Apart
from trying to know something about the purported location and the
existence of the Quran's Farthest Mosque, let us examine briefly the
quality of language Allah has used in His above revelation.
Allah
used the word “We” in the verse for Himself, knowing well that
Emperors and Kings, too, used it for identifying themselves in and before
their courts and subjects. When they identified themselves in plural, it
was believed to have convinced their audience with the power they carried
simultaneously with the power of forgiveness and mercy with which Allah
had endowed them. They are known to have remained constant with the use of
the word “We” to identify themselves; even in their private lives,
they avoided the use of the word “I” during their conversations. This
habit of theirs showed constancy not only in the use of their words, but
also in their actions.
But
adherence to certain principles does not seem to have remained a hallmark
of Allah, for, in one sentence of His conversation, He addresses Himself
as “We” and in the next, He changes it to “He” thus giving us the
impression that there are two Allahs- one, who, as stated in the above
verse, blessed the precincts of the Farthest Mosque; the other, who hears
and sees everything humans do in their lives.
Scholars,
irrespective of their religious affiliations and geographical locations,
have never questioned the quality of language using which, Allah has
spoken to the Muslims through the Quran. On the other hand, the same
scholars have chastised many among them, who, they thought, had violated
their well formulated linguistic norms, which all of them are required to
follow, while expressing themselves through their speeches and writings.
This attitude of theirs is hypocritical, to put it mildly. They need to
change it, if they wish to bring credibility to themselves as well as to
what they say and write in their treatises and books.
The
Quran infers and Muslim scholars take this inference to mean that Muhammad
had traveled to the Masjid-ul-Aqsa
(literal meaning of the words “Furthest Mosque”), which was supposed
be located where its namesake stands today in
Jerusalem
, on the back of an animal that wore the face of a beautiful woman. Here,
he is reported to have led all the prophets of the past into a
congregational prayer. Without explaining why this animal had a woman’s
face, they insist that their Prophet had ridden it through all the seven
heavens without a saddle and rein (see Jami’s original fifteenth century
painting preserved in the
British
Museum
).
Muhammad’s
ability to ride on the back of an animal without a saddle and rein, and
then to gallop through the vast expanse of the space, makes him an
exceptional rider of the world. It was only he who could have performed
this extraordinary and unheard of feat; others attempting it would have
slipped off from the back of their rides, and become forever a part of our
universe’s gravitational activities.
Abdullah
Yusuf Ali had to say the following on this issue: “The Farthest Mosque
must refer to the site of the
Temple
of
Solomon
in
Jerusalem
on the hill of Moriah, at or near which stands the Dome of the Rock,
called also the Mosque of Hadhrat Umar. This and the Mosque known as the
Farthest Mosque (Masjid-ul-Aqsa) were completed by the Amir “And-ul-Malik in A. H.
68.”” (The Holy Quran, Vol. 1, p. 693).
Other
sources also tell us almost an identical story: That the Dome of the Rock,
also known as “Qubbat As-Sakhra”
in Arabic, came into being between 687 and 691 A.D. through the
initiatives of Caliph Abd-ul- Malik.
From
the above historical references, it becomes crystal clear that at the
time, Muslims believe, Muhammad had landed in
Jerusalem
on his way to the 7th heaven, there existed no mosque on the
hill of Moriah. It could not have existed there then, because in 620 A.D.,
Islam was still in its cradle; its tranquilizing fangs still remaining
un-developed and the sword it needed to expand its influence throughout
the earth still sheathed.
The
truth being the above, Muslims need to ask themselves: Why the Quran says
that there existed a mosque in
Jerusalem
in 620 A.D., when there was no possibility for one to be built, and
maintained, by the Muslims on the soil of a Jew-dominated land?
The
truth lies in the fact that Muhammad had never traveled to Jerusalem on
the back of a woman, having the body of a horse; that he never ascended to
the seventh heaven corporeally and that he made up the story of a
mysterious journey to fool his Companions on the question they had raised
on his whereabouts during the night he was spending in the company of his
cousin, Umm Hani. This was the greatest lie ever spoken by a man; without
it, Islam would have died its natural death a long, long time ago. And
without Islam, the earth would have remained much better a place for all
humans to live together in peace and harmony.
To
be continued.
December
25, 2004
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