The status of Jerusalem in the needs to be linked with the status of a number of important figures that appear in the Jewish bible and the Gospels. Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Zechariah, John the Baptist and Jesus are, according to Islam, among the prophets and messengers of God. Jews and Christians recognize David and Solomon as great kings and patriarchs of ancient Israel, but not as prophets. However, in Islam they are regarded as prophets, and the not only recounts their stories and also endeavours to restore their status by removing some of the charges and allegations made against their characters by earlier, deceitful authors.
David was accused in the Bible of committing adultery (2 Samuel 11–12) and Solomon was accused of idolatry (1 Kings 11). The absolves them of these charges (28.21–25; 38.30). This shows, Muslims say, that David and Solomon are more revered and respected in Islam than in the Jewish and Christian traditions, and the city associated with them, Jerusalem, is also given high status in Islam. Jerusalem is historically associated with these prophets, so naturally it is a city sacred to Muslims, since Islam considers itself a continuation of the spiritual and ethical movement that began with the earlier prophets. Historically and theologically, Islam believes itself to be the true inheritor of the earlier traditions of the prophets and messengers of Allah. It is for this reason that the called Palestine—the land associated with the lives of many of God’s prophets—alardh al-muqaddasa (the Sacred Land) (5.21) and its surroundings barakna hawlaha (God’s Blessed Precincts) (17.1).
The sacredness of the city of Jerusalem, according to Islam, lies in its religious history. This is the city that witnessed the life and works of the greatest prophets and messengers of God. Here divine grace had been at work for a long time, with Allah’s great prophets and messengers living and moving in its streets and surrounding countryside. Mecca and Medina are blessed cities in Islam because of their association with the prophets Abraham, Ishmael and Muhammad; in a similar way Jerusalem is blessed and important in Islam because of its association with other prophets of Allah, namely David, Solomon and Jesus. Jews and Christians do not recognize Ishmael and Mohammad as God’s prophets and messengers, so they do not consider Mecca and Medina to be sacred cities; by contrast, Muslims believe that Moses, David, Solomon and Jesus are all prophets, so Islam recognizes the sacredness and importance of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem in the life of Prophet Mohammad
Due to its theological and religious status, Jerusalem had a very important place in the life of the Prophet Muhammad. In the year 620 CE, almost 18 months before his hijra (migration) from Mecca to Medina, the famous isra’ and (Night Journey and Ascension) occurred. One night, in a miraculous way, the Prophet was taken on a journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, then from there to heaven. The Night Journey was a great miracle that Muslims believe was performed for Prophet Muhammad as an honour and as confirmation of Mecca’s spiritual link with Jerusalem.
Both of these events took place on the same night. The angel Gabriel took the Prophet from Mecca to Jerusalem. There it is reported that the Prophet stood at the Sacred Rock (al-sakhra almusharrafa), went to the heavens, returned to Jerusalem where he met with many prophets and messengers who had gathered to meet him and led them in prayers. After these experiences the Prophet was taken back to Mecca. The story of isra’ and is full of wonderful signs and symbols. Muslim thinkers, mystics and poets have interpreted it in various ways. There is, however, one essential point, which is that this event examplifies every Muslim’s deep devotion and spiritual connection with Jerusalem.
During the the Prophet is reported to have received from God the command about the five daily prayers (salah) that all Muslims must perform. Upon his return to Mecca, the Prophet instituted these prayers. It is significant to note that Jerusalem was made the direction (al-qibla) that Muslims must face while saying their prayers. Jerusalem is thus called ula al-qiblatayn (the first qibla). The Prophet and the early community of Islam, during their stay in Mecca, worshipped in the direction of Jerusalem. After the Hijra, Muslims in Medina also continued to pray facing Jerusalem for almost seventeen months. Then came God’s command to change the direction of prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca (2.142–150). Muslim historians and commentators on the have explained the meaning and purpose of this change, which in no way diminished the status of Jerusalem in Islam. The in Mecca was meant to be the qibla from the beginning, because the said that it was the First House (awwal bayt) (3.96) established for mankind to worship the One God. The however, was full of idols when the Prophet Mohammad began preaching his message of tawhid (the unity and transcendence of Allah). A separation had to be made between the people and the pagan worship that they used to perform at the Jerusalem served that purpose very well. Once monotheism was fully established in the minds and hearts of the believers and the position with regard to Abraham and monotheism made clear, the way was open to restore the as the direction of prayers.
