By Mohammad Mahdi
The Jerusalem (at present the capital of Israel) is one of the most famous and sacred spots for all the three Abrahamic religions. For Jews, the place was given to them by God as a gift. For Muslims, Prophet Mohammad ascended from there to heaven and for Christianity it is the birthplace of Jesus. Since May 14, 1948, the day of establishment of the state of Israel, continuous wars and revolution are breaking out making the life of the region worse. It seems the occupation of Palestine by Zionism has made a great impact on Muslim society. The Jews also mention their conquest as “a kiss from heaven”. Al -Aqsa mosque located in Jerusalem is the main reason for the wars and divergence between the communities. The question which must be asked to both the religions is can we not negotiate and maintain peace and harmony. And is the site holding the two cultures’ sacred monuments really as blessed as it is said?
After the fall of the Ottomans, Palestine which was at that time part of the Ottoman Empire passed to the hands of the British. The Jews at that time demanded the British to give them land for their community so that they can live freely and conveniently according to their customs in their homeland. At first, the British government in 1903 offered the Jews 6000 square miles (15,500 square km) of uninhabited Uganda for settlement, but the Jews mainly the Zionists held out for Palestine.
According to some Jews who are mainly the supporter of the Zionist group,enforce that the land of Israel, was the land gifted to them by God to their people. They also believe that before the destruction of Israel by Romans and Greeks, the land held their holiest place, the temple mount (according to Torah temple of Jews built by Prophet Solomon). Today as believed by Jews the temple was beneath the Dome of the rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque what the Muslims call Haram Al-Sharif. They also support the theory that the Ark of the Covenant was buried beneath the mosque. According to many Jews, the rebuilding of the temple mount is the only thing that the Jews want on their land. Some of the Rabbis also predict that the Messiah will only come when the rebuilding of the temple will be completed.
Muslims on the other hand consider the site as the third holiest place in Islam after Mecca and Medina. According to the majority of the Muslim population, they believe that the Dome of the rock (besides Al- Aqsa mosque) was the site from where the prophet Mohammad ascended to heaven.
Currently, the place is governed by the Israeli government. Countries like Turkey, Iran, and other Islamic groups are continuously speaking in defense of the cause. First of all, we must have to revisit the historical data before claiming it as the third holy site for Muslims.
Dome of the rock and the Al-Aqsa were built in 690 CE and 705 CE respectively after the death of the prophet. At the time of Mohammad, neither the Dome nor the Mosque stood there. So for Muslims, we must have to first refind the history instead of rebuilding the nation of Islam. According to the Quran also there were only two sites, Mecca and Medina which God has blessed.
Contrarily the Jews, who consider the land as their gift and a kiss from haven, let them first remember their teachings of the Torah. Yisroel Dovid Weiss a leading Jewish Rabbi once on an interview with Aljazeera talked briefly about the political problems related to Israel and Palestine. During his interview, the rabbi told the media that the occupation of the Jews in Palestine and rebuilding the temple is against the Jewish scriptures. He also mentioned that at present the Jews cannot rebuild the temple because in the Torah it is mentioned that it will be built when the messiah comes. Many Jews are against the Israeli government policies because of the illegal occupation on the Palestinian land. Even the Jews differentiate the Zionist and Jews separately.
For Zionists, the rebuilding is not an easy task. The biggest problem with the Zionist community today is their conflicts. Some Jews believe the temple has never stood on those places which are today considered as the ‘holiest of holy’. The book written by Ernest L. Martin, The Temples That Jerusalem Forgot is worth reading which tells every single detail and given the right location of the temple mount. Some Jews gave proofs about the location of the temple by the book of Samuel. The location is also mentioned in Nehemiah.
And Araunah said, why has my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, to buy the thrashing floor from you, to build an altar to the LORD. 2 Samuel 24:21 (see also 2 Chronicles 3:1).
