# Is Jerusalem really a holy city in Islam? *Jerusalem was never that sacred: Abd al-Malik's rival city, and al-Aqsa as the farthest point in the heavens* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/m6r6pnmtg0w/s/4/ - Date: 2021-05-17 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Israel's war crimes, UAE ties & possible solutions? (full context) | Mufti Abu Layth (13:14–15:51) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6R6PNmTG0w&t=794s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/m6r6pnmtg0w/ **Topics:** Palestine and Gaza; Umayyads and Abbasids **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** In Mufti Abu Layth's view Jerusalem was never that sacred in Islam: its glorification began with Abd al-Malik's Dome of the Rock as a rival to Makkah, and he holds that al-Aqsa, 'the farthest' mosque, was in the heavens. Even if holy, it is bricks and mortar, and life comes before buildings. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth holds that from an Islamic viewpoint Jerusalem was never as sacred as it is now held to be, that its glorification began when the caliph Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock as a rival to Makkah, and that in his understanding al-Masjid al-Aqsa, 'the farthest', was in the heavens rather than in Jerusalem. **Evidence, his words at 14:15:** “al-aqsa the farthest point is not jerusalem why is that the farthest point on earth so the al-aqsa would have been in the heavens in my understanding” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6R6PNmTG0w&t=855s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth says people will not agree with him, but from an Islamic viewpoint Jerusalem was never as sacred as it is now treated. It was associated with earlier prophets, but its glorification began with the caliph Abd al-Malik, who created a rival to Makkah to distract people from Ibn al-Zubayr [?] and draw them to a pilgrimage at the Dome of the Rock, after which more and more was added until it became a mega holy site. He says he has never believed al-Masjid al-Aqsa was in Jerusalem, since 'the farthest point' is not a point on earth, and in his understanding al-Aqsa was in the heavens. Even granting that Jerusalem is holy, there is no pilgrimage to it, and it is arguably more sacred to the Jewish people, who would look after it rather than desecrate it. It is bricks and mortar, and Allah did not send people to preserve bricks: the preservation of life trumps all, and the temple they wish to build would be dedicated to the Israelite prophets, who are all in the Quran. ## Sources and names cited - Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan - Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr [?] - al-Masjid al-Aqsa ## Transcript (machine tier, 13:14–15:51) [12:55] getting beaten up and they're just at a safe distance saying [Music] as opposed to saying oh you know it's like so jordan and these other countries are glad that there is this buffer zone so there's a lot of politics going on here people but i honestly feel that and even this whole thing i know that's my people won't agree with me on the whole jerusalem thing but to me jerusalem was never that sacred anyway from an islamic viewpoint it was something the the real [13:35] glorification like it was there as i've mentioned before it was there uh it was associated with prior prophets but it wasn't seen as this mega the way it seemed today and the glorification of jerusalem began with abdul malik the caliph who who creates this rival city to makkah and medina to kind of especially to makkah not to medina but to distract people from um up to leibniz obeyed and to allow them to come to a pilgrimage in the rock you know dome of the rock so this um and then ever since people have you [14:15] know they've added stuff and added stuff and then it's become this really holy site but even if look let's say let's go with the argument i know people ain't going to agree with me on that and i've i've never believed that was muslim al-aqsa anyway muslim in my understanding would have been the farthest point would have been in the heavens because al-aqsa the farthest point is not jerusalem why is that the farthest point on earth so the al-aqsa would have been in the heavens in my understanding but even if you take it let's say you take the fact that jerusalem is a really holy site in islam let's [14:53] just say it's not holy as a you don't have to do a pilgrimage there and to be honest no matter how holy it is to us it's arguably that area is more holy and more sacred to the jewish people so if they took it they're only going to take care of it they're not going to you know they're not going to go around turning that area into a toilet or doing something like that remember it's sacred territory for them as well in fact i would feel it's more sacred for them so even though it's a different religion but tkr you know it doesn't it's only [15:31] bricks and mortar you know it's not it's not life more valuable it's you know allah didn't send us on this earth just to preserve some bricks preservation of life trumps all and at the end of the day look they they just want to set up a temple if they want to set up the temple and they take over and they won't be killing people and it's what dedicated to the israeli prophets who by the way are all in the quran so okay but we have to just accept that this battle is this war is lost there's no point fighting a lost war ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment M6R6PNmTG0w/s/4. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/m6r6pnmtg0w/s/4/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.