JERUSALEM: An Islamic Perspective

DR. MUZAMMIL H. SIDDIQI
The following article was a talk presented by Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi at the first meeting of American Muslims for Jerusalem (AMJ) in Washington, DC on April 17, 1999.
 

Photo credit: Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times

 The city of Jerusalem is very sacred to Muslims. It is one of the three most sacred cities in Islam. Jerusalem is called al-Quds al-Sharif (the Noble Sacred Place). In order to understand the sacredness of this city in Islam, one has to understand the faith structure of Islam.
There are three basic principles of faith in Islam:

• Tawhid- Belief in the oneness of Allah
• Risalah- Belief in the divine guidance through His chosen prophets and Messengers
• Akhirah- Belief in life after death, divine judgment and heaven and hell

It is the second principle of faith in Islam that is directly related to our love and devotion to Jerusalem.


Jerusalem in the Islamic Faith
Islam recognizes all the Prophets and Messengers of Allah. The Quran has mentioned many Prophets by name. Their stories and teachings are told at varying length throughout the Quran. Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Zachariah, John, (Yahya) and Jesus are among the honored Prophets and Messengers of Allah according to Islam. Prophets David and Solomon are also recognized by Jews and Christians as great kings and patriarchs of ancient Isarel. However, in Islam they are honored as Allah’s great Prophets. The Quran not only narrated their stories, but also restored their honor by removing some of the charges and allegations there were made against their characters by earlier communities. In the Bible, Prophet David was accused of committing adultery (2 Samuel 11-12) and Prophet Solomon was accused of idolatry (1 King 11). The Quran absolved these prophets from all these charges (28:21-25; 38:30). This shows that David and Solomon are more revered and respected in Islam than in Jewish and Christian traditions.

Since the city of Jerusalem is historically associated with these prophets of Allah, it naturally becomes a sacred city to Muslims. Islam considers itself a continuation of the same spiritual and ethical movement that was begun by the earlier Prophets. Historically and theologically, Islam believes itself to be the true inheritor of the earlier traditions of the Prophets and Messengers of Allah. It is for this reason that the Quran called Palestine- the land associated with the lives of many God’s Prophets- as al-ard al-muqaddasa (the Sacred Land, 5:21) and its surroundings barakna hawlaha (God’s Blessed Precincts 17:1).

The sacredness of the city of Jerusalem, according to Islam, is in its historically religious reality. This is the city that witness the life and works of greatest Prophets and Messengers of Allah. Here, divine grace touched the earth repeatedly. Allah’s great Prophets and Messengers lived and moved in its valleys and streets. Thus as Makkah and Medina are blessed cities in Islam because of their association with Prophets Abraham, Ishmael and Muhammad, in a similar way, Jerusalem is blessed and important in Islam because of its association with other prophets of Allah, namely David, Solomon an Jesus. Jews and Christians do not recognize Ishmael and Muhammad as God’s Prophets and Messengers, and do not consider Makkah and Medina as sacred cities to them. The Muslims’ belief in Prophets Moses, David, Solomon, and Jesus, compel Muslims to recognize the sacredness and importance of Jerusalem.

Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi - Chairman of Fiqh Council of North America

Jerusalem in the Life of Prophet Muhammad
Due to its theological and religious status, Jerusalem had a very important place in the life of Prophet Muhammad. In the year 620 CE almost one and a half years before his Hijrah (migration) from Makkah to Medina, the well-known event of Isra and Miraj (Night Journey and Ascension) occurred. On this night, in a miraculous way, the prophet was taken on a momentous journey from Makkah to Jerusaelm and from there to the heavenly celestial abodes. The Night Journey was a great miracle that Muslims believe was give to Prophet Muhammas as an honor and as a confirmation of Makkah’s spiritual link with Jerusalem. The Night Journey from Makkah to Jerusalem is called al-Isra’ and the ascension from Jerusalem to the heaven is called al-Mi’raj. Both of these events took place on the same night. Angel Gabriel took prophet Muhammad from Makkah to Jerusalem. There it is reported that the Prophet stood at the Sacred Rock (al-Sakhrah al-Musharrafah), went to the heavens, and returned to Jerusalem where he met with many Prophets and Messengers and led them in prayers.

After these experiences the Prophet was brought back to Makkah. The story of Isra’ and Mi’raj is full of wonderful signs and symbols. It has been interpreted by Muslim thinkers, mystics and poets in deep and meaningful ways. The essential point is the Muslim’s deep devotion and spiritual connection with Jerusalem.

