Mystical Teachings Of Bawa Mohiyuddin For Peace Between Israel And Palestine – Part 2
By Kaniz Fatma, New Age Islam
14 October 2023
In A Letter To Middle Eastern And Western Leaders That He
Wrote In February 1980, The Great Sufi Muhammad Raheem Bawa Mohiyuddin Underlined
The Need For Them To Examine Their Hearts And Consciences, Think About The
Victims Of War, And Look For Ways To Bring Peace To Jerusalem. World Leaders
Must Reply To This Letter In Order To Address The Ongoing Conflict Between Israel
And Palestine And Work Towards A Peaceful Resolution.
Main Points:
1.
In the first part of
the letter Sufi Bawa provides a brief history of past events in Jerusalem,
emphasizing learning from past mistakes and recognizing the futility of ongoing
conflicts to release bitterness and fulfil our duty towards mankind.
2.
In the second part
of the letter, Sufi Bawa outlines actions to be taken in the present regarding
Jerusalem, with a focus on promoting peace and tranquillity in the Holy City
and the world.
3.
Sufi Bawa emphasized
the futility of ongoing warfare in Jerusalem, emphasizing the need for unity
and peace to bring about a lasting solution.
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Sufi Bawa claims that Jerusalem is more than just the name
of a city after commencing his letter with the name of God. Salam signifies
peace, yet in modern times, Jerusalem has turned into a battlefield. We should
all think about this. We need to examine our motives and consciences and ask
ourselves, "What good does war and conquest do? Does any victor have an
eternal life? Do people really live forever? To bring peace to Jerusalem, we
must consider what has happened in the past.
In this letter, he refers to A Chronological History of
Jerusalem, loosely compiled in 1979; dates are approximate.
1900 B.C.: Abraham enters Jerusalem. Melchizedek, King of
Salem, welcomes and blesses him.
In 1300- 1240 B.C. Moses leads the Israelites from Egypt;
his followers, led by Joshua, arrive in Canaan. Joshua defeats the King of
Jerusalem, who is the head of the alliance of cities, but the city remains
Jebusite.
In 1000 B.C. David wrested Jerusalem from the Jebusites and
made it the capital of his kingdom.
In 970 B.C. Solomon succeeds David as King of Israel.
In 950 B.C. Solomon’s Temple is completed.
In 928 B.C. Shishak of Egypt sacks the city.
In 721 B.C. Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria conquers northern
Israel, and tiny Judea is all that remains of the empire of David and Solomon.
In 701 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquers Jerusalem,
destroys Solomon’s Temple, exiles the Jews to Babylon, and for all intents and
purposes, Judea ceases to exist.
In 587-86 B.C. Cyrus of Persia topples the Babylonian
Empire. Jerusalem is freed, Nebuchadnezzar’s victims are released, and the
descendants of David are allowed to return to Jerusalem. Construction of the
second temple was begun under Sheshbazzara, a descendant of the house of David
and Governor of Judah, and is continued by his nephew, Zerubbabel.
In 539 B.C. The rebuilt temple of Solomon is inaugurated.
In 515 B.C. Nehemiah completes the fortification of
Jerusalem.
In 445 B.C. Alexander the Great of Macedon conquers the
Persian Empire but leaves Jerusalem untouched.
In 332 B.C. After a series of battles between Alexander’s
generals, Ptolemy wins control over Jerusalem and takes Jewish prisoners to
Alexandria.
In 312 B.C. After a series of battles between Alexander’s
generals, Ptolemy wins control over Jerusalem and takes Jewish prisoners to
Alexandria.
In 312-198 B.C. Rule of Ptolemaic dynasty.
In 198 B.C. Antiochus III drives the Egyptians from the
city.
In 198-169 B.C. The Seleucids ruled Jerusalem. Antiochus IV
marches on Jerusalem to impose conformity of worship. The Jews are forced to
conform to the Greek world and to give up circumcision and their codes of cleanliness
and diet. They are also forced to worship Zeus. The temple is pillaged.
Antiochus IV erected a pagan altar and sacrificed pigs before the idol of Zeus.
The Scroll of the Law is torn up and burned.
In 164 B.C. The Maccabees rise in rebellion and drive the
Seleucids from the city and temple. They cleanse, purify, and rededicate the
temple.
