The main temples of world religions. What is the difference between a mosque and a temple

Believers of many religions live in our country. And often, even out of curiosity, we go into the temples of representatives not of our faith.

We compare architecture, traditions, customs. What is desirable to know when entering a religious building of Catholics, Orthodox, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists? What should be remembered in order not to inadvertently offend religious feelings?

Orthodox Church in the form of ... a ship

The religious buildings of Orthodox Christians are churches, cathedrals and chapels. For a long time, all Christian churches have been built in such a way that from a bird's eye view they look like a huge cross, a circle (a symbol of eternity) or a ship (Noah's Ark). According to tradition, an Orthodox church is always erected with an altar to the east.

The temple, as a rule, has one or more round, cruciform or octagonal domes. They are crowned with bell towers. Inside Orthodox churches there is an iconostasis - a partition with icons attached to it. It separates the altar, where only men can enter, from the porch and porch. Each temple also has a choir and choirs for singers, readers and sexton, and in the middle there is a lectern with icons.

When entering the temple, a man should take off his headdress and stand on the right side of the temple, and a woman should cover her head and take a place on the left side.

famous temple.Hagia Sophia was built in the 11th century in the center of Kyiv by order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise. At the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, it was rebuilt in the Ukrainian Baroque style. To this day, many ancient frescoes and mosaics have been preserved in it, including the famous mosaic of Our Lady of Oranta.

Catholic church - no iconostasis

Catholics pray in churches and cathedrals. Most often, these religious buildings were built in the Gothic or neo-Gothic style. The internal arrangement of buildings is in many ways similar to Orthodox churches, but Catholics do not have an iconostasis. The central part of the temple is clearly distinguished - the altar, or, as it is also called, the presbytery. This is the very place where divine services are held and where the Holy Gifts are kept. It is marked with an inextinguishable lamp. Side aisles in honor of saints are often located near the central altar. In addition, in the premises of the Catholic Church there is a separate place for the choir and sacristy.

When entering the temple, men must remove their hats, but women are not required to cover their heads. The parishioners dip the fingers of their right hand into the ashes pot - a vessel with holy water, which stands in front of the temple, and then they are baptized.

famous temple. The Cathedral of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Lutsk is the oldest in Ukraine. Built in 1616-1639 by the famous architect Giacomo Briano as a church at the Jesuit monastery.

Synagogue "Looks" at Jerusalem

Jews conduct religious ceremonies in the synagogue, the facade of which must necessarily face Jerusalem. In Europe, this means orientation to the east. Outside, the synagogue is an ordinary building. Inside it, at the entrance, there is a washbasin where the clergymen wash their hands and feet before the start of the service, and an altar for animal sacrifice. Behind them is the Sanctuary in the form of a tent, where only clergy can enter. In the depths of the Sanctuary, behind a curtain, is the Holy of Holies with the Ark of the Covenant, on which the Ten Holy Commandments of the Jews are carved.

Crossing the threshold of the synagogue, the Jews must touch the mezuzah fixed on the door frame - a case in which a parchment with a passage from the Torah is inserted. Women and men enter the synagogue with their heads covered and pray in different rooms.

famous temple. In the village of Zhovkva, Lviv region, there is a unique synagogue-fortress built in the 17th century by order of the Polish king Jan Casimir in the Baroque style.

The mosque faces Mecca

The house of prayer for Muslims is a mosque. It is a building of a round or square shape, which faces Mecca, with towers-minarets (numbering from one to nine). There are no cult images in the mosque, but lines from the Koran can be inscribed on the walls. On the right is the pulpit-minbar, from which the preacher-imam reads his sermons.

Believers pray in mosques five times a day. Before prayer, Muslims perform ablutions, and before entering the temple, they must take off their shoes. Also, everyone needs to cover their heads, and women also need to wear the most closed clothes. Men and women pray in different rooms.
famous temple. In 2011, the Ar-Rahma ("Mercy") mosque with huge 27-meter minarets was erected in Kyiv on Tatarka.

