Before the Muslim army conquered Jerusalem, the Prophet Muhammad visited the City in his Night Journey of 27 Rajab two years before the Hijra. The Night Journey and Ascension were a turning point for both Muslims and the City of Jerusalem. This happened at a harsh and critical time when the Prophet Muhammad and the oppressed Muslims were enduring all kinds of injury and persecution, especially after the death of his uncle, Abu Talib, and his beloved wife, Khadija. The Prophet had also gone to Taif to seek help from Thaqif. He despaired of any good from Thaqif, because they incited their fools and slaves to insult and throw stones at him, injuring his feet so that they bled. He turned to God with the words, “O God, I entreat You because of the feebleness of my strength, the scantiness of my resources, and the ease with which people humiliate me. O most merciful, You are the Lord of the oppressed, You are my Lord. To whom do You entrust me? To a distant one who glowers at me? Or to an enemy to whom you have given power over me? If You are not angry with me, I do not care, but I implore You to make Your strength more generous for me. I seek refuge in the light of Your countenance, which makes the darkness radiant and through which the affairs of this world and the next become good. that You may not be angry with me or Your wrath descend on me. You have the right to blame me until You are satisfied, and there is no Power or Might except in You." 1
In short, Jerusalem was the City and source of hope and happiness for the early Muslims in Makkah where Muhammad encountered a new prophetic experience. Since then, Jerusalem has always been a source for Muslims hope, peace, and justice. Muslims still consider the Prophet Muhammad's night journey from Makkah to Jerusalem on 27 Rajab two years before the Hijra as a spiritual conquest of that blessed land. 2 In the words of the Holy Qur'an, "Glory to the One Who took His Servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose precincts We did bless" (17:1). Indeed, Jerusalem was the central point for the Prophet Muhammad's earthly journey and his heavenly one. His night journey ended there, and from there his ascension began. Thus the Sacred Mosque of the Ka'ba in Makkah was once again closely linked with Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Jerusalem and its surrounding area were linked with the Muslims’ creed and hearts. If Adam was the first Prophet to build Al-Aqsa after 40 years of building the Ka’ba in Makkah, Abraham and his sons re-built or renovated the two holy places in Makkah and Jerusalem, and Muhammad was the last Prophet to make that link very clear and obvious in his night journey.
For Muslims, Palestine in general and Jerusalem in particular is the country where noble prophets like Jesus, David, and Solomon were born, grew up, and had their missions, or to which other prophets migrated, like Abraham and Lot, or where they were buried, as in the c ases of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. It is also the place where angels descended. The Archangel Gabriel used to descend there from Heaven bringing divine instruction to God's prophets and messengers, so they would preach to humanity. Other angels used to descend there as messengers to carry out a specific task. In short, the prophets built Jerusalem and its surrounding area and the prophets lived there. There is not an inch in it where a prophet has not prayed or stood. If this is the case, one might argue that Jerusalem in particular should be opened for al nations. As the Qur'an states, "We said, 'O fire be cool and safe for Abraham." Then they planned against him: but we made them the greater losers. We delivered him and (his nephew) Lot (and directed them) to the land that we have blessed for the nations" (21:69-71).
In addition to Jerusalem, Hebron was the first Islamic charitable endowment in Palestine, indeed the first charitable endowment in Islam. The Prophet endowed it in the name of his companion, Tamim Ibn Aws al-Dari and his brothers and successors until the Day of Judgement. 3 Tamim was the first inhabitant of Palestine to be converted to Islam. By making this endowment in his name, one might argue that the Prophet was in fact stakign Islam's claim to legitimate ownership of Palestine. Accordingly, Muslims believe that Palestine does not belong to the Palestinians or Arabs only but to all Muslims. "Giving up any part of the country is like giving up part of one's religion." 4
Khalifas in successive Islamic ages supported this waqf, recognized it, and implemented it. Muslim religious scholars, most notably Hujjat al-Islam Imam al-Ghazali, declared that any one who "opposes the correctness of this bequest and challenges it is an unbeliever." 5 The special court headed by Thomas Haycraft, the British Chief Justice, and Shaykh Khalil al-Hamidi, the President of the Shari'ah Court of Appeal, in its decision 26/2 of January 29, 1927, ruled that the endowment of the companion Tamim Al-Dari is one that "we regard as correct waqf." 6 The British mandate government in Palestine also recognized this waqf in a memorandum which the secretary general of that government sent to the President of the Islamic Shari'ah Council. 7
The beginning of this century, however, witnessed an advanced stage of the colonialist invasion of the Islamic Arab East. This was reinforced following the recommendation of the Campbell Bannerman Conference of 1907. This conference recommended the separation and division of the Arab world into artificial statelets subordinate to the colonialist powers throught the creation of a "buffer state" in Palestine, which was tantamount to "a powerful and alien human barrier" in the region. This was compounded by the destruction of political unity and the Islamic system through the abolition of the Ottoman Islamic Caliphate in 1924.
