Tahboub Al-Marwani

History and Origins

The Tahboub family is mentioned to be descendants of the Umayyads from the Marwanids, and are considered cousins of the Al-Zaro Al-Marwani family. Their lineage and origins are in the city of Hebron, but their roots trace back to al-Andalus.

The Tahboub family is descended from Khayr al-Din al-Marwani which returned from Andalusia to Palestine and settled in Hebron with his brother Shihab al-Din al-Marwani. Another brother, Muhammad, died at sea while returning from Andalusia. Their cousin, Shams al-Din Abu al-Barakat al-Marwani, the ancestor of the Al-Zaro Al-Marwani family, also migrated with them to the Levant establishing himself in Hebron as well.

According to family and Ottoman Ashraf syndicate records from Palestine , the Tahboub al-Marwani and Al-Zaro Al-Marwani families are descendants of Abd al-Rahman I al-Marwani al-Umawi, Emir of Córdoba, and both are considered the same family since they are cousins.

Endowments

In Palestine, the Marwani line is chiefly represented by the Āl al-Ṭahbūb al-Marwānī and Āl al-Zarū al-Marwānī families of Hebron and related families in Jerusalem. Their endowment deeds and oral genealogies connect them to the early Umayyads, and several members served as merchants, jurists, governors and religious officials under Ottoman and Hashemite rule.^[1] A small number of families bearing the surname al-Marwani and al-Omawi appear in Jerusalem and Bethlehem awqāf records from the late nineteenth century.^[2]

Waqf Āl al-Ṭahbūb al-Marwānī in Hebron

Ottoman, late-Mandate, and early Jordanian sijillāt (Sharīʿa-court and awqāf registers) in Hebron, Palestine record a private and hereditary endowment known as the waqf Āl al-Ṭahbūb al-Marwānī, associated with the Ibrahimi Mosque ( al-Ḥaram al-Ibrāhīmī). These records list (1) the ‘‘mutawallī’’ or ‘‘nāẓir’’ (administrator) of the endowment, (2) mosque staff such as the ‘‘khaṭīb’’ and ‘‘imām’’, and (3) properties and revenue sources in the old quarters of Hebron. These entries indicate that members of the al-Ṭahbūb (Tahboub) al-Marwānī family exercised custodianship and administrative oversight of religious endowments tied to the mosque during the 19th and 20th centuries.^[3][4]

The al-Ṭahbūb (Tahboub) family identified in local genealogies as descendants of Banu Umayya through the Marwanid line, were among Hebron's notable families traditionally engaged in mosque and waqf administration.^[5] The family maintained an enduring religious and civic role comparable to the Āl al-Marwānī of Damascus, reflecting the Ottoman pattern of hereditary custodianship in major endowment institutions.

One of the most prominent modern members of the family was Hassan Tahboub (1918–1998), who served as Head of the Islamic Waqf and Holy Places Administration in Jerusalem under the Jordanian and later Palestinian authorities. Born in Hebron, he represented the continuation of the family's hereditary waqf service and was responsible for supervising Muslim holy sites including the Ibrahimi Mosque and the al-Aqsa Mosque.^[6] Contemporary sources note both his Qurayshite-Umayyad lineage and the family's enduring connection to religious institutions in Palestine.

The Ibrahimi Mosque's endowment was among the largest in southern Palestine, with properties and incomes spanning multiple urban quarters. The pattern of nepotistic yet stable staffing allowed prominent Qurayshite and scholarly families, particularly those of Umayyad, Hashemite, Umarid or Bakrid descent, to maintain religious, educational, and custodial positions within its governance structure. The recurring appearance of the al-Ṭahbūb al-Marwānī family in waqf registers illustrates this wider phenomenon of hereditary stewardship within Ottoman and post-Ottoman Palestinian society.

In Jordan, al-Marwani family branches settled in Amman, Karak, Irbid, Zarqa, and Salt following migrations from Hebron and Damascus during the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. They are registered in Jordanian civil and tribal genealogical directories as Qurayshite lineages of Syrian and Palestinian origin.^[7]

Ottoman-era

During the Ottoman period, the Tahboub al-Marwani family of Hebron is attested in Palestine, where the family administered endowments at the Ibrahimi Mosque and maintained Quranic schools during the late nineteenth century.^[1]

Modern and contemporary scholars

In the twentieth century, several Palestinian and Jordanian members of the family continued this tradition of religious service.The family played a notable role in Palestine and Jordan during the Mandate period. Prominent figures such as Sheikh Yousef Tahboub al-Marwani, the Qadi of Hebron, and Sheikh Abdullah Tahboub al-Marwani, the Mufti of Hebron, were active in religious leadership and also participated actively in the Palestinian national movement under the leadership of Amin al-Husseini.