Ein Karem, Jerusalem – Palestine
Coordinates: 31.765316, 35.161121
According to some Christian tradition, Bibi Maryam رضي الله عنها stopped here to drink from the spring, and thus was named after Bibi Maryam رضي الله عنها.
She was on her way to meet Bibi Elisabeth رضي الله عنها, mother of Hz. Yahya عليه اسلام and the site where her house is located is said to the the site where Church of the Visitation stands today.
Some people say the the meeting took place on the spring, while others say that it took place on the site of the church, Allah knows best. But one this is clear that she drank here to quench her thirst.
Pilgrims tap these waters into bottles and take them back home as a holy souvenirs.
The symbolic well is built inside a mosque at the foot of the hill.
A mosque, whose tower rises above the structure of the spring, was built over Mary’s spring in the 2nd half of the 19th century.
The former Arab inhabitants built a mosque and school on the site, of which a Maqam (shrine) and minaret still remain. An inscribed panel to the courtyard of the mosque dates it to 1828-1829 CE (1244 H.)
The Muslim residents of the town had to leave this town in Israel’s against Palestinians, so the Mosque is not operational now and serves as a land mark.
The spring was the nucleus of the city in the Bronze period, and its waters were used as the main source of water for thousands of years since then. Ein Kerem is named after the spring
