'Abd al-Nabi Islamic Cemetery

Abandoned Muslim cemetery in Tel Aviv 'Abd an-Nabi Islamic Cemetery File:Abd al-Neby 02.jpg The shrine of 'Abd an-Nabi in the cemetery in 2012. Cemetery 32.0875 34.769722 dms type:landmark_region:Israel inline,title Tel Aviv 16th century (shrine)1850 (cemetery) Ottoman architecture مقبرة عبد النبي الإسلامية בית קברות מוסלמי עבד אל נבי Arabic Hebrew The ‘Abd an-Nabi Islamic Cemetery (Hebrew: בית קברות מוסלמי עבד אל נבי, Arabic: مقبرة عبد النبي الإسلامية) is an abandoned Muslim cemetery located within the Independence Park in Tel Aviv. Established in the 19th century, much of the cemetery has been cleared for the construction of the Hilton Tel Aviv in 1963, while only around a hundred tombstones as well as a 16th-century shrine remain in the cemetery. Etymology The name 'Abd an-Nabi, alternatively spelled Abdul Nabi or Abdel Nebi, is an Arabic male name which means "servant of the Prophet."Palmer E.H. https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft/page/217/mode/1up Survey of Western Palestine: Arab and English namelists collected during the survey Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund 1881 1st London 218 XIII History The earliest burial in the cemetery is that of 'Abd an-Nabi, a Muslim holy man who is entombed in the shrine as well as the namesake of the cemetery.Meistermann Barnabé https://archive.org/details/nouveauguidedet00meisgoog/page/n8/mode/1up Nouveau guide de Terre Sainte Alphonse Picard et fils 1907 1st Paris, France 499 fr New Guide to the Holy Land Researcher of Islamic archaeology, Andrew Petersen, suggested that the shrine dates back to the 16th century due to it having Ottoman elements, such as the arches.Petersen Andrew https://www.academia.edu/21620272/Gazetteer_6._S-Z A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine Council for British Research in the Levant 2001 9780197270110 Digitzed 298–299 Throughout the second half of the 19th century, a Muslim cemetery developed around the shrine of 'Abd al-Nabi, serving the needs of residents in Al-Mas'udiyya and Jaffa. The cemetery became officially recognized by the government in 1902 following a cholera epidemic in Jaffa, although it was later abandoned in the late 1940s, during the early stages of the Arab–Israeli conflict.Lopatin Adina 2007-01-05 Forgetting the Past In a City of the Future https://forward.com/culture/9769/forgetting-the-past-in-a-city-of-the-future/ 2026-04-28 ForwardMann B.E. A Place in History: Modernism, Tel Aviv, and the Creation of Jewish Urban Space Stanford University Press 2006 9780804750196 1st Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture 64–66 Due to its abandonement and close location to the shore, between 1960 and the late 1970s, the Israeli youth would lounge and sunbath on the rectangular sanduga that stood atop some of the graves. In 1962, the presence of the graves in the cemetery delayed construction works on the Hilton Tel Aviv until a local qāḍī gave a fatwa permitting exhumations to be carried out if necessary.Bar Doron 2020 Jewish state, Muslim cemeteries: the fate of Muslim graveyards in the State of Israel, 1948–1967 10.1080/00263206.2020.1774369 Middle Eastern Studies 56 6 925–936Giller Shmuel 2025-01-01 בית הקברות המוסלמי עבד אל־נאבי בתל אביב And al-Nabi Muslim Cemetery in Tel Aviv https://benyehuda.org/read/62118 2026-04-28 Ben Yehuda he This decision was met with protests from Palestinians and Arab inhabitants of Jaffa.Eingil Ehud 2018-03-29 Skeletons under the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv – Ahmad Massarweh https://matzpen.org/english/2018-03-29/skeletons-under-hilton-hotel-in-tel-aviv-ahmad-massarweh/ 2026-04-27 Matzpen.org en-GB2010-01-17 إسرائيل تحول مقابر الفلسطينيين فنادق Israel turns Palestinian cemeteries into hotels https://www.aljazeera.net/news/2010/1/17/%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%88%D9%84-%D9%85%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%82 2026-04-28 Al Jazeera arInbari Itamar 2008-09-21 ערביי יפו: די לחילול הקברים בגן העצמאות Jaffa Arabs: Enough with the desecration of graves in the Independence Park https://www.makorrishon.co.il/nrg/online/1/ART1/790/036.html 2026-04-28 Makorrishon he Most of the cemetery was subsequently exhumed in 1963, leaving behind only a few hundred graves as well as the 16th-century shrine of 'Abd al-Nabi.Boxerman Aaron 2020-06-15 Abandoned for a century, Jaffa Muslim cemetery brings up old ghosts and new fury https://www.timesofisrael.com/abandoned-for-a-century-jaffa-muslim-cemetery-bring-up-old-ghosts-and-new-fury/ 2026-04-27 The Times of Israel en-US 0040-7909 Architecture thumb|The sanduga over the grave of 'Abd an-Nabi in the courtyard of the shrine The shrine of 'Abd an-Nabi is built in an Ottoman architectural style, with materials used being predominately brick and stone. The shrine has a rectangular layout and is divided into three rooms, one of them a courtyard. It is entered through a doorway in the northwestern wall that is decorated with ablaq masonry. thumb|The musalla in the shrine. The first accessible room is a musalla to provide a place of prayer for visitors at the cemetery. A mihrab to indicate the direction of prayer is etched into the southwestern wall of the room. A doorway opposite the mihrab leads into the courtyard, where the tomb of 'Abd al-Nabi is situated. It is a simple sanduga placed atop the grave. The third room on the shrine has arches on each corner and has an unknown purpose. See also Maqam (shrine) References Category:Cemeteries in Israel Category:Buildings and structures in Tel Aviv Abd al-Nabi Category:Islam in Israel