Yamani is right about al-Aqsa not being in Jerusalem. Of course he doesn’t mean the structure that is called the al-Aqsa Mosque and is on the Temple Mount. He is referring to the al-Aqsa Mosque that is mentioned in the Qur’an: ” Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from the al-Haram mosque [the Great Mosque of Mecca] to al-Aqsa mosque [“the farthest mosque”], whose surroundings we have blessed, to show him of our signs. Indeed, he is the Hearing, the Seeing.” (17:1)
Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem had not yet been built when this verse is supposed to have been revealed to Muhammad. According to Islamic tradition, he died in 632, while al-Aqsa Mosque was built in 705. Either the Qur’an passage refers to a different “farthest mosque,” or the passage itself was written long after Muhammad is supposed to have died, or both. In any case, the standard interpretation of the Qur’anic passage, that it refers to Muhammad’s Night Journey to Jerusalem on a winged white horse, al-Buraq, is clearly false, and that whole story is legendary, despite the fact that it is the basis for the Islamic claim to Jerusalem as a holy city for Muslims.
Find in-depth discussion of this, and many other oddities and obscurities about the origins of Islam, in the new revised and expanded edition of my book Did Muhammad Exist?, which you can preorder here.
“‘Al-Aqsa Mosque is not in Jerusalem,'” by Dean Shmuel Elmas, Israel Hayom, November 15, 2020:
Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, is not located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Saudi lawyer and journalist Osama Yamani is claiming.
In an article in the Saudi news outlet Okaz, Yamani claims that the mosque is actually located in Al Ju’ranah, near Mecca in Saudi Arabia….
“Jerusalem is not Al-Aqsa, which is not cited in the missions that Allah gave Muhammad and the caliphs. Similarly, Jerusalem is a city, and Al-Aqsa is a mosque,” he states….
Yamani backs up his argument with historic facts, such as the fifth caliph from the Umayyad dynasty, Abd al-Malik, building the Dome of the Rock in the year 691 CE. Al-Malak built the dome nine years after Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr rebelled and prevented local residents from fulfilling the obligation to make the haj pilgrimage to Mecca.
“At that stage, he changed the direction of prayer toward Jerusalem,” Yamani says, referring to al-Malik.
Yamani explains that “There are stories influenced by political considerations that served purposes of that time, and sometimes claims are made that they have nothing to do with faith or following religious dictates.”
rob says
Don’t tell this to the Palestinians. Their heads would explode.
Rarely says
Too late.
mortimer says
The original Al Aqsa mosque is still located at the edge of Petra next to a stream. It contains the spring that pilgrims used in the time of Mohammed to ritually wash themselves before going to the Kaaba.
Aussie Infidel says
Mortimer, Do you know where specifically this is located? When I was there a few years ago, I had a long discussion with our tour guide on this and other topics. He was very knowledgeable about Islamic history and astronomy, and how Petra was built by the Nabateans before the Islamic era. I asked him whether Petra was also once used by Muslims as their ‘kibla’ (direction of prayer), and if Petra’s most famous building (the Treasury) could have been the ‘far mosque’ refered to in their scriptures. He said that he had heard these claims before, but didn’t know for sure. There’s an interesting article at: https://understandingislam.today/is-mecca-or-petra-islams-true-birthplace/
As an old astronomer, one of my main interests was the marks on the wall of the Siq leading down to the Treasury, where the Nabateans marked the shadow of the Moon. From this they discovered the Saros cycle in the Moon’s declination of about 18 years. This information could then be used to predict eclipses – which no doubt would have been very useful for their priests.
James Lincoln says
Aussie Infidel,
“As an old astronomer…”
You’ve got my respect. About all I can find is the Big Dipper…
Rarely says
One down, 1,699,999,999 to go.
somehistory says
Their entire belief is built on lies…the lie that satan is “god,” that this demon “created” man, that this original serpent is the same as the God of the Bible.
The lie that islam came from Abraham and that he and all his descendants, and all of the Prophets written about in the Bible were moslim; the lie that isalm was before Judaism and Christianity and is the one ‘true’ and ‘only’ religion; the lie that Christ Jesus was a moslim and not God’s Son as the Bible affirms that He is in fact, “the only begotten Son of God, Prince of Peace, Eternal Father and the One Who will come to destroy satan and the wicked and evils systems the demon has built on earth over the centuries.
The lie that moslms tell about what Jesus will do when He returns as they make the claim He is coming to kill all Christians; they lie and say that Christ did not die as the Bible affirms, but that He had someone take His place.
So many, many lies. And they claim that Jerusalem and the whole of the Land of Israel belong to them, denying that these were given to the Jews thousands of years ago, before there ever was a the evil creature they call a “prophet.”
Their “prophet” is no prophet at all, but a lying son of satan the devil, mass-murdering, raper of children, slimy slug who fabricated everything to favor his evil nature and to pleas his satanic father.
Other moslims will not believe this journalist. They may even put out a hit order on him for telling the truth about the moslim barracks in Israel.
Rarely says
It’s all a matter of belief. They would say the same (or, at least, similar) things about Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, etc.
The New Testament is not an authority to anyone who is not a Christian. That muslims would take parts and twist them to fit into their belief system (or so it seems from comments here) would not be surprising. Of course they would do the same to those parts of the Old Testament that are at odds with their religion.
gravenimage says
But this bit is primarly aimed at crushing the Jews.
somehistory says
It’s true that moslims…and other people…don’t accept the authority of the Bible; either the Hebrew Scriptures or those written down by Christians.
However, archaeology proves that what can be proven that way, is true. For instance, the writings of the Babylonians, the Assyrians, Egyptians and others, as well as pottery, bits of writing of private citizens in Israel, seal rings with the inscriptions of the kings of Israel, etc. all prove that the Jews were in Israel way, way before there was that first moslim, morally corrupt creep of the desert.
When they find buried wells and cisterns, homes, pottery, writing, all well below layers of the time when moslims invaded and laid waste and claim to the property, it proves there were Jews there long before the moslim hordes arrived.
This is the reason that the moslims in Israel refuse to allow digging and exploration into areas of Jerusalem. They don’t want even more proof to come to light that they are invaders and interlopers in the Land of Israel and the City of Jerusalem. They don’t want the Bible to be found True, nor to have to defend their claims that Jerusalem belongs to them.
Infidel says
Cool! Maybe the Saudis can build/renovate a mosque in Al Ju’ranah, call it the al Aqsa mosque and then declare the one in Jerusalem as a fake. Bring over all the Palis to Al Ju’ranah, and tell Israel that they can go ahead and build a great synagogue on Temple Mount
gravenimage says
Saudi journalist states that al-Aqsa Mosque is not in Jerusalem
…………
Interesting. Of course, it is true that the “farthest Mosque” is never identified as being in Jerusalem, and that Al Aqsa Mosque had not been built at the time of Muhammed’s faniciful “night journey”. This was only assocated with Jerusalem much later.