Nuggets from "Judgment Day: Islam, Israel, and the Nations" by Dave Hunt

Nuggets from “Judgment Day: Islam, Israel, and the Nations” by Dave Hunt

Here is a simple test of the truth of two opposing beliefs. Surah 17:1 is the only verse in the Qur’an that mentions Al-Aqsa, which means “the most distant place of worship [i.e., mosque].” There is nothing in this verse, however, that even suggests Jerusalem as the destination of the Night Journey by Muhammad. That idea was not introduced until later. Most damaging to this theory is the fact that Surah 17:1 was not among the verses from the Qur’an originally inscribed in Arabic inside the dome. It was added as an afterthought only recently. That fact is sufficient proof that this structure was not built with Muhammad’s alleged Night Journey in mind.

Mecca had been captured by Abd Allah Ibn az-Subayr, who proclaimed himself Caliph. Unable to approach Mecca himself, Abd al-Malik, who also claimed to be Caliph, built the Dome of the Rock to entice devout Muslims to make the Hajj to it rather than to the Ka’aba in Mecca. When Malik recaptured Mecca in 692, he abandoned the Dome. This bit of history shows why the present location of the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount is not the impossible obstacle to rebuilding the temple that some imagine it to be.

The Egyptian Ministry of Culture recently published an interpretation of Surah 17:1 that turns the focus from Jerusalem back to Medina: “This text tells us that Allah took His prophet from the Al-Haram [sacred] mosque [in Mecca] to the Al-Aqsa Mosque…. But in Palestine during that time, there existed no mosque that could have been the mosque ‘most distant’ from the Al-Haram Mosque…. [T]he details of the journey of the Hijra [Muhammad’s escape by night from Mecca to Medina] are the very same details of the Night Journey (Isra’), because the Night Journey [of Surah 17:1] is indeed the secret Hijra” (Ahmad Muhammad ’Arafa, Al-Qahira (Egypt), August 3, 2003).

Declarations such as that from authoritative Muslim sources would make it easy for the Antichrist to order the Dome of the Rock to be moved to Medina. With the Temple Mount cleared of this rival structure, Antichrist would then order the Jewish temple to be rebuilt—and command peace between Muslims and Jews and over the entire earth. Israel would imagine that Antichrist was the Messiah she had been awaiting, inasmuch as the only two criteria (neither of them biblical) that most Jews have for recognizing the Messiah are: 1) He will rebuild the temple; and 2) He will bring “peace on earth.” Israel as a whole will not suspect (until it is too late) that this imposter intends to put his own image in the temple—but those who have read and believed the Bible would know.