Then I went up in the night by the Brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned. –Nehemiah 2:15
The keywords in these two verses are brook and threshing floor. And we know the place where today the monument stands has neither threshing flour nor a brook. From more sources, the temple was near the river. And we can tell that neither of these things exists near the Haram Al-Sharif. So the Jews who want their temple to be rebuilt on the spot have not a single proof according to their own literature, and it is clear from the two verses that the Harem Al-Sharif was not the place where the temple mount ever stood. The Wailing Wall was a part of Antonia Fortress, built by Romans and named after Mark Antony (one of the popular politicians and a ruler of the Roman era). The western wall or what the Jews call the Wailing Wall is the western wall of the fortress. The actual temple according to Jewish scriptures and archaeological evidence was located near the Gihon Spring.
Traditions are a part of human society. To change it is a bit difficult but not impossible. The issue of the third temple and the Harem Al-Sharif is one of the most perilous and sophisticated problems for both the Jews and Muslims. We must have to first look at our holy book. That’s the only way we can get the right answers. Mass murder and killing people, destroying their homes, their family, their people, their ideology, and their traditions is not the right way to establish an idea. It can be done without all this terrorism.
Author ID: Mohammad Mahdi is a young student scholar. He writes on Religion, science and philosophy. He lives in Aligarh, India. Can be reached at mahdimohammad2002@gmail.com
How ignorant of the author of this article and how ridiculous of Muslim mirror to publish it!
The author claims that the Al Aqsa mosque being blessed is not present in Islam. Nothing can be further from truth. According to The Divine Revelation, Al Aqsa mosque Always existed and the area is CERTAINLY BLESSED. Here’s the proof from Qur’an and Sunnah.
Proof from Qur’an:
“Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to “AL-MASJID AL-AQSA”, WHOSE SURROUNDINGS WE have BLESSED, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing”.
(Qur’an 17:1)
Proof from Sunnah
Hadith-1
حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيٌّ، حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ، عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ، عَنْ سَعِيدٍ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ
لاَ تُشَدُّ الرِّحَالُ إِلاَّ إِلَى ثَلاَثَةِ مَسَاجِدَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ، وَمَسْجِدِ الرَّسُولِ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَمَسْجِدِ الأَقْصَى ”
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Do not set out on a journey except for three Mosques i.e. Al-Masjid-AI-Haram, the Mosque of Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) , and the Mosque of AL-AQSA, (Mosque of Jerusalem).”
Sahih al-Bukhari 1189
Hadith-2
حَدَّثَنَا مُوسَى بْنُ إِسْمَاعِيلَ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الْوَاحِدِ، حَدَّثَنَا الأَعْمَشُ، حَدَّثَنَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ التَّيْمِيُّ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا ذَرٍّ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، أَىُّ مَسْجِدٍ وُضِعَ فِي الأَرْضِ أَوَّلُ قَالَ الْمَسْجِدُ الْحَرَامُ ”. قَالَ قُلْتُ ثُمَّ أَىٌّ قَالَ ” الْمَسْجِدُ الأَقْصَى ”. قُلْتُ كَمْ كَانَ بَيْنَهُمَا قَالَ ” أَرْبَعُونَ سَنَةً، ثُمَّ أَيْنَمَا أَدْرَكَتْكَ الصَّلاَةُ بَعْدُ فَصَلِّهْ، فَإِنَّ الْفَضْلَ فِيهِ ”.”
Narrated Abu Dhar:
I said, “O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)! Which mosque was first built on the surface of the earth?” He said, “Al- Masjid-ul-,Haram (in Mecca).” I said, “Which was built next?” He replied “The mosque of AL-AQSA ( in Jerusalem) .” I said, “What was the period of construction between the two?” He said, “Forty years.” He added, “Wherever (you may be, and) the prayer time becomes due, perform the prayer there, for the best thing is to do so (i.e. to offer the prayers in time).
Sahih al-Bukhari 3366
I request the author, kindly, to reconsider this article of his and make necessary correction.
Exactly, I was going to make the same comment!
JazakAllahu khairan for the references!
Youth needs experience as well to be effective in providing solutions.
Wisdom is when one corrects oneself when shown evidence, and helps you grow and increase in beneficial knowledge.
