JERUSALEM

Arabic al-Baitu ʾl-Muqaddas ( البيت المقدس‎ ), “the Holy House,” or Baitu ʾl-Maqdis ( بيت المقدس‎ ), “the House of the Sanctuary”; Aurashalīm ( اورشليم‎ ); Iliyāʾ ( ايلياء‎ ), i.e . Aelia Capitol in a . In the Qurʾān Jerusalem is never mentioned by name, and in the Traditions and other Muslim works, it is always called al-Baitu ʾl-Muqaddas , “the Holy House,” as referring to the Temple of Jerusalem, or Iliyāʾ . The allusions to it in the Qurʾān, are as follows:— Sūrah ii. 55 (where God, after giving the manna and quails, is represented as saying to the children of Israel): “Enter the city and eat therefrom as plentifully as ye wish.” Al-Baiẓāwī the commentator says this city was the the Baitu ʾl-Maqdis (Jerusalem), or Arīḥā (Jericho). Sūrah ii. 261 : “Like him who pa ed by a city when it was desolate, and as he walked over its roofs said, ‘How will God revive this after its destruction? ’ ” Commentators say Elias or al-K͟hiẓr visited the city of Jerusalem after its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar. Sūrah xxx . opens with a reference to the Persians conquering Syria and taking Jerusalem. In Sūrah xvii. 1 , Muḥammad is represented as having taken his flight from Makkah to Jerusalem. “Celebrated be the praises of Him who by night took his servant from the Masjidu ʾl-Ḥarām (the Sacred Mosque) to the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā (the Remote Mosque), the precinct of which we have ble ed.” And in Sūrah l. 40 , one of the signs of the approach of the last day will be: “The crier (to prayer) shall cry from a near place” ( i.e . a place from which all men shall hear). Ḥusain says this “near place” is the Temple at Jerusalem. A curious account of Jerusalem and its temple, the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā, or Distant Mosque (so called because it is a distant object of pilgrimage), has been written by Jalālu ʾd-dīn as-Suyūt̤ī, one of the commentators on the Qurʾān, known as the Jalālān. It was written in the year A.H . 848, A.D . 1444, and the special object of the book appears to be to exalt the merits of Jerusalem as a place of prayer and pilgrimage. [For an account of the Temple, see MASJIDU ʾL-AQSA .] He says Jerusalem is specially honoured as being the scene of the repentance of David and Solomon. The place where God sent His angel to Solomon, announced glad tidings to Zacharias and John, showed David a plan of the Temple, and put all the beasts of the earth and fowls of the air in subjection to him. It was at Jerusalem that the prophets sacrificed; that Jesus was born and spoke in his cradle; and it was at Jerusalem that Jesus ascended to heaven; and it will be there that He will again descend. Gog and Magog shall subdue every place on the earth but Jerusalem, and it will be there that God Almighty will destroy them. It is in the holy land of Jerusalem that Adam and Abraham, and Isaac and Mary, are buried. And in the last days there will be a general flight to Jerusalem, and the Ark and the Shechinah will be again restored to the Temple. There will all mankind be gathered at the Resurrection for judgment, and God will enter, surrounded by His angels, into the Holy Temple, when He comes to judge the earth. (See Reynolds’ Translation, p. 16.) The peculiar reference paid to the Sacred Rock ( aṣ-Ṣak͟hrah ) seems to be one of the many instances of afterthought and addition to Islām since the time of Muḥammad. Muʿāwiyah seems to have encouraged it in order to direct the affections and fanaticism of his subjects into a new channel, and to withdraw their exclusive attention from Makkah and al-Madīnah, where the rival family of ʿAlī resided. In the same book there is a desultory account of the taking of Jerusalem by the K͟halīfah ʿUmar. After the conclusion of the battle of Yarmūk (Hieromax), the whole army of the Muslims marched into the territory of Palestine and Jordan. Then they closely besieged the city. The conquest was attended with difficulty until the arrival of the K͟halīfah ʿUmar with four you sand horse. He came upon the holy place on the eastern side, and then encircled the city. They fought for a long time, until at last the inhabitants sent a party to the walls with a flag of truce, asking for a parley. The Patriarch (Sophronius) then demanded the safe