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The Bāb al-Raḥma: From Hauts lieux de mémoire to the Edge of the Sacred
Abstract
From every vantage point, Jerusalem’s Bāb al-Raḥma (Gate of Mercy) is dwarfed by the hauts lieux de mémoire on the Temple Mount— the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqṣā Mosque. In fact, since its construction as a monumental entrance to Jerusalem’s sacred enclosure, the Bāb al-Raḥma has rested at the periphery in terms of form, function, and memory. A deeper look into the form and ornamentation of the original Marwānid monument, however, as well as an examination of the textual traditions and pilgrimage practices related to the site, produces fascinating insight into how monuments on the margins of hauts lieux de mémoire are sacralized, memorialized, and forgotten. Textual and material evidence concerning the Bāb al-Raḥma, including tafsīr, faḍā’il treatises, adab collections, and travel accounts, reveal that between the late 1st/7th and 8th/14th centuries, the Gate of Mercy underwent at least five phases of construction as a sacred lieu de mémoire. The first phase involved the use of architectural form and decorative motifs to position the gate vis-à-vis the Dome of the Rock. Second came a highly contested period of textual elaboration in the 4th/10th century, when Muslim exegetes struggled to locate the gate in Qu’ranic scripture. Third, Muslim memory transposed the gate into a mythical past that emphasized sanctification through prophetic association. In addition, the site was eschatologically “remembered” as part of an imminent future— although polemical traditions concerning a final battle between the Mahdī, the Sufyānī, and the Kalb proved transitory. Finally, devotional and pilgrimage practices, such as those recorded by al-Wāsiṭī, ibn al-Murajjā, and Nāṣir-i Khusraw, enshrined the site as a lieu de mémoire and a lieu de sentiment. These final three phases occurred concomitantly, with mythic embellishments and records of pilgrimages to the site appearing in sources as early as the 5th/11th century and gaining strength with al-Ghazālī’s stay at the gate’s zāwiyya. Therefore, while the Bāb al-Raḥma’s peripheral position made the monument highly sensitive to historical vagaries, it serves as a vivid example of the vibrant but precarious life of a monument on the edge of the sacred. Like the house of Umm Hānī in Mecca and the Jannat al-Baqī’ in Medina, the Bāb al-Raḥma and other monuments on the margins thus provide a rich field for exploring the expansion and contraction of both sacred space and sacred memory.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Islamic World
Sub Area
None