The Importance of Al-Quds for Muslims

The Significance of Al-Quds in Islam

With regard to the importance of Bayt Al-Maqdis (Jerusalem), you should know – may Allah bless you –that the virtues of Bayt Al-Maqdis are many:

• Allah has described Bayt Al-Maqdis in the Quran as being blessed. He said (interpretation of the meaning): {Glorified (and Exalted) be He (Allah) Who took His slave (Muhammad) for a journey by night from Al-Masjid Al-Haram (at Makkah) to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa (in Jerusalem), the neighbourhood whereof We have blessed…} [Al-Isra’ 17:1]. Al-Quds is part of the neighbourhood surrounding the mosque and hence it is blessed.
• Allah has described Bayt Al-Maqdis as being holy, as He says (interpretation of the meaning): {[Musa said:] O my people! Enter the holy land (Palestine) which Allah has assigned to you…} [Al-Ma’idah 5:21]
• In Al-Quds, there is Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa , in which one prayer is equivalent to 250 prayers elsewhere.

It was reported that Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: we were discussing, in the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), which of them was more virtuous, the mosque of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) or Bayt Al-Maqdis. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: One prayer in my mosque is better than four prayers there, but it is still a good place of prayer. Soon there will come a time when if a man has a spot of land as big as his horse’s rope from which he can see Bayt Al-Maqdis, that will be better for him than the whole world. (Narrated and classed as authentic by Al-Hakim, 4/509; Adh-Dhahabi agreed with him. Al-Albani also classed it as authentic, as stated in As-Silsilah As-Sahihah, at the end of the discussion on Hadith no. 2902)

One prayer in Al-Masjid An-Nabawi is equivalent to 1000 prayers elsewhere, so one prayer in Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa is equivalent to 250 prayers elsewhere.

With regard to the famous Hadith which says that prayer in Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa is equivalent to five hundred prayers elsewhere, this is inauthentic. (See Tamam Al-Minnah by Shaykh Al-Albani – may Allah have mercy on him – p. 292)

• The one-eyed Dajjal (“Antichrist”) will not enter Bayt Al-Maqdis, because of the Hadith, “He will prevail over all the earth, apart from Al-Haram [in Makkah] and Bayt Al-Maqdis.” (Narrated by Ahmad, 19665. Classed as authentic by Ibn Khuzaymah, 2/327 and Ibn Hibban, 7/102).
• The Dajjal will be killed close to Al-Quds. He will be killed by the Messiah `Isa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him), as was stated in the Hadith: “The son of Maryam will kill the Dajjal at the gates of Ludd.” (Narrated by Muslim, 2937, on the authority of An-Nawwas ibn Sam`an). Ludd (Lod) is a place near Bayt Al-Maqdis.
• The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was taken to Bayt Al-Maqdis on his Night Journey (Al-Isra’) from Al-Masjid Al-Haram to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa . Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): {Glorified (and Exalted) be He (Allah) Who took His slave (Muhammad) for a journey by night from Al-Masjid Al-Haram (at Makkah) to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa (in Jerusalem)…} [Al-Isra’ 17:1]
• Al-Quds was the first Qiblah of the Muslims, as was reported by Al-Bara’ (may Allah be pleased with him): the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prayed in the direction of Bayt Al-Maqdis for sixteen or seventeen months. (Narrated by Al-Bukhari, 41 – this version was narrated by him – and by Muslim, 525)
• It is the place where Revelation came down, and it is the homeland of the Prophets. This is well known.
• It is one of the mosques to which people may travel.

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “No journey should be made except to three mosques, Al-Masjid Al-Haram, Masjid Ar-Rasul (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and Masjid Al-Aqsa.” (Narrated by Al-Bukhari, 1132. Also narrated by Muslim, 827, on the authority of Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri, with the words, “Do not travel except to…”)

• The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) led the Prophets in one prayer in Al-Aqsa, as reported in the lengthy Hadith: “… Then the time for prayer came, and I led them in prayer.” (Narrated by Muslim, 172, on the authority of Abu Hurayrah)

It is not permissible to travel to any spot on earth for the purpose of worshipping there, except these three mosques.

Do the Jews have any right to Al-Quds?

The fact that Ya`qub (peace be upon him) built Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa does not mean that the Jews have more right to the mosque than the Muslims, because Ya`qub was a monotheist and the Jews are polytheists. The fact that their father Ya`qub built the mosque does not mean that it belongs to them. He built it for the monotheists to worship in it, even if they were not his children, and he did not allow the polytheists to enter it, even if they are his children, because the call of the Prophets has nothing to do with race; it is based on Taqwa (piety, awareness of Allah).

Al-Quds in the Context of Revelation and Tawhid

Your saying that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) led the previous Prophets in prayer to signify the unity of the message and all divine revelations is correct from the point of view of the origin of the religion and `Aqidah (belief) of the Prophets. All of the Prophets received their Message from one source, which was the Revelation, and they all had the same `Aqidah, which was the belief in Tawhid (absolute unity of Allah) and the worship of Allah Alone, even though there were differences in the details of their laws. This was confirmed by our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) when he said: “I am the closest of mankind to `Isa ibn Maryam in this world and in the Hereafter. The Prophets are brothers although they have different mothers, and their religion is one.” (Narrated by Al-Bukhari, 3259 and Muslim, 2365)

The phrase “brothers although they have different mothers” means brothers who have the same father but different mothers, i.e., they are the children of co-wives.

Here we would caution readers against believing that the Jews, Christians and Muslims are following the same principles nowadays, because the Jews have changed the religion of their Prophet. Indeed, part of the religion of their Prophet is that they should follow our Prophet and not reject him, but they disbelieve in the Prophethood of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and associate others in worship with Allah.

Canaanite Roots and the True Heritage of Palestine

The Jews do not have any stake in Al-Quds, because even though they may have lived in the land previously, that land now belongs to the Muslims from two points of view:

1. The Jews disbelieved and are no longer following the religion of the believers among the Children of Israel who followed and supported Musa and `Isa (peace be upon them).
2. We Muslims have more right to it than them, because land does not belong to the people who lived there first, but to those who establish the laws of Allah therein. Allah created the land, and He created people to worship Allah in the land and to establish therein the religion, laws and rulings of Allah. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): {… Verily, the earth is Allah’s. He gives it as a heritage to whom He wills of His slaves; and the (blessed) end is for the pious.} [Al-A’raf 7:128]

Hence if some Arabs came who were not followers of Islam and they ruled the land with disbelief, they would have to be fought until they submitted to the rule of Islam or were killed.

It is not the matter of race or ethnicity; it is the matter of Tawhid and Islam.

Here it is useful to quote the words of one of the researchers:

“History tells us that the first people to settle in Palestine were the Cananites, 6000 years BCE. They were an Arab tribe who came to Palestine from the Arabian Peninsula, and after their arrival, Palestine was named after them [i.e., Canan].” (End quote from As-Suhyuniyyah, Nash’atuha, Tanzimatuha, Inshitatuha, by Ahmad Al-`Awadi, p. 7)

“As for the Jews, the first time they entered Palestine was approximately six hundred years after Ibrahim had entered the land, i.e., they entered it approximately 1400 years BCE. So the Cananites entered Palestine and lived there approximately 4500 years before the Jews.” (Ibid., p. 8)

Hence it is clear that the Jews have no right to the land, whether according to religious law or in terms of who lived there first and possessed the land. They are aggressors who are seizing the land by force.

We ask Allah to rid Bayt Al-Maqdis of them sooner rather than later, for He is Able to do that and He is Most Generous in answering. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

And Allah knows best.