Nabulsi soap is a type of
castile soapCastile soap is a name used in English-speaking countries for soap made with olive oil originating from the Castile region of Spain.Importations of "Castile soap" through Antwerp appear in the London port books of 1567–68 , though the OED has no references to "Castile soap" earlier than 1616...
produced only in
NablusNablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 134,000...
in the
West BankThe West Bank is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories; on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel, which maintains the security of this area. To the east,...
. An
olive oilOlive oil is a fruit oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor and spread from there as far as southern Africa, Australia, Japan and China. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and...
-based
soapSoap is an anionic surfactant used in conjunction with water for washing and cleaning, which historically comes either in solid bars or in the form of a viscous liquid....
, it is made up of three primary ingredients: virgin olive oil, water, and a sodium compound. Those who make the soap are proud of its unique smell, which they see as a sign of the quality and purity of its ingredients.
Long reputed to be a fine product, Nabulsi soap has been
exportedIn economics, an export is any good or commodity, transported from one country to another country in a legitimate fashion, typically for use in trade. Export goods or services are provided to foreign consumers by domestic producers. Export is an important part of international trade...
across the
Arab worldThe Arab World refers to Arabic-speaking countries stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast...
and
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
since the 10th century. Although the number of soap factories has declined from a peak of thirty in the 19th century to only two today, efforts to preserve this important part of
PalestinianThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine...
and Nabulsi cultural heritage continue.
History
According to the
Institute for Middle East UnderstandingInstitute for Middle East Understanding is a 501 non-profit organisation, not aligned to any political or government organisation. It was founded by Americans and describes its mission as entailing working "with journalists to increase the public's understanding about the socio-economic, political...
, Palestinian women have set aside portions of each year's olive harvest for the production of olive oil soap for well over a millennium. Traditionally, it is older women who make olive oil soap for the household, using the oil remaining from the previous year's harvest after the new harvest brings freshly pressed olive oil to the family kitchen.
It is in the city of Nablus, however, that the tradition of olive oil soap-making evolved into a major
industryAn industry is the manufacturing of a good or service within a category. Although industry is a broad term for any kind of economic production, in economics and urban planning industry is a synonym for the secondary sector, which is a type of economic activity involved in the manufacturing of raw...
and an
artPalestinian art is a term used to refer to paintings, posters, installation art and other visual media produced by Palestinian artists.While the term has also been used to refer to ancient art produced in the geographical region of Palestine, in its modern usage it generally refers to work of...
. For centuries, olive oil has been the most important product made in the villages of the Nablus region, and Nabulsi soap the most important manufactured
commodityA commodity is some good for which there is demand, but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market. It is a product that is the same no matter who produces it, such as petroleum, notebook paper, or milk. In other words, copper is copper. The price of copper is universal,...
of the city.
In the 14th century,
Sheikh Shams al-Din al-Ansari al-DimashqiSheikh Shams al-Din al-Ansari al-Dimashqi or simply al-Dimashqi was a medieval Arab geographer, completing his main work in 1300. Born in Damascus—as his name "Dimashqi" implies—he mostly wrote of his native land, the Greater Syria , upon the complete withdrawal of the Crusaders...
said of Nablus and its olive oil soap production: "The city of Nablus ... was bestowed by
GodGod is a deity in theistic and deistic religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
Almighty with the blessed olive tree. Its olive oil is carried by
BedouinThe Bedouin, , are a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and Negev to the Arabian Desert...
s to the
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
ian and
DamasceneDamascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world and its current population is estimated at about 1,669,000...
lands, to the
Hejazal-Hejaz is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. Defined mostly by the Red Sea, it extends from Haql on the Gulf of Aqaba to Jizan. Its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better-known for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina...
, and the steppes ... In it a superior soap is produced and sent to the above-mentioned destinations and to the islands of the
Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
."
Sabon nabulsi was reportedly the soap of choice for
Queen ElizabethElizabeth I was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called the Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
of
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
In the 19th century, olive-based villages in the core hill areas of Jabal Nablus were fully integrated into the networks of urban merchants causing the soap industry in the region to undergo a remarkable expansion. Some thirty soap factories in Nablus manufactured tons of soap for various regional markets, though the largest importer was Egypt and its
militaryThe Armed Forces of Egypt are the largest on the African continent and one of the largest in the world , consisting of the Egyptian Army, Egyptian Navy, Egyptian Air Force and Egyptian Air Defense Command....