During the Mi’raj, the Prophet is reported to have received from Allah the command of five daily prayers (Salah) that al Muslims must perform. Upon his return to Makkah, the Prophet instituted these prayers. It is significant to note that he made Jerusalem the direction (al-Qiblah) which Muslims must face while during their prayers. Jerusalem is thus called Ula al-Qiblatain (the first Qiblah). The Prophet and the early community of Islam worshiped in the direction of Jerusalem during their stay in Makkah. After the Hijah Muslims in Medina also continued to use the direction of Jerusalem for almost seventeen months. Then came the command of Allah to change the direction from Jerusalem to Makkah (2:142-150).

Muslim commentators of the Quran and historians have explained the meaning and purpose of this change. Suffice it to say that the change of the Qiblah in no way diminished the status of Jerusalem in Islam. The Kabah in Makkah was meant to be the Qiblah from the beginning, because the Quran said that it was the First House (Awwal Bait 3:96) established for mankind to worship. The Kabah, however, was full of idols when Prophet Muhammad began preaching his message of Tawhid (the Oneness and Transcendence of Allah). A separation had to be made between the people and the former pagan worship they had done at the Kabah. Jerusalem served that purpose very well by distancing the people from their pagan and idolatrous associations. Once monotheism was fully established in the minds and hearts of the believers and the Kabah’s position with Abraham with monotheism was made clear, the way was open to restore the Kabah as the original direction of prayers. There are many instances of this type of change (or abrogation, naskh, in Islamic legislation. Visiting the graves was forbidden in the beginning, but later was permitted because Muslims had learned the difference between visiting the grave sites and ancestor worship. In the beginning Prophet Muhammad forbade his people to write his own words except that which was the Word of Allah. Later, he gave them permission to write Hadith as well.

It is interesting to note that the Kabah in Makkah was the original direction of prayers for all the prophets of Allah. According to a Hadith, the black stone (al-Hajar al-Aswad) had been in Makkah at the place of the Kabah since the time of Adam. It was the Prophets Abraham and Ishmael who built the Kabah under Allah’s command and direction (2:125-127). The city of Jerusalem was established as a religious center for the Israelite people by Prophets David and Solomon around the year 900 BC. This was almost one thousand years after the time f Prophet Abraham and the building of the Kabah. Thus one can say that the Kabah had a historical primacy over Jerusalem. Furthermore, it is important to note that the bible says that the early Israelites in Jerusalem used to turn in the southern direction when making their most sacred prayers and offerings (Exodus 27:9ff; 40:24). The Kabah is in the southern direction of Jerusalem. Thus, we can say that the Kabah was also the Qiblah for the earlier Israelite communities as well.

Jerusalem in the Early History of Islam
Jerusalem came under Islamic rule during the time of the second Caliph Umar in the year 638. It was a peaceful conquest. The ruling patriarch of the city, Sophronius, offered the keys of the city to the Caliph himself.

Upon entering the blessed city, the Caliph asked about the site of the mosque of David (al-Masjid al-Aqsa) and the blessed Rock from where the Prophet ascended in Mi’raj which was a desolate place at the time. Romans had destroyed the so-called Temple in the year 70 CE and no non-Christian or Christian ruler after that ever tried to build any place of worship there. According to historians, it was a garbage dump, a dunghill for the people of Jerusalem. Umar, upon learning that was the site of the Masjid and the place where from the Mi’raj took place, cleaned the site with his own hands and put his forehead in prayer on the ground. The Masjid al-Aqsa was built in that area. Later, the Dome of the Rock and a more elaborate mosque were built there in 691 CE. Those were, perhaps, the first most expensive sacred monuments built in the history of Islam.

Jerusalem was always held in great esteem by Muslims. The Prophet said: “A journey should not be taken (with the intention of worship) except to three mosques: the Sacred Mosque in Makkah, my Mosque in Medina and Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem.”

On the basis of this Hadith, Muslims always considered it as a religious obligation to visit the city of Jerusalem, its mosque and its sacred and blessed precincts. Often, pilgrims to Makkah made it a point to visit Jerusalem, as well, on their way to Makkah and Medina.

Muslim rulers and philanthropists built many hostels, schools, and other religious centers in and around the city. They purchased land and dedicated it as a waqf (endowment) for religious purposes. The entire city is virtually a waqf land which is non-salable and non-transferable.

