What Islamic identity? Islam’s claim to Jerusalem is based entirely on Qur’an 17:1: “Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing.” Muslims identify this reference to Masjid al-Aqsa as referring to the al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, and connect it to the hadith in which Muhammad is taken miraculously by night to the Temple Mount and thence into Paradise, where he meets the other prophets and Allah himself.
But the Night Journey of Muhammad is a pious legend with no historical basis; even if Muhammad the prophet of Islam was a historical figure, and there is considerable reason to doubt that, there is no evidence that he was ever actually in Jerusalem. And the al-Aqsa Mosque wasn’t even built during Muhammad’s lifetime, which makes it not just likely but certain either that the Qur’an’s reference to the Masjid al-Aqsa (the “Farthest Mosque”) either originally referred to another mosque in a different place, and not to the one in Jerusalem at all, or that this passage was written long after the time Muhammad is supposed to have lived, and thus has no historical value in any case.
“Turkey Hosts UN Israel-Bashing Conference on Jerusalem,” The Tower, May 13, 2014 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):
“Some” are looking to turn Jerusalem into a city of one religion, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said May 12 in a barely-veiled attack on Israel. He made the comment during the opening ceremony of a conference in Ankara on the status of Jerusalem, organized by the United Nation’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
“It is necessary for all of us to support Palestinians and to protect this cultural heritage. No one can act to destroy Jerusalem’s Islamic identity,” Davutoğlu said…
“Jerusalem is an issue for all of humanity, all Muslims and Christians. No one can take unilateral decisions and implement them there. Taking unilateral decisions means putting dynamite in peace in the Middle East. Jerusalem is our qibla [direction faced by Muslims during prayer]. Without taking care of the Jerusalem issue, there will be no peace in the Middle East,” Davutoğlu repeated.
The conference is taking place as part of the UN’s International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The organization’s Information System on the Question of Palestine (UNISPAL) issued a statement to the media on May 12 detailing some of the key quotes from the opening day.
Among the remarks UNISPAL saw fit to include in the press release was the description of Israeli “tsunami colonization” by The Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs Chairman Mahdi F. Abdul Hadi, who then called for a boycott of Israel.
Qadi and Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Muhammad Ahmad Hussein told the conference that “Israel was trying to judeize (sic) the city in many ways. Since the first days of the 1967 war and the occupation of Palestinian territory including the city of Jerusalem, Israel had been demolishing and destroying many aspects of the city. The Israelis were trying to marginalize the Palestinian and stamp out their identity. It was trying to surround the Al-Aqsa Mosque by building colonies. Excavation work was another measure used by the Israeli authorities.”
It was apparent to Wasfi Kailani, director of the Hashemite Fund for the Restoration of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, that “going back to pre-1967 and the legal status of the Western Wall, it used to be 3 metres wide by 22 metres long. It was now some 90 metres by 100 metres long and had been expanded day after day.”
“On the threat of dividing the Mosque, the Deputy of the Knesset every other day encouraged Israeli extremists to break into Al-Aqsa and try to pray, and so to not just visit but also change the status of the Holy Sites,” Kailani added….
G179 says
“Jerusalem is the issue for all humanity, all Muslims and Christians”
Not the “apes and pigs”, who happen to be the original owners of the place, huh?
mortimer says
The real source of Islamic religion was Petra. Warring Arab tribes destroyed Petra with catapults (the catapult stones are there still to prove it). A new location was required for the cult of Dhu Shara (the Arabian war god).
Caliph Abd al-Malik chose Jerusalem, because he wanted to usurp the Jews and Christians at the same time. Later, a caliph decided that Mecca in southern Arabia was a better spot, because his ancestors came from there. A pilgrimage far into the desert was a better plan and it connected Islam with the Arabs, not the Jews. So it was settled, but Jerusalem now had this massive ‘Sanctuary’ on the spot where Abraham tried to sacrifice Isaac. The next caliph decided to keep it, concocted a story about it, and voilà! The Muslims had another myth born…or several. They couldn’t care less about Jerusalem except to poke the Jews and Christians in the eye. That’s the main purpose of Jerusalem to Muslims.
kevin kiely says
You’re right islam only built the “dome on the rock” to usurp the Jewish attachment to the mount and declare victory over the God of the Jews. It was built in 691 to dominate the Jews. The lie is self evident to those who respect history. Enough is enough. Why is the truth so avoided in the media and the academic record? When we are forced to violently defend religious and secular freedoms with the blood of innocents we will have to answer for our inaction.
The Aton says
I think you will find that Islam came from Saba (Yemen), as is mentioned in the Koran.
The Marib dam burst in about AD 610 , and so the Sabean people starved and moved up into Arabia, as narrated in the Koran.
