Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Wasiti was the preacher (''khatib'') of

al-Aqsa Mosque Al-Aqsa Mosque (, ), also known as Jami' Al-Aqsa () or as the Qibli Mosque ( ar, المصلى القبلي, translit=al-Muṣallā al-Qiblī, label=none), and also is a congregational mosque located in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is situate ...

in 1019–1020 ( AH 410), the year he wrote a treatise entitled ''Concerning the (religious) status of Jerusalem'', better known as ''Fada'il Bayt al-Muqaddas'', also spelled ''Fada'il al-Bayt al-Maqdis'', literally "Merits/Virtues of Jerusalem".

Significance

Al-Wasiti and his cousin, Ibn al-Murajja, are both known as diarists belonging to the same prominent family from Jerusalem, Abd al-Rahman. Their writings are among the early examples of a classical Islamic literary genre praising the virtues of the holy cities, the ''Fada'il al-Mudun'' ("virtues of cities"), and specifically to the ''Fada'il Bayt al-Maqdis'', literally, the "Merits of the Holy House", ''Bayt al-Maqdis'' being an early Muslim name for Jerusalem. Al-Wasiti uses as his main source the earliest known book of this genre dedicated to Jerusalem, the now lost ''Fada'il Bayt al-Maqdis'' written by al-Walid ibn Hammad al-Ramli al-Zayyat (d. 912), himself also from Jerusalem. The fact that al-Wasiti lived before 1099, the year Jerusalem fell to the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

, makes him particularly interesting, as his religious praise of the city is not yet motivated by the purpose of fuelling Muslim fervour for its liberation. As a native scholar, Al-Wasiti records the religious merits of Jerusalem, which have two main aspects in Early Muslim tradition: eschatological and prophetic. In this context he writes about the construction of the

Dome of the Rock The Dome of the Rock ( ar, قبة الصخرة, Qubbat aṣ-Ṣakhra) is an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, a site also known to Muslims as the ''al-Haram al-Sharif'' or the Al-Aqsa Compound. Its initial ...

by Caliph

Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam ( ar, عبد الملك ابن مروان ابن الحكم, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam; July/August 644 or June/July 647 – 9 October 705) was the fifth Umayyad caliph, ruling from April 685 ...

, helping us understand how

Mount Moriah Moriah is a mountain identified in the Book of Genesis; believed in Judaism, Christianity and Islam to be associated with the sacrifice of Abraham's son. It may also be the Temple Mount. Moriah may also refer to: Places In Australia: *Moriah Colle ...

became assimilated into the Muslim tradition, with a focus on three elements:

Creation Creation may refer to: Religion *''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing * Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it * Creationism, the belief tha ...

and the

Last Judgement The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

and

Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...

, and Prophet

Mohammed Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...

Night Journey The Israʾ and Miʿraj ( ar, الإسراء والمعراج, ') are the two parts of a Night Journey that, according to Islam, the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632) took during a single night around the year 621 (1 BH – 0 BH). With ...

. The first two are of course influences of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

biblical and para-biblical narratives and traditions, constituting Isra'iliyat.

Significance

References

See also