Islam’s mystical claim on Jerusalem

American Thinker ^ | 12-4-05 | James M. Arlandson

[SJackson]

Three faiths have claimed ownership over Jerusalem. Plain ancient history favors Jewish ownership over the holy city. Christians claimed control of it at various moments in history, but no sound theological or historical claim can or should be made for ownership. Yet many Muslims today claim Jerusalem as theirs. Islam’s claim on Jerusalem can be questioned because of two dubious reasons and because these shaky reasons come too late in history.

In AD 630, Muhammad led an army of about 30,000 jihadists northward to fight the Byzantines. He stopped in Tabuk, in northern Saudi Arabia today, but in the seventh century it sat in a kind of no-man’s land, where northern Arab tribes lived. He had heard a rumor that the Byzantines had assembled a massive army, but the rumor was false because they never showed up. Yet, the Prophet’s northward march must have deeply impressed the northern tribes. He was able to extract agreements from them, saying, in effect, that they would be safe from aggression (read: aggression from Muhammad himself) if they paid a tax for the “privilege” of living under his “protection.”

It is impossible to exaggerate the influence of the Tabuk Crusade as precedent. Muhammad showed his followers how to deal with peoples that Muslim armies confronted after his death (Sura 9:29).

(1) The attacked region or city may fight and die;

(2) they may become Muslims and pay a forced charity tax, the zakat; or

(3) the Jews and Christians may keep their faith and pay a jizya tax. There was little hope for polytheists and their religious “freedom” under Islam.

Muhammad died of a fever in 632. Later Muslims learned well from the example of their founder. In 634, Muslim armies stormed out of the Arabian Peninsula and began the conquest of Palestine (and other regions). In 638, Muslims conquered Jerusalem. Fifty years later, in 688, they began the construction of the Dome of the Rock. In 692, they finished the building project.

Various armies have fought over Jerusalem, but surprisingly, it has been Muslim armies and self-proclaimed leaders of Islam who have battled each other over the city (and Palestine) more often than non-Muslims. For example, Moshe Gil in A History of Palestine: 634-1099 says that the Fatimids, a North African Shi’ite dynasty named after Muhammad’s daughter because the rulers claimed descent from her, invaded Palestine in 970 and destroyed it after a century of unceasing war, especially devastating its Jewish population.

The Fatimid army… turned toward Palestine…. Theoretically, this was the outset of about a century of Fatimid rule in Palestine. In fact, the Fatimids were compelled to join battle with not a few of the enemies who stood in their way: the Arabs… the Qarmatis; a Turkish army… Arab tribes in Syria… and in the background the Byzantines were lurking …. [A]ll in all, it was an almost unceasing war which destroyed Palestine, and especially its Jewish population, even before the Crusaders’ eventuality. (p. 336)

To take other examples, in 1071, the Turks besieged Jerusalem, which surrendered in 1073. Thus, Jerusalem came under the control of the Sunnis and out from under the Shi’ite Fatimids. Next, the European Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1099, but then in 1187 Saladin took it back.

But how strong is a militant claim? What happens when a more powerful army claims Jerusalem, as the Jews did in 1967 in response to Arab aggression? A military foundation is strong only for a moment. So what are the right reasons for owning a city or land?

Taking a step back to view the big picture clarifies matters. If Islam had not stormed out of the Arabian Peninsula after Muhammad’s death to wage wars of conquest, then no trouble would have emerged. But Islam is imperialistic and is bent on world domination.[1] Aside from following Muhammad’s warpath that culminated in the Tabuk Crusade and engaging in sheer conquest, why else do Muslims assert their ownership over Jerusalem?

It is a fact that Muhammad never entered Jerusalem in a down-to-earth way, with boots on the ground, as it were. It is also a fact that the Quran never mentions Jerusalem once.

However, according to the prolific Muslim scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr, professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University, Muhammad transformed Jerusalem into a holy site for Muslims in three primary ways (“The Spiritual Significance of Jerusalem: The Islamic Vision. The Islamic Quarterly. 4 (1998): pp.233-242).

First, while in Mecca the Prophet used Jerusalem as his first qiblah (prayer direction); then, after Muhammad emigrated from Mecca to Medina, Allah permitted his prophet to turn towards Mecca in prayer (Sura 2:144, 149-150). For Nasr, this permission therefore provides a “mystical” link between Mecca and Jerusalem.