As a result, Israel in the past and still now has been taking steps and practical measures every day by which it is trying to determine the future of Jerusalem and to impose a policy of fait accomplis to consolidate its control over the City and force the people to accept the status quo. In this context, Israel is making intensive and urgent efforts to Zionise the City and give it a Jewish character and appearance. Their urgent measures to bring about demographic changes in the composition of the population in Jerusalem, to strengthen the process of colonial settlement, and build settlements in and around the City constitute attempts to change Jerusalem's identity and character, and the nature of its civilization and population.
The Islamic conquest at the time of Umar ibn al-Khattab put an end to centuries of instability, religious persecution, and colonial rule. After the advent of Islam, people enjoyed security, safety, and peace- with the exception of the period of the Crusades (1099-1198). There was scholarly activity on a wide scale. It was a center of learning from which a large number of scholars graduated. It enjoyed the care of the Khalifas and the Muslim rulers.
Jews returned to the City only when the Muslims took over and opened it to all believers. In other words, Jerusalem was not an exclusive city during Muslim rule. For example, the arrival of Umar in Jerusalem marked the start of a golden age and the beginning of a new era during which the City became an open city for all the nations, a city for justice and peace. According to Karen Armstrong, Umar was "faithful to the Islamic inclusive vision. Unlike the Jews and Christians, Muslims did not attempt to exclude others from Jerusalem's holiness" 8 and instead of excluding these religions in Jerusalem, "Muslims were being taught to respect them." 9
"From the first, Muslims showed that the respect of sacred space did not have to mean conflict, enmity, killng, and exclusion of others...From the start, the Muslims developed an inclusive vision of Jerusalem which did not deny the presence and devotion of others, but respected their rights and celebtrated plurality and co-existence. This inclusive vision of holiness is sorely needed by the people of Jerusalem today." 10
When I think of Jerusalem, I think about Justice. History has proved that there can never be peace or stability without justice. As Karen Armstrong argued in her paper to the 1997 International Academic Conference on Islamic Jerusalem. "From the very earliest days, it seems the cult of Jerusalem was inextricably bound up with the quest for social justice. Thus in the Hebrew Bible, prophets and psalmists repeatedly reminded their people that Jerusalem could not be a holy city of Shalom (of peace) unless it was also a city of Tseddeq (of justice)." 11 In short, the raod to peace starts in Jerusalem and the solution of the Jerusalem issues is the key to a just and lasting peace in the region.
FOOTNOTES:
1. Ibn Hisham, Al-Sira al-Nabawiya, part 2 (Dar Al-Rayan lil-Turath, Cairo, 1987), p. 68.
2. Ibn Hisham, Al-Sira al-Nabawiya, pp. 47-53; Ibn Kathir, Al-Sira al-Nabawiya, part 2 (Dar Ihya' Al-Turath Al' Arabi, Beirut), pp. 93-112.
3. See Shaykh Muhamad Bakhit Al-Muti'i, "Copy of the Ruling by His Eminence Shaykh Muhamad Bakhit Al-Muti'i, former Mufti of Egypt, on the Waqf of the Prophet's Companion Tamim Al-Dari and his successors," issued on 7 Rajab 1350, no. 275, p. 99, part 7 (Islamic Vocational Orphanage, Jerusalm, 1984). See also Muhammad Ibshirly and Muhammad Dawud al-Tamimi, Awqaf wa Amlak Al Muslimin fi Filistin (Centre for Researches in Islami History, Arts, and Culture, Istanbul, 1982), which contains an investigation and presentation of one of the land registers in the Ottoman state in which all Muslims' waqfs and properties in teh five provinces of Palestine (Jerusalem Gaza, Safad, Nablus, and 'Ajlun) were registered. These had been kept in Turkey since the tenth century A.H. (the sixteenth century A.D.), that is, since the Ottoman conquest of Palestine in 922 A.H. (1516 A.D.) in the time of Sultan Selim I, in the Ottoman Records House of the Turkish Prime Minister's office in Istanbul.
4. Abd al-Fattah el-Awaisi, "The Conceptual Approach of the Muslim Brothers Toward the Islamic Umma," unpublished paper.
5. See Najm Al-Din Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Al-Ghayti, al-Jawab al-Qawim 'an al-Su'al al-Mut'alliq bi Iqta' al-Sayyid Yamim (investigation by Hasan 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Silwadi) (Islamic Research Centre, Jerusalem. 1986), pp. 44-45.
6. Shaykh Muhammad Bakhit Al Muti'i, op. cit., pp. 9-10.
7. Muhammad Rafiq al-Tamimi, Al-Iqta' wa awal 'Iqta' fi al-Islam, p. 66, quoted by 'Abd Al-Fattah El-'Awaisi, Darih wa Masjid al-Sahabi al-Jalil Tamim Ibn Aws Al-Dari, Radiya Allahu 'anhu: 1917-1948 (Jerusalem, 1989), p. 20.
8. Karen Armstrong "Sacred Space: the Holiness of Islamic Jerusalem," Journal of Islamic Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, Winter 1997, p. 14.
9. Ibid., p. 18.
10. Ibid., pp. 18-19.
11. Ibid., p. 7.