Part 13 · Final of the series “The Palestine Question” · Conclusion

Glad Tidings of
Jerusalem’s Liberation

We began the series with a blessed land, prophets and Umar’s conquest; we close with the question of hope. What do the Qur’an and Sunnah say about the future of Bayt al-Maqdis? How have scholars understood these texts? And what is the difference between a certain promise and a speculative forecast?

For high-school & university students5 themes · 35-minute readQuiz at the end

Jerusalem’s “returns” in history · tap any point

Earliest on the left. Every occupation ended, even if after generations.

One

Before We Read: Five Rules of Method

Prophetic glad tidings are a trust; read without method, they become a source of disappointment, passivity or injustice.

Separate the authentic from the weak: with every hadith we give its source and its grading as judged by hadith scholars.

Certainty in the promise, the unseen in its timing: “Say: its knowledge is only with my Lord.” Fixing a specific year is a fallible human effort.

No definitive application to people and events: many throughout history were sure end-times hadiths were being fulfilled in their day, and they were not.

Glad tidings drive action; they do not replace it: Nur al-Din and Saladin did not wait for prophecies; they prepared the community generation after generation (Part 2).

Liberation without injustice: our standard is Umar’s Covenant (Part 1): safety for people of all faiths and a ban on killing non-combatants. The struggle is with occupation, not with followers of a religion.

Two

In the Qur’an

Surat al-Isra opens with Al-Aqsa Mosque, then immediately speaks of the Children of Israel’s two corruptions.

“Exalted is He who took His servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed.”Al-Isra 17:1 (translation of the meaning)

The verses of the two corruptionsAl-Isra 17:4–8

“And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Scripture: you will surely cause corruption on the earth twice, and you will surely reach a great height. So when the promise of the first of them came, We sent against you servants of Ours of great military might, and they probed even into the homes, and it was a promise fulfilled. Then We gave you back a return against them and reinforced you with wealth and sons and made you more numerous in manpower. If you do good, you do good for yourselves; and if you do evil, it is against yourselves. Then when the final promise came, [We sent them] to sadden your faces and to enter the mosque as they entered it the first time, and to destroy what they had taken over with total destruction. It is expected that your Lord will have mercy upon you; but if you return, We will return.”Al-Isra 17:4–8 (translation of the meaning)

How did commentators understand them?Three trends · choose

General promises that do not fail

“And We have already written in the Psalms after the Reminder that the land is inherited by My righteous servants.”Al-Anbiya 21:105

“O you who have believed, if you support Allah, He will support you and plant firmly your feet.”Muhammad 47:7

Note that the promise is conditional on righteousness and support of the truth: “Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves” (Al-Ra’d 13:11).

Three

In the Prophetic Sunnah

Hadiths about Bayt al-Maqdis, its people and its future. Tap each hadith to see its text, source and grading.

The hadith of the stone and the tree: how should we understand it?

“The Hour will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them, until a Jew hides behind a stone or a tree, and the stone or tree says: O Muslim, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him, except the gharqad, for it is one of the trees of the Jews.”
Narrated by Bukhari (2926) and Muslim (2922); wording of Muslim

Four

Scholars and Thinkers: Certainty, Readings and Forecasts

Between reading the patterns of history, attempts to date the outcome, and anxiety from inside Israel.

Reading the patterns of historyFlip the cards

Attempts at dating… and their lessonTap for details

The lesson: 2022 passed and the forecast date did not come true. That does not touch the substance of the glad tidings or the standing of the scholar who made the attempt, but it confirms the rule: the promise is certain, the date is unseen. Anyone who ties their faith to a specific date may be shaken when the date passes.

The “eighth-decade curse”Anxiety from within

Israeli writers and officials discuss the idea that the two ancient Jewish polities (the kingdom of David and the Hasmonean kingdom) did not survive past their eighth decade. In 2017 Netanyahu voiced concern about this and said he was working for the state to reach its hundredth year, and in 2020 Uzi Dayan wrote that the eighth decade is “laden with dangers.” Many cite these readings, but they are neither scriptural texts nor inevitable laws.

Five: Conclusion

The Path of the Promise

What have thirteen parts taught us? That liberation follows divine laws with conditions; it is not a miracle that falls on those who wait.

The conditions of victory as the series draws themDrag the slider

Jerusalem was occupied for 88 years, and was freed by a generation that Nur al-Din formed before Saladin was born. The coast stayed occupied for two centuries, and no one gave up an inch. This series was written for the generation that reads, understands and acts, not for the generation that waits.The series in one line

For group discussion

What is the difference between a “glad tiding” and a “forecast”? Why is confusing them harmful?
The hadith of the stone and the tree: how would you explain it to a non-Muslim classmate who sees it as a call to hatred? Use its context and the hadiths forbidding the killing of non-combatants.
Choose one condition of victory and propose a practical action your generation can take toward it.

Wrap-up

Test Yourself

10 questions on the glad tidings of Jerusalem’s liberation and how to read them. This completes the series.