THE JEWISH
CLAIM TO MECCA
Do the Jewish people have a theological claim to Mecca? Undoubtedly! And, according to the Koran, it is stronger than the Muslim theological claim to the Temple Mount and, consequently, to Jerusalem.
Let us examine both claims.
The Muslim Claim to the Temple Mount and Jerusalem
The broad assertion -- repeated endlessly by the international media -- that Jerusalem is deemed by all of Islam to be that religion’s third holiest city is false, as only the Sunni branch of Islam has ever made this assertion. The Shiite branch of Islam has never asserted that Jerusalem is holy to Islam.
The Sunni Muslim theological claim to the Temple Mount and, consequently, to Jerusalem is based upon the Koran’s “Night Journey” verse:
“Glory be to Him [Allah] Who made His Servant to go on a night [journey] from al-Masjid al-Haram [the Sacred Mosque] to al-Masjid al-Aksa [the Furthest Mosque] of which We [Allah] have blessed the precincts; so that We may show to him some of Our Signs. Surely, He [Allah] is the all-Hearing, the all-Seeing.”
(Koran, Sura 17 “The Night Journey” at 1)
An Islamic tradition that has attached itself to the foregoing Koranic verse asserts that Allah sent Mohammed from a mosque in Mecca to a mosque atop Jerusalem’s Temple Mount in order to encounter Signs from Allah. Although it is likely that the Servant of the foregoing verse is Mohammed (as he was the purported founder of Islam and the purported author of the Koran), and although it is also likely that the “Sacred Mosque” of the verse is a mosque in Mecca, it is impossible that the “Furthest Mosque” of the verse is the mosque which presently sits atop Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. This is because that mosque did not even exist until 50 years after Mohammed’s death in 632.
Moreover, the 7th Century Arabic names for the Temple Mount (“Bayt al-Maqdis”, which was derived from the Hebrew-language name “Bet HaMikdash”) and Jerusalem (“Iliya”, which was derived from the Latin-language name “Aelia Capitolina”, being the new name given to the City by the Roman Empire in 130) do not appear even once in the Koran.
However, during the successful Shiite Muslim rebellion of 682, led by Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr (based in the Arabian Peninsula), against the Sunni Muslim Umayyad Caliphate (based in Damascus), Sunni Muslims were denied access to Shiite-controlled Mecca for the mandatory Muslim pilgrimage known as the Hajj. In order to stanch the military, political, and theological humiliation caused by the Shiite occupation of Mecca, the Sunni Caliphate, under the leadership of the 5th Caliph, Abdul Malik ibn Marwan, decided to anoint a nearby city under its control as a suitable alternative location for the Hajj. The Caliphate chose Muslim-occupied Jerusalem for this purpose, as that City was already holy to Jews and Christians, and it was allegedly the site towards which all Muslims had initially turned to pray -- before Mohammed purportedly ordered them to instead face Mecca. The Caliphate consequently constructed a mosque atop Jerusalem’s already-famous Temple Mount; and, in order to identify its new mosque with the foregoing Koranic verse, it thereupon denominated that mosque as “al-Masjid al-Aksa”.
In this way, the Caliphate invented an extra-Koranic tradition in order to ensure that Sunni Muslims would be able to view Jerusalem as the third holiest city in Islam (after Mecca, as its holiest city, and Medina as its second holiest city), and, consequently, as a suitable alternative for the performance of the Hajj by Sunni Muslims until the Caliphate was able to reconquer Mecca from the Shiite Muslims. This invented tradition, labeled as the “Night Journey”, and based upon the foregoing Koranic verse, claimed that Muhammad was transported by a flying horse (known as “al-Buraq”, meaning: “the Lightning”) from Mecca (which was identified as being the site of the Sacred Mosque of the verse) to Jerusalem (which was identified as being the site of the Furthest Mosque of the verse), after which he, accompanied by the Angel Jibril (who, in the English language, is the Angel Gabriel), visited Heaven and conversed with Allah.
Moreover, it is likely that the tradition that Jerusalem was the original direction towards which all Muslims prayed was also invented by the Umayyad Caliphate in order to support its decision to proclaim Jerusalem as a suitable -- albeit temporary -- alternative location for the Hajj and, consequently, as the third holiest site for Sunni Muslims.
