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53-605: The Turba Baraka Khan/Khalidi Library is on the south side of the Chain Gate Street ( Tariq Bab es-Silsileh ); at the junction between this street and Aqabat Abu Madyan street. It is opposite the Kīlāniyya and the Ṭāziyya . The Khalidi Library was established c.  1900 as one of Ottoman Palestine 's first public libraries , consisting primarily of works in Arabic by Hajj Raghib al-Khalidi, an Islamic judge and member of

106-508: A British historian who catalogued many of the Khalidi's treasures, the Khalidi patriarchs actively built their manuscript collection by bargaining in the medieval literary markets of Cairo , Damascus , and Istanbul . The establishment of the Khalidi Library as a public institution was made possible by a vast sum bequeathed to Hajj Raghib al-Khalidi (1866-1952) by his grandmother, daughter of

159-668: A fellow Jerusalemite, entitled This is Palestine and Palestine by Road and Rail , published in 1942, and the first of the two books was published as a second edition in 1947. In 1947, Stephan was still working for the Department of Antiquities, this time on missions to Cyprus , deciphering early Islamic inscriptions. With the Nakba of 1948, he, his wife and two sons, Arthur and Angelo, ended up as Palestinian refugees in Lebanon . His work in Cyprus, at

212-602: A letter from 1932, he describes Granqvist's work as an "important work on Palestine", implying the importance of both Palestine and ethnography to himself. Beginning in 1936, Stephan was also a broadcaster for the Palestine Broadcasting Service , Mandatory Palestine's government owned radio station. On its Arab Hour , he shared much of his interest in ethnography and history with the Arabic-speaking population of Palestine. Radios were not widely available at

265-522: Is in this section that the colloquial pronunciation is most faithfully recorded (e.g. dropping the 'qaf', such that قامت becomes 'amat). In the final twenty-five pages, Stephan reviews the selected folk songs, comparing them to the main themes and motifs of "the Canticles" (the Song of Songs ), as well as to Arabic literature and poetry. In January 1922, Stephan wrote another significant early piece in Arabic that

318-621: The Sanjak of Jerusalem , was an Ottoman district with special administrative status established in 1872. The district encompassed Jerusalem as well as Hebron , Jaffa , Gaza and Beersheba . During the late Ottoman period , the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was commonly referred to as Palestine; a very late Ottoman document describes Palestine as including the Sanjak of Nablus and Sanjak of Akka (Acre) as well, more in line with European usage. It

371-548: The Dutch government figured prominently in securing the future of the Khalidi Library, providing funding for manuscript conservation and renovation of the library building. Conservation work on the library's 12,000 manuscripts was carried out by Tony Bish of the Wellcome Trust . Shortly after beginning conservation work at the Khalidi Library, a separate trove of 29,000 fragments, sections and folios of manuscripts were discovered in

424-687: The Lutheran Schneller School in Lifta , Jerusalem , where he was baptized/confirmed by the school founder's son, Theodor Schneller, in 1908. Little is securely known of his early life, but it is believed he served in the Ottoman army in some capacity in World War I, based on his mention of having heard Kurdish folk songs while in Manbij and Jarabulus in his 1922 article on Palestinian folk songs . One of

477-890: The Schneller School , a German Protestant orphanage that operated in Jerusalem , he worked for the Mandatory Palestine authorities, first in the Treasury , and then in the Department of Antiquities . Stephan was born in Beit Jala in 1894, during the rule of the Ottoman empire in Palestine . His family was part of the Syriac Orthodox Christian community there, but he studied at

530-918: The Sublime Porte to govern the district. They were usually experienced civil servants who spoke little or no Arabic, but knew a European language - most commonly French - in addition to Ottoman Turkish . List of mutasarrıfs after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution : Stephan Hanna Stephan Stephan Hanna Stephan (1894–1949), also St H Stephan , was a Palestinian writer, translator and radio broadcaster of history and folklore in Palestine . Besides publishing original articles, travel guides and phrasebooks in English and German , and broadcasting in Arabic , Stephan also produced several translations of books and inscriptions , utilizing his fluency in all these languages, as well as Ottoman Turkish and Syriac . Educated at

