Jaffa and Abu-Nabbut

Jaffa has a long history that spans thousands of years. With a quick brush stroke I decided to focus on a story about the Ottoman Governor Muhammad Abu-Nabbut. Jaffa had been a walled city meaning it was a fortress with a moat and an entrance gate when Napoleon descended upon the city in 1799. Not wasting much time Napoleon after destroying its walls proceeded to let his men pillage the city and all 3000 some prisoners were slaughtered with swords so as to preserve ammunition. Bloody hell. The walls and city would soon undergo rebuilding by Abu-Nabbut following Napoleons defeat at Akko and his retreat back to France. I entered Jaffa via the Jerusalem road which was the road that exited from the Jerusalem Gate. The walls here had already been taken apart and moat filled in at the end of the 19th century as the population of this Ottoman city was bursting at its seams. Here at what is left of the Jerusalem Gate entrance is one of the more colorful legendary stories of Abu-Nabbut. By the way Nabbut in Arabic is a truncheon and it was used very liberally by the governor, hence he became known as the father of the truncheon. One day Abu-Nabbut left his palace inside the city and dressed as a peasant went out by himself to view his fiefdom. After scrutinizing his property he returned to the city after the sun had already set. This meant the gate of the city had been locked. He requested from the guards straddling the gate above to open the gate immediately for the governor. But the guards doubted laughingly that he was Abu-Nabbut the governor. After all he was by himself and in peasant clothes. Entrance into the city was refused. Abu-Nabbut was forced to spend the night sleeping outside the walls on the cold stones of his city and not in his warm soft palace bed. In the morning the gate was opened and the annoyed governor entered his city and went directly to his palace. He ordered to have the guards that were on duty the night before to appear at high noon in the central square. Rumors began to circulate and the whole town appeared in the square at the appointed hour to witness the spectacle that was to unfold. Abu-Nabbut then thanked the guards for following his orders and not letting anyone into the city after nightfall. To reward them for their diligence in following his rules, each was soon presented with a rather large bag full of gold coins. Surprise, surprise it appeared that Abu-Nabbut was genuinely thanking and rewarding the guards and not punishing them. The euphoria would soon end as suddenly there was a twist to the chain of events. Abu-Nabbut then proclaimed that these two guards would suffer the cruel punishment of death by beheading for the criminal offense of not recognizing the governor of Jaffa. The heads were cutoff, the gold taken back, and with a touch of justice a promise by Abu-Nabbut to build a Sebil (public water fountain) at the entrance gate. The generous governor so provided that anyone stranded from now outside the entrance after dark would have what to drink. The magnificent Sebil right here was built by Abu-Nabbut with this gold.