Earliest Origins

The origins of Jerusalem’s Nusseibeh family trace back to the large Banu Khazraj tribe, one of the tribes of Mazin ibn al-Azd, originally from southern Arabia. Along with their cousins from the Banu Aws tribe, the Banu Khazraj supported the Prophet Muhammad and welcomed him and his Muslim followers in Medina after they fled Mecca during the hijra in 622 CE. The Banu Aws and Khazraj of Medina therefore became known as al-Ansar, or those who bring victory, for offering their homes to the first Muslims fleeing persecution. The Nusseibehs were named after Nusseibeh bint Ka‘b of Medina, also known as Umm ‘Ammara, one of the earliest women to convert to Islam. During the Battle of Uhud near Medina in 625 CE between the early Muslims and the tribe of Quraysh, Umm ‘Ammara is said to have treated and cared for the wounded at night and fought alongside the Prophet during the day, sustaining wounds herself. The Prophet praised her: “I did not look to my right or left without seeing her fighting to defend me.

The Nusseibehs were named after Nusseibeh bint Ka‘b of Medina, also known as Umm ‘Ammara.

The detailed origins of the family are recorded by Hafiz Abdul Rahim Nusseibeh al-Khazraji in his book The Khazraj Nusseibeh Family: Custodians of History and the Present. Extensively researched and drawing on more than 830 Ottoman documents related to the family, the book traces 600 years of the family’s lineage since the advent of Islam. The sources used to tell these elaborate details also depict the family’s high social and religious status in Jerusalem, owing in large part to its members participating in the Islamic conquest of the city under the leadership of Caliph Umar in 638 CE.

Arrival in Jerusalem

Regarding the family’s arrival in Jerusalem, Hafiz Nusseibeh explains that, among the warriors in Caliph Umar’s army was Abdullah ibn Nusseibeh, the son of Umm ‘Ammara. The Umari conquest of Jerusalem, which included a four-month siege of the city, led to the capitulation of the Byzantines under Patriarch Sophronius. But upon conquering the city, Caliph Umar instructed his Muslim army to protect the churches and other non-Muslim shrines, assigning Abdullah ibn Nusseibeh the responsibility and honor of protecting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre from any attacks by Muslims or others. This was part of a treaty, known as the Pact of Umar, reached in 637 CE between the invading Muslim army and the non-Muslims of the Levant. As part of the pact, non-Muslims were granted security, protection, and rights under Muslim rule in exchange for loyalty.

The Nusseibeh family continued to inherit and execute the task of protecting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and opening and closing its door for five centuries, until the Crusader occupation of the city in 1099, when the Nusseibehs were forcibly displaced to the village of Burin near Nablus. There, they engaged in trade and agriculture until the Ayyubid conquest in 1187, during which the Crusaders were driven out and the Nusseibehs returned to Jerusalem and resumed the duties assigned to them since Umar’s conquest. As for the family’s more recent history in Jerusalem, Hafiz Nusseibeh draws on Ottoman documents to show that his ancestors were devoted to religious practices, including in sharia matters. For centuries, members of the family served as judges in Mamluk and then Ottoman sharia courts. In fact, the family produced a new judge about every 15 to 20 years. The Nusseibehs also served as military judges and scholars dedicated to teaching religion and serving the Dome of the Rock.

A Home Visit and a Conversation

Jerusalem Story sat down with one of the eldest members of the Nusseibeh family, 70-year-old Wajih Nusseibeh, who has been responsible for opening and closing the door of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for more than 40 years. We met in his home in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood of Jerusalem, in the presence of a younger family member, Munir Nusseibeh, to recount the family’s enduring presence in Jerusalem for nearly 14 centuries. Wajih was born in 1949 in the Nusseibeh family home in the Musrara neighborhood of Jerusalem near the Damascus Gate. According to Wajih, this area was a “no-man’s-land” between 1948 and 1967, as it fell along the 1949 Green Line that divided the city.

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