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Jerusalem’s Religious Significance Jerusalem in the faiths of Judaism


Jerusalem’s Religious Significance
Jerusalem in the faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
     by Yitzhak Reiter and Marwan Abu Khalaf

Jerusalem is unique among the cities of the world, with special, although differing, claims on the religious and cultural sentiments of millions of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It is holy for the three monotheistic religions because of religiously significant events that took place in the city. It is therefore important to set out the nature and meaning of Jewish, Christian and Muslim commitments to Jerusalem and their implications. We hope that such an approach will contribute to the discovery of common ground and lead to constructive policies and programs for the welfare of all the peoples in the region.

The Significance of Jerusalem for Jews

For the Jewish people, Jerusalem is not merely a locus of holy sites or religiously and historically significant memories. The city itself is holy,1 and for at least 3,000 years, Jerusalem has become synonymous with hope and meaning in Jewish life. From biblical times — when God, as tradition teaches, spoke of the place that He would choose for His people — to the return of the Jewish people to Zion in our day (however improbable it seemed until then), the continuous and unwavering centrality of Jerusalem in Jewish life has been unquestioned.2 (The name Zion properly indicates the Temple Mount and later came to signify Jerusalem the capital city and, eventually, the entire Holy Land.)
When, in 1006 B.C., King David unified the tribes of Israel and captured Jerusalem, establishing there the center of his kingdom, Jerusalem became the primary symbol of the tribes’ transition from “peoplehood” to “statehood.” The sacred nature of the city was assured when, during the reign of King David, the Ark of the Covenant was brought up from Kiryat Ye’arim, west of Jerusalem, and later placed by his son Solomon in the First Temple. As a reward for his act, God promised King Solomon that “Your dynasty and your sovereignty will stand firm before Me and your throne forever secure” (2 Samuel 17:16).
The Talmud records that because of three transgressions — immoral sexual behavior, unwarranted bloodshed, and idolatry — Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 B.C.3 The city’s Jewish inhabitants were sent into exile and the First Temple destroyed. In Babylon, the Jews were faced with the challenge of surviving as a people the destruction of their spiritual and political center. Their sense of devastating loss was poignantly expressed in Psalm 137:
By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows there we hung our harps, when our captors demanded of us songs; our tormentors asked of us mirth: “Sing us some of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I ever forget you, O Jerusalem, withered be my right hand! May my tongue cleave to my palate, if ever I think not of you, if ever I set not Jerusalem above my highest joy!
After the Jews had been driven from Zion, it remained in their hearts. The dream of Jerusalem’s restoration also symbolized the awaited messianic era when the Jews would be restored to Zion and Zion to the Jews, with all peoples acknowledging God as Sovereign.4 This sequence is reflected in the standard Amidah prayer, the central part of the daily service recited by observant Jews three times a day, during which they pray for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and for the flourishing of the Messiah. The traditional significance of being buried on the Mount of Olives, across from the Temple Mount, is based in part upon the desire to be ready at hand for the coming of the Messiah.
The Second Temple was built in 515 B.C., after a decree by Coresh, the King of Persia, and was later destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. Throughout the reigns of the Hasmonean rulers (leaders of the Jewish community after the revolt against the Greeks in 16 B.C.), and until the first Jewish revolt against the Romans in 70 A.D., Jerusalem was a center of pilgrimage. It was said that “He who has not seen Sukkot in Jerusalem has not seen life.”5 After the second Jewish revolt was put down (132-135 A.D.) and a 1,800-year period of exile began, the image of Jerusalem in Jewish thought took on three dimensions: that of historical Jerusalem; that of Jerusalem destroyed; and that of heavenly Jerusalem, the object of God’s promises and continuing commitment.
All over the world, Jews pray in the direction of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, mourn the destruction of both the First and Second Temples on the fast day of the Ninth of Av (a Hebrew month), and recite the solemn promise, “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand wither.” Even during the Jewish marriage ceremony, a glass is broken under the wedding canopy, as a reminder, in the midst of the rejoicing, of the destruction of the Temple. Likewise, it is a custom to leave a small section of a new home unplastered or otherwise unfinished in memory of the destruction. And both the Passover ceremony, known as the seder, and the liturgy for the Day of Atonement end with the invocation “Next Year in Jerusalem!”
In Jewish law, Jerusalem is considered the center, or navel, of the world, from which benefits to all nations flow. The beauty of Jerusalem is thought to exceed all other beauties of the world: “Of the ten portions of beauty which came down to the world, Jerusalem took nine.”6 It was in Jerusalem, the tradition teaches, that all great events of history took place or are destined to occur, from the creation of the world, the binding of Isaac, and the establishment of the inner sanctuary of the Temple — the “Holy of Holies” — to the dawn of the messianic era and the resurrection of the dead.
The significance of Jerusalem is also apparent in the proliferation of sources, from the Bible onward, that refer to the city. The Hebrew Bible mentions Jerusalem by that name some 700 times and by the name of Zion some 150 times. The implicit references to Jerusalem and Zion are even more numerous. In the words of Isaiah 2:3 and Micah 4:2, “For out of Zion will come forth Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
The Significance of Jerusalem for Christians