conduct of a me enger to ʿUmar. The envoy came without hindrance and requested ʿUmar to make peace and to accept tribute. Jalālu ʾd-dīn gives a copy of the treaty which the Muslims compelled the people of Jerusalem to sign. It reads as follows:— “In the name of God, the Merciful and Compa ionate! This is the writing from the Christians of the Holy City to ʿUmar ibn al-K͟hat̤t̤āb, the Commander of the Faithful. When you came down upon us, we asked of you a capitulation for ourselves and our po e ions, and our children, and the people of our religion; and we have stipulated with you, that we shall not be polluted by interruption in our places of worship, or whatever chapels, or churches, or cells, or monasteries of monks, may be therein; and that no one shall live therein who may have the impre of Muslims (by long residence), and that we will not prohibit the Muslims from entering them, by night or by day; and that we will open the gates wide to pa engers and to travellers; and if any Muslim pa ing by shall take up his lodging with us three nights, we shall give him food, and not entertain in our churches a spy, nor conceal him unknown to the Muslims; and not teach our children the Qurʾān; and not publicly exhibit the A ociating or Christian religion, and not beg any one to embrace it; and not hinder anyone of our relations from entering the Muslim religion, if he will, and that we should honour the Muslims and make much of them, and place them in our a emblies, if anyone of them will, and give them the chief seats, and not imitate them in our dre , neither in girdles, nor in the turban, nor the slipper, nor the parting of the hair, and never write in their language, nor call ourselves by their surnames; and that we should never ride upon great saddles, nor suspend our swords by belts, and never accept arms (the bow, sword, and club), nor carry them with us; and that we should never engrave upon our signet-rings in the Arabic language; and that we should not sell wine, and that we should shave the front of our heads, and tie up our dre , wherever we may be, and not wear wide girdles at our waist; and that we should never publicly exhibit the cro upon our churches, nor expose our cro es, nor ever inscribe them in the path of the Muslims, nor in their market places, and never strike our bells the (quick) stroke, nor raise our voices over the dead, nor publicly expose the lights, or anything else, in the roads and markets of the Muslims, and never come near them with our dead, and never receive any slave who has drawn upon himself familiarity with Muslims, and never look upon them in their houses.” We learn moreover, from the same authority, as follows:— “When ʿUmar ratified the treaty, he added thereto,—‘And that we will not strike anyone of the Muslims. We stipulate this with you for ourselves and the people of our religion; and we accept these terms of capitulation: and if we subsequently violate a point of that which we have stipulated, upon our lives be it, and let there be no faith with us and may it be allowed you to do to us whatever is lawful against rebellious and revolting subjects.’ ” ( Hist. of Jerusalem , by Jalālu ʾd-dīn, Reynolds’ Translation.) There were within the city 12,000 Greeks and 50,000 natives, and the K͟halīfah ʿUmar insisted that all the Greeks depart within three days, and that the natives should pay tribute. Five dīnārs were imposed upon the rich, four upon the middle cla es, and three upon the lower cla es; very old and very young persons paid nothing. When ʿUmar entered the Holy City, his first object was to find the Sacred Rock ( aṣ-Ṣak͟hrah ), the site of the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā, to which Muḥammad said he was carried on Burāq on the night of the Miʿrāj [ MIʿRAJ ], and he therefore requested the Patriarch to direct him to the spot. They first went to the Church of the Resurrection, and the Patriarch said, “This is the Mosque of David.” But ʿUmar said, “Thou hast spoken falsely, for the Apostle of God (Muḥammad) described the place to me, and it was not like this.” They then went to the church on Zion, and the Patriarch said, “This is the Mosque of David.” But ʿUmar said, “Thou hast spoken falsely.” And in this manner the Patriarch took ʿUmar to every church in the city. At last