On the Holiness of Jerusalem in Judaism and in Islam (Why Muslims want to include it in their state)

American Thinker ^ | 12/22/2011 | Yonatan Silverman

[SeekAndFind]

SNIP SNIP

Toward this end (as well as to assert Islam's presence in its competition with Christianity), the Umayyad caliph built Islam's first grand structure, the Dome of the Rock, right on the spot of the Jewish Temple, in 688-91.

The next step the Umayyads took to make Jerusalem holy to Islam relates to a passage in the Quran (17:1) that describes Muhammad's Night Journey to heaven: "Glory to He who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the furthest mosque [al masjidi al aqsa]."

Pipes explains that when this Koranic passage was first revealed, in about 621, a place called the "Sacred Mosque" already existed in Mecca. "In contrast," he goes on, "the 'furthest mosque' was a turn of phrase, not a place. Some early Muslims understood it as metaphorical or as a place in heaven."

In other words, the line about the furthest mosque in the Koran is just a figure of speech. This means that there is no basis for associating the furthest mosque -- the Koranic location of the start of Muhammad's Night Journey -- with the city of Jerusalem.

In 715, Pipes writes, the Umayyads did something very clever. To build up the prestige of their domain, they built a second mosque in Jerusalem, again on the Temple Mount, and named this one the "Furthest Mosque" (i.e., al-masjidi al-aqsa), the exact same name written in the holy Koran. And in so doing, the Umayyads forced the city of Jerusalem to assume a role in the life of the prophet Muhammad -- a role which it never had.

[SeekAndFind]

KEY PASSAGE IN THE ARTICLE:

Perhaps the most convincing evidence of Islam’s very loose and insignificant bond with Jerusalem is how the Muslims related to the city after the caliphate passed from the Umayyads to the Abbisid’s in 750. Daniel Pipes writes:

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Jerusalem fell into near-obscurity. For the next three and a half centuries, books praising this city lost favor and the construction of glorious buildings not only came to an end but existing ones fell apart (the dome over the rock collapsed in 1016.)

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These days, the never-ending cry for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital surely contains a trace of the claim that the city is holy in Islam. But, essentially, the historic record shows that the actions and circumstances on which the claim is based aren’t very holy at all.

[LoveUSA]

Everything Muslims do is by force.

[massgopguy]

Jerusalem is the City of David.

[Chainmail]

Everything about is Islam is made up and phoney. The "prophet" Muhammed was a petty criminal who borrowed parts of Judaism and Christianity and blended it with arabian culture to form a violent and destructive pseudo faith. The golden years of Islam were when they had enslaved and coerced millions of people. Historians are loathe to bring it up, but for hundreds of years, Muslim pirates raided European coastal villages to seize prisoners for ransom or just eternal slavery and just considered it their right - until a small newly-emerging naval power took them on and defeated them.

Most of them would love to go back to those wonderful years but we should do everything in our power to stop this evil.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks SeekAndFind.

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

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[dennisw]

Jerusalem is the City of David—— Yes
Jerusalem is never mentioned in their unholy koran. Mecca and Medina are.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Hell, everywhere that Mohammed’s great-great nephew took a dump is “holy place” to one group of Muslims or another.

[Eleutheria5]

He ascended to heaven = he skipped town.

[Biggirl]

Jerusalem is mentioned over 600 times in the Bible. Never once in the Koran.

[dennisw]

Jerusalem is the City of David.

Jerusalem is not the city of Muhammad.....Everyone knows that sounds ridiculous and is ridiculous.
Mecca Medina are the cities of Muhammad. Mohammedans can practice their false prophet cult to the max there with no outsider interference. Normal brained people would be happy with this.

[combat_boots]

The city of value to the Umayyads was Damascus, and when they ran to Spain, Cordoba.