Jerusalem Research Paper

Ori also mentions that the tensions rose due to Jews visiting the al Aqsa mosque complex. It is the holiest Islamic site in Jerusalem---and the “location of two ancient biblical temples.” (Ori, 2016).

Jesus had left Judea and traveled through Samaria on the way to Galilee. While in Samaria, he met the woman at the well in Sychar . After spending two days in Sychar, he travelled on to Galilee. While there he healed a government official’s son.

Jerusalem is the main reason why The First Crusade ever happened. It is an extremely important place of worship for multiple religions, including Christianity and Islam. Christianity puts great importance in Jerusalem because shortly after birth Jesus was taken to this city. Jesus also had his last supper here, and was crucified and buried right outside of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is also significant to Christians because it is the site of various saints or profits like Abraham, Solomon, David, Zachary and others (“The Importance of”). But Jerusalem is also valuable to Muslims for multiple reasons too, so much so that the Arabic translation is even “The Noble, Sacred Place.” Jerusalem was even the first Qiblah, the direction Muslims turn towards in prayer, meaning that they would turn to face Jerusalem when praying. It was also the location that Muhammad, messenger and prophet of God, took Muhammad from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to the Furthest Mosque (Al-Aqsa) in Jerusalem. He was then “taken up to the heavens to be shown the signs of God” (Dodge). The Prophet met with previous prophets and led them in a prayer. The entire journey lasted only a few hours (Dodge). It becomes obvious why the Christians and Muslims would go to such great lengths to possess this once city.

Judaism holds claim over Jerusalem because of the history of the Jewish people in Jerusalem. According to the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, the First Temple was built by King Solomon, at the site known as the Temple Mount today. The temple is believed to have been built by King Solomon, who was the king of Israel and Judea, as a place of worship. Jerusalem is also the location of Mount Moriah, which is where Abraham almost sacrificed his son and spoke with God. When the Babylonians captured the city, they destroyed the First Temple and sent the Jews out of

During the Medieval England, there were a series of military campaigns, known as the Crusades, against the Muslims in the Middle East. The military advancement tried to retake control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims. There has been a controversy over jerusalem because it holds a great significant to both the Jewish people, Christians, and the Muslims. To the Jewish people, it was the original temple to God built by King Solomon. For the Christians, it was where Jesus Christ was crucified and rose again. The Muslims on the other hand believe that it was the location where Mohammad ascended to heaven.

both saw it as a holy land for their religions. These bloody wars impacted the society at that time

While there are many religions that have a religious connection the the city, Judaism has by far the strongest connection because of the Western Wall, the two temples, and the Torah. As stated before, Jerusalem is mentioned many times throughout the Torah, while in the Quran, Jerusalem is not mentioned once. (in text citation). Israel is a religious state, specifically a Jewish state. It would make sense to make the holiest site of Judaism the capital of the religious state. Even though Israel is a religious state, there is religious freedom in the country under the Knesset Law. The law states, “places holy to the peoples of all religions shall be protected from any desecration and from any restriction of free access to them.” (in text citation) Since the 1860s, the Jewish people have been the largest ethnic group in Jerusalem and has not yet been interrupted. (in text citation). Splitting Jerusalem into East and West Jerusalem will separate and cause Jewish people to leave their homes on the East side, since the majority of the city is Jewish people. In Israel, as well as all over the world, there is an ideology called Zionism. Zionists believe, “Judaism is a nationality as well as a religion, and that Jews deserve their own state in their ancestral homeland,” (in text citation) Zionism creates a feeling of nationalism and pride. After the persecution of the Jewish people during the Holocaust, many Jewish people felt the need to have a home and a safe place. A reason Israel was established as the homeland for the Jewish people was because of this persecution, persecutions throughout history, and the innate connection between the Jewish people and

Hebrew religion, also acknowledged as Judaism is one of the most aged religions on Earth stretching about 3,000 years back. Two major languages linked with Judaism are Hebrew and Yiddish, though many other Jews speak Ladino and Aramaic a language of choice for ancient Jews. In the sacred texts it revealed that Adherents for Jews believed in a monotheistic religion, meaning they believe in a single all-powerful god. Creation of everything and everyone was done by only one God, through him everything exists. Beliefs and practices of Judaism’s core is on two writings, the Torah and the Talmud. Torah made up the first five books of the Bible, known as the “Old Testament” for Christians. This religion strongly believes they are the chosen people

At first Jerusalem was occupied by mainly Christians, then In 637 AD a massive army surrounded Jerusalem. The Christian people held out, from giving up their land to their invaders the Muslims. They believed that a Christian army would be sent to save them. But then in February 638, the Christian bishop of Jerusalem, Sophronius, was forced to surrender the city.

