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Jerusalem and Islam
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Monotheism in Two Sacred
Sanctuaries
By Mr. Khaled Nusseibeh
When the expanses of existence, the glory of Divine Creation, and
the twining of places of sanctity manifest themselves in the
miraculous, a Muslim may think of the event of Al-Isra'a W'al Mi'raj.
This event was the Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) trek by
night from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem towards the
outermost regions of the skies.
Al-Isra'a W'al Mi'raj was recorded in the Holy Qur'an in this verse:
(Glorified is He who took His servant by night from the Sacrosanct
Mosque to the Furthermost Mosque, the precincts of which We have
blessed, that We might show him (some) of our signs. Truly He is the
Hearer, the Seer) Holy Qur'an, 17:1, Tr. Dr. M. M. Khatib.
Inasmuch as this event represented a form of travel that defies the
parameters of humanly knowable speed-- or the physics of time and
space-- (considering that the trek was made to Jerusalem, and to the
heavens in what is subject to experience), it also embodied a
lasting bond between the Sacred Mosque of Mecca and the Aqsa Mosque
of Jerusalem for the nation of the Arabs and Muslims. In fact, Al-Aqsa
Mosque was the first Kibla (the direction of prayer) of the nation
of Islam before the Ka'aba became the focal point of worship.
From the vantage point of Islam (which is a word that carries the
meaning of human surrender to God, inasmuch as it carries the
meaning of peace) the sanctification of the connection between Mecca
and Jerusalem is like a blessed tree, watered by the strivings and
yearnings and self-sacrifice of Prophets, saints, soldiers,
artisans, women, and people of all walks of life and nationalities
who revered Jerusalem as the Holy City of God and as a symbol of
human submission to the One Creator.
It was with this spirit of faith and righteous undertaking that the
ancestral patriarch of the nation of the Arabs and the Israelites,
the Prophet Abraham, planted the blessed tree of monotheistic faith
in Jerusalem and Palestine; indeed, Abraham (peace be upon him)
watered the terrain of Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula
with this blessed tree of submission to the One God through his
sojourns and travels in these ancient lands where the cradle of
human civilization had its earliest beginnings.
This message of human submission to God was shouldered by countless
hordes of humans who were awakened to the significance of God's
Covenant with humanity's collective ancestor (Adam), and who lived
in accordance with the fundamental premise of this Covenant: that
only God should be worshipped, and that only His Law should be
observed. This message was communicated by the Prophets and sages
and men and women of learning that belong to every tribe and race in
every age of human history.
This message was likewise guarded and defended against the follies
of corruption and oppression by the towering Prophets of the
Israelites and the Gentiles- the seal of whom was the Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him), the unlettered orphan of Arabia to
whom was revealed the Holy Qur'an- God's final Revelation to the
human race.
The Muslim conquests of the 7th century A.D. were to a great extent
motivated by the strivings of a new universal nation, with a
universal message of monotheistic worship and Law- to plant the
seeds of faith and justice in the Holy Land. In this sense, the
struggles of Abraham, David, Solomon, Jesus, and every righteous
individual, to purify the Holy Land of profanity and corruption
encountered great vindication when the Muslim-Arab army of
liberation entered Palestine (with the consent of its Christian
inhabitants) in the age of the Muslim Caliph 'Umar Ibn al-Khattab.
Jerusalem was liberated in 637 A.D. It is said that the pious Arab
Caliph 'Umar, upon entering the City of Jerusalem, insisted on
entering the city on foot out of a sense of reverence for its
sanctity and meaning in Islam. It is also a fact of history that he
refrained from performing prayers in the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre out of a fear that Muslims would forcibly convert it into
a mosque and thus infringe on the spirit of tolerance and justice
that the Faith and Law of Islam enjoins.
March 11, 1999
Mr. Khaled Nusseibeh is a translator and writer. He currently
manages the Ubada Center for Writing and Translation Services in
Amman. Born in Amman in 1961, he obtained his BA and MA from
Columbia and Princeton Universities, respectively. Mr. Nusseibeh,
who originates from Jerusalem, specialized in Near Eastern Studies
with a focus on Islamic thought and studies.
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