Otherwise, the article is a good effort; but the Islamic angle error is stupendous and needs urgent correction!
Also when the author becomes older like 40 yeras and also wiser; he/she may realise that Crusaders and Zionists will never accept an amicable peaceful dignified solution for everyone.
They have brute power, they are unjust and drunk in power, and that is the reason Allah mentions them in the holy Quran as ” those who have gone astray and rebellious and sinful in arrogance; do not practice what they preach, etc, etc”
Same is unfortunately now happening to Muslim Ummah in present times, following them to doom.
Of course it is always the fault of the Jews and Christians. It is always everybody’s fault but your own. The Arabs left their home in the desert and went to other peoples countries and stole their holy sites, but it is absolutely the fault of the invaded peoples. The hagia Sophia, the babri mosque in India, the temple Mount in Israel etc.
The most ridiculous thing about this whole fight with the Jews is that your claim to the temple Mount is based on the rock solid evidence of a “FLYING DONKEY”, a freaking flying donkey. The supposed flying donkey transported your prophet from mecca to the farthest mosque (i.e Al Aqsa) in Jerusalem.
The problem with this ridiculous tale is that the Jewish temple had been destroyed in 70AD, and the site was a rubbish dump at the time of the supposed night journey. The Al Aqsa mosque began to be constructed in the 680’s AD and was finished in 705, whereas your prophet died in 632AD. So how could he have travelled to a mosque that did not even exist yet.
A lot of you are very gullible and simply believe whatever is written in a supposed religious scripture. The commenter “blessed mosque” posted a hadith, but did not apply any critical thinking to it otherwise he would have known that it is absolute rubbish, here it is below.
Narrated Abu Dhar:
I said, “O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)! Which mosque was first built on the surface of the earth?” He said, “Al- Masjid-ul-,Haram (in Mecca).” I said, “Which was built next?” He replied “The mosque of AL-AQSA ( in Jerusalem) .” I said, “What was the period of construction between the two?” He said, “Forty years.” He added, “Wherever (you may be, and) the prayer time becomes due, perform the prayer there, for the best thing is to do so (i.e. to offer the prayers in time).
Sahih al-Bukhari 3366
If the kaaba was really built by Abraham as you lot claim, then there definitely was not a forty year difference between the kaaba and the first Jewish temple. This is because Abraham lived circa 1,800BC while Solomon lived circa 980BC, that is a gap if about 820 years. This indicates that the early Muslim scholars and chroniclers were clueless about history.
Now i’ll give you a hypothetical scenario, and you can decide at the end on who really is just and drunk with power and brute force. Let us say within the next 20 years some Chinese Buddhists take over China and turn it into a Buddhist state. After this, they then invade and conquer Saudi Arabia in a religious war to spread Buddhism.
After this, they turn the kaaba into a Buddhist temple. They justify it by showing their scripture which claims that one of their holy monks travelled to the Kaaba in Mecca on a “FLYING MONKEY” after which he subsequently flew to heaven on the back of the “FLYING MONKEY”. They then prohibit Arabs and Muslims in general from going to the kaaba and praying there unless they convert to Buddhism.
Centuries go by and now the Muslims have managed to reconquer Mecca, but the kaaba is still in the hands of the Buddhists who have warned the Muslims that any attempt to turn the kaaba back into a mosque will be met with bloody violence and another world war. This is because they (i.e the Buddhists consider the kaaba to be their holy site) because it is the place where the “FLYING MONKEY” brought their holy monk to.
This is in addition to the fact that the Chinese Buddhists actually have their most holy sites in China, where non- Buddhists are not even allowed to step foot in, but are fighting with the Muslims over most holy site of the Muslims which is not as important to the Buddhists as the other holy sites in China.
Now decide who is the unjust party between the Muslims and the Chinese Buddhists in this scenario above.
To tell the truth, most Arab kings were just trying to emulate the Prophet.
Just as Muhammad smashed the idols of the pagan Arabs at the Kabba to establish the supremacy of his belief, so have most of followers smashed other faiths places of worship seeking inspiration from their holiness.