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- Mar 6, 2017
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The Umayyads understood that ascribing an Islamic aura to their stronghold would cement their regime in power. “Toward this end (as well as to assert Islam’s presence in its competition with Christianity), the Umayyad caliph built Islam’s first grand structure, the Dome of the Rock, right on the spot of the Jewish Temple, in 688-91. This remarkable building is not just the first monumental sacred building of Islam but also the only one that still stands today in roughly its original form.”
The Dome of the Rock was therefore an act of political supersessionism: built on top of the Jewish Temple in order to assert the dominance of the Umayyads over the city. But they realised that an Islamic aura wasn’t enough. They needed to harness the power of the sacred itself.
In the Qur’an there is a mention of Mohammed’s journey to “the furthest mosque”, a reference understood by some early Muslims as metaphorical or a place in heaven. It was never held to be in Jerusalem or on Temple Mount. Indeed, there is no mention of Jerusalem in the Qur’an.
Cynically – and brilliantly – seizing upon this reference, the Umayyads built a second mosque in Jerusalem, also on Temple Mount, and called this one the “Furthest Mosque”. This was al Aqsa.
Pipes observes: “With this, the Umayyads retroactively gave the city a role in Muhammad’s life. This association of Jerusalem with al-masjid al-aqsa fit into a wider Muslim tendency to identify place names found in the Qur’an: wherever the Qur’an mentions a name of an event, stories were invented to give the impression that somehow, somewhere, someone, knew what they were about.
(full article online)
Incitement, lies and the strange eclipse of the Dome of the Rock | MelaniePhillips.com
The Dome of the Rock was therefore an act of political supersessionism: built on top of the Jewish Temple in order to assert the dominance of the Umayyads over the city. But they realised that an Islamic aura wasn’t enough. They needed to harness the power of the sacred itself.
In the Qur’an there is a mention of Mohammed’s journey to “the furthest mosque”, a reference understood by some early Muslims as metaphorical or a place in heaven. It was never held to be in Jerusalem or on Temple Mount. Indeed, there is no mention of Jerusalem in the Qur’an.
Cynically – and brilliantly – seizing upon this reference, the Umayyads built a second mosque in Jerusalem, also on Temple Mount, and called this one the “Furthest Mosque”. This was al Aqsa.
Pipes observes: “With this, the Umayyads retroactively gave the city a role in Muhammad’s life. This association of Jerusalem with al-masjid al-aqsa fit into a wider Muslim tendency to identify place names found in the Qur’an: wherever the Qur’an mentions a name of an event, stories were invented to give the impression that somehow, somewhere, someone, knew what they were about.
(full article online)
Incitement, lies and the strange eclipse of the Dome of the Rock | MelaniePhillips.com