583-558: The kazasker of Anatolia . According to historian Lawrence Conrad, the Khalidi family saw themselves as upholding the inherited tradition of the Greeks and Abbasids in founding a library to spread their wealth of knowledge. The announcement of the public opening of the library emphasized this connection between libraries, cultural progress and prosperity by invoking great libraries of the Hellenic and medieval Arab Mediterranean worlds. The year of

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636-577: The 17th-century ten-volume Ottoman travelogue of the Seyahatname (Book of Travels) by Evliya Çelebi , Stephan translated the rare Palestine section. This was published in six parts from 1935 to 1942 in The Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities , as "Evliya Tshelebi's Travels in Palestine (1648–50)". Leo Aryeh Mayer , his colleague at the department, also contributed annotations and translations for

689-504: The Arabic-language manuscript collection. It is also accessible on the library's website. The library does not yet have an online public access catalogue . Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem ( Ottoman Turkish : قُدس شَرِيف مُتَصَرِّفلغى , Kudüs-i Şerif Mutasarrıflığı ; Arabic : متصرفية القدس الشريف , Mutaṣarrifiyyat al-quds aš-šarīf , French : Moutassarifat de Jérusalem ), also known as

742-642: The British consul as the creation of " Palestine into a separate eyalet". After less than two months, the sanjaks of Nablus and Acre were separated and added to the Vilayet of Beirut , leaving just the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem. In 1906, the Kaza of Nazareth was added to the Jerusalem Mutasarrifate as an exclave , primarily in order to allow the issuance of a single tourist permit to Christian travellers . The area

795-523: The Friends of the Khalidi Library (FKL), a non-profit organization registered in Massachusetts , has acted as a conduit for this support. The FKL's current chair of the board of trustees is Professor Walid Khalidi . According to the Khalidi Library's website in 2015, the premises were undergoing renovation, and therefore closed to the public. The renovation is expected to finish sometime in 2015, after which

848-714: The Garden of the Glorious and Praiseworthy Deeds Among the Merits of the Victorious King. Approximately half of the manuscript collection is composed of religious works; the other half includes subjects such as disparate as medicine, rhetoric, logic, and philosophy. Among the manuscript collection, are documents known as ijazahs , permits to teach a certain subject of Islamic knowledge. The library's collection also includes correspondence, private papers, and legal documents from generations of

901-536: The Khalidi family, including Ruhi Khalidi and former Mayor of Jerusalem Yousef Khalidi . The manuscript collection is digitized and available on the website of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library . The Khalidi Library's website hosts scanned copies of five old catalogues, including the original 1900 catalogue, as downloadable PDF files. The most recent catalogue was published in 2006 by al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation . The 2006 catalogue focuses only on

954-406: The Khalidi's public opening is often cited as 1900, however in a recent study, Conrad suggested that the library may have opened a few years earlier. The library was among the first non-Western buildings in Palestine to have an exterior sign with text; its original sign announced its name in both French and Arabic as well as the phrase "within are precious books." The library was private in that it

1007-463: The Library will open to the public for the first time in 47 years. The reopened Khalidi Library will offer workshops on book-binding , calligraphy , and manuscript restoration aimed at engaging not only academics, but the wider Jerusalem public. The library opened on 15 December 2018, and is open to the public on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 10.00 to 15.00. The Khalidi Library's first catalogue

1060-598: The Museum. Throughout the 1940s, he worked on a project to make handwritten and photostatic copies of manuscripts in private libraries in Jerusalem, including the Khalidi Library from 1941 to 1948, that are some of the only remaining copies of these works (now at Rockefeller Museum ). He was promoted from Assistant Librarian to Archeological Officer in 1945. Stephan also produced two travel guides with photographer Boulos 'Afif,

1113-433: The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was redrawn in 1906, at the instigation of the British, who were interested in safeguarding their imperial interests and in making the border as short and patrollable as possible. In the mid-19th century the inhabitants of Palestine identified themselves primarily in terms of religious affiliation. The population was 84% Muslim Arabs, 10% Christian Arabs, 5% Jewish, and 1% Druze Arabs. Towards