The early Church recognized the primacy of Jerusalem at the center of the Christian message. In the New Testament, Jerusalem symbolizes the new people of God redeemed by the Messiah, Jesus Christ. It is here that Christ will return to fulfill the Word of God and that the Last Judgment will take place (Rev. 21:1-3). It is the center of the world, Jerusalem, that will be the scene of salvation, the focal point of the messianic age.
The significance of Jerusalem for Christians has two inseparable elements: the holy places associated with the life and teachings of Christ — with His crucifixion, burial and ascension — and the community of Christians living in the city. Although it is the “new Jerusalem” (“heavenly Jerusalem”) that symbolizes the city of God for Christians (Rev. 3:12), nevertheless, pilgrims from all over the world encounter God in the earthly city. For many Christians, visiting the holy places associated with the life and preaching of Jesus Christ, and being in an environment where history comes to life, have proven an inspiration to their fulfilling the commandment of taking the Gospel into the world (Mark 16:15). Jerusalem for them is the place where the gift of the Spirit is present; where the Church was established (Acts 2). The first Christian community came to incarnate the ecclesiastical ideal in this city. The Church — the body of Christ, or the community of believers in Christ — is an earthly reflection of the spiritual entity in heavenly Jerusalem.7
Christians envision Jerusalem as the place foretold of salvation in and through Jesus Christ. That is, Christians recognize in their faith the long history of the people of God, with Jerusalem as its center, as the history of salvation that fulfills God’s design in and through Jesus Christ. The one God chose Jerusalem to be the place where His name alone would dwell in the midst of His people, so that they might offer worship that is worthy of Him. The prophets looked up to Jerusalem, especially after the purification of the exile of the Hebrews: Jerusalem was to be called the “City of justice, faithful City” (Isa. 1:26-27), where the Lord dwells in holiness as in Sinai (cf. Psalm 68:18). They prophesied that the Lord would place the city in the middle of the nations (Ez. 5:5), where the Second Temple was to become a house of prayer for all the peoples (Isa. 2:2, 56:6-7). Jerusalem, aglow with the presence of God (Isa. 60:1), is meant to be a city whose gates are always open (Isa.11), with peace as magistrate and justice as government (Isa.17).
Jerusalem is Christianity’s holy land, associated with the most important events in Christianity. Yet there is a remarkable absence of reference to the land in the New Testament. The Apostles were unconcerned with the location of the various appearances of the Risen Lord.8 These occurrences were considered unique in character, unrepeatable, and confined to a limited period, but not geographically located. Indeed, Jesus went to Jerusalem with the aim of creating a community worthy of the name of the people of God. The Book of Revelations proclaims the anticipation of the new, heavenly Jerusalem (Rev. 3:12, 21:2, cf. Gal. 4:21-27, Heb. 12:22). The name “Jerusalem” in the New Testament signifies not an earthly city, but a heavenly one, which is the archetype of the Church. It becomes a symbol of the final or ultimate community, where God dwells with His own. Thus, the New Testament itself exhibits a marked tendency towards what might be called a “de-territorialization” of the concept of holiness. Christians see the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise in Jesus Christ, who embodies the temple of God (Rev. 21:22). It is not the temple that is the center, but Christ; it is not the Holy City or Land that constitutes the “area” of holiness, but the new community, the body of Christ.9 According to this view, the Church belongs to an already existing heavenly city.
However, the land retains its physical significance in Christianity. The need to remember Jesus entails the need to remember the Jesus of a particular land. Jesus belongs not only to time, but to space; and the spaces that He occupied take on a significance of their own, so that the realia of Judaism continues as realia in Christianity. History in the tradition demanded geography.10
Earthly Jerusalem, in the Christian tradition, prefigures heavenly Jerusalem. It becomes the image and symbol of the Promised Land — heavenly Jerusalem. Jerusalem is no longer only a land and an earthly heritage, it is in a special way the spiritual heritage of humankind in need of salvation.11 Paul shares in the apocalyptic view that heavenly Jerusalem already exists on high. “But those who live by faith in Christ already live the life of the New Jerusalem and are citizens of Heaven” (Gal. 2:19-21, Phil. 3:20). Christians on earth already share the glories of the heavenly city, which belongs to that realm “where eye hath not seen nor ear heard”: a vision that emphasizes the transcendental meaning of the land. Therefore, the New Testament finds holy space wherever Christ is or has been and it personalizes “Holy Space” in Christ, who, as a figure of history, is rooted in the land.

The Significance of Jerusalem for Muslims

The spiritual importance of Beit al-Maqdis12 (Jerusalem) and Masjid al-Aqsa (the al-Aqsa Mosque) derives from the fact that for sixteen months,13 the mosque was the first qibla (direction of prayer) for Muslims. It is Islam’s second most holy mosque, after Mecca. Furthermore, Jerusalem is commonly associated with the “night journey” (isra’) of the Prophet Mohammad from Mecca to the Masjid al-Aqsa, as recorded in the Quran (17:1), as well as his ascension (mi’raj) to Heaven to receive the principles of Islam from Allah (God). Both events happened one year before the hijra, Mohammad’s move from Mecca to Medina, in 622 A.D.14
Accounts of these famous events record that, on his way to Beit al-Maqdis, the Prophet Mohammad visited the tomb of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) in Hebron (al-Khalil), where he performed two prostrations (rak’a).15 He also visited the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where the Prophet Jesus (‘Isa) was born, and performed two rak’as there as well. Hence, the holiness of Jerusalem to Islam has very strong roots, since Islam respects all the prophets before the time of Mohammad, though granting him primacy over and above those of Judaism and Christianity.
Jerusalem became an Islamic city in the first half of the seventh century A.D. when the Muslims entered the Holy City (in 15 A.H./636 A.D.), during the reign of the second Muslim caliph, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab). According to historical sources, “Umar came in person for the purpose of receiving the surrender of the city from its patriarch, Sophronius, who refused to give it up to anyone else. The sources also state that the caliph declared a special covenant (sulh, ‘ahd) to the Christians living in the city; its text developed over time into the form known as the Covenant of ‘Umar (al-‘uhda al-‘umariyya). In this covenant, the caliph guaranteed religious freedom and the safety of the churches and secured the lives, fortunes and properties of the people living in Jerusalem.
The Muslims recognized the area of Mount Moriah, with the Rock where the al-Aqsa Mosque stands, as the most holy spot in Beit al-Maqdis for the Islamic religion. The significance of Jerusalem for Muslims is documented in the Quran, in verses that mention it using the name of al-Masjid al-Aqsa, and in the prophetic traditions (hadith) of Mohammad, which give several accounts relating the importance of Jerusalem. Among them is the tradition, “Whoever wants to see a part of Paradise, let him look to Beit al-Maqdis.”16 According to another tradition, recounted by the last Orthodox caliph, ‘Ali ibn Abi Taleb, “The most exalted spot is Beit al-Maqdis and the most exalted rock is the Rock of Beit al-Maqdis.”17
The importance lent to Jerusalem led the Umayyads to strengthen their political and religious relationship with Beit al-Maqdis. This first becomes apparent with the Umayyad caliph Mu’awiya, who took his oath of allegiance (bay’a) in Jerusalem and was known as the “Prince of the Holy Land” (Amir al-Ard al-Muqaddasa). There can be no doubt that Abd al-Malik regarded Jerusalem as a holy place, in particular, the site of Mount Moriah, where he laid out the plan of Haram al-Sharif as it exists to this day. The connection with Jerusalem was also strongly developed by Abd al-Malik, no stranger to such ideas, since he had resided for a long time in Syria-Palestine and was the governor of the province of Filastin during the caliphate of Mu’awiya, which ended in 750 A.D.
In order to understand further the Islamic significance of Jerusalem, we have to turn to the fada’il literature, the elegies about the religious merits of Jerusalem.18 The fada’il literature may have existed from the time of the Prophet and continued to be transmitted in the Umayyad and later Islamic periods. The earliest fada’il books by Abu Bakr al-Wasiti and Ibn al-Murajja were compiled before the Crusades. But this type of literature was produced principally in response to the Crusades, to draw the attention of Muslims to Jerusalem and to reach jihad (holy war) to free Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Crusaders. The fada’il literature is vital to understanding the Islamic meaning of Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Islamization of Jerusalem occurred in the first year A.H. (620 A.D.), the year when Allah ordered Muslims to face the city as their first qibla as they performed their daily prostrations, and when the night journey and ascension to heaven took place. Because Jerusalem was greatly revered before Islam, Allah made it the site of reverence for Muslims as well, just as the ka’ba in Mecca had been built by the Prophet Ibrahim and his son Isma’il (Ishmael)19 and then turned into the first holy place of Islam.
The reason, therefore, that Allah had Muslims pray toward Jerusalem (al-Masjid al-Aqsa) for sixteen months and then ordered them to pray toward the ka’ba, and the reason that the night journey occurred between the two mosques — al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem — is in fact to confirm the link between Islam and the pre-Islamic religions.

Extracted from Jerusalem: Points of Friction and Beyond. Edited by Moshe Ma’oz and Sari Nusseibeh. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2000. Reprinted by permission.

