Al Aqsa leader: Jews have no right to Mount

Following is a WorldNetDaily exclusive interview with Sheik Kamal Hatib, vice-chairman of the Islamic Movement, the Muslim group in Israel most identified with Temple Mount militancy. The Movement, which Israel says is associated with Hamas, campaigns for Islamic control of Israeli holy sites, and has been calling the past few weeks for Muslims to ascend the Mount en mass to protect it from "Jewish attacks."

WND: Who should have sovereignty over the Temple Mount – Jews, Christians, or Muslims. Or should it be shared?

HATIB: We absolutely believe that Al Aqsa, all its different parts, all its walls, all its courts, and everything down the mosque or up it, all these fully belong to the Muslims. Only to them. No one other than the Muslims has any right over Al Aqsa, or even over any grain of its sand. We, the Muslims, insist and emphasize that the only sovereignty over Al Aqsa must be for the Muslims. We will not accept or recognize any other sovereignty, including shared control.

WND: But what about the previous Jewish Temples? Do you believe they existed? Do Jews have any historic claims to the Temple Mount whatsoever?

HATIB: We the Muslims believe that Al Aqsa was built since the time of Adam – God bless him. It was built 40 years after the construction of the Al Haram Mosque in Mecca which was built thousands of years ago. Al Aqsa was built by the angels as it is mentioned in a verse of the Quran. The mosque is mentioned in the Quran, which speaks about the raising of the prophet.

We believe that the Jewish Temples existed, but we deny they were built near Al Aqsa. When the First Temple was built by Solomon – God bless him – Al Aqsa was already built. We don't believe that a prophet like Solomon would have built the Temple at a place where a mosque existed.

WND: What you are saying contradicts reality. There is no serious scholar or archeologist in the world who argues Al Aqsa was built before the Jewish Temples. And if the Temples didn't exist on the Mount, what then do you say is the Western Wall? What do you make of all the archeological findings?

HATIB: About the Kotel (the Western Wall), we deny any relation between the Temple and the Al Aqsa Mosque. We believe that the Western Wall is part of the mosque and not the Wall of Lamentation, as the Jews say. ... The Western wall is an inseparable part of the mosque.

And all the historical and archeological facts deny any relation between the Temples and the location of Al Aqsa. We must know that Jerusalem was occupied and that people left many things, coins and other things everywhere. This does not mean in any way that there is a link between the people who left these things and the place where these things were left.

WND: You have been calling repeatedly for Muslims to protect Al Aqsa from Jewish attack. Which Jews exactly are trying to attack Al Aqsa?

HATIB: We believe the danger over Al Aqsa existed and continues. As long as Jewish groups have ambitions to reconstruct their Temple at the same place of Al Aqsa, the danger of an attack will still exist. Some of these Jewish extremist groups even believe the years between 2005-2007 is the period in which the Temple must be built, and not building it by then means the Lord's anger will be directed towards them, as they argue. Therefore, this is a very sensitive period and we call in a very loud voice to all who are concerned that the mosque is a redline for us, and any harm caused to it will bring a great catastrophe and a great disaster. The Israelis and the Jewish people will have to face one and a half billion Muslims from all over the world.

WND: It seems you and the Islamic Movement are using Al Aqsa as a political tool to incite Muslims against Israel.

HATIB: Our relation with Al Aqsa is not a political question. Far from that, it is a question of religion and faith. We have the honor to fill this role in favor of Al Aqsa. If the Israelis thought that the Arabs in Israel would not have strong relations and feelings towards Al Aqsa, then they were mistaken. This mosque will always be part of our faith. Our demand from the Israelis and the world is not to desecrate it.

HATIB: We suggest to the Jews and Israelis not to be dazzled from the weakness of our nation at this period. [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon's provocative visit five years ago caused an intifada for the last five years and caused the killing of more than 4,000 Palestinians and more than 1,300 Israelis. Therefore we say that any attack against Al Aqsa means the deluge.

WND: You were talking about Al Aqsa being mentioned in the Quran. But I understand it is never directly mentioned. And the city of Jerusalem is not mentioned once. Commentators later concluded a verse about Muhammad descending to the furthest mosque referred to Al Aqsa. Meanwhile, Jerusalem is mentioned thousands of times throughout the Torah. Half the Torah is about Temple worship. Explain why you feel the Mount is not holy to Jews?

