Why is jerusalen important to Muslims?

Answer 1

According to one of the stories atributed to the "prophet of Islam," Jerusalem, specifically where the Al-Aqsa mosque is located, was the place where he ascended to heaven to speak with God, where he received instruction on how often a Muslim was supposed to pray. Because the 5 daily prayers are a very important pillar of Islam, that is why therefore Jerusalem is considered a Muslim holy city. In the end though, the Jerusalem of Muhamad's time, and the Jerusalem of King David, where two completely different cities. It is true, that the Romans took a large number of Jews captive to Rome, but see, prior to the burning of the second temple in 70 A.D., there were already many Jews living in Rome, a community of roughly 20,000. The population of Jerusalem in ancient Roman times, stood at roughly 35,000, and all but 5,000 people were slaughtered, crucified and displayed along the roads to intimidate people into not revolting again. I know this may sound a little silly, specially if you are a Muslim, but, for a good idea of what ancient Romans were like please watch the anime movie "Highlander; The Search for Vengeance." The main villain of the story Marcus? That is EXACTLY how ancient Romans were. They were EXACTLY like that, in fact, the writers, the Japanese animators, for once they got SOMETHING exactly right historically. Ancient Romans, were every bit as cold and arrogant as Marcus, specially the aristocrats. Forget the British aristocracy, forget European nobility, or even Hollywood "jetsetters;" ancient Roman aristocrats would take them to school in terms of raw arrogance. Many Europeans, and many people who have been to Italy, complain of how arrogant modern Italians are. lol. That's nothing buddy, nothing; some of the stuff I read in history books that described the Romans, was too incredible to be true, I did not believe it myself the first time I read it. Horrifyingly enough though, Roman arrogance was not the stuff of fiction; once, in Italy, men like the fictional Marcus were hideously real. In the end the anime is just a REASONABLY entertaining take on the otherwise corny and poorly executed Highlander fiction, nevertheless, if you need an accurate picture of what ancient Romans were like, like I said, the way Marcus was presented was right on the money. Moving on to the subject at hand; King David's Jerusalem, was destroyed by the Romans, stone for stone, the entire city was completely leveled except for the walls. The walls, are all that remains of the ancient city, after that, a Roman city, with Roman architecture was built in its place, and it was named "Aeolia Capitolina." The Hebrew population of JERUSALEM, mind, there were plenty outside the city, was either massacred, or enslaved, taken to Rome. However not the ENTIRE Hebrew population of ancient Israel; logistically, the very IDEA of it is ridiculous. There wasn't enough timber in the whole of the Roman Empire to build that many boats, and the cost of building boats, weighed against the profit of selling a few Hebrew slaves, just doesn't make any logical financial sense. As with all empires in human history, the Roman empire's motivation was money, specifically, salt, which in the ancient world, could be used as currency. Whatever the case "the city of David" is all gone, temple included, the Romans destroyed, utterly and completely, stone for stone. It is very well known, how cold bloodedly thorough the Roman military machine was, and that thoroughness, the ancient Hebrew zealots experienced first hand. If you look at modern Jerusalem, the area known as the "old city" you will be careful to observe, that the "old city" of Jerusalem more closely ressembles an Italian town, more than it does a middle eastern city. The layout, the structure, the way the streets are arranged even the architecture of the buildings, are more reminiscent of Italy, than they are of the middle east. True, Rome, specifically the Byznatine empire influenced the near east, however for centuries, the two dominant architectural conventions of the middle east came primarily from the ancient Babylonian ones, and of course Persian. Moreover, the last remnants of the Hebrew population in Israel under Byzantine rule, where slaughtered by Khalid. All males over 13 were slaughtered, the women sold as slaves, and any male infants and babies, sold to Egypt where they would be raised to be soldier slaves. Along with some Christians, Africans, and others Muslims had enslaved, the Hebrew Jewish male infants, grew up to become Mamelukes. There were Mamelukes, whose heritage was in fact semitic. They were told they were Arabs, when in fact, the majority of them were Jewish, enslaved from infancy after the fall of Byzantine controlled Israel. There are Arabs in Egypt, and other parts of the middle east who may in fact have Jewish ancestry and they don't know it. Moreover, David and Solomon were womanizers; do you think for one moment, they restricted their lusts to only Hebrew women? Moving on; the old temple is gone, except perhaps for its underground vault where the arc was kept. Because the arc of the covenant was once stolen, Hebrew legend (legend, not cannon) holds that Solomon in fact locked the arc away in a vault, whose walls were so thick "Solomon was close to death by the time it was finished." Legend has it, the arc is in fact locked away in an underground vault whose walls are 50 feet thick. Solomon really, did not want anyone in there. Now, these legends have not been conclusively proven BUT, highly likely, the arc is probably somewhere beneath Jerusalem. Why is the arc of the covenant significant? Well for one, it cements the claim of Israel, beyond all doubt, and if ever found, the world of Islam may end up revealing its true colors. Not that it does a very good job of hiding it NOW. All the same, all the same; ancient Babylonian city design convention, dictated that the temple, was placed in the center of the city, along with a