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1166-470: The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was unique from other Ottoman provinces as it was under the direct authority of the Ottoman government in Constantinople. The inhabitants identified themselves primarily on religious terms, 84% being Muslim Arabs. The district's villages were normally inhabited by farmers while its towns were populated by merchants, artisans, landowners and money-lenders. The elite consisted of

1219-654: The Palestinian dialect, Arabic Self-Taught: A Primer ; first in German and then in English. The guides were published by Steimatsky bookstore at the Syrian Orphanage , and the English introduction indicated that French and Hebrew editions were forthcoming, though it seems they never materialized. Albright gave input to its composition, and the vocabulary included indicates it was aimed at visiting archaeological students, as well as foreign officials, tourists, and merchants. From

1272-526: The administrative duties which he saw performed in Palestine in 1874: The whole of Syria is under the Wâly of Damascus, and Palestine is under the Mutaserifs of Acre and Jerusalem, who are appointed by that Wâly . These provinces are again subdivided, and Kaimakâms or lieutenant-governors, are placed in such towns as Jaffa, Ramleh, Jenin, etc. ... The system of government is simple. The only duties are to collect

1325-610: The collection, before both had to flee the Nakba . The library survived the turbulence of 1947-1948 , during which the contents of many of Jerusalem's Palestinian libraries, both public and private, were transferred to the National Library of Israel . Shortly after the Six-Day War and the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 , the Khalidi Library was closed to the public. The neighboring building, also owned by Khalidi family,

1378-474: The collection. Sun Allah al-Khalidi, Chief Secretary to the Religious Court of Jerusalem until his death in 1726, was responsible for securing the foundation of the early collection. Shortly before his death, Sun Allah al-Khalidi set up a waqf, bequeathing revenue from his substantial land holdings across Jerusalem to pay for the trusteeship of eighty-five manuscripts in perpetuity. According to Lawrence Conrad,

1431-478: The colonial administration against advancing the situation of Palestinian Arab scholars likely hindered his advancement. His signing of articles under the European sounding name of "St H Stephan" may have been a deliberate reaction to those circumstances, and is the source of misattributions of some his works to other authors. In 1934–1935, Stephan used his translation skills to compose a basic Arabic language guide for

1484-575: The earliest of Stephan's works, "The Palestinian Parallels to the Song of Songs" (1922) documented lyrics of folk songs in Palestine and compared them to biblical, Mesopotamian and Canaanite precursors. It was featured in The Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society (JPOS) , and the biblical scholar and philologist William Foxwell Albright called Stephan "a young man of promise". Stephan

1537-575: The elevation of the mutasarrifate to the status of vilayet to the Ottoman Parliament after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution . The area was conquered by the Allied Forces in 1917 during the Palestine campaign of World War I and a military Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA South) set up to replace the Ottoman administration. OETA South consisted of the Ottoman sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre. The military administration

1590-519: The end of the 19th century, the idea that the region of Palestine or the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem formed a separate political entity became widespread among the district's educated Arab classes. In 1904, former Jerusalem official Najib Azuri formed in Paris, France the Ligue de la Patrie Arabe ("Arab Fatherland League") whose goal was to free Ottoman Syria and Iraq from Turkish domination. In 1908, Azuri proposed

1643-409: The face of encroaching " colonialism and modernity". In this ethnographic work, Stephan collected and transcribed thirty-two pages of every day Palestinian folk songs centering around themes of love, and the beauty of the beloved, in the colloquial Palestinian Arabic dialect. The next fifty-three pages transcribe the songs in romanized transliteration and English translation with annotations. It

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1696-643: The first four parts, though Stephan completed the translation of the last two sections alone. Irving suggests that perhaps the 1936 revolt made collaboration with Mayer, a Zionist , increasingly untenable for Stephan. Stephan engaged in many other collaborations and correspondences with Palestinian, Arab and European writers. In correspondences with Hilma Granqvist , there is familiarity and respect expressed, passing on greetings from 'Sitt Louisa' ( Louise Baldensperger , 1862–1938), and offering critiques of Arabic translations and transliterations in Granqvist's work. In

