In the last 1300 years, with only one exception, the Temple Mount has been in the hands
of Muslims. On July 15, 1099 Jerusalem was taken from the Muslims by the Crusaders from
Europe. The Crusaders slaughtered the inhabitants of Jerusalem in an unjustified carnage. The
Dome of the Rock was converted into a Christian church called the Templum Domini – “Temple
of our Lord.”
The Crusaders then began to use the Al-Aqsa Mosque as headquarters for the Knights
Templar who officiated over the Temple Compound. A remnant of the Crusader occupation still
exists today, the tombs of the assassins of Thomas Beckett, the Archbishop of Canterbury (1118-
1170). After murdering Beckett, the assassins traveled to Jerusalem and took up with the Knights
Templar. Their tombs are situated near the main entrance.
The Western world rejoiced that Jerusalem was in the hands of “Christians. ” The victory,
however, caused Muslims to immediately launch campaigns to regain the city and the Dome
from the Christian infidels. The Crusader occupation was relatively short-lived. The Muslim
leader Saladin (Salah al-Din) proclaimed a jihad, or holy war, to retake the land of Palestine.
After ninety years of Crusader control, Jerusalem surrendered to Saladin’s army on October 2,
1187. In contrast to the brutality of the Crusaders, Saladin treated the defeated Crusaders with
kindness and mercy.
The golden cross that was placed on the Dome of the Rock was torn down. Saladin
rededicated the Templar’s headquarters as a mosque. The Dome was covered with beautiful
mosaics and a prayer niche facing Mecca was added.
Jerusalem was back in the hands of the Muslims and Europe was ready to avenge the
defeat. A Third Crusade was undertaken (1189-1192) to free Jerusalem from the armies of
Saladin. Richard the Lion-hearted led England and other Crusaders in a fruitless attempt to
retake the city. To this day, the Temple Mount remains in Muslim control.
Jerusalem Lies Desolate
In 1267 the Jewish sage Nahmanides wrote a letter to his son. It contained the following
references to the land and the Temple.
What shall I say of this land? The more holy the place, the greater the desolation. Jerusalem is the
most desolate of all… There are about 2,000 inhabitants … but there are no Jews, for after the
arrival of the Tartars, the Jews fled, and some were killed by the sword. There are now only two
brothers, dyers, who buy their dyes from the government. At their place a quorum of worshipers
meets on the Sabbath, and we encourage them, and found a ruined house, built on pillars, with a
beautiful dome, and made it into a synagogue…People regularly come to Jerusalem, men and
women from Damascus and from Aleppo and from all parts of the country, to see the Temple and
weep over it. And may He who deemed us worthy to see Jerusalem in her ruins, grant us to see
her rebuilt and restored, and the honor of the Divine Presence returned.
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An account exists of Napoleon’s visit to the Temple Mount on the 9th of Av, the day of
the commemoration of the Temple’s destruction. When asked what all the crying and wailing
was about, Napoleon was told that the Jews were mourning their Temple that had been destroyed
1800 years previously. Touched by the incident the French Monarch said, “A people which
weeps and mourns for the loss of its homeland 1800 years ago and does not forget – such a
people will never be destroyed. Such a people can rest assured that its homeland will be returned
to it.”
Jerusalem under Turkish Rule
The Ottoman Turks, non-Arab Muslims, became the dominant power in the 15th century.
In 1453 they captured the city of Constantinople and brought about the final destruction of the
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine). They renamed the city Istanbul and made it the center of
their empire.
In 1517, under Sultan Selim I, the Turks captured Jerusalem and all of Israel. The rule of
the Turks over Jerusalem would last exactly four hundred years. The walls that today surround
the Old City were built by Suleiman the Magnificent, son of Sultan Selim. Suleiman restored the
Al-Aqsa Mosque and some of the present stained glass windows date from this period.
The Arabs found themselves under the domination of the Turks. For four hundred years of
Turkish rule the Arabs did not possess even a single, independent state.