Many Muslim scholars also migrated and settled in the city of Jerusalem. Al-Aqsa Masjid was a great seat of learning. Thousands of pious people and scholars made stipulations in their will to be buried in Jerusalem upon their death. There are thousands, perhaps millions of Muslims’ graves in the city of Jerusalem.

Muslims also recognize the rights of Christians and Jews who hold the city dear to their hearts and sacred in their faiths. Under Islamic rule they were allowed to visit the city and many of them were given permission to settle there. When Caliph Umar made the treaty with Patriarch Sophronius, it was agreed, at the request of the Christian patriarch that “No Jews will live with them in Aelia.” The Muslims relaxed this rule and Jews were again permitted by Muslims to return and live there. During their ninety-year rule (1099-1187), the Crusaders banned both Jews and Muslims from the city.
The city of Jerusalem is very important to Muslims. Muslims have a right to this city religiously, historically and legally. There are three important points to remember about Islam and Jerusalem:

• In the entire history of Jerusalem, from the time of Prophet David until the present, Muslims have ruled the city the longest.
• Muslims maintained the sacredness of the city in the full sense of the word.
• Muslims established and practiced the most tolerant multi-religious and multi-faith character of Jerusalem.

Ayloush: Muslim roots in Jerusalem as deep as Jews, Christians

Published letter to the editor
Morning Sentinel Newspaper
9/2/2009

Muslim roots in Jerusalem as deep as Jews, Christians

In his letter to the editor ("Jerusalem belongs to Jews, not Muslims," Aug. 23), Andrew Busque denies Islam's historical connection to Jerusalem.

Muslim roots in Jerusalem go as deep in history as their faith in all the prophets, up to the Prophet Muhammad, who instructed Muslims initially to pray in the direction of Jerusalem.

The Islamic centerpiece of Jerusalem is Haram Al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), the compound in the Old City that contains both the Dome of the Rock mosque and the even more significant Al-Aqsa mosque, one of the three holiest places in the world for Muslims.

The Quran states: "Glorified be He (God) who took his servant (Muhammad) for a journey by night from Al-Haram mosque (in Mecca) to Al-Aqsa mosque (in Jerusalem), whose precincts We have blessed." (17:1)

This verse refers to the Prophet Muhammad's miraculous night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from the rock now located in the Dome of the Rock mosque to heaven. Many other references in the Quran and the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad focus on the significance of Jerusalem, repeatedly calling it the sacred land and the blessed land.

While maintaining a strong historical connection to Jerusalem, Muslims also recognize its importance to the Christian and Jewish faiths. Any lasting peace in the Middle East will depend on respecting the historical claims of Muslims, Christians and Jews, thereby symbolizing the religious tolerance and freedom for which this holy city stands.

Hussam Ayloush, director
Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greater Los Angeles Area
Anaheim, Calif.

Original letter to which I responded:

Jerusalem belongs to Jews, not Muslims

8/23/2009

To whom does the land of Israel belong? The recent increase in attempts to negotiate a Mideast peace and establish a Palestinian state have again raised this question, which has been asked numerous times.

The Palestinians insist that a separate state for them must include Jerusalem as its capital as is their "right." Israel has rightly rejected that false claim.

The real issue at hand though is the ongoing hatred for Israel and Jews and a refusal to acknowledge Israel's right to exist.

Of course, Arab hostility against Israel is not a modern phenomenon. The current conflict has roots that go back many generations. Palestinian claims to sovereignty over portions of the Holy Land, and particularly over Jerusalem, are illegitimate not only in light of biblical text, but also in the light of centuries of history.

Jewish identification with Israel goes back almost 4,000 years, when God told Abraham to leave his homeland of Ur Kasdim and to go "to the land that I will show you" (Genesis 12:1). God promised this land to Abraham and his descendants through Isaac forever.

Israel became a nation 2,000 years before the rise of Islam and has had an unbroken presence in the Holy Land for centuries.

Jerusalem is mentioned 700 times in the Scriptures, but not once in the Quran, and Mohammed never even visited Jerusalem. The Holy City of David is the rightful capital of the Jewish state. End of story.

Andrew Busque
Waterville

Jews and Muslims unite against Jerusalem Museum of Tolerance

By Nir Hasson
Haaretz

A new Jewish-Muslim initiative is seeking to derail the planned Museum of Tolerance, which is currently being built in Jerusalem on the site of a former Muslim cemetery.

