Name of Object:

Tombstone from Halhul

Location:

Jerusalem

Holding Museum:

Islamic Museum, al-Aqsa Mosque / al-Haram al-Sharif

About Islamic Museum, al-Aqsa Mosque / al-Haram al-Sharif, Jerusalem

Original Owner:

Al-Malik bin al-Rumi al-Jarmi (d. AH 55 / AD 674)

Date of Object:

Hegira 55 / AD 674

Museum Inventory Number:

ز/ م/41

Material(s) / Technique(s):

White porous rock with an inscription in low relief.

Dimensions:

Height 38 cm, length 34 cm, depth 6 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Umayyad

Provenance:

Jerusalem.

Description:

An inscribed tombstone of white porous stone with an inscription carved in shallow kufic script with diacritics. The inscription consists of eight lines, the first of which is now largely illegible, but which probably began with the Basmala (“In the name of God”). The word “min” is missing from the beginning of the eighth line. The depth of the stone is uneven and the corners are demarcated on three sides in a sharp, conspicuous manner known as zamla.
Note that the funerary-style script used is less skilfully executed than some other contemporary inscriptions of an official or commemorative nature. The inscription is distinguished by the fact that the craftsman who made it displayed great meticulousness in the arrangement of the line beginnings, setting each character one above the other on the vertical plane. The kufic lettering used is typical of that employed during the decades preceding and following the date of this inscription (produced AH 55 / AD 674).
The tombstone is dated based on the inscription commemorating the death of al-Malik bin al-Rumi al-Jarmi who was from the Bani Jaram, from Qahtan. The inscription is considered to be one of the oldest examples of an Islamic inscription in Palestine. Starting with the Basmala, it reads as follows:
“(In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful)
God, there is no God but God. Muhammad
Is the Prophet of God. This grave
Of al-Malik bin al-Rumi bin Abd
Allah al-Jarmi, who died on Friday
In the month of Rabi' al-Akhir
Of the year AH 55 [AD 674 ].”

A tombstone of white stone with an inscription carved in kufic script less skilfully executed than other contemporary commemorative inscriptions. The inscription begins with the Basmala and a prayer for the Prophet, and gives the name al-Jarmi (from the Bani Jarmi from Qahtan) and the date of death. It is believed to be one of the oldest Umayyad inscriptions in Palestine.

How date and origin were established:

The date is carved on the tombstone.

How Object was obtained:

The tombstone was discovered in the 1980s in a grave in Halhul, located several kilometres north of Hebron, and transferred soon afterwards to the Islamic Museum in Jerusalem.

How provenance was established:

Palestine was narrowed down as the place for the production of this tombstone, since such pieces are likely to be made on site, or in a workshop adjacent to it.

Selected bibliography:

Al-Hanbali, Mujir al-Din (d. 927 / 1520), Al-Uns al-Jalil fi Tarikh al-Quds wa al-Khalil [The Significant Ambiance in the History of Jerusalem and Hebron], Amman, 1973.
Al-'Azza, Abd Allah, Naqsh Halhul 55 / 674: Aqdam Naqsh fi Filastin [The Inscription of Halhul 55 / 674: The Oldest Inscription in Palestine], Kanna, 1990.
Salameh, K., Al-Makhtutat al-Qur'aniya fi al-Muthalf al-Islami fi al-Haram al-Sharif [The Qur'anic Manuscripts in the Islamic Museum in al-Haram al-Sharif], Paris, 2003.

Citation of this web page:

Khader Salameh "Tombstone from Halhul" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;pa;Mus01;48;en

Prepared by: Khader SalamehKhader Salameh

Khader Salameh has been the Director of the Islamic Museum and Al-Aqsa Library in Jerusalem for more than two decades. He was previously employed in the Hebrew University Library and worked as a librarian in Saudi Arabia and as a teacher in Libya. He is a Ph.D. Candidate in Ottoman History. He received a Certificate of Librarianship in 1986 from the Hebrew University. He obtained his BA degree from Beirut University in 1980. He catalogued the Manuscripts Collections of the Haram al-Sharif, which was published in six parts in several countries. His publications include many articles on different subjects and a recent publication in English and Arabic on the Qur'an manuscripts in the Islamic Museum.
Copyedited by: Majd Musa
Translation by: Amal Sachedina (from the Arabic).
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: PA 48