U.S. Condemned Muslim digging activities Jerusalem Temple Mount

[Luke_Wilbur]

To me this is a more interesting story.

 

The Temple Mount (Hebrew: הַר הַבַּיִת‎, Har haBáyit), also known as the Noble Sanctuary (Arabic: الحرم القدسي الشريف‎, al-haram al-qudsī ash-sharīf) is a religious site in the Old City of Jerusalem. Due to its importance for Judaism, Christianity and Islam it is one of the most contested religious sites in the world. According to an Aggada in the Talmud, the world was created from the Foundation Stone on the Temple Mount. According to the Bible, the place where Abraham fulfilled God's test to see if he would be willing to sacrifice his son Isaac was Mount Moriah, which the Talmud says was another name for the Temple Mount. The Muslim administrative body responsible for the Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem is often referred to as "the waqf".

 

In July 2007, the Waqf began digging a ditch from the northern side of the Temple Mount compound to the Dome of the Rock as a prelude to infrastructure work in the area. Although the dig was approved by the police, it generated protests from archaeologists. The Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount criticized the use of a tractor for excavation at the Temple Mount "without real, professional and careful archaeological supervision involving meticulous documentation".

 

Why would Congress get involved in this dispute?

 

HRES 756 IH

 

Condemning the Wakf's digging activities at the Temple Mount site and deploring the destruction of artifacts vitally important to Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. (Introduced in House)

 

 

110th CONGRESS

 

1st Session

 

H. RES. 756

Condemning the Wakf's digging activities at the Temple Mount site and deploring the destruction of artifacts vitally important to Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths.

 

 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 

October 18, 2007

Mr. CANTOR (for himself and Ms. BERKLEY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

 

 

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RESOLUTION

Condemning the Wakf's digging activities at the Temple Mount site and deploring the destruction of artifacts vitally important to Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths.

 

Whereas the Temple Mount , located in the ancient city of Jerusalem, Israel, has tremendous religious significance to the world's three major monotheistic religions;

 

Whereas according to the Jewish faith, the Temple Mount is the location where Abraham was asked to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, in the ultimate test of his commitment to God;

 

Whereas the Temple Mount was also the site of the First and Second Holy Temples;

 

Whereas according to Christianity, Jesus was dedicated on the Temple Mount in the Second Temple in accordance with the Law of Moses;

 

Whereas Jesus referred to the Biblical Temple as His Father's House;

 

Whereas Muslims believe that Mohammed ascended to heaven from the Temple Mount to make the Night Journey to the Throne of Allah;

 

Whereas in June 1967, Jerusalem once again became a united city under Israel's sovereignty;

 

Whereas the State of Israel has been legally responsible for the Temple Mount since 1967 and has been respectful of the religious practices of Jews, Christians, and Muslims at the site;

 

Whereas Israel maintains overall security control of the site;

 

Whereas the Wakf, or Islamic Trust, conducts day-to-day administration of the compound;

 

Whereas Wakf officials have repeatedly denied the existence of the First and Second Jewish Temples;

 

Whereas the Wakf has a stained history of damaging sensitive Jewish and Christian cultural sites;

 

Whereas in August 1999 the Wakf dug a large stairway at the Temple Mount leading down to an underground mosque, dumping thousands of tons of archaeologically rich soil into the adjacent Kidron Valley;

 

Whereas Israel's Supreme Court declared in 1993 that the Wakf had violated Israel's antiquities laws on 35 occasions;

 

Whereas in the summer of 2007 Wakf officials began some of the most extensive work on the Temple Mount site in more than a decade using tractors and other heavy construction machinery to create a 400-meter-long and 1.5-meter-deep trench to replace electrical cables and water pipes;

 

Whereas in some areas of the Temple Mount the bedrock is only a half meter deep, endangering structures that have been in place for thousands of years;

 

Whereas among the antiquities removed include a 7-meter-wide wall widely believed to date back to the Second Temple;

 

Whereas irresponsible or destructive construction and digging threaten to damage this sacred site; and

 

Whereas leading Israeli archaeologists have warned of irreversible damage to Jerusalem's holiest artifacts: Now, therefore, be it

 

 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives condemns the Wakf's digging activities at the Temple Mount site and deplores the destruction of artifacts vitally important to Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths.

