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113
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ALHAMI
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ODERN
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Ghada Hashem Talhami
 Dr. Talhami is D.K. Pearsons professor of Politics and chair of the Politics Department at Lake Forest College.
 N
o city can match the richhistory and universalist valuesof Jerusalem. Much of thisuniversalism must be attributedto Muslim rule, a period of over thirteencenturies in which the city never lost itsreputation for tolerance and religious co-existence. The city’s unique religious pedigree elevated its status beyond thelimitations of economic and strategicconsiderations. Indeed, one cannot con-template Jerusalem’s future withoutdwelling on its uniquely monotheisticlegacy. For, whereas other centers of habitation claimed a divine connection,none can rival the complex and overlappingrights of as many religious communities asJerusalem. Destined to experience thefragility of political security and power,Jerusalem has never succeeded in exclud-ing diverse religious communities from itsspace. The stamp of religious universalismis indelibly marked on its history.Jerusalem was also a place of humanhabitation, not a city of angels. Thosewho worshiped at its temples constantlystruggled to define their rights through political power. Religion and politics werealways two sides of the Jerusalem coin,testing the patience of rulers and clerics.
 Not surprisingly, the temptation to endowthe city with the trappings of political power as the administrative center of thisempire or that kingdom often influencedthe religious sentiment of the faithful. Thisis particularly true in the age of modernnationalism, in which the lethal mix of religion and power politics threatens theharmony of the various communities.Additionally, archaeological and political polemics nowadays threaten Jerusalem’suniversalist heritage. Israeli claims for exclusive control over Jerusalem havebenefited greatly from the debates of thearchaeologists and historians. The cost hasbeen greater to the city’s religious commu-nities, which are threatened with the loss of their traditional autonomy and even perma-nent exile from the city.Students of history can only watchwith amazement as Israel tries to wrestcontrol of the Old City and make it anexclusively Jewish enclave. Whether or not this grand strategy succeeds willdepend not only on the Palestinian popula-tion itself but also on those who upholdinternational law. The Israeli transforma-tion of Jerusalem will also ultimatelydepend on the willingness of historians toresist the reconstruction of Jerusalem’s
 
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2000Islamic past. Two of the major Israelithemes in this reconstructionist approachare the denial of the sanctity of Jerusalemto Muslims and the belittling of the statusof Jerusalem, both temporal and spiritual,during the centuries of Islamic control.It is essential, therefore, that attemptsby zealot Jewish groups to captureJerusalem’s holy sites be analyzed in thecontext of the latest eschatological trans-formation of their religio-political views.The Israeli government’s efforts to convertJerusalem into its eternal capital must alsobe analyzed in the context of the commu-nal diversity of the city and the multiplicityof rights and religious domains.Today Muslims, Christians and Jewshold irreconcilable positions on Jerusalem.The fact that direct Christian control of thecity ended with the Crusades should notdiminish scholarly interest in the Christianlegacy of Jerusalem, nor in the potentiallyenormous influence wielded by someChristian powers over the fate of the city.The Christian picture is further complicatedby the political allegiance of PalestinianChristians, and its divergence from theemotional and religious loyalties of WesternChristians. But for the Muslims, thesanctity of Jerusalem derives from theIslamic definition of holiness, which prohibits the transfer of religious propertiesto non-believers.Jerusalem became irrefutably holy toMuslims as the place from which it isbelieved Muhammad rose to heaven andreceived instructions regarding the Muslim prayers. Physical space associated with adivine revelation becomes a religious trustand the occupants its guardians. Muslimstoday regard Jerusalem as a
waqf 
(areligious foundation), which cannot changeownership. And since Palestine is the finalrepose of Muslim clerics, learned sheikhsand those who devoted their lives to theservice of the faith, then all of Palestine isa religious trust.