Buddhist temple collected iconic treasures

Being a Buddhist means taking refuge in the "Three Treasures" - the Buddha, his teachings and the community. The Buddhist temple is arranged in such a way that all the treasures are collected in one place. The temples are distinguished by an abundance of spiers, stucco decorations on the facade, as well as a special arrangement of cornices, which are gently and gracefully bent upwards.

The temple consists of three halls. In the "golden hall" statues and images of the Buddha are kept, and there is also an altar. The second hall - the pagoda - has three or five tiers, in the center there is a pillar from the trunk big tree. At its top is a particle of the remains of the Buddha. And the third hall, for readings, is intended for sacred scrolls and books.

Before entering the golden (altar hall), women and men need to take off their hats, go to the altar in the direction of the sun (from left to right). During a religious service (khural) one can sit on benches or on a carpet in the lotus position, but one cannot cross one's legs, stretch one's legs towards the altar.

famous temple. The largest Buddhist temple in Europe "White Lotus" was founded by followers of the kung fu school in 1988 in Cherkassy.

Recall that we said earlier that .

Glossary

Sacristy- a place where liturgical objects, including robes, are stored.

Lectern- a table on which books, icons and other church supplies are placed.

Religious issues are probably one of the most complex and controversial in our history. And although the essence of all the major religions known to human civilization comes down, in general, to one goal - to do good and be a Human, the paraphernalia, rituals and ceremonies that accompany them can outwardly differ significantly. For example, even prayer places (mosques, synagogues, temples), where believers of different religions gather, are not at all similar to each other.

We will not go into complex religious issues. But it is quite in our power to explain how a mosque differs from a temple. This question often arises both on the Internet and in everyday communication. Many people guess that there is some difference between these two "prayer houses", but they absolutely do not know what it is. Let's try to fill this gap.

Temple

History reference

Temple is the common name for places of worship in the Christian religion. The early Christians could not build separate buildings for communal worship. As we know, Christianity originated during the pagan Roman Empire and was severely persecuted by local and higher authorities. Therefore, worship services were held in secret and often in places not adapted for this. For example, the fact of performing Christian rites in the catacombs is widely known - this is how underground burials were called in those distant times. By the way, they were widespread not only in the enlightened Roman Empire, but also in the “barbarian” East, where they also disliked the first followers of Christ, rightly seeing them as a threat to local cults.

Roman laws considered burial vaults inviolable, and therefore they were rarely visited. Just walking around the cemetery, as is customary in our times, was considered by the Romans to be an extremely unethical act. Therefore, there was no better place for illegal meetings of adherents of the new religion.

Christianity gained recognition in the 4th century AD. The official date is 313 AD. e., when Emperor Constantine the Great gave the go-ahead to legalize the young religion. After that, not immediately, but rather quickly, the construction of official Christian churches began throughout the Roman Empire. This is a brief history of the emergence of churches and the development of norms of behavior in them among Christians.

Architecture

The first "legitimate" temples had the shape of an elongated quadrangle, where the main design element was the columns. Subsequently, Christianity spread throughout Western Europe, broke up into various currents - accordingly, various architectural styles of building the “Houses of God” and some differences in the conduct of religious services arose.

Given that Russia is largely an Orthodox country, we decided to first focus on describing the architecture of an Orthodox temple (church):