HATIB: The fact that Jerusalem is mentioned in the Torah does not in any way mean that the city was populated or built by the Jews. Everyone knows that when the prophet Abraham came from Arik in 1850 before Christ he was given by the Arab King Melchizedek the land where he and his wife lived in Hebron, and it was 600 years before Moses' message, which also proves that Abraham was not a Jew.

And your saying that our faith is based on this interpretation of the verse [about Al Aqsa] is a totally wrong analysis. The Al Aqsa of the Quran is the same Al Aqsa of our days, not any other mosque. That is what our Sharia says. As for what you say that Jerusalem is mentioned thousands of times in the Torah; it is not a matter of numbers and quantity. There is a very clear historical event mentioned in the Quran concerning the mosque that was built by Adam and where all our prophets prayed.

WND: Speaking of praying, currently, Jews and Christians can only ascend the Mount at certain hours on certain days, and only with approval from the Wafq (the Mount's Muslim custodians). If they go up, it is to tour. Non-Muslims are not allowed to pray on the Mount. Why is it so offensive to you if Jews or Christians pray on the Temple Mount?

HATIB: We don't want even these scheduled visits, which are allowed to take place only because of the Israeli occupation. The visits are not the result of a free choice of the Muslims and the Wafq. If it was not for Israel, these visits could not take place at all.

As a principle, we are not against the possibility that Jews and Christians enter our mosques, but in present there is a campaign against Al Aqsa and the Jewish occupation still has dangerous ambitions towards the mosque and every entry will be done to demonstrate a religious presence. Therefore, if they would enter freely into the mosque, there will be political consequences and interpretations that we cannot accept.

Speaking about the Christians, I say that every person who believes in God must act for peace and for love among human beings and not to help in creating hate and war. Unfortunately, the evangelical Christians believe in the necessity of a war of civilizations. Because of this belief, President Bush, supported by these groups, is leading this war against the Muslim world.

The crazy support of these Christian groups for Israel is based on their faith that the return of the Messiah – God bless him – would be in Israel. Therefore they support Israel, because they believe that the continuation of Israel to exist hastens the arrival of the Messiah. God forbid! The Messiah can never be the reason for war.

12:1 - This message concerning the fate of Israel came from the LORD: "This message is from the LORD, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the spirit within humans.

12:2 - I will make Jerusalem and Judah like an intoxicating drink to all the nearby nations that send their armies to besiege Jerusalem.

12:3 - On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone, a burden for the world. None of the nations who try to lift it will escape unscathed.

12:4 - "On that day, says the LORD, I will cause every horse to panic and every rider to lose his nerve. I will watch over the people of Judah, but I will blind the horses of her enemies.

12:5 - And the clans of Judah will say to themselves, `The people of Jerusalem have found strength in the LORD Almighty, their God.'

12:6 - "On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a brazier that sets a woodpile ablaze or like a burning torch among sheaves of grain. They will burn up all the neighboring nations right and left, while the people living in Jerusalem remain secure.

12:7 - The LORD will give victory to the rest of Judah first, before Jerusalem, so that the people of Jerusalem and the royal line of David will not have greater honor than the rest of Judah.

12:8 - On that day the LORD will defend the people of Jerusalem; the weakest among them will be as mighty as King David! And the royal descendants will be like God, like the angel of the LORD who goes before them!

12:9 - For my plan is to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

12:10 - "Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on all the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died.

12:11 - The sorrow and mourning in Jerusalem on that day will be like the grievous mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddo.

12:12 - "All Israel will weep in profound sorrow, each family by itself, with the husbands and wives in separate groups. The family of David will mourn, along with the family of Nathan,

12:13 - the family of Levi, and the family of Shimei.

12:14 - Each of the surviving families from Judah will mourn separately, husbands and wives apart.

14:1 - Watch, for the day of the LORD is coming when your possessions will be plundered right in front of you!

14:2 - On that day I will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses plundered, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken away into captivity, and half will be left among the ruins of the city.

14:3 - Then the LORD will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past.

14:4 - On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west, for half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south.

14:5 - You will flee through this valley, for it will reach across to Azal. Yes, you will flee as you did from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all his holy ones with him.

