Christian tradition relates that the Pool of Silwan is where Nabi Isa ibn Maryam (AS) restored the sight of a man born blind. Known in Arabic as Birkat Silwan…
Christian tradition relates that the Pool of Silwan is where Nabi Isa ibn Maryam (AS) restored the sight of a man born blind. Known in Arabic as Birkat Silwan (بركة سلوان), the pool lies in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan, south of Jerusalem’s Old City and close to Masjid al-Aqsa. It received water from the Gihon Spring through an ancient tunnel cut beneath the city. The healing at Silwan Christian tradition relates that Nabi Isa ibn Maryam (AS) placed clay upon the blind man’s eyes and directed him to wash in the Pool of Silwan. The man washed there and returned able to see. The Qur’an does not name Silwan in its account of Nabi Isa ibn Maryam (AS), but it plainly affirms that Allah enabled him to heal those born blind: “I will heal the blind and the leper and raise the dead to life—by Allah’s Will.” Surah Ali ‘Imran 3:49 Nabi Isa ibn Maryam (AS) was sent as a messenger to Bani Isra’il. His healings, the raising of the dead and his other signs occurred only by Allah’s permission, a qualification repeated in the same Qur’anic verse. The spring and the gardens of Silwan The Jerusalemite geographer al-Muqaddasi recorded Silwan in 375 AH/985 CE as a village outside the city. He described Ayn Silwan, the Spring of Silwan, as supplying water to extensive gardens endowed as a waqf—a charitable endowment—by Sayyiduna Uthman ibn Affan (RA) for Jerusalem’s poor. The spring and pool formed part of Jerusalem’s ancient water system. Water from the Gihon Spring was channelled underground toward Silwan, making this southern valley a vital part of the city’s water supply long before al-Muqaddasi wrote his description.