Mujir al-Din

Mujīr al-Dīn al-ʿUlaymī (; 1456–1522), often simply Mujir al-Din, was a Jerusalemite qadi and historian whose principal work chronicled the history of Jerusalem and Hebron in the Middle Ages. Entitled al-Uns al-Jalil bi-tarikh al-Quds wal-Khalil ("The glorious history of Jerusalem and Hebron") (c. 1495), it is considered to be invaluable, constituting "the most comprehensive and detailed source for the history of Jerusalem" written in its time.

Name and background Commonly known simply as Mujir al-Din or the Ibn Quttainah, he was born 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-'Ulaymi (Arabic: ) during the period of Mamluk rule over Palestine into a family of notables native to the city of Jerusalem. Education Mujir al-Din's father, Muhammad ibn 'Adb al-Rahman, was a scholar, and he instructed his son in the religious sciences. His formal education began early, and by the age of six, Mujir al-Din was successfully tested on his knowledge of Arabic grammar by another of his instructors, Taqi al-Din al-Qarqashandi, a Shafi'i sheikh, with whom he also studied the hadiths. At ten years old, he studied Quranic recitation with a Hanafi faqih (one who has received the Islamic equivalent of a Master of Law).

He attended Islamic jurisprudence classes given by Kamal al-Din al-Maqdisi, a prominent Shafi'i scholar and qadi, at al-Madrasa as-Salahiyya, the most prestigious college in the city, and at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Al-Maqdisi granted Mujir al-Din an ijaza when he was thirteen years old. In his youth in Jerusalem, he also studied hadith with two other Hanafi scholars (ibn Qamuwwa, a faqih, and the sheikh Shams al-Din al-Ghazzi al-Maqdisi), studying grammar and Hanbali fiqh with a Maliki scholar (the chief judge Nur al-Din al-Misri). When he was approximately eighteen years old, he left for Cairo, where he pursued his studies under the tutelage of Muhammad al-Sa'di, a qadi, for about ten years, returning to Jerusalem in 1484.

Career

Public servant Extensive knowledge of Arabic, Hanbali jurisprudence, and Islamic theology, as well as his hailing from highly regarded and well-connected family, led to Mujir al-Din's procuring important posts as a public servant. He was appointed the qadi of Ramla in 1484, and the chief Hanbali qadi of Jerusalem in 1486, holding this position for almost three decades until completing his service in 1516. Composed in Jerusalem, Mujir al-Din alternates in referring to his place of residence as Filastin ("Palestine") and al-Ard al-Muqaddasa ("the Holy Land"). , Mujir al-Din al-'Ulaymi, along with other prominent Palestinian Muslim scholars, jurists, and writers, referred to Palestine as "our country, Palestine" (bilādunā Filasṭīn), indicating that a territorial conception of Palestine was present.

Influence Mujir al-Din's writings are quoted extensively in the works of 19th century Orientalists and 20th and 21st century scholars alike. It is particularly valuable for what it reveals about the topography and social life of 15th century Jerusalem.

Translated excerpts of al-Uns al Jalil can be found in the work of Joseph Toussaint Reinaud and Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall. Guy Le Strange references the work of Mujir al-Din throughout his book Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500 (1890), drawing upon his descriptions of various monuments to determine their state, appearance, and measurements at his time of writing.

Death and tomb in Jerusalem

Mujir al-Din died in 1522. His tomb, with its open four-columned structure covered by a dome, lies next to the sidewalk on the main road and there are steps leading down from it on both sides to the Tomb of the Virgin.

A street in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem is named after him

Memorial shrine in Nablus There is also a shrine in Nablus dedicated to the memory of Mujir Al-Din.

Descendants It is documented that members of the Jerusalemite family of Quttainah are the descendants of Mujir al-Din al-Hanbali. On a Palestinian genealogy website, they explain that the nickname Quttainah (meaning "dried fig") was given to al-Hanbali family some 300 years ago due to their use of dried figs to cover gold they were trading in within Palestine from road robbers. The Quttainah family continues to own numerous properties in and around the Old City, including waqf properties. Since the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight, some members of the family live in the Palestinian diaspora, in other Middle Eastern countries and the Persian Gulf region.

Footnotes In Mujir al-Din's time, Al-Aqsa Mosque referred to the whole mosque compound (today also referred to as the Haram al-Sharif). The southernmost building in that compound, today known as Al-Aqsa Mosque, is called in Mujir al-Din's writings Al-Jami' Al-Kabir Al-Qibliyy ("The Grand Southern Friday-Mosque").