14:6 - On that day the sources of light will no longer shine,

14:7 - yet there will be continuous day! Only the LORD knows how this could happen! There will be no normal day and night, for at evening time it will still be light.

14:8 - On that day life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half toward the Mediterranean, flowing continuously both in summer and in winter.

14:9 - And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one LORD--his name alone will be worshiped.

14:10 - All the land from Geba, north of Judah, to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become one vast plain. But Jerusalem will be raised up in its original place and will be inhabited all the way from the Benjamin Gate over to the site of the old gate, then to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses.

14:11 - And Jerusalem will be filled, safe at last, never again to be cursed and destroyed.

14:12 - And the LORD will send a plague on all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will shrivel in their sockets, and their tongues will decay in their mouths.

14:13 - On that day they will be terrified, stricken by the LORD with great panic. They will fight against each other in hand-to-hand combat;

14:14 - Judah, too, will be fighting at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the neighboring nations will be captured--great quantities of gold and silver and fine clothing.

14:15 - This same plague will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other animals in the enemy camps.

14:16 - In the end, the enemies of Jerusalem who survive the plague will go up to Jerusalem each year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters.

14:17 - And any nation anywhere in the world that refuses to come to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, will have no rain.

14:18 - And if the people of Egypt refuse to attend the festival, the LORD will punish them with the same plague that he sends on the other nations who refuse to go.

14:19 - Egypt and the other nations will all be punished if they don't go to celebrate the festival.

14:20 - On that day even the harness bells of the horses will be inscribed with these words: SET APART AS HOLY TO THE LORD. And the cooking pots in the Temple of the LORD will be as sacred as the basins used beside the altar.

14:21 - In fact, every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be set apart as holy to the LORD Almighty. All who come to worship will be free to use any of these pots to boil their sacrifices. And on that day there will no longer be traders in the Temple of the LORD Almighty.

Zechariah - Chapters 12 & 14.

36:1 - "Son of man, prophesy to Israel's mountains. Give them this message: O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD!

36:2 - This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Your enemies have taunted you, saying, `Aha! Now the ancient heights belong to us!'

36:3 - Therefore, son of man, give the mountains of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD: Your enemies have attacked you from all directions, and now you are possessed by many nations. You are the object of much mocking and slander.

36:4 - Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign LORD. He speaks to the hills and mountains, ravines and valleys, and to ruined wastes and long-deserted cities that have been destroyed and mocked by foreign nations everywhere.

36:5 - This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My jealous anger is on fire against these nations, especially Edom, because they have shown utter contempt for me by gleefully taking my land for themselves as plunder.

36:6 - "Therefore, prophesy to the hills and mountains, the ravines and valleys of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign LORD: I am full of fury because you have suffered shame before the surrounding nations.

36:7 - Therefore, says the Sovereign LORD, I have raised my hand and sworn an oath that those nations will soon have their turn at suffering shame.

36:8 - But the mountains of Israel will produce heavy crops of fruit to prepare for my people's return--and they will be coming home again soon!

36:9 - See, I am concerned for you, and I will come to help you. Your ground will be tilled and your crops planted.

36:10 - I will greatly increase the population of Israel, and the ruined cities will be rebuilt and filled with people.

36:11 - Not only the people, but your flocks and herds will also greatly multiply. O mountains of Israel, I will bring people to live on you once again. I will make you even more prosperous than you were before. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

36:12 - I will cause my people to walk on you once again, and you will be their inheritance. You will never again devour their children.

36:13 - "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Now the other nations taunt you, saying, `Israel is a land that devours her own people!'

36:14 - But you will never again devour your people or bereave your nation, says the Sovereign LORD.

36:15 - I will not allow those foreign nations to sneer at you, and you will no longer be shamed by them or cause your nation to fall, says the Sovereign LORD."

36:16 - Then this further message came to me from the LORD:

36:17 - "Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by their evil deeds. To me their conduct was as filthy as a bloody rag.

36:18 - They polluted the land with murder and by worshiping idols, so I poured out my fury on them.

36:19 - I scattered them to many lands to punish them for the evil way they had lived.

36:20 - But when they were scattered among the nations, they brought dishonor to my holy name. For the nations said, `These are the people of the LORD, and he couldn't keep them safe in his own land!'

36:21 - Then I was concerned for my holy name, which had been dishonored by my people throughout the world.

