Talk:Grand Mufti of Jerusalem

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You seem to have missed one of the main Grand Mufti's of Jerusalem who is Saad Al Din Al Alami, please insert (Comment inserted by 195.229.241.181)

Sorry, I do not know anything about him; why don´t you insert the information instead? Regards, Huldra 12:49, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Disputed

It is not clear that the office of "Grand Mufti" existed prior to its being "invented" in 1921 by Herbert Samuel, British High Commissioner of Palestine.[1] If that is the case then it should be noted in the article and everyone listed before 1921 should come off the list. Neither of the two outside sources currently cited in the article is about the office of Grand Mufti per se and they give little or no history of the office. The SPME/Media Line cite[2] is okay as far as it goes but I doubt whether it meets WP:RS. The Nation article[3] does not support the statement it is cited in support of. To wit, "The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem is the Sunni Muslim cleric in charge of Jerusalem's Islamic holy places, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque." The Nation article says: "The cleric in charge of the holy places, Sheik Ikrima Sabri, is the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, one of the most influential religious leaders in Palestine." A is B does not necessarily mean B is A. In other words, the 'cleric in charge of the holy places is the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem' does not mean that 'Grand Mufti of Jerusalem is always or usually the cleric in charge of the holy places'. I happen to believe that is probably the case but this is an encyclopedia and we need sources to that effect and I don't have any and neither does this article, at present. --DieWeisseRose (talk) 03:43, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

The position of grand mufti did not exist prior to the British mandate ...The equivalent Ottoman position was the Qadi (head of the Jerusalem sharia courts) with the ra'is alkuttab wa na'ib (chief secretary and deputy to the Qadi)...Palestinian identity By Rashid Khalidi p 65 ...Ashley kennedy3 (talk) 10:35, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

If I remember correctly, Mattar's book argues that not even Hajj Amin al-Husayni officially had the title of Grand Mufti. Zero^talk 12:41, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

As of circa 1937 the Ex-Mufti - Palestine Post Wednesday, June 29, 1938 Page 3 ... [4] ... [5] ... [6] ... [7] ... [8] ... [9] ... [10] ... [11] ... [12] ... [13] ... [14] There are many more entries ... talknic (talk) 12:05, 2 November 2011 (UTC)

Oooops, sorry, I didn't mean to stop the discussion ... talknic (talk) 01:13, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

Mohammed Tahir al-Husayni

"The first Qadi, Mohammed Tahir al-Husayni, was appointed by the Ottoman Empire, which ruled the Middle East, including the territory known as Palestine, from the 16th century to the early 20th century."

The page linked to by Mohammed Tahir al-Husayni shows he was in office from mid 19th to the beginning 20th century. Are there several people named Mohammed Tahir al-Husayni or is there somewhere a mistake in that statement?

(66.84.219.66 (talk) 14:25, 4 November 2010 (UTC))

It means that the Ottoman Empire ruled Palestine from the 16th century to the early 20th century. Could be worded better. Zero^talk 12:43, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

To me the use of "which" indicates that it is the empire that ruled. If it was the person it would be "who". Britmax (talk) 23:38, 3 October 2021 (UTC)

An error, or not?

This article says that Mohammed Tahir al-Husayni was mufti from 1860s to 1908. However, in Z. Elpeleg, "The Grand Mufti" (1993), page 2, we read:

The Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Fadil Jarallah, died in 1856, and the Husayni family, with the aid of the Ottoman governor, managed to reclaim the office. Marriages at the time between the Husayni and Jarallah families also undoubtedly helped. Muhammad Amin's grandfather, Shaikh Mustafa Ibn Tahir al-Husayni, held the office of Mufti of Jerusalem from 1856 until his death in either 1893 or 1894 (the 1,311th year of the Hegira). The office then passed to his son, Shaikh Tahir, who had two wives. The first, Mahbubah, bore him seven daughters and one son, Kamil, and the second, Zaynab, bore him two sons, Fakhri and Amin. Tahir died in 1908, and his son, Kamil, was appointed Mufti by order of the Ottoman authorities.

