The Importance of Al-Quds for Muslims

The Zionists have always tried to make public opinion believe, at the same time wanting to sow doubts and perplexities among the less aware Muslims, that the "Islamic nature" of Jerusalem does not have any historical or religious foundation, since this city would have been 'discovered' (to use the term using one of the many Zionist propaganda documents) by Muslims only after 1967 We therefore do not believe it is devoid of value and of interest to mention what happened in 1228 in the holy land of Palestine, when the holy city of Jerusalem passed into Christian hands thanks to the negotiations between Frederick II and Malik al-Kamil.

The main sources in this regard are Sibt ibn al-Giawzi, himself a witness and participant in the Islamic reaction to the cession of Jerusalem obtained by the Swabian emperor, and ibn Wasil, who, although not directly acquainted with Frederick II, was later ambassador in Puglia to Manfredi.

Ibn Wasil reports: “After the truce was concluded, the Sultan sent to Jerusalem to proclaim the exit of the Muslims and the delivery of the city to the Franks; and the Muslims went out amid shouts and weeping and wailing. This greatly annoyed the whole Muslim world, which was saddened by the loss of Jerusalem and disapproved and judged this act of Malik al-Kamil vituperative, since the reconquest of that noble land and its recovery from the hands of the Unbelievers had been a of the major enterprises of Malik an-Nasir Saladin [..]".

Ibn Wasil himself goes on to explain that Malik an-Nasir, uncle of Malik al-Kamil, strongly disapproving of the decision, ordered the preacher shaykh Shams ad-din Yusuf, well known and respected by the people, to hold a sermon in the Great Mosque of Damascus, where he recalled the glories of Jerusalem, the pious stories and traditions related to them, speak of the humiliation and humiliation that his delivery to the unbelievers entailed for Muslims and says:

"It was a memorable day in which loud cries arose, the cries and groans of the crowd. I was at that gathering, and among the things I heard him quote is a rhyming 'qasida' t composed by him, in which he inserted a verse by the poet Di'bil al-Khuzai, and of which it has remained in my memory: 'In the Sanctuary of the Ascension and of the Rock, which surpasses every other rock on earth in glory, there are Koranic schools now deprived of the recitation of the sacred verses, and a seat of revelation with now deserted courtyards'."

Report Sibt ibn Al-Giawzi always about it: “The news of the surrender of Jerusalem to the Franks arrived and all the lands of Islam broke out. The fact was so serious that public mourning ceremonies were called: Malik an-Nasir Dawud invited me to preside over a meeting in the main mosque of Damascus, and to talk about what had happened in Jerusalem [...] It was a memorable day, in which none of the population of Damascus was left behind.

Among other things, I said in my allocution: <<Access to Jerusalem has been closed to the companies of pious visitors! Oh desolation of the devotees stationed there, how many prostrations of prayer have ever been performed for them in those places, how many of their tears have been shed in those homes! By Allah, if their eyes were living fountains they could not pay their debt of weeping in full, if their hearts were breaking with grief they could not satisfy their anguish. May God grace the honor of the Believers! Oh shame of Muslim rulers! For such an event tears are shed, hearts break with sighs, mourning rises high>>".

A brief note: we want to specify and underline how this Islamic reaction took place after the capture of Jerusalem by the Christians was absolutely peaceful, reached after an agreement (albeit highly questionable) between Malik al-Kamil and an enlightened emperor in love with and respectful of the Islam such as Frederick II (who arrived in Acre at the invitation of Malik himself), temporary agreements - since after ten years the holy city would return to Muslim hands - which envisaged that the city would remain dismantled and without walls, the sacred area of the Holy Rock Mosque and of the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the sole control of the Muslims, who were the only ones who had the right of access and who normally celebrated their ceremonies and rites there, that the area surrounding all of Jerusalem was Muslim-owned with a Muslim governor unlike the terrorist and violent occupation of the Zionists, who have altered its demographic aspect, who have killed, humiliated and imprisoned its legitimate inhabitants, who have changed its architectural and cultural structure to erase the Arab identity- Muslim, who have violated the holy places by wetting them with the blood of pious believers and soiling them with their own filthy presence. But insh'Allah, the day when al-Quds will return to the Muslims is near, as it is not far off