World Religions: Jerusalem, Part 1

While visiting the beautiful city of Jerusalem in Israel, we had the opportunity to visit some of the holiest places for Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. It was an eye opening experience and really interesting to learn about the different religions.  There is so much content, I split it into two posts.  Today’s post will focus on Islam and Judaism.

On Mount Moriah, King Solomon built a temple, which is why it is still known today as Temple Mount.  The most important religious item on the Temple Mount, and maybe in all of Jerusalem,  for the two religions is the rock inside the Dome of the Rock. In the Jewish faith, the rock is known as the foundation rock and was the first rock made at the creation of the world, with the rest of Earth shaped around it. It was also where Abraham almost sacrificed his son Isaac when told by God. In the Muslim faith, it is said the prophet Muhammed ascended to heaven on the rock.  This took place after his famous night journey when he rose to heaven, accompanied by the arch angel Gabriel, to speak to God.

Like my mom said in her post, there is a lot of conflict between the two groups over this rock.  The Muslims think it should belong to them because it’s been under Muslim control since the 7th century AD.  The Jewish people think it should belong to them because their temples on Temple Mount were built over the rock before the Dome of the Rock was constructed.  A former leader of Israel, Sharon, went up onto Temple Mount and declared one day the land and rock would belong to the Jewish people.  After this, the interiors of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque have been closed to non Muslims, and there is a lot of tension  between the two religious groups today.

It was an interesting experience to line up to visit the area.  We had to go through metal detectors, soldiers armed with machine guns, and had to remove any religious items like crosses.  We also couldn’t bring in religious texts, like the Bible, and were not allowed to say any prayers.  On the way up, we saw an Orthodox Jewish family who wanted to go and pray by the rock, and were waiting to be escorted up by an armed guard.  It is my understanding the Muslims feel like seeing Jewish people praying near their mosque is a provocation.  In the stairway up to the top of the mountain, there were riot shields stored close by in case of any violent protests.

When we were on the mountain with our tour group, a kind older man came to us and said we could look inside the Al-Aqsa mosque because a window was open.  But when we were looking inside, a younger man came and started yelling at us, saying we shouldn’t do this.  The older man tried to reason with him and tell him we were just tourists and were there to learn, but the younger man was very adverse to us looking in.  The argument didn’t escalate, fortunately, but it shows how quickly a fight can start.  This was an interesting experience which is different for us, as we have never seen anything like this before in Canada.

In the Muslim faith, it is said after descending from heaven back to Earth, Muhammed went and prayed at the site where the Al-Aqsa mosque is located.  This mosque is not as widely recognized as the Dome of the Rock, but is one of the most important places in Islam.  The name Al-Aqsa means “the edge” because it was believed the mosque was at the edge of the world.  This is the mosque we tried to look into through the open window.

The Al-Aqsa mosque

The Al-Aqsa mosque

The Al-Aqsa mosque

There are 5 main pillars of Islam, which are:

• To say Allah is God and Muhammed is his prophet
• Pray 5 times a day
• Give to the needy
• Fast for one month during Ramadan
• Make at least one pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia during their life if possible

During prayer times, there are no visitors allowed on Temple Mount.  As a result, we were asked to leave, so we went down to the Western Wall Plaza.

During the reign of King Solomon, the son of King David, the most holy site in the Jewish religion was the first temple. It was built on top of the rock currently inside the Dome of the Rock. Some say it also contained the Ark of the Covenant which held the 10 Commandments. The temple was eventually destroyed by the Babylonians and stayed as a pile of rubble for many years. Then, during the time of the Romans, King Herod the Great was on the throne. He was a puppet king and the Jewish people didn’t like him at all. To make their relationship better, Herod built a second temple. If someone built me a temple, I think I’d have a good relationship with them! He wanted to build it on top of the Temple Mount, but there wasn’t enough space for his design.  Since King Herod was a very smart man and an engineer, he knew how to solve this problem.  He had a retaining wall built around the area and filled the space between the wall and the mountain with dirt to make a flat surface. This temple took 70 years to complete, past Herod’s lifetime. Unfortunately, just as it was finished, the Romans came into Jerusalem, destroyed it, and stole the religious items, such as the menorah.  I think this would be terrible after so many years of building to have it all torn down.

The only part of this temple which remains is the Western or Wailing Wall. Contrary to some beliefs, it was not part of the temple itself, but rather the western retaining wall of King Herod’s temple. Today, it is visited by many people, Jewish and tourists alike, to pray and put notes to God in the cracks of the wall. It used to only be a Jewish tradition, but now other people do it too, like Pope John Paul and Pope Francis.

There are separate sections in front of the wall for men and women.  When I first saw the wall, my first question was: why is the men’s section so much bigger than the women’s?  We learned that in the Jewish faith, the women’s job is to clean, cook, and take care of the children, while the men’s job is to go to the synagogue (or in this case, the Western Wall) to pray for the souls of their families.  They pray a lot, so therefore, the men’s section is bigger to accommodate more people.

The Western Wall

Men praying at the wall

The men’s section

The women’s section

What both religions have in common is how devout they are and their passion and belief for their faith.  Although I wish the groups would share the rock, I also understand why they don’t want to.  It’s not just a religious matter, it’s also about sovereignty.

The past is behind us, so we should look forward to the future and try to figure out a solution to the problem for all groups concerned.