Nabi Yahya Mosque

The Nabi Yahya Mosque (Arabic: جامع النبي يحيى‎, Jama'a Nabi Yahya, meaning "mosque of the Prophet John") is the main mosque in the village of Sebastiya, near Nablus. It is located in the central square of the village. It is constructed of large buttressed walls. Within its courtyard, a stairway in the small domed building leads down into a cave. There are six burial niches here, among them are the tombs of Elisha and Obadiah.^[1]

History

The Nabi Yahya Mosque stands on the site identified since Byzantine times as the place where John the Baptist's head was buried. Local tradition in both the Christian and Muslim communities of the area has it that it was also the site of the prison of John the Baptist and is the place where he was beheaded.^[2] A church was erected on the spot during the Byzantine era and then superseded by a Crusader-built church in 1160.^[1]

It was transformed into a mosque by Saladin in 1187, although some sources say it was converted by the Mamluks in 1261. Nabi Yahya refers to John the Baptist in the Arabic language. The mosque was restored and mostly rebuilt during the 19th century while Palestine was under Ottoman rule.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Jacobs, 1998, p.443.
2. ^ Christianity in Nablus Zajel.

Bibliography

• Jacobs, Daniel (1998), Israel and the Palestinian territories, Rough Guides, ISBN 9781858282480, http://books.google.com/?id=JXoY2vCZ5AEC&pg=RA5-PA453&dq=Omar+Mukhtar+Street+Gaza