Saudi cleric announces visit to Jerusalem

Saudi cleric Sheik Mohammed al-Areefi has announced on his television show that he will visit Jerusalem next week to bolster Muslim claims to the city. (AP)

via ynetnews.com

He has to show up to do that? Why doesn't Shiek Mohammed al-Areefi just read his Quran? isn't that his job? Any mention of Jerusalem in there? not at all. The closest it comes to a reference is in Sura 17:1, which refers to the “furthest mosque.” Today, many Arabs claim this is a reference to the Al Aqsa Mosque, the place where Allah supposedly took Mohammed for a journey and the site from which the prophet of Islam reputedly ascended into heaven. The current Arab uprising in Jerusalem is called the Al Aqsa Intifida and centers around this claim. The so called moderates of Fatah even go so far as to suggest that there never was a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

Mohammed died in 632 AD. At the time, Jerusalem was a Christian city. It was captured by Khalif Omar six years after Mohammed’s death. Prior to the capture, the Church of Saint Mary of Justinian stood on the Temple Mount. There was no mosque in the entire city. The Dome of the Rock was built in 691. Twenty years later, the Church of Saint Mary was converted into a mosque with the familiar dome on top. It was named Al Aqsa, so it would sound like the “furthest mosque” mentioned in the Koran. That’s the basis of the Islamic claim to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

What makes Jerusalem so precious? The Jews. Mecca was sanctified by Islam, even though the black stone pre-existed the founding gesture, and Jerusalem was sanctified by Judaism. Subsequent religious claims to the city are accretions to the original consecration. Jerusalem is the Christian holy land because Jesus was a Jew. And Islam’s claim is based on a scriptural injunction to supersede Judaism and Christianity. If Muslim claims to Jerusalem are not religious they are inexplicable. Ramallah would be a more suitable capital of a Palestinian state that truly intended to live peacefully side by side with Israel. Why should the world be dragged into a fierce tug of war when there is enough for everyone… if, in fact, it is a question of legitimate aspirations. The Muslim claim to Jerusalem is staked on the Al Aqsa mosque and the gilded Dome of the Rock that dominate the Temple Mount (the French call it “l’esplanade des mosquées”). And if it is granted, the heart of our civilization will be broken. The precedent established in Jerusalem will be extended to Paris, New York, London, the Hague, Detroit, Washington D.C… wherever a mosque is built, Islam will extend its political sovereignty. It will be the end of separation of church and state, the end of religious and political freedom. Al Aqsa is built on the ruins of the Jewish Temple. Europeans—so eager to impose the division of Jerusalem-- finally nixed plans for mega- mosques in Rome and London. But their long-delayed awakening is trumped by the anti-Zionism of the American president.

Continue reading here. It's superb.

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com

I mostly agree, however my understanding of Jerusalem is that it was a town before David captured it. That doesn't make it any less our temple, but there is a reason the Ark was originally in Shiloh. Jerusalem was a Jebusite city.

That David showed respect for the Jebusites - even their property rights -
is clear from the description of how the Israelite king acquired a site
for a sacrificial altar. Although Araunah the Jebusite, possibly the
former ruler of the city, offers it to him free of charge, David insists
on paying for it:

And the king said unto Araunah; Nay, but I will surely buy it from thee at a price; neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the oxen and the threshing floor for fifty shekels of silver. [II Samuel 24: 24]

via mfa.gov.il