1749-427: The histories and ideas of Europe, "thereby marking a nascent cultural trend in Palestine," as noted by historian Ami Ayalon. The original library comprised 2,168 items, of which 1,156 items appeared in the published catalogue and another 1,012 items in an unpublished list. The collection included both manuscripts and printed works. At least 1,138 printed books existed in the library's collection upon its establishment,

1802-506: The largest private collection of medieval manuscripts in Jerusalem, and the largest private collection of Arabic and Islamic manuscripts in the Palestinian territories. Most of the manuscripts are written in Arabic, though there are some in Persian and Turkish. The oldest dated manuscript is an 11th-century treatise on sharia as written by a member of the Maliki school of Islamic legal thought. Among

1855-490: The loft of the library. Renovation and refitting of the library building took place over two periods, 1991–1994 and 1995–1997, and consisted of restoring the Mamluk-era building, building an annex to house Khalidi family archival documents, and installing modern shelving units and furniture. The Khalidi Library is financially supported by a combination of grants, family contributions, and private donations. Since 1989,

1908-507: The most treasured works in the collection are those manuscripts written in the hand of the original author, as opposed to a copyist; these are referred to as umm or "mother," manuscripts. Makrumahs or presentation copies, are another category of treasured works. Makrumahs were often commissioned for royal libraries, and thus demonstrate especially fine craftsmanship. One makrumah is a gilded tribute to Saladin , dated to 1201 and grandiloquently titled The Spacious Lands of Commendations and

1961-505: The prominent Khalidi family of Jerusalem. The library originated in the personal collections of books and manuscripts accumulated by the Khalidi family over the course of several centuries. This makes the Khalidi Library one of the largest collections of Palestinian literary and historical documents in the Levant built by Palestinians. Today, Khalidi Library holds the largest private collection of manuscripts in Jerusalem. The Khalidi Library

2014-524: The religious leadership, wealthy landlords and high-ranking civil servants. In 1841, the district was separated from Damascus Eyalet and placed directly under Constantinople and formally created as an independent Mutasarrifate in 1872. Before 1872, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was officially a sanjak within the Syria Vilayet (created in 1864, following the Tanzimat reforms). The southern border of

2067-489: The revenues from Deir al-Ghusun from Baibars. This son established a waqf ; giving the revenues of Deir al-Ghusun and a mosque and a tomb ( turba ), now the Khalidi Library, for "the cure of the sick and the preparing of the dead for burial in Jerusalem." The Khalidi family's long-time prosperity and prominence in Ottoman and Arab society enabled them to collect and preserve one of the finest private libraries in Palestine. Each generation of Khalidis made contributions to

2120-564: The separation, including increased European interest in the region, and strengthening of the southern border of the Empire against the Khedivate of Egypt . Initially, the Mutasarrifate of Acre and Mutasarrifate of Nablus were combined with the province of Jerusalem, with the combined province being referred to in the register of the court of Jerusalem as the "Jerusalem Eyalet ", and referred to by

2173-511: The south by a line from midway between Gaza and Arish to Aqaba . Below are a series of contemporary Ottoman maps showing the "Quds Al-Sharif Sancağı" or "Quds Al-Sharif Mutasarrıflığı". The 1907 maps show the 1860 borders between Ottoman Syria and the Khedivate of Egypt , although the border was moved to the current Israel-Egypt border in 1906, and the area north of the Negev Desert is labelled "Filastin" (Palestine). C.R. Condor described

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2226-474: The taxes, and to put down riots, which constantly occur. The crown-lands are farmed to the highest bidder... Soldiers are sent to collect the money, and the crop is assessed before reaping... The tax in the Mulk -lands has been definitely fixed, without regard to the difference of the harvests in good and bad years. Administrative divisions of the Mutasarrifate (1872–1909): The Mutasarrıfs of Jerusalem were appointed by

2279-475: The time, but locals would hear broadcasts in village coffeehouses, and Stephan's broadcasts celebrated and valued Palestinian folk traditions and culture , bringing the nation's rich history to the attention of the audience. After attending the founding of the Palestine Archaeological Museum in the 1930s, with his Armenian wife, Arasky Keshishian, he went on to work as assistant librarian at

