Posted on 09/15/2005 4:03:51 PM PDT by SJackson
News from Palestinian sources protest Jews taking up residence near the Al-Aksa Mosque. Not a new story. Only weeks go, media expert Michael Widlanski reported that Voice of Palestine radio broke into its regular programming to announce that Israeli troops and Jewish extremists were invading Islamic holy places on the Temple Mount.
Following that, came a report that Jordan's Ambassador to Israel, Dr. Marouf Bakhit, had rushed to declare to officials at the Israeli Foreign Ministry that his country was outraged over the "provocative act" of a group of Jews who had the insolence to visit the Temple Mount in commemoration of Jerusalem Day. The official Jordanian news agency declared this "a provocative act that could stir up confrontation and evoke outrage of Muslims around the world."
It has been well documented that in September 2000 the Palestinian Authority used Ariel Sharon's visit to the Mount as a pretense for starting the Intifada they already had planned. This current incitement is bad news. Seems they're revving up the crowds again.
It is time, I suggest, for us to start thinking seriously about the Temple Mount and our relationship to it as Jews. This is not an issue simply for those advocating building of a Third Temple on the Mount. I advocate nothing of the sort; yet, I see that it affects us all.
It is, after all, the Temple Mount and not the Kotel (Western Wall) that is Judaism's holiest site. The Kotel is a retaining wall that helped to shore up the Mount on which the Temple stood, and so reflects the holiness of the place. But it is the Mount that is not only the site of the two Temples, but traditionally the site of many other momentous events in our history as well. It is identified as Mt. Moriyah, where the akeida (the sacrifice of Isaac) took place.
I am well aware that many think that this is "simply" ancient history and of no particular relevance to modern sensibilities. But this is not so. There is, first, the centrality of this place to our heritage. A people with pride does not lightly dismiss this. And then there is the sanctity that adheres: this is where the Holy of Holies stood, the sacred space the High Priest entered once a year. This is the place where the Jewish people communed with the Sh'khinah - the presence of the Almighty. The sanctity adheres.
About 1,300 years ago, the Muslims - for whom this is sacred territory with regard to Muhammad, said to have ascended to heaven from a rock on the Mount - built the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aksa Mosque nearby on the Mount. These were built on top of the remains of the Temple within the Mount. There is a great deal there, within; a labyrinth of tunnels and archeological remains. Excavations have never been permitted by the rabbis because of the sanctity of the place.
From 1948-1967, when Jordan was in control of the Old City of Jerusalem, no Jews were permitted there. Not at the Kotel, not anywhere in the vicinity.
When we retook the Old City in 1967, the Kotel and the Mount came into our possession. "Har HaBayit b'yadenu!" (the Temple Mount is in our hands.) went the joyous cry. There was singing at the site then, and praying and blowing of the shofar.
After that momentous capture, however, Moshe Dayan in what was presumed to be an act of tolerant wisdom and generosity - but which I perceive to have been an act of colossal stupidity - took down the Israeli flag from the Mount and called in Muslim religious leaders from the Islamic Trust (Wakf). Israel will retain over-all control, he told them, but he was turning over to them everyday control of the Mount, where they had holy structures. With that act, he took a large step towards surrender of the Mount - our Mount.
The Muslims are not interested in sharing. They are not interested in the kindness of our gestures. They are into taking control and banishing us. They perceive conciliation as weakness.
In recent years, there has been a series of decisions made by Israeli authorities that for me smack of appeasement, backing down that suggests we have no legitimate claim to be on the Mount. A mistake. Sometimes, no Jews are allowed up there at all. When Jews are allowed, they may not pray and must go only in controlled numbers. The point is not to "agitate the Muslim street." But they agitate anyway, and accuse us even of what we do not do.
It is time we maintained our legitimate presence on the Mount, and our right in principle to be there. Education must be done widely and forcefully, so that people understand precisely what this place is for us. It must be clear to all the world that this is not simply a "Muslim" place and that it matters to us, as well.
We in Israel are engaged in a battle for our survival. Let no one imagine that anything else is going on. The Palestinians, sly and crafty, are waging a "people's war", which means it is not waged just with violence, but also with lies and propaganda. One of the weapons they have been using is the fabrication that we do not have a legitimate history in this land, but that they do. We are merely colonial interlopers, occupiers. People believe it.
