What do you think?
Rate this book
Jerusalem in Islamic Consciousness : a Textual Survey of Muslim Claims and Rights to the Sacred City
The existing omission of Palestine's Islamic history has had a far deeper consequence, whether intended or not, of rejecting indigenous Muslim claims and rights to the land. History is written within the scope of time and space; thus the Islamic period's time is omitted which also leads to a discontinuity of a people's right or claim to their own space. The Palestinians, who are the inhabitants of this land, are either completely absent from the history or at most a side show to the main act of Jewish history in Palestine, both ancient and present.
What Dr Hatem proposes to undertake is an exploration of the recorded Islamic history of al-Quds and Palestine and to establish the high reverence Muslims hold for this area. This is not an extensive chronological treatment of the subject, but one that provide focus on the religious foundations used to advance Muslim claims first to al-Quds, and by extension to the whole of Palestine.
The research will seek to answer the question often asked: what are the basis of Muslim claims to Palestine? What do Muslim sources say about al-Quds and the land? Why is al-Quds significant to the followers of Islam? Why should this Islamic understanding convey a legitimate territorial claim by the present day Palestinians? Finally, how has this Islamic consciousness been expressed in various periods? My hope is to work on a series of books dealing with this subject and this volume only serves as an initial foray into the subject to be followed by further research in the near future.
What Dr Hatem proposes to undertake is an exploration of the recorded Islamic history of al-Quds and Palestine and to establish the high reverence Muslims hold for this area. This is not an extensive chronological treatment of the subject, but one that provide focus on the religious foundations used to advance Muslim claims first to al-Quds, and by extension to the whole of Palestine.
The research will seek to answer the question often asked: what are the basis of Muslim claims to Palestine? What do Muslim sources say about al-Quds and the land? Why is al-Quds significant to the followers of Islam? Why should this Islamic understanding convey a legitimate territorial claim by the present day Palestinians? Finally, how has this Islamic consciousness been expressed in various periods? My hope is to work on a series of books dealing with this subject and this volume only serves as an initial foray into the subject to be followed by further research in the near future.
158 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2006
25 people want to read
About the author
Hatem Bazian
6 books11 followersDr. Hatem Bazian is a scholar of religion, politics, and globalization whose field specialties include Islamic Law, Awqaf and Fatawa Texts, Classical Arabic, Palestine, Islamophobia, Diaspora and Comparative Immigration, American Law and Society, Arab and Arab American Studies, Race Theory and History, Colonialism, Post-Colonial and De-colonial Studies, Ethnic Studies, Multi-Cultural and Cross-Cultural Studies, International Relations and Globalization, Social and Political Movement, Comparative Liberation Theologies, Languages, and Media.
Dr. Bazian is also a professor in the Departments of Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and an adviser to the Religion, Politics, and Globalization Center there. Prior to his post at Zaytuna College, he taught at UC Berkeley School of Law; UC Davis; San Francisco State University; Graduate Theological Union; Saint Mary’s College; and Diablo Valley College.
Dr. Bazian earned his PhD at UC Berkeley in Near Eastern Studies in 2000. His PhD thesis, titled “Al-Quds in Islamic Consciousness: A Textual Survey of Muslim Claims and Rights to the Sacred City,” contributes to better understanding of Muslim attachment and informed political attitudes toward the sacred city of Jerusalem and Palestine in general.
Dr. Bazian is fluent in Arabic and can read and write in Persian and read in Turkish and German.
Dr. Bazian is also a professor in the Departments of Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and an adviser to the Religion, Politics, and Globalization Center there. Prior to his post at Zaytuna College, he taught at UC Berkeley School of Law; UC Davis; San Francisco State University; Graduate Theological Union; Saint Mary’s College; and Diablo Valley College.
Dr. Bazian earned his PhD at UC Berkeley in Near Eastern Studies in 2000. His PhD thesis, titled “Al-Quds in Islamic Consciousness: A Textual Survey of Muslim Claims and Rights to the Sacred City,” contributes to better understanding of Muslim attachment and informed political attitudes toward the sacred city of Jerusalem and Palestine in general.
Dr. Bazian is fluent in Arabic and can read and write in Persian and read in Turkish and German.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 17, 2025
Dr Hatem Bazian, co-founder of Zaytuna College USA, presents his thesis on The basis of Muslim claims to present-day Palestine.
How and why this Islamic understanding convey a legitimate territorial claim by the present day Palestinians?
This book is aimed at, and more relevant to, Muslims living in West, and also for the Muslims already cut-off from their tradition, language, and history, influenced by English-only media/books.
Islam's designation in the West is as some kind of an illegitimate force that has no authenticity to it, which comes into the fore around Palestine and its Islamic history. Yes, there are some Western concerns about Palestinians' Human Rights. While this is welcome, it really does not begin to address the obfuscation and to a certain extent culpability in what was and is under way.