In 63 B.C. Pompey and his Roman legions conquered Jerusalem.
They defiled the temple and dedicated it to Imperial Rome.
In 40 B.C. The Romans are driven out and the city is briefly
ruled by Mattathias Antigonus, the Hasmonean King. The Romans reconquered the
city.
In 39 B.C. Herod was chosen by the Romans to be King of the
Jews. (Herod’s father was an Arab who had been forcibly converted to Judaism,
and so he was readily adapted for Roman uses. Mark Antony made him a Roman
citizen, and thus his son, Herod, learned Roman politics.)
In 20 B.C.
Construction begins on Herod’s temple.
In 4 B.C. Birth of
Jesus. Death of Herod.
In 29 A.D. Trial of Jesus and his departure from the world.
In 66 A.D. Gessius Florus’ troops loot the temple’s
treasury, slaughtering worshipers and rabbis. This touches on the revolt of the
population of Jerusalem.
In 70 A.D. Titus captures, sacks, and destroys the second
temple. Thousands upon thousands are killed, and again Jerusalem falls into the
hands of the Romans. (Six hundred and fifty-seven years after the Babylonians
plundered and razed the first temple, the second fell and none has risen
since.)
In 132 A.D. The Jews, led by Bar Kokhba, drove out the
Romans and again made Jerusalem the Jewish capital.
In 135 A.D. The Roman Emperor Hadrian destroyed Jerusalem
and built on its site a city with new walls called Aelia Capitolina, with a
temple on Mount Moriah dedicated to Jupiter. Hadrian bans the Jews from
Jerusalem, and all Jews who defy the ban are executed.
In 324 A.D. Constantine of Byzantium conquered Jerusalem.
In 325 A.D. Constantine the Great embraced the Christian
faith, thereby inaugurating the first Christian rule over the city. He marches
under the flag of Jesus, uniting the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. The
city of Jerusalem is rededicated. His mother, Helena, makes a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem and identifies the sites for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the
Church of the Nativity.
In 336 A.D. Constantine built the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre. (This was the rebirth of Jerusalem, both as a spiritual centre and
as an objective of religious pilgrimage.)
In 570 A.D. Birth of Muhammad.
In 614 A.D. The Sassanid Persians led by Khosrau II pushed
south through Palestine to the Sinai and Egypt, conquering Jerusalem,
butchering 60,000 Christians, selling 35,000 into slavery, and demolishing the
Christian shrines.
In 629 A.D. The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius returns to
Jerusalem, massacres the Jews, expels the survivors, and restores the ruined
city.
In 630 A.D. Mecca
surrendered to Muhammad, and during the next seven years, the empire of
Heraclius began to fall to the rising Arab nation.
In 632 A.D. Death of Muhammad.
In 638 A.D. ‘Umar Ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim caliph
captured Jerusalem and built the first mosque on the site where Solomon had
erected the first temple. ‘Umar is deeply conscious of Jerusalem’s universal
sacredness and, during his rule, there is justice and freedom of worship. As
‘people of the book’, Christians are exempt from payment of a poll tax.
In 687 A.D. ‘Abd al-Malik ordered the erection of the Dome
of the Rock (the oldest Muslim sanctuary still standing in Jerusalem) for the
purpose of attracting pilgrims to the Holy City.
In 691 A.D. Dome of the Rock was completed. Christians and
Muslims coexist peacefully and their pilgrims share the Holy City.
In 1077 A.D. A fierce band of Turkish nomads called Seljuks
swarmed through Persia, Iraq, and Egypt, finally seizing Jerusalem. For over
twenty years the Christians are prevented from worshiping in the Holy City.
In 1096 A.D. In retaliation, the first Crusaders departed
for the Holy Land. Their number is made up of Christians from England, France,
and Germany. Over 100,000 foot soldiers pillage and battle their way across
Asia, without order or discipline. Less than ten per cent reach Jerusalem.
In 1098 A.D. By the time the Crusaders reached the Holy
City, the Egyptians of the Fatmids Empire had recaptured the city. Though the
Fatmids had always given Christians the freedom of the city, in 1099, the
crusaders, led by Godfrey de Bouillon, captured Jerusalem, butchering its
defendants and inhabitants, men, women, and children alike, and defiling the
Mosque of al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock. De Bouillon becomes the Defender of
the Holy Sepulchre.