However, after Mecca was reconquered by the Caliphate in 692, the Umayyad claim that Jerusalem was holy to Islam disappeared from Islamic theology. That claim was subsequently resurrected approximately 500 years later by the Sunni Kurdish sultan Saladin (who, after several military defeats, sought to infuse his army with theological zeal in order to reconquer Jerusalem from Catholic forces, who, in turn, had earlier seized the City from Muslim forces at the end of the 11th Century, as part of the serial military campaigns commonly known as the “Crusades”). That claim subsequently laid dormant for another 800 years until it was again resurrected by the political and religious leaders of the Sunni World in the wake of the defeat by Israel of pan-Arab forces in the Six Day War of 1967, during which the eastern portion of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, was reconquered by Jewish forces.
Significantly, Shiite Muslims never accepted the claim that Jerusalem was holy to Islam -- let alone its third holiest city -- for several reasons. Firstly, the Sunni Umayyad Caliphate invented Islam’s attachment to Jerusalem in order to extricate itself from the enormous humiliation inflicted upon it by its adversary -- the Shiite ruler Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr. Secondly, as the Umayyad Caliphate, led by the 5th Caliph, Abdul Malik ibn Marwan, replaced the Caliphate ruled by the 4th Caliph, Ali bin Abi Talib (who was Mohammed’s son-in-law, and is regarded as the first Shiite imam), and as the Umayyad Caliphate subsequently assassinated Hussein bin Ali (who was Mohammed’s grandson and Ali’s son, and is regarded as the second Shiite imam), both of whom Shiites regarded as the rightful hereditary leaders of Islam, Shiites have always rejected the legitimacy of any religious edict emanating from the hated Umayyad Caliphate, including the designation of Jerusalem as Islam’s third holiest city. Instead, Shiites revere two cities in present-day Iraq -- Najaf (where Ali is buried) and Karbala (where Hussein is buried) -- as Islam’s third and fourth holiest cities (after Mecca and Medina). And, for Shiites, the city of Qom, located in present-day Iran, is Islam’s fifth holiest city.
Of course, for Sunnis, the cities of Najaf, Karbala, and Qom hold no measure of Islamic holiness.
Clearly, the present Sunni Muslim theological claim
to the Temple Mount and, consequently, to Jerusalem is bogus,
as it is based upon an invented Sunni tradition that was historically
ignored as much as it was historically honored, that -- at present
-- is exclusively a reaction to the Jewish people’s renewed
sovereignty over our holiest site within our holiest city.
The Jewish Claim to Mecca
Although little known, and never mentioned by the
international media, the Jewish people have a valid theological claim
to Mecca, based upon the Koran:
“And then We [Allah] made the House a [place of] pilgrimage for men and a [place of] security, and [said]: ‘Appoint for yourselves a place of prayer on the standing-place of Ibrahim [Abraham].’ And We enjoined Ibrahim and Ismail [Ishmael], saying: ‘Purify My House for those who visit [it] and those who abide [in it] for devotion and [for] those who bow down [and] those who prostrate themselves.’ And then Ibrahim said: ‘My Lord, make it a secure town and provide its people with fruits [for] such of them as believe in Allah and the Last Day.’ [Then] He [Allah] said: ‘And whoever disbelieves, I will grant him enjoyment for a short while; then I will drive him to the Chastisement of the Fire; and it is an evil destination.’ And then Ibrahim and Ismail built the foundations of the House [, imploring]: ‘Our Lord! Accept [this House] from us; surely You are the all-Hearing, the all-Knowing.’”
(Koran, Sura 2 “The Cow” at 125-127)
The House in the Koranic verse is universally interpreted by all streams of Islam to be the ancient stone structure in Mecca known as “al-Kaaba” (meaning: “the Cube”), which represents the climax of the Hajj. Since Abraham, the progenitor of the Jewish people, was chosen by Allah to build al-Kaaba, we -- being his Covenantal progeny -- can theologically claim Mecca as our inheritance.
Notwithstanding our authentic claim to Mecca, I would agree to forego it in exchange for the Sunni Muslim World’s abandonment of its fallacious claim to the Temple Mount and Jerusalem.
© Mark Rosenblit