36:22 - "Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD: I am bringing you back again but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name, which you dishonored while you were scattered among the nations.

36:23 - I will show how holy my great name is--the name you dishonored among the nations. And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign LORD, then the nations will know that I am the LORD.

36:24 - For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land.

36:25 - "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols.

36:26 - And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart.

36:27 - And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command.

36:28 - "And you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people, and I will be your God.

36:29 - I will cleanse you of your filthy behavior. I will give you good crops, and I will abolish famine in the land.

36:30 - I will give you great harvests from your fruit trees and fields, and never again will the surrounding nations be able to scoff at your land for its famines.

36:31 - Then you will remember your past sins and hate yourselves for all the evil things you did.

36:32 - But remember, says the Sovereign LORD, I am not doing this because you deserve it. O my people of Israel, you should be utterly ashamed of all you have done!

36:33 - "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When I cleanse you from your sins, I will bring people to live in your cities, and the ruins will be rebuilt.

36:34 - The fields that used to lie empty and desolate--a shock to all who passed by--will again be farmed.

36:35 - And when I bring you back, people will say, `This godforsaken land is now like Eden's garden! The ruined cities now have strong walls, and they are filled with people!'

36:36 - Then the nations all around--all those still left--will know that I, the LORD, rebuilt the ruins and planted lush crops in the wilderness. For I, the LORD, have promised this, and I will do it.

36:37 - "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am ready to hear Israel's prayers for these blessings, and I am ready to grant them their requests.

36:38 - I will multiply them like the sacred flocks that fill Jerusalem's streets at the time of her festivals. The ruined cities will be crowded with people once more, and everyone will know that I am the LORD."

37:1 - The LORD took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD to a valley filled with bones.

37:2 - He led me around among the old, dry bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground.

37:3 - Then he asked me, "Son of man, can these bones become living people again?" "O Sovereign LORD," I replied, "you alone know the answer to that."

37:4 - Then he said to me, "Speak to these bones and say, `Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD!

37:5 - This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to breathe into you and make you live again!

37:6 - I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' "

37:7 - So I spoke these words, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as they had been before.

37:8 - Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.

37:9 - Then he said to me, "Speak to the winds and say: `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so that they may live again.' "

37:10 - So I spoke as he commanded me, and the wind entered the bodies, and they began to breathe. They all came to life and stood up on their feet--a great army of them.

37:11 - Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, `We have become old, dry bones--all hope is gone.'

37:12 - Now give them this message from the Sovereign LORD: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel.

37:13 - When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD.

37:14 - I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I am the LORD. You will see that I have done everything just as I promised. I, the LORD, have spoken!"

37:15 - Again a message came to me from the LORD:

37:16 - "Son of man, take a stick and carve on it these words: `This stick represents Judah and its allied tribes.' Then take another stick and carve these words on it: `This stick represents the northern tribes of Israel.'

37:17 - Now hold them together in your hand as one stick.

37:18 - When your people ask you what your actions mean,

37:19 - say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the northern tribes and join them to Judah. I will make them one stick in my hand.'

37:20 - Then hold out the sticks you have inscribed, so the people can see them.

37:21 - And give them this message from the Sovereign LORD: I will gather the people of Israel from among the nations. I will bring them home to their own land from the places where they have been scattered.

37:22 - I will unify them into one nation in the land. One king will rule them all; no longer will they be divided into two nations.

37:23 - They will stop polluting themselves with their detestable idols and other sins, for I will save them from their sinful backsliding. I will cleanse them. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God.

37:24 - "My servant David will be their king, and they will have only one shepherd. They will obey my regulations and keep my laws.

37:25 - They will live in the land of Israel where their ancestors lived, the land I gave my servant Jacob. They and their children and their grandchildren after them will live there forever, generation after generation. And my servant David will be their prince forever.

37:26 - And I will make a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I will give them their land and multiply them, and I will put my Temple among them forever.

37:27 - I will make my home among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

37:28 - And since my Temple will remain among them forever, the nations will know that I, the LORD, have set Israel apart for myself to be holy."

Ezekiel 36 & 37

MOSLEM CLAIM TO JERUSALEM RESTS ON WOBBLY VERSE

From Arutz-7 Thursday, Aug. 28, 2003 / Rosh Chodesh Elul 5763
Print this article

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.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.