|
The patriarch of
all the believers of Allah
(God), i.e. Jews, Christians,
and Muslims is Prophet Ibrahim
(Abraham, PBUH). He built the
Kaba in Makkah with his
firstborn son Ismael (PBUH).
This was an order from Allah (SWT)
that Ibrahim and Ismael (PBUT)
construct this Holy House of
Allah (SWT) as a place of
worship for all the believers on
earth. Ismael (PBUH) was 17 at
the time he and his father built
the Kaba. Prophet Muhammad (PB
UH), a descendent of the Prophet
Ismael (PBUH), would come nearly
2,500 years after Kaba was built
and repurify it as a holy place
of worship according to the
teachings of the Prophet Ibrahim
(PBUH). As stated in the Torah
and in the Holy Quran "all the
generations will be blessed
through I brahim (PBUH)"
(Genesis 12 and 18 Holy Bible,
Chp 2 Verses 123-141 Holy Quran).
In Jerusalem,
Prophet Ibrahim (PBUH) also
established a place of worship.
This place would later be known
as The House Of Allah (God), or
Beteyel. Forty years after the
construction of Kaba, Prophet
Ibrahim expanded this place of
worship. Isaac (PBUH), Prophet
Ibrahim's younger son,
worshipped in Beteyel, but also
made journeys to Kaba in Makkah
for Hajj (Pilgrimage) as did
Ibrahim (PBUH). Jacob (PBUH) the
second son of Isaac (PBUH),
extended Beteyel as a place of
worship for all the believers of
Allah (God) in the region. The
natives of the land, the
Palestinians, believers in the
teachings of the Prophet Ibrahim
(PBUH), also worshipped in
Beteyel or The House Of Allah
(God). Ibrahim (PBUH), referred
to Beteyel as "Masjid Al-Aqsa",
which means the farthest place
of worship of the One God.
Prophet Ibrahim (PBUH), was
stating that Masjid Al-Aqsa was
the farthest place of worship
west of Kaba in Makkah.
Some years later,
Prophet Joseph (PBUH), the son
of Jacob (PBUH) attained a high
position of power in Egypt, he
sent for all of his family to
come live with him in Egypt away
from the poverty of Palestine.
There were 33 in all, Jacob (PBUH),
his children and his
grandchildren (Genesis 46 in the
Torah). Because there was no one
left from Jacob's (PBUH) tribe
to care for Beteyel, Jacob (PBUH),
intrusted care of Beteyel or
Masjid Al-Aqsa to the natives of
the area, the Palestinians. This
was acceptable due to the fact
that the natives were also
followers of the Patriarch, the
Prophet Ibrahim (PBUH). The
Israelites remained in Egypt for
four hundred years as slaves to
the Egyptians with no connection
to Palestine, the land from
which they immigrated (Genesis
15 Verse 13-17). This choice was
not forced on them, they simply
chose to leave Palestine for the
sake of the wealth and riches in
Egypt.
In the time of
Prophet Moses (PBUH), the
Israelites were still slaves to
the Egyptians. Allah (God)
ordered Moses (PBUH), after
freeing the Israelites from
bondage, to lead them to
Palestine. The Israelites
rejected this order from Allah
(God), and preferred to live in
the desert of Sinai, rather than
to sacrifice themselves for the
sake of Allah (God). They
believed this land belonged to
the Palestinians, the natives of
the area.
For fourty years,
the Israelites wandered in the
desert of Sinai. A new
generation was born, and from it
came forth Prophet David (PBUH),
he would lead this generation of
believers to Palestine. Prophet
David (PBUH) established his
kingdom in part of Palestine,
and controlled Jerusalem. His
son, Prophet Soloman (King
Solomon) (PBUH) rebuilt Masjid
Al-Aqsa with the help of the
natives, and next to it he built
the ruler's palace. After
Prophet Solomon's death, his two
sons divided his kingdom amongst
themselves. Each son established
his own kingdom and each had its
own capital. From both of these
kingdoms, Allah (God) raised
prophets. According to Jewish
history, these kingdoms existed
for nearly two hundred years.
In 586 B.C., King
Je-hoia-chin of Jerusalem, saw
that he might lose his kingdom.
He was the last Jewish king who
tried to resist the Babylonians
in Jerusalem. In his struggle,
his kingdom was surrounded by
the Babylonians who cut off
supplies from the outside world.
When the inhabitants of
Jerusalem ran out of food and
water, the king made a tunnel to
enable his soldiers to escape
and retrieve supplies from the
outside world. Part of the
tunnel collapsed, the resistance
led by King Je-hoia-chin was
defeated, and the Babylonians
took over Jerusalem. The tunnel
used by King Je-hoia-chin, is
the same tunnel being excavated
today in Jerusalem. After the
Babylonians conquered Jerusalem,
they took its inhabitants as
slaves to Babylon.
The Babylonian
King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed
what King Solomon had built in
Jerusalem (Kings 2 Chapters 24
and 25 of the Bible). According
to the word of God in the Torah,
the Israelites were made to be
slaves in both the Nile and in
the Euphrates.
