Wow! Is it normal for the Egyptian government to publish something like this?On August 5, 2003 Ahmad Muhammad 'Arafa, a columnist for the Egyptian weekly Al-Qahira, which is published by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, wrote an article rejecting the established Islamic doctrine that the Prophet Muhammad's celebrated "Night Journey" (Koran 17:1) took him from Mecca to Jerusalem. 'Arafa, presenting a new analysis of the Koranic text, asserts that the Night Journey in Surat Al-Isra' (that is, "the Sura of the Night Journey") in the Koran does not refer to a miraculous journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, but to the Prophet's emigration (Hijra) from Mecca to Medina . [1]
Two weeks later, 'Arafa published another article [2] in the same weekly questioning the sanctity of Jerusalem in Islam.
No, their commentary more commonly runs along the lines of kill the Jews, children of monkeys and pigs, kill the Crusaders, and destroy America.