Jerusalem...

[stevie1time]

Could someone explain to me in Plain simple English.. Why do the Jewish,Christian and Muslim faiths each lay claim to the holy city and how and when did this come about...As obviously Judaism is the older faith??

[hau kola]

Dont know the answer,just want to say hi,how are you?

[stevie1time]

Bonjour Kola!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[naomi24]

All three religions lay claim to the city, since the same God is the common factor in all. This isn't the best link, but it explains the reason simply.

http://archive.wn.com/2007/07/12/1400/jerusale mcity/index1.html

[Octavius]

Judaism � The (First) Temple of Solomon was built by King Solomon in the 10th C BC. It functioned as a religious focal point for worship and the sacrifices known as the korbanot in ancient Judaism. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. Another temple (Second) was rebuilt but destroyed when the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70AD. It is thought that the Western 9or Wailing) Wall is all that remains of the Second Temple. It was and is a place of worship and mourning (for the destruction of the temple) for many Jews.

Christianity - Jerusalem became the birthplace of Christianity in the first century AD. According to the New Testament, it is the location of both the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Roman Emperor Hadrian rebuilt the city as a pagan city, Aelia Capitolina, in AD 135. He placed restrictions on some Jewish practices, which caused a revolt by the Judeans. Hadrian responded with overwhelming force, putting down the revolution, killing as many as a half million Jews, and resettling the city as a Roman colonia under the name Aelia Capitolina. Jews were forbidden to enter the city but for a single day of the year. For the next 150 years, the city remained a relatively unimportant Roman town. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine, however, rebuilt Jerusalem as a Christian center of worship, building the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 335. Jews were still banned from the city, except during a brief period of Persian rule from 614-629 AD.

/cont'd...

[Octavius]

/cont'd...

Islam - The Qu�uran does not mention Jerusalem, but the hadith specify that it was from Jerusalem that Muhammad ascended to heaven in the Night Journey. The city was one of the Arab Caliphate's first conquests in 638 AD; according to Arab historians of the time, the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab personally went to the city to receive its submission, cleaning out and praying at the Temple Mount in the process. Sixty years later the Dome of the Rock was built, a structure enshrining a stone from which Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven during the Isra.

The early Arab period was one of religious tolerance. However, in the early 11th century, the Egyptian Fatimid ordered the destruction of all churches and synagogues in Jerusalem, a policy reversed by his successors. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered by most Christians as the site of Christ's crucifixion and burial, was among the places of worship destroyed. Reports of this and the killing of Christian pilgrims were one cause of the First Crusade, which marched off from Europe to the area, and, on July 15, 1099, Christian soldiers took Jerusalem after a difficult one month siege. The Jews were among the most vigorous defenders of Jerusalem against the Crusaders. When the city fell, the Crusaders gathered the Jews in a synagogue and burned them.

There is a whole lot more history from the middle ages to present day, but that forms the basis for the historical, religious and territorial contention of the Levant.

[stevie1time]

Thanks Naomi,Octavius...I read somewhere that The Ark Of the Covenant is mentioned in the Qu'uran.....I expressed this in a conversation with a muslim friend and he dissagreed???

[Octavius]

What did he disagree with? The AotC is mentioned in the Qu'ran.

[stevie1time]

Yes,that it couldnt of been,ive just googled it and it is..

[Octavius]

Yes, the emphasis in my last post should have been on the word �is�.