The initiative's hopes to get the site declared ritually impure under Jewish law, due to the fact that the construction has involved unearthing the remains of hundreds of Muslims. Such a declaration would keep religious Jews from visiting the museum.

The proposal has already received the blessing of Rabbi David Schmidl, head of the ultra-Orthodox Atra Kadisha organization, which fights against the desecration of Jewish graves. Its Jewish sponsors - who include two left-wing activists plus one activist from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party - are also seeking support from Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar, but he has not yet replied to their letter.

The museum, which is being built in Jerusalem's Mamilla neighborhood by the Wiesenthal Center, occupies a site that served for hundreds of years as a Muslim cemetery, but was then turned into a parking lot. Because the work involves unearthing hundreds of skeletons and reinterring them at the margins of the site, it has aroused fierce opposition from Muslim groups, who petitioned the High Court of Justice against it.

However, the court accepted the museum's argument that the lack of Muslim objection when the site was turned into a parking lot indicates that it is no longer deemed holy ground.

The new initiative is the brainchild of Meir Margalit, a Jerusalem city councilman from the Meretz Party who is active in the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, and Gershon Baskin, who is co-CEO of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information.

Three months ago, they approached Shas activist Meir Sheetreet, who is known to be close to the party's spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Sheetreet said he believed it would be possible to obtain a joint Jewish-Muslim declaration about the sanctity of the site. It was Sheetreet who approached Schmidl and secured his support for the initiative.

In return, Sheetreet asked his leftist partners to obtain a promise from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that the sanctity of Joseph's Tomb in Nablus would be respected, and Baskin did so.

"Because Joseph's Tomb is recognized in the [Oslo] Accords as a holy site, the PLO recognizes and honors what was agreed to," wrote Rafik Husseini, Abbas' bureau chief, in a letter to the activists. The Palestine Liberation Organization is the group that signed the Oslo Accords on the Palestinians' behalf.

Husseini also wrote that he expected Israel to recognize and respect the sanctity of the Mamilla cemetery and refrain from moving the remains of the people buried there.

After receiving the letter, Sheetreet asked Amar to issue a similar statement demanding respect for the sanctity of the Mamilla cemetery. However, that was more than a month ago, and he has yet to receive a reply.

Sheetreet told Haaretz yesterday that he was sorry the initiative was being publicized at this stage. The goal, he said, is a joint, public declaration by Jewish and Muslim religious authorities against "trampling on the honor of the dead."

He added that he has not approached Yosef on the matter because he wants to keep the initiative strictly religious, and due to Yosef's role in Shas, his involvement might make it seem political.

Only in Israel: question how Israel can be both democratic and Jewish, and land yourself in prison

Imagine if Black African persons from South Africa were required to take an oath of allegiance to the apartheid system and if one refuses or dares to challenge such injustice he or she would be sentenced to prison (that actually happened under the apartheid regime).

Imagine if Native Americans were denied the right to commemorate the loss of their land and heritage, and if they do so, they would be charged with treason and sentenced to prison.

That is basically the news coming out of Israel these days. Right-wing members of the Israeli Knesset, who now have a majority in that legislative body, are introducing new racist laws (as if Israel does not have enough already) that would target non-Jewish minorities, restrict their freedom of speech, deny them the right to advocate for equal rights for all Israeli citizens, and. in the most cruel colonialist style, forbid the indigenous Palestinian populations to mourn the ethnic cleansing of their parents and the appropriation of their historic land by mostly European settlers.

Note that over one-fifth of the present population of Israel are non-Jewish (of course that does not include the millions of Palestinians who live under Israel occupation and/or siege in the West Bank and Gaza).

How can a state claim to be “democratic” while at the same time implement laws and practices that favor only one religion and treat all non-Jews as second class citizens? Is a country that builds roads, schools, towns, and jobs for Jews only democratic? Is a country that gives Jews, from anywhere in the world the right to become citizen, but deny that same right to non-Jewish indigenous Palestinians who can trace their living on that land for centuries and centuries?

On a side note, by now, had I been an Israeli, I would have been sent to prison for my last couple of questions, based on the new bill. Remember, the new laws will stipulate that it is a crime to question Israel’s democratic nature.

Thank God we live in America and thank God for our Constitution that guarantees our equality and free speech, regardless of the religion we choose to follow or not to. May be one day, the Holy Land will rid itself from all those racist laws and the hatred that they produce. May be one day, Palestinian refugees will be allowed to return to their homes and villages. May be one day, Muslims, Christians, and Jews can live together in peace in the city of peace.