Significantly, the Sabeans took their circling rituals with them from Marib, and the veneration of the Queen of Sheba. The circling rituals are now performed in Mecca, and Sheba is a major figure in the Koran.
In addition, the people and texts of Saba were Judaean. It was these alternative sources of an alternate Torah, that were reworked into the Koran.
Aton
dlbrand says
(#SATIRE ALERT)
“No one can act to destroy Jerusalem’s Islamic identity”
Well of course, “no one can!”
Why, just ask , as they say in Islam, “the Buraq” –(“The mount on which the Prophet made his Night Journey, from Makka to Jerusalem and then up through the seven heavens to the Divine Presences“) –he (the Buraq) was, after all, supposedly, kinda, like, there.
(Ash-Shifa, Qady Iyad, P. 3, and many other sources.)
barbidoll says
“no man can see G-d and live!” nor even in a vision for He is a spirit.
Buraq says
Heard my name mentioned. So, just winged my way over to say that that lying Mouhammed never flew anywhere near Jerusalem. You can take that from the horses’ mouth!
Muhammed’s clown!
dlbrand says
Hey, “the Buraq,”
Good to hear from you.
I’m reckoning, it is safe we assume, you made you above statement, trembling, sweating and shying, right?
Flying fish says
Muhammad “flew” all the way to jerusalem on a flying donkey after smoking pot.
Alan says
Turkish Muslims should shut up about Jerusalem and return the Haga Sofia to the church.
Charli Main says
Along with the tens of thousands of other churches that the Seljuk Turks have defiled and desecrated all over Christian Anatolia.
Mike Maguire says
All of Mo’s malice, because
of the Jewish rejection of his revelations, is expressed in being a squatter in the holy eye of God.
The Aton says
I have had an ongoing battle with the BBC over the visit of Ariel Sharon to the site of the Temple of Solomon on the Temple Mount.
Here is my letter to the BBC regards their biased views (the sixth letter, steadily going up the BBC food-chain).
.
The BBC Trust,
180 Great Portland St,
Ref: Jews cannot visit Jewish holy sites – Ref: 2625538
Dear Ms Roski,
I cannot agree with the decision that has been made here.
So let me bring this issue down to the very basics.
According to the BBC:
a. If a Muslim visits their second most holy site (the Temple Mount in Jerusalem), this is is a pious act to be extolled and celebrated on all BBC channels.
b. If a Jew visits their most holy site (the Temple Mount in Jerusalem**), this is a provocation against Muslims to be condemned by the BBC in the strongest possible terms.
I would be grateful if you could explain this dichotomy, and therefore explain the BBC’s highly partisan position. And please explain why this biased reporting is not anti-Semitism.
Sincerely,
The Aton
** The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the site of the Temple of Solomon.
The Levite says
Its apparently muslims 3rd most holiest site according to the urban myth. The mosque was not originally as so, it was conquered in battle, it never existed at the time of m’hamed, he never visited it except in a wild dream involving a flying horse, its referral in their holy book is supposition, conjecture and convenient assumption and to add insult to injury they show this most holy place, no respect and their arses…..
bewick says
You waste your time Aton. The BBC is populated and run by far left and “liberal” loonies who, like muslims, don’t tolerate criticism. I know since I have complained on a few issues over the years. The responses are usually very polite but pretty well always absolve the Beeb of any wrongdoing. The Beeb can never be wrong you see. I discovered most recently when complaining of an Evan Davies “interview”. The email response was that there was nothing wrong but thousands had complained and the Beeb eventually had to offer apologies on air. It is a wonder that the Beeb actually manages to put on some good programming.
The Aton says
>>You waste your time Aton. The BBC is populated
>>and run by far left and “liberal” loonies who, like
>>muslims, don’t tolerate criticism.
I know. But I do like to challenge their brainwashed idealism by pointing out a few facts, and the dichotomies their reasoning. And this complaint is creeping up the food-chain, with six different levels of BBC management now having to justify and explain their bias and illogicalities.
Plus I sent this complain to all the newspapers too, so that they can also make comment. No comments on this one as yet, but the media did make comment on my other complaint – about BBC bias in the Syrian conflict.
And if the BBC received 10,000 complaints about their pro-Islamic bias, they may well sit up and think. More people need to make an issue out of this. The BBC online complaints procedure only takes 5 minutes to fill out, so it is not a time-consuming ordeal.
dumbledoresarmy says
Well done, mate.
Let us know how it goes.
dr andrew michael says
Last I heard, the head of religious programming at the BBC is a Muslim, so do not hold your breath for a favourable answer prof andrew michael
Paddy says
muslim arabs used to pray towards Jerusalem before they rather shrewdly realised that pilgrims were homing in on and spending their hard earned cash outside of the motherland. Voila! Mecca. Fast forward 2014. The muslim world would be’ just another’ faith system but for the discovery of oil in arab lands.
