“We Gave Understanding of the Case to Sulaiman” (Qur’an 21:79)

Can Muslims and Jews find peaceful solutions to the difficult political issues surrounding Jerusalem from Prophet King Sulaiman’s God given understanding?

Amr ibn al-As, the conqueror of Egypt, reported that Prophet Muhammad said: “When Solomon built Jerusalem he asked his Lord for three things. Allah gave him two; and we hope to receive the third. He asked for judgment that would be like the judgement of God, and God gave him that. He asked for a kingdom that would not be appropriate for anyone else after him, and God gave him that. And he asked that whenever a man left his house heading to pray in Jerusalem, Allah would remove his sins as though it was the day of his birth. We hope that God has given this to us.”

So if Muslims and Jews can find peaceful solutions to the case of the difficult political issues surrounding Jerusalem from Sulaiman’s God given understanding; it would mean that Allah has given this to us.

The famous case of the two women, each of whom had a child, and one child was stolen and devoured by a wolf, should inform our understanding of the competing claims for Jerusalem.

“Each woman claimed that it was the other woman’s child who was taken. They brought the case to Dawood and he judged that the older woman should have the remaining child. Then they went to Prophet Sulaiman. He called for a knife, so that he could cut the child in half; and give half to each woman. But the younger woman, who could not bear to see her child cut in half, cried out that the child belonged to the other woman. Prophet Sulaiman then gave the child to the younger woman.” (Bukhari, Vol.4; 637)

The lesson is that those who are willing to give up their own rights in favor of mercy for a rival; should have their rights respected. If both sides give up their rights in favor of mercy; then both should share custody. If both Israelis and Palestinians can overcome their emphasis on their own past grievances, and seek to start fresh and become like the day of their birth, both nations could peacefully share Jerusalem as their capital.

All Muslims should understand that for almost all non-Orthodox Jews; the city of Jerusalem was and is very important as the capital of the Jewish state of Israel. All Non-Orthodox Jews do not miss, nor do they seek to restore, the ancient Temple built by Prophet Solomon in the City of David.

For Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews, the Holy Temple is far more important than the secular city of Jerusalem; just as for Muslims the Holy Ka’ba is more important than the city of Makkah, but all ultra-Orthodox Jews also believe that the Holy Temple will only be rebuilt by God, and not by humans.

In spite of fear mongering, political anti-Israel propaganda; no Jews (with the exception of a small fringe of Salafist type Jewish fanatics) want to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque; or the magnificent Dome of the Rock dedicated by Abd-al-Malik in the year 691 C.E.

The name “Jerusalem” occurs 660 times in the Hebrew Bible. But Jerusalem existed as a pagan city for centuries before David conquered it, a decade or two after 1,000 BCE and it became known as the City of David. The City of David is very small: covering only about 15 acres.

In the historical account of the Book of Samuel: after the death of Saul (Talut) David was made king of the entire nation of Israel, and led his army to capture the pagan city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites (2 Samuel 5: 6-7).

Upon winning the city, Prophet David “took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David… He became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him” (2 Samuel 5:9–10). The phrase “City of David” (Hebrew: עיר דוד, Ir David; Arabic: مدينة داوود, Madina Dawud) is used of Jerusalem 45 times in the Hebrew Bible.

All Jews should understand when Allah first ordered Prophet Mohammed and the Muslim Umma to offer the daily Salat prayers, they prayed facing Baitul-Maqdis in Jerusalem. This was the practice in Makkah for more than a decade; and continued in Medina until the seventeenth month after the Hijrah (migration).

For Muslims Jerusalem’s first Qiblah, the Baitul-Maqdis or Al-Haram al-Sharif, encloses 35 acres of buildings and open spaces. At its southernmost end is the Al-Aqsa Mosque and 200 yards north is the Dome of the Rock.

The entire area is often regarded as Baitul-Maqdis or Al-Qudus and comprises over one seventh of the ancient walled city of Jerusalem. However it is clear that the silver domed Masjid al-Aqsa and the golden Dome of the Rock (Qubbat as-Sakhra) are two separate buildings, and not synonymous with each other; as is often believed by some Muslims. However, both these buildings are within the enclosure of Al-Haram al-Sharif referred to in the Qur’an as “the Furthest Mosque” in Surah al-Israa (17:1).

For Muslims, the city of Jerusalem is an important site. As the home of numerous prophets of Islam such as Dawud (David), Sulayman (Solomon), and ‘Isa (Jesus), the city was a symbol of Islam’s past prophets. When Prophet Muhammad made the miraculous Night Journey from Makkah to Jerusalem where he ascended into Heaven (known as the Isra’ wal-Mi’raj), it acquired an added importance as the place where Prophet Muhammad led all the earlier prophets in prayer and then ascended to Heaven.

But during the life of Prophet Muhammad, Jerusalem remained distant. When Muslims conquered Iraq and Syria in the 630s, Jerusalem became a Muslim city, and the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem would become one of the most important mosques in the Muslim empire.

However, while Solomon’s Temple was the site for the Biblical Haj of Sukkot and Passover; the Al-Haram al-Sharif never was the site for the Muslim Haj.

There is no religious need for Israelis or Palestinians to have the whole city of Jerusalem for the exclusive capital of their political state.

The whole City of David, the area within the walls of the old city including the western foundation wall of the Temple Mount, should be under Jewish or Israeli custody.

The whole area within the walls of the Baitul-Maqdis or Al-Haram al-Sharif, should be under Muslim or Palestinian custody.

All four areas should be open to all visitors and worshippers from outside, so that the time will come that: “whenever a man left his house heading to pray in Jerusalem, Allah would remove his sins as though it was the day of his birth. We hope that God has given this to us.” can be fulfilled.

Jerusalem was conquered by the Crusaders in 1099 and retaken by a Muslim dynasty, the Ayyubids, in 1187. By 1212, the city was ruled by the nephew of Saladin, El-Melek El-Muatem Isa, known in English as Al-Mu’azzam Isa who erected the fortifications of Jerusalem in approximately 1212, “and on every tower he put a large sign in Arabic, ‘I’m the great ruler El-Melek El-Muatem Isa.’” Alongside his name on this stone that was dug up was the year, 1212.