JERUSALEM IN THE QUR’AN
By Imran N. Hosein
PART ONE
Chapter 7
TURN FROM
JERUSALEM TO MAKKAH
“Will
they not travel through the earth so that they may thus learn wisdom and their
ears may thus learn to hear? Truly it is not their eyes that are blind, but
(rather) their hearts which are in their chests.”
(Qur’an, al-Hajj, 22:46)
[I.e.
Will they not travel through the earth perchance that their dead hearts might
come alive, so that with such hearts and minds, which are now internally alive,
they may thus learn wisdom and their ears may thus learn to hear, i.e., with
internal hearing? Truly it is not their eyes that are blind, but, rather, their
hearts that are in their chests.]
Jewish religious scholarship recognized a Jewish
relationship with the Holy Land, the city of Jerusalem, and the Temple of
Solomon (‘alaihi al-Salaam), to be matters connected with the very
substance of ‘faith’. As a consequence of that belief they concluded that the
religion of Judaism would forever remain incomplete unless and until Jews
returned to a liberated Holy Land, restored the State of Israel with Holy Jerusalem
as the capital of that State, and reconstructed the Temple of Solomon (‘alaihi
al-Salaam). Zionism had no such sacred attachment or relationship with the
Land, the city, or the Temple. The Zionist ties to these entities were based on
grounds that were essentially political, historic, secular and national.
The Qur’an declared, on the other hand, that the
substance of religion resided in ‘faith’ (and righteous conduct) – ‘faith’ in
Allah Most High, His Angels, His Revealed Scriptures, His Messengers or
Prophets, the Last Day, the Resurrection and Judgment, Heaven and Hell, etc.
Allah Most High is the ‘Truth’. ‘Faith’ resides in the human heart. When
‘Faith’ is achieved then ‘Truth’ enters the heart! Allah Most High is greater
than a Land, or a City, or a Temple. “My
heavens and My earth are too small to contain Me. But the heart of My faithful
servant can contain Me”(Hadith al-Qudsi).
When the Last Prophet (‘alaihi al-Salaam) came into
the world Jewish scholarship was incapacitated in respect of formally
recognizing him as a Prophet because of this fixation with the ‘external form’
of religion and inadequate recognition of the ‘internal substance’ of religion.
Muhammad (‘alaihi al-Salaam), the Arab, was not a Jew, hence, they
argued, he could not be a Prophet to the Jews. After the arrival of the Prophet
(‘alaihi al-Salaam) in their very midst in the Hejazi city of Yathrib
(now Madina), he fasted with the Jews on the days when they fasted and
in accordance with the law of fasting in the Torah (sunset to sunset). He also
performed his Salat (prescribed prayers) while facing in the direction
of Jerusalem. When after seventeen months it became clear that the Jews had not
only rejected Muhammad (‘alaihi al-Salaam) as a Prophet of Allah Most
High and the Qur’an as the word of Allah Most High but were also
conspiring to destroy the unity and power of the community of Muslims, Allah Most
High ordered the Prophet to turn away from Jerusalem in prayer and to turn instead
to Makkah.
This change in Qiblah (direction of prayer) provoked
the Jews to make many critical comments. It was an affront to them that this
change should have taken place since they believed that the very substance of
religion was located in attachment to Jerusalem. The Qur’an responded to
their criticisms with contempt:
“The fools among the people will say: What hath turned them from
the Qiblah to which they were used? Say: To Allah belong East and West: He
guides whom He will to a Way that is straight.”
(Qur’an, al-Baqarah,2:142)
The Qur’an
declared the Jews to be so imprisoned by the false belief that Jerusalem belonged
to the heart and center of faith that nothing in the world could change it:
“Even if you were to bring to the People of the Book all the
Signs (together), they would not follow your Qiblah…”
(Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:145)
Finally the Qur’an responded with a declaration that
demolished the false belief that Jerusalem, the city, and its Temple, were
located at the substance of the religion of Abraham (‘alaihi al-Salaam):
“It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards East
or West; but it is righteousness to have faith in Allah, and the Last Day, and
the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your wealth, out of
love for Him (or despite your love for wealth) for your relatives, for orphans,
for the needy, for the traveler, for those who ask, and for the ransom of
slaves; (righteousness is) to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular
charity, to fulfill contracts which you make; and to be firm and patient, in
pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are
the people of Truth, the God-fearing.”
(Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:177)
And so no negative implication for Islam should be derived
from this event of the turning away by Muslims from Jerusalem, and turning to Makkah,
other than the clear Qur’anic attempt to correct the religious perspective of
those who located the substance of religion in a geographical framework. The
Qur’anic message to the Jews was very clear. The Jews were informed that
although Muhammad (‘alaihi al-Salaam) was not a Jew, and although he no
longer prayed in the direction of Jerusalem, and although he never made any
attempt whatsoever to liberate Jerusalem, yet he was still a true Prophet of
the God of Abraham and the religion which he preached was the true religion of
Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, and of the Messiah, the son of Mary! And so the
change in Qiblah was an ominous sign for the stubborn Jew who insisted that
Jerusalem was the spiritual heart of the religion of Abraham.
If the divine wrath did not come down upon Muhammad (‘alaihi
al-Salaam) after he turned away from Jerusalem, then the implication would
be that a ‘true’ Prophet could turn away from Jerusalem and yet remain a ‘true’
Prophet. Not only did Muhammad (‘alaihi al-Salaam) suffer in no way in
consequence of ‘turning away’ from Jerusalem, but, rather, he went on to
convincingly defeat a Jewish people who insisted that they were the ‘chosen
people’ of the God of Abraham.
And so it is clear that there were no such political
implications to be derived from the change of Qiblah to the effect that Islam,
the religion, no longer had any ties with Jerusalem... On the contrary, the Qur’an
affirms that Muhammad (‘alaihi al-Salaam), and those who follow him, are
the true followers of the religion of Abraham:
“Without doubt, among men, the nearest of men to Abraham (i.e.,
closest to him in respect of following his religion), are those who followed
him, as are also this Prophet (i.e., Muhammad) and those who believe (i.e.,
believe in him and in the Book which was revealed to him): and Allah is the
Protecting Friend of those who have Faith.”
(Qur’an, Ale ‘Imran, 3:68)
The implication of this declaration of the Qur’an is
quite clear. It is those who faithfully follow Muhammad (‘alaihi al-Salaam)
who have the right to inherit the Holy Land. It is the destiny of Jerusalem to
confirm this truth.
to be continued....
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