And God said: "Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah [Jerusalem]; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains [Temple Mount] which I will tell thee of."
— Genesis 22:2
Jerusalem has long been embedded into Jewish religious consciousness. Jews have studied and personalized the struggle by
Book of Psalms
. Many of King David's yearnings about Jerusalem have been adapted into popular prayers and songs.
The Talmud elaborates in great depth the Jewish connection with the city.
According to the Hebrew Bible, the First Temple, at the site known as the Temple Mount today, was built by King Solomon and finished in 930 BC,[6] and Mount Moriah is where Abraham almost sacrificed his son and talked to God. When the Babylonians captured the city in 587/6 BC, they destroyed the temple and sent the Jews into exile.[7] That is, all worshiping was practiced in the temple and only the temple. From the Babylonian capture, Judaism was codified.[8] The Tanakh (Old Testament) laid the foundation for both Christianity and Islam.
ascension. Jerusalem is generally considered the cradle of Christianity.[10]
The earliest Christians were outcast and used the Ichthys fish symbol as a way to know if someone was Christian. This would prevent prosecution or death from the Romans.[11] Christianity became more popular over time, but made a huge expansion when the Roman Emperor Constantine claimed Christianity as his religion and thus the religion of the Roman Empire.[12] Jerusalem is mostly important to Christianity because it is where Jesus Christ was brought occasionally as a child, preached to the poor in his adult life, crucified at the end of his life, and resurrected by God. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is said to have been built over the location where Jesus was crucified and where the tomb was buried.[13] The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is generally considered the most important church in Christendom.[14]
In Christianity, the Jewish connection with the city is considered as the account of God's relationship with His
Death and resurrection of Jesus being for the benefit of all mankind. Medieval maps of Europe usually placed the east ("orient")—Jerusalem—at the top, and this arrangement led to the use of the term "to orient" to mean to align a map with actual compass directions[citation needed
Islamization of East Jerusalem under Jordanian occupation
Al-Aqsa Mosque
In
Great Mosque of Mecca to Al-Aqsa ('"the farthest place of prayer") where he prayed, and then to visit heaven in a single night in the year 621.[20][19]
Glory be to the One Who took His servant ˹Muḥammad˺ by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We may show him some of Our signs. Indeed, He alone is the All-Hearing, All-Seeing.
Although the city of Jerusalem is not mentioned by any of its names in the Qur'an, it is mentioned in later Islamic literature as the place of Muhammad's Night Journey.[21] The story of Muhammad's ascension from Al-Aqsa Mosque was understood as relating to the Temple in Jerusalem (referred to as Bayt Al-Maqdis).[22] The Al-Aqsa Mosque is specified of being in Jerusalem in numerous hadith
(prophetic traditions):
When the people of Quraish did not believe me (i.e. the story of my Night Journey), I stood up in Al-Hijr and Allah displayed Jerusalem in front of me, and I began describing it to them while I was looking at it.
The most holy spot [al-quds] on earth is Syria; the most holy spot in Syria is Palestine; the most holy spot in Palestine is Jerusalem [Bayt al-maqdis]; the most holy spot in Jerusalem is the Mountain; the most holy spot in Jerusalem is the place of worship [al-masjid], and the most holy spot in the place of worship is the Dome
—
Prophets of Islam and their stories are mentioned in the Qur'an.[26]
Today, the Temple Mount is dominated by three monumental structures from the early
Church of Saint John the Baptist, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem
Traditional spot of John the Baptist's birth, inside Church of Saint John the Baptist, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem
According to
Jorunn J. Buckley, Mandaeans see themselves to be former Judeans based in Jerusalem and she believes Mandaeism to be of Judean or Israelite origin.[28] Mandaeans believe their chief prophet, John the Baptist, was born in Jerusalem. According to the Haran Gawaita, the Mandaeans loved the Lord Adonai until the birth of Jesus and had to flee Jerusalem due to persecution in the 1st Century CE.[29]
: 3
Hibil Ziwa. McGrath notes that the accounts of the destruction of Jerusalem in the Right Ginza portray it as justice for the persecution of Mandaeans, and suggests this to be evidence for a coherent proto-Mandaean community in Jerusalem prior to its destruction. This is similar to the Christian account that viewed the destruction of Jerusalem as vengeance for the persecution of Jesus and his followers. McGrath also adds that no other city in Mandaean literature is given as much attention as Jerusalem.[30]
"Israel was first forged into a unified nation from Jerusalem some three thousand years ago, when King David probably seized the crown and united the twelve tribes from this city... For a thousand years Jerusalem was the seat of Jewish sovereignty, the household site of kings, the location of its legislative councils and courts. In exile, the Jewish nation came to be identified with the city that had been the site of its ancient capital. Jews, wherever they were, prayed for its restoration." Roger Friedland, Richard D. Hecht. To Rule Jerusalem, University of California Press, 2000, p. 8.
