All praise is to Allāh, and Salutations and prayers are upon the Messenger of Allāh (sall Allāhu ʿalayhī wa sallam)
Al-Quds, or Jerusalem, is an Islamic land and no one can change that reality.
“Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al- Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing.”[1]
Historically the status of Al-Quds is the yardstick by which the Ummah’s strength is measured. When the Ummah was strong ʿUmar b. al-Khattāb opened it. When the Ummah became weak in the end of the 4th Hijri century it was occupied by the crusaders. When the Ummah became strong again Salāh al-Dīn al-Ayyūbī liberated it once again. And after the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate, it was occupied once again. And the Day of Judgement will not take place until the Ummah becomes strong again and liberates itself from occupation as the Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) informed us.
Al-Quds has always been the icon or reference point which exposes the reality of the relationship between the three faiths of Divine scriptures; Islam, Christianity and Judaism. And, as a result, all three faiths have always had interest in it and hence it is a place where major global conflicts will take place.
Despite the emergence and violent imposition of secularism, the global status of Al-Quds is testament of the continuance and the presence of faith in people’s lives.
The move by Donald Trump to make attempts to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of an illegal state, “Israel”, not only exposes the reality of the US as a supporter for aggression against Muslims, but it exposes the humiliated status of the current contemporary political leaders of the Ummah. Muslims are routinely accused of provoking conflicts with other peoples but the reality is clearly that they are only reacting to the provocation carried out by the likes of Trump and those before him. The real question is who is to blame?