Jerusalem - Sacred for Muslims, Jews and Christians
The city of Jerusalem and other surrounding cities are sacred to all three religions of the world: Muslims, Christians and Jews. The following are some questions and answers related to the sacred sites of the three religions that are in located in Jerusalem and the surrounding cities. For any fact based contributions and feedback, please post your comments at the end of the article below.
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What is the difference between Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Haram El-Sherif?
Temple Mount (name used by the Jews) and Al-Aqsa Haram El-Sherif (name used by the Muslims) refers to the same piece of land in Jerusalem. This piece of land is held sacred and noble by both religious faiths of Judaism and Islam.
Temple Mount (Haram El-Sharif) is the most sacred place for Jews. Jews also refer to it as Mount Moriah. To Jews, this site was originally the site of a temple built by Solomon. Jews believe that the original site was totally destroyed by the Babylonians and the second temple was built subsequently, which was also destroyed. Jews also believe that it was at this site that Abraham (Prophet Ibrahim) offered his son Isaac for sacrifice. This differs from the Muslim belief who believe that Prophet Ibrahim offered his son Ismail for sacrifice near Makkah (not Jerusalem). Many Muslim scholars also dispute the fact about the existence of the temple at the very specific site of Al-Aqsa.
The Dome Of The Rock as well as the Al-Aqsa Mosque are both situated on this plateau, called Al-Aqsa Haram El-Sherif. Although the Al-Aqsa mosque is situated on one part of this plateau, historically (and sometime even today) the entire piece of land built by Sulaymaan (peace be upon him) is referred to as the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Common Misunderstanding
A lot of people mistakenly confuse the dome of the rock with the Al-Aqsa mosque. In reality, both structures are separate, although built on the same plateau that is called Haram El-Sherif or the Noble Sanctuary. The Mosque is situated in the southern portion of the plateau, and the Dome is built on the raised rock that is situated in the middle of the plateau.
Historically, the entire plateau is sacred for Muslims. Islam’s second caliph Umar AL-Khattab, built a mosque (called the Al-Aqsa mosque) on the portion of that plateau as a praying place for Muslims. Muslims therefore started referring to the mosque portion of the plateau as “Masjid Al-Aqsa”, whereas the entire plateau built by Sulaymaan (peace be upon him) is actually “Al-Aqsa”.
This video shows the two different structures built on the Al-Aqsa plateau.
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This is supported by the words of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah in Majmoo’at al-Rasaa’il al-Kubra, 2/61:
Al-Masjid al-Aqsa is the name for the whole of the place of worship built by Sulaymaan (peace be upon him). Some people started to give the name of al-Aqsa to the prayer-place which was built by ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab in front of it. Praying in this prayer-place which ‘Umar built for the Muslims is better than praying in the rest of the mosque, because when ‘Umar conquered Jerusalem there was a huge garbage dump on the rock, since the Christians wanted to show their scorn for the place towards which the Jews used to pray. So ‘Umar issued orders that the filth be removed…’ — (Islam-qa.com)
Hence when the imams of this ummah entered the mosque, they would go and pray in the prayer-place that was built by ‘Umar. With regard to the Rock, neither Umar nor any of the Sahaabah prayed there, and there was no dome over it during the time of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs. It was open to the sky during the caliphate of Umar, Uthmaan, Ali, Mu’aawiyah, Yazeed and Marwaan… The scholars among the Sahaabah and those who followed them in truth did not venerate the rock because it was an abrogated qiblah… rather it was venerated by the Jews and some of the Christians.” — (Islam-qa.com)
Jews claim that this plateau is where the Solomon Temple was situated. The western portion of this plateau has a wall that Jews believe are the only remains of the Solomon temple.
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Are Jews still interested to rebuild their original Temple on the land (plateau) of Al-Aqsa ?
According to the Jews, the temple was built twice in the past and destroyed twice during the course of the past thousands of years. Some orthodox Jewish groups have surfaced over the years suggesting that the Temple Mount area be “liberated” again and instead used to rebuild the temple the third time. An example of these movements is called The Temple Mount and Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel) Faithful Movement that has suggested that the The Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosque be removed, transferred to and rebuilt at Mecca. However, these groups have not received widespread acceptance and the topic has not surfaced nor discussed widely in the media.
