<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">  <HTML>  <HEAD>  <TITLE>Le Temple de Salomon et l'Islam</TITLE> </head> <BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000"> <h1><center>Le Temple de Salomon et l'Islam</center></h1> par Menahem Macina <p> Ci apr&egrave;s deux articles qui donnent mati&egrave;re &agrave; r&eacute;flexion. Il s'agit de deux avis radicalement oppos&eacute;s &eacute;manant de deux personnalit&eacute;s islamiques de premier plan, &agrave; propos de l'existence du Temple de Salomon et de la souverainet&eacute; isra&eacute;lienne sur J&eacute;rusalem-Est, l'une et l'autres ni&eacute;es et combattues par le mufti de J&eacute;rusalem, alors qu'elles sont confirm&eacute;es et appr&eacute;ci&eacute;es par le Cheik Palazzi. <p> Le premier texte (il s'agit d'une interview du mufti de J&eacute;rusalem par le journal allemand Die Welt) est en anglais (j'en ai traduit deux passages essentiels). Le second est &eacute;galement en anglais, mais je l'ai enti&egrave;rement traduit en fran&ccedil;ais. <p> Vous noterez la belle empathie dont fait preuve le Cheikh Palazzi &agrave; l'&eacute;gard du lien juif &agrave; J&eacute;rusalem, ainsi que l'honn&ecirc;tet&eacute; avec laquelle il reconna&icirc;t l'existence du Temple de J&eacute;rusalem, vulgairement ni&eacute;e par Arafat et des leaders religieux islamiques. <p> Quant au courage &eacute;tonnant dont fait preuve ce religieux islamique en conseillant de laisser la gestion politique de la Vieille Ville aux autorit&eacute;s Isra&eacute;liennes, il faut esp&eacute;rer qu'il ne le paiera pas cher. <p> En tout &eacute;tat de cause, ce type de prises de position reconnaissant la v&eacute;rit&eacute; des faits - h&eacute;las! trop rarement exprim&eacute;es, sans doute par peur des pol&eacute;miques ou pire encore - nous enseigne qu'il ne faut pas trop vite recourir &agrave; l'amalgame en ne voyant dans les dirigeants religieux islamiques que des fanatiques et des terroristes. <p> Ce fait r&eacute;confortant, m&ecirc;me s'il est marginal confirme, s'il en &eacute;tait besoin, que tout homme et toute femme, quelle que soit sa confession de foi, a en commun avec ses fr&egrave;res et soeurs en humanit&eacute; le sens de la v&eacute;rit&eacute; et de la fraternit&eacute;. <p> Menahem Macina <p> <h2><center>The PA Mufti : Jews from Germany Should Return There</center></h2> Special Dispatch - PA January 25, 2001 - No. 182 - Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)<br> P.O. Box 7837, Washington DC, 20038-7837 - Phone: (202) 955-9070 - Fax: (202) 955-9077<br> E-mail: MEMRI@erols.com  - Website: www.memri.org <p> The PA Mufti, Ikrima Sabri, was interviewed by the German Die Welt on the issues of Jerusalem, the Jews and the Arab-Israeli conflict. [1] Following is the interview:<br> (On se souvient peut &ecirc;tre de l'attitude agressive de ce dignitaire religieux, lors du voyage du pape en Terre Sainte) Voir, par contraste, les positions conciliantes de l'&eacute;ditorialiste de Haaretz : Mutual Respect on the Temple Mount <p> Une autre personnalit&eacute; musulmane reconnaissait sans probl&egrave;me, en 1996, l'origine juive de J&eacute;rusalem et de son Lieu Saint <p> Die Welt : The new Intifada is named after the Al-Aqsa Mosque which is on the Temple Mount. On January 4, the Chief Rabbinate declared that Jewish Halacha (Religious Law) prohibits "the transfer of sovereignty over the Temple Mount to foreigners, whether directly or indirectly", for it is the holiest place for the Jewish people. Four days later, you declared in a Fatwa that the place is Muslim in its entirety. Is this an unsolvable contradiction? <p> Sabri: There is not [even] the smallest indication of the existence of a Jewish temple on this place in the past. In the whole city, there is not even a single stone indicating Jewish History (IL N'Y A PAS LA PLUS PETITE INDICATION DE L'EXISTENCE D'UN TEMPLE JUIF DANS LE PASSE. DANS TOUTE LA VILLE, IL N'Y A PAS LA MOINDRE PETITE PIERRE TEMOIGNANT D'UNE HISTOIRE JUIVE). Our right, on the other hand, is very clear. This place belongs to us for 1500 years. Even when it was conquered by the Crusaders, it remained Al-Aqsa, and we got it back soon afterwards. The Jews do not even know exactly where their temple