The Land, and State, of Israel is the holiest place in both Judaism and Christianity. Cities like Jerusalem, Tzfat, Hebron, and Nazareth are holy to both religions. But it is holy to the religion of Islam as well. There are cities and sites that are holy Muslim places, and holy to both Sunni and Shi’ite Islam. So what, and where, are these holy Muslim sites in Israel?
The Temple Mound in Jerusalem
The Temple Mound in Jerusalem is the THIRD holiest site in Islam. It is third to Mecca and Medina. But what about the Temple Mound is holy to Muslims?
One night the angel Gabriel woke Mohammad up, and cleansed him for a journey on an animal similar to a donkey. He takes it far, far away, and he ties the animal to the corner of the structure. He then ascends the seven heavens to meet Allah. And during that conversation Allah and Mohammad laid down many of the cornerstones of the religion.
The place that Mohammad travelled to was called Al-Aqsa. When the Umayyads took over the land of Israel in 638 CE, they began build a mosque under the same name (Al- Aqsa Mosque), and a commemorative site that remembers Mohammad’s ascent to Allah.
Ever since the Temple Mound has been a center for the Muslims as the third holiest site in Islam. Today it is under the control of a Waqf, or a Muslim Trust. Many come to pray on a daily basis, and even more come during the holidays of the Muslim calendar.
Mamluki Jerusalem
The Mamluki Period ruled the land of Israel from 1260 to1516. They largely ignored and undervalued the land of Israel. But despite that, they also largely built up Jerusalem during this time! It was a center of building, and people, and institutions. It may seem strange that a place that they ignored and built up Jerusalem at the same time. How could both work at the same time?
There is actually a very reasonable explanation for it. First, let’s explain who the Mamluks really were. The Mamluks were a social class made up of young children from places outside of the Muslim Empire. The system brought them up in Muslim settings and trained them as the best soldiers the world had ever seen. This was a one- generational system, meaning that the children of the Mamluks were not Mamluks themselves.
And this is where Jerusalem comes into the story. The Mamluks would build and create institutions in Jerusalem that would create a profit. That profit would go to the welfare of the coming generations. But the Mamluks didn’t build just an institution. They built religious seminaries, they built schools, and they built inns.
These schools, seminaries, and inns may have had a powerful impact on the city. The institutions increased the religiosity of the city.
The Ashkelon Hospital
While a hospital may seem like a strange place to be considered holy, the hospital in Ashkelon is an important site in Shiite Islam. The split between Shiite and Sunni Islam began because of a fight over the role of fourth caliph. The fight resulted in the murder of Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law. Sunni Muslims believe that Ali should not have been the Caliph, while Shi’ite Muslims do.
During the fight, his enemies decapitated Ali, and his followers buried his head at the very same spot of the Ashkelon Hospital. Later, the believers moved Ali’s head, but today Shi’ite Muslims still come to visit the site in memory of where it was once buried.
The Land, and State, of Israel is holy
to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These are just a few holy Muslim sites in Israel. We hear so much about the fighting between the believers of these three religions. It takes up so much of the News that it seems that Jerusalem is ENORMOUS, and Israel is as big as the U.S.! But it’s not. I once had a group of tourists, and as we walked around the Old City of Jerusalem, one of the tourists turned to me and said:
“How would this city ever be split up?! Everything is so entangled, that things are one on top of another!”
And she’s right. While walking down the street, you may see a synagogue that commemorates an important Rabbi and his community, and then turn right to pass a church that commemorates an event that happened to Jesus almost 2,000 years ago, and then arrive at the Temple Mound—a site that is important to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The Old City of Jerusalem is one squared kilometer, with so much that is so important to so many people. And it’s all mixed together.
And that is the case for the ENTIRE country!!! But that is what makes Israel so beautiful—the holiness to so many, the colors, and threads it represents. We can connect to any one of those threads or colors and that okay! I think that it is wonderful that Jews, Muslims, and Christians can see as holy, and meaningful, and important.
