What does Al-Aqsa Mosque mean to Muslims?
Dr. Ali Muhammad Al-Sallabi
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the second mosque built on Earth, and many prophets and messengers lived within it, including Abraham (peace be upon him), as did Isaac, Jacob, Zechariah, Yahya, Jesus, David, Solomon (peace be upon them), and the Virgin Mary, and from it the seal of the prophets and messengers Muhammad (peace be upon him) went on his journey of Isra, and most of the heavenly messages were sent from it. It was the first qibla for Muslims for nearly seventeen months, and journeys were made to it. Praying in it is equal to five hundred prayers in other mosques except the Sacred Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque.
- Architecture of Al-Aqsa Mosque
It is most likely that the first person to build Al-Aqsa Mosque was the father of humanity, Adam (peace be upon him). He established its borders forty years after he laid the foundations of the Sacred House by order of Allah Almighty, without there having been a synagogue, church, or a temple before it. Ibn Hisham mentioned in his book “The Crowns in the Kings of Himyar”, vol. 1/22, 1st edition, Yemeni Studies and Research Center 1347 AH: “after Adam, peace be upon him built the Kaaba, Allah Almighty commanded Adam to walk to the Holy Land, and Gabriel showed him how to build the Holy House, so he built Al-Aqsa Mosque and performed rituals there”.
Just as the construction and reconstruction operations continued on the Sacred Mosque, they continued on the Blessed Al-Aqsa. Our prophet Abraham, peace be upon him, reconstructed it around the year 2000 BC, then his sons Isaac and Jacob, peace be upon them, took over the task after him. Our prophet Solomon, peace be upon him, also renewed its construction, around the year 1000 BC. . In Sunan Ibn Majah, on the authority of Abdullah bin Amr, may Allah be pleased with them both, on the authority of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, he said: “When Suleiman bin Dawud finished building the Al-Aqsa Mosque, he asked Allah three things: "A ruling that coincides with his rule, and a kingship that no one after him should have, and that whoever comes to this mosque wanting nothing more than to pray in it, he will be free of sins like the day his mother gave birth to him". Then the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: “As for two, he was given them, and I hope that he was given the third" .
- Al-Aqsa Mosque; The journey of the Messenger Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the principle of prophet Muhammad’s (peace and blessings be upon him) ascension to heaven. Allah Almighty said: “Glory be to the One Who took His slave [Muhammad] by night from the Sacred Mosque [in Makkah] to the Aqsa Mosque [in Al-Quds] whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We may show him some of Our signs. Indeed, He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing” [Al-Isra: 1].
It contains a reference to the connection between the Sacred Mosque and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The miracle of the Isra and Mi’raj is one of the greatest miracles of our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and it is proven in the Qur’an and Sunnah, as he was taken on a journey from Mecca to Al-Quds, and he led the prophets in prayer there (peace be upon them). "From it he was ascended to heaven, and there the five prescribed daily prayers were made obligatory, due to the importance of the first qibla for Muslims, and because Al-Aqsa Mosque was the cradle of many prophets before him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, so his departure occurred to accumulate many virtues for him as a generosity from Allah to him" (David and Solomon in the Jewish Books) (p. 445).
The journey from the Sacred Mosque to Al-Aqsa Mosque is a journey chosen by The Most Gentle, the All-Aware, linking the major doctrines of monotheism from the time of Abraham and Ishmael, peace be upon them, to the seal of the prophets Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and it links the holy places of all monotheistic religions, as if this wondrous journey was intended to announce the inheritance of the last Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, to the sanctities of the prophets before him and the inclusion of his message on these sanctities and the connection of his message to them all (In the Shadows of the Qur’an, 4/2212).
- Al-Aqsa is the starting point of the Prophet’s ascension, peace and blessings be upon him, to Sidrat Al-Muntaha
It is narrated on the authority of Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: The prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "I was brought al-Buraq - who is an animal white and long, larger than a donkey but smaller than a mule, who would place his hoof a distance equal to the range of version - I mounted it and came to the Temple (Bait Maqdis in Al-Quds) then tethered it to the ring used by the prophets. I entered the mosque and prayed two rak'ahs in it, then Gabriel took me to heaven" (Sahih Muslim, No. 259).