stood. Therefore, we do not accept that they have any rights, underneath the surface or above it. <p> Die Welt: It is agreed among archeologists that the Wailing-Wall is part of the foundation of Herod's temple. The Bible and other antique sources report about this place in detail. Why can't you respect the Jewish connection to this place? <p> Sabri: It is the art of the Jews to deceive the world (LES JUIFS ONT L'ART DE TROMPER LE MONDE). But they can't do it to us. There is not a single stone in the Wailing-Wall relating to Jewish History (IL N'Y A PAS LA MOINDRE PETITE PIERRE DU MUR (DES LAMENTATIONS) QUI REMONTE A L'HISTOIRE JUIVE). The Jews cannot legitimately claim this wall, neither religiously nor historically. The Committee of the League of Nations recommended in 1930, to allow the Jews to pray there, in order to keep them quiet. But by no means did it acknowledge that the wall belongs to them. <p> Die Welt: Why don't you allow Israeli scientists to dig there to look for possible remnants and proofs for or against the existence of the Jewish temple? <p> Sabri: We categorically reject all excavations under the Al-Aqsa mosque, because they would endanger the historical buildings on the site. Besides, they have already dug everywhere. All they could find were remnants of buildings from the Omayyad-period. Everything they excavated was related to Arabs and Muslims. <p> Die Welt: King Hussein once proposed "Divine Sovereignty" over Temple Mount, in order to reduce the tensions between peoples and religions there. <p> Sabri: We accept God's sovereignty. That is why this mosque is called Al-Aqsa. Allah himself gave it this name. Allah wants the place to belong to the Muslims and to no one else. This is acceptable to us. <p> Die Welt: Would you agree, if necessary, to the internationalization of the city, in order to manage these unsolvable problems? <p> Sabri: An internationalized Jerusalem would be worse for us than a Zionist Jerusalem. In such a case, the entire world, and not only one state, would be against us. This would be a regression to colonial times. <p> Die Welt: On March 23, the Pope said in Jerusalem: "Religion must never be an excuse for the use of force  especially when religious identity overlaps with cultural and national identity." How  would you answer him? <p> Sabri: Any religious man would agree with that. We also believe that religion is not the reason for the hatred between peoples. Only those without religion ignore that. But who are they? Who occupies and destroys other peoples and their property? <p> Die Welt: The Intifada is also violent. Wasn't the peaceful resistance with which Gandhi ended British colonialism in India, more successful? <p> Sabri: We have fought for peace without using violence since 1967. But no one listened to us. We won resolutions in the UN, but no one lifted a finger for us. <p> Die Welt: In your July 2000 Fatwa you declared: "We insist on the Right of Return for all the 1948 refugees and prohibit them from getting compensations for [the loss] of the Holy Land, for it has no price. What are the borders of this Holy Land that you refer to? <p> Sabri: From an Islamic point of view, it stretches from the Mediterranean to the Jordan [River]. It is Palestine in its entirety. <p> Die Welt: And there is no place for the Israelis? <p> Sabri: For the Jews who lived here before, there will be a place, of course. But all those Jews who came here from all over the world, must return to the places from where they came. The Jews from Germany should return to Germany. (laughs) After all, you like them so much, don't you? <p> Die Welt: Does this mean, that there is no place here for a Jewish state? <p> Sabri: I didn't address this issue in my Fatwa. All I said was that the refugees must return. I didn't say anything about the borders. <p> [1] Die Welt (Germany) January, 17, 2001.   <center><h2>Un Cheik sunnite affirme que le mufti de l'Autorit&eacute; Palestinienne d&eacute;forme l' Islam</h2></center>  By Etgar Lefkovits<br> Jerusalem Post <p> JERUSALEM (30 janvier 2001) <p> Le Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Cheik sunnite, secr&eacute;taire g&eacute;n&eacute;ral de l' Association Musulmane Italienne, s'est prononc&eacute; en faveur du maintien de la souverainet&eacute; isra&eacute;lienne sur la Vieille Ville de J&eacute;rusalem. Il accuse &eacute;galement le Mufti de J&eacute;rusalem nomm&eacute; par l'Autorit&eacute; Palestinienne d' utiliser la religion &agrave; des fins politiques d'une mani&egrave;re qui d&eacute;forme l' histoire de l'Islam. <p> &laquo; Dans la situation actuelle, la seule mani&egrave;re de pr&eacute;server les libert&eacute;s religieuses des trois principales religions est qu'Isra&euml;l soit seul &agrave; avoir la souverainet&eacute; sur la Vieille Ville &raquo;, a dit hier Palazzi. <p> Suite aux accords d'Oslo, l'Autorit&eacute; Palestinienne a &laquo; exil&eacute; &agrave; Amman le pr&eacute;c&eacute;dent mufti pour le remplacer par un autre qui se sert de sa position pour pr&ecirc;cher une id&eacute;ologie politique nationaliste &raquo;, dit Palazzi. En d&eacute;niant le lien du Juda&iuml;sme avec J&eacute;rusalem , le mufti de l'Autorit&eacute; Palestinienne nie aussi fondamentalement l'histoire de l'Islam, affirme Palazzi. <p> &laquo; Dire que le Temple de Salomon n'a jamais exist&eacute;, alors que ce dernier est mentionn&eacute; dans les principaux commentaires islamiques m&eacute;di&eacute;vaux, contredit non seulement la Bible et l'histoire, mais &eacute;galement l'Islam et le Coran, alors qu'il est notoire que le Coran est &laquo; une confirmation des Ecritures qui l'ont pr&eacute;c&eacute;d&eacute; &raquo;, dit-il. <p> Ma&icirc;tre de conf&eacute;rences &agrave; l'Universit&eacute; de Velletri, au d&eacute;partement d'histoire des religions, Palazzi a &eacute;galement occup&eacute; les fonctions d'Imam de la communaut&eacute; islamique italienne. Il est docteur en sciences islamiques par d&eacute;cret du grand mufti d'Arabie S&eacute;oudite. <p> Il a &eacute;t&eacute; co-fondateur, en 1998, de la Soci&eacute;t&eacute; d'Amiti&eacute; Islamo-Isra&eacute;lienne, qui encourage une attitude musulmane positive envers les Juifs et Isra&euml;l. Une &eacute;tude r&eacute;dig&eacute;e par lui en 1997 et intitul&eacute;e : &laquo; Le dialogue Jud&eacute;o-Musulman et la question de J&eacute;rusalem &raquo;, a &eacute;t&eacute; publi&eacute;e par l'Institut du Congr&egrave;s Juif Mondial.  <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/01/30/News/News.20474.html" target="_blank">http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/01/30/News/News.20474.html</a>  <center><h2>Sunni sheikh says PA mufti distorts Islam</h2></center> By Etgar Lefkovits <p> JERUSALEM (January 30) - A Sunni sheikh who is the secretary-general of the Italian Moslem Association, Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi, has come out in favor of Israel retaining complete sovereignty over Jerusalem's Old City. He also charges that the Palestinian Authority-appointed mufti of Jerusalem is using religion for a political goal in a way that distorts the history of Islam. "In the present situation, the only way to preserve religious freedoms for all three major religions is for Israel to be the single sovereign over the Old City," Palazzi said yesterday. <p> As a consequence of the Oslo accords, the PA has "sent the former mufti to exile in Amman and replaced him with a mufti who uses his position to preach with a political-nationalistic ideology," said Palazzi. By denying Judaism's connection to Jerusalem, the PA mufti is in essence negating Islamic history as well, Palazzi said. <p> "Saying that there was no such thing as a Solomon's Temple, even though that is mentioned in the major medieval Islamic commentaries, contradicts not only the Bible and history but Islam and the Koran as one," he said - noting that the Koran is "a confirmation of the scriptures that came before it." A lecturer at the University of Velletri in the department of history of religion, Palazzi has also served as imam for the Italian Islamic community. He holds a doctorate in Islamic sciences by decree of the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia. <p> In 1998, he cofounded the Islam-Israel Friendship Society, which promotes a positive Moslem attitude toward Jews and Israel. A 1997 essay he wrote entitled, "The Jewish-Moslem Dialogue and the Question of Jerusalem" was published by the Institute of the World Jewish Congress. </BODY> </HTML>  
