Al-Aqsa
Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 7:18 pm
Friends Salaam
Wanted to share the following claim that was emailed to me. I want some input to see how much of it is based on facts and how much on fiction:
Thanks in advance.
Mubashir
Toronto, Canada
--------------------------------------------
a. Restoration of the Mosque site by Umar
Before Jerusalem came under the control of Muslims in 638, it was
widely understood that al-Aqsa mosque is the same as David's sanctuary. When Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattāb was given the key to the city by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sophronius, he signed with him a treaty that is known as the "Covenant of Omar" and he later asked the Patriarch of Jerusalem to
show him what Umar spelled out as "Masjid Dawood" (Mosque of David). This was called David's sanctuary or prayer niche (mihrab Dawud), in the Qur'an (38:21).
David chose the site on which Solomon built his temple.
It was an abandoned place and abused by the Romans and the Church at the time.
The Patriarch took him to the door of the sanctuary which was almost
blocked due to the trash that was placed at the door. Umar looked left and
right and said: “Allah is Great, I swear by the one who hold my soul in his hand that this is the Mosque of David which the prophet of Allah described to us after his night journey.” The Caliph Umar started cleaning up the place. He asked Kaab al-Ahbar (كعب
الأحبار), a Jewish Rabbi who had converted to Islam and came with Umar from Medina, to guide him to the place
of the Rock. Umar used his cloths to remove the trash covering the
Rock, and other Muslims did what Umar was doing.
After cleaning up the place, Umar
went to the al-Mihrab (a chamber inside the Mosque where the Imam
usually stands) and started praying and reading Surat Sad from Quran.
b. Construction of the Mosque
Interior of Al Aqsa mosque showing mihrab The term the farthest mosque
is considered in Islamic tradition as the general name for the precinct of
al-Haram al-Sharif ("The Noble Sacred Enclosure") in Jerusalem, as well
as the specific name for the mosque located at its southern edge.
Umar wanted a place of prayer that did not infringe on nearby Christian
and Jewish worship places. That place, to the south of the rock, was
developed into a mosque. Sometime between 687-691, Caliph Abd al-Malik built a shrine
over the sacred rock, and it was named Qubbat As-Sakhrah, which means
"The Dome of the Rock." Some years later, in 709-715, Umayyad caliph
al-Walid, son of Abd al-Malik, built, renovated, and expanded the mosque south of the
Dome, and at this time called the mosque al-masjid al-aqsa, which means
"the farthest mosque".
c. Isra and Miraj:
The Qur'an, chapter 17 (Al-Isra), verse 1: “ Glory be to Him (God) Who
made His servant to go on a night from the Sacred Mosque to the remote
mosque of
which We have blessed the precincts, so that We may show to him some of Our signs; surely He is the Hearing, the Seeing.
------------------------------------------------------
My remarks:
1. Isra and Miraj:
I do not know why Mr Mubashir Inayat is trying to doubt the words from
Quran by saying that Isra & Miraj is just fiction. But for the adversaries
of slam no one has doubted that it was a physical journey. And that the
prophet went from Mecca to Jerusalem (where he prayed at the Al aqsa
site), and then ascended to heaven for his visit there that resulted in Allah
enjoining Muslims to pray 5 times every day.. The date of this event is
621 CE (before prophet's migration to Medina).
2. Al aqsa mosque:
As elaborated in the above Wikipedia excerpt the term Al aqsa refers to
the holy site. Prophet David did build a sanctuary there in Jerusalem in
about 1,000 BC (Abraham built Kaaba in Mecca in about 4,000 BC). When Muslims got control of Jerusalem caliph Omar built a mosque at that site (from which prophet had ascended to heaven) without interfering with the pre-existing Jewish and Christian structures. It is totally erroneous to say that the Al Aqsa mosque was built on top of a Jewish religious shrine. Later other Muslim caliphs built/expanded the said mosque.
The temple that prophet Solomon had built earlier in that area was
demolished by the Roman emperor Nebundachez who also razed other Jewish
structures of that time and expelled Jews from that area. It happened
in
pre-Islamic times.
The very first qibla towards which Muslims prayed was the Al aqsa site.
It
was only later after the Muslims migrated to Medina that Allah
commanded
prophet Mohammad to change the qibla towards Kaaba in Mecca. This is a
well
documented historical fact. In fact there is a mosque in Medina called
Masjid Qiblatain that has the distinction of being the mosque where
while
praying towards Al Aqsa, prophet receievd the command to change the
direction of Qibla towards Kaaba (Mecca).
3. When in the name of interfaith dialogue any Muslims make erroneous
statements such as above on key Islamic religious matters, because they
think it shows tolerance of other faiths, they cause much harm to the
efforts of those Muslims who are making genuine interfaith efforts.
