Opinion
The myth of al-Aqsa
Mordechai Kedar
Published: 15.09.08, 00:47
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89 Talkbacks for this article
1. Al Aqsa/Muhammad/Al Buraq
Sheik Yer'mami ,   Mecca   (09.15.08)
Sire "the furthest mosque" does not mean Jerusalem. That mosque did not exist until 700 years after the death of Muhammad. Nowhere in the Koran says it that the 'furthest mosque' is in Jerusalem. Islam has no claim whatsoever on the temple mount. Not even according to their own scriptures.
2. Excellent article
Shlomo ,   Israel   (09.15.08)
It is about time that someone stand up and tell the truth about this false man made religion who treat mohamed as a god, which is avodah zara. The Torah is the first and the last, like G-d, and is therefore the truth as He states in various passages in the Tanach that we are his firstborn and that He will never choose another people. Nothing can be added to the Torah and nothing can be taken away. The Torah is the truth and reveals to us G-d's will. Anything that contradicts the Torah is false and therefore christianity and islam are false and man made religions as their teachings and belief go against the Torah. The only non-Jewish prophet was Bilam and he was forced to bless us. Last Friday it was reported that 130,000 moslem were on the Temple Mount. When was the last time that even ten percent that number of Jews were there. we should do all we can to take back Har HaBayit and speedily usher in the time when the Third Temple will be rebuilt and make this physical world holy. In these days allbelievers in false religions will accept that HaShem, the G-d of Israel is the True G-d and that only the Torah is the teaching and book of truth.
3. SOOOOO TRUE!!!
Shachar ,   Ny, USA   (09.15.08)
I could not agree with you more Dr. Kedar! Islamic groups really need to read up on their history books. Historically, Islam has nothing to do with Jerusalem!
4. Kol hakavod. The Muslims always.....
Baruch ,   Boston, USA   (09.15.08)
put important mosques directly on the site of the important property of other religions, and then claim those properties as Moslem land. It happened in Jerusalem, in India, in Persia, and anywhere that Moslems took over when they had the strength to do it. Then when the people of those other religions want to reclaim their property, having gained the power to do it, the Moslems claim the "inalienable historical right" to the property, and even deny the original ownership by another religion. This is what they did with the Temple Mount.
5. stupid article
quttaineh ,   jerusalem   (09.15.08)
what would you gain from such article , making things worse between Arabs and jews ?? talk about something which gather the parties !
6. Thank you Dr. Kedar for speaking the truth!
Arthur ,   SF, CA   (09.15.08)
However - reality on the ground is quite different. Only an iron fist will convince the trespassers on our land that Jerusalem and Eretz Israel is ours for enternity.
7. the Mount and the TRUTH
Arie ,   BaGolan   (09.15.08)
even moammar qadaffi, noted muslim leader and renowned terrorist (they always go hand in hand) admitted in interviews that al aqsa has no real meaning to muslims
8. And yours isn't ?!!!!!
john smith ,   washington dc   (09.15.08)
9. Will the author just shut up....
ali ,   los angeles   (09.15.08)
As a Muslim, I do not need someone from another religion to tell me what is holy and what is not holy, just as i would not dare to tell them what is or is not holy to them. Articles like this one only fuel hatred and division when we need to look for opportunities to find common ground. As an american of palestinian origin, jerusalem is polticially important to me as it is to all palestinians as the future capital of a palestinian state. As a muslim, jerusalem is holy to me because it is considered holy by God, Muhammad, Moses, Jesus, and all of the Prophets, may peace be unto them. One can make the argument that Jerusalem is not as holy to the Jews as they think because in the later part of the 19th century, Congo was considered as a possible homeland for the Jews. While the latter part of the statement is true is does not make the first part true.
10. Distortion
Jimana ,   Los Angeles, CA   (09.15.08)
Dr. Morechai, your ignorence is beyond comprehension, although its normal for jewish scholars to distort and transcribe facts to their benefits, in this day and time I think you and your writting is less than worthy of an intelegent answer.