Endnotes1. Mishnah Kelin 1, 6-9.
2. R.J. Werblowsky, The Meaning of Jerusalem to Jews, Christians and Muslims (Jerusalem: Israeli Universities Study Group for Middle Eastern Affairs, 1983), p. 14.
3. Tosefta Mehunot 13:22.
4. Raphael Jospe, “The Significance of Jerusalem: A Jewish Perspective,” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics and Culture, 2:2 (1995), p. 37.
5. Sukkah 51b.
6. Esther Rabbah (Vilna), 1:17.
7. Werblowsky, The Meaning of Jerusalem, p. 9.
8. This may be attributed to the fact that, during the first two centuries, the early Christians expected a speedy end to the age they lived in, and therefore had little interest in preserving the memory of the holy sites. Moreover, as members of a persecuted religion, they were unable to make public pilgrimages or erect shrines. J.W. Parkes/R.P./S.P.C., in Encyclopaedia Judaica (New York: Macmillan, 1971), s.v. “Holy Places.”
9. Werblowsky, The Meaning of Jerusalem, p. 7.
10. Marc H. Tanenbaum and R.J. Zwi Werblowsky, eds., The Jerusalem Colloquium on Religion, Peoplehood, Nation, and Land. Proceedings, Truman Research Institute Publication No. 7 (Jerusalem: The Truman Institute, the American Jewish Committee, and the Israel Interfaith Committee, 1972), p. 152.
11. Msgr. Michel Sabbah, Reading the Bible Today in the Land of the Bible. In pulchritudine pacis. Pastoral Letter 4 (Jerusalem: Latin Patriarchate Printing Press, 1993), p. 53.
12. Encyclopedia of Islam (1971), s.v. “Bayt al-Maqdis.”
13. Al-Suyuti, in A. Ramadan, ed., Ithaf al-Akhissa fi Fada’il al-Masjid al-Aqsa (Cairo, 1984), pp. 183-184.
14. The Quranic verse that confirmed the night journey (al-Isra’ wa-al-Mi’raj) is the first verse of Surah 17, which was given the name al-Isra’. The verse reads: “Glory to Allah who did take His Servant for a journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless, in order that We might show him some of our Signs, for He is the one who heareth and seeth [all things],” ‘Abd Allah Yusuf ‘Ali, The Meaning of the Holy Quran (Brentwood: Amana, 1991). The most significant hadith concerning the religious status of the al-Aqsa Mosque is “You shall journey to but three masjids (mosques): al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), al-Aqsa (in Jerusalem), and my Masjid (Medina).” Mentioned in Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari, vol. 2 (1981), p. 58, and Muslim, Sahih Muslim, vol. 2 (1978), pp. 975-76.
15. Mujir al-Din al-Hanbali, Al-Uns al-Jalil fi-Tarikh al-Quds wa’al-Khalil, vol. 1 (Amman, 1973), pp. 238-239.
16. Ibid.
17. M. Dabbagh, Biladuna Filastin, vol. 3 (Beirut, 1988), pp. 82-83.
18. Abu Bakr al-Wasiti, Fada’il al-Bayt al-Muqaddas, in I. Hasson, ed. (Jerusalem, 1979); Ibn al-Jawzi in Jibra’il Jabbur, ed., Fada’il al-Quds (Beirut, 1980); al-Hanbali, Al-Uns al-Jalil; Ibn al-Murajja, Abu al-Ma’ali al-Musharraf, in Ofer Livne-Kafri Shafram, ed., Fada’il al-Bayt al-Maqdis wa al-Khalil wa Fada’il al-Sham (1995); and others.
19. Al-Hamawi, Mu’jan al-Buldan, vol. 5 (Beirut, 1979), pp. 464-465.



Seven Places in Israel That Will Make You Cry: The Wailing Wall

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The view from the Western Wall, or Wailing Wall, in Jerusalem during prayers. Photo Credit: Photo: Gilad Benari

The Western Wall forms part of the western flank of the holy site of the Temple Mount. The wall is the imposing remnant of Jerusalem's Second Temple (Herod's Temple), which the Romans destroyed in 70 CE. Because it's all that's left, the Jewish tradition of visiting the wall and mourning the destruction of the temple also resulted in the name, The Wailing Wall.
Jewish tradition holds that despite the temple's destruction, the divine presence never left.
It's customary to write a note, ostensibly for divine consideration, and place it between the large, ancient stones. Regardless of your faith, it is remarkable to see the archaeological trace of an ancient religion. And to feel the power that it still exerts. At all of Jerusalem's holy sites but perhaps especially the Wailing Wall, it's really okay to cry.
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What is this Holy Land? Holy Land stretches from Egypt to Syria


What is this Holy Land?


Nowhere on earth is more sanctified than the segment of the Middle East known as the Holy Land. In this sacred space, the main monotheistic faiths believe, God entered into a relationship with the human race.
In this land lie the ruins of the world’s oldest civilizations. Its strategic location, at the junction of Africa, Asia and Europe, made it a corridor between East and West — and a much-trampled prize for conquering armies. Much blood has been spilt on its holy ground.
Various
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, by David Roberts in 1842 (Library of Congress)
It is a place of perpetual tension between Jew and Arab, and a place of extreme contrast in terrain — from fertile farmland to arid desert.
Pilgrims have come since ancient times. With the Bible as their tour guide, they endured all kinds of hardship and perils in their quest to visit the holy places.



Holy Land stretches from Egypt to Syria

The term Holy Land encompasses the places in the Middle East that are mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. It includes:
  • Israel and the Palestinian Territories (which hold most of the sites sacred to Jews and Christians)
  • Western Jordan (where Moses glimpsed the Promised Land and Christ was baptised).
  • The Sinai Peninsula in Egypt (where Moses and the Israelites wandered for 40 years)
  • Southern Syria (where Elijah took refuge and St Paul was converted)
This is the land described by God in Exodus 3:8 as “flowing with milk and honey” (that would have been sheep or goat milk and date honey).
Central to the Holy Land is Israel. The world’s only Jewish state, it occupies just a tiny proportion of the globe. It is the size of New Jersey or Wales, and about a third the size of Sri Lanka or Tasmania.
Various
Central to the Holy Land is the state of Israel (Wikimedia)
Around Israel on three sides are Muslim states, all much larger. And over all of the Holy Land countries are the footprints and landmarks of past conquerors — among them the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottoman Turks and British.

Holy to four faiths

The concept of a holy land became of great significance to both early Judaism and early Christianity. However, the expression “holy land” occurs only once in the Hebrew Bible (Zechariah 2:12), twice in the deutero-canonical books (Wisdom 12:3 and 2 Maccabees 1:7), and not once in the New Testament.
What made the land holy? According to biblical scholar and archaeologist Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, this occurred for the Jews when the Ark of the Covenant was carried into the Holy of Holies in the Temple at Jerusalem and “the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:10). From Egypt to Syria, it was also the place where the patriarchs and prophets lived and were buried.
For Christians, the Holy Land is where Jesus lived, proclaimed his Gospel, performed miracles, was crucified and rose from the dead. From early times, the followers of Jesus venerated places associated with him, foremost among them the cave at Bethlehem and the Holy Sepulchre.
For Muslims, veneration of Jerusalem as a holy place goes back to Muhammad, who prayed facing Jerusalem before he was inspired to turn toward Mecca. He called Jerusalem “the Holy City”. Muslims believe Muhammad visited the rock of the Temple Mount during his night journey on the winged steed al-Burak in 620.
Followers of another monotheistic religion, the Bahá’í faith, have their holiest site in Haifa, Israel. The golden-domed Shrine of the Bab is set on a hillside of terraced gardens.

