a question Yaya and Emvee might know

[sprunkner]

I'm doing a summary of the Crusades for a class and I remember hearing somewhere that it was Saladin who really popularized the idea of Jerusalem as Islam's third holiest site, expounding on the ideas of certain hadith and the story of the Night Journey in the Qur'an.

Any idea if this is true?

[Predabot]

Really? I've never heard of it.

I wagered such things would have been decided by the great moolah Muhammed himself. Quite surprised someone would dare such an after-construct.

I always thought Saladin was a fairly bright bloke, set on co-operation and co-existance with us shaggy northeners btw. A worldly man first, religion and schtuff last.

[Best First]

searing insight.

[Yaya]

I'm doing a summary of the Crusades for a class and I remember hearing somewhere that it was Saladin who really popularized the idea of Jerusalem as Islam's third holiest site, expounding on the ideas of certain hadith and the story of the Night Journey in the Qur'an.

Any idea if this is true?

Certainly, Jerusalem has always been one of the holy cities of Islam, way before the time of Salahuddin Ayubi, and even before the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

In fact, Muslims used to pray towards Jerusalem until Allah revealed in the Quran the order to turn towards Mecca, Islams holiest city, the birthplace of the Prophet(PBUH).(Quran 2:142 - 150).

The Kaaba in Mecca was meant to be the direction in which to pray from the beginning, however, because the Quran says that it was the First House (Quran 3:96) established for mankind to worship the One God.

The Kaaba, however, was full of idols when the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) began preaching his message of the Oneness of the Creator. The tradition of Abraham had been lost and replaced with the worship of stone idols.

So a separation had to be made between the people and the pagan worship that they used to perform at the Kaaba. Jerusalem served that purpose very well by distancing the people from their pagan and idolatrous associations.

Once monotheism was fully established and once the Kaaba's position with Abraham and with monotheism was made clear, the way was open to restore the Kaaba in Mecca as the direction of prayers.

So Jerusalem without a doubt was considered one of Islams holiest of cities.

And as you say, the Isra and Miraj (the night journey) certainly add to it's signficance amongst Muslims, as well as it's association with the prophets David, Solomon, Jesus, etc.

Regarding Sallahuddin, the description of his character, like any historical text, will vary depending on the source. However, even non-Muslim historians describe him as a just leader and commander.

[sprunkner]

Yeah, I spoke to an Islamicist, and basically the notion is that Saladin brought Jerusalem to the forefront of Muslim thought at the time, but it had always been considered one of the three holy cities.

Saladin (besides yaya's spelling, also spelled Salah al-Din, or a dozen other different ways--transliteration from the Arabic alphabet is fun) is a very complex historical character. He was considered the model of chivalry, the "idealized Other" of the West.

From what I've found studying his life, he seems to have been an extremely polite person and an extremely ruthless commander in battle. If you've seen Kingdom of Heaven, the portrayal of Saladin is one of the few that, I think, is true to history.

[spiderfrommars]

searing insight.