 

 

Rep Akin, W. Todd [MO-2] - 11/14/2007

Rep Barrett, J. Gresham [sC-3] - 11/14/2007

Rep Berkley, Shelley [NV-1] - 10/18/2007

Rep Broun, Paul C. [GA-10] - 11/14/2007

Rep Campbell, John [CA-48] - 11/14/2007

Rep Conaway, K. Michael [TX-11] - 11/14/2007

Rep Davis, David [TN-1] - 11/14/2007

Rep Doolittle, John T. [CA-4] - 11/14/2007

Rep Feeney, Tom [FL-24] - 11/14/2007

Rep Fortuno, Luis G. [PR] - 11/14/2007

Rep Foxx, Virginia [NC-5] - 11/14/2007

Rep Garrett, Scott [NJ-5] - 11/14/2007

Rep Gingrey, Phil [GA-11] - 11/14/2007

Rep Hensarling, Jeb [TX-5] - 11/14/2007

Rep Jordan, Jim [OH-4] - 11/14/2007

Rep Kingston, Jack [GA-1] - 11/14/2007

Rep Kline, John [MN-2] - 11/14/2007

Rep Kuhl, John R. "Randy", Jr. [NY-29] - 11/14/2007

Rep Lamborn, Doug [CO-5] - 11/14/2007

Rep Lucas, Frank D. [OK-3] - 11/14/2007

Rep Lungren, Daniel E. [CA-3] - 11/14/2007

Rep Manzullo, Donald A. [iL-16] - 11/14/2007

Rep Marchant, Kenny [TX-24] - 11/14/2007

Rep McMorris Rodgers, Cathy [WA-5] - 11/14/2007

Rep Musgrave, Marilyn N. [CO-4] - 11/14/2007

Rep Neugebauer, Randy [TX-19] - 11/14/2007

Rep Pence, Mike [iN-6] - 11/14/2007

Rep Pitts, Joseph R. [PA-16] - 11/14/2007

Rep Price, Tom [GA-6] - 11/14/2007

Rep Sali, Bill [iD-1] - 11/14/2007

Rep Shadegg, John B. [AZ-3] - 11/14/2007

Rep Walberg, Timothy [MI-7] - 11/14/2007

Rep Wamp, Zach [TN-3] - 11/14/2007

Rep Weldon, Dave [FL-15] - 11/14/2007

Rep Westmoreland, Lynn A. [GA-3] - 11/14/2007

Rep Wilson, Joe [sC-2] - 11/14/2007

[Guest Egyptforever]

My country would never allow such atrocoties and disgrace to all. It is truely full of shame. It would be cheaper to do it right for all to see.

[Guest Carl Johan Calleman]

Jews have been praying three times a day for two thousand years for the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem, the time has not yet been considered as ready for this. The main reason is that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is occupied by the Muslim al-Aksa Mosque and this religion is guided by quite different prophecies, and another written Word, the Quran. The Jews fear that if a Temple would be built there it would create a Jihad from the entire Muslim world. To Muslims, who see the Quran as the last message from God and envision that the whole world will eventually be Muslim, it is instead a dictum that all land held by Islam should be kept and that land lost to it should be recovered. Hence, the prophecies of the two religions are in direct conflict.

[Guest Aaqil]

The Qur’ān (Arabic: القرآن ‎ al-qur'ān, literally "the recitation"; also sometimes transliterated as Qur’an, Koran, Alcoran or Al-Qur’ān) is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe that the Qur’ān is the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind, and consider the text (in the original Arabic) to be the final divine revelation of God. Islam holds that the Qur’ān was revealed to Muhammad by the angel Gibraele (Gabriel) over a period of 23 years.The importance of the Quran for Muslims and Islam is tantamount to the importance of Jesus Christ for Christians and Christianity.

 

Abdullah Yusuf Ali (14 April 1872 - 10 December 1953) was a Indian Islamic scholar who translated the Qur'an into English. His translation of the Qur'an ranks alongside the translation of Marmaduke Pickthall as the most widely-known and used in the world.

 

(Mohammed) Marmaduke Pickthall (1875–May 19, 1936) was a Western Islamic scholar, noted as a poetic translator of the Qur'an into English. A convert from Christianity to Islam, Pickthall was a novelist, esteemed by D.H. Lawrence, H.G. Wells, and E.M. Forster, as well as a journalist, headmaster, and political and religious leader. He declared his Islam in dramatic fashion after delivering a talk on ‘Islam and Progress' on 29th November 1917 to the Muslim Literary Society in Notting Hill, West London.

 

Mohammed Habib Shakir has been stated by many internet sources as "a well known translator of the Qur'an into English." He has been associated with the translator M. H. Shakir of the translation published by Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an. However this idea is contradicted by two pieces of evidence that have now come to light:

 

1. There is strong evidence that Mohammed Habib Shakir was against the translation of the Qur'an and considered the rendering of the Arabic into any other language unlawful.

2. There is strong evidence that M. H. Shakir, the translator, is actually a pen name for Mohammedali Habib Shakir the son of Habib Esmail of The House of Habib.

