Editing Samaritans (section)

=== Samaritan origins of Palestinian Muslims in Nablus and its vicinity ===
Much of the local [[Palestinians|Palestinian population]] of Nablus is believed to be descended from Samaritans who converted to Islam.{{sfn|Ireton|2003}}{{sfn|Ben Zvi|1985|p=8}} Traditions of Samaritan ancestry were also recorded in villages in the vicinity, such as [[Hajjah, Qalqilya|Hajjah]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last1=Erlich (Zhabo) |first1=Ze’ev H. |last2=Rotter |first2=Meir |date=2021 |title=ארבע מנורות שומרוניות בכפר חג'ה שבשומרון |trans-title=Four Samaritan Menorahs from the village of Hajjeh, Samaria |url=https://www.ariel.ac.il/wp/ihd/2021/11/24/%d7%99%d7%a7%d7%91-%d7%aa%d7%aa%d6%be%d7%a7%d7%a8%d7%a7%d7%a2%d7%99-%d7%9e%d7%aa%d7%a7%d7%95%d7%a4%d7%aa-%d7%94%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%96%d7%9c-2-%d7%91%d7%97%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%91%d7%aa-%d7%90%d7%9c%d6%be-2/ |journal=במעבה ההר |volume=11 |issue=2 |publisher=Ariel University Publishing |pages=188–204 |doi=10.26351/IHD/11-2/3|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Even today, certain Nabulsi family names such as Al-Amad, Al-Samri, Maslamani, Yaish, and Shakhsheer among others, are associated with Samaritan ancestry.{{sfn|Ireton|2003}}{{sfn|Yousef|Barghouti|2005}} The Yaish family of Nablus, for example, is said to be descended from the Samaritan Mitawiyah family of the Tribe of Manasseh, founded by Mitwayyah, who himself descended from Magged, a person who lived in the 7th century.<ref>{{Citation |last=Tsedaka |first=Benyamim |title=Samaritan Israelite Families and Households that Disappeared |date=2010-04-23 |work=Samaritans – Past and Present |pages=223 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110212839.5.221/html |access-date=2024-03-06 |publisher=De Gruyter |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110212839.5.221 |isbn=978-3-11-021283-9|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

According to the historian Fayyad Altif, large numbers of Samaritans converted due to persecution under various Muslim rulers, and because the monotheistic nature of Islam made it easy for them to accept it.{{sfn|Ireton|2003}} During the Abbasid period, economic hardships, social disorder, and pressure from Muslim attackers, drove many Samaritans to convert to Islam.<ref name=":1" /> Later, the [[Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah|al-Hakim]] Edict issued by the [[Fatimid Caliphate]] in 1021, ordering Jews and Christians in the [[Southern Levant]] to convert to Islam or leave, along with another forced conversion by the rebel ibn Firāsa,{{sfn|Levy-Rubin|2000|pp=257–276}} hastened the Samaritans' rapid decline and nearly led to their extinction as a distinct religious community. The Samaritans themselves describe the Ottoman period as the worst period in their modern history, as many Samaritan families were forced to convert to Islam during that time.{{sfn|Yousef|Barghouti|2005}} As a result, the Samaritans decreased from nearly a million and a half<ref name=toi/> in late Roman (Byzantine) times to 146 people by the end of the Ottoman period.

Samaritan historian Benyamim Tsedaka noted that many Samaritans who converted to Islam retained their original surnames, passing them on to future generations. Consequently, in most villages with names of Hebrew origin, but altered by Arabic pronunciation, Arab families still bear the surnames of their Samaritan ancestors. In Nablus itself, he notes, some Muslims openly acknowledge their Samaritan ancestry. For instance, in 1968, [[Fatah]] militant Naser Sharshir suggested the possibility of having Samaritan blood in his lineage, tracing back to his great-grandfather.<ref>{{Cite web |last=צדקה |first=בנימין |date=1968-09-30 |title=דם שומרוני – ומשפחות מוסלמיות |url=https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/mar/1968/09/30/01/article/148 |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=www.nli.org.il {{!}} מעריב |language=he}}</ref>

In 1940, Israeli historian and future president Yitzhak Ben-Zvi wrote an article in which he stated that two thirds of the residents of Nablus and the surrounding neighboring villages were of Samaritan origin.{{sfn|Ben Zvi|1985|p=8}} He mentioned the name of several Palestinian Muslim families as having Samaritan origins, including the Al-Amad, Al-Samri, Buwarda and Kasem families, who protected Samaritans from Muslim persecution in the 1850s.{{sfn|Ben Zvi|1985|p=8}} Additionally, he wrote that these families had written records testifying to their Samaritan ancestry, which were maintained by their priests and elders.{{sfn|Ben Zvi|1985|p=8}}