THE POETICS OF CONCEALMENT: AL-NABULUSI’S ENCOUNTER WITH THE DOME OF THE ROCK

On Monday morning, March 27, 1690, the celebrated Damascene scholar Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (1641 1731) set out with a group of friends and followers to travel from Damascus to Jerusalem1?a leisurely journey to the House of Holiness (Bayt al-Maqdis), tracing a trail marked by saints' tombs, Sufi contacts, and spring-enlivened landscapes. In a dream that preceded the journey, al-Nabulusi had seen himself riding a beautiful Arabian horse, with his feet resting on the palms of two vigorous and beautifully dressed young men. Four days later, as the convoy took off, two young Sufis walked undistractedly in front of al Nabulusi, "the walking of angels."2 They accompanied the convoy all the way to Jerusalem and back. Fol lowing the morning prayer, the journey began with a visit to the prophet Yahya's shrine in the Umayyad Great Mosque (fig. 1). After sixteen days of eventful and joyful travel Jerusalem loomed on the horizon. A sense of excitement besieged the group, and a shiver of passion ran through their souls: they had reached their destination and were in the proximity of the sacred. Before entering the city, however, they pro ceeded to the Jarrahiyya School to visit the tomb of Shaykh Husam al-Din al-Jarrahi (d. 1201).3 Waiting to receive the visitors was an assembly of spiritual leaders and dignitaries together with a crowd carrying flags and reciting prayers and religious invocations.4 The Sufis of the Adhamiyya zdwiya soon joined in the recep tion, and all proceeded to al-Amud Gate (also known as the Damascus Gate) (fig. 2). The visit seemed to have excited the city. As al-Nabulusi entered, descended to the market place, and walked along the narrow streets of Jerusa lem, he was moved by the beauty and blessedness of the city. His memoirs reveal a sense of awe mixed with delight and elation. Along with the marching crowd and the chanting band, the visitors made their way to the Noble Sanctuary (al-Haram al-Sharif), their ultimate target. They entered the Haram from the Cotton Mer chants' Gate (Bab al-Qattanin) (fig. 3). The moment of entering was memorable, as it coincided with the recitation of a poetic line celebrating the Prophet's night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem: