Authority of Prophetic Sunnah

Religions

Debate has arisen over the ability of Muslim architects in the first two centuries of Islam to determine true qiblas accurately. Some believe that they had such a capability, while others think not. The argument could be more complex—perhaps some architects could, while others could not; perhaps their accuracy changed over time or over greater distances from qibla targets. Here, we investigated how the accurate qiblas of 60 mosques or related structures were, using data from Daniel Gibson’s books and websites. Contrasts were drawn between theories that the qiblas of early mosques were—or were not—generally accurate. If one were to assume that Mecca was the only qibla, qiblas would not appear to have been accurate. However, if one were to assume that qiblas changed, it would be found that qiblas were accurate to plus or minus two degrees in over half of the cases and accurate within plus or minus five degrees in over 80% of cases. Accuracy was not related to distance but did appear t...

Der Islam, 84, no. 1 (2008), pp. 46-72. , 2008

2017

of Bar-Ilan University, one of the significant experts in the world on the Islamic world and the Arabic language, gave a lecture in which he presented a research explanation why Jerusalem is perceived by the Muslims as a holy city. Jerusalem does not appear in the Quran, and the founder of the Muslim Empire (who was a peer of Mohammed when he was alive), the second Caliph Umar ibn Al-Khattāb, did not refer to the Temple Mount as a holy place for Islam or as having importance to the Prophet Mohammed. In other words, how did Jerusalem become a city sacred to Muslims? Beforehand, Dr. Kedar explains the source of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Islam. In the Quran, it is related that Mohammed would frequently visit a city of believers called Ta'if. The journey to this city, which was about forty kilometers southwest of Mecca, lasted two days, and therefore he would spend the night with a group of believers at a village called Jeharna. In Jeharna, there was a wadi (valley) with two mosques-the...

British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2022

British Journal for Middle eastern Studies, 2001

This Article discusses the importance of Jerusalem in Islamic creed. It has been mentioned in the Holy Quran about seventy times one explicitly and the others times not in an explicit way. The author calls for giving all religious adherents equal rights to worship freely in this holy city.

Miscellanea Hadriatica et Mediterranea, 2018

The article describes major early Islamic traditions in which Jerusalem has been designated as the third holiest city in Islam. Their content has been analyzed based on the historical context and religious, inter-religious and political circumstances in which they were forged. Particular attention has been paid to textual and material sources, their authenticity, dating and their interpretation by prominent orientalists and art historians. The article addresses specific themes, such as Jerusalem in Islamic canonical texts, Muhammad’s Night Journey to al-Aqṣā, the legends of Caliph ‘Umar’s conquest of Jerusalem, names for Jerusalem in Early Islamic chronicles, the influence of Jews and Jewish converts on early Islamic traditions, and the construction, symbolism, ornaments, and inscriptions of the Dome of the Rock. In the concluding remarks the author considers the question of to what degree attributing holiness to Jerusalem in Islam has been based on autochthonous early Islamic religious traditions, and to what degree on Muslim-Jewish interaction in Palestine, political processes, such as fitnah during early Umayyad rule, ‘Abd al-Malik’s struggle with Caliph Ibn al-Zubayr in the Hejaz, the Crusades, and the present-day Arab-Israeli conflict.

Historical mosques are oriented toward the Kaaba in Mecca. These orientations are, of course, not in the modern direction of Mecca. The various ways in which mosques were aligned over the centuries are described in medieval Arabic texts. This is the first attempt to survey mosque orientations in the light of what medieval Muslim authors wrote on the subject, and it can be no more than a preliminary attempt.

684 AD - Qibla 2 Jerusalem, 2025

The second qibla was established by Abd Allah az-Zubayr in 684 AD toward the Masjid al-Haram in Jerusalem. It was changed to the Kaaba over the MKH ('Mecca', the Dwelling Place of God on the Temple Mount) in 692/4 AD. Jews recognized the new qibla as the Truth from God. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Black Stone was not in Mecca. The addition of the caliph to sura 2 is a direct response to the Council of Trullo in November 692 AD. The caliph as Vicar of God in sura 2 is in conflict with the hanif (the Deceiver that connects with Ps. Shenute and the Doctrina Jacobi). The imam is likely from the early ninth century when a standardization of the Koran took place.