[Assam] “WE WILL REMOVE THIS SITE IF PROVEN WRONG”: Series of logical articles from THE site posted here to prepare for the challenge, as some people in Assam even using loud speakers to spread their message without a challenge. Aricle1: MsjidalAqsa.

[Bartta Bistar]

http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/sina/masjidalaqsa.htm
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Muslims are absolutely certain that Allah revealed Quran through his angle
Gabriel to Muhammad and nothing of that is changed.

Let us put this claim to the test. There is a hadith that reports Muhammad
one night, riode on a winged horse that drove him from Masjidu'lHaram to
Msjidu'l Aqsa (in Jerusalem) and from there to the seventh heaven where he
was shown the hell and the paradise and then taken to the presence of Allah.
This story that is commonly accepted by All the Muslims and is known as
Mi'raj is also confirmed in Quran

*Glory to (Allah)
Who did take His Servant for a journey by night,
>From the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque.*
-- Quran 17:1

Here we are not going to question the absurdity of such trip. Considering
that it would take the light (fastest thing in the universe) 8 years to make
a round trip to the closest solar system, and 30 billion years to the
outskirts of the known universe, and considering that wings don't serve
beyond the atmosphere of the Earth, such trip performed on the back of a
horse with wings in one night is just stuff of the fables. If Muhammad could
travel from Medina to the presence of Allah, riding on a winged pony, and
come back in one night, then Allah's palace must be not much far from
Medina. I wonder how come no one has found it yet?  We are not also going to
ask whether the gate of the heaven is in Jerusalem? Why Muhammad had to go
to Masjidul' Aqsa in order to go to heaven?

The biggest problem with this story is that the Masjid'ul Aqsa "Farthest
Mosque" was built after the death of Muhammad.

When Omar conquered Jerusalem he performed a prayer in the site where Temple
of Solomon used to stand. The Romans in 70 A.D destroyed that temple.  Since
then no temple, church or mosque stood on that spot. It was Calif 'Abd
al-Malik ibn Marwan who built the Dome of the Rock around 691 A.D. i.e 72
years after Hijrah. And Masjidu'l Aqsa was built on the Temple Mount by the
end of the 7th century. This is reported in The Concise Encyclopedia of
Islam, Harper & Row, 1989, p. 46 and 102.

Muhammad's alleged Mi'raj took place around the year 622. At that time
Jerusalem was in the hands of the Christians. There were no Muslims living
there and certainly there was no Mosque in Jerusalem. 53 years after the
death of Muhammad, Muslims built the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa on the
site where Solomon had his temple

This makes one wonder that perhaps, just like the Bible, also Quran was
written, manipulated and "enriched" years after its author passed away,
permitting the fables that were constructed around Muhammad after his death
to crepe into his book. Whoever has been the author of the verse 17:1, was
not aware that Masjid ul Aqsa did not exist during the time of Muhammad and
he could not have made his trip to heaven from a place that did not exist.

This, is an obvious blunder of those who compiled Quran so much so that many
Islamic scholars, including Yusuf Ali are of the opinion that by Masjid'u'
Aqsa, it is intended the SITE of the building and not the actual building.

This apologetic line could have been a way out of the dilemma if it was not
for the following Hadith, which unequivocally asserts that Masjid'ul Aqsa
was an actual building which existed in the time of Muhammad.

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 55, Number
636:<http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/055.sbt.html#004.055.636>

Narrated Abu Dhaar:

I said, "O Allah's Apostle! Which mosque was built first?" He replied,
"Al-Masjid-ul-Haram." I asked, "Which (was built) next?" He replied,
"Al-Masjid-ul-Aqs-a (i.e. Jerusalem)." I asked, "What was the period in
between them?" He replied, "Forty (years)." He then added, "Wherever the
time for the prayer comes upon you, perform the prayer, for all the earth is
a place of worshipping for you."

Muslims could bring the excuse that "Masjid' means any place of worship
(sojda), that is why the prophet refers to the temple of Solomon as Masjid.
In that case, all churches, synagogues and the Zoroastrian Ateshkadehs are
Masjids. During the time of Muhammad there were many such "Masjids" built in
cities much farther than Jerusalem. (i.e farthest from Mecca or Medina) and
the Masjid'ul Aqsa actually was not the farthest mosque.

This hadith presents yet another problem. Masjid'ul Haram (Ka'ba) was
allegedly built by Abraham. He lived about 2000 BC and the Temple of Solomon
(the site of the Msjid ul'Aqsa) was built about 958-951 BC.  There is a gap
of about over 1040 years between the dates of the construction of the two
buildings. His holiness Muhammad's mistake was a mere one thousand years.

By Ali Sina
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