Living faiths are part of the land

There is another reason for the holiness of the Holy Land — because holy people still live in it.
Various
Clergy of several denominations gather in a Melkite church in Jerusalem during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (© Custodia Terrae Sanctae)
As biblical scholar Leslie J. Hoppe puts it, “The Holy Land is home to sincerely believing Jews, Christians and Muslims, who are trying to live according to God’s will as they understand it. It is not always an easy matter for these people to follow the dictates of their conscience, yet they struggle to live faithfully and to hand on their respective religious traditions to the next generation.
“People who come to ‘the Holy Land’ and only visit shrines or historical sites do not experience the totality of this land’s holiness. No pilgrimage is complete unless pilgrims come away with a greater knowledge and appreciation of the living religions of ‘the Holy Land’: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam . . . .
“In particular, Christian pilgrims should spend time acquainting themselves with the local Church, which is, of course, the Mother Church of the faith. They should hear the Christians of the Holy Land give witness to their faith and speak of their hopes. They should learn of the practical ways this local Church lives the Gospel, and they should encourage their fellow believers to remain faithful to their commitment to Christ.”
Christians in the Holy Land now live in a predominantly Judaeo-Muslim world. In Israel they make up less than 2% of the population. Economic hardship, political uncertainty and discrimination have caused Christians to emigrate, especially from the Palestinian Territories.
Christ’s birthplace of Bethlehem, once a Christian town, is now mostly Muslim. There are more Christians from Bethlehem living in Santiago, Chile, than in Bethlehem.

External links
Christian Information Centre, Jerusalem
Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land: Christian sanctuaries
BiblePlaces.com
Israel Ministry of Tourism
Travel Palestine
Egyptian Tourist Authority
Jordan Tourism Board
Syrian Ministry of Tourism

PHOTO CREDITS: Where the images on this page are not created by Seetheholyland.net, links to the sources can be found on our Attributions Page.
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ALLAH AND THE TEMPLE MOUNT IN JERUSALEM


ALLAH AND THE TEMPLE MOUNT IN JERUSALEM


by Lambert Dolphin


 





Islam Occupies Jerusalem

In the 7th Century A.D. a new religion burst mightily upon the world scene, Islam. (Ref. 1) The prophet Mohammed was born in Mecca about 570 A.D. By the 608 the main shrine in pagan Arabia, the Kaaba in Mecca, was erected. After receiving profound revelations supposedly from an angel, and stirred by the polytheistic paganism and disorder at the Kaaba, the prophet went forth, rejected by his people, on his Hijra (migration) from Mecca to Medina. The Hijra of Mohammed in 622 marks the beginning of the Islamic era. Two years later Mohammed's followers defeated the Meccans at the Battle of Badr and in 630 Mecca was conquered by Mohammed and became the spiritual center of Islam.

The prophet died in 632 and was succeeded by Abu Bakr as the first caliph. The official version of the Koran was established in 650 during the reign of Uthman, 18 years after the prophet's death. By 656 there was considerable civil war within Islam among the "descendants" of Mohammed - disputes of all kinds about who was the legitimate, appointed heir to the faith. Shi'ite extremism in Iraq was part of this revolution and began in 685. These root disputations persist to the present day - Islam is a divided religion in many ways.

In the 633-637 Arabs conquer Syria and Iraq, followed by Egypt, then Persia in 640-643 - as part of the charge they believe was given to them by Allah through his prophet Mohammed. Arab armies moved into the Holy Land and were in full control there by 638.

Historian Steve Runciman recounts the conquest of Jerusalem:
On a February day in the year A.D. 638 the Caliph Omar entered Jerusalem, riding upon a white camel. He was dressed in worn, filthy robes, and the army that followed him was rough and unkempt; but its discipline was perfect. At his side was the Patriarch Sophronius, as chief magistrate of the surrendered city. Omar rode straight to the site of the Temple of Solomon, whence his friend Mahomet had ascended into heaven. Watching him stand there, the Patriarch remembered the words of Christ and murmured through his tears: 'Behold the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet.' (Ref. 2)
Omar is said to have been shocked at the filth and rubble that lay strewn about the Temple Mount. Because the holy site had been neglected, he made the Christian Patriarch Sophronius grovel in the muck. Afterward Omar set about clearing the site. He built a wooden mosque on the compound. Most scholars believe the mosque was built on the foundations of an early Christian church.

One well-known historical account contains the following details:
The great mosque of Jerusalem, Al Masjid al Aksa, the " Further Mosque," derives its name from the traditional Night Journey of Muhammad, to which allusion is made in the words of the Kuran (xvii. 1): "I declare the glory of Him who transported His servant by night from the Masjid al Haram (the Mosque at Makkah) to the Masjid al Aksa (the Further Mosque) at Jerusalem" - the term "Mosque " being here taken to denote the whole area of the Noble Sanctuary, and not the Main building of the Aksa only, which, in the Prophet's days, did not exist.

According to the received account, Muhammad was on this occasion mounted on the winged steed called Al Burak "the Lightning" and, with the angel Gabriel for escort, was carried from Makkah (Mecca), first to Sinai, and then to Bethlehem, after which they came to Jerusalem. "And when we reached Bait al Makdis, the Holy City," so runs the tradition, "we came to the gate of the mosque (which is the Haram Area), and here Jibrail (Gabriel) caused me to dismount. And he tied up Al Burak to a ring, to which the prophets of old had also tied their steeds." (Ibn al Athir's Chronicle, ii. 37.) Entering the Haram Area by the gateway, afterwards known as the Gate of the Prophet, Muhammad and Gabriel went up to the Sacred Rock, which of old times had stood in the centre of Solomon's Temple; and in its neighbourhood meeting the company of the prophets, Muhammad proceeded to perform his prayer-prostrations in the assembly of his predecessors in the prophetic office Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and others of God's ancient apostles.

From the Sacred Rock Muhammad, accompanied by Gabriel, next ascended, by a ladder of light, up into heaven; and, in anticipation, was vouchsafed the sight of the delights of Paradise. Passing through the seven heavens, Muhammad ultimately stood in the presence of Allah, from whom he received injunctions as to the prayers his followers were to perform. Thence, after a while, he descended again to earth; and, alighting at the foot of the ladder of light, stood again on the Sacred Rock at Jerusalem. The return journey homeward was made after the same fashion - on the back of the steed Al Burak and the Prophet reached Makkah again before the night had waned. Such, in outline, is the tradition of the Prophet's Night Journey, which especially sanctifies the Rock and the Haram Area in the sight of all true believers.

After the capitulation of Jerusalem to 'Omar in 635 (A.H 14), that Khalif caused a mosque to be built on what was considered to be the ancient site of the Temple (or Masjid) of David. The traditional position of this site, 'Omar (as it is stated) verified, by the re-discovery of the Rock concealed under a dunghill from the description that had been given to him, 'Omar, by the Prophet, of the place where he had made his prayer prostrations in Jerusalem on the occasion of his Night-Journey. (Ref. 3.)

The Dome of the Rock

In A.D. 691 Caliph Abd el-Malik commissioned the best architects to build the Dome of the Rock. His plan was based upon a Fourth Century Christian shrine on the Mount of Olives marking the site of Jesus' Ascension. The Caliph's new shrine was deliberately built as a political, economic, and religious counter attraction to Mecca. Medina and Mecca, the two cities holy to Islam, were under the control of a rival Caliph. Abd El-Malik sought to build up the importance of Jerusalem as an Islamic center for pilgrimage and worship. The holy spot of Judaism was now to be identified with the spot where Mohammed's horse ascended to heaven.

