Why the Rage?

When television viewers in America see the violence taking place in the Occupied Territories, they must wonder why all this is happening. Dozens of civilian demonstrators, including many children, have been killed by Israeli forces. Hundreds lay wounded.

What makes Palestinian children risk their lives by challenging Israeli snipers and helicopter gunships? Why does a seemingly simple visit to Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem by a right-wing Israeli politician spark such outrage?

To answer that question, we must first look at the relationship Muslims have to the city of Jerusalem and to al-Aqsa Mosque, the centerpiece of Haram al-Sharif, or "Noble Sanctuary," containing that mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

Jerusalem is Islam's third holiest city, after Mecca and Medinah in the Arabian Peninsula. It was home to many prophets of Islam, including David, Solomon, and Jesus.

The Qur'an, Islam's revealed text, states: "Glorified be He [God] who took his servant [Muhammad] for a journey by night from al-Masjid al-Haram [in Mecca] to al-Masjid al-Aqsa [in Jerusalem], whose precincts we have blessed...." (

is the Arabic word for "mosque.")

The night journey referred to in this verse is that of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from the rock now located in the Dome of the Rock, to heaven. This event, known as "al-Isra wa al-Miraj," is noted each year by more than 1 billion Muslims worldwide.

The city is also mentioned in Islamic traditions. One of these "hadith" (deeds and utterances of the Prophet Muhammad recorded by his companions) states that prayers in al-Aqsa Mosque are multiplied 500 times. Another companion of the Prophet reported: "Once I asked Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) what was the first mosque established on earth; he said Al-Masjid Al-Haram. Then I asked him: Then which mosque? He replied: Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa...."

Jerusalem was Islam's first "Qibla," or direction to which Muslims turned in prayer. The very walls of the Old City, of which the Israeli tourist board is so proud, were built by Muslims. Throughout centuries of Islamic rule prior to the rise of Zionism, Jewish and Christian holy sites remained untouched, something that cannot be said about Christian and Muslim sites under Israeli rule.

Muslims only have to recall the 1969 arson attack on al-Aqsa mosque, the foiled attempt to blow up the Dome of the Rock, or the shooting deaths of 17 Palestinians who challenged Jewish extremists when they sought to lay a Temple "cornerstone" at the holy sites. In September 1996, similar clashes erupted following the opening of an Israeli tunnel near al-Aqsa Mosque. More than 50 Palestinians were killed.

Continued on page 2: »