Western Resistance

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October 25, 2007

Israel: Wailing Wall Was Mosque, Says Former Muslim Mufti

Western Resistance was created to highlight the encroachments made by Islamists and terrorists against Western nations and societies. Sometimes, in order to explain what is going on, we have had to show how history continues to be distorted by Islamists in order for them to lay claim to territory that was never theirs.

On October 2, in a discussion of Islamic eschatology, I pointed out that historically the Al Aqsa mosque (Dome of the Rock) did NOT exist when Mohammed was alive, so it could not have been the site of his mythical "ascent" to Heaven on the back of a flying quadruped (either a horse or a donkey, which in some accounts had a human face).

Once again, the issue of Jerusalem's history is being deliberately distorted by a political Muslim, to try to justify more demands for appropriations of Jewish territory as "Muslim lands", just as Al Qaeda claim that Spain is a "Muslim land" because parts of it were colonized by Muslims between the 7th century and 1492.

The latest "theory", if you can call it that, comes from the former Mufti of Jerusalem, Ikrema Sabri. The Jerusalem Post and Earth Times report on his preposterous claims.

He said: "There was never a Jewish temple on Al-Aksa [the mosque compound] and there is no proof that there was ever a temple. Because Allah is fair, he would not agree to make Al-Aksa if there were a temple there for others beforehand."

This line of reasoning is unique in discussing archeological sites, but he continued: "The wall is not part of the Jewish temple. It is just the western wall of the mosque. There is not a single stone with any relation at all to the history of the Hebrews."

He did not approve of Jews even calling the site of the Dome of the Rock (Al-Aqsa) by their name of "The Temple Mount". Sabri said: "It is not the Temple Mount, you must say Al-Aksa. And no Jews have the right to pray at the mosque. It was always only a mosque - all 144 dunams, the entire area. No Jewish prayer. If the Jews want real peace, they must not do anything to try to pray on Al-Aksa. Everyone knows that. Zionism tries to trick the Jews claiming that this was part of a Jewish temple, but they dug there and they found nothing."

The Temple Mount itself is a platform built by Herod the Great which is believed to be on the site where Abraham was ordered to sacrifice Isaac. The Western Wall itself (formerly called the "Wailing Wall") is the western wall of the second temple, which was reconsructed and enlarged by Herod in the early 1st century AD. Archeology is still taking place at the site of the Western Wall and Temple Mount. This week, states the Jerusalem Post, archeologists have reached a level dating back to the time of the first temple.

The first temple is said to have been built by Solomon, and was destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonians. The second temple was created between 538 and 516 BC. The second temple was desecrated by Roman general Pompey (106 - 48 BC). In 66 AD, the Jews mounted a rebellion and consequently Romans officially expelled Jews from Jerusalem. In 68 AD the temple was occupied by the Jewish Zealots. In 70 AD, the temple was destroyed by Romans. Titus, son of Emperor Vespasian, took control over the destruction of the temple.

On Titus' Arch in Rome, a menorah is shown being carried off by Romans (pictured). There is now some controversy if this menorah represented the actual menorah from the temple that Titus ransacked. Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, claimed that the menorah from the temple was displayed in the procession that formed the Roman triumphal march. The disappearance of the menorah was noted in the Talmud, where its reconstruction was said to be forbidden. However, it is now a popular symbol of Judaism and faith.

According to Josephus' >Antiquities (Chapter 11, 1) Herod started reconstruction and enlargement of the temple in the eighteenth year of his reign: "to build of himself the temple of God, (22) and make it larger in compass, and to raise it to a most magnificent altitude, as esteeming it to be the most glorious of all his actions, as it really was, to bring it to perfection; and that this would be sufficient for an everlasting memorial of him."

In section 3 of the chapter, Josephus wrote: "So Herod took away the old foundations, and laid others, and erected the temple upon them, being in length a hundred cubits, and in height twenty additional cubits, which [twenty], upon the sinking of their foundations fell down; and this part it was that we resolved to raise again in the days of Nero. Now the temple was built of stones that were white and strong, and each of their length was twenty-five cubits, their height was eight, and their breadth about twelve; and the whole structure, as also the structure of the royal cloister, was on each side much lower, but the middle was much higher, till they were visible to those that dwelt in the country for a great many furlongs, but chiefly to such as lived over against them, and those that approached to them. The temple had doors also at the entrance, and lintels over them, of the same height with the temple itself. They were adorned with embroidered veils, with their flowers of purple, and pillars interwoven; and over these, but under the crown-work, was spread out a golden vine, with its branches hanging down from a great height, the largeness and fine workmanship of which was a surprising sight to the spectators, to see what vast materials there were, and with what great skill the workmanship was done."

In his History of the Jews, Book 6, Josephus writes of the fall of the temple to the army of Titus.

The issue of Jerusalem being a "sacred" Muslim place is based on a false premise. As I wrote on October 2:

Jerusalem is said to be a sacred Muslim place because it was from here that Mohammed ascended to Heaven on the back of a burak (a winged horse or donkey). Yet Mohammed never conquered Jerusalem, and had not even set foot in the place.

The tenuous link connecting Mohammed to Jerusalem involves a dream, the "Night Journey" mentioned in Sura 17:1 and 17:60 of the Koran. In this dream he is taken to the "Masjid al-Aqsa" or "the farthest mosque". There was no mosque in Jerusalem during his lifetime, and Egyptian writer Ahmad Muhammad 'Arafa has argued that the "farthest mosque" was a reference to Medina, not Jerusalem. The present Al-Aqsa Mosque (Dome of the Rock) was constructed in 691 AD, 55 years after Muslims conquered Jerusalem, and 59 years after Mohammed died. A Bukhari hadith, written down in the 9th century, states clearly that Jerusalem was where Mohammed made his "Night Journey". Mohammed's kinsmen did not believe his claims, so he again described Jerusalem from a vision which Allah conveniently provided.

Despite never physically visiting Jerusalem. Mohammed is said to have ordered that Muslims should pray at Bayt al-Muqaddas (Jerusalem), and if not able to reach there, they should send oil for lamps. The symbolic importance of holding Jerusalem was maintained during the times of the Crusades against Christians who saw Jerusalem as their Holy City.

Islamists' contempt for Israel and Jews touches on issues embedded within Muslim eschatology. Bukhari stated: "I heard Allah's Apostle saying, 'The Jews will fight with you, and you will be given victory over them so that a stone will say, 'O Muslim! There is a Jew behind me; kill him!' " Muslim has similar Hadiths: "Ibn 'Umar reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: You will fight against the Jews and you will kill them until even a stone would say: Come here, Muslim, there is a Jew (hiding himself behind me); kill him."

The lies being spread by Ikrema Sabri would be laughable, but for the fact that his words will be picked up by others to justify more assaults against Israel and Jewish life, even though everything about the former Mufti's claims is historically and archeologically fraudulent. After all, Muslims rioted and murdered when they never saw the Danish cartoons, and Muslims rioted and murdered when they had never read the Regensburg speech of Pope Benedict XVI. Such is the nature of the Islamic world today - the ignorant and the violent are the ones who wield influence and control the minds of the masses. Facts, history, objectivity, all mean nothing to these populist rabble-rousers.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 25, 2007 8:14 PM

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