Another indication that Jerusalem was not considered of great importance to the Muslim armies is the fact that it was one of last cities taken by the Syrian Muslims after the death of Mohammed. It was conquered by a mediocre commander, and not by Omar himself. The Arabs first called the city Ilya (Aelia Capitolina) rather than Beit el-Maqdas (the holy house). An early Muslim proverb says, "One prayer in Mecca is valued as ten thousand prayers; a prayer in Medina is valued at one thousand prayers; and a prayer in Jerusalem at five hundred prayers." (Ref. 4)

Although Abd El-Malik had commissioned the structure, it became known as "The Mosque of Omar." The structure, however, was not (and is not today) a mosque, but rather a shrine.

Inside the Dome is an outcropping of the bedrock of Mount Moriah, the "Sacred Rock." On the rock's pock-marked surface is one indentation which is believed to be the footprint left by Mohammed as he leapt into heaven. (Pilgrims over the centuries have whittled off pieces of the rock---the Crusaders especially were known to chip "holy souvenirs" from it.) Mount Moriah is a long, extended hill in Jerusalem, extending north from the City of David and extending beyond the present North wall of the Old City. That same hill is the traditional site of Abraham's sacrificial altar for Isaac, the threshing floor or Araunah, and the site of the First and the Second Temple.

The Foundation Stone is not solid, beneath it lies a cave and a well known as "the well of souls."

East of the exposed bedrock in the Dome of the Rock is a tall cupboard where it is believed hairs from the beard of Mohammed are contained. Within the hollowed out chamber of under the rock are the "places of prayer" of Elijah, Abraham, David, and Solomon. The Muslims call this cave the "well of souls" where they believe the dead meet twice a week to pray.

In medieval times this spot was considered to be the "center of the world" and was marked such on maps. Since the rock under the Dome of the Rock, where the cave is shows the effects of quarrying above the level of the cave, it is logical to hold that the rock stood higher originally and that the threshing floor surrounded the rock and the cave.

The exterior of the Dome is covered with tiles from Persia as well as marble. The "Golden Dome" is not made out of gold but rather anodized aluminum. The original dome was wooden, later covered with brass, and then lead sheathing in 1448. The excess weight of the lead-clad dome caused grave concern for the entire building because of periodic severe earthquakes in Jerusalem and finally the anodized aluminum dome. Most recently, in 1993, a million dollars in gold foil was provided by the government of Saudi Arabia as a gift. As of this writing the installation of the gold leaf has now been completed and the dome is today resplendent in brilliant pure gold.

During the seventeen centuries of the Dome's existence it has undergone many repairs but it has not been substantially changed in overall appearance since its completion in A.D 691. After one of the earliest renovations in A.D 820, Caliph al-Mamun removed the name of Caliph Abd el-Malik from the dedication plate and inserted his own name instead. However he neglected to change the dates and his fraud is there for all to see.

The Dome's beauty

Writing about A.D 985, Mukadassi, the famous Muslim traveler born in Jerusalem, wrote:
At the dawn, when the light of the sun first strikes on the cupola and the drum catches the rays, then is this edifice a marvelous site to behold and one such that in all Islam I have never seen its equal; neither have I heard tell of aught built in pagan times that could rival in grace this Dome of the Rock. (Ref. 5)

A Denial of Christianity

From the Muslim point of view the Dome of the Rock was an answer to and a denial of the attractions of Christianity and its Scriptures, providing the "faithful" with arguments to be used against Christian theology. The inscriptions are seven hundred and thirty-four feet long in all, amongst the lengthiest inscriptions in the world. There is a great amount of repetition and many quotations from the Koran.

The following extracts are relevant:
Inner Face: South Wall. In the name of Allah the Merciful the Compassionate. There is no God but Allah alone; he has no co-partner. He is the Kingship and His the praise. He giveth life and He causeth to die, and He hath power over everything.

South-East Wall. Verily Allah and His angels pronounce blessing upon the Prophet. O ye who have pronounced blessings upon Him and give Him the salutation of peace. O, People of the Book (i.e. the Jews and Christians, always referred to as such by the Muslims -Ed.) do not go beyond the bounds in your religion and do not say about Allah anything but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, is but a messenger of Allah and His word which he cast upon Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe only in Allah and of his messenger, but do not say "Three" (Trinity) and it will be better for you. Allah is only one God. Far be it from His glory that he should have a son.

North Wall. The Messiah will not deign to be in the service of Allah nor will the angels who stand in his presence. O Allah; pray upon Thy messenger "the servant Jesus - (N-W Wall) the son of Mary and peace be upon him the day of his birth, the day of his death and the day of his being raised alive." That is Jesus, son of Mary - a statement concerning which YOU are in doubt. It is not for Allah to take for Himself any offspring, glory be to Him.

West Wall. Allah bears witness that there is no God but Him, likewise the angels and the people possessed of knowledge (S-W WALL) - Upholding justice. There is no God but He, the Almighty and All wise. Verily, the religion in Allah's sight is Islam.

Outer Face: West and North-West Walls. In the name of Allah the Merciful and Compassionate. There is no God but Allah alone. Praise be to Allah who hath not taken to himself offspring. To Him there has never been any person in the sovereignty. Mohammed is the messenger of Allah, may God pray upon Him and accept his intercession.

Praise be God who has not taken unto himself a son and who has no partner in sovereignty nor has He any protector on account of weakness.
If religious Jews are offended by the presence of this Islamic shrine on their holy mountain, Christians have even more reasons to take offense at the offense to their God, and the deliberate insults to Biblical revelation that the interior inscriptions clearly intend.

Mohammed, El Burak, and the Temple Mount

Since it is an historical fact that Mohammed never came to Jerusalem why is the Temple Mount considered holy to Muslims? One passage from the Koran does link Mohammed with Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. It is the seventeenth Sura, entitled "The Night Journey." In this Sura there is a dream or vision by Mohammed in which he is carried by night:
...from the sacred temple to the temple that is more remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him of our signs.
Islamic tradition identifies the first temple as Mecca and the second as Jerusalem. Mohammed's journey was with the Archangel Gabriel. Muslim belief says they rode together on a winged steed called El Burak ("lightning"). El Burak is not mentioned in the Koran, its first mention is two centuries after Mohammed's death in a document called Hadith, a collection of oral traditions.

After they arrived at the Temple Mount, Mohammed and horse ascended through the seven heavens into Allah's presence. Various spots on the Mount were later indicated as the place where El Burak was tied up before the ascent into the presence of Allah.

A later account of the night journey states:
The prophet of God said: 'While I was sleeping within the wall of the Kaaba, came to see me Gabriel and kicked me with his foot, so I sat up, but not seeing anything, I lay again on my bed. He kicked me then once more, and I sat up and did not see a thing, so I lay back on my bed. He then kicked me a third time and I sat up, whereupon he pulled me by the arm and I rose, and went to the door of the temple. There was standing a white beast, between a mule and an ass in size, with two wings on its thighs, digging its hind legs in and placing its forelegs as far as it can see. Gabriel carried me on the beast, and we went together at the same speed.' So the Prophet of God journeyed, and with him also Gabriel, until they reached the temple in Jerusalem. He found there Abraham, Moses and Jesus, among other prophets, and he led them in prayers. Then he was given two vessels, one filled with wine and the other with milk, so the prophet of God took the vessel with milk and drank it, leaving the vessel of wine. Seeing that, Gabriel said to him: 'You were guided to the true religion [Islam] and so was your nation, for wine is forbidden unto you.