After seventy
years of slavery in Babylon,
King Cyrus of Persea gave the
Israelites their freedom. At
that time very few of the
Israelites returned to
Palestine. These few Israelites
worshipped only in The House Of
Allah. For generations, the
Israelites took care of Beteyel
or Masjid Al-Aqsa. During the
period when the Roman Empire was
in constant battle with the
Persean Empire, the Israelites
aided the Perseans, and
benefited when the Perseans had
control of Jerusalem. Because
the Israelites supported the
Persean Empire as spies and in
other ways, the Romans treated
them as enemies of the Roman
Empire.
In 70 A.D., the
Romans destroyed (burned)
Beteyel, and converted it into a
place of Roman idol worship (Jupitor,etc.).
In 315 A.D., when the Roman
Emperor Constantine converted to
Christianity, the Romans had no
regard for Beteyel. It became a
place were the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, including the Jews
threw their garbage. The Jews no
longer considered Beteyel a Holy
Shrine.
The Persean
Empire defeated the Romans in
614 A.D., the Jews were now able
to worship where they wished,
but chose not to worship in
Beteyel or Masjid Al-Aqsa. The
Perseans controlled Jerusalem
until 624 A.D. The Jews, who
were in a position of power
during this period, tortured the
Arab Christians. Jerusalem was
in need of a just ruler. Both
the Christians and the Jews had
suffered under different
empires, and both knew that the
Holy Scriptures promised the
coming of a ruler to save them
from all this unjust torture and
aggression.
The Israelites
were awaiting the coming of the
Messiah, who would be king and
ruler, and would defeat all the
evil empires, as promised by
Allah (God). The only Prophet in
history to have accomplished
this task, was Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH). Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
and his followers defeated all
the empires of the time,
establishing the Kingdom Of God
(Islamic State) throughout the
region. This included Jerusalem
as promised by Allah to the
Muslims (Daniel 2 Verse 44 and
Mathew 21 Verse 43). The
Israelites had tried to fulfill
this prophecy in 165 B.C., under
the leadership of Judah Makabi.
Within three years, he was
defeated by the Romans, who
regained complete control of
Jerusalem. Prophet Jesus (PBUH),
was also unable to accomplish
this task mentioned in the Holy
Scriptures. It was the Prophet
from Arabia, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
who fulfilled this prophecy.
In 621 A.D., the
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) ascended
to the heavens in the night
known as Israa and Mirag to the
Muslims (Malachi 3 Verse 1-14).
In that night, Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) led all the Prophets of
Allah (PBUT) in prayer in the
Holy Mosque (Masjid Al-Aqsa).
For this reason, Masjid Al-Aqsa
is a holy place of worship for
the Muslims, along with Kaba in
Makkah and The Prophet's (PBUH)
Mosque in Medina. These are the
three most important Mosques to
the Muslims.
In 637 A.D., the
Christian leader of Jerusalem,
Snaifors, realized through the
holy Scriptures (Zeckariah 9
Verses 9 and 10), that the
second leader of the Islamic
State, Umar ibn Al-Khatab, fits
the description of the one who
would open Jerusalem and free it
from the evil empires. Snaifors
surrendered peacefully. Umar ibn
Al-Khatab and the Muslims, after
securing Jerusalem, again
established Masjid Al-Aqsa as a
holy place of worship. Both the
Christians and the Jews were
pleased with the arrival of Umar
and the Muslims, and with the
just rule under the Islamic
State.
In the eleventh
century, the European Christians
in the crusades, tortured the
Jews and the Muslims. They
burned the Jews in the their
Temples and they burned the
Muslims in Masjid Al-Aqsa. The
European Christians even
tortured the Arab Christians and
destroyed their churches. The
Jews fled to Indulis (Spain), to
receive protection under Islamic
rule or a Muslim society. In
1189 A.D., the leader of the
Muslim army, Salah Aldeen Al-Ayobi
expelled the European Christians
from Jerusalem, and returned
Jerusalem to Islamic rule. The
Christian, Jews, and Muslims
lived in harmony under Islamic
rule.
In 1948, with the
help of the western powers, the
Jews were able to fulfill the
promise of the British foreign
minister, Bill Ford. This
promise was made in 1917
regarding the Jews' return to
the holy land, Palestine. In the
time of Moses (PBUH), when
ordered by Allah (God) to return
to Palestine, the Israelites
disobeyed the will of Allah
(God). Once the Jews again
controlled Jerusalem, they
expelled and tortured the
natives of Palestine from their
land, and the area returned to a
state of unrest (Haggie 2 Verse
7-9).
In the 1980's,
the Israelis started an
archaeological project in the
area of the Al-Aqsa Mosque (Masjid
Al-Aqsa). They began excavation
claiming that they were
searching for the Temple Of King
Solomon. They were unable to
locate the Temple Of King
Solomon, but in the process
discover ed the tunnel of King
Je-hoia-chin. The Israelis
claimed that the search was a
success only because they
discovered the collapsed tunnel
of King Je-hoia-chin, which is
in no way related to the Temple
of King Solomon. This tunnel has
no religious significance, it
only has historical
significance. The entrance was
then sealed and today has been
reopened without justification.
The significance to the Muslims
is well understood, they fear
for Masjid Al-Aqsa and its
foundation, and that in some way
this excavation can damage the
Holy Mosque. The significance of
this dig to the Jews is not yet
understood, clearly there is no
religious significance. Prime
Minister Netanyahu has said this
openly is his news conference at
the White House. The question
thus remains, why if this
archaeological dig can lead to
so much unrest, do the Israelis
insist that it remain open? |