There are many instances of this type of change or abrogation (naskh) in Islamic legislation. As one example, visiting graves was forbidden at the beginning of Mohammad’s messengership. Later it was permitted, because Muslims had learned the difference between visiting a grave and ancestor worship. At first, the Prophet forbade his people to write down his words except when he explicitly told them that what he was saying was revelation—the the Word of God. Later, when people had learned the difference between the and hadith (sayings and deeds of the Prophet), Muhammad gave them permission to write down hadith as well. It is widely held by Muslims that the in Mecca was the original direction of prayers for all the prophets, so that the cleansing of the structure of idols reestablished the status quo, rather than putting in place a new practice. According to one hadith, the Black Stone (alhajar al-aswad) had been in Mecca at the since the time of Adam. It was the prophets Abraham and Ishmael who built the under Allah’s command and direction (2.125–127).
If we examine the wording of the we find no explicit references to Jerusalem by name or by any of its alternative names, such as al-Quds, Bayt al-Muqaddas or Ursalim. There is one reference to the masjid al-aqsa (‘most distant mosque’) in the account of Muhammad’s miraculous Night Journey, mentioning the holiness of what is taken to be a site in Jerusalem. The passage is ‘Praise be He who at night bore aloft His servant from the Sacred Mosque to the most remote mosque, whose surroundings we blessed, so that We might show him some of Our signs’ (17.1). It is sometimes claimed that it was only after the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem in 637 CE that the view became established that the mosque called ‘the most remote’ was the Temple of Jerusalem, and that Muhammad had experienced a transmigration to heaven while standing on the rock around which the Dome of the Rock was erected. There was, in fact, quite a controversy about whether Jerusalem was the site of the masjid al-aqsa, particularly as the reference in the that may well be to Palestine. It describes the site as near ghulibati l-rumu fi (‘the Greeks [i.e. the Byzantines] have been vanquished in the nearby land’) (30.2–3), which suggests that the distant mosque could not be the one in Jerusalem. It could also be claimed that Jerusalem was not even the first direction of prayer for Muslims. The (2.142) does mention a normal direction of prayer (qiblatihimikanu) prior to Muslims being commanded to face the (Meccan) ‘Sacred Mosque’ (al-masjid al-haram) but, although this is often taken to be Jerusalem, there is no explicit claim that the former or first direction of prayer was in fact Jerusalem.
Further reading
Sahas, D. (1972) John of Damascus on Islam, Leiden: Brill.
Grabar, I. (1996) The Shape of the Holy: Early Islamic Jerusalem, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hasson, I. (1996) ‘The Muslim View of Jerusalem, the and Hadith’, in J. Prawer and H.Ben-Shammai (eds) The History of Jerusalem: The Early Muslim Period, New York: New York University Press, 349–85.
needs to be linked with the status of a number of important figures that appear in the Jewish bible and the Gospels. Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Zechariah, John the Baptist and Jesus are, according to Islam, among the prophets and messengers of God. Jews and Christians recognize David and Solomon as great kings and patriarchs of ancient Israel, but not as prophets. However, in Islam they are regarded as prophets, and the 
not only recounts their stories and also endeavours to restore their status by removing some of the charges and allegations made against their characters by earlier, deceitful authors.
absolves them of these charges (28.21–25; 38.30). This shows, Muslims say, that David and Solomon are more revered and respected in Islam than in the Jewish and Christian traditions, and the city associated with them, Jerusalem, is also given high status in Islam. Jerusalem is historically associated with these prophets, so naturally it is a city sacred to Muslims, since Islam considers itself a continuation of the spiritual and ethical movement that began with the earlier prophets. Historically and theologically, Islam believes itself to be the true inheritor of the earlier traditions of the 
called Palestine—the land associated with the lives of many of God’s prophets—alardh al-muqaddasa (the Sacred Land) (5.21) and its surroundings barakna hawlaha (God’s Blessed Precincts) (17.1).
