BAZ’s Fourth Position: Bayt al-Maqdis and al-Masjid al-Aqsa, Despite Having the Same Name, Are Not Necessarily the Same Place

Series: The Incident of Quraysh Questioning the Prophet About Baitul Maqdis

Introduction

This fourth position must not be read independently. It must be read together with the six analyses that preceded it and the three positions I have previously published.

The Incident of Quraysh Questioning the Prophet About Bayt al-Maqdis

As you have read for yourselves, those six analyses examined the narration, the personalities involved, the sequence of events, Quraysh’s questions, the position of Abu Jahl, the polytheist man, the merchant caravan, the wording Bayt al-Maqdis, the building, its appearance and the mountain.

Much of this is not material you have read anywhere else before, particularly concerning the mountain. You may not have seen this issue discussed in such detail, even in earlier tafsir works.

The reason is that Allah is testing us as the ummah of Prophet Muhammad SAW regarding this matter. This is a specific test for us as the ummah of the end times.

This matter has indeed been recorded in the Qur’an to test whether we will follow the Messenger of Allah or turn away from him. I will explain this later in another series.

The three positions I published previously established the foundation that the issue of Bayt al-Maqdis and al-Masjid al-Aqsa cannot be read separately, independently, hastily or on the basis of a single fragment of narration.

This fourth position is not intended to compete with my own three previous positions. Nor is it a piece of writing that cancels what has already been established.

Instead, it is the next layer of the discussion.

In the incident in which Quraysh questioned the Prophet SAW about Bayt al-Maqdis, all parties used the same name, namely Bayt al-Maqdis. However, the same name does not necessarily carry the meaning of the same place in the mind of every party.

Abu Jahl mentioned Bayt al-Maqdis.

Quraysh mentioned Bayt al-Maqdis.

The polytheist man mentioned Bayt al-Maqdis.

The Prophet SAW also mentioned Bayt al-Maqdis.

The wording was exactly the same, was it not? It was all Bayt al-Maqdis.

However, do you think the image in their minds was also the same? Are you certain?

This is what I want to convey. I believe that people in earlier times were not able to discuss this matter because they had not yet discovered the true Muqaddasi Ṭuwā.

Our era is different. So, let us examine BAZ’s fourth position.

One Name, but Not Necessarily One Mental Image

Even in ordinary life, people can use the same name while imagining completely different things.

I mention the term “old house”. One person may immediately imagine the ancestral home of his family.

Another person hears the same expression but imagines an abandoned house that he once saw somewhere else. Someone else may imagine a haunted house.

The wording is the same, namely “old house”, but the image in their minds is not the same.

The same applies to this incident.

The Isra’ and Mi‘raj is a test. The change of the qiblah is also a test for us. The test was not only for earlier communities. It is also for us.

All of us today are being urged by Allah to become involved in this matter and we are also being tested. The difference is that we are reading about it while others may never have reached this information.

Based on the same principle, Bayt al-Maqdis was indeed a name circulating among Quraysh. However, not everyone who mentioned Bayt al-Maqdis was necessarily pointing to the same location within their own knowledge.

Abu Jahl carried one image.

The polytheist man carried another.

The Prophet SAW, however, did not depend on anyone else’s image because Allah Himself showed that place to him.

Therefore, we must not read this incident as though it were completely uniform because the mental images held by each party were different.

A major error occurs when people, from the past until today, mention the term Bayt al-Maqdis and immediately assume that it refers to the same place.

That place is then automatically assumed to be in Palestine, following the Jewish position and those who follow the Jews.

Yet the narration we are analysing shows that the way each party interacted with the term was different. There were three distinct approaches.

Abu Jahl spoke about distance.

The polytheist man asked about the features of the place.

The Prophet SAW answered based on what Allah showed him.

These three approaches do not exist on the same level. We will examine them one by one.

Bayt al-Maqdis in the Mind of Abu Jahl and Quraysh

Abu Jahl did not enter the incident as someone seeking the truth. He entered as someone who wanted to mock the Prophet SAW, even though the Prophet was his nephew.

When the Prophet SAW conveyed that he had travelled to Bayt al-Maqdis during the night, Abu Jahl saw the report as an opportunity to attack him.

Abu Jahl’s attack was not directed at the structure of the building. It was not directed at its appearance or the surrounding geography either.

Abu Jahl’s attack was directed at distance.

He said that a person from among them would require one month to travel there and another month to return.

So how could Muhammad SAW travel there and return within a single night?

That was the image in his mind.

This shows that Bayt al-Maqdis in Abu Jahl’s mind was a distant place. He measured the Prophet’s report according to human travel, riding animals, trade routes and the length of time required.

In BAZ’s view, it is highly likely that the Bayt al-Maqdis in the minds of Abu Jahl and Quraysh was the Jewish Holy House in al-Sham, Iliya or Jerusalem.

That is why they attacked the Prophet SAW through the issue of distance. That was all they knew.

They knew the name. They knew its distance. They knew that it was far according to the ordinary measurements of travel.