they came to a gate, which is now called Bābu ʾl-Muḥammad , or the Gate of Muḥammad, and clearing away the filth on the steps, they came to a narrow pa age, and the K͟halīfah, creeping on his knees, came to the central sewer. Here, standing up, ʿUmar looked at the rock ( aṣ-Ṣak͟hrah ), and then exclaimed, “By Him in whose hand is my life, this is the place which the Apostle of God (upon whom be peace and ble ing) described to us.” ʿUmar then ordered a mosque to be built thereon. And ʿAbdu ʾl-Malik ibn Marwān built the mosque of the Baitu ʾl-Muqaddas (now known as the Mosque of ʿUmar). He spent upon it the produce of seven years’ tax upon Egypt. He began it in A.H . 69 and finished it in A.H . 72. Some authority quoted by Jalālu ʾd-dīn says the Holy City did not cease to be in the hands of the Muslims from its surrender to ʿUmar until the year A.H . 491, when it was taken by the Franks, who killed therein a vast number of Muslims in the space of seven days. In the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā alone, they killed 70,000, and they took from aṣ-Ṣak͟hrah the ve els of gold and silver and the wealth which was preserved in strong boxes. “But,” he adds, “Ṣalāḥu ʾd-dīn (Salad in) was raised up for the complete deliverance of the Holy City; for he was the most renowned of Lions, and the very brightne of Fire.” (For a further account of the taking of the city by Salad in, see Reynolds’ translation of Jalālu ʾd-dīn’s History of the Temple of Jerusalem , p. 199.) A brief outline of the History of Jerusalem from the Time of Christ . | A.D. | | | 33. | The crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ at Jerusalem. | | 43. | St. Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion to Christianity. | | 69. | Taken by Titus. | | 136. | The Emperor Hadrian bestows on the city the name of Aelia Capitol in a. (This name is used by Jalālu ʾd-dīn is his book, A.D. 1444.) | | 336. | Jerusalem under Christian rule, the Martyr i on and the Church of the Resurrection built. | | 614. | The city invested and taken by the Persians under Chosroes II. (See Qurʾān, Sūrah xxx.) | | 621. | The era of the flight of Muḥammad. | | 628. | The Emperor Heraclius enters Jerusalem in triumph. | | 637. | The patriarch Sophronius surrenders the Holy City to the K͟halīfah ʿUmar. Liberty of worship secured to the Christians in churches which already existed, but they are prohibited the erection of new churches. A mosque built on the reputed site of Jacob’s vision, now known as the mosque of ʿUmar. Said to be on the site of the temple called by Muslims Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā, the Remote Mosque, or aṣ-Ṣak͟hrah, the Rock. | | 800. | Amba adors sent by the Emperor Charlemagne to distribute alms in the Holy City. The K͟halīfah Harūn ar-Rashīd sends back as a present to the Emperor the keys of Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre. | | 820. | Held for a time by the rebel chief Tamum Abū Ḥarab. | | 969. | Falls into the hands of the Fāt̤imate K͟halīfah Muʿizz. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre burnt. | | 1035. | The pilgrimage of Robert of Normandy. | | 1054. | The pilgrimage of Lietbert of Cambray. | | 1065. | The pilgrimage of the German bishops. | | 1077. | Jerusalem pillaged by the army of Malik Shah. | | 1084. | The Turkoman chief Urtok becomes ruler the Holy City. The Christians suffer. | | 1098. | The city retaken by the Fāt̤imate K͟halīfah. | | 1099. | 40,000 Crusaders appear before its walls. The city taken by the Crusaders. 10,000 Muslims slain. Godfrey of Bouillon made King. (For eighty years the city remained in the hands of the Christians.) | | 1187. | Retaken by Salad in ( Ṣalāḥu ʾd-dīn), the Muslim general. | | 1219. | Ceded to the Christians by virtue of a treaty with the Emperor Frederick II. | | 1239. | Taken by the Muslims. | | 1243. | Again ceded to the Christians. | | 1244. | The Christians defeated at Gaza, and Jerusalem occupied by the Muslims. | | 1277. | Nominally annexed to the kingdom of Sicily. | | 1517. | Becomes part of the Empire of the Ottoman Sultān Selim I. | | 1542. | Sultān Sulaiman I. builds the present walls. | | 1832. | Muḥammad ʿAlī Pasha of Egypt takes the city. | | 1840. | Restored to the Sultān of Turkey. | [ AS-SAKHRAH , MASJIDU ʾL-AQSA .]