Dr Hatem proves the Muslim claim to land of Palestine through 4 layers:
1-Quran.
2-Hadith.
3-Prophet Ibrahim & Allah’s Covenant with Him.
4-Presence & control of Muslims of the area since time of Prophet, and its continues nature uptil 1924
The book opens by questioning the need to have “names”, then the author establishes the islamic name, like a surgeon with a scalpel, he pierces through each layer with precision, proving the authenticity of name “Al-Quds”, then questioning what is even “al-quds” and why is it “al-quds”. He establishes its meaning as known to people of that time in Hejaz and in Jerusalem, then traces its usage and modification through the centuries upto 21st century.
In Islam, not all names are equal and they do not share the same reality.
Jerusalem, Palestine, and the Arab world in general, is that they are often understood and imagined through a particular reading of the Bible and not through archeological or scholarly research. For many researchers, their starting point is the Bible as well as its timeline and its terminology.
The author, when incising through the layer of Hadith, brings all Israa wal Mi’raaj ahadith. Examine & analyze them from classical and modern perspectives, from the eastern and the western perspectives.
The astonishing revelation for me, was that Prophet pbuh already within his own lifetime, way before Umar r.a entered Jerusalem, gave certain cities of present-day Palestine to a Christian-revert-Muslim companion “Tamim al-Daari” as waqf. Parts of these cities are now under zionist occupation.
Prophet asked 'Ali ibn Abi Taalib to write the grant of properties in Palestine near the city of al-Khalil to Tamim and his descendants. This Ali did on a piece of leather cut from his own shoe. The text says:
In the name of Allah, merciful and compassionate. This is what Muhammad, Messenger of Allah, has granted for Tamim al-Daari and his brothers: Hebron, al-Martum, Bayt Aynun, Bayt Ibrahim, and what is in it is to be commonly shared property among them. I established and surrendered this to them, and for their descendants, and Whosoever harms them, Allah will harm him back. Witnessed by Atiq ibn Abu Quhaafa, Umar ibn Al Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan, amd Ali ibn AbiTalib wrote & witnessed.
The author then goes on to prove and link Prophet Ibrahim’s promise to Muslims, which is also the basis of Zionist claim to land.
It is precisely this mistaken understanding of Ibrahim's covenant that rests at the center of the question of Palestine and Bayt al-Maqdis, for one group lays claim to him based on narrow racial arguments at the expense of all others, who also have connections with him based on race and blood, but base their claims exclusively on spiritual affinity with him.
Spiritual affinity with Ibrahim (PBBH) is one of the bases for Muslim claims to Bayt al-Maqdis and Palestine; all other forms of "rights" have no bearing beyond the material.
In ending chapters, Dr Hatem takes us briefly through the centuries of Muslim control over the land, and then expands in the end, on Ottoman rule over Palestine. He includes Palestine under the Rise of Ottomans, and Palestine under the decline of Ottomans.
It is true that Palestine was not a separate or independent state at any time before to the 20th century, but this does not amount to the absence of a political, economic and social system in which the population invested and which it considered it to be its legitimate representatives. The modern nation-state structure is a recent development, and human history cannot retrospectively be held hostage to the dictates of modern nationalism, especially when those dictates serve the interests of those invoking them. The existence or non existence of a nation state cannot be the measuring stick used for assessing claims to a land.
Throughout the book, Dr Hatem keeps juxtaposing the historical data with narratives pushed in the West, he keeps sprinkling examples and references of Western authors as well as criticising them for their lack of sufficient research.
A number of Western writers have maintained that the surrender of al-Quds to 'Umar never occurred and that the account was a fictitious narrative authored by Muslims at a later time with the purpose of upgrading the status of the city in the eyes of the Muslims. A recent book popular in the U.S., Karen Armstrong's" Jerusalem, One City, Three Faiths," is more unequivocal in dismissing Muslim accounts, despite the author being more careful in her other works. Having not read any of the Arabic sources in the Arabic language gives a strong yet unwarranted discharge of the evidence.
I would recommend you read this book, then watch Jordan Peterson’s Netanyahu interview, and then read Ben-Gurion’s biography, and then watch Dr Khaled al-Ewaisi’s work. You will enjoy this ride.
Even the term Palestine, is too narrow in relation to the merits of al-Quds and its blessed surroundings. The historical term, which is to be found in Islamic sources, is Bilad al-Sham, a region broader than Palestine. The terms Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and others, with their present territorial connotations derive from 20th century colonial history with its intended policy of divide and conquer.
Slavery is of the mind, the body only has chains.
-ustaad
How and why this Islamic understanding convey a legitimate territorial claim by the present day Palestinians?
This book is aimed at, and more relevant to, Muslims living in West, and also for the Muslims already cut-off from their tradition, language, and history, influenced by English-only media/books.