However, knowledge of distance does not necessarily mean actual knowledge of the place itself.

They knew that the place was far, but they may never have travelled there. They knew that it was associated with al-Sham or Jerusalem, but they may not have known its structure.

They knew the duration of the journey, but they may not have known its appearance. They knew the name Bayt al-Maqdis within the framework that was widely known at that time, but they may not have truly known the physical features of the place.

Thus, Bayt al-Maqdis in Abu Jahl’s mind was Bayt al-Maqdis as a distant location that could be used to mock the report of the Isra’.

For Abu Jahl, the issue was simple.

If the place was far away, then travelling there and returning in one night appeared impossible.

That was his logic. That was his trap. That was the scope and material of his mockery.

Bayt al-Maqdis in the Mind of the Polytheist Man

The polytheist man was different. He did not attack the Prophet SAW through the issue of distance.

He did not say that the place was far away. Nor did he repeat Abu Jahl’s mockery about one month of travel there and another month of travel back.

Instead, he came forward with a claim of knowledge.

أَنَا أَعْلَمُ النَّاسِ بِبَيْتِ الْمَقْدِسِ

This means:

“I am the person who knows the most about Bayt al-Maqdis.”

He then asked about the building, its appearance and the proximity of the place to the mountain.

This is where the difference becomes very significant.

Abu Jahl dealt only with the issue of distance. The polytheist man dealt with the features of the place.

Abu Jahl made Bayt al-Maqdis an object of mockery. The polytheist man made Bayt al-Maqdis the subject of a technical verification process.

He asked about:

بِنَاؤُهُ

Its building.

هَيْئَتُهُ

Its appearance or form.

قُرْبُهُ مِنَ الْجَبَلِ

Its proximity to the mountain.

Questions such as these do not come from someone who merely knows the name of a place.

They come from someone who knows the features of a place. He knew that the place had a structure. He knew that it had an appearance that could be tested. He knew that it had a close relationship with a particular mountain.

Therefore, BAZ reads the Bayt al-Maqdis in the mind of this polytheist man as not necessarily being the same Bayt al-Maqdis that existed in Abu Jahl’s mind.

Abu Jahl may have imagined the Jewish Holy House in al-Sham or Jerusalem.

The polytheist man, according to BAZ’s reading, was referring to another place whose features he knew thoroughly.

BAZ’s position is that the polytheist man was referring to Bayt al-Maqdis in the Bujang Valley and that the mountain in question was Mount Jerai.

This position must be understood as BAZ’s interpretation, not as a direct statement found in the narration.

The narration does not mention the Bujang Valley. The narration also does not mention Mount Jerai.

However, the narration does mention highly important features, namely the building, its appearance and its proximity to a mountain.

For BAZ, these features are among the elements that open the door to the Bujang Valley and Mount Jerai.

The polytheist man did not test the Prophet SAW through the issue of distance. He tested him through the identifying signs of the place.

This is where BAZ sees the polytheist man as bringing a different Bayt al-Maqdis from the one assumed by Abu Jahl.

The mountain is the key.

The Bayt al-Maqdis Mentioned by the Prophet SAW

The Prophet SAW also mentioned Bayt al-Maqdis. However, his position was not the same as that of Abu Jahl or the polytheist man.

Abu Jahl spoke based on an assumption about distance.

The polytheist man spoke based on knowledge of the features.

The Prophet SAW spoke based on the place that Allah showed him.

This is the most important distinction.

In the narration, when Quraysh asked the Prophet SAW about certain matters concerning Bayt al-Maqdis that he had not been able to retain in his memory, he experienced severe distress.

Then Allah showed Bayt al-Maqdis to him.

The Prophet SAW answered their questions while looking at it.

Therefore, the Prophet SAW did not answer based on Abu Jahl’s assumption. He also did not answer based on the claim of the polytheist man.

He answered based on what Allah showed him.

From the narration, we know that Allah showed Bayt al-Maqdis to the Prophet SAW.

However, the narration does not explicitly state that the Bayt al-Maqdis shown to the Prophet SAW was Bayt al-Maqdis in Palestine or Bayt al-Maqdis in the Bujang Valley.

What we know is that the Prophet SAW answered the features that were asked about.

We also know that the questions involved the building, its appearance and the mountain.

We know that the Prophet’s answer was confirmed by the polytheist man who claimed to know the most about Bayt al-Maqdis.

So, think about it for yourself:

Which location is the most valid in this incident?

Is it the location that existed in Abu Jahl’s assumption?

Is it the location measured only through the distance covered by the caravan?

Or is it the location that the Prophet SAW visited, which Allah then showed to him again, which had a connection with a mountain and whose features were ultimately confirmed by the polytheist man who knew the place?

This is where my fourth position opens the door to the fifth position.

Which location is the most valid in this incident?

For BAZ, the most valid location is not merely the location that existed in Abu Jahl’s assumption.

The most valid location is the location that the Prophet SAW visited. Allah then showed that place to him again. It had a connection with a mountain and the Prophet’s answer was ultimately confirmed by the polytheist man who knew the features of that place.