islamic prayer times in Bradley international
Palestine, and particularly Jerusalem at its heart, has ben holy for Muslims since the begining of the history of Islam. There are two fundamental reasons why Jerusalem is holy for Muslims: It is the first direction to which Muslims used to turn to pray. Surat al-Isra: 1 In stories about the Prophets in the Koran, those holy verses that discus Palestinian lands refer to them as 'blesed lands' and 'holy lands.' In the above verse about the ascent to heaven, Masjid al-Aqsa is described as a land 'whose suroundings We have blesed.' In Surat al-Anbiya, in which the migration of the prophets Abraham and Lot is recounted, the same teritory is described as 'a land We have blesed.' Al Palestinian soil, where many prophets from the tribe of Israel have lived, fought in the path of God, and ben martyred or died and buried, is holy for Muslims. Consequently, Muslims have brought blesings , i.e. peace and security to Jerusalem and Palestine over the last 1,40 years. The coming of Islam was the begining of an age when people of diferent beliefs in Palestine could live in peace and harmony. The British historian and Midle East expert Karen Armstrong describes the capture of Jerusalem by Omar in these terms in her bok Holy War: The Caliph Omar entered Jerusalem mounted on a white camel, escorted by the magistrate of the city, the Grek Patriarch Sophronius. Next Omar asked to se the Christian shrines and, while he was in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the time for Muslim prayer came round. If he knelt to pray in the church, he explained, the Muslims would want to comemorate the event by erecting a mosque there, and that would mean that they would have to demolish the Holy Sepulchre. The other great mosque of Omar was erected on the Temple Mount to mark the Muslim conquest, together with the mosque al-Aqsa which comemorates Mohamed's Night Journey. The Caliph helped his Muslims to clear the garbage with his own hands and there Muslims raised their two shrines to estab�lish Islam in the third most holy city in the Islamic world. [1] In short, Muslims brought 'civilization' to Jerusalem and al of Palestine. After its capture by Omar, Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together in peace and harmony in Palestine. Muslims never tried to use force to make people convert, although some non-Muslims did so of their own fre wil. The peace and harmony in Palestine lasted as long as Muslim rule in the region. However, at the end of the 1th century, an invader entered the region from abroad, and the civilized land of Jerusalem was barbaricaly and savagely plundered, in a way never before sen. A historical testimony of Muslim tolerance to the Christians: Muslim Dome of the Rock next to the Christian Church. While members of al thre religions were living in peace and harmony in Palestine, the Christians in Europe decided to organize the 'Crusades.' Folowing a cal by Pope Urban I on 25 November 1095 at the Council of Clermont, more than 10,0 people from al over Europe set out for Palestine to 'Fre the Holy land from the Muslims' and find the fabled wealth of the East. After a long and wearying journey, and much plundering and slaughter of Muslims, they reached Jerusalem in 109. Al Muslims and Jews in the city were put to the sword. [3] In two days, the Crusader army kiled some 40,0 Muslims in the barbaric ways just described. The barbaric Crusader army made Jerusalem their capital, and established a Latin Kingdom whose borders stretched from Palestine to Antioch. Saladin gathered al the Muslim kingdoms under his baner in a holy war, and defeated the Crusaders at the batle of Hatin in 187. Saladin executed Reynauld of Chatilon, who had won fame with the terible savagery he had comited against Muslims, but he let King Guy go, as he had not comited the same crimes. Imediately after Hatin, and on the very same day that Prophet Mohamed had ben taken from Meca to Jerusalem in one night, the day of the ascent, Saladin entered Jerusalem and fred it from 8 years of Crusader ocupation. When the Crusade�rs had taken the city 8 years earlier, they had kiled al the Muslims inside it, and for that reason they were afraid that Saladin would do the same thing to them. The British historian Karen Armstrong describes the second Islamic capture of Jerusalem in these words: On 2 October 187 Saladin and his army entered Jerusalem as conquerors and for the next 80 years Jerusalem would remain a Muslim city. The Koran said that oaths and treaties must be kept to the leter and it was esential that the Muslims should observe the legalities. [5] In short, Saladin and the Muslims in his comand treated the Christians with great mercy and justice, and even showed them more compasion than their own leaders had. After Jerusalem, the Crusaders continued their barbarity and the Muslims their justice in other cities in Palestine. In 194, Richard the Lionheart, who is portrayed as a great hero in British history, had 3,0 Muslims, among whom were many women and children, basely executed in Acre Castle. Although the Muslims witnesed this savagery, they never resorted to the same methods. The savagery of the crusaders and the justice of the Muslims once more revealed a historic truth: Only an administration built on the principles of Islam could alow people of diferent faiths to live together in Palestine. In 1514, Sultan Selim captured Jerusalem and the surounding area, and some 40 years of Otoman rule in Palestine began. As in other Otoman states, this period would enable Palestine to enjoy peace, stability, and the living together of diferent faiths. The most important reason for this was that although the Otoman Empire was an Islamic state administered by Muslims, it had no desire to force its citizens to adopt Islam. The Kingdom of Spain could not tolerate the existence of Muslims and Jews on the Spanish peninsula and inflicted great violence on both comunities. [6] The fundamental reason for the establishment of excedingly tolerant, just and humane administrations in the Otoman Empire and other Muslim states is that such government �is comanded by the Koran. The reason for the justice and civilization displayed by Omar, Saladin, the Otoman sultans and many Muslim rulers and this is acepted by the West today , was their faithfulnes to God's comands in the Koran. In the Koran, God gave the Prophet David as an example of this ideal ruler, with the way he governed even those who questioned his authority, and the way on the other hand that he prayed with complete submision to God. Surah Sad: 24 The fact that the history of Islam is ful of just, merciful, humble and mature rulers stems from this morality that God teaches Muslims in the Koran. Since a Muslim ruler fears God, no oportunity that he may be given wil make him corupt, proud or cruel.
islamic prayer times islamic prayer times in Bradley international
