Editing Samaritans (section)

=== Ottoman rule ===
[[File:Gerizim2.jpg|left|thumb|Samaritan worship center on [[Mount Gerizim]]. From a photo c. 1900 by the [[Palestine Exploration Fund]]]]

According to the Ottoman censuses of 1525–1526, 25 Samaritan families lived in Gaza, and 29 families lived in Nablus. In 1548–1549, there were 18 families in Gaza and 34 in Nablus.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=רוזן |first=מינה |title=ההיסטוריה של ארץ ישראל: שלטון הממלוכים והעות'מאנים (1260–1804) |publisher=בית הוצאה כתר, ירושלים; יד יצחק בן-צבי |year=1998 |editor-last=כהן |editor-first=אמנון |pages=258 |language=Hebrew |trans-title=The History of Eretz Israel under the Mamluk and Ottoman rule (1260–1804) |chapter=13. שומרונים וקראים |trans-chapter=13. Samaritans and Karaites}}</ref> In 1596–1597, there were 8 families in Gaza, 20 in Nablus and 5 in Safed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schur |first=Nathan |date=1986-07-01 |title=The Samaritans, as Described in Christian Itineraries (14th-18th Centuries) |url=https://doi.org/10.1179/peq.1986.118.2.144 |journal=Palestine Exploration Quarterly |volume=118 |issue=2 |pages=144–155 |doi=10.1179/peq.1986.118.2.144 |issn=0031-0328|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The Samaritan community in [[Egypt]] shrank as a result of Ottoman persecution of Samaritans who worked for the Mamluk government, with the majority of them converting to Islam.<ref name=":0" /> In [[Damascus]], the majority of the Samaritan community was massacred or converted to Islam during the reign of the Ottoman [[Pasha]] Mardam Beqin in the early 17th century. The remainder of the Samaritan community there, in particular the Danafi family, which is still influential today, moved back to Nablus in the 17th century.{{sfn|Schreiber|2014|p=46}} The Matari family relocated from Gaza to Nablus at about the same time that the Marhiv family moved back from [[Sarepta|Sarafand]], Lebanon. There were no longer any Samaritans in either Gaza or Damascus; only a handful remained in Gaza.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=שור |first=נתן |title=ספר השומרונים |publisher=יד יצחק בן-צבי; רשות העתיקות; המנהל האזרחי ליהודה ושומרון – קצין מטה לארכאולוגיה |year=2006 |isbn=965-217-202-2 |editor-last=שטרן |editor-first=אפרים |edition=2 |location=ירושלים |pages=604–648 |language=Hebrew |trans-title=Book of the Samaritans |chapter=השומרונים בתקופה הממלוכית, העות'מאנית ובמאה העשרים |trans-chapter=The Samaritans under Mamluk and Ottoman rule and during the 20th century |editor-last2=אשל |editor-first2=חנן}}</ref>

The Nablus community endured because most of the surviving diaspora returned, and they have maintained a tiny presence there to this day. In 1624, the last [[Samaritan High Priest]] of the line of [[Eleazar]] son of [[Aaron]] died without issue, but according to Samaritan tradition, descendants of Aaron's other son, [[Ithamar]], remained and took over the office.{{sfn|Ireton|2003}} Following the death of High Priest Shelamia ben Pinhas, Muslim persecution of Samaritans intensified, and they became the target of violent riots that led to many of them converting to Islam. In 1624, access to Mount Gerizim's summit was outlawed for the survivors, and they were only permitted to make Passover sacrifices on the mountain's eastern slopes. By the middle of the 17th century, very small Samaritan communities survived in Nablus, Gaza, and Jaffa.<ref name=":0" />

The status of the Samaritan community of Nablus greatly improved in the early 18th century because one of them, Ibrahim al-Danafi, who was also a poet and an author, worked for the [[Tuqan family]], which then dominated the city. Al-Danafi also bought the [[Hill of Phinehas|hill of Pinehas]] and the plot on Mount Gerizim's summit to be used by the community, but the favorable conditions that were necessary for the community's recovery did not last. The 1759 earthquake, the endemic that followed, and the other restrictions placed on the Samaritans limited the growth of their community, and by the end of the 18th century, there were only 200 people living there and living off of trade, brokerage, and tax collection.<ref name=":0" />

The majority of Samaritan families in the 19th century lived in ''Harat el-Somra'', a crowded neighborhood in Nablus' southwest. During this time, the modest Samaritan synagogue, "el-Kanis", served as the center of the community's cultural, religious, and social life. Some Samaritans worked as clerks for the municipal authorities, while others worked in local small business and crafts in Nablus and its vicinity. Some were forced to collect alms from the growing numbers of tourists and other visitors. To keep their households and organizations functioning, the Samaritan community sometimes even turned to selling ancient manuscripts.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Gafni |first=Reuven |title=The Samaritans |chapter-url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004466913/BP000014.xml |chapter=Two Minorities on the Brink: Jews and Samaritans in Nineteenth-Century Nablus |date=2022-01-19 |pages=129–136 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-46691-3 |language=en |doi=10.1163/9789004466913_014}}</ref>

During the 1840s, the [[ulama]] of Nablus began asserting that the Samaritans may not be considered "[[People of the Book]]" and therefore have the same status as [[Kafir|pagans]] and must convert to Islam or [[Capital punishment in Islam|be executed]]. As a result, locals attempted to force the conversion of two children of a Samaritan widow who had a Muslim lover in 1841. Her young daughter died from fear, but her 14-year-old boy converted to Islam. Another Samaritan was later coerced into converting to Islam. Appealing to the King of France did not help. The Samaritan people were eventually helped by the Jewish [[Hakham Bashi]] [[Chaim Abraham Gagin]], who decreed that the Samaritans are "a branch of the children of Israel, who acknowledge the truth of the Torah," and as such should be protected as a "People of the Book". As a result, the ulama ceased their preaching against Samaritans. The Samaritans also paid bribes to the Arab Muslims, totaling approximately 1000 GBP, and eventually came out of their hiding places. However, they were prohibited from offering Passover sacrifices on Mount Gerizim until 1849.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /> By the late Ottoman period, the Samaritan community dwindled to its lowest.<ref name="toi">{{cite journal |last1=Cross |first1=Joseph |date=2019 |title=News & Notes: Issue 242 {{!}} Summer 2019 |url=https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/N_and_N/nn242.pdf |journal=News & Notes |issue=242 |pages=8 |access-date=18 October 2024}}</ref> In the 19th century, with pressure of conversion and persecution from the local rulers, the community fell to just over 100 persons.<ref name="toi" />