As one surveys the muslim world and the stark injustices that it perpetuates, basic human understanding dictates that one school or hospital is worth any number of mosques with which these oil/dollar rich are more concerned.
dumbledoresarmy says
This vile antihistorical mohammedan nonsense about the “Islamic identity” of Jerusalem is as mad as if someone were to proclaim the “Anglo-Saxon identity” of Cardiff or Tara or Dun Eidin and simultaneously deny that the Welsh, or the Irish or the Scots had any claim.
Jerusalem is Jewish. Jerusalem, Mount Zion, had been the centre and focus of the religious and cultural identity of the House of Israel for over a thousand years before ever Islam was invented.
Ofra Haza, whose forebears endured – and survived, per miraculum – the seven hells of dhimmitude in Yemen (where Judaism is a thousand years older than Islam), singing “Yerushalayim Shel Zahav”, “Jerusalem of Gold”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRijgRZmqvI&feature=related
And here is Psalm 122, composed and sung in Hebrew over one thousand years before ever the Arabic Quran was invented.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pagywxmnews
English translation:
“I was glad when they said unto me
Let us go into the house of the LORD.
Our feet shall stand within thy gates O Jerusalem
Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together.
Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD.
For there are set thrones of judgement, the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.
For my brethren and companions’ sake, I will now say, Peace be within thee.
Because of the house of the LORD my God I will seek thy good.”
And from Psalm 137: “If I forget Jerusalem..”.
Carmen Sporidis says
Davutoglu is soft spoken like Rouhani, they learn in the same class TAQIYYA, they are gifted liars. I read from his book how much he and his kind dream a NEW OTTOMAN EMPIRE, from the Adriatic sea to China. Jerusalem is just cherry on his cake.
Salah says
The Egyptian uprising, one more Domino Effect:
“Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking to limit the economic costs of picking the losing side in the regional power struggle over Egypt.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-11/erdogan-courts-gulf-s-billions-after-wrong-way-bet-on-egypt.html
umbra says
erdogan wanted to play leading islamic political leader in the world. Now, he has learned the hard way that he is relatively insignificant in the islamic world. turkey, simply does not have the resources ($$$$) to support erdogan’s ambitions. Even an unstable egypt can cause regional political setbacks for turkey.
erdogan simply does not understand that he is not an arab, but a turk. Therefore, in the eyes of arab rulers, he comes second each and every time to arab rulers (especially of the gulf states).
Insofar as his “covert” support for the opposition in the syrian civil war, one day that will come back to bite him. If and when this civil war is finally over, those terror networks/infrastructures established in and around turkey would also have to be dismantled – they serve no purpose other than terror and criminal activities. Would terrorists (and others who make use of it) simply allow that to happen? Perhaps, civil turmoil would then spread to turkey. By that stage it would be iran’s (and assad, if he is still around) turn to sit back and watch (realistically, iran/syria would want some form of payback).
bill says
The so called Night Journey is one of the more comical stories in the Quran. Not only does it make Madmo the only ‘prophet’ to have visited ‘god’ and returned and on a horse no less, but he also meets the earlier prophets, including Jesus reduced to mere gate keepers and not seated with ‘god’ as we might expect. He is also the only ‘prophet’ to have bargained with ‘god’! The intention of the fable is obviously to give Madmo the highest status and bolster his claim to be the last and greatest ‘prophet’
bill says
“going back to pre-1967 and the legal status of the Western Wall, it used to be 3 metres wide by 22 metres long. It was now some 90 metres by 100 metres long and had been expanded day after day.”
Of course this was carried out without the rest of the world noticing! All those huge stones had been collected and erected in secret! These people are such liars. I once was talking to a Muslim and his story was that Muslim ‘archaeologists’ had ‘proved’ that the ‘real’ Temple Mount was not in the place
we all know it is, but somewhere else!
Bull Shi'ite says
Yep. Those eminent erudites have “proved” that it is, definitely and without even the slightest shadow of a doubt, in Yemen.
*rolling eyes*
The Aton says
>>Mortimer
>>The real source of the Islamic religion was Petra.
I think you will find that Islam came from Saba (Yemen), as is mentioned in the Koran.
The Marib dam burst in about AD 610 , and so the Sabean people starved and moved up into Arabia, as narrated in the Koran.
Significantly, the Sabeans took their circling rituals with them from Marib, and the veneration of the Queen of Sheba. The circling rituals are now performed in Mecca, and Sheba is a major figure in the Koran.
In addition, the people and texts of Saba were Judaean. It was these alternative sources of an alternate Torah, that were reworked into the Koran.
Aton