Jews Hope for Return
Even during the Jewish exile extending over many centuries, the people continually
expressed hope for a return to Jerusalem, for the rebuilding of the city and of the Temple. Two
eighteenth century rabbis, Jacob Emden and Jonathan Eibschutz were fierce rivals. On the
subject of returning to Jerusalem, however they saw eye to eye. Emden wrote:
We do not mourn properly over Jerusalem. Were we guilty of this transgression alone, it would
be sufficient reason for the extension of the period of our Exile. In my opinion this is the most
likely, most apparent and the strongest reason for all of the dreadful terrifying persecutions which
have been fallen us in Exile, in all the places of our dispersion. We have been hotly pursued. We
have not been granted rest among the nations with our humiliation, affliction and homelessness,
because this sense of mourning has left our hearts. While becoming complacent in a land not
ours, we have forgotten Jerusalem; we have not taken it to heart. Therefore, “Like one who is
dead we have been forgotten. From generation to generation sorrow is added to our sorrow and
our pain.”
Eibschutz concurred:
One must weep ceaselessly over the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the restoration of the glory of
King David, for that is the object of human perfection. If we do not have Jerusalem and the
kingdom of the House of David, why should we have life? Since our many transgressions have
led to the Destruction and to the desolation of our glorious Temple and the loss of the kingdom of
the House of David, the degree which we suffer the absence and the lack of good is known to all.
Surely have we descended from life until death. And the converse is also true: “When the Lord
restores the captivity of Zion,” we shall ascend from death unto life. Certainly the heart of anyone
who possesses the soul of a Jew is broken when he recalls the destruction of Jerusalem.
The hope of the Jews in Diaspora is that one day they would again come to their land, rebuild the
Holy City, and their Temple.
Non-Muslims Barred from the Temple Mount
J. T. Barclay in the mid 19th Century wrote about the barring of those from the Mount
who were not of the Islamic faith:
When the clock of the Mosque needs repairing, they are compelled, however reluctantly to
employ a Frank. But in order to have a clean conscience in the commission of such an
abominable piece of sacrilege as the admission upon the sacred premises, they adopt the
following expedient. The mechanic selected being thoroughly purged from his uncleanness
ablution a certain formula of prayer and incantation is sung over him at the gate. This being
satisfactorily concluded, he is considered as exorcised, not only of Christianity (or Judaism, as the
case may be), but of humanity also; and is declared to be no longer a man but a donkey. He is
then mounted upon the shoulders of the faithful, lest the ground should be polluted by his
footsteps; and being carried to the spot where his labours are required, he is set down upon
matting within certain prescribed limits; and the operation being performed, he is carried back to
the gate, and there, by certain other ceremonies, he is duly undonkeyfied and transmuted back
into a man again.
More Jewish Persecution
Toward the end of the nineteenth century, Jewish persecution was on the increase. In
1882, as a result of persecution of the Jews in Russia and Romania, the first immigration of
Jewish settlers to Palestine began.
In 1891 Arab leaders prepared a petition to the Ottoman government in Constantinople to
demand an end to Jewish immigration into Palestine and prohibit Jewish land purchases.
In 1896 Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionism, promoted the founding of a
Jewish State. He argued that the only way in which the “Jewish problem” can be resolved is by
establishing a Jewish state in Palestine. Herzl’s writing started the Jews on the road back to their
promised homeland.
World Wars I and II End of Ottoman Empire
Beginning in the 13th Century, Turkish tribes united under Osman I and eventually
formed the Ottoman Empire. This super-state greatly extended Islamic expansion in the
Mediterranean and South-Eastern part of Europe. It captured the Byzantine capital of
Constantinople in 1453. However, by the beginning of the 1900‘s it was gradually losing
ground to other competing European empires. It sided with Germany in World War I, and in the
end, was forced to disband in 1918. In 1922 the nation we now know as Turkey began in a
portion of the old Ottoman territory.