At the heart of this war is the Temple Mount, for that Mount is both the symbol and the concrete evidence of our ancient presence here. I cannot emphasize this sufficiently. If the Palestinians can convince the world that we did not have a presence on the Mount, then they will have robbed us of our oldest and deepest link to this land and our most solemn claim to it now. If we participate in this theft, by relinquishing what is ours through appeasement, apathy and foolishness, we will have done ourselves enormous harm.
Yasser Arafat told an astonished Bill Clinton that there were never Temples on the Mount. (I have no information on how Clinton responded.) Now Arafat's protege, Mahmoud Abbas, is on record with the same sort of statement. He also consistently calls for us to move back to the pre-'67 lines, which means relinquishing the Mount and the Kotel. There have been very extensive Muslim excavations within the Temple Mount, where they have constructed an interior mosque in an area called Solomon's Stables. In the course of this work, they dumped tons of rubble in a garbage heap; it included priceless archeological artifacts from Temple days. The objective was clearly to destroy the evidence of our having been there. Luckily, a private archeological venture by Israelis was begun that is sifting through the rubble and recovering the evidence
The Muslim intent and absolute lack of respect are clear.
Strength is required of us before it is too late.
I want to see it happen.
That building needs to moved away from that site and turned into a hog confinement facility.
Perhaps an earthquake will develope and mysteriously take down the mosque. I hope and pray it will happen. The site belongs to the Jews.
It is my understanding that an almost identical structure was unearthed in Caesarea. It was an octogon, like the dome of the rock, and turned out to be a Byzantine Church. Also the Dome is unlike any other so-called Muslim design. My guess is that is exactly what their Holy Site is, a converted Christian church.
I believe in Revalation that John was told, when measuring for the Temple, to leave the courtyard to the Gentiles meaning don't measure it. There is a teaching that says that a newly constructed Jewish Temple will actually sit next to the Dome. I guess it's possible as the result of a "peace" settlement.
Past myths are claimed today as historical fact in the mill of Muslim historical Revisionism. For example, in 683 CE Caliph Al-Walid built "Al Aksa" Mosque over a Christian church located on the Temple Mount, the site of the Jewish Temple, built by Solomon - 60 years after the death of Mohammed. Caliph Al-Walid named his Mosque "al Aksa" after a mythical dream that Mohammed supposedly had that: Mohammed flew to a place called ‘al Aksa’ (which means the ‘furthest place’) on his great white horse with wings, the breasts of a woman and the tail of a peacock. The word ‘al Aksa’ (as the ’furthest place’) referred either to Medina or the courtyards of Allah in Paradise. This was the rationale offered by true Arab scholars in attempting to explain the basis of a mythical dream supposedly experienced by Mohammed.
In 685-705 CE the Umayyad Caliph Abd-el Malik built the Dome of the Rock, also on the Temple Mount, Mount Moriah. (It is now called the "Golden Dome" after it was covered with gold by the King of Trans-Jordan.) This Caliph, who lived in Damascus, wished to be viewed as Mohammed’s heir. He attempted to re-direct the Islamic compass away from Mecca towards Jerusalem and his sphere of religious/political power. The political thrust of all this was that Islam continued to ignore Jerusalem as a non-entity and continued to worship toward Mecca. However, the myth was created among the (uneducated) Muslim/Arabs, that, by right of conquest, they owned the Temple of the Jews which existed as Solomon’s Temple of the Jews for thousands of years before Mohammed and Islam. However, the myth took root among the Muslims - as history was pushed aside.
That childish myth has become factual history, as the Arab/Muslims claimed the Jews’ most holy religious site, built thousands of years before Christianity or the beginnings of Islam. But, the West oohs and aahs as the Mullahs babble about their non-existent history, harking back to the Philistines (a warlike tribe of Phoenicians who came to the sea coast of Eretz Yisrael) and other tribes long gone.
