User:Tiamut/Maqam

Maqam (Arabic: maqām) is a classical Arabic word for a "sacred place". It is used to denote a "sanctuary", such as a commemorative burial shrine or an actual tomb. Its meaning can be restricted only to built structures that can be entered at such sites. The literal meaning of maqam is "the place where one stands."

History
Almost every village in Palestine has a wali, a patron saint, whom people, predominantly rural peasants, would call upon for help at his or her associated sanctuary. While wali can refer to both the saint and sanctuary, a sanctuary for a common saint is more precisely known as a maqam.

Maqams were dedicated to biblical and quranic, real or mythical, male and female figures from ancient times to the time of the Arab conquest or even late Ottoman rule. The built structure of most maqams is of a single room topped with a dome, often situated by an ancient carob or oak tree or a spring or rock cut water cistern. The positioning of maqams on or near these nautral features is seen as indicative of ancient worship practices adapted by the local population and associated with Muslim saints. Ali Qleibo, a Palestinian anthropologist, states that this built evidence constitutes "an architectural testimony to Christian/Moslem Palestinian religious sensibility and its roots in ancient Semitic religions."

Mosques were uncommon in Palestinian villages until the late 19th century, but practically every village had at least one maqam which served as sites of worship in the Palestinian folk Islam popular in the countryside over the centuries. Christians and Jews also held some of the maqams to be holy, such as that of Nabi Samwil. In the period of Ottoman rule over Palestine, most of these sites were visited collectively by members of all three faiths who often travelled together with provisions for a multi-day journey; by the Mandate Palestine period, politicization led to segregation. Some maqams, like Nabi Rubin and Nabi Musa among others, were also the focus of seasonal festivals (mawsims) that thousands would attend annually.

to add

 * as a spiritual station
 * maqam ibrahim, maqam el-karim