Uandishi wa kihistoria kuhusu Palestina umetawaliwa na mpangilio wa matukio wa kifalme na mbinu za kikoloni, pamoja na mbinu za historia "kutoka nje" zinazoangalia jambo kwa macho ya mgeni.

The historical writing on Palestine is dominated by imperial chronologies and colonising methodologies and history ‘from without’ approaches.

Kwa namna hiyo hiyo, imependekezwa kuwa neno Palestina lilikuwa limesahauliwa kabisa na Waarabu wa huko wakati wa kipindi cha mwisho cha Mamluk na kipindi cha mwanzo cha Ottoman, na kwamba lilirudishwa kwao tu katika kipindi cha mwisho cha Ottoman na Wakristo Waarabu wa huko waliokuwa na mawasiliano na Ulaya. Katika kazi yake A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel, Gudrun Krämer, mwanahistoria wa Kijerumani wa historia ya Kiislamu, anaona kwa busara kwamba:

In a similar vein, it has been suggested that the term Palestine had been completely forgotten by local Arabs during the late Mamluk and early Ottoman periods and that it was only brought back to them in the late Ottoman period by local Arab Christians in touch with Europe. In her work A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel, Gudrun Krämer, a German scholar of Islamic history, astutely observes:

Na bado, dhana iliyoenea kwamba neno ‘Palestina’ lilifufuliwa tu wakati wa Renaissance ya Ulaya kwa kurejelea kwa makusudi utamaduni wa Ugiriki na Roma ya kale, kwamba halikuwahi kutumiwa na Wayahudi, kwamba Waarabu wa huko walilisahau kabisa, na kwamba lililetwa tena kwao na Wakristo Waarabu waliokuwa na mawasiliano na Ulaya, haiwezi tena kuthibitishwa. (Krämer 2011: 16)

And yet, the widespread view that the term ‘Palestine’ was only revived at the time of the European Renaissance with its conscious reference to Greek and Roman antiquity, that it was never used by Jews, that it had been entirely forgotten by local Arabs, and that it was brought back to them by Arab Christians in touch with Europe, can no longer be upheld. (Krämer 2011: 16)

Kwa kweli, kumbukumbu ya Palestina ya kihistoria ilihifadhiwa hai katika kipindi chote cha Mamluk na Ottoman na waandishi na wanafiqhi Waislamu wa Kipalestina pamoja na wasafiri Waarabu na Waislamu waliopitia Palestina. Katika karne ya 14 chini ya Mamluk, jina Filastin lilitajwa na wasafiri Waarabu na Waislamu, mara nyingi pia kuhusiana na mji wa al-Ramla, mji mkuu wa zamani wa mkoa wa Jund Filastin kwa karne kadhaa chini ya Uislamu. Ibn Battuta, msafiri na msomi maarufu Mwislamu kutoka Afrika Kaskazini, alisafiri katika sehemu kubwa ya ulimwengu wa Kiislamu na kutembelea Palestina katika majira ya kiangazi ya mwaka 1326. Baadaye aliandika kumbukumbu yake kama Rihlah (‘Safari’ au ‘Safari za Ibn Battuta’):

In fact, the memory of historic Palestine was kept alive throughout the Mamluk and Ottoman periods by Palestinian Muslim writers and jurists as well as by Arab and Muslim travellers through Palestine. In the 14th century under the Mamluks the name Filastin was cited by Arab and Muslim travellers, often also in connection with the city of al-Ramla, the former capital of the province of Jund Filastin for several centuries under Islam. Ibn Battuta, the famous Muslim traveller and scholar from North Africa, travelled through most of the Muslim world and visited Palestine in the summer of 1326. He later wrote his account as the Rihlah (‘Journey’ or ‘Travels’):

Baadaye nilisafiri kutoka Yerusalemu [al-Quds] hadi ngome ya Askalon, ambayo ni magofu kabisa. Kati ya msikiti mkubwa, unaojulikana kama msikiti wa ‘Omar, hakubaki kitu isipokuwa kuta zake na baadhi ya nguzo za marumaru za uzuri usio na mfano, zingine zikiwa zimesimama na zingine zimeanguka.

I journeyed thereafter from Jerusalem [al-Quds] to the fortress of Askalon, which is a total ruin. Of the great mosque, known as the mosque of ‘Omar, nothing remains but its walls and some marble columns of matchless beauty, partly standing and partly fallen.

