War in the Middle East, Gaza, is not coming to an end. A few months ago, I wrote a couple of articles about the history of Jerusalem, particularly close to the era when early Muslims conquered the city from Heraclius, the Caesar of the Roman Empire, back in those days. One can only hope that peace will follow. Much has happened since then. The whole Gaza Strip has almost been destroyed. Rafa has been plundered. All the infrastructure is now ruined, with hospitals and schools demolished. Thousands of additional innocent people have been killed since then. My argument in my first article was that the early Muslims, who were largely the companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), ceased Jerusalem nor from Christians and neither from Jews, but from the Roman Empire. This idea is important for me, at least. For a long time, I used to think that Muslims took the city from the Jews. Later, for the past twelve years at least, I used to believe that the city was taken from the Christians. However, a more recent, profound, and careful study of history revealed that not only did Muslims take the whole country of Palestine/Israel from the Roman Empire, but they also took almost the entire Middle East from the latter. Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and western Mesopotamia were won from the Roman Empire. The eastern Mesopotamia and Persia were acquired from the Persian Empire. I am personally against a country invading and conquering another country. But these countries were already occupied by two major world powers of the time, and they were also quite notorious.

In my second article I wrote that the whole region of Palestine/Israel would be much better off if it were a one-state democratic country overseen by international peacekeeping forces and existing under security guarantees. I also wrote that if Jews wished to have homelands of their own, other world powers should get together and provide them with lands in all the major continents. Although this idea may seem fantastic and unrealistic, if Israel can be given billions of US dollars in aid and deadly weaponry to murder Palestinian civilians, why can’t new countries be achieved? It only takes sincerity with the Jewish people to do so.

In the first article, I wrote that the acquisition of Jerusalem by the Muslims was a peaceful affair. I wrote that when Sophronius, the Bishop of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, offered the Muslim Caliph the opportunity to pray inside the church, the latter refused to do so. His concern was that later generations of Muslims would make it a precedent to convert it into a mosque on the pretext that their Caliph prayed inside the church. This is a very touching and epic story for me about religious tolerance in Islam. I ended the article at this point, although the story continued for the rest of the day.

After the prayers, Calpih Umar (RA) went to the Temple Mount. He was accompanied by Sophronius and some of the companions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). One of the companions was Hazrat Kaab bin Ahbaar (RA). Hazrat Kaab (RA) was a Jewish Rabbi from Yemen before he converted to Islam. He is a key figure in the remains of the day. There, he was requested by Sophronius not to settle Jews in the city. Contrary to his request, the Caliph settled Jews in the city, who had been repeatedly expelled from the Holy Land by the Romans for centuries. He then asked Hazrat Kaab (RA) as to where to settle the Jews. Hazrat Kaab (RA) mentioned a place in the west of the Temple Mount that is known as the Jewish quarter to this day. Then he went to the site of the second temple (or the Temple of Solomon) too. This site is Holy for both Christians and Jews. This is also sacrosanct for Muslims as it is mentioned as Masjid Al-Aqsa in the Holy Quran, and it is the place from which the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is mentioned and believed to have ascended to heavens. Caliph Umar (RA) wanted to build a mosque on this site. However, he refrained from doing this because of the importance of the place for Jews and Christians. Instead, he chose a spot on the Temple Mount just south of the old temple. Masjid Al-Aqsa was built on this spot. This is another very epic story for me that raises the image of Caliph Umar (RA) in very high esteem in my view. This makes me quite proud. How much concern he had for the feelings of Jews and Christians that he did not build a mosque on the site of the old temple. This is quite wonderful.

At this point, I would like to urge you to understand the personality of Hazrat Umar RA, a key companion of Prophet Muhammad PBUH. His story of conversion to Islam in itself is quite remarkable. Initially, he would not convert to Islam because he thought that the religion the Prophet Muhammad PBUH preached was dividing people. On the day on which he converted to Islam, he actually embarked from his home to assassinate him after consultation with the polytheist tribes of Quraish of Makkah. It was upon his listening to some verses of the Holy Quran that changed his mind forever, and he converted to Islam in an instant. The rest is history. Faith literacy is a good thing. You will find the following lecture very inspiring on the life and personality of Hazrat Umar RA. It is nice to know why such a headstrong person eventually converted to Islam.

Where did the second temple go then? The Dome of the Rock was built on the site of the Second Temple. Who built that? Abdul Malik bin Marwan, when he became a Caliph. Who was he? Much can be said and must be said about this character and his progeny. In short, I would say that these were dynastic politicians who had created an empire on the blood of the descendants of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself. They belonged to the Banu Umayyah clan of the Quraysh, who had a generations-old rivalry with the family and household of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). In the name of God, they were conquering the rest of the world that they should not have. Just as in the name of God they were killing the grandchildren of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that they should not have.

After Abdul Malik, his son Walid bin Abdul Malik became the Caliph, the Commander of the faithful. He rebuilt the dome just as he conquered Spain, India, and central Asia, and just as he kept martyring more grandsons of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). I will write in more detail someday about the conquest of these countries and lands. But today, just as educated people can have an aversion to Islam due to its expansionist past, we have the problem of the Dome of the Rock. This is built on the second temple, and we have a real problem. Jews, if nobody else, need access to it.

By the way, having highlighted the problem of the dome, I would just like to share some thoughts about how to resolve the problem. This is important for people of all Abrahamic faiths to understand.

