Summary
The merchant caravansary at the centre of Nablus, the most prestigious and expensive strip of commercial real estate in the city, dominated by the shops of textile merchants and dividing the city physically and psychologically between “easterners” and “westerners” (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 1173-1230).
Details
- Muhammad Izzat Darwaza recalled that the title “merchant” in Nablus mostly referred to owners of commercial textile and cloth shops confined, or mostly confined, to Khan al-Tujjar in the middle of Nablus (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 1173-1230).
- Mary Rogers called it “the finest arcade in Palestine”; John Mills called it a clothing emporium furnished with the silk productions of Damascus and Aleppo, the abas of Baghdad, calicos and prints from Manchester, and the production of the town itself (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 1173-1230).
- For the Prophet’s birthday the textile merchants decorated it collectively with carpets, silk-covered walls, flowers and dishes of sweets, and passed out free candy-covered almonds (mlabbas) after evening prayers (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 1231-1284).
- During Nabi Musa festival preparations, young men from the eastern and western parts of Nablus descended on it for a game of “catch” between the two halves; the east-west division is said in Chapter 2’s notes possibly to be related to the Nimr family-Tuqan family struggle for the city’s eastern and western halves (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 1173-1230, lines 1492-1686).
- The Haffar family’s Nablus office, collecting for the Damascus jarrida, was conveniently located in Khan al-Tujjar (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 1285-1365).
Related pages
Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, Nablus, Jabal Nablus, Arafat family, Kiswa