74 Friday, September 5, 1975

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Importance of Jerusalem to Islam Is Disputed

Editor's Note: Dr. Sam-
uel Tamari of the Bar-Ilan
University Department of
Arabic talked about the
importance of Jerusalem
to Islam in a public lecture
published by the Bar-Ilan
Hebrew News Bulletin.

Does a concept of Jerusa-
lem's sanctity to Islam
really exist? Has Islam im-
manently conceived and de-
fined Jerusalem as being
holy from the start? My in-
tention is to clarify the ex-
tent to which, as well as the

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manner in which, classical
Arabic and Moslem sources
determined what we can
consent to and define as a
concept of Jerusalem's
sanctity.
In theological terms we
may discern three levels, or
stages, of sanctity attaching
to places which Islam itself
has applied to its three most
important cities — Mecca,
Medina and Jerusalem. It,
however, applies not only to
these and this must be ex-
plicitly emphasized.
The first type in the
three-stage hierarchy is
that of elementary sanctity.
A certain place gains right
to this holiness by virtue of
being blessed with the pres-
ence of prophets' tombs, by
the fact that major, as well
as minor houses of prayer
operate within its bounds,
that religious figures pro-
ject their own holiness on to
it by _living and working
there, or because religious
learning has flourished and

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found external expression in
the actual existence and
multiplicity, even in Jerusa-
lem, of religious establish-
ments.

The second level, inher-
ently higher, is that of so-
teriological sanctity. This
holiness characterizes a
certain place because it
serves as a stage for oc-
currences like salvation,
apocalypse, or primarily,
judgment day and resur-
rection of the dead.

The highest level of holi-
ness in this trilogy is cosmo-
logical sanctity, wherein a
specific place is described or
defined, for example, as the
hub of the universe, the cen-
ter of the world or cosmos,
its axis, where creation
began and as such fulfills a
function throughout his-
tory, or if you will, through-
out pre-history and even
post-history.
We find that elementary
holiness does indeed mani-
fest itself in Jerusalem by
virtue of the very existence
of certain sites. Yet, the
presence of soteriological
and cosmological sanctity in
Moslem Jerusalem is not
only debatable and contro-
versial in Arabic sources
themselves, but, in my opin-
ion, is essentially dubious.
As for soteriological
sanctity, we learn from lbn
Taymiyya (14th Century),
who expresses the unambi-
guous reactionary position
held by Hanbalistic ortho-
doxy, that all Islamic tradi-
tions connected with judg-
ment day and apocalypse
stem from Jewish and
Christian sources. He there-
fore, defines these tradi-
tions as non-canonistic
"innovations" that were ar-
tificially and fradulently
adopted by Islam.

In other words, Ibn Tay-
miyya reflects the tension
between Sufit' mystics
who proclaimed Jerusa-
lem's sanctity ever since
the Ninth Century (not
before), and Sunni ortho-
doxy as an entire sector,
radical though it may be. I
think this tension is of in-
terest to us in our effort to
refute the belief that Jeru-
salem is soteriologically
sacred.

Regarding cosmological
sanctity, we can make two
claimS. Firstly, this holiness
does not originate from au-
tochtonhic Islamic develop-
ment, because the concepts
"Hub of the Universe,"
"Omphalos," "Umbilicum
Mundi," etc., were terms
prevalent in the common
lexicon of the ancient Mid-
dle Eastern Semitic and
Classical cultures. Hence,
its expression in Islam is
merely one late link in a
general and extremely
broad theme.
We shall now deal with
three early and decisive con-
cepts — The Haram, the
Masjid al-Aqsa (Aqsa
Mosque) and Qubbat al-
Sakh-rah (Dome of the
Rock). The historical and
qualitative complexity of
the concept "Haram" must
surely be known. Were we
to define it simply as a "holy
place," its nature would be
distorted.

The Haram, in its pre-Is-
lamic complex significance
is not related and cannot in
any way be connected to
what has been dubbed
"Haram" in Jerusalem. Any
projection of it on Jerusa-
lem is mechanical and insig-
nificant because Moslem
Jerusalem has never served
and could never serve as the
naturarenvironment into
which it could naturally be
embedded.

If Jerusalem is indeed a
Haram, a sacred entity
belonging exclusively to
Allah, why did the entr-
ance to it not involve a
sanctifying ritual, at least
like the one which charac-
terizes the Haram of
Mecca?

Significance may also be
attached to the fact that the
name "Haram," or more
precisely "al-Haram al-
Sharif" did not exist in Jeru-
salem before the Ottoman
era. The absence of the term
"Haram" is not a vague lin-
guistic phenomenon. It is, in
my evaluation, proof of the
absence of either idea or ide-
ology to advocate the exist-
ence of a holy site in Jerusa-
lem.
When Omar conquered
Jerusalem in 638, his main
task was to establish a
mosque, as in every other
Moslem city. A mosque, not
in the exclusive sense of
"house of prayer," but as a
multi-functional, communal
institute, intended to fulfill
simultaneously the func-
tions of military headquart-
ers, executive office, politi-
cal forum and also house of
prayer. Because it had to be
optimally located to enable
it to function properly, to
whit, as close as possible to
the city center, if not ac-
tually in it, we can under-
stand Omar's moves when
the conquest was accom-
plished. A glance at the By-
zantine map was probably
enough for him to realize
that his mosque should be
where the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre stood.

This was precisely the By-
zantine patriarch's suspi-
cion. This sheds light on the
negotiations in which the
one tried to convince the
other that an alternative
site existed. That was an ex-
tensive area, vacant and de-
serted, not far from the
Church (i.e. not far from the
city center) which fulfilled
all the conditions for operat-
ing a mosque.

Omar's choice of the
Temple Mount, lying in
ruin since 70 CE, was the
logical outcome and com-
pletely topographical
rather than religious.

Thus when Muhammad's
biographer, Ibn Ishaq, in-
terpreted Masjid a-Aqsa, he
determined Jerusalem as its
location. We must, however,
accept this with reserve be-
cause even during his own
lifetime it was not necessar-
ily an acclaimed dogma. The
real question is whether
Muhammad's nocturnal
journey (Israa) from Mecca
to Jerusalem was succes-
sively followed by his ascent
to heaven (Miaraj).
Moslem scholars whose

credibility and faith none
would think of questioning,
could not reach agreement
on the question of identify-
ing the Aqsa with Jerusa-
lem.
Even if we, a priori, ac-
cept this identity to be the
earliest and most valid trad-
ition, two important points
must still be emphasized.
Firstly, this tradition itself
developed under Jewish in-
fluence. Secondly, the same
Masjid al-Aqsa of the Quran
must not necessarily be
identified with the earliest
mosque built by Omar.

I am of the opinion
(though I do not have defi-
nite archeological evi-

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dente) that the first
mosque in Jerusalem was
not a building and did not
have a ritualistic set of

(Continued on Page 76)

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