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By: Sulaiman Osho
IN the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Almighty Allah declares in the Holy Qur’an, Al-Israa 17:60, thus, “Behold! We told thee that thy Lord doth encompass mankind. We granted the vision which We showed thee but as a trial for men, as also the cursed tree (mentioned) in the Qur’an. We put terror (and warning) into them, but it only Increases their inordinate transgression.”
The history of Jerusalem presupposes that Masjid Al-Aqsa served as the first Qiblah – the direction faced by Muslims when they worship. It was during a prayer session at Masjid il-Qiblatayn in Madinah that Allah commanded Muslims to face the Ka’bah in Masjid al-Haram in Makkah as our Qibla (Qur’an 2:144).
Allah declares in the Holy Qur’an, Baqarah, 2:142-147, “The fools among the people will say: ‘What hath turned them from the Qiblah to which they were used?’ Say: ‘To God belong both East and West. He guideth whom He will to a way that is straight’. Thus have We made of you an Ummah justly balanced that ye might be witnesses over the nations and the Apostle a witness over yourselves. And We appointed the Qiblah to which thou wast used only to test those who followed the Apostle from those who would turn on their heels (from the faith). Indeed it was (a change) momentous except to those guided by God. And never would God make your faith of no effect. For God is to all people most surely full of kindness, Most Merciful. We see the turning of thy face (for guidance) to the heavens; now shall We turn thee to a Qiblah that shall please thee. Turn then thy face in the direction of the Sacred Mosque; wherever ye are turn your faces in that direction. The people of the book know well that that is the truth from their Lord nor is God unmindful of what they do. Even if thou wert to bring to the people of the Book all the signs (together) they would not follow thy Qiblah; nor art thou going to follow their Qiblah; nor indeed will they follow each other’s Qiblah. If thou after the knowledge hath reached thee wert to follow their (vain) desires then wert thou indeed (clearly) in the wrong.The people of the Book know this as they know their own sons; but some of them conceal the truth which they themselves know.The truth is from thy Lord so be not at all in doubt.”
Indeed, Jerusalem is a blessed holy land of great importance and significance to every Muslim. The Al-Aqsa Mosque is considered the third holiest place in Islam, the second House of Worship on earth and the first Qiblah. On his holy journeys to Jerusalem and to the high heavens, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) led all the Prophets in prayer in Al-Aqsa Mosque (Qur’an 17:1).
The Jerusalem Mosque was the second mosque established after Al-Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah. According to a hadith, Abu-Dhar says: “Once I asked Prophet Muhammad (SAW) which was the first mosque established on earth, to which he said, ‘Al-Masjid Al Haram’ in Makkah. Then I asked him, then which mosque? He replied, ‘Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa. I asked him the time gap between the establishment of the two mosques and he said, 40 years” (Al-Bukhari).
However, the Muslims consider prayers in Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa to be equivalent to 500 prayers in any other mosque except Al-Haram in Makkah and Al-Masjid Al Nabawi (the Prophet’s Mosque) in Madinah. In a hadith, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) says, “Prayers in Al-Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah are equivalent to 100,000 prayers, and prayers in my mosque (in Madinah) are equivalent to 1,000 prayers and prayers in Bat Al-Maqdis (in Jerusalem) are equivalent to 500 prayers” (Tabaran).
Historically, Bait Al-Maqdis, the capital of Palestine, is 55 kilometers (35 miles) from the Mediterranean. The first inhabitants of the area are Semitic Canaanites who lived some 5,000 years ago. The mosque must refer to the site of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem on the hill of Moriah at or near which stands the Dome of the Rock, called also the Mosque of Hadhrat Umar. It was in 670 A.D. (68 A.H.) Jerusalem was brought peacefully under Muslim control by the Amir Abdul-Malik. Jerusalem Mosque is called the Farthest Mosque because it was the place of worship farthest west which was known to the Arabs in the time of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). It was a sacred place to both the Jews and Christians but the Christians then had the upper hand, as it was included in the Byzantine (Roman) Empire, which maintained a patriarchy in Jerusalem.