Persian depiction of the Night Journey from the sixteenth-century. 

El Aksa Mosque

El Aksa is mentioned in the Koran in a vision of Mohammed's Ascension. It means the "distant place." This refers to its geographical location far from Mecca. El Aksa is regularly referred to as Islam's third holiest shrine after Mecca and Medina. The present mosque is believed to stand over the area where Solomon built his magnificent palace south of the Temple.

The El Aksa Mosque was built between A.D. 709-715 probably by Caliph Waleed, son of Abd el-Malik, the man who constructed the Dome of the Rock. Throughout the years the mosque has been destroyed several times by earthquakes and subsequently rebuilt. A few supporting columns east of the cupola are the most prominent remains of the original mosque that has survived.

The most important reconstruction was after an earthquake in A.D 1034 when the mosque was enlarged to house 5000 worshipers. The builders used capitals and columns of destroyed Byzantine churches in their reconstruction work.

Jewish Hopes Under Islam

The conquering Muslims brought a different attitude with them. In contrast to the Byzantine and Roman conquerors who let the Temple Mount remain in ruins as a proof of the destruction of Jewish nationalism, the Muslims restored worship to the Mount. Yet the worship was not of Yahweh, the God of the Bible, but of Allah.

When the Muslims became the rulers in Jerusalem some matters became easier for the Jews. They were officially allowed to live in the city and there is evidence that on certain holy days they were even permitted on the Temple Mount.

Reports say that the Jews would march in procession around the walls of the Temple Mount on feast days and pray at the gates. A document written in the tenth century indicates that one of the conditions for allowing the Jews to pray at the gates was that the Jewish community would be responsible for keeping the Mount clean. The Jews, the document states, were responsible to sweep the Mount. Other accounts indicate that Jews were employed in the Mosque area and that Jewish craftsmen made lamps for the Mosque.

The Mishna (Berachot 9:5) reveals that the Jews of all ages are required to show reverence for the site of their former temples:
No man shall behave frivolously when standing near the eastern gate, which looks to the Holy of Holies: he shall not enter the temple mount with his cane, his shoes, his purse, or the dust on his feet, nor shall he use it as a short cut, still less shall he spit there. (Ref. 6)
Inscriptions have been found at the gates of the Temple Mount that were probably put there by Jewish Pilgrims during the early Arab rule. One such inscription, when translated, reads:
You Lord of Hosts build this House in the lifetime of Jacob ben-Joseph, Theophylactus, and Sisinia and Anistasia. Amen and amen.
The names on the inscription indicate they were Jews from a Greek-speaking country. Though the Jews were allowed more access than in the Roman or Byzantine period, they were still far from their desired goal of retaking Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

The Crusaders Capture Jerusalem

In the last 1300 years, with only one exception, the Temple Mount has been in the hands of Muslims. On July 15, 1099 Jerusalem was taken from the Muslims by the Crusaders from Europe. The Crusaders slaughtered the inhabitants of Jerusalem in an unjustified carnage. The Dome of the Rock was converted into a Christian Church called the Templum Domini - "Temple of our Lord."

The Crusaders then began to use the Al-Aksa Mosque as headquarters for the Knights of the Templar who officiated the Temple Compound. A remnant of the Crusader occupation still exists today, the tombs of the assassins of Thomas Beckett the Archbishop of Canterbury (1118-1170). After murdering Beckett the assassins traveled to Jerusalem and took up with the Templar Knights. Their tombs are situated near the main entrance.

The Western world rejoiced that Jerusalem was in the hands of "Christians." The victory, however, caused Muslims to immediate launch campaigns to regain the city and the Dome from the Christian infidels.

The Crusader occupation was relatively short-lived. The Muslim leader Saladin (Salah al-Din) proclaimed a jihad, or holy war, to retake the land of Palestine. After ninety years of Crusader control, Jerusalem surrendered to Saladin's army on October 2, 1187. In contrast to the brutality of the Crusaders, Saladin treated the defeated Crusaders with kindness and mercy.

The golden cross that was placed on the Dome of the Rock was torn down. Saladin rededicated the Templar's headquarters as a mosque. The Dome was covered with beautiful mosaics and a prayer niche facing Mecca was added.

Jerusalem was back in the hands of the Muslims and Europe was ready to avenge the defeat. A Third Crusade was undertaken (1189-1192) to free Jerusalem from the armies of Saladin. Richard the Lion-hearted led England and other Crusaders in a fruitless attempt to retake the city. To this day, the Temple Mount remains in Muslim control.

Jerusalem Lies Desolate

In 1267 the Jewish sage Nahmanides wrote to a letter to his son. It contained the following references to the land and the Temple.
What shall I say of this land . . . The more holy the place the greater the desolation. Jerusalem is the most desolate of all . . . There are about 2,000 inhabitants . . . but there are no Jews, for after the arrival of the Tartars, the Jews fled, and some were killed by the sword. There are now only two brothers, dyers, who buy their dyes from the government. At their place a quorum of worshippers meets on the Sabbath, and we encourage them, and found a ruined house, built on pillars, with a beautiful dome, and made it into a synagogue . . . People regularly come to Jerusalem, men and women from Damascus and from Aleppo and from all parts of the country, to see the Temple and weep over it. And may He who deemed us worthy to see Jerusalem in her ruins, grant us to see her rebuilt and restored, and the honor of the Divine Presence returned.
An account exists of Napoleons visit to the Temple Mount of the 9th Av, the day of the commemoration of the Temple's destruction. When asked what all the crying and wailing was about, Napoleon was told that the Jews were mourning their Temple which had been destroyed 1900 years previously. Touched by the incident the French Monarch said, "a people which weeps and mourns for the loss of its homeland 1800 year ago and does not forget - such a people will never be destroyed. Such a people can rest assured that its homeland will be returned to it."

Jerusalem Under Turkish Rule

The Ottoman Turks, non-Arab Muslims, became the dominant power in the 15th century. In 1453 they captured the city of Constantinople and brought about the final destruction of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine). They renamed the city Istanbul and made it the center of their empire.

In 1517, under Sultan Selim I, the Turks captured Jerusalem and all of Israel. The rule of the Turks over Jerusalem would last exactly four hundred years. The walls which today surround the Old City were built by Suleiman the Magnificent, son of Sultan Selim. Suleiman restored the Al Aksa Mosque and some of the present stained glass windows date from this period.

The Arabs found themselves under the domination of the Turks. For four hundred years of Turkish rule the Arabs did not possess even a single, independent state.

