Page 75 - Seekers Guide Book

The Seeker’s Guide
This verse calls on all Muslims to perform the pilgrimage
to Makkah on camelback. In today’s times, this command
cannot be followed literally, and is taken to mean: ‘Use
the available means of transportation for the pilgrimage.’

In life, situations and circumstances always change and
thus there is a need to re-study and re-apply the original
teachings of Islam.

6 What is the duty of Muslims
-
towards Al Aqsa Mosque?

ccording to Islam, there is no duty that Muslims have
Atowards the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Mosque which can
be seen in Jerusalem today with the name of ‘Al-Aqsa’
was actually built many years after the death of Prophet
Muhammad by the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik and
later finished and expanded by his son al-Walid in 705
AD. It was originally erected as a small prayer house by
the second caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab.

The name ‘Masjid al-Aqsa’ was given to the newly-built
monument by Muslims because of the reference found in
the following verse of the Quran:
Holy is He who took His servant by night
from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-masjid al-
aqsa. (Quran 17:1)

The misconception many have today is that they think
that the present-day Masjid Al-Aqsa is the same ‘masjid
al-aqsa’ mentioned in the Quran. In reality, Masjid al-

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