The chief dates in connection with the Temple of Jerusalem are: Firstly, Al-Aqsa Mosque was finished by Prophet Sulaiman (Solomon) in about B.C. 1004. Secondly, the mosque was destroyed by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in about 586 B.C.
Thirdly, Al-Aqsa Mosque was rebuilt under Ezra and Nehemiah about 515 B.C. Fourthly, the mosque was turned into the heathen idol temple by one of Alexander’s successors, Anthiochus Epiphanes, in 167 B.C.
Fifthly, the Al-Aqsa Mosque was restored by Herod in 17 to 29 A.D. Sixthly, the Al-Aqsa Mosque was razed to the ground by the Emperor Titus in 70 A.D. The destructions of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C., when the Jews were carried off into captivity; and the destruction of Jerusalem by Emperor Titus in 70 A.D., after which it was never re-built. On both occasions, it was the judgment of Allah for the sins of the Jews, their backslidings and their arrogance.
The return of the Jews from captivity was in about 520 B.C. They started life afresh. They rebuilt the temple. They carried out various reforms and built up a new Judaism in connection with Ezra. For a time, they prospered. But their old oppressors, the Babylonians, had been absorbed by Persia. Subsequently, Persia was absorbed in Alexander’s Empire. The whole of Western Asia was Hellenized, and the new school of Jews was Hellenised also, and had a strong centre in Alexandria.
However, their footing in Palestine continued, and under the Asmonaean Dynasty (167-63 B.C.), they had a national revival, and the names of the Makkah bees are remembered as those of heroes.
Another dynasty, that of Idumaeans (63 – 4 B.C.) to which Herod belonged, also enjoyed some semi-independent power. The scepter of Syria (including Palestine) passed to the Romans in 65 B.C. and Jewish feudatory kings held power under them. But the Jews again showed a stiff-necked resistance to Allah’s Messenger in the time of Prophet ‘Isa (Jesus Christ) and the inevitable doom followed in the complete and final destruction of the temple under Emperor Titus in 70 A.D.
Seventhly, it was during the reign of Amir Abdul-Malik in 670 A.D. (68 A.H) that the construction and embellishment of the magnificent Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques were completed. The Muslim rule of Fatimid Caliphate over Jerusalem continued for the next 13 centuries. It was interrupted by the first crusade of the European forces called the “Siege of Jerusalem” (June 7 – July 15, 1099 A.D. This led to the bloody years of rule by the crusaders, which laid the foundation for the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, which lasted two centuries.
The Holy Qur’an, Bani Israel, 17:2-8, relates, “We gave Moses the Book, and made it a guide to the Children of Israel, (Commanding): ‘Take not other than Me as disposer of (your) affairs. O ye that are sprung from those whom We carried (in the Ark) with Noah! Verily he was a devotee, most grateful. And We gave (clear) warning to the Children of Israel In the Book, that twice would they do mischief on the earth and be elated with mighty arrogance (and twice would they be punished). When the first of the warnings came to pass, We sent against you our servants given to terrible warfare. They entered the very inmost parts of your homes; and it was a warning (completely) fulfilled. Then did We grant you the return as against them. We gave you increase in resources and sons, and made you the more numerous in manpower. If ye did well, ye did well for yourselves; if ye did evil, (ye did it) against yourselves. So when the second of the warnings came to pass, (We permitted your enemies) to disfigure your faces, and to enter your temple as they had entered it before, and to visit with destruction all that fell into their power. It may be that your Lord may (yet) show mercy unto you but if ye revert (to your sins), We shall revert (to Our punishments). And We have made hell a prison for those who reject faith.”
Indeed, the holy journey of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to Jerusalem was meant to remind us about the sacredness of the city among the elevated ones on earth. May Allah inspire us to accept the truth of His revelations. Ameen.
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