Mohammedan saints and sanctuaries in Palestine

12 Jou~al of the Palestine Oriental Society
a more or less primitive way, as in the case of el-Qatrawani, es-seg
Hasan and en-nabi eamwil.
An inspection of the interior of a shrine proper will show that
one or more niches (also called taqah) are situated in the wall, a
feature common to all. A ctually they look like elongated cupboards.
Occasionally there may be only: 'a single niche, though generally more
• A are to be met with. In the simple,. small one roomed shrin e of
AJ) , ,
./J-J. L=- f es-seg Badr, which lies on the top of a hill ,in .the. north-west part
of J erusalem,. I counted eight. In el-Tlz er ('Awartah) there are
some dozens of . them. They are built at different heights and are
irregularly distributed in .the four walls: without any regard for:
symmetry. With few exceptions they are dirty, even. the .wall around
and especially the part below being badly smeared with oil. 'l'his
unsightly effect is due to the fact that it is here that oil lamps, oil
bottles, match es and other small objects ar e deposited.
The inside generally shows . signs of having once been decorated
with ~tinna or nUeh or both. The decoration consists of simple lines
running more or less parallel to each other, around the insid e making
!j. sort of frieze . ' O ft~ n the frieze is more complicated, Some typical
designs are represent ed in P late I .
But in addition to the frieze we find two .ther ,very important
decorations, viz. representations of the hand and imitations of palm
branches (sometimes twigs 01' trees), both of which are explained by
superstitious beliefs. In Mohammedan superstition the hands represent
the hand of Fatimeh (the daughter of the Prophet), in Christian the
hand of th e Holy Virgin, and in Jewish the hand of God.! This
superstitious decoration is said to bring blessing. We encounter it
very distinctly and often on the two outer sides ~f the door (?~aglllJ.t)
, on the top stone (sa*iyeh), and on the inner walls of the shrine,
especially around the mibrab. · I t is generally an . imprint of a human:
hand dipped in blood, ' binna, or nUeh. A dozen such impressions
may be seen in such shrines.
Not only in shrines but also on the doors of houses may such.
iinpressions be seen. They are intended to protect the inhabitants
against th e bad effects of the evil eye. .Small i mitation~ of the hand,
made of glass, mother- of-pearl, .silver, gold ,0 1' some other metal, are
I
Canaan, Aberglaube, pp. 64 If., Doutte, Magic et.Religiun, pp. 325 n'.