On the same token, a few people on their own have attempted arson over the years to realize the dream of destroying what is at the land of Al-Aqsa to clear the path for rebuilding the temple the “third time”. For example, on August 21, 1969, an Australian, Michael Dennis Rohan, set the Al-Aqsa mosque on fire. Rohan was a reader of The Plain Truth magazine published by the Worldwide Church of God headed by Herbert W. Armstrong, which was best known for its radio and television programs called The World Tomorrow featuring his son Garner Ted Armstrong. Rohan had read an editorial in the June 1967 edition by Herbert W. Armstrong, concerning rebuilding of the Temple on Temple Mount. The article implied that the present structures in the land of Al-Aqsa would have to be removed and cleared to give way for the rebuilding of the new temple. According to their belief, once built, a series of events would take place resulting in the return of Jesus as the Messiah.
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What is the significance of the “Dome of the Rock”?
As explained earlier, Dome of the Rock (“Kubbet es Sakhra” in Arabic) is a structure that sits separately from the mosque, although on the same land referred to as “Haram El-Sharif”. Yet, a lot of people confuse the dome of the rock with Masjid Al-Aqsa. However, they are two distinct entities.
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Fifty years after Omar Khattab’s visit, The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik bin Marwan built the dome of the rock between 691 and 692 CE to preserve that rock. Some Muslims believe that the imprint of the hooves of the horse are still visible on the rock from which Prophet Muhamamd (SAWS) acended to the heavens in the event of Isra wal Miraj.
The dome of the rock is a beautiful and enduring shrine built over the rock. This construction highlighted the memories of the visit by Omar to Jerusalem and to preserve the memories of prophet’s ascension to the heavens. The dome is a beautiful structure and because the pictures of the Dome are so widespread, many people mistake the dome of the rock as the Al-Qasa mosque. However, although the dome is part of the Aqsa plateau, it is not the Al-Aqsa mosque, which is a separate structure situated on the Al-Aqsa plateau.
The Messenger Muhammad (PBUH) led the prayers in the Al-Aqsa are for the other messengers and prophets on the night of Al-Isra’ wal Me’raj. Al-Aqsa has the significance in that it was the first of the two qiblahs, and is one of the three mosques to which people may travel for the purpose of worship.
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What is the Wailing Wall and why do Jews pray at that wall?
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The Western Wall stands on the western side of the Haram El-Sherif complex. Jews believe that western wall is the only remains of the temple mount. The western wall is therefore also called the wailing wall as Jews wail the loss of the temple that supposedly stood at the Haram El-sherif (Temple Mount) complex. However, numerous Muslim scholars and archeologists have differing opinions about the temple and whether it existed at the same location.
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Why was Mosque of Omar built in Jerusalem?
The mosque is named after Islam’s second caliph Omar Khatab. When Omar’s army conquered Jerusalem under the command of Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, Patriarch Sophronius refused to surrender except to Caliph Omar himself. Omar therefore traveled to Jerusalem and accepted the surrender. Subsequently, he then visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (described below) where Sophronius invited him to pray within the confines of the church. However, Caliph Omar did not pray fearing that it will set a precedent for future generations. Instead, he prayed near the steps of the Church. In remembrance of that a mosque was built later on that is called the Omar mosque. The Church of Holy Sepulchre remained open to Christian worship.
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What is the Church of Holy Sepulchre?
This site is recognized by come Christians as the site where Jesus died, buried and rose from the dead. Muslims, obviously do not believe that Jesus ever was crucified or died, as Islamic teachings clearly state that Jesus was raised to the heavens and will return before judgment day.
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What is the Church of Nativity?
The Church of the Nativity in the city of Bethlehem is one of the oldest churches in the world. This church is built over a cave believed by many Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus (Prophet Issa). The church is controlled jointly by three Christian denominations - the Armenian Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church.
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What is the Mount of Olives?
This mountain holds a lot of significance for the Jews. In their religious tradition, the Messiah is supposed to resurrect the dead in this place. This is why many Jews want to be buried at the cemetery at the Mount of Olives. Many significant Jewish personalities such as famous Rabbis and the ex-Prime Minister of Israel, Menachim Began are buried at the Mount of Olives. Christians too hold it in high importance because of the many mentions of this place in the Bible.
These are only some of the places that are held sacred by Muslims, Christians and Jews in the area of what is called Israel / Palestine today.
Your comments, and questions to the above are welcome. We are looking for fact based comments and feedback. Also, If you have knowledge on the above and posted questions, you are free to contribute.
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February 26th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Ah, more islamic propaganda.
