In the same year of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran Late Iman Khomeini during the month of Ramadan issued an invitation to all Muslims to set aside the last Friday of that month in order to remember “al-Quds”, which means the Holy or Blessed city of Jerusalem. On the day of Quds, Muslims world-wide should proclaim their International Solidarity in support of the right of Muslim people of Palestine.
Jerusalem, the “city of peace” (note the root word; Salam), is the focus of both Christians and Judaism as well as Islam. Yet the very fact that Islam, Christianity and Judaism share the city of Jerusalem as a spiritual focus should prove the continuity of God’s message that Jerusalem was originally proclaimed the Orientation (or qib-lah) for the Islamic Prayer. Later, soon after the first Islamic community was established, the qiblah was changed by the Order of the Almighty from Jerusalem to the Ka’abah (or “House of God”) at Mecca as revealed in Qur’an, The East and the West belong only to Allah; He guide whom He likes to the right path (2.142) and even if you bring to those who have been given the Book every sign they would not follow your Qiblah, nor can you be a follower of their qiblah, neither are they the followers of each other’s qiblah (2.145).
Yet even after the Islamic Orientation for prayer was directed away from Jerusalem, the holy city continue to hold special significance for Muslims. The Holy Prophet (S.AW) himself was required by God to make a journey (somesay spiritual, some say Metaphysical) to Quds in order to realize his true position as a prophet of God. This journey, called the Miraj is referred to in Qur’an 17.1 .Glory be to Him who made His servant to go on a night from the sacred Mosque to the remote Mosque of which we have blessed the Precincts, so that we may show to him some of our sign, surely He is the Hearing the Seeking.
The “Sacred Mosque” referred to is Ka’bah in Mecca. The “remote mosque” refers to the Al-Aqsa mosque at Jerusalem. It was to the Al-Aqsa mosque at Jerusalem that the prophet travelled in order to ascend into Heaven, observe the wonders and glory of God, as well as to meet some of God’s former Prophets. On the surface of rock near the mosque in sanctuary called the Dome of Rock is the handprint of the Angel Gabriel who accompanied Muhammed (S.A.W) on his journey.
Concerning the blessed city of Jerusalem, the Prophet Muhammed once said, :From it the earth was stretched forth and from it shall the earth be rolled up like a stroll.
Although followers of the Jewish faith lived in Jerusalem since ancient time, from year 70A.D until 1948, the Jews were merely one of the many minority groups which lived in and around the city. As long as the Jews were allowed to practice their religion, it seemed to matter little who rule Palestine or Jerusalem. Then in early years of World War I, England issued a proclamation which was to drastically alter Palestine, the Balfour Declaration: issued at first to Lord Walter Rothchild, head of the British branch of the well known Jewish banking family, the declaration stated: His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. (Conditional upon the recognition of ) the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”.
It matter little that the Balfour Declaration speaks of a “national home” and not a state. It means nothing that this declaration is “conditional” upon the right of existing communities in Palestine. What matter is the evil, imperialistic design of a World power-Great Britain and how this first evil, arrogant disregard for the rights of a native people-The Arabs spawned an even more evil and arrogant power, the state or Israel.
The British, however cannot be totally blamed for helping to create Israel. The Balfour Declaration was only issued after intense Zionist Pressure was repeatedly applied upon the British foreign office to agree to such a proclamation. Zionism is a political expression, some would call it a pervasion of Jerusalem. Originally established as an organization in 1895, Zionism call for “the return” of the World’s Jews to Zion (Jerusalem) in order to form a strong state of their own from which the Jews may confront the non-Jewish world, secure in their own strength.
Unfortunately, Zionism, being a creation of man, not a God, has many faults. One of the most flaws of Zionism is it’s refusal to admit the existence of minority groups or non-Jewish communities into the Zionist state. From the first year of the illegal existence of Israel until the present day, Arab communities within the state borders whether Muslim or Christian have always been viewed by Israeli authorities as “an unacceptable security risk”. Arab communities all over Palestine, even from as far away as Beirut, are still subject to all forms of brutal and violent oppression.
