Jerusalem: The Biography

The sacred esplanade is already electrically illuminated but it used to take his father two hours to light all the lanterns. Ansari greets the Haram security and begins to open the four main gates of the Dome of the Rock and the ten gates of al-Aqsa. This takes an hour.

The Ansaris, who trace their family back to the Ansaris who emigrated with Muhammad to Medina, claim that they were appointed Custodians of the Haram by Omar but they were certainly confirmed in the post by Saladin. (The black sheep of the family was the Sheikh of the Haram, bribed by Monty Parker.)

The mosque is open one hour before the dawn prayer. Ansari does not open the gates every dawn – he has a team now – but before he succeeded as hereditary Custodian, he fulfilled this duty every morning and with pride: ‘It’s firstly just a job, then it’s a family profession, and an enormous responsibility, but above all, it’s noble and sacred work. But it is not paid well. I also work on the front desk of a hotel on the Mount of Olives.’

The hereditary posts are gradually disappearing on the Haram. The Shihabis, another one of the Families, descended from Lebanese princes, who live in their own family waqf close to the Little Wall, used to be Custodians of the Prophet’s Beard. The beard and job have disappeared yet the pull of this place is magnetic: the Shihabis still work on the Haram.

Just as the rabbi walks down to the Wall, just as Nusseibeh is tapping on the doors of the Church, just as Ansari opens the gates of the Haram, Naji Qazaz is leaving the house on Bab al-Hadid Street that his family have owned for 225 years, to walk the few yards alongthe old Mamluk streets up the steps through the Iron Gate and on to the Haram. He proceeds directly into al-Aqsa, where he enters a small room equipped with a microphone and bottles of mineral water. Until 1960, the Qazaz family used the minaret but now they use this room to prepare like athletes for the call. For twenty minutes, Qazaz sits and stretches, an athlete of holiness, he then breathes and gargles the water. He checks that the microphone is on and when the clock on the wall shows it is time, he faces the qibla and starts to chant the adhan that reverberates across the Old City.

The Qazaz have been the muezzins at al-Aqsa for 500 years since the reign of Mamluk Sultan Qaitbay. Naji, who has been muezzin for thirty years, shares his duties with his son Firaz and two cousins.

It is now one hour before dawn on a day in Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock is open: Muslims are praying. The Wall is always open: the Jews are praying. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is open: the Christians are praying in several languages. The sun is rising over Jerusalem, its rays making the light Herodian stones of the Wall almost snowy – just as Josephus described it two thousand years ago – and then catching the glorious gold of the Dome of the Rock that glints back at the sun. The divine esplanade where Heaven and Earth meet, where God meets man, is still in a realm beyond human cartography. Only the rays of the sun can do it and finally the light falls on the most exquisite and mysterious edifice in Jerusalem. Bathing and glowing in the sunlight, it earns its auric name. But The Golden Gate remains locked, until the coming of the Last Days.²

THE MACCABEES: KINGS AND HIGH PRIESTS 160 BC–37 BC

Rulers are in capitals; dates refer to the dates of their reigns

THE HERODS 37 BC–AD 100

Rulers are in capitals; dates refer to the dates of their reigns.

This family tree shows only the Herodian rulers. The Herodians frequently

intermarried making a full family tree extremely complex.

THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD AND THE ISLAMIC CALIPHS AND DYNASTIES

Ruling caliphs are in capitals.

This family tree is not complete but is designed to show

the connections of the Prophet and the dynasties of Islam.

Ali and Fatima’s descendants are known as the Sherifs (Ashraf)

and as sayyids.

CRUSADER KINGS OF JERUSALEM 1099–1291

Ruling kings and queens are in bold capitals; consort titular kings are in roman capitals

THE HASHEMITE (SHERIFIAN) DYNASTY 1916–

Rulers are in capitals; dates refer to the dates of their reigns

Notes

PREFACE