The grave of Nabi Rubin (AS), son of Prophet Yaqub (AS), stands at the historic Palestinian village of al-Nabi Rubin near Ramla. The maqam, مقام النبي روبين,…
The grave of Nabi Rubin (AS), son of Prophet Yaqub (AS), stands at the historic Palestinian village of al-Nabi Rubin near Ramla. The maqam, مقام النبي روبين, gave its name to the village and later to one of Palestine’s largest annual mawsims, or pilgrimage seasons. Nabi Rubin (AS) is remembered among the sons of Prophet Yaqub (AS) and the brothers of Prophet Yusuf (AS). In his tafsir of Surah Yusuf, Ibn Kathir reports from Qatadah and Muhammad ibn Ishaq that Rubil, the eldest brother, was the one who opposed killing Prophet Yusuf (AS) and proposed placing him in the well instead. “One of them said, ‘Do not kill Joseph. But if you must do something, throw him into the bottom of a well so perhaps he may be picked up by some travellers.’” Surah Yusuf 12:10 The Mamluk maqam near Ramla The maqam stands on the southern bank of Wadi al-Sarar, west of Ramla and close to the Mediterranean coast. The grave was recorded by the Jerusalem historian and qadi Mujir al-Din al-Ulaymi in his late fifteenth-century account of Palestine, where he identified it as the grave of Sayyiduna Rubin (AS). An inscription dates the oldest part of the surviving complex to 840 AH, corresponding to 1436–1437 CE. It was built by order of Timraz al-Mu’ayyadi, the Mamluk governor of Gaza. A mosque and other facilities were subsequently established around the maqam, while the surrounding lands formed an Islamic waqf, an endowed property maintained for a religious purpose. The mawsim of Nabi Rubin The annual mawsim is documented from the late thirteenth century and continued until 1948. Communities from Jaffa, Lydda, Ramla and nearby villages travelled to al-Nabi Rubin during the summer season, creating a temporary settlement of tents around the maqam. The programme combined Qur’an recitation, sermons and gatherings of dhikr with trade, poetry, dabka, horse racing and other public events. Historical photographs from the early twentieth century describe a temporary population of between 20,000 and 30,000 people. Shops, cafés and a cinema were established near the maqam as the season expanded into a major part of Palestinian communal life. The village of al-Nabi Rubin had 1,420 Palestinian inhabitants in 1945 and was depopulated in 1948. Its mosque and the maqam containing the grave of Nabi Rubin (AS) survived beside Wadi al-Sarar.