Amman (Jordan): The First International Conference 'The Road to Jerusalem', on Monday issued a the closing statement asserting that 'the Al-Aqsa is in the hearts of all Muslims' and affirmed that the road to Jerusalem must go through the means and mechanisms, according to Jordan News Agency PETRA.
"The love for the Al-Aqsa is in the hearts of all Muslims, since it is their first qiblah (direction of prayer) and along with Al-Masjid Al- Haram and the Mosque of God's Apostle, it is one of the three mosques to which Muslims make pilgrimage", the conference, hosted by Palestine Parliamentary Committee, the Arab Parliament and the World Islamic Sciences and Education University held from 28-30 April in Amman, said in the closing statement.
"The Blessed Aqsa Mosque is also the place of Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) Night Journey which is mentioned in the Holy Qur'an", the statement said.
The participants, who included a group of Muftis, Awqaf Ministers, scholars and intellectuals from the Muslim world, were apprised by Jerusalemites on the situation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem and its Muslim and Christian Holy Sites and the escalating and continuing aggressions and transgression that they are subjected to by the Israeli occupation which strives to Judaize the Holy City and impose its complete control over the Blessed Aqsa Mosque through aggressive practices.
"These practices include settlement; land confiscation; demolishing the home of Jerusalemites; excavations that have reached down to the foundations of the Blessed Aqsa Mosque and now threaten to lead to its collapse.
"The occupation continues its aggressions against the Aqsa Mosque by planning to divide it temporally and spatially, this is seen through official statements that support the calls of extremists to divide the Aqsa Mosque and rebuild the so-called temple", the statement said.
After listening to the working papers, participations, interjections and all the dialogue at the sessions of conference, participants affirmed that the road to Jerusalem must go through the means and mechanisms.
"They include exerting efforts to achieve the unity of the Arab and Muslim World and at the very least agree together on the constants, the most important of which are the protection of the Muslim Holy Sites and religious antiquities in Jerusalem; and continuing to defend the rights of the Palestinians and the justness of their cause; for under division and fragmentation, none of the Muslim world's substantive goals can be achieved", the statement said.
They also asked to remind the Muslim world that financial and personal sacrifices must be made to defend the Muslim religious Holy Sites and religious antiquities, its land and its people. Further, they called for supporting Jerusalemite institutions, be they educational, medical or social, in a manner that guarantees that they continue to be sustainable and steadfast. Other means include supporting the projects of Jerusalemites related to housing, religious endowments (awqaf) and their upkeep; and supporting committees for zakat (required almsgiving) and for social, medical and economic welfare.
Other means include supporting the projects of the Hashemite Fund for the Restoration and Maintenance of the Blessed Aqsa Mosque and the Noble Dome of the Rock, supporting the efforts to care for Christian Holy Sites and protect them from Judaization and confiscation. They also include calling on the scholars of the Muslim World and its khutabaa'(preachers) and its du'aat (those who invite to the faith) to discuss the Blessed Aqsa Mosque in their sermons, particularly their Friday sermons, and to supplicate for its freedom away from occupation and to ask the Almighty for the gift of praying in it for Muslims.
Further, they include calling on Arab and Muslim states and governments and the states that support the justness of the Palestinian cause to tie their bilateral economic, political and cultural interests to the violations and aggressions that are occurring against the Blessed Aqsa Mosque and Muslim and Christian Holy Sites and religious antiquities; in addition to the settlement violations that are taking place at the expense of the Palestinian people and Palestinian land.
The participants reaffirmed that the walls of Al-Aqsa and all that is within them, above and below the ground, and its environs are an indivisible part of the over 144 dunum (144.000 m2) sacred waqf.
They added that the Al-Aqsa includes: the Qibli Mosque, the Marwani Mosque, the Dome of the Rock Mosque, the Cave of the Dome of the Rock underneath the Dome of the Rock, the Old Aqsa Mosque, the Khanthaniyah School, the Buraq Mosque, the plazas of the esplanade, its gates, hallways, roads, cisterns, aqueducts and aquifers, inner and outer prayer areas and structures and facilities both above and below the ground. The environs of the Mosque are blessed and are Islamic waqfs and include the Magharbeh Gate Pathway and the Buraq Plaza.
Further, they called for thwarting the Jewish narrative that aims to Judaize Jerusalem, its Holy Sites and all of Palestine in international arenas including academic and educational forums, international organizations, media institutions and social networking channels. As an offshoot of the Road to Jerusalem Conference, a committee shall be established that will be dedicated to monitoring the Jewish narrative on all fronts and will prepare counterstudies that will refute it.
The conference also praised a fatwa issued by the scholars from all over the Muslim World who participated in the Road to Jerusalem Conference. The scholars affirmed the importance of visiting the Blessed Aqsa Mosque and the presumption of its continuity.
Regarding visiting the Blessed Aqsa Mosque under occupation, the scholars participating in the Road to Jerusalem Conference see that there is no difficulty in religion (la haraj) for the following to visit the Blessed Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem: Palestinians wherever they may be, in or out of Palestine and regardless of their nationalities and Muslims with passports from countries outside the Muslim World.
The scholars affirmed the importance of observing some conditions, including not normalizing ties with the occupation which may cause harm to the Palestinian cause and that the visit supports and assists Palestinians and not the occupiers; and here we affirm that any transactions including buying, selling, dealings, accommodations and transportation undertaken must benefit the Palestinians and the Jerusalemites and none other than them.
They also affirmed that it is preferred that trips to Al-Aqsa be within the routes of Umrah and Hajj trips as much as possible and in an effective and collective manner that achieves the significant religious benefit of this; and in a manner that supports the Palestinian economy and particularly, the economy of Jerusalem; and politically with the aim of protecting Al-Aqsa and the religious antiquities.
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