P. Mattar, "The Mufti of Jerusalem" (1988), page 7, gives partial confirmation: "Amin's father Tahir succeeded his father Mustafa as Mufti of Jerusalem". If this is right, we are missing one mufti and not only in this article. Are there quality sources which disagree? Zero^talk 13:38, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

Do they disagree? Tahir is a recurrent name in the Husayni/Husseini dynasty cf- Ṭāhir b.‘Abd al-Ṣamad was appointed mufti of Jerusalem in 1809. The two sources fail (as often is the case, to give the complete family name, (It is the curse of these area studies) by distinguished Mustafa (père) from Muhammed (fils). Or that, at a glance, is what I think is going on?

• 1856 Muḥammad Fadil Jārallāh succeeded by
• 1856-1893/4 Sheikh Mustafa ibn Ṭāhir al-Ḥusayni, whose son was
• 1894-1908 Sheikh Muḥammad Ṭahir al-Ḥusayni (b.1842-d.1908)
• 1908-1921 Kamil Bey al-Ḥusayni.Nishidani (talk) 15:28, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

Something like that seems to be true, though I don't see it all sourced. Zero^talk 15:58, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

Well, if there is a source which will clear that up, it should be Pappé's book out earlier this year.Nishidani (talk) 16:10, 14 September 2011 (UTC)

More than just history?

This article as written is just a history of the office, and does not describe the office itself. Per the wikipedia article Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, the Waqf is the administrating body that controls the noble sanctuary and "consists of a director, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and the Islamic Council." Wouldn't this article be better if it included information about his job description, responsibilities and powers? It seems to me that this kind of information is nessecary to this article, but is completely lacking. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ffejmopp (talk • contribs) 16:19, 13 September 2013 (UTC)

Do you have any suggestions for good sources that might be mined for such information? Zero^talk 01:06, 14 September 2013 (UTC)

Mufti 1952-1993

The Grant Mufti of Jerusalem from 1952-1993 was actually Saad a-Din Al-Alami and the position was not "vacant" as purported on the Wikipedia page. Please make the changes necessary. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lailasoudi (talk • contribs) 08:04, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

Tell us some reliable sources for this information and we'll be happy to include it. Zero^talk 09:34, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

Hussein

Hussein was arrested by israel in 2013. I'm not sure but he may no longer be Grand Mufti.128.237.126.202 (talk) 15:50, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

Islamic Leadership in Jerusalem

I propose to move the below text to a new article. Oncenawhile (talk) 15:45, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

Extended content

The first Qadi, Mohammed Tahir al-Husayni, was appointed by the Ottoman Empire, which ruled the Middle East, including Palestine, from the 16th century to the early 20th century. When Tahir al-Husayni died in 1908, his son Kamil al-Husayni succeeded him and served with approval of the British authorities once the British conquered Jerusalem in December 1917. However, during World War I, the Ottoman Empire claimed that al-Husayni was a British stooge and that As'ad Shuqeiri-who was appointed by the Ottoman Empire as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem 1914-1918-was the rightful Grand Mufti. Shuqeiri was the father of Ahmad Shukeiri (1908–1980), the first leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. Shihab ad-Din Abulabbas al-Omawi al-Masri ? to 1440 Shaikh Najm al-Din, late 17th century 'Ali ibn Habib Allah ibn Abi '1-Lutf, d. 1731 Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahim Jarallah (Abu '1-Lutf), d. 1728 Muhammad al-Khalili, d. 1734 Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Muwaqqit, d. 1757 Najm al-Din al-Khairi, d. 1759 Muhammd al-Tafilati, d. 1778 Sheikh Ḥasan b. ‘Abd al-Laṭīf al-Ḥusayni (1781-1806/7) Muhammad Salih al-Imam, d. 1828 Muḥammad Fadil Jārallāh d. 1856 Mohammed Tahir al-Husayni from the 1860s to 1908 Muḥammad Ṭāhir al-Ḥusayni 1813 Kamil al-Husayni from 1908 to 1921 During World War I (1914–1918), the Ottoman Empire claimed that As'ad Shuqeiri was the Grand Mufti. References

This has now been done. See Islamic Leadership in Jerusalem. Oncenawhile (talk) 21:46, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

@Oncenawhile: I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to move everything to the new article and close down this one. Sources don't even agree on which muftis were "grand". Zero^talk 23:28, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

@Zero0000: that was my initial thought, but on reflection I think it's worth keeping this article, primarily because the title "Grand Mufti of Jerusalem" is so widely known and discussed. Would welcome other views on the same.

