Jerusalem in the Quran

slaveof_Allah · January 22, 2009, 10:47pm

Jerusalem in the Qur’an is a great book that thrilled and delighted me in a number of ways. I am surprised that such a meticulously documented book had to wait for such a long time before seeing the light. It is now more than half a century since the Zionists began their appalling oppression and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people whose only offense is that they happened to live in a country considered by the Jews to be their promised Holy Land.

The Zionists have continuously referred to distorted scriptures from the Torah and other Biblical material to justify their atrocious behavior and to motivate the Jews to establish a State of Israel that extends from the Nile to the Euphrates with Jerusalem as its capital.

For example, David Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, is quoted to have said, The Bible is our deed to the land of Israel. Muslim scholars, on the other hand, have largely failed in refuting Zionist claims from authenticated historical and religious sources and have also failed to accomplish their religious responsibility in clearly documenting this question from the Holy Qur’an and the Blessed Ahadith of our beloved Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). As far as I know, whatever is written on this subject is rather superficial and emotionally tainted or simply stating facts in a cool manner.

May Allah Ta’ala reward Brother Imran Hosein for writing this scholarly document, which will indeed fill up this intellectual and religious gap and serve as an academic reference to Muslims in all parts of the world. As I write this introduction, this book that was published only this year is already being translated to Arabic and Bosnian. In a short time it will be rendered into other European languages and to all the other tongues of the Islamic world.
It must be reported however that the importance of writing a book about the Holy Land in the Qur’an have not escaped the vision of far-sighted and creative Muslim thinkers such as Dr. Kalim Siddiqui, Founder-President of the Muslim Institute for Research and Planning, and Professor (Shaheed) Ismail Al-Farouqi. I am surprised at the vision of the former scholar who asked Imran Hosein to write this book as early as 1974. He urged him saying that Jerusalem is the key to understanding the historical process of the Middle East and the world at large. Shaikh Imran successfully accomplished this task after 27years. Though seemingly late, but it has come at the right time in which the whole world is being shocked by Jenin and what happened in Sabra and Shatila.

Ismail Al-Faruqi actually put this issue in writing in his book, Islam and the Problem of Israel that the author referred to. He strongly stated that Israel poses a greater danger to Muslims than the Euro-Christian Crusades of the Middle Ages or the Euro-Colonialism of modern times. Israel, he wrote, is neither of these, but that it is both and more, much more. He therefore urged Arabs and Muslims not to accept the Jewish State as an integral part of the world nations of Asia and Africa. He also incited Muslim scholars to investigate this issue in depth. I am sure that if both of these great Muslim thinkers were alive, they would have acclaimed this classic book as what they have aspired for.

I am amazed by Imran’s style of writing. Though Jerusalem in the Qur’an, is a meticulously written thesis combining religious and historical documents with recent political events and penetrating interpretations from the Qur’an and Hadith, it runs like a story. Once you begin reading it, it is hard to stop. This is the general quality of a novel. The person would read it once and throw the book away - but not that of a serious thought-provoking dissertation like the book that Brother Shaikh Imran published. It is a reference that one needs to keep and reread whenever the subject is to be researched. I believe that this eloquence of the Shaikh must be the result of a natural gift that has interacted with his indefatigable work as a preacher and da’iyah and the Divine Blessings for his sincerity.

Finally, in spite of the seemingly depressing situation of the Muslims in general and the Palestinians in particular, reading the book would certainly give one a warm surge of optimism about our future; a bright light that shines at the end of our long dark tunnel of history. We are living at the end of time. This is the age in which the prophesies of the Holy Qur’an and the Blessed Hadith are unfolding right before our very eyes to prove to humanity the truthfulness of our faith.

Exactly as our Prophet told us, we have seen the barefooted-poor shepherds of sheep and goats in the Arab Peninsula competing with each other in building higher and higher skyscrapers. And we have witnessed the Muslims exploding in numbers but weakening in character and subdued by their love of this dunyah and their fear of death thus confirming the authenticated Hadith. And exactly as our Prophet told us, the strong enemies of Islam are now devouring our countries as though they were a hungry group invited to a large cauldron of food. And as Allah Ta’ala Himself told us in his Revealed Holy Qur’an, the Children of Israel, who had been scattered all over the earth during their Diaspora, have returned to the Holy Land. And as recorded in the Qur’an, they have indeed committed much corruption and have become powerful and elated with mighty arrogance.

Just as we have seen these incidents as though we were watching a horror movie, we will indeed see its imminent happy ending that was prophesized to us in the Qur’an and the Sayings of our Prophet. The Muslims will wake up from their slumber and the Jews will receive their promised Divine punishment. The Zionist State will be destroyed and whatever they have built will be raised to the ground.

The book gives a detailed beautifully written exposition of these episodes with brilliant interpretations from the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah. Though some may differ with him with respect to his interpretations of some of the Qur’anic Verses or the Blessed Prophetic sayings, no one would fail to appreciate his penetrative thought and his spiritual depth. I therefore recommend the book very much to scholars and laity.

