Pages

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Another Mamilla Cemetery lie

Many of the op-eds and articles that are referring to the Mamilla Cemetery in Jerusalem mention that it is called Ma'man Allah, as if Mamilla is a contraction of an Arabic term.

Well, an a writer of an article in the Palestine Post on December 18, 1945, upset over the then-Arab Muslim plan to build an office building on top of the site after it was Islamically deconsecrated, mentions that the site was named after a St. Mamillah, and mentions that "The usual interpretation of 'Mamillah' as a contraction of Maamin Allah (under the protection of God) is certainly a later explanation of a forgotten meaning."

So the term "Ma'man Allah" is just more proof of how Muslims tend to co-opt the ownership of sites that are historically important to other religions.

(The article goes on to emphasize that the site underneath is archaeologically important for the Jewish, Byzantine, Crusader and Muslim treasures presumed to be underneath it. He urges that it be searched thoroughly for antiquities before the Arab building project commences.)