On what the sources say, which are the ones where you have concern? I have seen reasonable sources referring to each of the seven remaining names in the article as "Grand Mufti".

Oncenawhile (talk) 23:52, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

Mattar's book on Amin al-Husseini (p. 27) says that Amin al-Husseini was not appointed Grand Mufti but only Mufti of Jerusalem and in a separate academic article he writes "Amin was appointed in 1921 by the British as Mufti of Jerusalem, but was popularly known as the Grand Mufti or as the Mufti of Palestine." A paper of Khalidi says that the title was not "Grand Mufti of Jerusalem" but "Grand Mufti of Palestine" and only "Mufti of Jerusalem". But other sources disagree. I find it confusing and I'm not sure what the definitive answer is. Zero^talk 00:31, 4 March 2016 (UTC)

It's an interesting question as to whether the title was ever official. Ref #3 in this article proves that it was used as early as 1918, but clearly much of this was about "branding" rather than anything meaningful in the sense of religious influence. Oncenawhile (talk) 19:57, 13 March 2016 (UTC)

Amin el-Husseini's end date

On another matter in this article, Amin al-Husseini was definitely not dismissed from the post of mufti by the British. This is argued on another talk page but I've run out of time. I'll come back to this later. Zero^talk 00:31, 4 March 2016 (UTC)

Search for section starting "How nice of you" here. Zero^talk 07:43, 4 March 2016 (UTC)

Thanks User:Zero0000 - I have added this in. Oncenawhile (talk) 19:55, 13 March 2016 (UTC)

"Grand" Mufti and 1950s changeover

A couple of questions:

What is/was the actual title?

Is it "Mufti" or "Grand Mufti"? of "Jerusalem" or "Jerusalem and Palestine" or "Palestine"? Perhaps "Grand Mufti" only applied to a region as opposed to a city; hence the addition of "Grand" in 1920 when the British decided to imbue the role with more political power; hence perhaps the view that in 1993/4 the PA re-added the "Grand" at the same time as adding Palestine to its remit. (A similar claim was formerly made unreferenced in some of the wikipedia articles; I found it also here...

• "Extreme Makeover? (II): The Withering of Arab Jerusalem" (PDF). Middle East Report (135). Crisis Group: 2 fn.12. 20 December 2012.

...but not in the source it cites:

• Rekhess, Elie (9 May 2008). "The Palestinian Political Leadership in East Jerusalem After 1967". In Mayer, Tamar; Mourad, Suleiman A. (eds.). Jerusalem: Idea and Reality. Routledge. pp. 267–274. ISBN 978-1-134-10287-7.

Krämer, Gudrun (2008). A history of Palestine. Princeton University Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-691-11897-0.

Shortly after the riots of May 1921, the British notified Amin al-Husaini of his appointment. Unlike his deceased older brother, he did not officially receivethe title of “Grand Mufti” (al-mufti al-akbar) but was appointed mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine (mufti al-quds wa-l-diyar al-filistiniyya). Yet from an early date, the more important-sounding title of “Grand Mufti” caught on and became attached to his name, at least in Western sources.

The British showed their gratitude by granting [Kamil] the title of “Grand Mufti,” previously unknown in Palestine (presumably in imitation of the situation in Egypt, where there was a “national mufti,” mufti al-diyar al-misriyya).

When was the Jarallah/al-Alami transition? 1952, 1953, or 1954?

Our cited sources say al-Alami acceded in 1952; I found others that say 1953. Did Jarallah really die in 1954? Did he die in office or retire first?

jnestorius^(talk) 04:40, 2 October 2021 (UTC)