• The base of the temple may have a different shape, but must correspond to any Christian symbol. For example, the appearance of an eight-pointed star represents the sign of the star of Bethlehem.
• Symmetrical arrangement along the central axis.
• The middle of the temple is made in a cubic form.
• The structure of the temple consists of three connected rooms - the temple itself, the vestibule and the altar.
• Be sure to have at least one dome. In fact, there can be a lot of domes, and their number is strictly symbolic. For example, on Trinity Hill there is a temple of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, made of wood and crowned with 33 domes according to the number of earthly years of Christ. Domes also differ in shape (helmet or bulb) and color - again, all in strict accordance with certain religious symbols.
• The tops of the domes are crowned with a cross - it is different in form for Orthodox and Catholics, but the essence of this symbol is the same - a crucifix.
• Another essential element of any temple is the bell tower. Its main purpose is to call a Christian to prayer. It is also used in various emergency situations (fires, natural disasters, epidemics, enemy invasion) or during religious holidays. There are in all Christian churches, regardless of faith.
• Facades and interiors are decorated with arches and niches. Window openings are narrow.
• The altar in the church faces east as a sign that "the Divine Light comes from there." You can go to the altar from three entrances: through the doors of the iconostasis (northern and southern) and through the main entrance - the so-called Royal Doors, located opposite the Throne, the most important part of the altar.
• Outwardly, Orthodox churches look elegant, but no frills. However, the interior decoration of even a relatively poor church impresses with its rich appearance, an abundance of gilding and silver, expensive materials, as well as magnificent wall paintings.

We talked about the main features of the architecture of Orthodox churches. But, by and large, the system of arrangement of all Christian churches is almost the same, with the exception of some non-fundamental differences.

Rites and behavior

What can and cannot be done in the temple? What norms of behavior have been developed over almost 17 centuries of the official existence of Christian churches? There are general rules that are the same for all cults of service - for Christians with Muslims, and for Jews with Brahmins: you can’t drink, smoke, swear, show disrespect to others and directly to the place of service. However, then the differences begin. Let us list some basic norms of behavior characteristic of Christian holy houses, as well as the order of worship. Recall that we are talking primarily about Orthodox churches:

• Only males have access to the altar through the south or north doors. Only clergymen have the right to enter the Royal Doors and only during the service.
• Divine service (liturgy) is served 3 times a day: in the evening, in the morning and in the afternoon. And exactly in that order. The church day is different from the secular. It starts at 18:00, so the morning service is not the beginning of a new day.
• On average, the liturgy lasts 1.5-2 hours, but sometimes it takes much longer - depending on the number of those who take communion, confess, whether there is a holiday, etc.
• Approaching the church (temple), you should cross yourself on it and beat off the waist bow. You don't need to do it too earnestly and for a long time.
• In front of the entrance to the temple there is a special platform - the porch. It is designed so that the believer can stop for a moment and overshadow himself with the sign of the cross.
• To appear exactly at the beginning of the service is a bad form, you should come 10-15 minutes in advance. During this time, you can light candles, submit notes, pray in front of the icons.
• During worship, men occupy the right side of the temple, women occupy the left, the order (line up) does not matter.
• At the departure of the service, it is customary to stand (Orthodox) or it is allowed to sit (Catholics, and even then not everywhere).
• There are some requirements for appearance believers gathered for worship. Clothing must be closed type. Shorts, T-shirts, tracksuits are not officially banned, but are condemned.
• Men must take off their hats when entering the church, women, on the contrary, enter the temple with their heads covered (this applies to the Orthodox, Catholics allow women to be in the temple premises with their heads uncovered).

These are some of the rules of conduct and service in Christian churches.

Mosque

History reference

The emergence of Islam dates back to the year 610 of our faith, when the prophet Muhammad was visited by the angel Jabrail and revealed to him the first five verses of the Holy Book - the Koran. The first mosque in the Islamic world was built in Saudi Arabia, near the city of Medina, in 622 and is known as the Mosque of the Prophet. Even then, the architectural style was created, according to which most subsequent mosques were built, with minor deviations.

Let us immediately clarify that the “prayer house” among Muslims is not a purely sacred place, intended exclusively for prayers and worship. Some holidays that are not directly related to religion can be celebrated here. AT mosques prominent representatives of Islam often give speeches, competitions are held for the best reciter of the Koran. A tired traveler can always find here a shelter for rest and lodging for the night. In such nuances, a significant difference between a mosque and a temple is manifested.

The architecture of the mosques, as we already wrote, was originally laid in the Mosque of the Prophet, so the basis and symbolism for all mosques is the same, with the exception of unprincipled details. Although, of course, external architectural delights can vary greatly. Let's go directly to this very architecture.

