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5 Claims of Exclusivity
5.1 Jewish Claims of Exclusivity
- Many Israelis object to the continued Arab presence on the Temple Mount.
- One extremist group, the Temple Mount and Eretz Yisrael Faithful Movement advocates the removal of the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosque, which they deem signs of "Islamic conquest and domination", suggesting that they be "rebuilt at Mecca" and claiming "G-d ... expects Israel to re-liberate the Temple Mount from the pagan Arab worshippers." This group has very little support in Israel.
- On June 7, 1967, a few hours after East Jerusalem fell into Israeli hands, Rabbi Shlomo Goren told General Uzi Narkiss "Now is the time to put 100 kilograms of explosives into the Mosque of Omar so that we may rid ourselves of it once and for all."[24] His request was denied. Later that year, in a speech to a military convention, he added: "Certainly we should have blown it up. It is a tragedy for generations that we did not do so. ... I myself would have gone up there and wiped it off the ground completely so that there was no trace that there was ever a Mosque of Omar there."
5.2 Muslim Claims of Exclusivity
- Sheikh Ikrima Sabri , chairperson of the Palestinian Higher Islamic Commission and Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, claims that the Temple Mount, all its structures and wall, including the Western Wall, are a sacred place "only for the Muslims around the globe." IslamOnline
- Fatwa, also from IslamOnline, asserting "Jews Have No Legitimate Claim to Al-Buraq Wall" [25]
- "The archaeology of Jerusalem is diverse - excavations in the Old City and the areas surrounding it revealed Umayyad Islamic palaces, Roman ruins, Armenian ruins and others, but nothing Jewish. Outside of what is mentioned written in the Old and New Testaments, there is no tangible evidence of any Jewish traces remains in the old city of Jerusalem and its immediate vicinity."— Palestinian Authority Information Ministry Press Release, December 10, 1997
- "The claims being made by the rulers of Israel and its rabbis about the alleged Temple are pure fabrications without any base or foundation."—Statement by the Higher Islamic Authority of Palestine Al-Quds (PA), December 28, 2001 (Translation by BBC Worldwide Monitoring)
- "(The Israelis) claim that 2000 years ago they had a Temple (on the Temple Mount). I challenge the claim that this is so. But even if it is so, we do not accept (current Israeli claims on the Temple Mount)."—Mahmoud Abbas ( Abu Mazen), First Prime Minister of the Palestine Authority Kul Al-Arab (Israel), August 25, 2000 (Translations by MEMRI)
6 Acknowledgements of the bases for its holiness to other religions
6.1 Jewish
Jews do not believe in the Quran, and as such do not accept the claim that Muhammed is a prophet or that he experienced a night trip to Jerusalem. Many Jews who are conversant with the topic believe that, in any case, the Quran's discussion of the night trip never involved Jerusalem or the Temple Mount, but rather that this was a later Muslim reinterpreation of the verse, made for political reasons. See the discussion of this topic at Al-Aqsa Mosque).
However, the Government of Israel and most Jews, recognize that Muslims regard the site as holy based upon their beliefs, and respect the rights of Muslims to hold such beliefs and to pray there in their fashion. The State of Israel has guaranteed Muslim access to the site since capturing it in the Six-Day War.
6.2 Muslim
The main reason that the Temple Mount is holy in Judaism is that it was the site of the Temple. This fact provides a major reason for its holiness in Islam; it is still considered to be the orthodox Islamic position. A Brief Guide to al-Haram al-Sharif, a booklet published in 1930 by the "Supreme Moslem Council", a body established by the British government to administer waqfs during the British Mandate period, states:
- "The site is one of the oldest in the world. Its sanctity dates from the earliest times. Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings." A footnote refers the reader to 2 Samuel 26:25. [26]
More recent examples include a fatwa issued by the Saudi Sheikh M. S. al-Munajjid, quoted on IslamOnline , 18 March 2001, stating that:
- Al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) was the first of the two qiblahs (prayer direction), and is one of the three mosques to which people may travel for the purpose of worship. And it was said that it was built by Sulayman (Solomon, peace be upon him), as stated in Sunan an-Nasa’i and classed as authentic by al-Albani.[27]
Since the beginning of Islam, this has been the orthodox position. Starting in the 1990s, however, some people, including the PA-appointed Sheikh Ikrima Sabri , chairperson of the Palestinian Higher Islamic Commission and Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, have denied that the site is connected with Solomon, and that it had any history involving the Jews[28].