"The Jewish bond to Jerusalem was never broken. For three millennia, Jerusalem has been the center of the Jewish faith, retaining its symbolic value throughout the generations." Jerusalem- the Holy City, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, February 23, 2003. Accessed March 24, 2007.
"The centrality of Jerusalem to Judaism is so strong that even secular Jews express their devotion and attachment to the city and cannot conceive of a modern State of Israel without it... For Jews Jerusalem is sacred simply because it exists... Though Jerusalem's sacred character goes back three millennia...". Leslie J. Hoppe. The Holy City:Jerusalem in the theology of the Old Testament, Liturgical Press, 2000, p. 6.
"Ever since King David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel 3,000 years ago, the city has played a central role in Jewish existence." Mitchell Geoffrey Bard, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Middle East Conflict, Alpha Books, 2002, p. 330.
"For Jews the city has been the pre-eminent focus of their spiritual, cultural, and national life throughout three millennia." Yossi Feintuch, U.S. Policy on Jerusalem, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1987, p. 1.
"Jerusalem became the center of the Jewish people some 3,000 years ago" Moshe Maʻoz, Sari Nusseibeh, Jerusalem: Points of Friction - And Beyond, Brill Academic Publishers, 2000, p. 1.
"The Jewish people are inextricably bound to the city of Jerusalem. No other city has played such a dominant role in the history, politics, culture, religion, national life and consciousness of a people as has Jerusalem in the life of Jewry and Judaism. Since King David established the city as the capital of the Jewish state c. 1000 BCE, it has served as the symbol and most profound expression of the Jewish people's identity as a nation." Basic Facts you should know: JerusalemArchived 2013-01-04 at the Wayback Machine, Anti-Defamation League, 2007. Accessed March 28, 2007.
. The Night Journey made Jerusalem the third holiest city in Islam
Brown, Leon Carl (2000). "Setting the Stage: Islam and Muslims". Religion and State: The Muslim Approach to Politics. Columbia University Press. p. 11.
^Historic Cities of the Islamic World edited by Clifford Edmund Bosworth P: 226
Antiochus Epiphanes, 167 BCE; restored by Herod, 17 BCE to 29; and completely razed to the ground by the Emperor Titus in 70. These ups and downs are among the greater signs in religious history." (Yusuf Ali
Jews worship at the Western Wall
Member of theultra-Orthodox Jewish community walking in front of Silwan. Many members of the ultra-Orthodox community travel to and live in Jerusalem
![Main entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; the church is generally considered the most important church in Christendom.[15]](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Jerusalem_Holy_Sepulchre_BW_24.JPG/200px-Jerusalem_Holy_Sepulchre_BW_24.JPG)
Main entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; the church is generally considered the most important church in Christendom.[15]![The Cenacle on Mount Zion, claimed to be the location of the Last Supper and Pentecost. Bargil Pixner[16] claims the original Church of the Apostles is located under the current structure.](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Jerusalem_Cenacle_BW_5.JPG/133px-Jerusalem_Cenacle_BW_5.JPG)
The Cenacle on Mount Zion, claimed to be the location of the Last Supper and Pentecost. Bargil Pixner[16] claims the original Church of the Apostles is located under the current structure.![Main entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; the church is generally considered the most important church in Christendom.[15]](/File:Jerusalem_Holy_Sepulchre_BW_24.JPG)
![The Cenacle on Mount Zion, claimed to be the location of the Last Supper and Pentecost. Bargil Pixner[16] claims the original Church of the Apostles is located under the current structure.](/File:Jerusalem_Cenacle_BW_5.JPG)