Jews Hope for Return

Even during the Jewish exile extending over many centuries, the people continually expressed hope for a return to Jerusalem, for the rebuilding of the city and of the Temple. Two eighteenth century rabbis, Jacob Emden and Jonathan Eibschutz were fierce rivals. On the subject of returning to Jerusalem, however they saw eye to eye. Emden wrote:
We do not mourn properly over Jerusalem. Were we guilty of this transgression alone, it would be sufficient reason for the extension of the period of our Exile. In my opinion this is the most likely, most apparent and the strongest reason for all of the dreadful terrifying persecutions which have been fallen us in Exile, in all the places of our dispersion. We have been hotly pursued. We have not been granted rest among the nations with our humiliation, affliction and homelessness, because this sense of mourning has left our hearts. While becoming complacent in a land not ours, we have forgotten Jerusalem; we have not taken it to heart. Therefore, "Like one who is dead we have been forgotten," from generation to generation sorrow is added to our sorrow and our pain.
Eibschutz concurred:
One must weep ceaselessly over the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the restoration of the glory of King David, for that is the object of human perfection. If we do not have Jerusalem and the kingdom of the House of David, why should we have life? . . . Since our many transgressions have led to the Destruction and to the desolation of our glorious Temple and the loss of the kingdom of the House of David, the degree which we suffer the absence and the lack of good is known to all. Surely have we descended from life until death. And the converse is also true: "When the Lord restores the captivity of Zion," we shall ascend from death unto life. Certainly the heart of anyone who possesses the soul of a Jew is broken when he recalls the destruction of Jerusalem. (Ref. 6)
The hope of the Jews in diaspora is that one day they would again come to their land, rebuild the Holy City, and their Temple.

Non-Muslims Barred from the Temple Mount

J.T. Barclay in the mid 19th Century wrote about the barring of those from the Mount who were not of the Islamic faith:
When the clock of the Mosk needs repairing, they are compelled, however reluctantly to employ a Frank. But in order to have a clean conscience in the commission of such an abominable piece of sacrilege as the admission upon the sacred premises, they adopt the following expedient. The mechanic selected being thoroughly purged from his uncleanness ablution . . . a certain formula of prayer and incantation is sung over him at the gate. This being satisfactorily concluded, he is considered as exorcised, not only of Christianity (or Judaism, as the case may be), but of humanity also; and is declared to be no longer a man but a donkey. He is then mounted upon the shoulders of the faithful, lest . . . the ground should be polluted by his footsteps; and being carried to the spot where his labours are required, he is set down upon matting within certain prescribed limits; and the operation being performed, he is carried back to the gate, and there, by certain other ceremonies, he is duly undonkeyfied and transmuted back into a man again.

More Jewish Persecution

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, Jewish persecution was on the increase. In 1882, as a result of persecution of the Jews in Russia and Romania, the first immigration of Jewish settlers to Palestine began.

In 1891 Arab leaders prepared a petition to the Ottoman government in Constantinople to demand and end to Jewish immigration into Palestine and prohibit Jewish land purchases.

In 1896 Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionism published the Jewish State. He argued that the only way in which the "Jewish problem" can be resolved is by establishing a Jewish state in Palestine. Herzl's writing start the Jews on the road back to their Promised homeland.

The Ill-Fated Parker Expedition

During the time of Turkish rule, at the beginning of this century, one of the biggest uproars that ever occurred around the Temple Mount took place. It was the ill-fated Parker expedition. Captain Montague Parker organized an expedition to Jerusalem to find a $200 million treasure that was supposedly hidden underneath the Temple. A Swedish philosopher named Valter H. Juvelius thought he found a coded passage in the book of Ezekiel that gave the location of this lost treasure. Since digging was not allowed on the Temple Mount Parker and his group had to content themselves with digging around the area. After months of digging around the Temple Mount no "secret passage" could be found. With their permit to dig about to expire Parker bribed the Turkish governor to let him and his cohorts secretly dig on the Temple Mount. Dressed in Arab garb the group came to the Mount at night and stealthily dug while it was dark. For about a week they continued this practice. However just when they began to excavate the place where they believed the treasure to be fate intervened. An attendant of the Mosque decided to sleep that night on Temple Mount. Hearing strange noises coming from the Mosque he decided to investigate. He came upon Parker and his illegal dig. Immediately the horrified Muslim took to the streets to reveal with sacrilege. This result was a riot:

On the morning of April 19, 1911, a crowd of angry Muslims, outraged at what they considered to be a desecration of the holy Mosque of Omar or the Dome of the Rock, rampaged through the streets of Jerusalem, quickly mobbing the entrance to the government citadel. The Turkish governor of the city, fearing for his own life at the hands of the crowd ordered troops to quell the disturbance. But the soldiers were unable to control the growing mobs, and by nightfall, rioting and mayhem had spread to all parts of the city.

Never before had an archaeological expedition ended in so violent an uproar. But never before had there been an archaeological expedition quite like Captain Parker's. Conceived in folly, but planned with cunning, the Parker Mission had come to Jerusalem with a single goal: to locate and unearth the fantastic treasure of Solomon's Temple buried beneath the Temple Mount. (Ref. 7)

Parker and his companion escaped with their lives but the episode is another of the strange events that have occurred around the Temple and the Temple Mount.

Israel and World War I

When the first World War occurred the Arabs helped the British fight the Turks. D.E. Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia - was instrumental in achieving the victory over the Ottoman Empire.

In October in 1917 General Allenby launched an invasion on the land of Palestine. On Sunday, December 9th, the Turks were driven out of Jerusalem. Two days later the General made his entry into conquered Jerusalem on foot. He said no one could enter the holy city except in humility on foot. He said upon entering:
Since your city is regarded with affection by the adherents of three great religions of mankind, and its soil has been consecrated by the prayers and the pilgrimages of devout people of these three religions for many centuries, therefore I do make known to you . . . that all sacred buildings will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those who faiths are sacred. (Ref. 8)
Britain, France and Russia then forged what became known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement which was a plan to carve up the old Ottoman Empire following Turkey's defeat in World War I. Britain gained control of Palestine under this agreement. For the first time in four hundred years the Holy sites of Christianity were delivered from the domination of Islam.

The Balfour Declaration

On November 2, 1917 the British government, in the Balfour declaration, pledged its support for a nation home in Palestine for the Jews. British Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour wrote a letter to Baron Edward de Rothchild as a representative of the Jewish people:
His majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing and non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. (Ref. 9)
The Arabs believed they had been betrayed. Because the Arabs had help the British oust the Turks they expected to receive full control of Palestine. Britain said that Arab independence did not include the land of Palestine.

The situation was bad for both Jews and Arabs. The Turks were no longer in control it was now the British who were their new masters.

The Riots of 1929

The land of Palestine saw riots occur in 1929. Agents of the Grand Mufti began spreading false rumors among the Palestinian Arabs that the Jews planned to attack the Dome of the Rock. An armed Arab mob, inflamed by these claims, descended upon the Jewish part of Jerusalem on August 23. The following week the violence spread throughout the entire country. By the time British reinforcement arrived 133 Jews had been killed as well as 116 Arabs. This outbreak had an important impact on British policy concerning the Holy Land. Again the Temple Mount was at the center of the controversy.

As we have already observed, history has afforded many example of anti-Semitism among "Christians." Yet there are many examples of others who helped the Jews. One person who made a significant contribution toward the rebirth of the State of Israel was Orde Wingate.

From 1936-1939 the Arabs of Palestine revolt in an attempt to halt the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. British army units as well as Jewish settlements come under attack.

Captain Wingate, a Bible-believing Christian, was posted as an intelligence officer to Jerusalem in 1936. At the time of his arrival, a new wave or terrorism had broken out among the settlements. To counter this terrorism, Wingate trained special units that helped defend against the Arab attacks. He introduced successful techniques in countering the marauding bands. His heroic efforts did much to insure the security of the Jewish settlers.

