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Nabi Rubin festival

al-Nabi Rubin
Nabi Rubin cropped 02905u.jpg
Pilgrim encampments in Nabi Rubin, 1920–1933
al-Nabi Rubin is located in Mandatory Palestine
al-Nabi Rubin
al-Nabi Rubin
Arabic النبي روبين
Name meaning "The Prophet Reuben"
Also spelled al-Nebi Rubin
Subdistrict Ramle
Coordinates 31°55′46″N 34°44′02″E / 31.92944°N 34.73389°E / 31.92944; 34.73389Coordinates: 31°55′46″N 34°44′02″E / 31.92944°N 34.73389°E / 31.92944; 34.73389
Palestine grid 124/148
Population 1,420 (1945)
Area 31,002 dunams
31.0 km²
Date of depopulation June 1, 1948
Cause(s) of depopulation Expulsion by Yishuv forces
Current localities Palmachim, Gan Sorek

Al-Nabi Rubin (Arabic: النبي روبين‎‎, transliteation: an-Nabî Rûbîn) was a Palestinian village in central Palestine, located 14.5 kilometers (9.0 mi) west of Ramla, just northeast of Yibna and 18 kilometers (11 mi) south of Jaffa. The village was situated on the southern banks of Wadi al-Sarar, known in Hebrew as Sorek Stream, at an elevation of 25 meters (82 ft) above sea level. Nabi Rubin is named after a shrine in the village, believed by Muslims to be the tomb of Reuben. It was captured by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the inhabitants were expelled.

Nabi Rubin was a place of trade between Crusaders and Muslims prior to it being inhabited. In 1184, it held a fair where Arab merchants from Damascus traded slaves, Persian and Kurdish-bred horses, weapons, and blades from Yemen and India, with Christians from Acre. This trade continued until wars between the Mamluks and Crusaders commenced in the 13th century.

The Mamluk governor of Jerusalem built a mosque and shrine there in the early 15th century. Islamic judge Mujir ad-Din wrote in 1495 it "is a tomb of our Reuben," thereon crystallizing in local Muslim tradition that the site is the burial place of Reuben, son of Jacob and Leah. Despite popular belief, the tomb may possibly be that of an Arab sheikh.Walid Khalidi writes that it is believed that the shrine for al-Nabi Rubin was built in the same place where a Canaanite temple had once stood, and that the mawsim ("religious festival") itself was pagan in origin. The Nabi Rubin mawsim was one of two prominent mawsims for Old Testament prophets in Palestine—the other being dedicated to Nabi Musa ("the prophet Moses") near Jericho.


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