Until then, I pray that enough Jewish voices of peace and tolerance, and there are many of them, would help prevent those new bills from becoming law, from becoming a new wall that separates the offspring of Abraham.


Read below:

US Jews discomfited by rightist bills
By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
The Jerusalem Post, May 27, 2009

Several new legislative initiatives from right-wing parties are causing discomfort among mainstream US Jewish advocacy organizations who worry that efforts to forbid anti-Israel activism in the country may be tinged with racist intentions and lead to infringements on freedom of speech.

The bills in question include a proposal by Israel Beiteinu MK Alex Miller to criminalize the marking of Independence Day as a day of mourning, a common practice among sections of the Israeli Arab public; a bill presented by Habayit Hayehudi MK Zevulun Orlev that seeks to criminalize those who "incite against or attempt to undermine" - in Orlev's words - the Jewish and democratic nature of the state of Israel, and a bill being prepared by Israel Beiteinu that will demand an oath of loyalty to the state from anyone seeking to receive an Israeli ID card for the first time, including new immigrants and Israeli minors who reach the age of 16.

"It's one thing to legislate allegiance to the state, but it is discrimination to target one population group for loyalty," Abe Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday…

But, he adds, "a loyalty oath won't solve anything and is impossible to implement in practical terms. It also looks populist and demagogic and goes against the whole grain of democracy."
Zuroff notes that there are also Jewish communities in Israel who do not approve of the "Jewish and democratic" character of the state, the formulation used in Israel's Basic Laws to define the state's founding tenets...

According to Kadima MK Ze'ev Bielski, a former chairman of the Jewish Agency who has worked closely with US Jewry, "I am certain that the vast majority of Jews both in Israel and in the Diaspora oppose these initiatives. We are a people that has paid a price for racism, and as a Jewish and democratic state we have certain obligations to our minorities. This kind of legislation can only be harmful and divisive."

"This kind of criticism from Diaspora groups is a rare event," said Labor MK Ophir Paz-Pines. "It shows that major Diaspora organizations are much more left-wing right now than the Israeli government. Being a minority, Jews around the world are uncomfortable that the Jewish majority in Israel sometimes does things it shouldn't do, like a 'Nakba law.'"

See also:
Israeli Arab committee slams 'racist, fascist' bills
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent

Israel debates 'loyalty' law
Aljazeera English

Calls to end Israel may incur jail term

Turkey warns Israel over museum atop Muslim cemetery

Today's Zaman (A leading Turkish Newspaper)
November 27, 2008

[don't forget to sign the petition: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/halt-construction-of-museum-on-muslim-cemetery.html ]
Turkey has warned Israel over plans for the construction of a museum in Jerusalem on a site that is now a Muslim cemetery in which companions of the Prophet Muhammad are buried.

A top Israeli court's recent ruling giving the go-ahead for the construction of the "Museum of Tolerance" has led to tension in the region and is likely to spark reaction from Muslims around the world.

Israeli Ambassador to Turkey Gabby Levy was recently summoned to the Foreign Ministry, where Turkish diplomats explained Ankara's stance on the issue, while Turkish Ambassador to Israel Namık Tan conveyed Ankara's uneasiness over the plan during a meeting with Israeli Foreign Ministry officials.

"Everyone should avoid actions that may lead to new tensions in the region," Levy was told at the meeting on Nov. 14, as the Turkish side underlined the delicacy of the Middle East peace process.

Ankara has been careful in its warning's wording due to its mediation efforts between Israel and Syria, sources said. "We have been following the issue very closely," Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told reporters late on Tuesday...

Action Alert: Urge Wiesenthal Center not to build on Muslim cemetery

CAIR-LA ACTION ALERT

URGE WIESENTHAL CENTER NOT TO BUILD ON MUSLIM CEMETERY

The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) is urging Americans of all faiths to contact the Simon Wiesenthal Center and urge its officials to re-locate the ‘Museum of Tolerance’ it plans to build on the Ma’manullah (Mamilla) Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem.

According to historians, the planned museum site was once the largest Muslim cemetery in Palestine. Companions of Islam's Prophet Muhammad and Islamic jurists and scholars are said to be buried there.
On Wednesday, Nov. 19, Muslim and Jewish leaders sent a letter to the Wiesenthal Center stating:

"Building a “Museum of Tolerance” atop the cemetery, unlike the admirable goal of furthering tolerance and understanding, will only add to the existing pain and suffering of Palestinians and Israelis, irreversibly damage relations between Muslims and Jews worldwide and sow new feelings of animosity and division for generations to come…”

The letter was signed by CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush, Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs (Progressive Faith Foundation), Sydney Levy (Jewish Voice for Peace), and Rabbi Haim Beliak (Jews on First).

