Category: History
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The Confusion Between Masjid al-Aqsa And Qubbat as-Sakhra
We note with regret that many Muslims do not have the proper knowledge about the al-Aqsa mosque and its exact area and buildings. Some believe that the Dome of the Rock is the al-Aqsa Mosque while others are mixed up over the term “al-Aqsa” mosque. Hence, we find it necessary to write on this issue…
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Did Abd al-Malik Build the Dome of the Rock to Shift the Hajj from Makkah to Jerusalem?
The Jewish Orientalist Ignaz Goldziher claimed that the Umayyad Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan had built the Dome of the Rock to prevent the people of Syria and Iraq from the Hajj (pilgrimage) to Makkah and in order to religiously justify this act, his friend Al-Zuhri fabricated the hadith of “Do not set out on…
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The Dome of the Rock (Qubbat as-Sakhra)
The most universally recognized symbol of Jerusalem is not a Jewish or Christian holy place but a Muslim one: the Dome of the Rock, or Qubbat as-Sakhra as it is known in Arabic. When people see its golden dome rising above the open expanse of Haram as-Shareef, they think of only one place in the…
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The Position of Jerusalem and Haram As-Shareef in Islam
During the Mi’raj, the Prophet(P) is reported to have received from God the command of five daily prayers (salah) that all Muslims must perform. Upon his return to Mecca, the Prophet instituted these prayers. It is significant to note that he made Jerusalem the direction (al-Qiblah) which Muslims must face while doing their prayers (narrated…
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The Kaaba And The Abrahamic Tradition
The story of Prophet Ibrahim’s migration from Babylonia to Syria-Palestine (Kan’an), then to Egypt, then his return to Palestine and subsequently his coming with his wife Hajar and son Isma’il to Makka is well-known. These epoch-making travels took place roughly at the beginning of the second millennium B.C. Ibrahim had at first called his own…
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Do Muslims Worship The Black Stone of the Kaaba?
I believe that it is time that a response to this rather annoying polemic about the nature of the Black Stone (al-Hajar al-Aswad) and its significance in Islam by those who have an axe to grind about Islam (or otherwise known tenderly as the “Islamophobics”) is finally needed. We will look at the common allegations…