“ABRAHAM was not a Jew nor yet a Christian; but he was upright and bowed his will to Allah's (which is Islam). And he joined not gods with Allah. Without doubt, among men, the nearest of kin to Abraham, are those who follow him, as are also this Prophet and those who believe: And Allah is the Protector of those who have faith.” These two verses (67 and 68) of Surat Al- Imran of the Holy Qur'an, although revealed to Islam's Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) some 14 centuries ago, seem as if they are addressing our condition today and responding to those who claim rights in the Ibrahimi mosque in the Palestinian town of Al-Khalil (Hebron). In this third chapter of the Holy Qur'an, Allah, the Almighty, responded to the argument of the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) over the Prophet Abraham that he doesn't belong to either of them but he is a Muslim Prophet, as mentioned in verse 65 of the same Sura that reads: “Ye People of the Book! Why dispute ye about Abraham, when the Torah and the Gospel were not revealed till after him? Have ye no understanding?” Therefore, religiously speaking, Abraham is a great Muslim Prophet, the father of Prophets, the grandfather of the Prophet Mohamed and the builder of the Kaaba shrine in Mecca with help of his elder son Ismail (Ishmail). So Muslims are the ones to look after his tomb and mosque in the Palestinian town that is named after him, Al Khalil, whose Islamic and Arab identity the Israeli authorities constantly seek to obliterate, first by changing its name to Hebron and then by annexing the Ibrahimi mosque to the Jewish heritage list as recently decided by the Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Although Netanyahu made it clear that his decision aimed at “strengthening Israel's legitimacy in the Holy Land”, no word of condemnation was heard from the international community especially the international organisation UNESCO, which should be gravely concerned with protecting heritage especially that located on land under occupation. Sadly enough, Netanyahu's recent decision coincided with the 16th anniversary of the infamous Khalil massacre committed by the Jewish terrorist Baruch Goldstein against some Muslim worshippers on February 25, 1994, while they were performing their dawn prayers. He killed and wounded some 129 persons. The number of casualties resulting from the incident later rose to some 60 deaths and 300 injured people as the Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers continued to assault the Palestinians who rushed to transport the dead and wounded people to hospital, raining different kinds of bullets on them and targeting anyone heading to the hospital to check on their relatives or to donate blood to those who were injured. The Israeli authorities never considered the perpetrator a terrorist or a criminal. Instead, Goldstein, who was killed during this massacre, was later hailed as a hero. Unfortunately, Goldstein's crime was the cause of Israel tightening its siege of the mosque and allowing Jews access to it, just as it did with Al-Aqsa in occupied Jerusalem. The Muslims of Al-Khalil continued to face great difficulty in performing their prayers at the mosque until Netanyahu made his provocative decision to annex the mosque to the Israeli heritage list. Claiming the shrine as their second holiest Jewish site in the world after Mount Temple (Al-Aqsa Mosque) in Jerusalem, Israel seems to taking very wide and bold steps to control and Judaeise Islamic shrines and heritage in the occupied West Bank. The suspicious and shameful silence of the Arab and Islamic world on the plight of al-Ibrahimi shrine in Khalil will encourage the Israeli government to take the further step of demolishing Al- Aqsa Mosque to rebuild Mount Temple in its place. This would coincide with the Israeli intention of laying the foundation stone of the temple next month, as the Palestinian Minister of Waqfs (religious endowments) Mahmoud al-Habash recently stated in Cairo. During the annual conference of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs held in Cairo last week, al-Habash called upon the Muslim people to visit Al-Aqsa mosque to express their support of the Palestinian people and affirm the Muslims' right in the holy shrine. Egypt's Mufti Ali Gomaa commendably issued a fatwa (religious edict) considering Muslims visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque a duty, which should be fulfilled by those who have already performed the Hajj (the annual Muslim pilgrimage) to Mecca. This fatwa is based on the strong grounds of the Prophet Mohamed's hadith (sayings and tradition of the Prophet) naming the three most important mosques that Muslims should visit in their lifetime: al-Kaaba in Mecca, Al-Masjid Al-Nabawi (mosque of the Prophet) in Medina, and Al-Aqsa mosque in Al-Quds (Jerusalem). However, the fatwa's significance lies in it ending long years of embargo the Muslims imposed on themselves for not visiting Al- Aqsa mosque until it was liberated from the Israeli occupation. The fatwa's other importance is that it ended the long argument over accepting entering Palestinian land by means of an Israeli visa. This was resolved to serve the greater goal of ensuring Muslims' right to this holy shrine and so stand against ambitious Israeli plans for the site and the entire Muslim old city of Al-Quds (East Jerusalem). This important step taken by Al-Azhar (the most prestigious Sunni institution in the world) and blessed by the Palestinian Authority and men of religion came after long years of calls made by the Egyptian Minister of Waqfs Hamdi Zaqzou to end this useless ban on visiting Al-Aqsa, which he saw as causing more harm than benefit to the Muslim and Palestinian cause On the other hand, this long absence of Muslims from visiting the occupied Palestinian territories in general and the Muslim shrines in particular has not hampered the Arab-Israeli ties and cooperation at the political and economic levels. Nor had it formed any kind of pressure on Israel to speed up with the peace process or at least respect the international law for not changing the nature of the land and heritage sites in occupied territories. So enough with the usual fruitless condemnation, as well as resorting to the international organisations that never took a strong stand against Israeli brutality and aggression on the Palestinian and Muslim sites. Instead, Muslims should heed this fatwa and head to Al-Aqsa and other Muslim sites in Palestine to visit, even if this means staining our passports with an Israeli visa. Dear readers are invited to contribute their comments, views and questions via 111-115 Ramsis St., Cairo or e-mail: ([email protected])