 

Translations of the Qur'an, Chapter 17:

 

AL-ISRA (ISRA', THE NIGHT JOURNEY, CHILDREN OF ISRAEL)

 

Verse 17:001 refers to the whole area of the Noble Sanctuary, not specifically to the southern congregational mosque built by the Umayyad Caliph. The whole area is considered AlAqsa Mosque in Islam. It was named the "Farthest Mosque" because the Levant was the farthest area that the Arabs travelled to in thier yearly winter journey.

 

017.001

YUSUFALI: Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things).

PICKTHAL: Glorified be He Who carried His servant by night from the Inviolable Place of Worship to the Far distant place of worship the neighbourhood whereof We have blessed, that We might show him of Our tokens! Lo! He, only He, is the Hearer, the Seer.

SHAKIR: Glory be to Him Who made His servant to go on a night from the Sacred Mosque to the remote mosque of which We have blessed the precincts, so that We may show to him some of Our signs; surely He is the Hearing, the Seeing.

 

017.002

YUSUFALI: We gave Moses the Book, and made it a Guide to the Children of Israel, (commanding): "Take not other than Me as Disposer of (your) affairs."

PICKTHAL: We gave unto Moses the Scripture, and We appointed it a guidance for the children of Israel, saying: Choose no guardian beside Me.

SHAKIR: And We gave Musa the Book and made it a guidance to the children of Israel, saying: Do not take a protector besides Me;

 

017.003

YUSUFALI: O ye that are sprung from those whom We carried (in the Ark) with Noah! Verily he was a devotee most grateful.

PICKTHAL: (They were) the seed of those whom We carried (in the ship) along with Noah. Lo! he was a grateful slave.

SHAKIR: The offspring of those whom We bore with Nuh; surely he was a grateful servant.

 

017.004

YUSUFALI: And We gave (Clear) Warning to the Children of Israel in the Book, that twice would they do mischief on the earth and be elated with mighty arrogance (and twice would they be punished)!

PICKTHAL: And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Scripture: Ye verily will work corruption in the earth twice, and ye will become great tyrants.

SHAKIR: And We had made known to the children of Israel in the Book: Most certainly you will make mischief in the land twice, and most certainly you will behave insolently with great insolence.

 

017.005

YUSUFALI: When the first of the warnings came to pass, We sent against you Our servants given to terrible warfare: They entered the very inmost parts of your homes; and it was a warning (completely) fulfilled.

PICKTHAL: So when the time for the first of the two came, We roused against you slaves of Ours of great might who ravaged (your) country, and it was a threat performed.

SHAKIR: So when the promise for the first of the two came, We sent over you Our servants, of mighty prowess, so they went to and fro among the houses, and it was a promise to be accomplished.

 

017.006

YUSUFALI: Then did We grant you the Return as against them: We gave you increase in resources and sons, and made you the more numerous in man-power.

PICKTHAL: Then we gave you once again your turn against them, and We aided you with wealth and children and made you more in soldiery.

SHAKIR: Then We gave you back the turn to prevail against them, and aided you with wealth and children and made you a numerous band.

 

Verse 17:007 Acknowledges the Jews right to worship on the Temple Mount.

 

017.007

YUSUFALI: If ye did well, ye did well for yourselves; if ye did evil, (ye did it) against yourselves. So when the second of the warnings came to pass, (We permitted your enemies) to disfigure your faces, and to enter your Temple as they had entered it before, and to visit with destruction all that fell into their power.

PICKTHAL: (Saying): If ye do good, ye do good for your own souls, and if ye do evil, it is for them (in like manner). So, when the time for the second (of the judgments) came (We roused against you others of Our slaves) to ravage you, and to enter the Temple even as they entered it the first time, and to lay waste all that they conquered with an utter wasting.

SHAKIR: If you do good, you will do good for your own souls, and if you do evil, it shall be for them. So when the second promise came (We raised another people) that they may bring you to grief and that they may enter the mosque as they entered it the first time, and that they might destroy whatever they gained ascendancy over with utter destruction.

[Guest zionist forever]

Sovereignty over Temple Mount & Temple Mount alone needs to be put into the hands of a third party because the Palestinians are digging the place up and destroying archeology & out of a fear for riots the Israeli government is to afraid to do something anything.

 

There is also the issue of the Western Wall tunnels which are not doing any damage but the Muslims claim Israel is trying to destroy the mosque by digging its foundations so if the tunnels are to continue the site cannot be in the hands of the Muslim.

 

The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism so it would be unacceptable to had control of it to Muslims.

 

What is needed is either a third party western state agreed on by Israel & muslims thats willing to be independent when it comes to issues at the site, constructiion etc and has the final say on everything not the Palestinians.

 

The Kotel & Church of the Sepilca will stay in Israeli hands.