. By the early 20th century, Nablus was the largest soap producer in the
Fertile CrescentThe Fertile Crescent is a region in the Near East, incorporating the Levant and Mesopotamia, and often incorrectly extended to Egypt. Mesopotamia is considered the cradle of civilization and saw the development of the earliest human civilizations and is the birthplace of writing and the wheel.The...
, a region that spans present-day Egypt, Israel, the
West BankThe West Bank is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories; on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel, which maintains the security of this area. To the east,...
,
Gaza StripThe Gaza Strip lies on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometers wide, with a total area of . The area is recognized internationally as part of the Palestinian territories...
,
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
and parts of Jordan, Syria,
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
,
KuwaitThe State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab emirate bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west. The greatest distance from north to south is 200 km and from east to west 170 km . The name is a diminutive of an Arabic word meaning "fortress built near water." It has a...
, south-eastern
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
and south-western
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
. In 1907, for example, the city's factories produced 4,992 tons of Nabulsi soap, accounting for 55% of all soap production in
PalestinePalestine is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.As a geographical term, Palestine can also refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area...
, and 24% of all soap production in
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
and Palestine. It was the soap industry that gave Nablus its reputation as one of the most important manufacturing centers in Palestine at the time.
John BowringSir John Bowring, KCB was an English political economist, traveller, miscellaneous writer, polyglot, and the 4th Governor of Hong Kong.-Early life:...
wrote of Nabulsi soap in the 1830s that it is, "highly esteemed in the
LevantThe Levant describes, traditionally, the Eastern Mediterranean at large, but can be used as a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia formed by the lands bordering the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, roughly bounded on the north by the Taurus Mountains, on the south by...
," and
Muhammad Kurd AliMuhammad Kurd Ali was a notable Syrian scholar, historian and literary critic in the Arabic language. He was the founder director of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Damascus till his death....
, a Syrian historian, wrote in the 1930s that "Nablus soap is the best and most famous soap today for it has, it seems, a quality not found in others and the secret is that it is unadulterated and well produced."
An analysis of Nabulsi soap conducted by the British Mandatory authorities at the
London InstituteThe University of the Arts London, formerly known as the London Institute, is a collegiate university comprising six internationally recognised art, design, fashion and media colleges in London, England, UK...
in 1934, found that the soap consisted only of natural materials and no harmful chemical materials. According to Rawan Shakaa, whose family owns one of the two Nabulsi soap factories still in operation, owners are proud of soap's purity and wonder how anyone could stand to work with and use leftover animal fat, as is common in the production of regular soaps.
Production process
Made in a cube-like shape about tall and 2.25 by 2.25 inches (5.7 by 5.7 cm) wide, the colour of Nabulsi soap is like that of "the page of an old book." The cubes are stamped on the top with the seal of the factory that produces it; for example, soap produced at the Al-Jamal ("Camel") family factory has a seal hammered into the top surface picturing a one-humped camel inside a circle. When individually packaged, the soap is hand-wrapped in crinkly white paper, waxy on one side and papery on the other and imprinted with the factory's seal. The smell of Nabulsi soap is distinctive, although it is not perfumed.
Nabulsi soap has three primary ingredients: virgin olive oil, water, and a compound of sodium. Before the introduction of
caustic sodaSodium hydroxide , also known as lye and caustic soda, is a caustic metallic base. It is used in many industries, mostly as a strong chemical base in the manufacture of pulp and paper, textiles, drinking water, soaps and detergents and as a drain cleaner. Worldwide production in 1998 was around...
in the 1860s, the sodium compound used in its production came from the
barillaBarilla S.p.A. is a major Italian and European food company. It was founded in 1877 in Parma, Italy....
plant, which grows abundantly on the eastern banks of the
Jordan RiverThe Jordan River or River Jordan is a river in Southwest Asia which flows into the Dead Sea. It is considered to be one of the world's most sacred rivers...