Second, while Muhammad was still living in Mecca, he reports that he took a Night Journey to a farther location in a vision, even though Jerusalem is never mentioned by name. According to MAS Abdel Haleem’s translation for Oxford University Press (2004), the two passages in the sura (or chapter), itself entitled Night Journey, read:

17:1 Glory to Him who made His servant travel by night from the sacred place of worship [Mecca] to the furthest place of worship [Jerusalem], whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him some of Our signs….

17:59 ... We send signs only to give warning. 60 Prophet, We have told you that your Lord knows all human beings. The vision We showed you was only a test for people….

This non-empirical revelation contains two basic ideas: First, as the context around verses 59 and 60 shows, Muhammad was undergoing some persecution in Mecca; the polytheists were asking for a sign of Muhammad’s prophethood. He replies that he is only an ordinary man, so he cannot perform them. The only sign Allah gives him is a vision. Second, this revelation parallels the one in 2:144, which permits Muhammad to take over the Kabah shrine before he actually does. The two passages are mutually supportive. Sura 17:1 reads: “...whose surroundings We have blessed”...Allah blesses the location (Jerusalem, though the Quran never says this), as He will bless Mecca a few years later. It should be noted that later tradition says that while in Jerusalem Muhammad was taken up to the seventh heaven from the Temple Mount, giving the vision extra significance for Muslims today.

This is why the al-Aqsa or “farthest” Mosque has been built on top of the Jewish Temple – not near the Temple. But is a non-historical revelation that does not mention Jerusalem by name sufficient justification for building the prime symbol of Islamic imperialism on the most significant Jewish holy site?

The third factor, says Nasr, is the Muslim belief in the Second Coming of Christ to Jerusalem. Therefore the city is sacred to Muslims and to Christians—according to Nasr. But this is misleading, for Muslim theology says that Jesus will return as a leader of Muslims and break the cross to show how wrong Christians have been, in following their Lord (Bukhari here, here and here; and Muslim no. 289). Also, these hadiths say nothing about Jerusalem. Rather, traditional belief says that he is supposed to return to Damascus, as this Islamic website asserts.

The political implications of these three non-empirical factors (the qiblah, the Night Vision, and the Second Coming) are enormous: For Muslims, they justify, even require ownership over Jerusalem. With these three factors combined, Jerusalem is now the third holiest site for Muslims and therefore a place of pilgrimage and alleged ownership.

According to this dubious epistemology (a term that means the study of how we acquire our knowledge), revelation takes priority over historical facts; indeed, revelation makes or creates history. Even Nasr accepts this disembodied, ephemeral epistemology:

Not all the Palestinians nor all the Arabs nor even all the over one billion two hundred million Muslims now living in the world could give Jerusalem away for no matter what amount of wealth, power, land, or any other worldly compensation. The attachment to Jerusalem is permanent and will last as long as human history itself. (p. 234)

His inference makes three controversial claims.

First, the words “Muslims living all over the world now living could not give Jerusalem away” assume that Jerusalem is in fact naturally be owned by the Muslims. Nasr is following the path or sunna of Muhammad, as the Prophet claimed Mecca before he actually owned it.

Second, those same words assume that “Muslims living all over the world” actually worry about Jerusalem and who controls it. However, more evidence of this worry needs to be offered. Do the millions in Indonesia or Malaysia, for example, care about not giving it away for any “amount of wealth, power, and, or any other worldly compensation.” Nasr speaks for too many people.

Third, Nasr brings up “human history” in the last sentence, but it is precisely this element that is missing in his three factors. Jerusalem is sacred to Muslims supposedly all over the world mainly due to non-empirical revelations that not everyone agrees on and that cannot be verified in history. And military conquest, which is embedded in history, is fleeting because another army may take over.

Accordingly, Waleed El-Ansary draws this outlandish conclusion about Jerusalem:

Perhaps the only ways to achieve peace in the Middle East would be for Jerusalem to be depoliticized. It should not be a political capital of either Israel or Palestine, but be given a unique status as a spiritually sovereign entity under a theocracy of the traditional representatives of the Abrahamic religions . . . . (“The Economics of Terrorism,” in Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition, ed. J.E.B Lumbard, Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2004, p. 216).

However noble and lofty his conclusion may sound, it has never crossed my mind, as a Christian, that Jews should relinquish control of Jerusalem and let a representative theocracy rule over it. Why not?

A Christian perspective on Jerusalem

No evidence shows Jesus transforming Jerusalem (or any other city) into a holy site, and certainly not in the way Muhammad did to Mecca in AD 630—by the sword—nor did Jesus institute a required pilgrimage to a holy site.

