The irony of Quds Day: Shiites never thought Jerusalem was that important

Today is Quds Day, the last Friday of Ramadan, declared by the late Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran in 1979 specifically as an anti-Israel event.

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. 

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06/08 Links Pt1: Pierre Rehov: Exposing the Truth About the Gaza Riots; PA Supreme Shari'a Judge: The Jews Have No Connection To Jerusalem; Giuliani: PA a 'renegade group' of 'terrorists and thieves'

From Ian:

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Pierre Rehov: Exposing the Truth About the Gaza Riots

Islamist organizations attacking Israel have always had a propagandist’s keen sense of vocabulary in their communication with the Western world.

Rightly convinced that few of us are able or even interested in deciphering their original speeches — which reveal their true intentions — they have been flooding us for decades with erroneous concepts and false claims, all playing on our desperate desire to do “good” and fight for the oppressed. They try to use our own history and heartstrings to make us react in a way that will be favorable to them.

And over the years, their terminology has been accepted by everyone, including — it must be said — in Israel itself.

For weeks, Hamas and other terrorist organizations have undertaken what they want the world to believe is a peaceful and “pacifist” popular uprising.

Once again, their deceptive use of vocabulary is clever and manipulative. On one level, these “protests” are peaceful demonstrations, thereby serving as cover for multiple attempts to destroy the separation barrier between Gaza and Israel, kidnap soldiers, kill Israeli and Jewish civilians, and launch terrorist attacks.

Why are the Palestinians “protesting” at the fence? The true answer is to destroy and overrun the Jewish state. But according to Hamas, they are simply seeking a “right of return” for the descendants of “refugees.”

Buses chartered by Hamas and Islamic Jihad — decorated with giant keys and illuminated names of missing villages supposed to symbolize this “right of return” — show up every Friday in front of mosques and schools in Gaza. Hamas has created a manipulated population, ready to kill themselves for these cynical or obsolete words and ideas.

MEMRI: Palestinian Authority Supreme Shari'a Judge And Abbas' Advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash: The Jews Have No Connection To Jerusalem; This Is An Imperialist Myth And Distortion Of History

Mahmoud Al-Habbash, the PA Supreme Shari'a Judge and President Mahmoud 'Abbas's advisor for religious affairs, said at a June 4, 2018 conference that the struggle in Jerusalem is between the rightful owners of the city – the Muslims and Christians – and "some foreign Western imperialists that have no connection to this soil." He added that the state of Israel is an imperialist Western enterprise whose purpose is to weaken and divide the Arab world, and that the claim that the Jews have a historical connection to Jerusalem is nothing but a distortion of history.

The conference at which Al-Habbash spoke, organized by "the Muslim-Christian Council for the Salvation of Jerusalem and the Holy Places" and the Organization for Muslim Cooperation (OIC) under the title "The Monotheistic Religions against the Judaization of Jerusalem and Its Holy Places," was also attended by other PA officials, including the Palestinian Mufti, as well as other Christian and Muslim religious leaders, and ambassadors.

The following are translated excerpts fromn Al-Habbash's statements at the confrence:
"The battle for Jerusalem is not a religious one; it a political battle between the rightful owners [of the city] and the imperialists. This obligates us to raise the Arab and Muslim world's awareness of the Arab, Muslim and Christian identity of Jerusalem...

"We must be careful when using a particular term or word in connection with Jerusalem, for this is not a conflict with the Jews, but a struggle between the [real] residents and owners of Jerusalem, who are Muslim, Christian and Arab, and some foreign Western imperialists that have no connection to this soil. The catastrophe of Jerusalem did not begin in 1967 or 1948, or with the Balfour Declaration. It began much earlier, about 450 years ago, when imperialist calls began to be heard in the West.

"Palestine is not the [Jewish] Promised Land or the land of the [Jewish] forefathers – for if it is, why did they consider it as [only] one of several options when they started looking for a place for their state?...

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