Islam's designation in the West is as some kind of an illegitimate force that has no authenticity to it, which comes into the fore around Palestine and its Islamic history. Yes, there are some Western concerns about Palestinians' Human Rights. While this is welcome, it really does not begin to address the obfuscation and to a certain extent culpability in what was and is under way.
Dr Hatem proves the Muslim claim to land of Palestine through 4 layers:
1-Quran.
2-Hadith.
3-Prophet Ibrahim & Allah’s Covenant with Him.
4-Presence & control of Muslims of the area since time of Prophet, and its continues nature uptil 1924
The book opens by questioning the need to have “names”, then the author establishes the islamic name, like a surgeon with a scalpel, he pierces through each layer with precision, proving the authenticity of name “Al-Quds”, then questioning what is even “al-quds” and why is it “al-quds”. He establishes its meaning as known to people of that time in Hejaz and in Jerusalem, then traces its usage and modification through the centuries upto 21st century.
In Islam, not all names are equal and they do not share the same reality.
Jerusalem, Palestine, and the Arab world in general, is that they are often understood and imagined through a particular reading of the Bible and not through archeological or scholarly research. For many researchers, their starting point is the Bible as well as its timeline and its terminology.
The author, when incising through the layer of Hadith, brings all Israa wal Mi’raaj ahadith. Examine & analyze them from classical and modern perspectives, from the eastern and the western perspectives.
The astonishing revelation for me, was that Prophet pbuh already within his own lifetime, way before Umar r.a entered Jerusalem, gave certain cities of present-day Palestine to a Christian-revert-Muslim companion “Tamim al-Daari” as waqf. Parts of these cities are now under zionist occupation.
Prophet asked 'Ali ibn Abi Taalib to write the grant of properties in Palestine near the city of al-Khalil to Tamim and his descendants. This Ali did on a piece of leather cut from his own shoe. The text says:
In the name of Allah, merciful and compassionate. This is what Muhammad, Messenger of Allah, has granted for Tamim al-Daari and his brothers: Hebron, al-Martum, Bayt Aynun, Bayt Ibrahim, and what is in it is to be commonly shared property among them. I established and surrendered this to them, and for their descendants, and Whosoever harms them, Allah will harm him back. Witnessed by Atiq ibn Abu Quhaafa, Umar ibn Al Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan, amd Ali ibn AbiTalib wrote & witnessed.
The author then goes on to prove and link Prophet Ibrahim’s promise to Muslims, which is also the basis of Zionist claim to land.
It is precisely this mistaken understanding of Ibrahim's covenant that rests at the center of the question of Palestine and Bayt al-Maqdis, for one group lays claim to him based on narrow racial arguments at the expense of all others, who also have connections with him based on race and blood, but base their claims exclusively on spiritual affinity with him.
Spiritual affinity with Ibrahim (PBBH) is one of the bases for Muslim claims to Bayt al-Maqdis and Palestine; all other forms of "rights" have no bearing beyond the material.
In ending chapters, Dr Hatem takes us briefly through the centuries of Muslim control over the land, and then expands in the end, on Ottoman rule over Palestine. He includes Palestine under the Rise of Ottomans, and Palestine under the decline of Ottomans.
It is true that Palestine was not a separate or independent state at any time before to the 20th century, but this does not amount to the absence of a political, economic and social system in which the population invested and which it considered it to be its legitimate representatives. The modern nation-state structure is a recent development, and human history cannot retrospectively be held hostage to the dictates of modern nationalism, especially when those dictates serve the interests of those invoking them. The existence or non existence of a nation state cannot be the measuring stick used for assessing claims to a land.
Throughout the book, Dr Hatem keeps juxtaposing the historical data with narratives pushed in the West, he keeps sprinkling examples and references of Western authors as well as criticising them for their lack of sufficient research.
A number of Western writers have maintained that the surrender of al-Quds to 'Umar never occurred and that the account was a fictitious narrative authored by Muslims at a later time with the purpose of upgrading the status of the city in the eyes of the Muslims. A recent book popular in the U.S., Karen Armstrong's" Jerusalem, One City, Three Faiths," is more unequivocal in dismissing Muslim accounts, despite the author being more careful in her other works. Having not read any of the Arabic sources in the Arabic language gives a strong yet unwarranted discharge of the evidence.
I would recommend you read this book, then watch Jordan Peterson’s Netanyahu interview, and then read Ben-Gurion’s biography, and then watch Dr Khaled al-Ewaisi’s work. You will enjoy this ride.
Even the term Palestine, is too narrow in relation to the merits of al-Quds and its blessed surroundings. The historical term, which is to be found in Islamic sources, is Bilad al-Sham, a region broader than Palestine. The terms Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and others, with their present territorial connotations derive from 20th century colonial history with its intended policy of divide and conquer.
Slavery is of the mind, the body only has chains.
-ustaad
Displaying 1 of 1 review