(Night Journey and Ascension) occurred. One night, in a miraculous way, the Prophet was taken on a journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, then from there to heaven. The Night Journey was a great miracle that Muslims believe was performed for Prophet Muhammad as an honour and as confirmation of Mecca’s spiritual link with Jerusalem.
is full of wonderful signs and symbols. Muslim thinkers, mystics and poets have interpreted it in various ways. There is, however, one essential point, which is that this event examplifies every Muslim’s deep devotion and spiritual connection with Jerusalem.
the Prophet is reported to have received from God the command about the five daily prayers (salah) that all Muslims must perform. Upon his return to Mecca, the Prophet instituted these prayers. It is significant to note that Jerusalem was made the direction (al-qibla) that Muslims must face while saying their prayers. Jerusalem is thus called ula al-qiblatayn (the first qibla). The Prophet and the early community of Islam, during their stay in Mecca, worshipped in the direction of Jerusalem. After the Hijra, Muslims in Medina also continued to pray facing Jerusalem for almost seventeen months. Then came God’s command to change the direction of prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca (2.142–150). Muslim historians and commentators on the 
have explained the meaning and purpose of this change, which in no way diminished the status of Jerusalem in Islam. The 
in Mecca was meant to be the qibla from the beginning, because the 
said that it was the First House (awwal bayt) (3.96) established 
however, was full of idols when the Prophet Mohammad began preaching his message of tawhid (the unity and transcendence of Allah). A separation had to be made between the people and the pagan worship that they used to perform at the 
Jerusalem served that purpose very well. Once monotheism was fully established in the minds and hearts of the believers and the 
position with regard to Abraham and monotheism made clear, the way was open to restore the 
as the direction of prayers.
the Word of God. Later, when people had learned the difference between the 
and hadith (sayings and deeds of the Prophet), Muhammad gave them permission to write down hadith as well. It is widely held by Muslims that the 
in Mecca was the original direction of prayers for all the prophets, so that the cleansing of the structure of idols reestablished the status quo, rather than putting in place a new practice. According to one hadith, the Black Stone (alhajar al-aswad) had been in Mecca at the 
since the time of Adam. It was the prophets Abraham and Ishmael who built the 
under Allah’s command and direction (2.125–127).
we find no explicit references to Jerusalem by name or by any of its alternative names, such as al-Quds, Bayt al-Muqaddas or Ursalim. There is one reference to the masjid al-aqsa (‘most distant mosque’) in the account of Muhammad’s miraculous Night Journey, mentioning the holiness of what is taken to be a site in Jerusalem. The passage is ‘Praise be He who at night bore aloft His servant from the Sacred Mosque to the most remote mosque, whose surroundings we blessed, so that We might show him some of Our signs’ (17.1). It is sometimes claimed that it was only after the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem in 637 CE that the view became established that the mosque called ‘the most remote’ was the Temple of Jerusalem, and that Muhammad had experienced a transmigration 
to heaven while standing on the rock around which the Dome of the Rock was erected. There was, in fact, quite a controversy about whether Jerusalem was the site of the masjid al-aqsa, particularly as the reference in the 
that may well be to Palestine. It describes the site as near ghulibati l-rumu fi 
(‘the Greeks [i.e. the Byzantines] have been vanquished in the nearby land’) (30.2–3), which suggests that the distant mosque could not be the one in Jerusalem. It could also be claimed that Jerusalem was not even the first direction of prayer for Muslims. The 
(2.142) does mention a normal direction of prayer (qiblatihimi
kanu 
) prior to Muslims being commanded to face the (Meccan) ‘Sacred Mosque’ (al-masjid al-haram) but, although this is often taken to be Jerusalem, there is no explicit claim that the former or first direction of prayer was in fact Jerusalem.
and Hadith’, in J. Prawer and H.Ben-Shammai (eds) The History of Jerusalem: The Early Muslim Period, New York: New York University Press, 349–85.
