JERUSALEM, Tuesday, May 14, 2019 (WAFA) – For the third night in a row, Israeli police used force to evict hundreds of Muslim worshippers from inside Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam’s third holiest site, after the night prayers yesterday and prevented them from keeping an all-night worship vigil in it, according to local sources.
The Muslim Waqf, which is in charge of the Muslim holy places in Jerusalem, objected to the Israeli act, which it described as in infringement on freedom of worship, and opened a nearby mosque outside the walls of Al-Aqsa compound for the worshippers to continue with their all night prayers.
Devout Muslims often spend the holy fast month of Ramadan worshipping all night and many prefer to do that at Al-Aqsa Mosque due to its reverence to Muslims because Prophet Mohammad travelled to it from Mecca and from there ascended to heaven in what is known as al-Isra Wal Miraj, or night journey, before returning to earth to continue with his message.
Ramadan also is when the Quran, the Muslim holy book, was first revealed to Mohammad at a night known as Lailat Al Qadr, which Muslims often mark during the last 10 days of Ramadan but more so on the night prior to 27th day of Ramadan when thousands of Muslims spend the whole night until dawn worshipping at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Israeli police often close Al-Aqsa Mosque for non-Muslims and suspends all visits to it during the last 10 days of Ramadan when tens of thousands of Muslims converge on this holy site for worship.
Fanatic Jewish groups, who seek to destroy the Muslim holy site and replace it with a Jewish temple, have strongly objected to the Israeli police decision and insist on visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque during the last 10 days of Ramadan, but more so this year on the 28th day of Ramadan when Israelis mark, according to the Jewish calendar, their occupation of the Palestinian city in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Police fear outbreak of violence if the fanatics are allowed into the Mosque compound when tens of thousands of Muslims are present in it.
M.K.
