Abbas: Palestinians “own” the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Western Wall because they are “an Islamic waqf,” the Israeli “narrative is fake”

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “We are taking advantage of the opportunity of the Jerusalem Conference today to present a true and documented narrative regarding the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, including the Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall of the Temple Mount). This is a narrative that debunks the fake narrative that the occupation relies on. We own the right to Palestine, Jerusalem, and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and we also own the exclusive religious, historical, and legal right to the Al-Buraq Wall, which as we said previously is part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and an Islamic waqf (i.e., an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law). The Al-Buraq Wall is a legal Islamic waqf, and this right of ours was confirmed in the noble and mighty Quran.”

[Official PA TV, Feb. 12, 2023]

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas made this statement at the Arab League’s Jerusalem Conference in Cairo, Egypt, on Feb. 12, 2023.

The Al-Buraq Wall – Islam's Prophet Muhammad is said to have ridden 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."

A waqf is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law. Palestinians define all of Israel as waqf, and thereby Israel exists on Islamic holy land. Palestinian leaders have explained that under Islamic law Muslims are commanded to free the waqf from non-Muslims.