11. The truth. Islams connection to Aqsa is Jew hatred.
NJL ,   US   (09.15.08)
12. Holiness of Jerusalem
SE ,   Boston USA   (09.15.08)
The answer to Dr. Kedar's rhetorical final question is most definitely NO. Israel should not give up on its capital just because some Muslims decided to recycle the political problems from 1250 years ago. The Palestinians are not deserving of any part of Jerusalem because of their murderous ways.
13. "Palestinian people" are also a myth.
Palestiniansaremyth ,   USA   (09.15.08)
There has never been a Palestinian country, people, language, or society! Israel was re-named Palestine by the Romans and has no Arab connection! Jews were the first to be called Palestinians. The KGB and Arabs concocted the "Palestinian people" for propaganda purposes and stealing land from the Jews. IT;S THE BIGGEST FRAUD IN THE WORLD'S HISTORY!
14. If Islam is a myth so are Judaism and Christainity.
Persian CAT   (09.15.08)
The fact that all these three religions perpetuate Jewish folk stories about Moses and the religion he "brought" to them is proof that the "Abrahamic" religions are nothing but Jewish sham stories. Mohammad was at least a human being with all the weaknesses and imperfections of human beings. On the other hand Moses and Christ were mere illusionist who would be doing sold-out shows in in Las Vegas if they were alive today. One thing that reveals the author's utter ignorance about Islam is that Islam do NOT consider Judaism and Christianity as "betrayals of Allah". Where did you read that Mr. Kedar? Pity the university students who take courses from and ignorant "lecturer" like you.
15. Truth
daat y ,   jerusalem   (09.15.08)
It is sad that these truths are not known even by our government.Thank you Dr.Kedar for illuminating us.Continue,continue,continue.
16. Islam and other religions
Dan ,   ISRAEL/INDIA   (09.15.08)
Out there in India, there are more than 20,000 sites where Muslim destroyed Hindu Mandirs and established their Mosqs on those sites. Those sites are slowly being taken over by Hndus again.
17. This article should be made into a documentary in Arabic.
Nick Sporek ,   Jerusalem Israel   (09.15.08)
18. ancient high places
Yaacov ,   Jerusalem   (09.15.08)
Amazing that the true G-d, who knows the end from the beginning, knew about this lie even before the Caliphs concocted it. Read Eze 36.
19. No rights to Arabs on Jerusalem.
Robert Bernier ,   Tel Aviv   (09.15.08)
Arabs and/or Muslims have no historical rights on Jerusalem. In the days of Muhammad, who died in 632 c.e., Jerusalem was a Christian-occupied city within the Byzantine Empire. Jerusalem was captured by caliph Omar only in 638 c.e. About 80 years after Muhammad died, Malik's son, Abd el-Wahd ‒who ruled in 705-715‒ reconstructed the Christian-Byzantine Church of St. Mary and converted it into a mosque, he named it El-Aqsa, so it would sound like the one mentioned in the Koran as described at : http://xrl.us/bjheo
20. Jerusalem is exclusively Jewish.
Robert Bernier ,   Tel Aviv   (09.15.08)
Arabs do not have any right on Jerusalem whatsoever. It is certainly not the fact that the Mosque of El Akza has been built in Jerusalem (when the Mosque was built, Jerusalem was already Jewish since 1500 years…) that gives the Arabs any right. Mosques have been built in London, Paris, Brussels and other cities. Does that fact give the Arabs any right on these cities ? There is no doubt about the legitimity of the Jewish sovereignty on Jerusalem as described at : http://xrl.us/bi7qx
21. to the writer
palman ,   uk   (09.15.08)
mohamad didnt chose kibla ,,mohamad pboh ..did what allah (god ) ask him to do ..and he didnt kill jews or touched them you lier and propagangist to the zion establishment ....prophit mohamad never done any harm to any body on earth and he is rasooooool allah alaqsa is first qibla for islam and it will stay like that till end of earth .. and you cant do any thing about it peace on you and thanks for reading
22. this article will enrage moslems
tom ,   toronto, canada   (09.15.08)
moslems are not "the people of the book", they are "the people of faith", who are not encouraged to study and question and think for themselves, because "it is enough just to believe". and it is those believers who have already expressed their feelings here. (facts notwithstanding.) they believe what they are told: that jerusalem is al aqsa, that jesus was a moslem, and that jews are descended from pigs and monkeys, because (they are told) the koran says so. it is a rare (and courageous) arab intellectual who has read the koran, and studied history, and admits that the land of the jews and the holy place of the jews ("al-quds al-yahoud" in arabic, the full name for jerusalem), were jewish a thousand years before the arab conquest. few, even though they were alive, even acknowledge that the "palestinian (terrorist) movement" was only invented in 1963, as a weapon to be used in the war to destroy israel. prior to that, even the term "palestinian" was synonymous with "jew". but they are skilled in expressing their anger and this is clearly an outrage, since it contradicts at least 45 years of arab propaganda.