The book can be downloaded from ImranHosein [dot] org /books

USResident · January 23, 2009, 3:45am

Is this who I think it is?

slaveof_Allah · January 23, 2009, 4:23am

Who is who? I or Sheikh Imran Hosein?

If you’re talking about Sheikh Imran, then nobody cares what you think.

blitz · January 23, 2009, 8:55pm

Muslims should support Israel and the Jewish right to that land because it was ordained to them by none other than Allah in the Quran:

Please read and dispell your hatred for the jewish people.

Allah in the Quran , is quoting Moses :

005.020
Remember Moses said to his people: "O my people! Call in remembrance the favour of Allah unto you, when He produced prophets among you, made you kings, and gave you what He had not given to any other among the peoples.

005.021
“O my people! Enter the holy land which Allah hath assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin.”

and the Tafsirs read :

Tafsir al-Jalalayn:

O my people, enter the Holy, the purified, Land which God has ordained for you, [which] He commanded you to enter, and this is Syria (al-shām), and do not turn back in flight, [do not] retreat in fear of the enemy, or you will end up as losers’, in your efforts.

Tafsir al-Miqbas:

(O my people! Go into the holy land) the purified Damascus, Palestine and parts of Jordan (which Allah hath ordained for you) which Allah has gifted to you and made it a bequest of your father Abraham. (Turn not in flight) retreating, (for surely ye turn back as losers) who are punished: Allah will take away from you the quails and honey:

Tafsir Ibn Kathir:

(21. "O my people! Enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you and turn not back; for then you will be returned as losers.‘’)

Tafsir Ibn Kathir:

The People of Fir`awn drown in the Sea; the Children of Israel inherit the Holy Land

Allah said that He has granted the people who were considered weak, the Children of Israel, to inherit the eastern and western parts of the land. Al-Hasan Al-Basri and Qatadah commented that Allah’s statement,

مَشَـرِقَ الاٌّرْضِ وَمَغَـرِبَهَا الَّتِى بَارَكْنَا فِيهَا]

(…the eastern parts of the land and the western parts thereof which We have blessed.) refers to the Sham area (Greater Syria).

Tafsir.com Tafsir Ibn Kathir

Surat al- A’raf :

007.137
And We made a people, considered weak (and of no account), inheritors of lands in both east and west, - lands whereon We sent down Our blessings. The fair promise of thy Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel, because they had patience and constancy, and We levelled to the ground the great works and fine buildings which Pharaoh and his people erected (with such pride).

007.138
We took the Children of Israel (with safety) across the sea. They came upon a people devoted entirely to some idols they had. They said: “O Moses! fashion for us a god like unto the gods they have.” He said: "Surely ye are a people without knowledge.

Tafsir al-Jalalyn

(And We caused the folk who were despised) who were humiliated (to inherit the eastern parts of the land) the land of Jerusalem, Palestine, Jordan and Egypt (and the western parts thereof which We had blessed) part of it with water and trees…

Some piece of advice for muslims :

Volume 4, Book 54, Number 418:
Narrated Salim’s father:

The Prophet said, “Any person who takes a piece of land unjustly will sink down the seven earths on the Day of Resurrection.”

slaveof_Allah · January 23, 2009, 9:05pm

Re: Jerusalem in the Quran

What are you? A JEW?

blitz · January 23, 2009, 11:23pm

Does it matter?

I detect a hint of resentment in your question....

Are you that stupid that even when you are presented with evidence from the Quran itself of the God given right of Israel to the jewish people, it seems you quiver with hate for Jews?

How does my being a Jew, Christian, Muslim, Hindu or Athiest change the facts that I have presented to you?

If you are really a slave of allah then should not your submission to stupidity have ended?

slaveof_Allah · January 23, 2009, 11:56pm

Re: Jerusalem in the Quran

God given right was taken away buddy. Learn from the Jews themselves unless you want to count on the man's torah/talmud.

zobia · January 24, 2009, 12:07am

lol. and get ourselves killed.

we dont have that free time to hate or to love them.

ps. besides even though Bani-Israel was the most favorite nation of ALLAH SWT, but after their constantly rejecting scriptures and changing them acc. to their desires it didn't remain the favorite one.

Crescent · January 24, 2009, 12:28am

Bani Israel are not all Jews. Many pagans can relate to Bani israel too.

You have your Quranic history misinterpreted.

Please see a scholar.

slaveof_Allah · January 24, 2009, 1:01am

Re: Jerusalem in the Quran

is it not true that Allah expelled the Jews? If yes then why is this blitz saying we should help the state of Israel?

blitz · January 26, 2009, 4:56pm

Did I quote even a single word from the torah / talmud? I brought forward quotes from the koran, yet you come here with nonsense like this.

blitz · January 26, 2009, 6:32pm

Who cares about your opinion, please present a koranic verse.

I gave you a specific verse in which Allah gave the Jews a homeland, can you give me a speific verse where he took it away from them?