It is true that Jesus wept over Jerusalem because as a whole she did not accept his comfort (Luke 19:38-44); and that he cleansed the Temple there with a whip (Luke 19:45-46), but he did this by himself, which shows he was making only a theological statement, not a military one. If his intentions were military, then he had enough disciples and crowds to call them to a holy war to try to conquer Jerusalem. It is also true that he foretold her destruction (Luke 21:20); that he instituted the first Eucharist there (Luke 22:7-23); that he died there (Luke 23:26-49); and that he was resurrected there (Luke 24:1-12).

All of these events are historically and empirically verifiable, as opposed to non-empirical revelations. Despite all of these events that are rooted in earth and not floating in the air, Jesus never once turned Jerusalem or declared that it should belong forever to his followers, the Christians.

Thus, Nasr misses the mark widely when he writes:

... [B]y virtue of accepting Christianity, Christians are duty bound to have a special attachment to Jerusalem as did their forefathers who even fought bloody wars known as the Crusades for over a century with the declared intention of regaining control of the holy city, who oriented their churches in Europe in its direction and who have made pilgrimage to the holy city during the past two millennia. (p. 234)

The key words are “duty bound.” Why does Nasr impose that duty? Bloody wars? Oriented European Medieval churches? Free-will pilgrimages? These are not nearly sufficient for the average Evangelical Christian anywhere in the world. It is difficult to imagine that Thai or Korean evangelicals, for example, ever feel duty bound for those reasons, and certainly not for non-existent New Testament reasons. Most American Christians do not feel duty bound.

It is one thing for a devout Christian to follow his heart on a personal pilgrimage to Jerusalem in order to derive spiritual benefit, but it is quite another to follow one’s alleged bound duty or command to go on one and to insist that Jerusalem should come under the political control of Christians, especially to the point of bloodshed.

And as to the Christian doctrine of the Second Coming (Nasr’s third factor in the previous section), Christians believe that Christ will return when the Father pleases. Whoever is squabbling over Jerusalem at that time will have to submit to his reign. True, professional Bible prophecy teachers believe that the Bible teaches Jews own Jerusalem, but they do so for a simpler reason than reading current events and matching them up with the Bible.

American Evangelicals, including Bible prophecy teachers, are faced with two grounds of epistemology on which to make some choices: (1) history, which says that the Jews own Jerusalem; (2) the non-evidence in the New Testament that says Christians should own Jerusalem. What later followers like the Crusaders did is another matter, for they do not set the genetic code for Christianity; only Christ and the New Testament authors do.

The vast majority of Evangelicals in America choose the first epistemological option simply because the Bible and history outside the Bible agree that Jews have lived there long before Christians and Muslims arrived on the scene.

It is true that King David took Jerusalem to unite the nation religiously (2 Samuel 5:1-9; 1 Chronicles 11:1-9), but what happened when the great empires marched over little Israel as a footpath when they were waging war on each other and other opponents? Assyria, Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Romans, and Byzantines treated Israel as a side issue on the world stage, as they fought for global domination. In all that time, Jews remained in the land, and for a short while under Roman occupation the Jews were exiled from Jerusalem. But back they came. Why do not the northern Iraqis (ancient Assyrians) wish to immigrate to Israel today, in order to “reclaim” an ancient land? Why do not the Egyptians today immigrate to Israel? Why not southern Iraqis (ancient Babylonians)? Greeks? Italians? During all the long history of the holy city and land, Jews alone returned, while others remained—the remnant. If any people have a “mystical” claim on Jerusalem, it is Jews. Clear and simple history favors them, which is always easier to analyze and quantify than mysticism.

After an assortment of Islamic dynasties fought with each other and the Byzantines, eventually Israel became a mere outlying province (not an independent state or nation) of Turkey for centuries, until the Ottomans fought on the wrong side in World War I. They forfeited their ownership to the victors—Great Britain, in this case. Then in 1948 the ancient land of Israel became an independent Jewish nation with UN approval, thus restoring the land to its historical owners. Again Jews returned to their land and city, though some never left—the remnant.

However, even though Muhammad never set foot in Jerusalem in a verifiable way and even though the Quran never mentions this city by name, Christians and Jews should respect later Islamic revelation—respecting is different from agreeing on it—that says Jerusalem is a place of pilgrimage for Muslims. Fulfilling a pledge to take a non-violent pilgrimage to the Jewish sacred city harms no one materially or politically.