, not far from Nablus. Large numbers of
BedouinThe Bedouin, , are a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and Negev to the Arabian Desert...
s from the Bani-Sakhr, Huwaytat, and Adwan tribes would gather barilla from the valleys of M'an, particularly around
SaltSalt is an ancient agricultural town and administrative centre in west-central Jordan. It is on the old main highway leading from Amman to Jerusalem. Situated in the Balqa highland, about 790-1100 metres above sea level, the town is built in the crook of three hills, close to the Jordan River valley...
and
Tadmur (Palmyra)Palmyra was in ancient times an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 120 km southwest of the Euphrates. It has long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert and was known as the Bride of the Desert...
. In the summertime, the barilla would be placed in towering stacks, burned, and then the ashes and coals would be gathered into sacks, and transported to Nablus in large
caravansA camel train is a series of camels carrying goods or passengers in a group as part of a regular or semi-regular service between two points.-North Africa, Asia and the Middle East:...
. In the city, the ashes and coals were pounded into a fine natural alkaline soda powder called
qilw. Qilw
(also transliterated qily
) and preceded by the definite article al
, is the basis for the English word "alkaline".
Today, qilw
is still used in combination with limeLime is a general term for calcium-containing inorganic materials, in which carbonates, oxides and hydroxides predominate. Strictly speaking, lime is calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name for a single mineral of the CaO composition, occurring very rarely...
(sheed
) for the soda solution. To produce the qilw, the barilla ashes are placed into a stone urn and pounded into a fine powder with a wooden
pestleA mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind, and mix substances. The pestle is a heavy bat shaped stick whose end is used for pounding and grinding, and the mortar is a bowl, typically made of hard wood, marble, clay, or stone...
. The lime — which was supplied by the nearby villages of
AwartaAwarta is a Palestinian town located southeast of Nablus, in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 5,810 inhabitants in 2007...
,
SalimSalim is a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank, located six kilometers east of Nablus and is a part of the Nablus Governorate. It is situated in a well-watered valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Nearby towns include Deir al-Hatab to the northwest, Balata to the west and Beit Furik...
and
Beit FurikBeit Furik is a Palestinian town located nine kilometers southeast of Nablus, in the Nablus Governorate in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 10,339 inhabitants in 2007. During the 1800s and mid-1900s, Beit Furik was the...
— is spread in a shallow pit and soaked in water until the water evaporates and the remaining dry substance is then rolled and crushed into a fine powder. The two powder mixtures (the qilw
and sheed) are combined, together with hot water from a copper vat, in fermentation pits. The hot water absorbs the chemical content and seeps into identical, deeper pits below the above ground fermentation pits. As the water becomes sufficiently concentrated, it is added back into the copper vat so that the olive oil can absorb the chemicals. To produce one batch, this cycle is repeated about forty times over eight days. The hot liquid soap in the copper vat is continuously stirred with a long oar-like piece of wood, known in Arabic as the dukshab
.
If removed from the vat too early, the solution will not dry well, and if it is overcooked, it will be too hard to cut. Determining whether the soap solution is ready is done by smelling it, after dipping the dukshab into the vat. When ready, the solution is carried in wooden barrels to a large frame made of wooden planks laid out on the floor into which the solution is poured. When firm, the surface is smoothed by shaving off the top layer with a scraper. Strings dusted with powder are then stretched across at regular intervals and later removed so as to form lines on top of the soap, which is then cut into pieces along those lines, with a sharp metal blade. Each piece of soap is stamped with a metal seal (representing each respective company's trademark) attached to a wooden hammer.
The cubes of soap are then stacked in tall conical, hollow structures from floor to ceiling, leaving spaces between each piece of soap so that they continue to dry properly. The drying process can take between three and twelve months. Not all of the soap produced is individually wrapped in paper. It is often exported in stiff sacks designed to minimize friction between the soap cubes so as to maintain their weight and shape for the long trips to surrounding countries in the region such as Egypt,
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest,...
,
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia , is an Arab country and the largest country of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south...
, and the
GulfThe Arab Gulf States, also known as Arab states of the Persian Gulf or Gulf Arab states or Gulf states, are usually reserved for the six Arab monarchical states joined since 1981 in the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, or Gulf Cooperation Council : Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the...
.
Contemporary production
See also: The section on "Nablus" in the article on "Syro-Palestinian archaeology"
The soap industry has shrunk considerably over the last 100 years as a result of a series of man-made and natural disasters, which include a 1927 earthquake that devastated large parts of the Old City of Nablus, and major Israeli
military incursionsA raid is a military tactic or operational warfare mission which requires the execution of a plan where surprise is the principal desired outcome of the attack....
into the city's historic quarter during the Second Intifada that destroyed several soap factories. Only two soap factories out of the dozens that operated in the 19th century continue to produce Nabulsi soap today.