- Al-Aqsa Mosque; The first of the two qiblas
The prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was in Mecca, praying between the black and the Yemeni pillars, so that the Kaaba was in front of him, which was facing Al-Quds, and he prayed towards it for several months. It is narrated on the authority of Al-Baraa bin Azib that when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to Medina, he stayed first with his grandfathers or maternal uncles from Ansar. He offered his prayers facing Baitul-Maqdis (Jerusalem) for sixteen or seventeen months, but he wished that he could pray facing the Kaaba (at Mecca). The first prayer which he offered facing the Ka'ba was the 'Asr prayer in the company of some people. Then one of those who had offered that prayer with him came out and passed by some people in a mosque who were bowing during their prayers (facing Al-Quds). He said addressing them, "By Allah, I testify that I have prayed with Allah's Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) facing Mecca (Kaaba)". Hearing that, those people changed their direction towards the Kaaba immediately. Jews and the people of the scriptures used to be pleased to see the Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) facing Al-Quds in prayers but when he changed his direction towards the Kaaba, during the prayers, they disapproved of it. (Sahih Al-Bukhari, 1/96).
- Scarring to travel to it
Al-Bukhari narrated on the authority of Al-Zuhri, on the authority of Saeed bin Al-Musayyab, on the authority of Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: The Prophet Mohammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Animals are saddled only for prayer in the three mosques: the sacred mosque, the Aqsa Mosque, and this mosque of mine.” (Sunan Ibn Majah, No. 1409).
- The virtue of praying in Al-Aqsa Mosque
The prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "A prayer in the Sacred Mosque is worth a hundred thousand prayers, a prayer in my mosque is worth a thousand prayers, and a prayer in Al-Quds is worth five hundred prayers" (David and Solomon in the Jewish Books, p. 447).
- Al-Aqsa Mosque is one of the Omari Endowments of the Nation of Islam
During the period of the conquests of the Levant and Iraq, Palestine was among the areas conquered by the Muslims during his reign, and Al-Farouq Omar bin Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote his pledge to the Christian people of Aelia (Al-Quds) of security, peace, tolerance and coexistence. When researching the lands of conquest and their fate, Caliph Al-Farouq Omar bin Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) initially wanted to divide the land according to the number of conquerors, but Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) saw no division, and Moaz bin Jabal shared his opinion and warned Omar against That (Al-Amwal by Abu Ubaid, p. 75). Abu Ubaid narrated, saying: Omar came to the collector and wanted to divide the lands among the Muslims, and Moaz said: By Allah, then it will be what you hate. If you divide it, the great rent will be in the hands of the people, and then they will be destroyed, and that will become the property of one man or woman. Then after them will come a people who will completely block Islam, but they will not find anything. So, look at something that the first of them and the last of them will accommodate. (The Economics of War, p. 217).
Al-Farouq took this advice, and Omar said in the dialogue with the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them): If you divided it among them, it would become a state among the rich among you, and those who came after them from among the Muslims would have nothing, and Allah has given them the right to it in His Almighty saying: {And those who came after them} [Al-Hashr: 10] Then he said: So the verse absorbed the people until the Day of Resurrection. After that, the opinion of Omar and the senior companions - may Allah be pleased with them - settled on not dividing the land (Akhbar Omar, p. 210).
The Commander of the Faithful, Omar ibn al-Khattab, saw that it was in the best interest to endow it for the Muslims, and he endowed it, and the Muslims agreed on that after the death of Bilal and his companions. On this basis, the Muslim rulers dealt with Palestine and its holy city. They took care of it, its sanctities, and its reconstruction. The Ayyubids, and after them the Mamluks, established many endowment buildings in the Holy City, preserved them and cared for them on a regular basis.
Thus, the idea of the endowments in Palestine and Al-Quds from the Commander of the Faithful Omar was a wisdom that Allah inspired him, which was evident in his saying to Saad bin Abi Waqqas after he conquered Iraq: “If you divide it among them (the army and the soldiers), nothing will be left for those who come after them!”, and this is what The caliphs after Omar confirmed it, and they followed his example, realizing what Omar (may Allah be pleased with him) was aiming for with this act, in which his genius that Allah had given him was evident; It is a clear declaration, and a sure statement, that this land will remain the property of the common Muslims throughout the ages and the changing times. This precise meaning was evident in the words of the just Caliph Omar bin Abdul Aziz, may Allah be pleased with him, when he said: “This is a land that the first Muslims gave to the last of them, so No one can finance it without them” (History of Damascus, 2/200).