Yes, the temple existed, twice. And yes, this is exactly the grounds upon which it was built.
And the dome of the rock has no place being on top of it.
Move that dome.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:21 am
I always thought that the dome was Masjid Al Aqsa.
If Jews claim that there was a temple, they should prove it…
February 26th, 2008 at 9:01 am
This is just a thought, but if the Dome of the Rock was built by Muslims to protect the stone that served as the origional Qibla (prayer direction) of the Jews, which was covered in garabage by antiJewish sentiments of early Christianity. And anyone familier with Christian history realizes that the farther away from Jesus’ time you go the more antiJewish the Christian world became and is reflected in the Biblical Gospels (the earliest Gospels place neutral equal blame on the Jews and Romans but the farther away you get [such as Matthew] the more sympathetic the Romans became to Jesus and the more the blame had been shifted to the Jews within the Gospel texts. And since the only Muslim claim for the rock are the hoofprints from the Miraag (ascention into Heaven). And if the real Masjid Al Aqsa is the entire plateau as illustrated by the Prophet Muhammad’s leading the salaat for all the Prophets, and not the building that was built centuries later. Then why don’t the Jews and the Muslims form an alience and build a joint Temple on the Temple Mount and allow the Muslims to pray their 5 daily salaat within the Temple within the Women and the Men’s section, and reserve the forward most sections that belongs to the Priests and the Holy of Holies section, exclusively for Jewish use and have the three daily prayers of the Jews within the Temple as well and just alternate who gets first use on a daily basis for the dawn and sunset prayers with the agreement that who ever starts first that day, limits their prayer time to 20-30 minutes and then clear the building to allow the members of the other tradition to perform their services. Both the Jews and Muslims worship the God of Abraham exclusively and don’t associate partners with Him like the Christians do, so it would not violate the dedicatoin of the Temple to the worship of One Same God. It would simply be a difference of the acceptence of three prophets by the Musilms that are not accepted by the Jews (John the Baptist, Jesus the Messiah, and Muhammad). By having the Muslims nd Jews of the area worship God in teh same building and being forced to share, it would have to create a spirit of mutual cooperatoin between the two and be a start to end the bullheaded stubborness on both sides. I’m Muslim and living here in teh United States have associates are are Jewish and we both confirm one another and back each otehr up when dealing with Christians and other people we deal with. It is kind of nice when I quote a hadith and the Jew with me chimes in stating somethign simular that is found in the Tanakh, Talmuld or the Midrash and vice versa. I’ve discovered that Muslims and Jews are either the same or very simular on many points and the Christians who read from the same book as the Jews don’t have a clue. Christians can’t say that I, as a Muslim, am interpreting something out of context from the Bible when the Jew standing next to me (who had the Bible centures before the first Chritians) is confirming that I’m telling the truth and interpreting the Biblical verses correctly and explaining them in almost the exact same way as I am. So either the Jews misunderstood it for centiuries after thousands of prophets came and taught it the same way, until it was “corrected” by Christians and then redistored by the Muslims to practically the exact same thing as it had been understood for centures before Jesus. OR option B, The Jews had it right from teh beginning, the Christians after Jesus left changed the meaning when they tried to seperate themselves from Judiasm and embrace the Pagan Romans to win converts, and then it was corrected by the Musilms with the comming of Muhammad. that really is the only two possible interpretations but either way the Christians has to realize th tthe Jews who came before them and the Muslims who came after them agree on the interpretation and the Christians interpret the book entirely differently. All in all the Muslims and the Jews are really very much alike in many ways and there really isn’t any reason as to why the Muslims and Jews can’t share the building with joint ownership.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:04 am
In reply to Atta Muhammad, I know for a fact that Masjid al Aqsa is the white building and the Dome of the Rock is NOT a masjid, it is practically impossible to pray within the Dome of the Rock building as the formation of rows cannot be adequately made. There are posters that show the Dome of the Rock with the words Masjid Al Aqsa but those are unfortunately, grossly inaccurate.
February 26th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Dear Mark
its not more islamic propaganda. its infact a massage of unity
for three most important and significant religions of the world
i.e is islaam, christianity and judaism. we should accept historical
facts with a possitive attitude.
we do know that Soloman built some thing over there.
we do know that Jesus was born over there.
we do know and also want you to know that Muhammad was taken over there
by the Angel Gabriel on a heavenly ride and he prayed over there
in the company of all the previous massengers of God before he was
taken to the Heavens for a visit.
if you only could read the jewish history of 600BC to get this fact from
a jewish rabby who witnessed the happening.
any way my purpose for writing this is not to convice you but to request
all of us to be open minded and respect other religions.
if not then atleast for the sake of getting some knowlege we should
develope and portray some positive attitude.
