Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Qur'an and Muhammad was never there continued

Submitted by Lactantius Jr (United Kingdom), Oct 5, 2011 at 04:43

To Yomna

Your commitment to the Qur'an and its wrongful description in Sura 17:001 of Muhammad's alleged journey to the heavens from Jerusalem is touching, but you fail to engage with recorded history which overturns this alleged journey.

I therefore summarise in the form of a Timeline what recorded history has to say, and ask that you answer the questions it poses.

Timeline

• Solomon's Temple built 958-951 BC and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian armies in 587 BC.

• Second Temple (King Herod) built 37-4 BC and destroyed by General Titus and his Roman soldiers in AD 70

• Muhammad born AD 572

• Muhammad's alleged "night journey" and mi'raj AD 622

• Muhammad died AD 632

• Dome of the Rock built by Amir Abd-ul-Malik AD 688-691

• Masjid al-Aqsa built AD 715

Questions

In light of these dates:-

• What Temple did Muhammad visit, enter and pray at, before ascending to heaven??

• Seeing that the Qur'an mentions an alleged journey of Muhammad's to a mosque that did not exist during his lifetime, how should this be interpreted??

• Does the incompatibility of the dates quoted in the Timeline increase your confidence in Muhammad as a prophet of the true and living God??

Study of Sura 17:001 has opened up the minds of many Muslims, one of them being Ahmad Muhammad 'Arafa, a columnist for the Egyptian publication Al-Qahira, a weekly published by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture.

In one of his articles in Al-Qahira (Egypt) dated August 5th.2003, 'Arafa clearly demonstrated that Surat Al Isra' does not refer to Muhammad's alleged miraculous journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, but to his Hijra from Mecca to Medina.

The fact that 'Arafa 's article was published in an Egyptian Government journal strongly indictates that both the Egyptian Government and its religious establishment found his findings to be absolutely credible, hence its publication in an Islamic government's owned weekly publication!!

A review of 'Arafa's publication was published by MEMRI (The Middle-East Research Institute) on September 3rd.2003 under the heading Egyptian Ministry of Culture Publication: The Prophet Muhammad's 'Night Journey' was Not to Jerusalem but to Medina

http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/941.htm#_edn1

I have provided you with the information needed to correctly interpret Muhammad's alleged night journey to Jerusalem and his ascension from there to the heavens, but what you do with that information is your responsibility.

With kind regards and best wishes

Lactantius Jr

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