It is helpful to review the historical events which have led up to the illegal seizure of Jerusalem and the destruction of Palestine and it’s people. On November 29th 1947, the United Nation voted to divide up Palestine between Arab and Jew, as Britain announced that after 30 years of colonial rule she would leave Palestine shortly. Palestine was not divided evenly of fairly. Fifty-seven percent of the land was “given” by the UN to the Jews for their “homeland” inspite of the fact that two-thirds of the population and more than half of the land was Arab. The city of Jerusalem was supposedly to be ruled by an International Trusteeship.
It was the United States which was influential in the passing of the UN partition vote. Yet during the first eight months of 1946, when many American officials were so freely evoking the suffering of millions of Jews in World War II in an effort to help them immigrate to Palestine, only 4,767 Jewish refugees were allowed into American’s Promised Shores.
Within a few short weeks after the partition vote of November 1947, violence became a common occurrence in and around the city of Jerusalem. Arabs and Jews who had lived as peaceful neighbours for long years almost over-night divided themselves into separate communities. Under the guidance of the well-known Palestinian figure, Abdul Khader Hussaini, the Arab military forces began to make small but strategically important gain in the Jerusalem area.
In April of 1948, two key tragedies occurred, on April 6, Abdul Khader Hussaini was martyred in a battle on one of the high hills near Jerusalem. Suddenly, the Palestinians found themselves leaderless. On April 9, the in-famous massacre of Deir Yassin, a small Arab village outside Jerusalem, took place. At Deir Yassin over 300 people, consisting mostly of old men, women and children were brutally butchered. According to eye-witnesses Jacques de Reynier, the Swiss Red Cross representatives on duty in Palestine, the innocent people were killed in a manner reminiscent of “the German S.S troops I’d seen in Athens”.
The horror study of Deir Yassin broadcast by both Arabs and Zionists, fueled a tremendous flight of Arabs from their land. As stories of the atrocities spread, the number of Arab refugees on the roads of Palestine increased daily. By the first week of May 1948, in the port city of Jaffa, 65,000 of the city’s 70,000 people had fled. British troops still in Palestine belatedly but decisively stopped a Zionist take over of Jaffa only to discover that there were no Arab left in the city to take charge of it. The martyrdom of Abdul Khadef Hussaini robbed the Palestinians of their best-loved leader, while the massacre of Deir Yassin robbed them of their courage and determination.
On May 14, 1948, the renegade state of Israel was proclaimed to the world. Within a few short hours the United States had already officially recognized it. On May 15, the Zionist state went to war with three Arabs states for the period of three months. In spite of the fact that the Zionist force lost the city of Jerusalem in this war, they gained 500 square miles of land originally assigned to the Arabs by the UN Partition.
It was no mistake that during this period, referred to by the Israelis as their “war of independence”, plans were made to destroy both the Dome of the Rock and the neighboring Al-Aqsa mosque by the Zionist forces. Obviously, the Zionist wished to rid Jerusalem of any Islamic influences. Also preparations were actually began for construction of a third Jewish temple in this same section of the city. The first two temples on what the Jews call the Temple Mount were destroyed in 586 B.C and 70 A.D respectively. Although, in 1948, the Zionist were unsuccessfully in their attempt to destroy those important Islamic places of Worship, they are still plotting to somehow weaken those structures and on a pretext, reduce them to rubble.
Godwilling, as long as everyone committed Muslim remains alert on the scene, the Zionist will never succeed. By declaring the day of Quds specifically refereeing to the blessed city of Jerusalem, and by inference, to the land of the Palestine usurped by the Zionist aggressors, Late Imam Khomeine has focused the attention of the World’s Muslims on the continuing injustice which occurs there daily.
Late Imam Khomeine once asked the Muslims: “ Until when should your Quds be trampled underfoot by the scum of the United States, the Usurper Israel? How long shoud Quds, Palestine, and the oppressed Muslims remain under the domination of criminals while you sit idly by which some of your treacherous rulers aid them?”. It is up to Muslims to realize the painful truth behind those questions and try to answer them as best they can.
Baba Ali Mustapha is with the department of planning and Research, Ministry of Environment, Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria
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