Lauren Booth – Ramadan in Al Aqsa
AI: Summary ©
The speaker describes their experiences visiting various churches and cemeteries in Northern Israeli, including a church in Jerusalem and a few churches in the region. They also discuss their belief in the holy month of centers, as well as visiting a cemeterian's house where they pray against colonialists. The speaker describes visits to clarified sites and a family's visit to pray at a holy site, as well as a family's visit to pray at a holy site and the importance of avoiding being recognized as a colonialist. They also mention a young man who asked them to find a QOA in English and later sent one, causing confusion and confusion for the locals.
AI: Summary ©
As-salamu alaykum, I first visited Jerusalem in
2009 as a Christian, and at that time
I went to the Via Dolorosa, which are
the stations of the cross as it's known,
and I went to the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre, one of the most famous churches
in the whole of Christianity.
But I still wanted to go into one
particular place, the Al-Aqsa compound.
Why?
Well, there were two reasons, firstly because children
in the West Bank where I'd been visiting
had asked me, if you go, please report
back to us and tell us, are the
tiles on the Dome of the Rock as
blue as they look?
Is it really as peaceful as they say
it is?
Because as Palestinian children, the chances of them
getting to the capital of Palestine, East Jerusalem,
were very slim to none.
And the other reason was that I felt
certain I was missing a big part of
the faith jigsaw by being able to skirt
the compound but not go inside.
But I've just got back from my first
ever trip to the Al-Aqsa compound, alhamdulillah.
It was 48 hours that have changed my
life again.
It came as part of a three holy
city tour in the holy month of Ramadan
and the chances of me getting to the
holy Al-Aqsa compound after Medina and Mecca
were actually really slim because as a pro
-Palestine activist, I have some background in resisting
colonial propaganda.
In fact, my husband and I, we fully
expected to be turned back at the crossing
and when our group arrived, barely anybody was
getting in that day.
All we did was we made lots and
lots of dua, lots and lots of dua.
Hasbuna Allah wa ni'mal wakil.
And then a miracle happened.
We got to the Allenby crossing and within
minutes, my passport, well, they don't stamp it
anymore.
I was given a little marker saying, here's
your entry ticket to Israel, have a nice
stay.
My husband and all the other men were
kept for two hours.
But then our whole group got in.
We made it guys, I can't believe it,
we're going to Al-Aqsa.
I remember walking on the sloping hill from
the Panorama Hotel that climbs up to Lions
Gate.
And there we passed two incredible churches and
the Rahma Cemetery, where Prophets and Sahabi are
buried.
But we also came across our first checkpoint.
Heavily armed, sneering colonial soldiers, plucking people just
wanting to go to Maghreb to break their
fast in this kilometers wide city within a
city, a city of faith and believers.
But there they were at gunpoint being questioned.
We walked past, praying against the colonial settlers.
Does this harassment mean you shouldn't go to
Al-Aqsa?
Al-Aqsa is actually Bayt al-Maqdis, Haram
al-Sharif.
It is 35 acres.
And did you know inside it, it has
its own parks and there are acres of
trees that you can sit underneath and the
birds greet you at Fajr and they hail
the coming of the night as well, beautifully
at Iftar time, Allahu Akbar.
You join tens of thousands of Muslims heading
towards the many masjids that are on this
beautiful site, laughing, talking, discussing, praying, making dhikr.
But the essence of it, it's peace.
That's me, it's Naughty Mess as usual.
Not a very spiritual thing to say but
wallahi, when you pray next to the women
of Al-Aqsa and you say, free Palestine,
Hurrah Palestine, they start crying and they hug
you because they're worried about you.
And they're comforting you.
This is the quality, quality of the believers.
Quality and the reality of Sakina.
I don't think we quite understand it in
the rest of the world.
We've lost it.
We've lost it because we fill our time
with rubbish.
And our eyes with sin and our ears
with halal.
And it pecks, pecks, pecks away at us.
One of the many things I really appreciated
during my visit was that sisters get to
pray in half of the Dome of the
Rock masjid.
That's the huge masjid with the golden dome,
subhanallah.
1400 years old, commissioned by Marwan and Umayyad
caliph, subhanallah.
But the golden dome was actually commissioned by
Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman sultan, subhanallah.
And in the centre of it is a
huge stone believed to be, understood to be,
the place where Ibrahim alayhi salam was commanded
by Allah to sacrifice his son.
And of course, he didn't have to do
that.
And that is also known as the starting
place of the Prophet's mirage journey.
But again, I'll tell you, it's the people,
it's the quality of the people there.
So here I am in Masjid Marwan, in
one of the original underneath Al-Aqsa mosques,
which means it's really ancient.
And I met these family, mashallah, coming here
in Ramadan to pray.
And the nur on their faces, nurayni, nurayni,
and I asked them, what is it like
to live in Palestine?
And they said, barakah, barakah.
That there's so much barakah.
And yeah, you have a message there.
Ramadan Kareem.
Ramadan Kareem.
Ramadan Kareem.
We love you too much.
We love them too much.
Mashallah, may Allah bless them.
The peace is only broken by stun grenades,
smoke grenades, and the occasional cracking of gunfire
from the colonial settlers.
But do the locals avoid this site?
Do they say, let's stay away, we mustn't
go there, I'm not taking my kids there.
No, subhanAllah.
This is why they are chosen to be
the protectors of this holy site.
Allah Ta'ala has made Palestine the place
that is blessed for all peoples.
And every stone cries his name.
And every bird sings a chorus.
Back in 2009, I was doing some shopping,
souvenir shopping, and I was in a rush
and it was my last day.
And I met a young man and he'd
taken me shopping, a Palestinian.
And I asked him, could you find me
a Qur'an in English?
And he ran and he was excited and
he brought it back.
He said, English Qur'an.
And I put it in my bag.
And then I thought we'd have to haggle.
How much do I owe you?
I knew it was a lot of money
for the storekeepers.
Because tourists don't go there.
Because they're told, did you buy anything off
any Arabs?
Maybe it's poison, maybe it's got bombs in
it.
You know, you go in the shops there
and there's dust on things.
Because they're barely scraping by but full of
gnaw.
Anyway, I said to him, how much do
I owe you?
And he started to count.
And I estimated about £100, a lot of
money, back in 2009.
And then this young Shabab looked at me
and he said, oh, you don't owe me
anything.
Just one thing I ask.
Please don't forget Palestine when you go.
That's how I got my first ever copy
of the Qur'an.
From a Shabab on the streets of Jerusalem.
Asking for the struggle of the people to
be remembered.
It's our duty to support the ongoing renovations,
the structural care and the people of Al
-Aqsa.
And the Prophet, peace upon him, said, a
group from my Ummah will continue to struggle
from the gates of Damascus and the area
around it.
And from the gates of Jerusalem and from
the area around it.
No deserters will harm them.
They will continue to aid one another in
the way of truth until the day of
resurrection.