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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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