Muslims should understand why Bible-educated and Bible-believing Christians claim that the ownership of Jerusalem belongs to Jews. History trumps revelation, which is always better epistemologically when a revelation and its inferences can become politically charged and are not believed by everyone. Conclusion

Islam’s militant and mystical claim on Jerusalem falls short. This religion comes too late in history to assert ownership over the sacred city. Military victories are fleeting, so they are insufficient by themselves. And non-empirical revelations that lay claim over a city, but never mention the city by name, are also shaky and suspect—and they would be such even if they did name the city. Muhammad never set foot in Jerusalem in a down-to-earth way. Revelations should not trump verifiable and ancient historical facts. So Islam is on the wrong side of history.

As for New Testament Christianity, even though Jesus did indeed walk through Jerusalem in a down-to-earth way and was himself a Jew, we Christians are looking for a New Jerusalem in heaven (Revelation 21), instead of an earthly Jerusalem. We are on a pilgrimage to the City of God (as Augustine calls it), not to a mundane city. Therefore, it is not hard for us, following Jesus, to let plain ole history take priority over earth-bound and geopolitical “revelations.”

Christianity and Islam—two latecomers on the world stage—should therefore back off from any claim over Jerusalem (and the holy land, for that matter). Longstanding history does not favor them.

However, unvarnished, unembellished history says that Jews should be able to live in and govern their holy city in peace.

This article has a companion piece that may be read here.

[1] For a timeline of the Islamic Crusades and for explanations on why Muslims launched their Crusades in the first place and on why people converted to this late religion, go to this article.

[familyop]

"Christians do not claim control or ownership over Jerusalem. Never have, never will."

That's pretty funny. Would you like to join a study of the history of Christianity?

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Oh. I need to study up on that.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Yes I guess I need to.

[rawhide]

Christians do not claim control or ownership over Jerusalem. Never have, never will.

That statement kind of threw me, too. I have never heard Christians making any claim to Jerusalem.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Yeah. I just thought we wanted to convert people by force. I didn't know we were ever after Jerusalem. I've been meaning to work on my knowledge of history in this area. So saying something stupid is a good motivator.

[InMemoriam]

Yeah. I just thought we wanted to convert people by force. I didn't know we were ever after Jerusalem. I've been meaning to work on my knowledge of history in this area.

Yes, until about a century before that little dustup, access to Jerusalem by Christians was allowed. The Seljuk Turks from Central Asia, aside from devastating Anatolia with a century of cavalry raids so badly that it became a wasteland they later occupied (now renamed Turkey), cut off pilgrim access to Jerusalem, as I understand it. That was the impetus for the Pope's call.

An inspiration I got from this article is the fixed intention to hereafter refer to the Jihad that went from Mohammed through the First Invasion of France (the unsuccessful one) as the Crusades, and creatively cause misunderstandings to pile up until it is useful to clarify my terms. The actions resulting from the Pope's call can be called the Free Access Wars. Although there was a great deal of folly from other causes later.

[newfarm4000n]

Is it a historical fact that "mo' ham mad" actually existed ?

[newfarm4000n]

____This is a pretty arrogant comment on someone else's religion...it is not for Christians to judge whether or not Islam's theological claims are valid

I disagree. Every belief system ( yes including the faith of Jesus's followers) is open to both analysis and if necessary ridicule . Islam is not above scholarly assessment. Just about nothing is.

[familyop]

I'll pass links to material including some transcribed/translated documents to you then, if you like. The study doesn't really have to disagree with Christianity. Much of it is stored on Catholic, Calvinist and other sites. Give me a little time to dig for it. Things are still a little unorganized here.

[Fred Nerks]

Israel: Moslem Claim to Jerusalem Rests on Wobbly Verse

Originally Published by Arutz Sheva News Service August

28, 2003

Posted August 29, 2003

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.

mohammad made the night journey to a far place on a magic horse with the breasts of a woman and peacock feathers in it's tail...as shown on this ancient drawing complete with its arabic legend. The depiction of mohammad is apparently acceptable to islam as his face is not shown...

[HighlyOpinionated]

I just emailed this article and the companion to my State legislators and to a Senator from adjoining Counties. I'm debating sending just the urls to my Senators in Congress. The more educated we are, the better we can serve. Or one would hope so. Here's a little crusader:

[emiller]

You know what are problem is? We don't have Crusades anymore. Nothing against moslems, it's just that Christianity and islam are diametrically opposed, and every few generations or so, we have to fight to thin the herd from time to time. Keeps things quiet. But all the PC nonsense these days just keeps things boiling and boiling. There's absolutely nothing wrong with fighting every now and again. It's perfectly healthy. We're just so afraid to fight nowadays. No one wants to risk their lives or time. So you end up like this, always worried, and looking over your shoulder. Peace can be defined as when your last enemy hits the ground, breathless.

