Jerusalem
and the True Legacy of Caliph Umar (RA)
By Dr. Mohiuddin Waseem
McAllen, TX
I agree with President Musharraf’s
analysis that the current wave of Muslim extremism
can be severely curtailed by resolving the long
awaited political conflicts both in Palestine
as well as in Kashmir. More recently, his opinion
found a strong support at the summit of the “Organization
of Islamic Conference” (OIC) held in Makkah:
in the Summit declaration his concern was repeated
verbatim along with a renewed demand that “Al-Quds’
(Jerusalem) Islamic and historic identity be preserved”.
I cannot say how significant the Kashmiri issue
might be for the rest of the world but for Muslims
on one side and the Judeo-Christian world on the
other it is the ownership and inheritance of Jerusalem,
especially the temple mount, which has to be addressed
before one can contemplate the prospects of peace
in the region as well as in the world.
Unfortunately, the Makkah declaration has not
stressed anything new on this very issue; rather
a call to keep status quo, which in my opinion
is the main cause of delay in a meaningful Israeli-Palestinian
engagement and a final step towards a free state
of Palestine. Keeping the religious emotions aside
I suggest all parties to critically look into
their claim of the temple mount and see if they
can accommodate each other. It is the teaching
of all three Abrahamic faiths - Islam, Christianity
and Judaism - that man by design is a preserver
of God’s doing in the world and not a destroyer.
The Holy Bible puts this belief beautifully by
saying “God created man in his image”
(Genesis 1:27). In the Holy Qur’an God rebuked
the Angels in a discourse when they argued tha,
“Man will cause mischief in the world and
shed blood" by saying, “You do not
know what I know” (Holy Qur’an 2:
30). If we are the chosen people of God, as we
all claim we are, then we need to do such preserving
acts which will make us worthy of God’s
trust and there is no better place to start this
than in Jerusalem itself. Historically speaking,
Jeru-salem or Uru-salem is a Babylonian name which
means ‘city of peace’. It is interesting
to note that the root word “salam”
means peace in other Semitic languages, including
Hebrew and Arabic and hence the Arabic word “Islam”.
Muslims first entered Jerusalem in 638 AD and
since then more or less they have been in control
of temple mount and its platform except for a
brief period of seventy years when crusaders became
victorious in the land; therefore the entire structures
one sees at the temple mount bear the signatures
of Muslim architects. The two readily visible
structures are “Dome of the Rock”
located in the middle and northern part of the
platform and Al-Aqsa mosque located at its southern
corner. Other than these two, for which we have
strong historic evidence of how and when they
were constructed, there are many small monuments
located at the platform “mythically”
attributed to Hebrew Prophets and Prophet Mohammad’s
heavenly journey. The doubts about their authenticity
is strengthened by the fact that Prophet Mohammad
(PBUH) on this heavenly journey arrived in Jerusalem
alone and Muslims only entered Jerusalem five
years after his demise.
The famous 9th century Muslim historian Al-Tabri
is an important read on the topic of Muslim conquest
in the region of Syria-Palestine. For me it was
an interesting find to note that Caliph Umar (RA)
who was busy in a military campaign at a Syrian
front advanced his armies in Jerusalem only at
the request and instigation of a Jew. Al-Tabri
tells the story that when Caliph Umar arrived
at the temple mount he summoned Ka’ab Ahbar,
a prominent Jewish convert to Islam to help identify
“Sakhra” (“rock” or the
“foundation stone”) of Jewish traditions
upon which world was founded. For Caliph Umar
this spot signified the first Qibla, the direction
of Muslim prayers, which Prophet Mohammad used
till 622 AD when it was changed to Kabba in Makkah
for eternity (Holy Qur’an 2:142-145). After
the identification of “Sakhra” he
then asked Ka’ab where in his opinion Muslims
should put their “Qibla” (meaning
towards “Sakhra” or the “Kabba”)
to which Ka’ab replied, “Towards Sakhra”.
Caliph Umar, showing his resentment on his opinion
said, “We Muslims are commanded to face
Kabba” and having said that faced Makkah
in the southern corner of the platform to offer
his prayers, where later on a mosque was constructed
which today is called Masjid Al- Aqsa.
One wonders why Caliph Umar asked a question for
which he already knew the answer and especially
to a former Jew and not the other senior companions
of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) who were also present
on the occasion. Clearly what Caliph Umar and
the other companions have shown here is a unanimous
reaffirmation that as Kabba had become the center
of their prayers by a divine decree, the significance
of “Sakhra” in Islamic Jurisprudence
was over and they had nothing to do with it anymore.
We also read that during the same time period
Caliph Umar, accompanied with Sophronius the patriarch
of Jerusalem, paid a visit to the Church of the
Holy Sepulcher (the site of Jesus Christ’s
alleged resurrection from death), the most important
Christian monument of Jerusalem. As the time for
afternoon prayer approached Sophronius invited
Caliph Umar to pray inside the church but Caliph
Umar declined his invitation and prayed outside
citing his fear that Muslims who would come after
him might establish a mosque in place of the church
if he would pray over there. And this is exactly
what had happened over the years that a mosque
bearing the name of Caliph Umar was constructed
next to the Church of Holy Sepulcher which is
present to this day.
If not a metaphor these historic accounts are
clear evidence that early Muslims were very conscious
of what belonged to them and what belonged to
the others, the distinction of which unfortunately
became blurred after the construction of the “Dome
of the Rock” in 691 A.D by Ummayad Caliphs
Abdul Malik Bin Marvan and his son Walid, some
fifty years after the time of many righteous Caliphs.
I would like to conclude by saying that the Islamic
civilization was established on the principles
of justice not only for the Muslims but for other
religious communities too. It is an injustice
to the Jews that they are not allowed to visit
the “rock” which to them carries the
same religious importance as Muslims for Kabaa.
I think 35 acres of platform at the temple mount
is not a small land and dividing it between Muslims
and Jews will herald a new era of understanding
and cooperation between the two.
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