Architecture

External differences of mosques are mainly connected with the historical development of the Islamic world. The earliest style in the architecture of mosques includes the first prayer buildings in the Arab East, which drew a lot from the local building color. By the way, scientists believe that the appearance of some elements (domes, rounded lines, arches, etc.) of the first mosques was inspired by Byzantine culture.

The Ottoman Empire made a significant contribution to the appearance of these places of worship. In particular, the central dome (above the prayer hall) appeared exactly there, during the spread of Turkish influence over the entire Middle East.

In general, we can say that each historical era that has taken place since the appearance of the first mosque has left a noticeable mark on the style of these buildings. However, common elements are easily recognizable and are present to some extent in most mosques. Let's briefly list them:

• The forms of the mosque are diverse - ranging from a triangular, square view to a multi-level and multi-angled structure, reminiscent of some kind of airy fantasy palace. However, for the most part, mosques have a square or polygonal outline.
• Thin, towers carried upwards - minarets. Initially, they were used as beacons (a fire was lit inside) and an observation post for protection, then they passed into complete submission to spiritual authority and became a place from where the muezzin calls the faithful to prayer.
• The number of minarets can be any. Muslims do not have any regulations regarding this. For example, in one of the most important shrines of Islam, the Al-Haram mosque, there are 9 of them. And somewhere they may be completely absent.
• On the minarets and domes there is a symbolic sign of the crescent - the roots of its origin date back to the Ottoman Empire.
• Walls encircling the entire mosque around the perimeter.
• Vaulted halls (aivans) having three walls with a roof. Also called volumetric wall niches.
• In a typical mosque there is a main hall, which necessarily overlooks Mecca, 3 auxiliary halls and 4 aivans.
• Prayer niche (mihrab), where inner wall indicated direction to Mecca.
• The inner courtyard is sahn (Arabic), around which all kinds of rooms are located, and in the center, as a rule, a small fountain beats.
• The Koran forbids the use of images of humans and animals, so the walls of mosques are covered with intricate ligature - arabesques. They are admired for their harmonious beauty and painstaking work of the artist who created them.
• The presence of large and small domes. Large domes are located above the main prayer hall and above the main trading hall, smaller domes cover small trading rooms.
• Great importance is attached to the appearance of the mosque. All kinds of balconies, arches and windows of various shapes, ramps, columns and other architectural delights are present in large numbers in all more or less significant mosques in the world. However, this is not a meaningless embellishment, but a well-thought-out structure of a religious building - each, even the smallest detail, carries a symbolic-semantic or useful load.
• In the halls where prayer is performed, there are no pieces of furniture, everything looks, so to speak, in a Spartan way, although thanks to interior decoration, arabesques on the walls of the room look quite elegant and well-to-do. But still, simplicity is emphasized and comes first.

Let us now talk about how one should behave in the mosque and how the service is performed there.

Behavior

The general rules of conduct in Muslim prayer places are similar to those in Christian churches:

• you need to behave modestly and not defiantly;
• you can not make noise, scandal, talk loudly;
• clothing must be closed;
• do not smoke, come drunk or under the influence of drugs;
• should be in a calm, peaceful state.

However, there are differences, and quite significant:

• You must come to prayer clean. There are two types of ablution - full (ghusl) and small (taharat). Any mosque has a special room for taharat. If you need to perform a ghusl, then you should go to the bathhouse or take a full bath before visiting the mosque.
• It is allowed to cross the threshold of the mosque only with the right foot. In this case, you need to pronounce certain words.
• Entering the mosque, the believer should say hello: “As-salamu alaikum (Peace be upon you!”). Even if there is no one in it, a greeting is obligatory - it is believed that angels are always present here.
• Parishioners of Muslim temples take off their shoes before prayer, leaving them in special places or lockers, the floor in the mosque is covered with carpets.
• Almsgiving is given with the right hand and is accompanied by a wish uttered to oneself. The one who accepts alms also does it with his right hand, saying in his soul: “Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim (in the name of Allah, the Gracious and Merciful).”
• Women cannot come to the mosque when they are "unclean" (critical days).
• From a person who is about to go to the mosque, there should not be a strong smell, such as a strong perfume, onion or garlic. You can only come when there is no smell. This is what the Prophet Muhammad said.
• People with a mental disorder cannot visit Muslim temples.
• They leave the mosque with their left foot, saying the phrase: "Allah, forgive my sins."
• The rules listed above must be followed by all visitors to the Muslim temple - regardless of their religion and the purpose of the visit.

