The Temple Mount

Back during my visit to Israel, I went to Jerusalem. Twice while in the city I visited the Temple Mount - once on a guided tour, once with my father. Of all the places I went in Israel, the Temple Mount was almost certainly the most historically interesting.

It is supposedly the site of Solomon's Temple. It is certainly the site of Herod's Second Temple that was destroyed by Titus, leaving only the Western Wall. And it is currently the home of both the Dome of the Rock and of the Al-Asqa Mosque, Islamic holy sites.

During the tour, which was given by an Israeli tour company with a Jewish tour guide, I learned a number of interesting anecdotes (I don't know whether or not to call them facts, as I have never really researched them too much, mainly because many of them I had also heard during one of my religion courses at Florida Southern. If you can prove any of these false, please leave a note in the comments complete with a URL to your source.)

The Jewish Temple contained a room, the Holy of the Holies, in which the Ark of the Covenant, with the Ten Commandments inside, was housed. This was the holiest site in Judaism. No one, save the high priest once per year, was allowed into the Holy of the Holies. After the destruction of the Temple, the exact location of the Holy was lost, so Jews were banned from climbing atop the Temple Mount for fear of desecrating the holy ground.

So after the end of Roman rule in the region, the Temple Mount remained in shambles as devout Jewish workers would not ascend to build a third Temple.

In time came the Muslim conquests and the construction of the Dome of the Rock, supposedly the mountaintop from which Mohammad began his nighttime ride. The Al-Asqa Mosque soon followed as another Muslim holy building.

The Muslims had heard the stories of the Jews and the Christians that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem from the East from across the valley and when he passed through the gates of the city the Temple Mount would be leveled and the third Temple would arise.

So the Muslims bricked up the East Gate of the city and placed an unmarked cemetery outside the walls on the theory that a priest could not defile the dead by walking on their graves. They figured that that would be enough to kill the prophecy. During the Crusades, the Christians unbricked the gate and cleared a path to it; after the Muslims resealed it and cluttered the path again.

So why do I bother to relate all these stories or legends? Well, it looks like the Arabs in Jordan are claiming that reports of Israeli attempts to negotiate renewed access to the Mount are part of a Zionist plot to eventually rebuild the Temple.

Sharon may not be a lover of all things Muslim, but I don't think that even he has any designs on the building of the third Temple. I really think that he is simply trying to reopen the Mount to non-Muslims, whose religion allows them to ascend the Mount. In other words, he would be trying to open it to everyone, except for the ones most likely to destroy it, as their faith won't allow them to set foot on the platform, much less in the buildings themselves.

I can understand the Muslim's desire to protect these two sacred shrines. But they also made pretty good money selling tickets to enter the buildings, money that is needed to ensure their proper upkeep. If they don't want to reopen access to the buildings that's fine. I just wish they would leave the "evil Zionist" rhetoric out.

There are non-Muslims that don't wish to see the destruction of the buildings. Historically, they are significant and architecturally the Dome is impressive (I didn't like the looks of Al-Asqa too much. Too squat and too many dreary colors on the outside).

Their concerns are valid, but their response is out of whack. If Islam wants to distinguish itself from the radicals, this would be a good place to start. No one would begrudge them additional security and searches before entering the grounds of the Mount.

And drop the rhetoric. Not every non-Muslim that wants to come to the Mount is a Zionist.

Not even me.