2332-594: The vast majority of which were imported from Egypt , Lebanon , and Europe. Among these imported works included studies on European history. This collection was expanded over the years to include dictionaries and grammar books on all major European languages, multiple translations of the Bible, the complete works of Plato and Voltaire, texts by Josephus, Dante, Milton, Shakespeare, as well as studies by Western Orientalists . The collection grew to approximately 4,000 items by 1917, and over 7,000 items by 1936. The Khalidi Library has

2385-625: Was and continues to be housed in a Mamluk -era building in the Old City of Jerusalem. The building was restored in 792 AH /1389CE as the burial site ( turba ) of Amir Husam al-Din Barkah Khan, a military chieftain of Kwarizmian origin, and his two sons. His daughter married the Mamluk sultan, Baibars , and became the mother of al-Said Barakah . In 1265 a son, Emir Badr al-Din Muhammad Bi received all of

2438-524: Was conquered by the Allied Forces in 1917 during World War I and a military Occupied Enemy Territory Administration , OETA South, was set up to replace the Ottoman administration. OETA South consisted of the Ottoman sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre. The military administration was replaced by a British civilian administration in 1920 and the area of OETA South was incorporated into the British Mandate of Palestine in 1923. The political status of

2491-868: Was focused on a very different audience and subject. Mara'a ("Woman"), published by Cairo -based Sarkis magazine, named after the Lebanese family who founded it, was addressed to the Arab world and a contribution to the debates generated by the Nahda , where Stephan argued for gender equality as a means to national development in all fields. While working at the Department of Antiquities, he co-authored papers with Dimitri Baramki and published other articles and translations of Ottoman documents and inscriptions from Jerusalem in their Quarterly. The American Journal of Archaeology noted his work translating Mamluk and Ottoman documents in 1934 as an important contribution. The biases of

2544-495: Was formed, funded and managed by the Khalidi family; however, it was open to the public. The introductory statement in the library's first published catalogue emphasized the library's openness to "any person desiring to read." Books were not allowed to circulate outside of the building. The Khalidi Library operated in this fashion for over half a century. With the death of Shaykh Khalil al-Khalidi in 1941, Ahmed Samih al-Khalidi had help from Stephan Hanna Stephan in managing and copying

2597-605: Was occupied by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and later turned into a yeshiva . The library itself was saved from similar confiscation after a lengthy legal battle. According to Haifa Khalidi, a mutawilla or guardian of the Library, Shlomo Goren , during his time serving as Chief Rabbi of the Military Rabbinate of the IDF, attempted to purchase the property, but was rebuffed by the Khalidi family. Beginning in 1987,

2650-403: Was part of an informal school of "nativist" ethnographers , most prominent among them Tawfiq Canaan , who published their works at JPOS. The research and contributions of these mostly Jerusalemite Palestinians was motivated by their belief that the "native culture of Palestine", best represented in the ancient "living heritage" and traditions of the fellaheen , had to be urgently documented in

2703-482: Was published in 1900, shortly after the institution's establishment. This first catalogue is significant for the insight it offers into the scholarly interests and literary tastes of the Palestinian elite at the turn of the 20th century. The Khalidi Library continued in the classical tradition of Islamic learning in its collection of religious works and valuable manuscripts. However, the Khalidi Library departed from classical tradition in its accumulation of works concerning

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2756-640: Was replaced by a British civilian administration in 1920 and the area of OETA South became the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine in 1923, with some border adjustments with Lebanon and Syria. The division was bounded on the west by the Mediterranean, on the east by the River Jordan and the Dead Sea , on the north by a line from the mouth of the river Auja to the bridge over the Jordan near Jericho , and on

2809-403: Was the 7th most heavily populated region of the Ottoman Empire's 36 provinces . The district was separated from the Damascus Eyalet and placed directly under the supervision of the Ottoman central government in Constantinople (now Istanbul ) in 1841, and formally created as an independent province in 1872 by Grand Vizier Mahmud Nedim Pasha . Scholars provide a variety of reasons for

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