Friday, April 14, 2023
Elder of Ziyon
The irony is that Jerusalem is not nearly as important to Shiite Muslims as the Iranians want the world to believe.
A summary of the Shiite attitude towards Jerusalem can be seen in English here, written by a controversial anti-Iranian Shiite cleric from Kuwait who now lives in the UK.
We cannot find in the narrations of our Imams (peace be upon them) that much of a special or exceptional significance regarding Jerusalem as much as we find in their narrations regarding the Grand Sacred Mosque, the Prophet’s Mosque, the Great Mosque of Kufa or the Holy Shrine of Imam Hussain (peace be upon him). We cannot even find a single narration about the significance of the mosque of Jerusalem reported by al-Sheikh al-Kulayni (with whom may Allah be pleased) in his book al-Kafi in the chapter that includes the most recommended mosques by our Imams’ (peace be upon them). We find, for example, in this chapter narrations that mention the significance of al-Quba Mosque, the Mosque of al-Ahzab, the Mosque of Fadhi’kh, al-Fath Mosque, al-Ghadeer Mosque, the Well of Umm Ibrahim, the Mosque of Sahlah in al-Kufa, the Sacred Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque. Still, there is not a single mention of the Mosque of Jerusalem.Therefore, we do not acknowledge what the opponents of Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) narrate regarding the mosque of Jerusalem. We consider many of them to be Israeli narrations or transmitted through Ka’b al-Ahbar. One may easily realise this by looking at the narrations of Abu Huraira, as the exaggeration in it regarding the significance of Jerusalem is quite evident.
Many Shiites do not accept that the "Furthest Mosque" (Al Aqsa) that Mohammed flew to on his legendary Night Journey was in Jerusalem at all, but rather in the heavens.
While no one doubts that Jerusalem has a degree of sanctity for Shiite Muslims, because it was the first direction for Muslim prayer, the Shiite Muslim deep attachment to Jerusalem was a recent innovation. Traditionally, other mosques (like Kufa in Iraq) had a higher degree of sanctity.
It is all political.