In 1100-1118 A. D. Reign of Baldwin I, the first ruler of
the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Plaster is applied over Arabic inscriptions,
and the Dome of the Rock is transformed into a Christian church. Muslims and
Jews are forbidden to reside in Jerusalem.
In 1187 A.D. Saladin, Vizier of Egypt, is determined to
restore the Dome of the Rock to Arab rule. Through daring political and military
manoeuvres, he became King of Egypt and Syria. Finally, he achieves his
objectives and captures Jerusalem. He restores Muslim and Jewish inhabitation
of the city.
In 1192 A.D. Saladin and Richard the Lion-Hearted signed a
five- year truce, ending the Third Crusade and giving Christians the right to
make pilgrimages to Jerusalem.
In 1193 A.D. Saladin dies.
In 1229 A.D. The two succeeding monarchs, Sultan al-Kamil
and Frederick II of Germany, briefly reverted the Holy City to Christian rule.
Warfare again sweeps the city and Jerusalem is again recaptured by the Arabs.
Jerusalem would not again be governed by Christians for nearly seven centuries.
In 1250 A.D. The Mamelukes rose against the Ayyubid caliphs
in Cairo, seized power in Egypt, and turned Palestine into an Egyptian
province, beginning a 267-year reign of Egyptians, during which 47 sovereigns
briefly sat upon the blood-stained throne.
In 1260 A.D. The city is pillaged by the Tartars.
In 1267 A.D. The Mamelukes took control of Jerusalem and
inaugurated a period of architectural beautification of Muslim Jerusalem. They
also rebuilt the walls of the city.
In 1400 A.D. The city was sacked by Genghis Khan’s Mongols.
In 1453 A.D. Muhammad II, a sultan of the Ottoman Turks,
successfully besieged the city of Constantinople.
In 1517 A.D. Salim I (Muhammad II’s grandson) captured
Jerusalem from the Mameluke army. According to the original writs of ‘Umar, he
gives the Christians jurisdiction over their holy shrines.
In 1537 A.D. Suleiman the Magnificent, successor of Salim,
begins his campaign to rebuild, beautify, and fortify Jerusalem.
In 1816 A.D. A decree of the reigning sultan allowed the
Jews free entrance to Palestine. From this time on, the Jewish population
increased rapidly.
In 1827 A.D. The United States opened its first diplomatic
mission in Jerusalem.
In 1839 A.D. British Consulate was established in Jerusalem,
extending protection to the Jews.
In 1847 A.D. The Catholic Church is renewed in Jerusalem.
In 1854 A.D. The Crimean War was fought by Turkey, England,
France, and Russia—ostensibly to settle the question of jurisdiction over
Jerusalem’s holy sites.
In 1860 A.D. The first Jewish suburbs were built outside the
walls.
In 1896 A.D. Theodore Herzl published The Jewish State, a
pamphlet which details a plan for the establishment of an autonomous Jewish
state in Palestine under the authority of the sultan.
In 1897 A.D. First Zionist Congress in Basel. The creation
of a homeland for Jews in Palestine is proclaimed as the goal of the Zionist
movement. There is a tremendous upsurge of Jewish migration to the Holy Land.
In 1917 A.D. The British enter Jerusalem. The Ottoman army
surrendered to the British. The Balfour Declaration puts Great Britain on
record as favouring “a national home for the Jewish people.” This declaration
was then supported by France, the United States, and Italy.
In 1919 A.D. The awakening of Arab nationalism is voiced,
with the Syrian Congress declaring its opposition to further Zionist migration.
In 1929 A.D. Savage attacks on Jews in Jerusalem, Hebron,
and Safad rekindled religious antagonism. The ancient Jewish communities of
Safad and Hebron are almost wiped out.
In 1937 A.D. Publication of the Royal (Peel) Commission,
recommended mending the partition of Palestine.
In 1939- 1945 A.D. World War II. Six million Jews are killed
by the Germans. The British government issued a White Paper in 1939, limiting
the immigration of Jewish refugees.
In 1945 A.D. Germany surrendered and 30,000 Jews are
released from Nazi concentration camps.
In 1946 A.D. Underground, illegal immigration to Israel of
Jewish survivors of the German concentration camps commences.
In 1947 A.D. United Nations voted partition of Palestine and
created Israel as the new Jewish state.
