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Panel: Jerusalem of Incidental Importance in Islam

(Jerusalem Post) Oren Kessler - Jerusalem is of incidental significance to Islam, according to a panel of scholars who met Wednesday at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center. Daniel Pipes, director of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, noted that Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible more than 800 times as well as in prayer services, daily blessings and wedding services. However, in Islam, Pipes said, "It is not prayed to, not mentioned once in the Koran; there are no events in Muhammad's life directly connected to it." "Jerusalem became important to Islam when someone else wanted it," said Moshe Sharon, an Islamic history scholar at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "Jerusalem is not on any major trade routes. Only independent or semi-independent states with biblical cultures have made it a capital: The Jews, Crusaders and British," Sharon said. "Jerusalem was never a capital under Islam. When the Muslims came here, they created a new capital - Ramle, not Jerusalem."
2012-03-16 00:00:00
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