1
The story of Muslim regard for Jerusa-lem begins with the Prophet Muhammad’snocturnal journey, as it is referred to in theQuran, and ascension to heaven. Thisevent was of monumental significance tothe development of the Muslim faith.Following news of the journey, Muslimswere ordered to face Jerusalem during theact of prayer. Designating Jerusalem asthe
qiblah
signified Muhammad’s resolveto create a non-tribal religion based on theuniversalist concept of monotheism. For Muhammad, Jerusalem symbolized thecontinuity of the older religions. Thesacred rock from which Muhammad roseto heaven was of particular significance toIslam since it was the spot at whichAbraham offered to sacrifice his son Isaacto God. For Muslims, Abraham was not aJewish prophet; he was the father of themonotheistic idea, the cornerstone of theMuslim faith, which based its theologicalrevolution on the oneness of God. In theQuran, Abraham was presented as neither a Jew nor a Christian, but as the precursor of the one true religion. More important,Muhammad did not designate Makkah asthe qiblah at first, because it was thecenter of the pagan religions of Arab tribesand was dominated by stone idols. Until itsliberation from pagan rule and the purifica-tion of its temple in 630, Makkah wasclearly unsuitable as the direction of  prayers. To pray facing Makkah meant to pray to pagan idols.
2
Most Israeli and Orientalist writers,however, minimize the Islamic centrality of Jerusalem to Muslims. A major theme intheir argument is the brevity of the Quran’s
 
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reference to Jerusalem and Muhammad’snocturnal journey. In a 1996 study, theIsraeli writer Izhak Hasson claims thatthere was no direct reference to Jerusalemin the Quran by any of its known names(Aelia, Beit al-Maqdes, al-Quds, etc.). Hedid state that when the
tafseer 
or exegesisof the Quran began, a century after theemergence of Islam, Arab scholars de-duced that such names as
al-zaytoun
(Mount of Olives),
mubawwa sidq
(saferesidence),
rabwa that qarar 
(theeternal hill), and
al-masjid al-aqsa
(thefurthest mosque),were explicitlyidentified withJerusalem. It isunclear, however, why these identificationsshould surprise him, especially the latter reference, which occurs in the opening lineof the chapter describing Muhammad’s journey. The fact that the earliest Muslimscholars considered al-masjid al-aqsa to beJerusalem “from time immemorial” did notimpress him. He even makes the unsub-stantiated claim that early Muslim authori-ties interpreted al-masjid al-aqsa to besimilar to the Judaic concept of a heavenlyJerusalem or a heavenly temple. Hassonthen mentions that later Quranic exegesisand various biographies of Muhammadrejected this interpretation. The fact thatthe heavenly-Jerusalem concept was onlyenshrined in Shii literature in order to makethe ascription of holiness to Kufa more palatable should have persuaded Hassonagainst this theory.Hasson then cites the work of S. D.Goitein in the
 Encyclopedia of Islam
, inwhich the historian of the Geniza Recordscommented on the connection between theearly verses of the Nocturnal Journeychapter and references to al-masjid al-aqsain the seventh verse. According to Goitein,this linkage can only be explained by themanner in which the Quran itself wascollected and recorded. It was during the period of the third caliph, Uthman ibnAffan (644-656), that the Quran, hithertocommitted to memory by Muhammad’scompanions, wasfinally writtendown. Referringto this process as“editing,” Goiteinclaimed that it wasonly then that thetwo aforemen-tioned verses were placed within thesame chapter or 
 surah
. Collecting theQuran, claims Hasson, involved placingQuranic verses in a special order and fixingtitles to various untitled chapters. Hefurther makes the claim that identifyingJerusalem as the site of the NocturnalJourney was not mentioned in the earlydecades of Islam, even when the glorifica-tion of Jerusalem was a primary objectiveof the Umayyad dynasty. Hasson does notexplain the apparent contradiction betweenthis assertion and the Umayyad’s successin establishing the sanctity of Jerusalem inthe minds of the believers.
3
It is clear from analyzing Muhammad’sreasons for choosing Jerusalem as the siteof his visit and ascension to heaven that heviewed the city in broader terms than aJewish holy place. Indeed, modern Muslimscholars, who are angered by exclusiveJewish claims to Jerusalem, often remindus that the city was not built by David.
According to the Old Testament,Jerusalem at the time of KingDavid’s takeover in 1,000 BCEwas a populated city that hadexisted for 2,000 years.
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