Baytullah, BeitEl, Bayt al-Maqdis and Beit HaMikdash; two Sanctuaries One God

In the Greek and Roman Empires, the Jerusalem Temple (Beit HaMikdosh) and the Ka’ba, the House of God (Baitullah) in Mecca were not as well known as the giant pagan Temples of Greece and Rome. The Roman destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE, celebrated by the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum, with its carving of the captured Temple Candelabra being carried away, became the seat of the Roman Catholic Church three centuries later.

Yet just a few centuries after the looting of Rome, both of these cities and their sanctuaries, one almost unknown by the Romans; and the other totally destroyed by the Romans, were destined to be viewed as the navel of the world throughout the Middle Ages in Europe, North Africa and west Asia.

Much of Islamic and Jewish folklore about these two holy sites is similar. The following fable, transmitted orally in both Arabic and Hebrew for many centuries and finally written down in several different versions in the 19th century, illustrates how these two holy places can be closely connected even though they are geographically separated by 765 miles.

“There are all kinds of stories. Some are taken from reality and processed through inspiration, other rise up from an instant of inspiration; and become real after being told again and again.” (Isabel Allende) Some stories are true because they accurately describe a unique event that happened at a certain time and place.
Other stories are events that once happened and have subsequently been dramatized by creative minds or faithful hearts.

Archetypical stories that have been retold over the course of thousands of years are true; not because they actually occurred once; but because they continually reoccur in many places and times. As the poet Muriel Rukeyser said: “The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.”

A place is never holy through the choice of humans, but because it has been chosen by God, and revealed by God’s prophets. Believers in God’s Prophets can see the site’s holiness. Unbelievers are blind to it.

Why does Islam have two sacred sites rather than one? Because even before he left the rejection of the idol-worshipping Arabs of Makkah, for the future promise of Medina, Prophet Muhammad had already visited the other holy site in Jerusalem (Isra Qur’an 17:1-2), to personally experience Allah’s signs. Thus, both sacred scriptures use similar words to describe the two sanctuaries: Beitullah, BeitEl, Bayt al-Maqdis, and Beit HaMikdash to illustrate how they fit together like a pair of lungs.

“Two brothers who inherited a ‘valley to hilltop’ farm from their father, divided the land in half so each one could farm his own section. Over time, the older brother married and had four children, while the younger brother was still not married.

“One year there was very little rain, and the crop was very meager. This was at the beginning of a long term draught that would turn the whole valley into an arid, treeless, desert where even grain did not grow, and all the springs had dried up.

The younger brother lay awake one night praying and thought. “My brother has a wife and four children to feed and I have no children. He needs more grain than I do; especially now when grain is scarce.”

“So that night the younger brother went to his barn, gathered a large sack of wheat, and left his wheat in his brother’s barn. Then he returned home, feeling pleased with himself. Earlier that very same night, the older brother was also lying awake praying for rain when he thought: “In my old age my wife and I will have our grown children to take care of us, as well as grandchildren to enjoy, while my brother may have no children. He should at least sell more grain from his fields now, so he can provide for himself in his old age.

So that night, the older brother also gathered a large sack of wheat, and left it in his brother’s barn, and returned home, feeling pleased with himself.

“The next morning, the younger brother, surprised to see the amount of grain in his barn seemed unchanged said “I did not take as much wheat as I thought. Tonight I’ll take more.”

That same morning, the older brother standing in his barn, was thinking the same thoughts. After night fell, each brother gathered a greater amount of wheat from his barn and in the dark, secretly delivered it to his brother’s barn.

The next morning, the brothers were again puzzled and perplexed. “How can I be mistaken?” each one thought. “There’s the same amount of grain here as there was before. This is impossible! Tonight I’ll make no mistake – I’ll take two large sacks.”

“The third night, more determined than ever, each brother gathered two large sacks of wheat from his barn, loaded them onto a cart, and slowly pulled his cart toward his brother’s barn. In the moonlight, each brother noticed a figure in the distance.

When the two brothers got closer, each recognized the form of the other and the load he was pulling, and they both realized what had happened. Without a word, they dropped the ropes of their carts, ran to each other and embraced.”

Know that a place is never holy through the choice of humans, but because it has been chosen in Heaven. However, God can chose a place of brotherly love and concern; and make it holy for their descendants to build a center of worship in this valley and on that hill. Then, like one pair of lungs, the two places breath the spirit of God into the world’s atmosphere, that all humans may submit to the will and love of the One God.

When all those, both near and far, who revere this place as a worldwide standard, and share it in love with everyone else who reveres it, then God does as Abraham requests: “Make this a land of Peace, and provide its people with the produce of of the land”. (Qur’an 2:126). Then will the children of Abraham live in Holiness, Peace and Prosperity.

Jews and Christians believe the hill is Jerusalem. Muslims believe the valley is Makka. Both Islamic and Jewish traditions teach that their holy sanctuary is at the center of the world. But how can the world possibly have more than one religious center? Because religious centers are not the same as geometric centers. After all, the qiblah is the central direction of worship in every mosque; although it is not at the geometric center of any of them.

As the Qur’an states: “For every nation there is a direction to which they face (in prayer). So hasten towards all that is good. Wherever you may be, Allâh will bring you together (on the Day of Resurrection). Truly, Allâh is Able to do all things.” (2:148)

And Tafsir al-Jalalayn comments: Every person, of every community, has his direction (wijha), [his] qibla to which he turns (muwallīhā) in his prayers, so vie with one another in good works, strive with acts of obedience and acceptance of these [two different qiblas]. Wherever you may be, God will bring you all together, gathering you on the Day of Resurrection and requiting you for your deeds; surely God has power over all things.

In the Jewish tradition there is also a helpful midrash that describes Jerusalem’s central place in the world: Abba Hanan said in the name of Samuel the Small, “This world is like a person’s eyeball. The white of the eye is the ocean surrounding the world; the iris is the inhabited world; the pupil of the eye is Jerusalem; and the face (reflected) in the pupil is the Holy Temple.” (Derekh Eretz Zuta 9, end)

Of course, one person has two lungs to breath [spirit] and two eyes to see [sacredness]; and therefore two pupils to reflect the One God’s holy light. God willing, someday both religion’s leaders will be inspired to see how the two holy qiblas function as a pair of lungs recycling Allah’s holy spirit throughout the world.

As the Qur’an states: “Righteous is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but righteous is [in] one who believes in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, the Prophets; and gives wealth in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves; [who] establishes prayer and gives Zakah; fulfilling their promise when they promise; and are patient in poverty, hardship and during battle. These are those who have been true, and it is these who are the righteous.” (2:177)

As the Qur’an also states: “’Believers, be steadfast in the cause of God and bear witness with justice. Do not let your enmity for others turn you away from justice. Deal justly; that is nearer to being God-fearing.” (5:8)

Then all the children of Adam and Abraham will learn to live in Holiness, Peace and Prosperity. And as Prophet Isaiah predicted (19:23-25): “On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. On that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”