Mount Gerizim and the Samaritan Sect.

Description of the site: It is located south of Nablus at an altitude of 881 m. Jabal al-Tor is a sloping limestone mountain covered with olive trees. The mountain was named Gerizim, meaning the statutes on which the statutes are held.Gerizim is considered one of the most important mountains of Nablus due to its natural resources, especially the water sources from springs extending on the northern slopes. The mountain also includes a number of important archaeological sites and buildings, the most important of which are the remains of a large archaeological site built on its summit during the Hellenistic period in the second century BC. The Temple of Jupiter was constructed at the top of Tel Al-Ras during the Roman period. During the Byzantine period, the Church of the Virgin Mary, the Monastery of Bir Al-Hamam, and the shrine of Sheikh Ghanem, which dates back to the Mamluk period, were built, in addition to many ruins such as Khirbet Al-Qasr and Khirbet Al-Nabi Ismail.The Samaritan sect lives on the top of the mountain, where the Samaritans built their temple on this mountain in approximately 332 BC. Archaeological excavations revealed remains related to the temple of Zeus from the Hadrian era and derived its importance from its direct connection with this sect.As it is the smallest continuous religious group in the world, the Samaritans consider Mount Gerizim their sacred center, and the number of members of the sect is less than 900 people, half of whom are distributed inside occupied Palestine in 1948 AD, and the other half in the city that they established on top of Mount Gerizim. They speak both Arabic and Hebrew and form part of Nablus city's population and social aspects.The Samaritan faith is based on the Law of Moses, as they believe in the first five books of the Torah. Still, they radically contradict the Jewish beliefs, and consider themselves true keepers of the law and abide by their beliefs, the most important of which is the sanctity and centrality of Mount Gerizim, as it is their destination and the site of their religious rituals, and allocating Saturdays for religious rituals, and completely abstaining from the practice of daily life. The priest qualified for slaughter, slaughters the animals whose meat is permissible to eat. And they are fully committed to the holidays according to the Hebrew-Samaritan calendar, which is seven, the most important of which are the Passover and the Throne Day. They also believe that the site of the sacrifice and redemption of the prophet Isaac by his father, the prophet Ibrahim, is on a rock in Gerizim, and that the temple that Joshua bin Nun established was built on this mountain.