Of the two surviving Nabulsi soap factories, one is operated by the
TouqanTouqan was a prominent Palestinian family based in Nablus. During Ottoman times they were the only household that ever came close to centralizing all of the District of Nablus under their rule, and their members held the post of district chief longer than did any other local family in the 18th and...
family. Commenting on the effect of the
West Bank closuresThe West Bank closure system is a series of obstacles including permanent and partially manned checkpoints, concrete roadblocks and barriers, metal gates, earthmounds, tunnels, trenches, and an elaborate set of permit restrictions that controls and restricts Palestinian movement.-Rationale and...
imposed by Israel since the Intifada's outbreak in 2000, the general manager at the Touqan factory said in 2008 that, "Before 2000, our factory used to produce 600 tons of soap annually. Due to the physical and economic obstacles we face now because of the
Israeli occupationThe Israeli-occupied territories are the territories captured by Israel from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria during the Six-Day War of 1967, consisting of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, and, until 1982, the Sinai Peninsula...
– and especially the
checkpointsA Israel Defense Forces checkpoint, usually called an Israeli checkpoint , is a barrier erected by the Israel Defense Forces with the stated aim of enhancing the security of Israel and Israeli settlements and preventing those who wish to do harm from crossing...
– we produce barely half that amount today." According to the
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian AffairsThe United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs , is a United Nations body formed in December 1991 by General Assembly Resolution 46/182...
, the cost of transporting goods has increased ten-fold since the closure regime was put into place. The complex system of checkpoints and road blocks throughout the
West BankThe West Bank is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories; on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel, which maintains the security of this area. To the east,...
often separates suppliers from producers and workers from their workplaces.
Nabulsi soap continues to be sold in shops throughout Nablus and the West Bank, and can also be found in Jordan,
KuwaitThe State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab emirate bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west. The greatest distance from north to south is 200 km and from east to west 170 km . The name is a diminutive of an Arabic word meaning "fortress built near water." It has a...
, and
Arab-Israeli citiesArab citizens of Israel is a phrase used by Israeli and other government and independent agencies to refer to Israeli citizens whose cultural and/or linguistic heritage, and ethnic identity, is Arab, including members of any religious tradition other than Jewish...
such as
NazarethNazareth is the capital and largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
. The soap is commonly used with a loofah in homes and hammams throughout the Levant.
Initiatives have also been launched to preserve this part of Nablus' cultural heritage. The once-defunct Arafat soap factory has been restored and converted into a Cultural Heritage Enrichment Center, that includes exhibition spaces, a research center, and a model of a traditional soap factory that produces small batches of soap according to the age-old methods. Nabulsi soap is also being marketed in the
WestThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
by local
non-governmental organizationNon-governmental organization is a term that has become widely accepted as referring to a legally constituted, non-governmental organization created by natural or legal persons with no participation or representation of any government...
s as a way to fund other local community initiatives.
See also
- Aleppo soap
Aleppo soap is a vegetable oil soap that is similar to Marseille or Castile soap, but made in Aleppo, Syria.-History:The history of Aleppo, like other cities of antiquity in the Middle East, is relatively speaking, not well documented. The history of Aleppo Soap moreover, is quite obscure, and...
- Hebron glass
Hebron glass refers to glass produced in Hebron as part of a flourishing art industry established in the city during Roman rule in Palestine. For centuries, Hebron has been associated with glass production in the same way as Nablus has been associated with the production of soap...
- Mother-of-Pearl carving in Bethlehem
Mother-of-Pearl carving has been a Bethlehem tradition since the art was introduced to the city by Franciscan friars from Damascus during the 14th century....
- Palestinian handicrafts
Palestinian handicrafts are handicrafts produced by Palestinian people. A wide variety of handicrafts, many of which have been produced by Arabs in Palestine for hundreds of years, continue to be produced today. Palestinian handicrafts include embroidery work, pottery-making, soap-making,...
- Zaytoun
Zaytoun is a non-profit organisation established to support Palestinian farming communities by helping to increase the market for their olive oil products internationally, and also by helping the farmers themselves improve the quality of their oil through training and equipment provision.As a...
External links