Abbas Advisor on Religious Affairs: the Western Wall “is an inseparable part of our faith and our religion…that can never belong to people who are not Muslim”
Official PA TV, Friday sermon by Supreme Shari’ah Judge, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs, and Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'ah Justice Mahmoud Al-Habbash
Supreme Shari’ah Judge, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs, and Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'ah Justice Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “Some of the Muslims that are not Palestinians think that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is the Dome of the Rock, the golden dome. The area of the Al-Aqsa Mosque that is known today is 144 dunams and 100 square meters (i.e., approximately 35.5 acres). The concept of the Al-Aqsa Mosque includes all of the plazas, all of the walls, all of the stones, and all of the land that is known today as the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and before everything else, so that we do not forget and are not misled, the Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall of the Temple Mount). The Al-Buraq Wall is an inseparable part of our faith and our religion. It is strongly connected, according to the faith, to the eternal miracle, the miracle of the Night Journey and Ascent to Heaven [of Prophet Muhammad]. It is strongly connected to the figure of Prophet Muhammad. It is a Muslim waqf (i.e., an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law) that can never belong to people who are not Muslim. It cannot be that any person will have sovereignty over it other than the Muslims. The mosque is our mosque and the Al-Buraq Wall is our wall. It is our property and waqf that we must guard, and it is not possible that we would concede one millimeter of it, nor one stone, nor one micro millimeter of the Al-Buraq Wall or the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. When Allah led [Muhammad] there on the Night Journey, the Prophet made a clear and unbreakable rule for us: This rule says that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is connected to the well-known Kabaa [in Mecca], and to the figure of Prophet Muhammad, and is connected to the honorable Quran, which made it one of its verses (see note below –Ed.).”
The Al-Buraq Wall - Islam's Prophet Muhammad is said to have rode during his Night Journey from Mecca to "al aqsa mosque", i.e., "the farthest mosque" (Quran, Sura 17), and there tied his miraculous flying steed named Al-Buraq to a "stone" or a "rock." (Jami` at-Tirmidhi, Book 47, Hadith 3424). In the 1920's, Arab Mufti Haj Amin Al-Husseini decided to identify the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem as that "rock" or "stone," and since then Muslims refer to the Western Wall as the "Al-Buraq Wall."
Islam's Prophet Muhammad is said to have ridden during a Night Journey from Mecca to "al aqsa mosque", i.e., "the farthest mosque" (Quran, Sura 17). Five years after Muhammad's death in 632, Jerusalem was conquered by Islamic forces, and in the year 705, Muslim Umayyad leader Abd Al-Malik built a mosque in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount. The mosque was subsequently named the Al-Aqsa Mosque, to identify it as the mosque mentioned in the Quran, thus giving significance to Jerusalem in Islam as a place visited once by Muhammad.
Supreme Shari’ah Judge, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs, and Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'ah Justice Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “Some of the Muslims that are not Palestinians think that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is the Dome of the Rock, the golden dome. The area of the Al-Aqsa Mosque that is known today is 144 dunams and 100 square meters (i.e., approximately 35.5 acres). The concept of the Al-Aqsa Mosque includes all of the plazas, all of the walls, all of the stones, and all of the land that is known today as the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and before everything else, so that we do not forget and are not misled, the Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall of the Temple Mount). The Al-Buraq Wall is an inseparable part of our faith and our religion. It is strongly connected, according to the faith, to the eternal miracle, the miracle of the Night Journey and Ascent to Heaven [of Prophet Muhammad]. It is strongly connected to the figure of Prophet Muhammad. It is a Muslim waqf (i.e., an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law) that can never belong to people who are not Muslim. It cannot be that any person will have sovereignty over it other than the Muslims. The mosque is our mosque and the Al-Buraq Wall is our wall. It is our property and waqf that we must guard, and it is not possible that we would concede one millimeter of it, nor one stone, nor one micro millimeter of the Al-Buraq Wall or the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. When Allah led [Muhammad] there on the Night Journey, the Prophet made a clear and unbreakable rule for us: This rule says that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is connected to the well-known Kabaa [in Mecca], and to the figure of Prophet Muhammad, and is connected to the honorable Quran, which made it one of its verses (see note below –Ed.).”
The Al-Buraq Wall - Islam's Prophet Muhammad is said to have rode during his Night Journey from Mecca to "al aqsa mosque", i.e., "the farthest mosque" (Quran, Sura 17), and there tied his miraculous flying steed named Al-Buraq to a "stone" or a "rock." (Jami` at-Tirmidhi, Book 47, Hadith 3424). In the 1920's, Arab Mufti Haj Amin Al-Husseini decided to identify the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem as that "rock" or "stone," and since then Muslims refer to the Western Wall as the "Al-Buraq Wall."
Islam's Prophet Muhammad is said to have ridden during a Night Journey from Mecca to "al aqsa mosque", i.e., "the farthest mosque" (Quran, Sura 17). Five years after Muhammad's death in 632, Jerusalem was conquered by Islamic forces, and in the year 705, Muslim Umayyad leader Abd Al-Malik built a mosque in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount. The mosque was subsequently named the Al-Aqsa Mosque, to identify it as the mosque mentioned in the Quran, thus giving significance to Jerusalem in Islam as a place visited once by Muhammad.