Wingate explained why he felt responsible to help the Jewish people:
This is the cause of your survival. I count it as my privilege to help you fight your battle. To that purpose I want to devote my life. I believe that the very existence of mankind is justified when it is based on the moral foundation of the Bible. Whoever dares lift a hand against you and your enterprise here should be fought against. Whether it is jealously, ignorance or perverted doctrine, such as have made your neighbors rise against you, or "politics" which make some of my countrymen support them, I shall fight with you against any of these influences. But remember that it is your battle. My part, which I say I feel to be a privilege, is only to help you. (Ref. 10)
The example of Orde Wingate serves as a reminder that those who accept the Bible literally cannot help but have a love for God's Chosen People the Jews. Wingate's story is in contrast to the unspeakable things said and done in the past by those who claimed they were doing it in the name of Christ. To those individuals who persecuted the Jews, desecrated the Temple Mount and other Jewish Holy Places, all in the name of Christianity, Jesus said: "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! (Matthew 7:23).

The United Nations Partition Plan

The British finally gave up and turned the problem of Palestine over to the United Nations. The United Nations votes to partition the land of Palestine into two states: one for the Palestinian Arabs and the other for the Jews. War was inevitable.

The British mandate was slated to end on May 15, 1948. The Arab leaders promised they would invade Palestine at that date and crush the Jews. Poised on the border were the armies of Egypt, Syria and Iraq. They were ready to deliver the death blow to the newly formed state. The Jordanian army had already strategic positions within Palestine. The Jews had no planes, tanks or artillery to handle a full-scale invasion. Furthermore, there was no place for them to retreat. Everything looked hopeless.


May 14, 1948 - Israel Reborn as a Nation

On May 14, 1948, against all the odds, the modern state of Israel was reborn. At four o'clock that afternoon the members of the provisional national council, led by David Ben-Gurion, met in the Tel Aviv Art Museum. Ben-Gurion rose and read the following proclamation to the assembled guests:
The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here there spiritual, religious and national identity was formed. Here they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote and gave the Bible to the world.

Exiled from Palestine, the Jewish people remained, faithful to it in all countries of their dispersion, never ceasing to pray and hope for their return and the restoration of their national freedom. . .

Accordingly we, the members of the National Council, representing the Jewish people in Palestine and the Zionist movement of the world, met together in solemn assemble today, the day of the termination of the British Mandate of Palestine, by virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish people and the Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations, hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called ISRAEL . . .

With trust in Almighty God, we set out hand to this declaration, at this session of the Provisional State Council, in the city of Tel Aviv, on this Sabbath eve, the fifth year of Iyar, 5708, the fourteenth day of May, 1948.

The War of Independence

As promised by her enemies, the new state of Israel was attacked by Arab forces as soon as their independence was declared. The result was victory for Israel and defeat for their Arab enemies. Jews started to return to Israel. Time magazine reported:
Out of the concentration camps, ghettos, courtrooms, theatres and factories of Europe the Chosen People had assembled and won their first great military victory since 166-160 B.C. Israel's victory came after the worst of a thousand persecutions.
As we have noted, the Bible had predicted the Lord would scatter His people as a consequent of their disobedience under the Palestinian covenant:
Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither your nor your fathers have known---wood and stone. And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. (Deuteronomy 28:64-66).
But also under the terms of the same covenant and in keeping his other covenants with Israel, scripture also predicted God would bring the people of Israel back to their own land:
Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among the nations where the Lord your God drives, you, and you will return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I commanded you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lord will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord God has scattered you. (Deuteronomy 30:1-3).
Yet now they were back, but not totally. The Jews did not control the Temple Mount area or the Old City of Jerusalem. In 1948 full Muslim control of the Old City of Jerusalem including the Temple Mount returned to Islamic rule when King Abdullah took that part of the city in the war with Israel.

Jordanian King Assassinated on the Temple Mount

The Temple Mount remained in the headlines. In 1951 King Abdullah of Transjordan was assassinated at the entrance of the El Aksa Mosque. A bullet-scarred pillar just inside the entrance serves as a reminder of the event. His youngest son, King Hussein, took over his rule at the age of seventeen. It was his grandson, King Hussein, who was the first person to full lift restrictions to non-Muslims to visit the Enclosures and the interior of the Dome of the Rock and the El-Aksa Mosque.

Israel without a Center

From the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, there has been no real center for the Jews. They have not been able to perform their religious duties as the Scriptures call for. Synagogues are not the same thing as the Temple---all Jews recognize this fact. Synagogues are places of prayer, reading, and training. The priesthood has been inactive since Jerusalem's fall. This also was predicted in Scripture:
For the children of Israel will abide many days without a king and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod and without teraphim (Hosea 3:4).
The ephod and teraphim were vestments of the priest. The priest was not able to perform his duties without them. For two thousand years the nation Israel has had a religion without a Temple; believers without a sanctuary; and a liturgy without the ability to sacrifice.

From their dispersion world-wide the Jews have wished for access to the Temple site, any remnant of the Second Temple, and the possibility of building a Third Temple. This has been their dream.

Since the fall of Jerusalem, the Jews have suffered repeated humiliations as the Holy Places in Palestine have been desecrated. The domes of the two buildings on the Temple Mount stand high and reflect the bright sunshine. This serves as a reminder to the people that "pagan" holy places are on the site of their sacred Temple.

The words of the prophet Ezekiel are true today as ever:
"And their Holy Places shall be defiled . . . The enemy has said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession." (Ezekiel 7:234; 36:2)
From the time of the destruction of the Second Temple until June of 1967 the city, except for three short years under Bar Kochba, had never been in Jewish control. The story of the Jews is one of wandering, humiliation. Yet after twenty centuries the Jews came back and the modern state of Israel was reborn - in one day.

Mark Twain wrote:
If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one per cent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of; but he is heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine . . . are also way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendour, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality? (Ref. 10)
Though the modern State of Israel was reborn, Jerusalem was not completely in their hands and the Temple Mount was still in the control of others. Between 1948 and 1967 the area of the Temple Mount was off limits to Israelis. The liberation of the Old City would have to wait another nineteen years.


End Notes

1. See separate essay for a brief summary of the teachings of Islam.

2. Steve Runciman, A History of The Crusades. Volume One: The First Crusade, Cambridge University Press, 1951, p. 3

3. Guy Le Strange, History of Jerusalem Under the Muslims, (From A.D. 650 to 1500), 1890.

4. Menashe Har-El, This is Jerusalem, Canaan Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1977.

5. Cited by Solomon Steckoll, The Temple Mount, London, Tom Stacey, Ltd., 1972, p. 31.

6. Cited by Arthur Herzberg, editor, Judaism, George Braziller, Inc. New York, 1961, pp. 163-164

7. Neil Asher Silberman, In Search of Solomon's Lost Treasures, Biblical Archaeological Review July/August 1980, pp.31-33

8. Encyclopedia Judaica, vol 4, p. 131

9. Orde Wingate, cited by Michael Pragai, Faith and Fulfillment, p. 112 10. Time Magazine, August 16, 1948

10. Mark Twain, Concerning the Jews, 1899


Allah and the Temple Mount

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