Narrative
Mohammedan Saints and Sanctuaries in Palestine
Tawfiq Canaan · 1927
Synopsis
A survey of the shrines of saints in the Palestinian countryside, the maqams, drawn up from two hundred and thirty-five sites visited and three hundred and forty-eight documented. The book describes the sacred tombs, trees and springs, the rags tied to branches, the vows made to saints and to djinns, the healing waters, the rites shared by Muslims, Christians and Jews, and the character attributed to each saint.
Context
The text first appeared in the Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society, then as a volume published by Luzac in London in 1927, in a series devoted to the religions of the East; the archaeologist William F. Albright, his friend, edited it. Canaan presents himself in it as a son of the country who supplies the raw material and leaves the comparison to the biblical scholars; he saw in these cults the legacy of the ancient inhabitants. His collection of amulets, saved in 1948, was donated in 1996 to Birzeit University.
Who it is for
An ethnographic survey in English, to be consulted by theme rather than read straight through; the text is available online.
Prizes and reception
Meron Benvenisti saw in it Canaan's major contribution to the ethnography of Arab Palestine.
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