MASJID AQSA - Myth vs Reality

[Dr. Shabbir]

It's a hot topic and people need the right information.

Muslim sources, quite right! As usual, the original forger of the story is "Imam" Tabari, author of the MOTHER OF ALL HISTORIES, THE HISTORY OF EMPIRES AND EMPERORS. Imagine how late he wrote the AQSA myth. He died in 310 Hijra. Just as a recall, the exalted Prophet passed on in 11 Hijra (632 CE). So, Tabari's writing came forth between 290-300 years after the Prophet (S).

The authors and audiences of that era and even those of today seem to be devoid of all sense. Or, their sense seems to have been marred by emotion and prejudice.

There was not a single Muslim living outside the Arabian Peninsula during the exalted Prophet's time. Where would the Masjid come from then in Jerusalem? After the Roman General Titus' invasion of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the town, in fact, the entire Syria-Jerusalem-Palestine (Palestine = Can'aan = Israel including Jerusalem) had been under the Byzantine Christian rule uninterrupted. There was a total Jewish rule over the area before Titus. Beween Titus and the advent of Islam were 550 years!
More details from ISLAM: THE TRUE HISTORY and QXP Surah 17 introduction:

ME'RAAJ (ASCENSION)
Allah Is Not Confined To the Heavens.
The exalted Messenger never ascended to the heavens. Allah is everywhere. Our brilliant Muhaddithin and historians bring a lot of irrational and contradictory material on this subject:

01. Mi'raaj happened in Madinah. But the word Me'raaj is not found in the Qur'an.
02. No sorry! It happened in Makkah.
03. It happened just before Hijrah.
04. Sorry! It happened 9 years before Hijrah.
05. The Prophet was sleeping at Umm Hani's house. Gabriel held his hand and took him to Allah up there in the heavens.
06. Oh' no! (That would be a slander). He was sleeping in the Ka'bah.
07. Gabriel opened his chest and poured faith and wisdom from a platter of gold before taking him up there.
08. Sorry! That surgery was performed when he was 3 years old.
09. Gabriel took him straight to the heavens. Sorry again! The angel first took him to Jerusalem.
10. No, it was not Gabriel. Burraaq (The Santor with the head and face of a beautiful woman and the body of a horse) carried him to the heavens at lightning speed.
These are not even 1% of the insults. The real ascension of the exalted Messenger was his character, and not some kind of Greek Mythology.

Surah 17 – Al-Asra – The Night Journey

[Author’s Note] This is the 17th Surah of the Quran. Some historians refer to it as Surah Bani Israel. It has 111 verses. ASRA (night journey) is often mixed up with MI'RAAJ (Ascension). Since Allah is Omnipresent, the notion of anyone going to meet with Him over the skies does not stand up to reason. "ASRA" signifies night journey and it refers to the beginning of the exalted Messenger's emigration from Makkah to Madinah by night. Verses 20:77 and 26:52 use the same term for migration of Prophet Moses along with his followers across the sea. Also consider 17:2.
Masjid Al-Aqsa means, the Remote Mosque and refers to the ‘Remote Mosque’ in Madinah, the place where Muslims used to establish congregational prayer before the Prophet's arrival to the city. "Masjid" here may also be understood as Madinah being the place of collective submission to Allah's commands.

The famous Masjid Al-Aqsa (the so-called Qiblah Awwal, or the supposed First Holy Sanctuary, also widely known as Haram Sharif) in Jerusalem was, in fact, built in 72 A.H. (691 C.E.) by the Umayyad Ruler, Abdul Malik bin Marwan, about 60 years after the exalted Messenger passed on.

Jerusalem, until the Muslim conquest under the second Caliph of Islam in 637 C.E., had been under the control of the Byzantine Christians for centuries, and there was no person worshiping in a Masjid anywhere in the world but Madinah.

Hence, the question of the presence of a Masjid in Jerusalem during the life time of the exalted Prophet should not arise.

Muslims conquered Jerusalem in 637 C.E. during the Rule of the second Caliph of Islam, Hazrat Umar. And when he visited the place, he continued to pray in open grounds, although Pope Severinus gave him the Key to the city and invited him to pray in the Church of Holy Sepulture. But Hazrat Umar feared that Muslims might start converting churches into Masjids, so he politely declined. If a Masjid were present he would have prayed there.

The word 'Mi'raaj' (Bodily Ascension of any human being) nowhere occurs in the Quran. Yet, under erroneous traditions it is a popular, though non-Quranic, belief among Muslims that the exalted Messenger was taken up physically unto the heavens to meet with Allah!

The Quran as usual sets the records straight by asserting that the First ever Holy Sanctuary was the Ka’bah built by Prophets Abraham and Ishmael in Makkah. And that the Divine Laws are unchangeable under all circumstances. Bodily Ascension is a Biblical, and not a Quranic theme at all.

With the Glorious Name of Allah, the Instant and Sustaining Source of all Mercy and Kindness

17:1 Glorious is He Who initiated the migration by night of His servant from the Sacred Masjid to the Remote Masjid whose environs We did bless that We might show him of Our Signs (20:23). (That the Divine System will begin to prevail from therein). Verily, He is the Hearer, the Seer.

17:2 (Recall that Moses had to migrate from Pharaoh's Kingdom to the Sinai Peninsula.) We gave Moses the Scripture and We appointed it a Guide to the Children of Israel, saying, “Choose no guardian besides Me.”

17:3 They were the descendants of those whom We carried in the ship along with Noah. Behold, he was a most grateful servant of Ours.

17:4 We had informed the Children of Israel in the Scripture, "Verily, you will work corruption on the earth twice, and show great arrogance and tyranny.”

17:5 When the first of the warnings came to pass, We sent against you Our servants of great might (armies of Nimrod Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon) who ravaged your country as a warning fulfilled (and took you to Babylon as slaves in 586 B.C.).

17:6 Then, We granted you victory over them (when King Cyrus of Persia defeated the Babylonians and brought you back to your country in 520 B.C.). We then, helped you with wealth and children and made you numerous in soldiery.

17:7 We made it clear, “If you (keep the Commandments and) do collective good, you will be doing good to yourselves. And if you do evil, you will hurt yourselves. (You did not heed these warnings), and then the second warning came to pass. (The Roman General Titus invaded Jerusalem in 70 C.E. His armies entered the Temple and destroyed everything they conquered completely, just as the Babylonians had done before).

17:8 Now is the time that your Lord may Bless you with His Mercy (as the Final Messenger is in your midst 7:157). If you repeat your transgressions, We will counter with retribution. We have made Hell a prison for opponents of the Divine Order.

SOON, WE WILL SEE THE MASJID AQSA DEMOLISHED BY ISRAEL AND A FUROR OF PROTEST IN THE "MUSLIM" WORLD. GET READY PLEASE! MUSLIM ACTION? FORGET IT! REACTION? YES, CRIES!

[tammyswofford]

Dr. Shabbir,
Regarding Allah and the heavens, give explanation of Fussilat 12, please. Regarding the seven heavens, some translations also speak of "each with its laws". Although it appears to be speaking of creationary force, laws of science, is there any other reference that sheds light on "seven heavens" as existing space and what are the defining boundaries of each?



Best Regards,
Tammy Swofford