A storm of reactions among social media users regarding an article...

An article published in the Saudi newspaper “Okaz” questioning the Al-Aqsa Mosque website sparked a storm of reactions among social media users.

Many observers condemned the publication of the article, while some saw such publications as a prelude to public opinion preparing for an expected normalization process with Tel Aviv.

The author of the article had said that the answer for millions of Muslims regarding the mosque that was mentioned in the Qur’an in Surat al-Israa is located in Palestine, adding that “it is not known to many that the city of Jerusalem was not its name as such in the time of the Prophet or during the time of the Companions. In the old days, it was known as the city of Iliya, as the name Iliya is named after Iliya bin Arm bin Sam bin Noah, peace be upon him, and then Ilya was named after the main Roman god.

He continued, saying: “The name of the city of Elijah changed during the era of the Emperor (Constantine), who died in 337 AD, who was the first Christian emperors of the Romans, and adopted Christianity as an official and popular religion throughout the empire, and he canceled the name of Elijah, and returned to the city its Canaanite name.” The reality is the first constant name for the city of Jerusalem, which is “Urosalem” or “Uruchalem” (City of Peace).

He stated that the reason many people believe that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located in Palestine is that many history books and books of exegesis, especially the later ones, say that Al-Aqsa is located in Jerusalem, and from here the confusion between Jerusalem, the Qibla and the Al-Aqsa Mosque has become.

The writer Usama Yamani pointed out that Jerusalem is not Al-Aqsa, as it was not with this name during the mission of the Prophet Muhammad, nor during the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, just as Jerusalem is a city and the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a mosque.

He explained, “The first qiblah has nothing to do with the Al-Aqsa Mosque, just as there is no consensus about the first qiblah. There are two opinions regarding the first qiblah. Many say that the first qiblah is the Kaaba, and they mention that the Messenger of God used to pray in Makkah to the Kaaba and then ordered the prayer to the rock of Jerusalem after Al-Hijrah … “, based on that from Al-Kashaf by Al-Zamakhshari: Tafsir Al-Baidawi, Tafsir Al-Nisaburi, and Fatah Al-Qadeer by Al-Shawkani.

He explained that Al-Qurtubi summarizes this disagreement, saying: “They also differed when it was obligatory for him to pray first in Makkah, whether it was to Bayt al-Maqdis or to Mecca, according to two sayings: A group said: To Jerusalem and Madinah for seventeen months, then God Almighty sent him to the Kaaba. Ibn Abbas. ”

Others said: The first thing that the prayer was supposed to be upon him was to the Kaaba, and he still prayed there throughout his shrine in Mecca .. When he came to Medina, he prayed to Bayt al-Maqdis .. Then God sent him to the Kaaba. Abu Omar said: This is the most correct of the two views for me, “based in his writings on the interpretation of al-Qurtubi.

He continued, saying, “In other words, there are those who go to the preponderance of this opinion and say that the Kaaba is the first qibla, not the Holy House. We also conclude from Ibn Abbas’s narration, who mentions that the beginning of the matter was to the ancient house, then he turned to the Holy House, and returned after that. To the old house: “He received the Messenger of God and prayed towards Bayt al-Maqdis and left the old house, then sent it to his old house and copied it…”, based on Ibn Katheer’s interpretation.

The Saudi writer, quoting Tafsir al-Baidawi and Tafsir Ibn Ajiba, stated that “the ancient house was the previous one, and the Messenger left it, then returned to it. Rather, there are those who describe the Kaaba in an explicit manner as being the very” oldest of the two qiblahs. ”

He stated that “it is clear from the opinions of the predecessors that we have reported that there is no consensus regarding the primacy of the qiblah for Jerusalem, despite the prevalence of this saying on the tongues and in the writings at this time.”

He also listed what he said Waaqidi, who reported that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located in Al Ju`ranah, he says, “and ended the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him to Aldjaranh Thursday night for five nights Khalon of Dhul stayed Paljaranh three years when he wanted to leave the city came out of Aldjaranh Wednesday night twelve remained a November night; so he entered ihraam from the Al-Aqsa mosque, which under the valley maximum by the enemy, and was the chapel the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him if Paljaranh, either this Near the mosque, Fbnah a man from Quraish and took that wall with him. ”

Al-Jarana is a place between Makkah and Taif from the solution, between it and Makkah eighteen miles, according to what Al-Baji mentioned, and it is located north-east of Makkah Al-Mukarramah, and it contains the knowledge of the hadd, and from which the Prophet Muhammad was forbidden for his third life according to what was stipulated in the narrations, and it includes his mosque in which he prayed and was forbidden Returned from Taif after the conquest of Mecca.

This mosque is located behind the valley in the extreme enemy and is known as the Al-Aqsa Mosque because there is another mosque built by one of the benefactors known as the Near Mosque.

He concluded his article by saying that “the lesson that we conclude from this difference between narrators and narrators is due to political matters that have been employed in favor of political events or issues and positions that have nothing to do with faith or the interest of actions and worship.”

Source: RT + Okaz newspaper