Will Muslims Go To Jerusalem Rather Than Mecca? Will Jews Be Able To Worship On The Temple Mount?

New Islamic Fatwa Allows Millions of Muslims to Pray on Temple Mount

Posted by: Staff Writer May 2, 2014 , 10:04 am

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“Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever…” (Ezekial 43:7)

Aerial view of the Temple Mount. (Photo: Wiki Commons)

(JNS.org) A new Islamic fatwa permits millions of Muslims from around the world to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount.

The fatwa was issued during a two-day conference in Amman called the “Road to Jerusalem,” attended by more than 150 Islamic scholars as a way of to discuss “defending Islamic and Christian holy sites,” the Jordanian daily Ad-Dustour reported.

The fatwa called “Visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque Under the Occupation” encourages Palestinians who have foreign passports, as well as more than 450 Muslims who live in non-Islamic countries, to visit the Temple Mount. It cautioned that normalization of the Israeli “occupation” should be avoided, meaning that visitors should only use Palestinian-provided services such as lodging, food, and transportation.

Previous fatwas had prohibited Muslims from around the world from visiting the Temple Mount.

In related news, Israel’s religious affairs ministry is preparing new rules that would allows Jews to pray at the Temple Mount. The rules would reverse the current regulations, established when Israel gained control of the area in 1967, banning Jewish prayer from the site. Jews seen praying there have often been arrested or harassed by Muslims.

“I expect the prime minister and the government of Israel to adopt and validate these regulations and allow all Jews who desire so to go up to the Temple Mount and pray there,” Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Eli Ben-Dahan said in a video address to Liba, an organization supporting Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount.

“I call on the State of Israel and its leaders to act like a democratic state and protect the basic rights of every Jew who goes and prays on the Temple Mount,” said the director of Liba, Yehuda Glick, the Times of Israel reported.

In a separate expression of support for Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount, Christian pastor Keith Johnson urged “the children of Abraham” throughout the world to stand up to harassment at the holy site. When Johnson had visited the site himself and was about to greet Glick, he was surrounded by Waqf guards who forced him away, Israel National News.

“As an American pastor I am appalled by the actions of some Muslims who chastise Jewish visitors—including children—who desire to ascend the Temple Mount,” Johnson said in a recently posted YouTube video.

Pastor Keith Johnson: “Enough is enough!”