Miongoni mwao kuna nguzo nzuri nyekundu, ambayo watu husimulia kwamba Wakristo waliichukua hadi nchi yao, lakini baadaye wakaipoteza, ikapatikana mahali pake huko Askalon. Kutoka hapo nilielekea mji wa ar-Ramlah, ambao pia unaitwa Filastin, upande wa qibla wa misikiti ile ambayo husemwa kwamba manabii mia tatu wamezikwa humo. Kutoka ar-Ramlah nilikwenda mji wa Nabulus ... jiji lenye miti mingi na vijito vya maji vinavyotiririka mwaka mzima, na mojawapo ya miji tajiri zaidi ya [al-Sham] kwa mizeituni. Mafuta yake husafirishwa kutoka hapo kwenda Cairo na Damascus. Ni huko Nabulus ambako tunda tamu la mkunguu maji (carob) hutengenezwa na kusafirishwa kwenda Damascus na kwingineko ... Nabulus pia kuna aina ya tikiti maji inayoitwa kwa jina lake, tunda zuri na tamu ... Kutoka hapo nilikwenda Ajalun ... nikipita Ghawr, nikafuata pwani hadi Akka [Acre] ambao umebomoka ... Akka hapo awali ulikuwa mji mkuu na bandari ya nchi ya Wafranki [Wapiganaji wa Msalaba] ... na ulishindana hata na Constantinople yenyewe.

Amongst them is a wonderful red column, of which the people tell that the Christians carried it off to their country but afterwards lost it, when it was found at its place at Askalon. Thence I went on to the city of ar-Ramlah, which is also called Filastin, in the qibla of those mosques they say three hundred of the prophets are buried. From ar-Ramlah I went to the town of Nabulus ... a city with an abundance of trees and perennial streams and one of the richest in [al-Sham] for olives. The oil of which is exported thence to Cairo and Damascus. It is at Nabulus that the carob-sweet is manufactured and exported to Damascus and elsewhere ... Nabulus has also a species of melon which is called by its name, a good and delicious fruit ... Thence I went to Ajalun ... passing through the Ghawr, followed the coast to Akka [Acre] which is in ruins ... Akka was formerly the capital and port of the country of the Franks [Crusaders] ... and rivalled Constantinople itself. (Ibn Battuta 2005: 57‒58)

Lakini kumbukumbu ya kijamii na jiografia ya kisiasa ya Palestina ziliendelea kuishi, labda kwa uwazi zaidi, kupitia waandishi wa Kiislamu wazawa wa Palestina waliokuwa wakiishi nchini humo, kuliko kupitia waandishi wa Kiarabu waliosafiri kupitia Palestina wakati wa kipindi cha Mamluk. Akiandika wakati wa kipindi cha marehemu cha Mamluk, Mujir al-Din al-ʿUlaymi (1522) (مجير الدين العليمي ‒1456), kadhi, mwanahistoria na Mjerusalemu Mwislamu kutoka Palestina, katika kazi yake kubwa ya *Historia Tukufu ya al-Quds na al-Khalil* (*al-Uns al-Jalil bi-Tarikh al-Quds wal-Khalil*, takriban 1495), anataja nchi yake ya asili kwa jina la Filastin mara nyingi, neno analorudia mara ishirini na mbili. Ingawa pia anatumia neno Nchi Takatifu (*al-Ard al-Muqaddasah*), hakuna majina mengine ya kijiografia, kama al-Sham, yanayotajwa. Mujir al-Din anaigawa eneo la al-Sham katika majimbo matano tofauti, mawili kati yake yanahusishwa na Palestina ya kihistoria na ya kisasa:

But the social memory and political geography of Palestine were kept alive perhaps more vividly by indigenous Muslim Palestinian writers living in the country than by Arab writers travelling through Palestine during the Mamluk period. Writing during the late Mamluk period, Mujir al-Din al-ʿUlaymi ( 1522 ) (مجير الدين العليمي ‒1456), a Palestinian Muslim qadi, historian and Jerusamelite, in his comprehensive work The Glorious History of al-Quds and al-Khalil (al-Uns al-Jalil bi-Tarikh al-Quds wal-Khalil, c. 1495), extensively refers to his native country as Filastin, a term he repeats twenty-two times. Although he also uses the term Holy Land (al-Ard al-Muqaddasah), no other geographical names, such al-Sham, are mentioned. Mujir al-Din divides the al-Sham region into five distinct provinces, two of which are connected with historic and modern Palestine:

Sham ya kwanza ni Palestina yenye mji wa al-Ramla katikati yake.

• The first Sham is Palestine with the city of al-Ramla at its centre.

Sham ya pili ni Hauran, ikiwa na mji wa Tiberias katikati yake.

• The second Sham is Hauran with the city of Tiberias at its centre.

Sham ya tatu ni Ghouta yenye mji wa Dameski katikati yake.