SEE: Full Text of Letter

Please see a fact sheet and additional resources on this issue after the following section.

ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE and RESPECTFUL)

1) Contact Rabbi Marvin Hier at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Please ask your family and friends to do the same.

Simon Wiesenthal Center
1399 South Roxbury Drive
Los Angeles, California 90035
Phone: 310-553-9036
800-900-9036 (toll-free from within the U.S.)
Fax: 310-553-4521
E-mail: avra@wiesenthal.com (Avra Shapiro,
Director of Public Relations); information@wiesenthal.net. Please copy CAIR-LA office at info@losangeles.cair.com.

Talking Points:

* In the spirit of cooperation and respect for all people and faiths, I urge you to halt the construction of the museum on top of the Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem.

* Relocating the museum site will help avoid fanning the flames of intolerance in that region.

* Building on a Muslim cemetery will adversely affect peacemaking efforts in the Middle East and harm Muslim-Jewish relations around the world.

2) Sign this online petition

3) Visit “Help the Peace Makers” Website and send a fax to Wiesenthal Center’s members of the board of trustees

4) Rabbis, Imams, and Pastors are encouraged to discuss, in their sermons/khutbahs, the damaging effects of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s plans to build the museum atop the Muslim cemetery and pray for peace and justice in Jerusalem and around the world.



FACT SHEET & ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

1. Fact Sheet on the Controversy Around the Building of the 'Museum of Tolerance'

2. Resources on the Wiesenthal Center Construction Plan

"Museum of Tolerance" not so tolerant of Muslims nor their graves (including Prophet's Sahabas/companions)

It is hard to believe that an institution which claims to promote tolerance towards Jews and others would build a "museum of tolerance" on top of the location of a historic Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem. The cemetery, called Ma'manullah or Mamilla, was one of the largest Muslim cemeteries in Palestine and was captured by the Israeli army in the 1948 war.

According to historians, the cemetery has over 15,000 graves, including those of Sahabas (companions) of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), as well as famous scholars and jurists from the past many centuries.

One must wonder how would the museum of tolerance react if some Muslim or Christian institution decides to forcibly build a museum or a theater on top of a Jewish holy site or an old Jewish cemetery? How would the world Jewish community feel if the graves of their leading scholars and rabbis of the last centuries were to be desecrated and disrespected by some insensitive group? Even as a non-Jew, I know that I would be horrified and I am certain that I will speak against such action.

Tolerance is not merely a slogan to raise, nor a fake title to give to a museum. Tolerance is a conviction, a genuine lifestyle, a practice, and set of actions that bring diverse people together in mutual respect and understanding.

Those whose hypocritical actions fan the flames of hatred, division, and bigotry should adopt a more accurate description for their true mission. Until it stops this insensitive and immoral action against 1.3 billion Muslims and our Islamic heritage, the Wiesenthal Center should more appropriately call its museum, the Museum of Intolerance, or the Museum of Selective Tolerance.

I commend and salute the true voices of the great Jewish faith who have vocally spoken against this injustice and aggression. Read more from a few of those courageous voices.
Richard Silverstein
Gershon Baskin

Bradley Burston

Daniela Yanai

Charles Lenchner

Also, read the article below by Jonathan Cook.

More to come on this ongoing racism in the Holy Land.

(All Mamillah cemeteray photos are from palestineremembered.com)
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Travesty of tolerance on display
November 10, 2008
By Jonathan Cook

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=180537

The Israeli Supreme Court’s approval last week of the building of a Jewish Museum of Tolerance over an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem is the latest in a series of legal and physical assaults on Islamic holy places since Israel’s founding in 1948.

The verdict ended a four-year struggle by Islamic authorities inside Israel to stop development at the Mamilla cemetery, which lies in the shadow of Jerusalem’s Old City walls, close to Jaffa Gate.

After the judgment, Jerusalem’s mufti, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, called the museum’s building “an act of aggression” against the Muslim public.

The furore from both religious and secular Palestinians has apparently bemused most Israeli observers.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, initiator of the project, dismissed objections last week as cover for “a land grab by Islamic fundamentalists, who are in co-operation with Hamas”. His view that Muslim concerns are really an attack on the Jewish state’s sovereignty is shared by many.