In 1948 A.D. British withdrew from Palestine. The state of
Israel is proclaimed with Jerusalem as its capital. War engulfs the area.
Jerusalem is partitioned.
In 1951 A.D. King ‘Abdullah of Transjordan, an early advocate
of Arab confederation, was assassinated in the Mosque al-Aqsa.
In 1956 A.D. War. The Sinai Campaign.
In 1967 A.D. Six-day
War: Israelis seized Golan Heights, Sinai, Gaza, the West Bank, and Old
Jerusalem from the Arabs. The city is under Israeli rule.
In 1973 A.D. Yom Kippur War.
In 1979 A.D. Israel
and Egypt reached a peace agreement. A timetable is set for returning captured
lands. The process of returning the lands and normalization of relationships
has begun.
(This chronological history ends on a positive note in 1979,
but the fighting has not ended by any means. The bloodshed and futility of war
go on and on.)
[Sufi Bawa, Islam and World Peace, Chapter Jerusalem, pages
11-20.]
Sufi Bawa then argues that Jerusalem's history reflects the
world's constant fighting, particularly concentrated in this central point of
Jerusalem ever since the time of Abraham. He highlights the blood baths, head
and hand cuts, and cruelty in the area. He urges all religions to learn from
Jerusalem's example, as it demonstrates the state of the world.
Sufi Bawa states that if people of all races and nations
ever expect to live as one human race, they "must have absolute faith in
the one God," and that Jerusalem should serve as a sacred sanctuary for
all religions, fostering unity and faith in the one God, and keeping it from
turning into a battleground. That is the sole treasure of mankind.
Admonishing the people who fight over Jerusalem, Sufi Bawa
says that God sent numerous prophets to the earth in order to bear witness to
the existence of a single God and to instill His word and His compassion in
people's hearts. In total, he mailed 124,000. The Qur'an mentions 25 of them,
and the Bible and Torah also tell the tales of their lives. They have been
coming here since Adam's time in order to foster unity and confidence in God,
allowing the human race to coexist in harmony and tolerance as a single family
while accepting one God, the Day of Judgement, and the fairness of God's rules.
According to Sufi Bawa, If the human race had understood the
value of God's word, they would not have become involved in the frenzy of wars
that have resulted in death and destruction. In each nation where the prophets
preached, the people instead became divided among themselves. Some people believed
in religion but not in God, while others adhered to racial differences.
However, some people did hold a belief in God. Some people accepted Adam as the
common ancestor of all humankind, God, and all the prophets.
Sufi Bawa reveals that the majority of rulers sought titles
and positions, conquering lands for wealth and property, but rejected God's
words and compassion. They ruled with selfishness, worshipping satan, animals,
and spirits, and using miracles to undermine faith in truth, equality, and peace.
He says, “They refused to accept the kingdom of love which
encompasses mercy, tolerance, and equality” and worshipped “satan, animals,
snakes, scorpions, and spirits, and trusting in the miracles of demons, earth,
fire, water, air, the sun and the moon, and illusion.” Sufi Bawa also says
“Those rulers believed in the power of such miracles and used them to try to
destroy God and to undermine faith in Him and in truth, equality, and peace.
“It does not matter whether those rulers conquered Jerusalem
or Egypt or the entire world, for they are no longer here. Even the land itself
has changed. Part of it has been lost to the sea, and some places which the sea
once covered have again become land. Where forests once stood, cities have
arisen, and ancient cities are now buried under forests. Cemeteries have become
cities, and cities have turned into cemeteries. Over the centuries, many parts
of the world have been destroyed by the sea, by wind, by rain, by fire, and by
earthquakes. We have related the history of Jerusalem to show that whoever
rules there now will ultimately move on, just as all those who ruled there
throughout the ages have moved on. They are no longer alive. This is the truth.
“
The entirety of his letter on the subject of Jerusalem is
worth reading, in which he advises worshipping the one Almighty God, who is the
embodiment of compassion and goes by many names, in the sacred city where all
four major religions are honoured. All
religions must recognize this and eliminate divisiveness.
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Kaniz
Fatma is a classic Islamic scholar and a regular columnist for New Age Islam.
Part One of the
Article: Bawa Mohiyuddin's
Mystical Teachings on Peace and Harmony – Part 1
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