I think that Muslims worldwide should agree to open the dome for people of all faiths. And I expect that people of all faiths to respect it as some reconstruction of the second temple. Construction of the second temple was funded and supported by Cyrus the Great after all. So this reconstruction could be considered a gift by the Muslims. What is bad about this? And people of the world could be saved from a lot of conflict. The Al-Aqsa mosque in the south could be retained by Muslims, and the church of the Holy Speluchre by the Christians. The same status could be maintained for the rest of the Holy sites in the Holy Land, including all the synagogues. The world could be a happy place again.

The post Journey to Jerusalem: The Misplaced Dome first appeared on Psyops Prime.]]> https://psyopsprime.com/consciousness/journey-to-jerusalem-the-misplaced-dome/feed/ 0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ 2418 https://psyopsprime.com/consciousness/journey-to-jerusalem-a-turning-point/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=journey-to-jerusalem-a-turning-point https://psyopsprime.com/consciousness/journey-to-jerusalem-a-turning-point/#respond Sat, 25 Nov 2023 22:20:24 +0000 http://psyopsprime.com/?p=2228 Nowadays, the hottest issue on Twitter is the Palestine-Israel conflict. There is a never-ending stream of tweets going on all the time about the horror

Nowadays, the hottest issue on Twitter is the Palestine-Israel conflict. There is a never-ending stream of tweets going on all the time about the horror proudly being unleashed by IDF on Gaza. Had it not been for the Western conscience, everyone would have been oblivious to it. And the murder of Palestinians would have been happening without anyone knowing about it. I have been thinking about writing a few things related to it for a long time, but then diurnal chores, routine, workload and engagement with news content have been inhibiting me for a long time.

I just came across a Tweet by some Western person warning people to be careful about Mossad’s possible effort to create rifts between Muslims and Christians. I replied to the Tweet and then I felt compelled to write something in this context. Here is the post by the way, for your kind perusal.

I have been watching Israeli propaganda for 1 month now.

What important things did I notice?

Israeli propaganda is based mainly on trying to create intolerance and hatred between Christians and Muslims.

Zionists as a nation generally hate the Christian faith more than… pic.twitter.com/AXbQkq99hf

— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) November 25, 2023

Having said all of this, I just want to digress a little bit from this discourse and take the opportunity of being in the process of writing this to afford a bit of a flashback into history.

For a long time, I believed that Muslims took Jerusalem from the Jews in the early years of Islam. Then, at least for the past ten years, I thought that Muslims won Jerusalem from the Christians. Both of these concepts are not right as a matter of fact. Instead, the reality is that Muslims won Jerusalem from the Roman Empire. Heraclius was the Caesar of the empire at that time. He had been Caesar during the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and he had even clashed with Muslims during the lifetime of the latter. Later on, during the reign of the second Islamic caliph Umar (RA), he lost Jerusalem to the erstwhile. As a matter of fact, most of the Middle East was won by Caliph Umar (RA), but largely from the Romans. Only Persia was won from the Persian empire.

In Roman Jerusalem, Jews had been expelled lately, initially by the Persians, and eventually also by the Romans. And the Christians were also subjects of the empire. When Umar (RA) took Jerusalem, a pact was signed between him and the Bishop of the Basilica of the Holy Speluchre. This is church is the Makkah of the Christian world. The reason is the Jesus Christ is considered to have been both crucified as well as resurrected from this place. It is a site of Holy pilgrimage for Christians. After signing the treaty, the time of afternoon prayers arrived. The Bishop, Sophronius of Jerusalem, offered Caliph Umar (RA) to pray inside the church. The Caliph refused to do so on the thought that the later generations of Muslims would convert the church into a mosque on the pretext that their caliph prayed inside the church. This has been a very touching story for me and an example of extreme tolerance of Muslims towards a non-Muslim faith. And I believe that the real beauty of Islam lies in its tolerance and regard for other peoples’ feelings and emotions.

From his description, Sophronius sounds like a really nice and noble man too. It is a part of Islamic teachings to respect higher-ranking personalities from other cultures too. Respect is a central ingredient of Islam. After that, when the Caliph went out for a tour of Jerusalem, Sophronius accompanied him. Coming close to the temple mount, Sophronius requested the Calpih to keep Jews out of Jerusalem. I think this was possibly his only request. However, the Caliph could not grant this request. He established the well-known Jewish quarter close to the Temple Mount complex. And as he set it, he sought the advice of a very famous companion of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). His name was Kaab bin Ahbaar (RA). Kaab ((RA literally means may God be please with him and it is a salutation that is normally used with the companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH))) was a Jew from Yemen. And I am sure that the reason why the Caliph sought his advice was his Jewish past. Such is the sensitivity of Islam viz a viz other religions.

This, I suppose, was a major turning point in the history of Jerusalem. One aspect of this is of course that Muslims took charge of the city (rather the whole country) from Romans. Another very important aspect is that the Jews, who had been sent into exile by Romans during the first century, had been resettled in Jerusalem by the Muslims.

Professor Roy Casagrande on Palestine occupation

The bitter irony that is Zionism murdering the genetically Judean and Israelite descendants.

Note – Ashkenazi mass converted to Judaism 780 AD.
Prior, they were European Gypsy Pagans.
Source: https://t.co/WMhVqKhJrb… pic.twitter.com/TLIhpi9ctD

— Google 1940s terrorism press enter, image & read! (@_NicoleNonya) May 10, 2024

A good take-home message for Jews in this is that Islam is not a hostile religion to Judaism as it is portrayed in the media. The other important message is for the Muslims to take heed of the early Muslims and their tolerance and respect for other religions.

Anyhow, I will leave it to this for now. I shall try my best to muster more energy and spare more time to write more interesting things in the coming days. May God have mercy on humans. And may humans also have mercy on humans.

Photo by archer10 (Dennis)

The post Journey to Jerusalem: A Turning Point first appeared on Psyops Prime.]]>