This is both inaccurate and has many framing errors. 1 - When Jerusalem was conquered the Caliph Umar asked to see where the Jewish Temple was. The Christians used it as a garbage dump. Umar got down on his knees to clear the trash. He ask the Christian King Sophronius if he
It is also reported in the name of the Alexandrian Bishop Eutychius (932–940) that the rock known as the Temple Mount had been a place of ruins as far back as the time of the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, who built churches in Jerusalem. "The Byzantines" he
@LowStudies "Temple Mount" for the Noble Sanctuary and "site of the Temple" are not synonymous, nor are they the same identical location on the Moriah Ridge, which has three hills. The Temple was on the Ophel hill, not Moriah.
@LowStudies This part of the Wiki entry is cherry-picked "Temple Mount" propaganda quote mining Patriarch Eutychius out of context. The full quote from his chronicle reporting Patriarch Sophronius & Umar's meeting is very clear that the sacred 'Rock' at question was a portable stone.
@LowStudies Specifically, Jacob's Stone Pillow in the story of Genesis 28. Later Jewish legends claimed that this stone or rock was in the very center of the temple sanctuary, probably referring to the Foundation Stone under the Ark of the Covenant that was placed there by David and Samuel.
@LowStudies "The Hebrew name Even Shetiya refers to the tradition that the world was created and emanated from this place. The measurement of the stone was three "fingers" high." https://templeinstitute.org/il...
@LowStudies The Holy Ark was placed on this stone slab. During the Second Temple period after the Ark disappeared, the high priest, upon entering the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, placed the firepan on it.
@LowStudies Muslim tradition identifies the Rock, the outcropping of Moriah Ridge, over which was built the Dome of the Rock, with the even ha-shetiyah, the finished stone slab which was originally cut to place over uneven ground to hold the Ark steady when David & Samuel moved it there.
@LowStudies The part about the convert Jew, Ka'ab al-Ahbar, is NOT a part of Eutychios' narrative, but for Wiki is derived from a different Judeo-Arabic narrative in 'Sources and Research in the History of Israel (מקורות ומחקרים בתולדות ישראל) published in 1946 only in Hebrew.
@LowStudies According to Islamic tradition, Ka'ab al-Ahbar, the "Muslim Rabbi" accompanied Umar in his trip from Medina to Jerusalem, and afterwards, became a supporter of Uthman. Al-Tabari quoted intensively about Ka'b in his History of the Prophets and Kings.
@LowStudies Other Sunni authors also mention Ka'b and his stories with Caliphs Umar, Uthman and Muawiyah. He is considered reliable by Sunnis, but none of his reports are in al-Bukhari. Twelver Shia consider him unreliable & condemned his satanic influence over Islamic tradition.
@LowStudies What that critical text mining should have said but didn't was the reference to Jacob's Stone Pillow: "Then Omar said: “You owe me for your life and for the goods which I granted you. Come, give me a place where I can build a mosque.”
@LowStudies The Patriarch said: “Give to the prince of believers a place where he can build a temple that the king of Rum was not able to build. This place is the Rock on which God spoke to Jacob and Jacob called “the gate of heaven”; the sons of Israel called it “Sancta Sanctorum”...
@LowStudies That Jacob stopped on Mt Moriah is nowhere in Scripture. Genesis 28 makes clear that he was traveling from Beersheba to Haran when he stopped for the night at Luz (later Beth-El). It lay West of Ai (Genesis 12:8).
@LowStudies It lay South of Shiloh (Judges 21:19). Eusebius, Onomasticon places it 12 Roman miles north from Jerusalem, on the road to Neapolis. On his way to Haran we are told that he lighted upon "the place" (maqom Genesis 28:11. Hebrew).
@LowStudies The Hebrew maqom, like the cognate Arabic maqam, denotes a sacred place or sanctuary. The maqom was doubtless that at which Abraham had sacrificed, East of the town.
@LowStudies In the morning Jacob set up "for a [memorial] pillar" the stone which had served as his pillow (Genesis 28:18), poured oil upon it and called the name of the place Bethel, "house of God"; that is, of God whose epiphany was for him associated with the pillar.
@KatherineKaridi I need to put this all together and gather sources unless some has already done that.