central plaza that was to be decorated with greenery. Trees, shrubs, palms, whatever plants could survive in the climate. This cultural convention of city design, has existed in the near east since ancient times, and it was later inherited by the Muslim empire, who in turn took it to Spain, and from Spain, it went to Latin America. Except for Tegucigalpa, in Honduras, all Latin American cities, follow that city design convention; a central park with a Cathedral overlooking it, with a fountain in the center, and surrounded by as many plants as humanly possible. The parks vary in size; they range from the beautiful, and downright breathtaking park in Mexico city, to the insignificant one in Guatemala city, to the not so large but nevertheless grandiose central park of Buenos Aires in Argentina. The one in Baghdad, during the height of Islamic power I've been told, was also breathtaking. A central park, was considered the beating heart of a city, how well kept it was, was an indication of how well the city was doing. It was also a demonstration of the city's financial power; the more grandiose the park, and the more massive the temple overlooking the park, the more economically well off the city was. Okay, so what does this have to do with ancient Jerusalem? The Canaanites, like the Babylonians, followed that building convention, and when King David took the city and made it his capital, he had the Canaanite pagan temple demolished and made plans to build a Jewish one instead. As with all ancient and modern near eastern cities, and the cities of Spain and Latin America, the city's main temple, was located in the center, along with a plaza filled with as many plants as could be held, arranged to make the park beautiful. Ancient Israel was "greener" than it is now, as was the rest of the ancient mediterranean, so, it would have been possible. Because of this, namely the cultural engineering convention of ancient and modern near eastern cities, I can tell you with fair certainty, the Temple of Solomon is NOT located under the Al-Aqsa mosque. So, why is it, that all that remains of old Jerusalem, are the walls? Oh the answer to that is simple; the fortified wall of ancient Jerusalem was so ridiculously thick, modern artillery even, can't penetrate it. In fact the only reason the Romans were able to take Jerusalem, was because of an earthquake that cracked it open. The defeat by the Romans in 70 A.D. was demoralizing, for the following reasons; 1) Except for the temple priests, and the Levite tribe elite who were very wealthy, the vast majority of Hebrew people in ancient Israel, genuinely believed Jesus of Nazareth to be the promised Messiah. By all accounts he drew large crowd, the vast portion of which was in fact Jewish. Modern ashkenazi Jews, generally dislike Jesus, because most of them descend from the Levites, the Jews who hated him. See though most ancient Hebrews where NOT of Levite extraction, don't forget there were 12 tribes in all. As we know from Christian tradition and some extra biblical sources, the Romans crucified him. Now, believing he was the Messiah, consider what that would have done to their psyche. 2) When an earthquake struck Jerusalem, and Israel is in fact the site of seismic activity by the way, you combine this with the defeat of the zealots, and the cracking open of a wall by a natural disaster, and you end up with a general feeling by the ancient Hebrews, that God had forsaken them. From the time of the Roman takeover and renaming, Jerusalem was destroyed a total of 6 times(I think....), every time it was rebuilt, a new layer added on top of the old one, in addition to the natural sedimentation that takes place with the passage of time, roughly, nearly 2,000 years. No one knows, where the center of the old city was located, because, there are no maps that describe David's Jerusalem, the truth is no one knows what the old city looked like. The whole of the Levant has seen so much warfare and carnage, so many cities have been leveled so many times, by so many empires, and so many peoples, the site of the old tample may be impossible to find. Worse yet, for religious Jews, rebuilding the Temple of Solomon, will require what Americans call a "praise Jesus!" miracle. Why is this? You ever take a good look at the stones that form the ancient fortified wall of Jerusalem? Those stones are HUGE. They have weathered Roman ballista, Babylonian, Assyrian, and later Muslim arrow fire, ottoman cannon fire, French cannon fire, British artillery, Arab and Israeli artillery and STILL that fortified wall stands. Still, even as the old city it was supposed to protect, that wall still stands, defiant of all that have attacked it. No surprise because, its nearly 20 feet of solid granite! It will take "the super gun" to crack that wall. The Super Gun, that is, at point blank range, and it would have to fire a nuclear round. Many of the blocks that form the fortified wall of Jerusalem, some of them weigh 50 tons. Now, what does this have to do with the Temple of Solomon? Well, Solomon's Temple, was also built from blocks made out of granite. Modern day engineers can't work with it, the stone is too hard. The word "granite" has become a byword for near indestructible strength and fortitude in the English language for a reason; that is some TOUGH stone. The Romans themselves, stood in awe of Jerusalem's walls, arrogant as they were they were not easily impressed. In fact, even if the state of Israel were to be destroyed, highly likely that granite wall which protected ancient Jerusalem, will STILL stand, ever defiant of whatever power holds it. Jerusalem's wall; the wall, that just will not go down. in the end though, I overanswered, later, I'm bored of you. [[User:67.148.120.72|67.148.120.72]]stardingo747

Answer 2

It was the birth place of lot of prophets. Prophet Muhammad (pece be upon Him) was taken to Jerusalem from mecca and from Jerusalem to Heaven in one night and it is considered the third holiest site in Islam.