[29]. It needed no prophetic inspiration to acquaint Mohammed with this fact. The site of the Temple was not only well known to the Christians, but was systematically defiled by them out of abhorrence for the Jews. Eutychius expressly tells us that—“when Helena, the mother of Constantine, had built churches at Jerusalem, the site of the rock and its neighbourhood had been laid waste, and so left. But the Christians heaped dirt on the rock so that there was a large dunghill over it. And so the Romans had neglected it, nor given it that honour which the Israelites had been wont to pay it, and had not built a church above it, because it had been said by our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Gospel, ‘Behold, your house shall be left unto you desolate.’”
Another account relates that, on conquering the city, ‘Omar sent for Ka‘ab, a Jew who had been converted to Mohammedanism during the prophet’s lifetime, and said to him, “Oh, Abu Ishák, dost thou know the site of the Sakhrah?” “Yes,” replied Ka‘ab, “it is distant such and such a number of cubits[[30]] from the wall which runs parallel to the Wády Jehennum; it is at the present time used for a dunghill.” Digging at the spot indicated, they found the Sakhrah as Ka‘ab had described. Then ‘Omar asked Ka‘ab where he would advise him to place the mosque? Ka‘ab answered, “I should place it behind the Sakhrah, so that the two Kiblahs,[[31]] namely, that of Moses and that of Mohammed, may be made identical.” “Ah,” said ‘Omar, “thou leanest still to Jewish notions, I see; the best place for the mosque is in front of it,” and he built it in front accordingly.
[30]. Reynolds, again misunderstanding the Arabic, renders this “one cubit.”
[31]. The Kiblah is a “point of adoration,” that is, the direction in which Mecca lies. In the Mohammedan mosques it is indicated by a small niche called a mihráb.
Another version of this conversation is, that when Ka‘ab proposed to set the praying-place behind the Sakhrah, ‘Omar reproved him, as has just been stated, for his Jewish proclivities, and added, “Nay, but we will place it in the sudr (‘breast or forepart’), for the prophet ordained that the Kiblah of our mosques should be in the forepart. I am not ordered,” said he, “to turn to the Sakhrah, but to the Ka‘abah.” Afterwards, when ‘Omar had completed the conquest of Jerusalem, and cleared away the dirt from the Sakhrah, and the Christians had entered into their engagements to pay tribute, the Muslims changed the name of the great Christian church from Caiyámah (Anastasis), to Camámah (dung), to remind them of their indecent treatment of the holy place, and to further glorify the Sakhrah itself.
The mosque erected by ‘Omar is described by an early pilgrim who saw it as a simple square building of timber, capable of holding three thousand people, and constructed over the ruins of some more ancient edifice.
The annals of the Mohammedan Empire during the next forty-eight years, although fraught with stirring events, bear but little on the history of Jerusalem itself; and although the visit of ‘Omar had impressed the followers of the Cor’án with the idea that they possessed an equal interest in the Holy City with the adherents of the Law and of the Gospel, still their devotion to the Temple of Mecca and their prophet’s tomb at Medína was too deeply rooted to leave them much reverence for the Masjid el Aksa. But political exigencies did what religious enthusiasm had failed to accomplish, and in 684 A.D., in the reign of ‘Abd el Melik, the ninth successor of Mohammed, and the fifth caliph of the House of Omawíyah, events happened which once more turned people’s attention to the City of David.
For eight years the Mussulman empire had been distracted by factions and party quarrels. The inhabitants of the two holy cities, Mecca and Medína, had risen against the authority of the legitimate caliphs, and had proclaimed ‘Abdallah ibn Zobeir their spiritual and temporal head. Yezíd and Mo‘áwíyeh had in vain attempted to suppress the insurrection; the usurper had contrived to make his authority acknowledged throughout Arabia and the African provinces, and had established the seat of his government at Mecca itself. ‘Abd el Melik trembled for his own rule; year after year crowds of pilgrims would visit the Ka‘abah, and Ibn Zobeir’s religious and political influence would thus become disseminated throughout the whole of Islam. In order to avoid these consequences, and at the same time to weaken his rival’s prestige, ‘Abd el Melik conceived the plan of diverting men’s minds from the pilgrimage to Mecca, and inducing them to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem instead. This was an easier task than might have been at first supposed.
The frequent mention of Jerusalem in the Cor’án, its intimate connection with those Scriptural events which Mohammed taught as part and parcel of his own faith, and, lastly, the prophet’s pretended night journey to Heaven from the Holy Rock of Jerusalem—these were points which appealed directly to the Mohammedan mind, and to all these considerations was added the charm of novelty—novelty, too, with the sanction of antiquity—and we need not, therefore, wonder that the caliph’s appeal to his subjects met with a ready and enthusiastic response.
Having determined upon this course he sent circular letters to every part of his dominions, couched in the following terms:—