- Zionist claims in Palestine: the lie of the Promised Land and the alleged Temple of Solomon
One of the biggest allegations made by the Zionists in Palestine and the complicity of the extremist occupation governments to prove their “ancient” historical origin is “the lie of the Temple and the Promised Land.”
If we start the conversation from the end, saying that Al-Aqsa Mosque was built long times before the reign of Solomon (peace be upon him), then how could the “alleged” Temple of Solomon be under Al-Aqsa Mosque, as the occupiers claim today, and most of the excavations that the Zionists have carried out under the Noble Sanctuary since their occupation of Al-Quds have not proved any of their claims about the existence of the Temple, and that Jewish archaeologists and others have denied the claims of the Zionists (we do not mean all the Jews because a percentage of them opposed the Zionist entity’s project in the first place) about the existence of the Temple under the Temple Mount.
When an international committee was formed in 1930 under the auspices of the United Nations at that time, it conducted its examinations for more than a month, and listened to a large number of Arab and Jewish witnesses. It also reviewed all the documents submitted to it by the two groups, and then wrote its report: "The ownership of the Western Wall belongs to the Muslims alone, and they alone have the real right to it, since it constitutes an integral part of the area of the Noble Sanctuary, which is the property of the endowment property of King Al-Afdal, the nephew of Saladin Al-Ayyubi, and to the Muslims. Likewise, the ownership of the sidewalk located in front of the wall and in front of the area known as Al-Mugharibi Quarter belongs to it, because it is an endowment according to the provisions of Islamic law". This international report attests to the right of Muslims to the historical, religious and legal Buraq Wall. The Encyclopedia Britannica confirmed this by saying: “It is not certain that the temple was in the precincts of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, especially since when Titus demolished it in 70 AD, he left nothing standing in it, and obliterated all of its features, so searching for it is futile”.
The great penetration that occurred in Western civilization and values by some writers, historians, clerics, and revisionists affiliated with Zionism, and its false claims about the idea of the Temple of Solomon, and the doctrine of the Promised Land, because of which the blood of innocents is being shed unjustly today, are nothing but lies and false deviations opposed by many from Christian clergy and archaeologists in their serious and objective research, even from the Jews themselves. We mention, for example, but not limited to: Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein, an academic from Tel Aviv University, who shared the opinion of a number of Jewish and Western researchers that all the excavations and excavations under the Holy Mount, Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock Mosque did not provide a single piece of evidence of the authenticity of the Promised Land and the story of the temple. What was proven by an archaeologist from Tel Aviv University, Professor Ze'ev Herzog, who participated in many archaeological excavations and missions in Al-Quds, Jericho, and large areas of Palestine, led him to reach one conclusion: “The time has come to stop searching for something that did not exist.” Others reached the same realistic data, such as Ken Spiro, John Crossan, and Munther Ishaq.
As for us Muslims, we have a clear vision, derived from the Holy Book, our faith and our history. The truth about David, Solomon, and the prophets of the children of Israel. We have inherited in our Wise Qur’an their approach to peace, justice, and reform, and the call to worship Allah and refrain from injustice and aggression against others.
- Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Victorious Sect
The prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: There will never cease to be a group from my Ummah manifest upon the truth, they will not be harmed by those who forsake them until Allah's Decree comes. They said: O prophet, where are they? He said: In Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem) and the outskirts of Bayt al-Maqdis. On the authority of Abu Darda (may Allah be pleased with him), he said: The prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: Indeed, faith - when temptations occur - is in the Levant.
Palestine is a holy land, may Allah bless it, and it is the land of endurance, the land of resurrection and the appointed time. Because of the importance of Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem) and the endurance in it, many Muslims, including the Companions of prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, the Successors, and others, traveled there. Some of them came there during the Islamic conquest of the Levant, and some of them came there after that with the intention of visiting, receiving blessings, receiving knowledge, and other purposes (Daoud and Suleiman, peace be upon them, Mai Hassan, p. 449). Among those who lived in Jerusalem were the Companions of prophet Mohammad (may Allah be pleased with them):
- Ubadah ibn al-Samit (may Allah be pleased with him), witnessed the conquests of the prophet Mohammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and witnessed the conquest of Egypt. He died in Al-Quds during the caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan, may Allah be pleased with him in the year 34 AH, and he has a legacy.
