from the urban more fluent. The city of Jerusalem, it will be argued, thus became one wider liminal space during the Mamlūk period.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion, 2023
Pilgrimage in Islam encompasses several kinds of practices. The hajj and the ‘umrah, both performed in Mecca and its surroundings, are mentioned in the Qur’an and are considered primary and mandatory pilgrimage practices. However, the pious visitation (ziyarah) to sites considered holy or sacred also holds a relevant place in the regional history of the Islamic world. Large religious processions and gatherings inherent to various forms of devotional rituals have been common practice since pre-Islamic times. Such visits include those to major precincts in Medina, Jerusalem, Najaf, Karbala, and other regional sites linked to venerable figures and the development of Sufism in the Islamic world after the 12th century. The practice of pilgrimage also involves other forms of shared piety and sanctity between the believers of the three Abrahamic traditions, especially across the Mediterranean. All of these numerous and diverse religious acts of worship have influenced the production of specific artifacts associated with the holy sites in Islamic visual culture. Such images and objects not only connect the believer to the pilgrimage practice but also symbolically enact a mental visit to the holy sites by physically interacting with their beholders. available online https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.952
Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident 19, 2020
Proceedings of the Conference held in Jersualem, 5th to 7th December 2017 Jerusalem is a city holy to three world religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. From the early Byzantine period, Christian pilgrimage here and to other holy sites became a »mass phenomenon«. Thousands of Christians set out to holy sites in Palestine, Egypt and other places in order to physically experience salvation history and seek divine intervention in their lives. Numerous travel reports, pilgrim guides and other written sources highlight important aspects of pilgrimage. In addition, many well-preserved churches, monasteries, hostels and other buildings, as well as rich archaeological findings, provide us with a vivid and synthetic picture of the history of pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Springer, 2024
The pilgrimage to the Second Temple included ceremonial elements of strong spiritual significance that elevated the participants to spiritual exaltation. This ceremonial process began with the first steps pilgrims took from their homes towards Jerusalem and concluded when they reached the Temple. This article presents the ceremonial element of the pilgrimage in light of archaeological and anthropological research, integrated with historical sources and with reference to the topography of Jerusalem and its surroundings (including the use of geographic information systems). These tools are used to retrace the path that pilgrims walked and present what the pilgrimage meant for them. The article also investigates whether the physical act of walking can shape the pilgrimage experience and, if so, how this occurs. It is also argued that the main approach to the Temple Mount for Jewish pilgrims led from the south (via the Kidron and Hinnom valleys), and that the construction of this route was designed with geophysical and architectural details meant to enhance the spiritual experience of the pilgrims.