‘Al Aksa’ Mosque was not considered a true holy site of Islam until Saladin, the Kurdish warrior in the 12th Century needed an excuse to attack the Christian Crusaders who had taken Jerusalem. Saladin then claimed Mohammed’s dream of ‘Al Aksa’ was the Mosque built on top of the Jewish Temple and, therefore, holy to Islam. But, their claims are accepted today as if they were not a backward, uncivilized culture but, an advanced society of great thinkers and, therefore, worthy of being taken seriously. The media has been provided numerous times with the scholarly history of the Jewish Temple but, they prefer the ‘mythical’ version created by the Muslim/Arabs.
It's interesting how their prophet has a halo of flames...
What we non-Moslems call Sunrise.
MOSLEM CLAIM TO JERUSALEM RESTS ON WOBBLY VERSE
From Arutz-7 Thursday, Aug. 28, 2003 / Rosh Chodesh Elul 5763
http://ateret.org.il/new/news.php?id=317
A commentator in the official Egyptian government weekly, of all places,
writes this week that the entire Moslem claim on Jerusalem and El-Aksa is based on a mistaken reading of one chapter of the Quran. Ahmed Mahmad Oufa wrote that the verse that mentions a night journey by Muhammed to a mosque has nothing to do with Jerusalem, as is generally claimed, but with a mosque near the holy Moslem city of Medina.
Prof. Moshe Sharon, Middle Eastern expert in the Hebrew University, expressed
great surprise at the fact that such an article would be published in Arabic and in an Arabic-speaking country. Speaking with Arutz-7 today, he said, "All in all, this is not a new claim. We must remember that Jerusalem is not mentioned at all in the Quran [though it is mentioned hundreds of time in the Bible - ed. note]. The verse in question is in Sura [chapter] 17, which states that Muhammad was brought at night from one mosque to a "more distant" - aktsa, in Arabic - mosque. The first Moslem commentators did not explain this as referring to Jerusalem at all, of course, but rather as a miraculous night journey or night vision or some such.
In the beginning of the 8th century, however, they began associating this with Jerusalem, because they had a need to start giving sanctity to Jerusalem, and so they started connecting this verse with Jerusalem... Originally, however, the Moslems recognized the area of the Dome of the Rock as holy because of the Jewish Temple of King Solomon."
This last point may be borne out, Nissan Ratzlav-Katz notes, by the fact that
the modern Arabic name for Jerusalem, Al-Quds, is adapted from the original
Arabic name for the Temple Mount: Bayt al-Maqdis - or Beit HaMikdash [Hebrew
for Holy Temple].
It should further be noted that the Al Aksa mosque was built on the Temple
Mount 621 years after Mohammed's death.
I don't know what God will do, but I have total confidence He has a plan for it all.
Given the history of the Temple ground--the land there---it is clear, very clear, that God has assigned significance to it.
He will take care of it. But the world should better prepare itself--it may not be pretty.
Amen
"Why do you pray you're dead before it happens?"
I have a couple reason actually.
1. I believe the destruction of that abomination will either be a cause, or result, of an apocalyptic war. That war will not be confined to the Middle East. I'm getting to old to participate in that war. I'm having a hard enough time sitting on the sideline in this war.
2. It's been long time since I studied Revelations and I welcome correction here. If I recall correctly, the Temple will not rebuilt until after the believers are called Home. I know that I want to be dead at the Second Coming because the Bible says the dead will be called up first to meet Him in the sky. That's one line I want to be at or near the front of. No pushing, no cutting in line please.
the proof of their infantile view of life is the threat of death to anyone who contemplates a scholarly inquiry into any aspect of their religion ... the Koran, Mohammed, the significance of Jerusalem ...
that is the most significant aspect about both the factual truth and the psychology of islam ... death is the only answer islam has, meaning moslems are radically uncertain about what they purport to believe
Totally disgusting picture. It generates a certain level of hate in me that I should not be experiencing as a Christian.
But of course it is all right for them to destroy the Jewish and Christian holy places right? I detest these people, I really do.
Why did God not allow Abraham to kill Ishmael?
Why did God allow the Snake into the Garden?
I know I know ... it's all OUR fault.
Are you muslim?
When the total of the concessions you are willing to make are not going to make the other side happy, there's no point in making ANY concessions
No bulldozers required. The Great Rift Valley (which created the Red Sea), the reason The Dead Sea exists, can wipe clean Mout Moriah at a moments notice. Standing by for The LORD to initiate the rebuilding of the Temple.
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