23. Religion
Sagi ,   Israel   (09.15.08)
Wise people regard religion as foolish. Foolish people regard religion as wise. Politicians regard it as useful.
24. Yerushalayim
Yisraeli   (09.15.08)
Amazing to read the muslim talkbacks here, they show their ignorance of theyre own history even their own book. So whats new. Daniel Pipes wrote a long treatise on this subject suggest readers research it further. The article above is all true and based on history not arab tales of Ali Baba. I cant wait for the day when the Temple Mount will be cleared of all pagan structures and yes Islam is just a cult created by one man who made piracy legitimate claiming God told him its all ok. Islam is the opposite of what the God of Israel teaches and goes against each one of the 10 commandments.
25. to number 21
Allan ,   London, England   (09.15.08)
You prophet, killed the Jewish tribes, invaded other countries, forced conversion onto other people. Married young women, took slaves. And had "visions" of a kind of horse that flew him to the furthest mosque. Your prophet, took a pagan rock and made it sound all mysterious.. And is that all you can say? G-d told mohummed to kill, rape, murder, force conversion, slavery, paganism? Is that what g-d told him to do? If you really beleive that then you should get out of the UK, as you do not belong in my country, you should go back to Arabia and wander in the desert, like your prophet
26. Kol hakavod
ben Ish   (09.15.08)
Thank you for standing up and telling it like it is, I respect and commend you for this article. I would like to see even more in-depth papers like this one. I also agree with #17, that a documentary video on this would be great, not just in Arabic, though, in Hebrew, and English as well.
27. Ali , Los Angeles , Holy for Muslims ?
Charles ,   Petach Tikva   (09.15.08)
If it is so for you , tell me please why the King of Saudi Arabia , a good Muslim i think , did'nt visit there from 1948 to 67 when it was illegally occupied by Jordan ? I'm not a religious Jew , but on my first visit in Israel after the city was liberated , i paid a visit to our Historiccal site .
28. "chasar" rights to jerusalem?????????
abraham ,   stillnostate   (09.15.08)
can anyone on earth tell me why a man like kedar who is originally from the "chasar-tribe" in the northern caucasus thinks that he have more rights to jerusalem (a city in the middle of the arab speaking middle-east ) than the palestiniens who can with genetic tests proof verry fast that they are relly originally from this reagon????????????
29. Monotheism is plagarism
Said ,   London, UK   (09.15.08)
Muslims plagarised this and that blah blah blah.... Look at Judaism: the ten commandments were lifted straight out of the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. "I have not stolen" became "Thou shall not steal"; "I have not lied" became "Thou shall not bear false witness" etc... Monotheistic religions are merely poorly constructed plagarisations of pagan faiths. The theologians merely put all of the characteristics of the disparate gods into one, and Hey Presto! And you're trying to accuse the the Muslims of "stealing" Jeruslaem? The Jews stole it from the Jebusites after they broke the covenant between Abraham and the Jebusites - an agreement that the Jews would not take Jerusalem from them! Please look at the imperfections in your own religion before you start lashing out because you are just as blind to them as the Mulsims are to their own religion's faults.
30. Why do muslims almost categorically not read the koran?
Johnny ,   Stockholm Sweden   (09.15.08)
It's quite obvious they don't - if they did we wouldn't have this discussion.
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