Such sentiments have confirmed to most Palestinians the degree to which Israeli authorities make decisions while oblivious of Palestinian religious and national rights.

Although Muslim leaders angrily warned from the outset that the Museum of Tolerance would require the disinterring of graves, they were ignored until spring 2006, when it was reported that dozens of skeletons had been unearthed during the early excavations.

The local media also revealed at the time that state archaeologists had been secretly trying to move the skeletons without alerting the local Muslim authorities, as they should have done, and that many of the skeletons had been damaged in the process.

When several months of arbitration between the developers and Muslim leaders proved fruitless, the courts stepped in.

Ostensibly, the driving force behind the museum, which is to cost $250 million, is the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a private Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights organisation. But the venture is being pushed through with equal vigour by Israeli officials from the government, Jerusalem municipality and Lands Administration.

For many years it has been their priority to obscure all indications of the Muslim presence in the western part of Jerusalem -- as well as in many areas of Israel -- that predate the Jewish state’s founding in 1948.

The treatment of the Mamilla cemetery, which is said to include the burial sites of Prophet Mohammed’s companions, stands in stark contrast to another ancient cemetery, nearby on the Mount of Olives.

Since East Jerusalem was illegally occupied by Israel in the 1967 war, the Jewish cemetery on the Mount has been carefully renovated and expanded as a “heritage site”.

In contrast, the Mamilla cemetery, which lies just inside West Jerusalem and was captured by the Israeli army in the 1948 war, was immediately removed from Muslim control. Classified as refugee property, it was passed on to a new Israeli official called the custodian of absentee property.

This was far from an isolated incident. Before the creation of Israel, as much as one-tenth of all territory in the Holy Land was managed as part of an Islamic endowment known as the waqf, bequeathed by Muslims for religious and charitable purposes.

After 1948, however, Israel seized all waqf property -- in addition to private land belonging to refugees -- and transferred it to the custodian.

Under pressure from the government in the 1950s, the custodian passed most of the undeveloped land, particularly farmland, on to a state-run body known as the Development Authority, which was charged with using it for the “public interest”. That usually meant using the profit from the land for the benefit of the Jewish public.

Other waqf property -- mostly land on which holy places, including mosques and cemeteries, were located -- was managed by special Islamic trusts established by the state.

This has provided the main defence adopted today by Israeli officials in justifying the siting of the museum. They say that an Islamic trust deconsecrated the Mamilla cemetery in 1964, thereby freeing up the land for development.

What they fail to point out, however, is that the Islamic trusts have no legitimacy among Palestinian Muslims in Israel, nearly one-fifth of the country’s total population, let alone among Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Islamic officials on the trusts are widely seen as corrupt, appointed by the state because of their willingness to do the government’s bidding rather than because of their public standing or Islamic credentials.

They earned that reputation by rubber-stamping many land transactions of waqf property desired by the state. One of the most notorious occurred in the early 1960s when Muslim officials approved the sale of the large Abdul Nabi cemetery in today’s Tel Aviv for the building of a hotel and several Jewish housing developments.

This abuse of waqf land has provoked a simmering resentment among Israel’s Palestinian minority.

Last year Palestinians in the historic city of Jaffa, now little more than a suburb of Tel Aviv, tried to challenge the role of the Islamic trusts by petitioning the courts to turn control of waqf property over to genuine representatives of the Muslim public.

The government, however, refused to divulge what waqf property existed in Jaffa, claiming “the requested information would seriously harm Israel’s foreign relations”. This was presumed to refer to the damage that might be done to Israel’s image abroad should it be revealed to what uses the waqf property had been put.

Actual holy places have fared little better, with most now inaccessible even to Israel’s Palestinian citizens.

Some, such as the 900-year-old Hittin mosque built by Saladin in the Galilee region, have been fenced off and left to crumble. Others are used by rural Jewish communities as animal sheds. And yet more have been converted into discos, bars or nightclubs, including the Dahir al Umar mosque -- now the Dona Rosa restaurant -- in the former Palestinian village of Ayn Hawd.

Similar dubious practices occurred with the Mamilla cemetery. From the 1950s, during a period of military government that imposed severe restrictions on all Palestinians living inside Israel, the graves and tombs belonging to Jerusalem’s most notable families began to decay. Part of the land was turned into a car park.

