The preparation and strategic plan of the prophet Muhammad for Islamicjerusalem : a critical study of Muslim sources

• Main Author: Omar, Abdallah Ma'rouf
• Published: University of Aberdeen 2008
• Subjects: 290; Jerusalem in Islam
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.495035

This thesis is concerned with the strategic plan of the Prophet Muhammad for Islamicjerusalem and the preparations that led to the first Muslim <i>Fath</i> of Islamicjerusalem, which took place after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.  The relationship of the Prophet Muhammad with Islamicjerusalem has been generally limited to the study of the virtues of that region according to the <i>ahadith</i> (traditions) of the Prophet Muhammad.  This thesis concentrates on the actual role of the Prophet Muhammad in paving the way for the Muslims to take over that region after his death.  However, the thesis deals with the Prophet Muhammad, according to the Muslim sources, as a Prophet, and therefore, the relationship of the divinely revelation with these preparations and this plan is not neglected, especially that Prophethood was the main character of the Prophet Muhammad that has been neglected in studying his acts and movements in this context. The stages of the strategic plan for the <i>Fath</i> of Islamicjerusalem can be divided into three stages: first, the divinely preparation and mobilisation of the Prophet Muhammad and the Muslims for the <i>Fath</i> of Islamicjerusalem, which was through Qur'anic concentration on the importance of Islamicjerusalem, and manifest this relationship through praying towards Islamicjerusalem.  Second, the turning point that led the Prophet Muhammad to realise the centrality of Islamicjerusalem, and this was through the Night Journey.  Third, the practical steps taken by the Prophet Muhammad, supported by divine revelation, toward paving the way for the Muslims to initiate the campaigns that led to the <i>Fath</i> of Islamicjerusalem after his death, and this manifested in studying the Prophet Muhammad’s military movements on the route of Islamicjerusalem, in addition to key documents granted or sent by the Prophet Muhammad to numerous parties in or around Islamicjerusalem.