- Shaddad bin Aws Al-Khazraji Al-Ansari, a companion who was appointed by Al-Faruq Omar as the Emir of Homs. He was a scholar who lived in Palestine and resided in Al-Quds and died there during the caliphate of Muawiyah. His grave is outside Bayt Al-Maqdis in the Cemetery of Mercy, and he has a remainder (Al-A’lam, Al-Zirkli, 3/232).
Wathilah bin Al-Asqa’ lived in the Levant near Damascus, then moved to Al-Quds and died there.
- Yazid bin Salam, servant of Abdul Malik bin Marwan, from the people of Al-Quds, worked in building the Dome of the Rock Mosque and Al-Aqsa Mosque with Raja bin Haywa (Al-Isaba, Ibn Hajar, 1/425).
- Abdullah bin Muhairiz Al-Jumahi, he was a worshiper in the Levant and lived in Al-Quds and died there.
- Ziyad bin Abi Sawda, from Al-Quds, narrated on the authority of Ubadah bin Al-Samit and Abu Hurairah, and he is trustworthy.
And other companions and followers, and the best of the Islamic nation; From scholars, jurists, ascetics, and servants, may Allah be pleased with them all. (David and Solomon, peace be upon them, p. 450).
Finally, we say: Al-Aqsa Mosque is the endowment and right of Muslims until the Day of Resurrection. Because they are the heirs of the prophets and messengers (peace be upon them), and it is a symbol of Allah Almighty’s selection of the message of Islam. The conclusion of the previous messages confirms it and dominates it, as the Almighty said: "We have revealed to you [O Prophet] the Book in truth, confirming the scriptures that came before it and as a criterion over them" [Al-Ma’id] AH:48]. Muslims believe in all the prophets and heavenly messages, and consider their veneration and reverence a pillar of their religion. They are the most capable of protecting Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa Mosque. Peace will not prevail except with the return of justice to its people, and the departure of the Zionists from Al-Quds and Palestine to the countries from which they came decades ago with the support of Britain and the colonial powers of the West. The fight of the Palestinian people is a sacred right in heavenly laws and international laws, and behind them are the Islamic and Arab nation, and the free people of the world, for their religious, historical and humanitarian right to the land of Palestine, and to purify it of emerging enemies.
Sources and references:
- The Holy Quran
- News of Omar and News of Abdullah bin Omar, written by Ali Al-Tantawi, Naji Al-Tantawi, Al-Maktab Al-Islami, eighth edition, 1403 AH 1983 AD.
- Al-Isaba fi Ta’miz al-Sahabah by Ahmad bin Ali bin Hajar Al-Asqalani, edited by Ali Muhammad Al-Bajjawi, Dar Al-Nahda - Egypt.
- Media personality in the Qur’anic discourse, Zahraa Al-Barqawi, Dar Treasures of Scientific Knowledge, first edition, 2019 AD.
- Alamwal by Abu Ubaid Qasim bin Salam, investigated by: Muhammad Khalil Haras, Dar Al-Fikr Beirut, second edition 1395 AH.
- The Prophets Kings David and Solomon (peace be upon them) The alleged Temple of Solomon, Ali Muhammad Al-Sallabi, Dar Ibn Kathir, Beirut.
- History of Damascus, Abu al-Qasim Ali bin Asakir, edited by Muta` al-Tarabishi, Publications of the Arabic Language Academy - Damascus.
- Sahih Muslim, Muslim bin Al-Hajjaj, edited by: Muhammad Abd al-Baqi, Dar Ihya’ al-Tarath al-Arabi, Beirut, 2nd edition, 1972 AD.
- Classes, Muhammad bin Saad bin Muni’ al-Zuhri, edited by: Ali Muhammad Omar, Al-Khanji Printing Library, Cairo, 1st edition, 1421 AH, 2001 AD.
- Omar bin Al-Khattab, Ali Muhammad Al-Salabi, Dar Ibn Kathir, Damascus, 1st edition, 2003 AD.
- In the Shadows of the Qur’an, Sayyid Qutb, Dar Al-Shorouk, Cairo, 17th edition, 1412 AH.
- Al-Aqsa Mosque, The Story of Islam website, 02/18/2014 AD.