Kaleem Kawaja
Wanted to share the following claim that was emailed to me. I want some input to see how much of it is based on facts and how much on fiction:
Thanks in advance.
Mubashir
Toronto, Canada
--------------------------------------------
a. Restoration of the Mosque site by Umar
Before Jerusalem came under the control of Muslims in 638, it was
widely understood that al-Aqsa mosque is the same as David's sanctuary. When Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattāb was given the key to the city by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sophronius, he signed with him a treaty that is known as the "Covenant of Omar" and he later asked the Patriarch of Jerusalem to
show him what Umar spelled out as "Masjid Dawood" (Mosque of David). This was called David's sanctuary or prayer niche (mihrab Dawud), in the Qur'an (38:21).
David chose the site on which Solomon built his temple.
It was an abandoned place and abused by the Romans and the Church at the time.
The Patriarch took him to the door of the sanctuary which was almost
blocked due to the trash that was placed at the door. Umar looked left and
right and said: “Allah is Great, I swear by the one who hold my soul in his hand that this is the Mosque of David which the prophet of Allah described to us after his night journey.” The Caliph Umar started cleaning up the place. He asked Kaab al-Ahbar (كعب
الأحبار), a Jewish Rabbi who had converted to Islam and came with Umar from Medina, to guide him to the place
of the Rock. Umar used his cloths to remove the trash covering the
Rock, and other Muslims did what Umar was doing.
After cleaning up the place, Umar
went to the al-Mihrab (a chamber inside the Mosque where the Imam
usually stands) and started praying and reading Surat Sad from Quran.
b. Construction of the Mosque
Interior of Al Aqsa mosque showing mihrab The term the farthest mosque
is considered in Islamic tradition as the general name for the precinct of
al-Haram al-Sharif ("The Noble Sacred Enclosure") in Jerusalem, as well
as the specific name for the mosque located at its southern edge.
Umar wanted a place of prayer that did not infringe on nearby Christian
and Jewish worship places. That place, to the south of the rock, was
developed into a mosque. Sometime between 687-691, Caliph Abd al-Malik built a shrine
over the sacred rock, and it was named Qubbat As-Sakhrah, which means
"The Dome of the Rock." Some years later, in 709-715, Umayyad caliph
al-Walid, son of Abd al-Malik, built, renovated, and expanded the mosque south of the
Dome, and at this time called the mosque al-masjid al-aqsa, which means
"the farthest mosque".
c. Isra and Miraj:
The Qur'an, chapter 17 (Al-Isra), verse 1: “ Glory be to Him (God) Who
made His servant to go on a night from the Sacred Mosque to the remote
mosque of
which We have blessed the precincts, so that We may show to him some of Our signs; surely He is the Hearing, the Seeing.
------------------------------------------------------
My remarks:
1. Isra and Miraj:
I do not know why Mr Mubashir Inayat is trying to doubt the words from
Quran by saying that Isra & Miraj is just fiction. But for the adversaries
of slam no one has doubted that it was a physical journey. And that the
prophet went from Mecca to Jerusalem (where he prayed at the Al aqsa
site), and then ascended to heaven for his visit there that resulted in Allah
enjoining Muslims to pray 5 times every day.. The date of this event is
621 CE (before prophet's migration to Medina).
2. Al aqsa mosque:
As elaborated in the above Wikipedia excerpt the term Al aqsa refers to
the holy site. Prophet David did build a sanctuary there in Jerusalem in
about 1,000 BC (Abraham built Kaaba in Mecca in about 4,000 BC). When Muslims got control of Jerusalem caliph Omar built a mosque at that site (from which prophet had ascended to heaven) without interfering with the pre-existing Jewish and Christian structures. It is totally erroneous to say that the Al Aqsa mosque was built on top of a Jewish religious shrine. Later other Muslim caliphs built/expanded the said mosque.
The temple that prophet Solomon had built earlier in that area was
demolished by the Roman emperor Nebundachez who also razed other Jewish
structures of that time and expelled Jews from that area. It happened
in
pre-Islamic times.
The very first qibla towards which Muslims prayed was the Al aqsa site.
It
was only later after the Muslims migrated to Medina that Allah
commanded
prophet Mohammad to change the qibla towards Kaaba in Mecca. This is a
well
documented historical fact. In fact there is a mosque in Medina called
Masjid Qiblatain that has the distinction of being the mosque where
while
praying towards Al Aqsa, prophet receievd the command to change the
direction of Qibla towards Kaaba (Mecca).
3. When in the name of interfaith dialogue any Muslims make erroneous
statements such as above on key Islamic religious matters, because they
think it shows tolerance of other faiths, they cause much harm to the
efforts of those Muslims who are making genuine interfaith efforts.
Kaleem Kawaja