Even Baytul Muquaddis is plagiarised from Judaism by Aaron Moses

In the present day the Arabs and many Muslims claim that the Jewish people have no claim to Jerusalem or BaytulMuqaddis as it is known to the Muslims.BaytulMuqaddis means Holy House(Bayt = house, Muqaddis = holy).

The Muslims already have a stone structure in Mecca which they call the Sacred House or Baytul Haram (Bayt = house, Haram = sacred).It is more well known as the Kaaba. The Kaaba is in the middle of the Masjid Haram or Sacred Mosque. See the top picture above.

But do the Muslims have a second Holy House in Jerusalem? The answer is no they donot. Today BaytulMuqaddis is the Muslim name for the entire area of the city of Jerusalem encompassing the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall.So it does not refer to one structure like the Kaaba (Baytul Haram). BaytulMuqaddis represents a geographical area in Jerusalem.

BaytulMuqaddis is the literal translation of the Hebrew phrase Bayt Ha Miqdash.  In Hebrew bayt means house and miqdash means holy. In Judaism the Bayt Ha Miqdash is the Holy House or holy of holies that was situated in the middle of the Jewish Temple which was built by Solomon in Jerusalem. You can see a model of the Jewish Temple in the lower picture above.

The Jewish Temple was destroyed by the Romans circa 70 AD but the Jewish people hope to rebuild the Temple soon. As you can see the Masjid Haram in Meccahas many similarities with the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. And just like the cube shaped Kaaba in Mecca the Jewish Temple also has its cubical shaped, holy of holies in the middle known as the Bayt Ha Miqdash (Holy House). Below here is a close upof the Bayt Ha Miqdash in the middle of the Jewish Temple.

The Bayt Ha Miqdash (BaytulMuqaddis in Arabic) has been the central core of the Jewish Temple for over 3,000 years (since 1000 BC).  Since Islam appeared 1,600 years after Judaism, obviously the Arabs plagiarised the name BaytulMuqaddis from the Jewish Bayt Ha Miqdash.

The Arabs under the Caliph Umar invaded Jerusalem in 638 AD. The Masjid al Aqsa was not built until 77 years later between 705 – 715 AD by the Umayyad caliph Abdul Malik ibn Marwan and his son al Walid. Until then the only structure at BaytulMuqaddis was the Wailing Wall, the remnant of the huge Jewish Temple. The Arabs built the Masjid Al Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock on top of the Jewish Wailing Wall. You can see this clearly in the picture below. In the foreground is the Wailing Wall (remnant of the Jewish Temple) and above it is the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque.

If the Arabs claim pre-eminence over Jerusalem, then why did they plagiarise the name BaytulMuqaddis from the Hebrew Bayt Ha Miqdash?BaytulMuqaddis is not only Hebrew in origin but it represents the Holy House, which is at the very core of Judaism. It is certainly not Islamic at all.

The entire Arab claim to Jerusalem is based on a fictitious story of the prophet’s Night Journey or Isra Mi’raj from Mecca to Jerusalem and then to heaven and back. The prophet undertook the journey riding a magical, winged,four-legged animal called the Buraq. The very idea of a winged, four-legged animal flying through the skies is nothing more than a desert campfire story. Entertainment for the illiterate and ignorant desert dwellers.

All aspects of this Isra Mi’raj story are dubious including the fact that only two people on planet earth ever narrated this story directly from the prophet i.e., Abu Dhar Giffari and Malik ibn Sa’sa Ansari.

The Glorious Night Journey (Isra) & Miracle of Ascension (Mi’raj)

Imam Bukhari in his Jami us-Sahih, in the “Book of Tawhid” has a chapter devoted to Miraj, whilst Imam Muslim’s Jami us-Sahih has a chapter called “Isra” in the “Book of the beginning of the revelation”.

The two original narrators that heard it directly from the Prophet appear to be Abu Darr Ghiffari and Malik ibn Sa’sa Ansari, whilst others report it from these two original narrators.

The mullahs say that when the prophet returned from the isrami’raj, among the people to whom he directly related the event were Saidina Abu Bakar, Saidina Umar and Saidina Ali – all three of whom became Caliphs after the prophet.  Saidina Umar initially had some doubts but Saidina Abu Bakar’s willingness to believe in the isrami’raj story without any hesitation earned him the title Abu BakarAs-Siddiq (Abu Bakar the Truthful). Yet only Abu Darr Ghiffari and Malik ibn Sasa Ansari are recorded as having narrated this hadith directly from the prophet. There are no hadith about this most important event narrated directly from the prophet by Abu Bakar, Umar or Ali.

Anas ibn Malik in Sahih Muslim begins his Hadith by saying “Abu Darr Ghiffari used to tell us…” suggesting that Abu Darr Ghiffari seems to be the source of the narration.

The Prophet says: “One night I was asleep, in the Haram near the Kaabah when I was woken by Jibril. He informed me of the Divine will and took me to the well of Zam Zam, whereupon he opened my chest and poured wisdom and faith into it. Then he sealed it. I was then presented with a beautiful Buraq. This is an animal larger than a mule but smaller than a horse. I mounted it.”  It traveled at phenomenal speed.

The idea of magical flying horses is also plagiarised from the Greek mythologies of Bellorophon riding the Pegassus, the winged horse. Or the Hindu gods riding winged horses through the sky.

And once again none of these fictions are found written in the Quran. The Quran has absolutely nothing to do with Islam. The two are just not connected.

The story of gods and heroes flying through the heavens astride magical four-legged, winged creatures is as old as campfire storytelling itself. Entertainment for ignorant villagers which quite sadly has become mainstream religion.

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Aaron Musa is a researcher of social affairs and religion.