Muhammad: Jerusalem is the home the Dome of the Rock which sits in the place that my people believe that I rose into heaven. We also believe that Jerusalem is the holiest place on earth right next to Mecca and Medina.

They are, obviously, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, to place them in their fleeting date request, and clarifying why the city is so profoundly and truly critical to each of the three beliefs would consume significantly more room than we have here. Jerusalem is for the most part essential to Christianity meaning that that is the place Jesus Christ was conveyed to once in a while as a kid, lectured the poor in his grown-up life, crucified toward the end of his life, and revived by God. That is the reason Christianity is so important. Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Judaism and the genealogical and profound country of the Jewish individuals since the tenth century BCE. Jerusalem was seen as the point of meeting

The land of Israel has been the epicenter of Jewish-Muslims relations for hundreds of years. The Jewish claimed lands in Israel and established Jerusalem roughly five thousand years ago. Having survived through multiple of the world’s most powerful empires, the Jewish largely remained in the holy land of Israel. However, after angering Muhammad, the Muslim general Omar conquered Israel in 638 AD (Arlandson). The Muslims took complete control over Jerusalem and claimed the city to be the second holiest site in Islam. The intentions of Jerusalem were to allow Muslims to pray towards Jerusalem or Mecca and to allow Muslims to complete the Hajj if Mecca was ever forced to be shut off to foreigners (Pipes). In the mid 600s, the Umayyad dynasty

In the New Testament books of Luke and Acts, the accounts of the life of Jesus Christ are told from his youth and adolescence to his adulthood and death. Jesus was brought to Jerusalem, in his youth and adolescence, to be presented to God in the Temple, and to partake with his family in the Festival of the Passover. In his adulthood, he traveled to Jerusalem to preach to the poor, heal the sick and protect the people within the walls that surrounded Jerusalem. It is also the location of Jesus' Last Supper, his arrest in Gethsemane, his trial, his crucifixion at Golgotha, his burial, his resurrection and ascension to heaven. With the significance of Jerusalem being very high in the eyes of the Christian faith, there was very little doubt that there would be a battle to maintain or regain control of Jerusalem. Nine of the main conflicts, to preserve Jerusalem for the Christian faith, are known throughout history as the Crusades. During each crusade the theme was the same; recover the lands that were taken by people who were believed to be the enemies of God. The Crusades were fought to restore all holy lands and the lands that were once controlled by Christians back to “their rightful owners”.

According to Tweed, religious spaces are “differentiated”, “kinetic” and “interrelated”. What’s more, the depiction of Jerusalem in the biblical texts justifies the presence of these characteristics in this pivotal space for three major religions; God’s high recognition of Jerusalem and people’s entrenched belief that God is in the city and therefore their fearlessness against any potential disaster as shown in the Bible illustrates the uniqueness and thus the “differentiated-ness” of this city; the downfall of the city conforms to Tweed’s statement, “[spaces] change over time”, or the “kinetic” nature of religious spaces; the monetary cost and artistic precision necessary for building the First Temple, which alludes to the economic and cultural strengths of the area, elaborates on the “interrelated” feature of the religious spaces. (Tweed 2011:120) It is these qualities of Jerusalem found in the Bible that make it this holy and profane religious space, awing the devotees from all over the world.

Jerusalem, in modern times, represents a religious space to Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Jerusalem is defined by its long history of change and development. Early primary sources details and justifies the religious significance of the city. Each of the major religions that revere Jerusalem has their own reasoning. Prior to the Christian and Islamic belief, the Jewish believers associate Jerusalem with Davidic rule and the First and Second Temple on the Temple Mount. Muslims regard Jerusalem as holy, because “the Prophetical nocturnal journey was to Jerusalem first, and that the ascension of the Prophet Muhammad to Heaven started from Jerusalem, from al-Sakhra known now as Qubbat al-Sakhra (the Dome of the Rock)” (El-Khatib 2001:34). The Dome of the Rock is still present and can be visited today on the Temple Mount within Jerusalem. Similar to the ascension of Prophet Muhammad, the Christians believe that Jerusalem is the location of Jesus’ resurrection from death. The Dome of the Rock bears great significance to the Islamic people, but the question remains: Why exactly was it built on top of the Temple Mount? There can be multiple interpretations of the answer to this question. Some “claim that the reason for building [the Dome of the Rock] in Jerusalem was that, since Ibn al-Zubayr was in possession of Mek-kah, ‘Abd al-Malik wanted to divert pilgrims from the Hijaz by establishing the Palestinian city as the religious center of Islam” (Grabar 1959:35). Abd al- Malik