After the 1967 war, as Meron Benvenisti, a former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, has noted, the Muslim authorities lobbied to be allowed to rehabilitate and maintain the graves, but were refused permission.

Instead, in 1992 the custodian transferred the site to the Jerusalem municipality, which used the land to establish an Independence Park, named for Israel’s victory in the 1948 war. Then a few years later the municipality transferred a parcel of the land to the Wiesenthal Center for its Museum of Tolerance.

As Mr Benvenisti points out, over the years many Islamic sites in Jerusalem have been “turned into garbage dumps, parking lots, roads and construction sites”.

What makes the latest fight over the Mamilla cemetery different is that in the past decade a new breed of Muslim leader has emerged in Israel to overshadow the Islamic trusts. In particular the struggle over the fate of the holy places has been taken up by the leader of the Islamic Movement inside Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah.

Last week he warned: “We will mobilise in the Arab and Muslim world so that it puts pressure to halt the project.”

Tolerance, after all, has its limits.

-- Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are "Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East" (Pluto Press) and "Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair" (Zed Books). His website is www.jkcook.net. A version of this article originally appeared in The National (www.thenational.ae), published in Abu Dhabi.

Muslims commemorate holy journey of Israa' and Mi'raaj

Muslims commemorate holy journey
Mosque in Redlands part of global remembrance of prophets, prayers
Mona Shadia, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun
http://www.sbsun.com/ci_6598432

One night more than 1,400 years ago, the Islamic faith teaches, God took the Prophet Muhammad on a journey from Mecca to Jerusalem to heaven.

Muslims believe that during the trip, Muhammad met with other prophets, including Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. And that it was the night God assigned to him the five daily prayers and made them mandatory for all Muslims.

Muhammad had been sorely tested by the loss of his most beloved wife, his uncles who raised and protected him and the rejection and physical attack by the people of a town he visited - but he didn't question his faith, Islamic teachings say.

The night journey, known to Muslims as Isra and Mi'raj, was commemorated Friday by Muslims everywhere, including in the Inland Empire at the Islamic Center in Redlands.

It was Rajab 27 on the Islamic calendar.

"The night journey ... came in which God wanted to strengthen his faith, to remind him that `I'm still with you,"' said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Southern California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Ayloush, who is a guest imam at many Southern California mosques, regularly provides sermons and leads the Friday prayer.

The night journey, Ayloush said, reminded the prophet that obstacles are tests faced by every prophet of God.

As 1 p.m. approached, the parking lot of the center filled rapidly as Muslims came to the Redlands mosque. Children followed quickly in the footsteps of the adults.

Mohammad Hossain, founder and director of the Islamic center, led the sermon and the prayers.

He highlighted the importance of prayers.

"This is a special occasion," Hossain said. "It's a historic event. That particular day was given to all mankind. Prayer is the first priority of worship. It's the first one to be accounted for on the day of judgment."

But aside from praying to obey God, Ayloush said, Muslims believe praying is designed as a direct link between them and God.

"It's a constant link between us and our creator, at least five times a day," Ayloush said. "Someone who's linked with his creator at least five times a day is expected to be more aware and mindful to be a better person.

"Knowing that I just finished my link and my connection with God now and in a few hours I'll be reconnecting again, it's difficult and hypocritical for me as a person to do what displeases God - such as cheating, lying, harming someone or committing any forms of injustice. And that's why it's important," Ayloush said.

The faith teaches that the journey's purpose wasn't meant only to strengthen the prophet's faith and assign the prayers, but that it also revealed many important lessons for Muslims.

During the journey, the Quran teaches, the prophet was taken from the holiest mosque in Mecca to the farthest mosque in Jerusalem, known in Arabic as Al-Aqsa (photo shown above), where it is believed he led the prayer with all prophets, including Abraham, Moses and Jesus.

"It was a reminder to Muslims that the root of their religion does not lie through Muhammad alone, but actually with every prophet from Adam to Abraham and the rest," Ayloush said. "That was an important reminder.

"Islam was not sent only to the Arabs of Arabia, but to all people as a message of monotheism, the belief in the one god, the God of Abraham and of compassion and justice to each other - and that's the universal message," he said.

After the sermon at the Islamic Center, they all stood - men and women, old and young, foot to foot and shoulder to shoulder - and did what they believe God asked of them on that same day hundreds of years ago. They prayed.

Contact writer Mona Shadia at (909) 386-3873 or via e-mail at mona.shadia@sbsun.com.