• The third Sham is the Ghouta with the city of Damascus at its centre.

Sham ya nne ni Homs, ikiwa na mji wa Homs katikati yake.

• The fourth Sham is Hims with the city of Hims at its centre.

Sham ya tano ni Qinnasrin, ikiwa na mji wa Aleppo katikati yake.

• The fifth Sham is Qinnasrin with the city of Aleppo at its centre.

Mujir al-Din anaunda dhana ya al-Sham inayoweka nchi yake, Filastin, katikati yake kama eneo la kwanza la al-Sham. Pia anaiweka Palestina mbele kwa kujivunia kwa kunukuu waandishi wengine wa Kiislamu wanaosema:

Mujir al-Din constructs a concept of al-Sham which places his own country, Filastin, at its centre as the first region of al-Sham. He also puts Palestine centre stage by proudly quoting other Muslim authors saying:

"hakuna kinachopungua duniani, huongezeka Al-Sham, na kile kinachopungua Al-Sham, huongezeka Palestina" (Mujir al-Din 1973). Anaeleza kwamba Filastin inanyoosha kutoka sehemu ya kusini karibu na al-‘Arish katika Sinai hadi Lajjun katika Marj Ibn ‘Amer kaskazini. Dhana hii ya kijiografia ya Filastin inafanana na mipaka ya mkoa wa Kiarabu wa Filastin katika kipindi chote cha mwanzo wa Uislamu (Mujir al-Din 1495; Gerber 2008: 49; le Strange 2014; Khalidi, R. 1998:

‘what is lacking on earth, increases in al-Sham, and what is lacking in al-Sham, increases in Palestine’ (Mujir al-Din 1973). He describes Filastin as stretching from a point in the south near al-‘Arish in Sinai to Lajjun in Marj Ibn ‘Amer in the north. This territorial conception of Filastin echoes the boundaries of the Arab province of Filastin throughout early Islam (Mujir al-Din 1495; Gerber 2008: 49; le Strange 2014; Khalidi, R. 1998:

216, note 25). Hii inadhihirisha kwa uwazi jinsi kumbukumbu za kijamii, kitamaduni na kijiografia zenye rutuba kubwa za mkoa wa Kiislamu wa zama za kati wa Filastin zilivyolelewa na majaji na waandishi Waislamu wa Kipalestina wa huko, katika kipindi chote cha Mamluk na mwanzo wa kipindi cha Ottoman.

216, note 25). This amply demonstrates how the incredibly fertile social, cultural and geographic memories of the medieval Arab Islamic province of Filastin were nurtured by local Muslim Palestinian judges and writers throughout the Mamluk and early Ottoman periods.

Kwa kuwa dola ya Filastin ilihifadhiwa katika kumbukumbu ya jamii na katika kazi za wanazuoni wawili mashuhuri wa Kiislamu na wanasheria wa Kipalestina, Mujir al-Din al-ʿUlaymi (karibu mwaka 1495) (ona hapa chini) na Khair al-Din al-Ramli katika karne ya 17, si jambo la ajabu kwamba kumbukumbu za Mahakama ya Kiislamu ya Sharia ya Jerusalem katika karne ya 18 pia zinaonyesha kuwa maneno Filastin, ard Filastin (‘nchi ya Palestina’, ‘ أرض فلسطين ’) na ahl Filastin (‘watu wa Palestina’, ‘ أهل فلسطين ’) – yakirejelea hasa miji ya al-Ramla, Lydda, Jaffa, al-Quds, al-Khalil (Hebron) na Gaza, na ndani ya eneo kubwa zaidi la kijiografia la al-Sham – yaliendelea kuwa hai sana katika kumbukumbu ya kijamii ya Waislamu wa Kipalestina wa ndani na wa kikanda katika kipindi chote cha Wamamluk na Waothmani.

In view of the fact that the polity of Filastin was preserved in the social memory and works of two distinguished Palestinian Muslim scholars and jurists, Mujir al-Din al-ʿUlaymi, (c. 1495) (see below) and Khair al-Din al-Ramli in the 17th century, it is hardly surprising that the archives of the Islamic Sharia Court of Jerusalem in the 18th century also show that the terms Filastin, ard Filastin (‘land of Palestine’, ‘ أرض فلسطين ’) and ahl Filastin (the ‘people of Palestine’, ‘ أهل فلسطين ’) – with specific reference to the cities of al-Ramla, Lydda, Jaffa, al-Quds, al-Khalil (Hebron) and Gaza, and within the wider geographical region al-Sham – remained very much alive in local and regional Palestinian Muslim social memory throughout the Mamluk and Ottoman periods.