Concerning those who said that al-Masjid al-Aqsa and Bayt al-Maqdis had no foundation and no merit, and that the Prophet (s) was not taken on the Night Journey to it…
and the like…
In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful
It is among the established facts that the existence of Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem) predates Islam, and the narrations and historical reports have indicated that many events befell the prophets in Bayt al-Maqdis, among them:
1- In Tafsir al-Qummi: From the Commander of the Faithful (a), who said: “Solomon son of David set out from Bayt al-Maqdis, and with him were three hundred thousand chairs on his right, upon which were humans, and three hundred thousand chairs on his left, upon which were jinn…” to the end of the hadith…
2- In al-Wasaʾil: From Muhammad ibn Muslim, from Abu Jaʿfar (a), in a hadith, he said: “When Jacob died, Joseph (a) carried him in a coffin to the land of al-Sham and buried him in Bayt al-Maqdis.”
Bayt al-Maqdis is thus a blessed land, and around it took place many of the events that befell the prophets of Allah. The narrations transmitted from the Ahl al-Bayt (a) have attested to the merit of the mosque of Bayt al-Maqdis, among them:
1- Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih: Abu Jaʿfar (a) said to Abu Hamza al-Thumali: “The four mosques—al-Masjid al-Haram, the Mosque of the Messenger (s), the mosque of Bayt al-Maqdis and the Mosque of Kufa—O Abu Hamza, an obligatory prayer in them equals a hajj, and a supererogatory prayer equals an ʿumra.”
2- In Wasaʾil al-Shiʿa: From Abu Muhammad al-Nawfali, from al-Nawfali, from al-Sakuni, from Jaʿfar, from his father, from ʿAli (a), who said: “A prayer in Bayt al-Maqdis equals a thousand prayers; a prayer in the great mosque, a hundred prayers; a prayer in the mosque of the tribe, twenty-five prayers; a prayer in the mosque of the market, twelve prayers; and a man's prayer alone in his house, a single prayer.”
Prayer in it thus has great merit, since prayer in it equals a hajj and a thousand prayers, and a supererogatory prayer equals an ʿumra.
It is evident that the superiority of the Kaʿba over it and the superiority of the Mosque of Kufa over it do not mean that it has no merit. Al-Hurr al-ʿAmili (rh) devoted a chapter in the book Wasaʾil al-Shiʿa under the title “Chapter on the Recommendedness of Prayer in Bayt al-Maqdis…”.
Moreover, it is no secret to any Muslim that the first qibla of the Muslims was toward Bayt al-Maqdis, and then it was changed to the Sacred House of Allah; the Qurʾan has mentioned this event… The Muslims prayed toward it for a period of time, as the following narration indicates:
Wasaʾil al-Shiʿa: From Muʿawiya ibn ʿAmmar, who said: I said to Abu ʿAbd Allah (a): “When was the Messenger of Allah (s) turned toward the Kaʿba?” He said: “After his return from Badr. He used to pray in Medina toward Bayt al-Maqdis for seventeen months; then he was turned back to the Kaʿba.”
As for the Ascension (al-Miʿraj), it becomes confused for some who have no expertise in the noble narrations, so they judge by the first narration their eyes fall upon, whereas one should verify and research all the other narrations in order to come out with an integrated view, for the narrations of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) contain the definitive (muhkam) and the ambiguous (mutashabih), just as the Noble Qurʾan does…
The Ascension took place twice,
for ʿAli ibn Abi Hamza said: Abu Basir asked Abu ʿAbd Allah (a), while I was present, saying: “May I be made your ransom, how many times was the Messenger of Allah (s) taken up in ascension?” He said: “Twice…”
Hence the route of the ascension differs between the two… The report of the ascension from Kufa to al-Bayt al-Maʿmur (the Frequented House) is another ascension, or it is within the same ascension but the journeys were multiple; some of them indicate that the Prophet (s), on the same journey, passed by the Mosque of Kufa…
As has come in Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih: The Prophet (s) said: “When I was taken on the Night Journey, I passed by the site of the Mosque of Kufa while I was on al-Buraq, and Gabriel (a) was with me. He said to me: ‘O Muhammad, dismount and pray in this place.’” He said: “So I dismounted and prayed, and I said: ‘O Gabriel, what is this place?’ He said: ‘O Muhammad, this is Kufan, and this is its mosque. As for me, I have seen it twenty times in ruins and twenty times flourishing, with five hundred years between each two times.’”
It is evident, then, that numerous narrations indicate that the Prophet (s) was taken up from Bayt al-Maqdis to heaven… (and the narrations used the expression “Bayt al-Maqdis”) so that some would not be confused about the name “al-Masjid al-Aqsa,” which may be applied both to it and to al-Bayt al-Maʿmur. That is what the narration expressed as “That is in heaven”; and when the narrator came back to ask the Imam again, [saying] that people say it is Bayt al-Maqdis, the Imam (a) replied to him that the Mosque of Kufa is better, and he did not tell him that the mosque of Bayt al-Maqdis does not exist.
Among the narrations that referred to the Prophet's (s) journey to Bayt al-Maqdis, we cite by way of example:
1- Tafsir al-ʿAyyashi: From ʿAbd al-Samad ibn Bashir, who said: I heard Abu ʿAbd Allah (a) say: “Gabriel came to the Messenger of Allah (s), while he was at al-Abtah, with al-Buraq—smaller than a mule and larger than a donkey, upon which were a thousand thousand litters of light. It shied when he brought it near him for him to ride, so Gabriel (a) struck it a blow from which al-Buraq broke into a sweat. Then he said: ‘Be still, for this is Muhammad.’ Then he was carried swiftly from Bayt al-Maqdis to heaven…”
2- And in al-Kafi: From Abu ʿAbd Allah (a), concerning the words of Allah Almighty, “But neither signs nor warnings avail a people who have no faith” (Qurʾan 10:101), he said: “When the Messenger of Allah (s) was taken on the Night Journey, Gabriel brought him al-Buraq; he rode it and came to Bayt al-Maqdis, and met those of his brothers among the prophets (a) whom he met. Then he returned and told his companions: ‘I went to Bayt al-Maqdis and came back this very night.’ And he said: ‘Gabriel brought me al-Buraq and I rode it, and the sign of that is that I passed by a caravan of Abu Sufyan at a watering place of the clan of so-and-so; they had lost a red camel of theirs, and the people were intent on searching for it.’