SALAMEH B. GHAZAL, THE HIGH PRIEST AND

HUSSEIN’ABD U-HADI, THE GOVERNOR OF NABLUS

By Haseeb Shehadeh [University of Helsinki]

   In this article I deal with the second and last story about the Samaritan high priest Salama b. Imram b. Ghazal b. Ishaq b. Sadaqa (1784-1855) as found in the hand-written book, Kitab al-Samiriyyin, by the Samaritan high priest Yaqub b. Shafiq (‘Uzzi) b. Yaqub b. Harun b. Salama b. Ghazal (1899-1987).

English Translation:

The Story of Salama the Priest with Husain ‘Abd al-Hadi

   This is another story about Salama the Priest which again bears witness to his repeated miracles and connections. We hand it down faithfully as we heard it without addition or omission. It is known that Salama the Priest was a neighbour and a close friend of the commander Husain ‘Abd al-Hadi. Only a wall separated their two houses, which would become one house if a door were to be built in that wall. Al-Husain intended to do just that. When the bonds of friendship consolidated between them and their mutual visits increased, Al-Husain decided to build a door. When he consulted his friend Salama about this matter Salama answered him with his known simplicity and good intention, and said: “Oh Husain, do you need to ask or consult? There is no difference between me and you at all. Do what seems good for you.” But al-Husain wanted the approval of the priest’s son ‘Imran because he feared that ’Imran might not agree or might have a conflict with his father because of that. Therefore, he invited the son in order to hear his opinion. The son, who was at that time young and clever, came. Al-Husain presented the matter to him and said: “We both, I and your father have become old and we can hardly bear to be separated. We agreed to open a door between us to shorten the distance of going around the whole house, for this troubles both of us particularly during the night visits. What is your opinion, my son?”                    (Article courtesy of A. B. News Services.)

You can find the full story at our website along with the first article by Dr. Shehadeh.

Mark Twain And His Secret Document

   Samuel Langhorne Clemens also know as the Mark Twain, a famous author of such works as Huckleberry Finn, the adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court to mention a few. He also wrote a book of his travels in the Holy Land entitled, Innocents Abroad: Mark Twain visits Palestine in 1867. In this book in Chapter fifty-two, there is a short paragraph of his encounter with the Samaritans. It reads as follows:

   "Carefully preserved among the sacred archives of this curious community is a MSS. copy of the ancient Jewish law, which is said to be the oldest document on earth. It is written on vellum, and is some four to five thousand years old. Nothing but bucksheesh can purchase a sight. Its fame is somewhat dimmed in these latter days, because of the doubt of so many authors of Palestine travels have felt themselves privileged to cast upon it. Speaking of this MSS. reminds me that I procured from the high priest of this ancient Samaritan community, at great expense, a secret document of still higher antiquity and far more extraordinary interest, which I propose to publish as soon as I have finished translating it."

   Did he really visit the Samaritans and see the real Abisha Scroll in which he made reference? So what was this old manuscript that Twain so claims to have purchased from the high priest who had to have been Amram b. Shalma (high priest from 1855-1874)

   Twain  wrote that the scroll he had heard about was 'written on Vellum.' The Abisha scroll is written on skins from peace offerings (animal skins) while modern copies of the Torah were written on paper like the vellum scroll Twain may have seen. The Samaritans admit that the real Abisha scroll was sometimes substituted with a different scroll in which would explain Twain's reference of vellum. Twain had not seen the real ancient scroll at all. Besides this fact that he made a reference also that he said it was the 'ancient Jewish law' could indicate that he had not actually met the high priest, Amram who would have argued the statement. It could have been possible that his guide could have informed him of the Samaritans and the scroll. Twain wrote so little concerning the Samaritans in his book. The Samaritans surely would have given Twain an impression worth more than this small paragraph.

  As for the 'secret document of still higher antiquity' that he purchased from high priest Amram, what was it?. Twain does not inform us of its contain, only that he will publish it after translating it. Pursuing to locate the manuscript, I contacted Peter Knapp, the Special Collections Librarian and College Archivist at Watkinson Libary, Trinity College, Hartford, CT. In a response he informed me that, 'We have no information in our collections nor in the Mark Twain House's collection of Twain manuscripts and other materials that are temporarily on deposit here.' He suggested I contact  the 'staff of the Mark Twain Papers and Project at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, for assistance.  The Bancroft Library has by far the largest and most comprehensive collection of materials on Twain, including correspondence, notebooks, manuscripts of his publications, etc. I believe they also have been gathering photocopies of Twain materials held at other repositories in connection with their research needs.' I contacted them.

   While waiting to hear a reply, I returned to the internet for further investigation of Twain's works. I found an article, 'Eve's Diary Translated from the Original Ms.' (Harper, 1906). Was this the document that Twain obtained from the priest or was this just another of Twain's imaginative stories? Still another work entitled, 'Extracts from Adam's Diary' (Harper, 1904) turned out to be a satire. But the words still returned to me, 'translated from the original MS.' What manuscript was Twain referring to? Eve's Diary is biblically sounding like it is related but upon reviewing the article I found on the net, it did not appear to be written in any style that resembled any book found in relation to be biblical.

   A response came back from Neda Salem, an assistant from MTP at the Bancroft Library concerning the question of the manuscript that Mark Twain wrote about in Innocents Abroad; 'This manuscript doesn't exist; its Twain making fun of tourist's gullibility. It would be great if it existed-- and we had it--but we don't.'

   So, the only question remains: What manuscript was Eve's Diary translated from? I returned the question back to Neda Salem and waited for her reply, but never received one.                                                                                                        Shomron

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