February 26th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
An interesting read. And thank you for this. I have to say that there is only one god and Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the last and final messenger and prophet. I say this without complusion. I feel that whilst the current situation in present day Palestine is such that following centuries of violence, the murders of Brit soldiers during the second world war, murders during the 6 day war and since then, I feel that people should call it a truce. Do we all not fear god, the lord of of all the worlds? Surely his reckoning is far worse than anything one can dish out. So why is it then acceptable to murder the innocent and stifle their day to day livelyhood and build tyhis terrible wall which is in fact apartheid. us Afrikaans learned the hard way that apartheid was wrong and we still bear its negative consequences. Is it acceptable to fight stones with bullets? Is is acceptable to expand settlements which threaten Muslims and Christians residing there. This tantamounts to stealing. I feel that one should allow all faiths to practice their religion, after all we believe in the one god, the everlasting, the compassionate, the merciful. Places of worship should not be bombed. One should take a moment and ponder on the great favours from our Lord, and actually pray for salvation and serve humanity. Why not go to sites of holy relics and pray that god will favour us and enlist us amongst those who enter Paradise after the prophets. God will guide whom he desires and the Shayateen will make the wrong seem irrisistable. Peace my friend. Peace.
February 26th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
yes the temple existed , and there were a lot of archeology work that proved it, besides… as i know the quran believes that torah and enjeel are books from God, therefore they have to believe in existence of the temple
thanks
February 27th, 2008 at 5:50 am
This is an valuable information, especially, for the people (Muslims and Non-Muslims) of South Asia as most of the people do not know much about the Palestine - Zionist conflict. I appreciate your efforts for providing this information for the netizens.
February 27th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Mathew collins
dome of the Rock is a masjid and i prayed there myself…..dome of the rock is a part of Al-Aqsa… no difference bet . masjid alaqsa and dome of the rock…..they are two buildings in one holy place…
peace
February 27th, 2008 at 7:07 am
vivian
no evidence that the masjid and the temple were in one place.
other than that..we believe in Prophet Sulaiman (Solomon) and that he is a prophet of God…. so if he built a temple to worship God…this place is holy place for me too . ..
Omar bin Al-Khattab refused to pray in the church because for him it is for the christians and he did not want the future muslims to consider ait as a masjid… but he built the masjid in Al-Aqsa… if the jews’ temple was there…why would he do such a thing?
February 27th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I like peace and I want every one love each other
This place is a holy place for all Jewish, Christians and Muslims
They must build a wall around it and every one can pray in it
It must be like the Vatican you can enter it after take a visa
No one enter with a weapon! But you get visa for religion propose only
Pray and go away
No war but love and pray all together to one God only, his name is Allah
Thank you very much
Mohamed Riad
Egypt
February 28th, 2008 at 1:11 am
Assalam-alaikum,
This message is an eye opener. People are distributing the picture of the Dome of the Rock for free, so that whenever the mention of Masjhid Al-Aqsa is made, people will refer to the Dome of the Rock. This is a conspiracy by some to discard Masjid Al-Aqsa and build upon the place a new jewish temple.
March 25th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
juresalum is one city and three relegion i think every body should live in peace and holy places shoud be none militarize zone free for all the people to do thier relegious practices.
long live peace. no more fighting over relegoin .
thanks for all these information.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 am
Did you know that when the Dome of the Rock and Masjid Al Aqsa was built it was a rubbish heap and so the site was cleared. If the site was so revered by jews why did they permit the towns’ rubbish to be dumped here. There is no evidence of Suleman A.S. temple being present at the same site. Even the wailing wall was built much later as scientific evidence shows us
May 6th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Harmony is a blessing. Ask for it from God and insyallah you will get it. I live in Malaysia and we are a multi racial and multi religion country. I know it is a constant struggle for my country leader to balance the differences but at least we still live in harmony. Mankind are always struggling when in comes to differences…like between men or women,rich or poor,fat or thin etc. They forget to see that God create us different only on the exterior. He gave us all the same right to go to Heaven. So celebrate your differences the next time you meet someone different. God have his eye on you and He might just reward you Heaven.