[Cvengr]

A Christian point of view could very well argue that revelation trumps history, provided one in remaining faithful to God through Him. This is why discerning spirits is so important when understanding and allowing God to inspire one's understanding of His revelation. The best way to discern spirits is through Him.

[Bushbacker]

The ENTIRE article shows that there is no factual basis for an Islamazi claim on Jerusalem...that in true Islamazi fashion, they lay claim to anything they want first, then justify it with ephemeral (non-proveable for you in Rio Linda) and specious claims and arguments!

+____All religious claims are based on "ephemeral" and "non-proveable"
assumptions...Islam's claims may be historically later, but they have existed for over 1000 years and they're not going away...nor can they be dismissed just because you hate Islam.

[Fatalist]

Could I get a list of those links as well?

[Fred Nerks]

The Tajmahal is Tejomahalay
A Hindu Temple
By P.N.Oak

---

Probably there is no one who has been duped at least once in a life time. But can the whole world can be duped? This may seem impossible. But in the matter of indian and world history the world can be duped in many respects for hundreds of years and still continues to be duped. The world famous Tajmahal is a glaring instance. For all the time, money and energy that people over the world spend in visiting the Tajmahal, they are dished out of concoction. Contrary to what visitors are made to believe the Tajmahal is not a Islamic mausoleum but an ancient Shiva Temple known as Tejo Mahalaya which the 5th generation moghul emperor Shahjahan commandeered from the then Maharaja of Jaipur. The Tajmahal, should therefore, be viewed as a temple palace and not as a tomb. That makes a vast difference. You miss the details of its size, grandeur, majesty and beauty when you take it to be a mere tomb. When told that you are visiting a temple palace you wont fail to notice its annexes, ruined defensive walls, hillocks, moats, cascades, fountains, majestic garden, hundreds of rooms archaded verendahs, terraces, multi stored towers, secret sealed chambers, guest rooms, stables, the trident (Trishul) pinnacle on the dome and the sacred, esoteric Hindu letter "OM" carved on the exterior of the wall of the sanctum sanctorum now occupied by the centotaphs. For detailed proof of this breath taking discovery,you may read the well known historian Shri. P. N. Oak's celebrated book titled " Tajmahal : The True Story". But let us place before you, for the time being an exhaustive summary of the massive evidence ranging over hundred points:

http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/modern/taj_oak.html

[Cacique]

btt

[familyop]

Here are a couple of good references that you can bookmark and use to weigh paraphrased history sites against (as so many religious sites are biased and angry). I guess that the topic of past Christian-Jewish relations would involve both Christian and Jewish history sources.

Christian Classics Ethereal Library (Calvin College)
http://www.ccel.org/

The Fathers of the Church (New Advent - Catholic Encyclopedia)
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/

Here's one that's easy and interesting to read. It contains a brief history of Israel with some interesting facts from the history of Christianity (to be checked against Christian historical documents).

Palestine Facts
http://www.palestinefacts.org/index.php

And here is a more full history concerning relations between Christians and Jews. You can compare the history to historical documents (linked from the top of the same page) written by early Christians and others. Go way down the page to "Contents *The People of Israel."

Internet Jewish History Sourcebook
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/jewishsbook.html

Here's a relevant part of that one.

Jewish History Sourcebook: Jews and the Later Roman Law 315-531 CE
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/jews-romanlaw.html

...and another. You might start with "Jews and the Roman Empire" or "The Early Church."
http://www.dinur.org/resources/resourceCategoryDisplay.aspx?categoryID=424&rsid=478

The Medieval is important to learn from, too, though. For example, the massacres of Jews in Jerusalem and Europe during the Crusades...

I'll send you a copy of the timeline I'm working on if you want, when I've gathered enough sources. I'll link information in that timeline to the relevant pages of the Christian history references.

The purpose is not to be anti-Christian but to promote a little humility in everyone, so that we can be more good (morally). [g]

[familyop]

"Could I get a list of those links as well?"

Sure. I gathered them to post in this comment while you were asking. It's a lot of reading, but I'll try to make some progress on that timeline here. ...could take weeks, at least. Christian leaders and armies took Jerusalem and/or banned Jews from it several times during the Roman Empire and the Medieval period.