Nein

For other uses, see Nein (disambiguation).
Nein
ניין
نين

View of Nein from entrance to the village
Nein
Coordinates: 32°38′N 35°21′E / 32.633°N 35.350°E / 32.633; 35.350Coordinates: 32°38′N 35°21′E / 32.633°N 35.350°E / 32.633; 35.350
Grid position 183/226 PAL
Council Bustan al-Marj
Population (2014) 1,744

Nein (Arabic: نين, Na'in, lit. Charming, Hebrew: ניין, called in English Bibles Nain or Naim) is an Arab village in Israel that forms part of the Bustan al-Marj Regional Council in the Lower Galilee. Located 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) south of Nazareth, Nein covers a land area of approximately 1,000 dunums. Its total land area consisted of 3,737 dunums prior to 1962.[1] According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, Nein had a population 1,744 in 2014.[2] The city hall for the Bustan al-Marj Regional Council is located in Nein.[3]

Location

Nein lies a short distance from Mount Tabor.[4] A hill known in Arabic as Tell el-Ajul lay on the path that ran between Nein and nearby Indur, an Arab village destroyed in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.[5] While Edward Robinson describes Nein as lying on the northern slope of a hill called, "the little Hermon," and it is described in biblical guidebooks as lying at the foot of the Hill of Moreh.[6]

Biblical associations

The raising of the young man of Nain, by Lucas Cranach, in 1569.

Edward Robinson and Eli Smith, who visited Palestine in the mid-19th century, identified Nein as, "the Nain of the New Testament," where, according to the Bible (Gospel of Luke 7:11-17), Jesus raised a young man from death and reunited him with his mother.[7]

According to Luke, this young man was the only son of an unnamed widow. When Jesus saw the dead son being carried out and the mourning widow, he felt compassion for her. He walked towards the bier or stretcher, touched it, stopped the funeral procession and told the man: "Young man, I say to you, arise!" The man came alive, sat up, and began to speak. The people who were standing around were all struck by the event, seen as a sign that 'a great prophet' had arisen among them, and the report of it spread widely across Judea and the surrounding region.

Nain is not mentioned in the other canonical gospels.

History

Rock-sunk tombs have been found here, probably of Christian origin.[8]

Nein is mentioned in the writing of Eusebius (c. 263–339) and Jerome (c. 347 – 420) as being situated near Endor (Indur).[7] Its identity as a biblical site was recognized by the Crusaders, who built a church there to commemorate the site of the miracle, a church rebuilt by the Fransciscans.[4][7][9]

In 1101, during the Crusader era, Tancred, Prince of Galilee granted Nein together with several other villages to the abbey of Mount Tabor.[10] In 1153, it belonged to the Hospitallers.[11] By 1263, the area was ruled by Baybars.[9]

Ottoman era

In 1838 Robinson and Smith noted that Nein had decreased in size over the ages, and was at time a small hamlet, inhabited by a few families.[6][7][12]

In 1875 Victor Guérin saw here a ruined building, measuring 18 times 12 paces.[13]

In the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (1881), Nein was described as a small village made of stone and adobe, with a small mosque, named Mukam Sidna Aisa, to the north.[14]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British authorities, Nain had a population of 157, all Muslims,[15] increasing in the 1931 census to 189, still all Muslim, in a total of 34 houses.[16]

In 1945 the population was 270 while the total land area was 4,687 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[17] Of this, 87 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 3,602 for cereals,[18] while 31 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[19]

References

  1. Welcome To Na'in
  2. "לוח 3.- אוכלוסייה( 1), ביישובים שמנו מעל 2,000 תושבים( 2) ושאר אוכלוסייה כפרית Population (1) of localities numbering above 2,000 Residents (2) and other rural population". Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  3. Bustan El-Marj (Israel) Dov Gutterman, Flags of the World.
  4. 1 2 Carta, 1999, p. 26.
  5. van de Velde, 1858, p. 142.
  6. 1 2 Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 182
  7. 1 2 3 4 Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, p. 226.
  8. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 125
  9. 1 2 Pringle, 1998, p. 115
  10. Röhricht, 1893, RRH, pp. 5-6, No. 36; cited in Pringle, 1998, p. 115
  11. Röhricht, 1904, RRH Ad, pp. 18-19, No. 280b; cited in Pringle, 1998, p. 115
  12. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 118
  13. Guérin, 1880, pp. 115-117
  14. Conder and Kitchener, SWP, 1882, II, p. 86
  15. Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Nazareth, p. 38
  16. Mills, 1932, p. 75
  17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 62
  18. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 110
  19. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 160

Bibliography

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External links

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