Service

The performance of the service in the Muslim world also differs in many ways from the Christian rites:

• Namaz (prayer) among Muslims is carried out 5 times a day at exactly the time allotted for this. Prayer lasts 5-10 minutes, during which any extraneous movements that are not related to prayer are prohibited. The beginning of the prayer, or rather the invitation to it, is announced from the minaret by a special minister - the muezzin. The obligatory prayer is Friday prayer (Juma prayer), at noon. All adult men are required to attend it, in order to miss it, a very good reason is needed.
• Prayer consists in the pronunciation of certain suras (chapters) from the Koran. Such a prayer is read in Arabic.
• Postures during prayer are strictly defined and regulated by raakat (a structural unit of prayer), there are six of them in total, starting with standing upright and ending with a bow to the ground. In addition to spiritual renewal, these postures have physical health benefits. For each of the 5 daily prayers, there is a certain number of raakat.
• As a rule, Muslims bring a clean “sajjada” rug with them to prayer, on which they sit while reading the sacred lines of the Koran.
• During prayer, men and women stand separately and are fenced off from each other, or women are in another room (in large mosques). Moreover, a visit to the mosque is not necessary for a woman - she can pray at home or in any place suitable for this.
• Before prayer, believers line up behind the imam (priest) in strict rows. Everyone's faces should be turned towards the Muslim shrine - Mecca, where the heart of Islam, its main sanctuary, the Kaaba, is located. In the mosque, this direction is given by the mihrab (see above), next to which is located (on the right) the minbar - a place, a platform, from where a sermon is conducted.

Comparison

Above, we have collected quite extensive material about the temples of the Islamic and Christian religions. Naturally, it is not necessary to talk about a full-fledged analysis of this issue due to the limited volume of the article and the vastness of the topic being described. We briefly covered the main facts, and even then not all. However, even this little knowledge will be quite enough not to get into trouble and feel confident both in the church and in the mosque.

In order to finally consolidate what we have read, we will create a comparative table in which we will line up the information in a logical series.

For believers of different religions and denominations, temples are a place of worship and prayers and rituals. For many centuries, people have been building and decorating temples that satisfy not only their spiritual, but also aesthetic needs...

The main temples of various religions are, as a rule, also outstanding monuments of world architecture; each of them attracts numerous pilgrims and tourists from all over the world.

Jerusalem Temple (Israel)

Believing Jews all over the world, according to the canons of Judaism, have only one temple. And that one is actually non-existent. Until the 1st century new era he was in the center of Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount.

Now on the site of the Jerusalem temple is the Muslim mosque Kubbat as-Sahra, and the Jewish shrine was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, after which, as the legend says, the Jews scattered around the world.

However, in memory of the Temple in Jerusalem, every synagogue in any place of the earth repeats the design of the Temple in the basis of its internal structure. Including the oldest one, which is, oddly enough, not in Israel, but in the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague, and is called the Old New Synagogue.

St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican)

The main and largest temple of all Catholics in the world.

Ceremonial and spiritual center Roman Catholic Church. It is located in the center of the capital of Italy, on the territory of the smallest state in the world - the Vatican.

Outstanding artists and sculptors of the Renaissance - Bernini, Raphael, Michelangelo and others - participated in the creation of St. Peter's Cathedral. The dome of the Cathedral is the highest in the world, 136.6 meters.

Al-Haram Mosque (Saudi Arabia)

The main mosque of all Muslims of the world is located in Mecca, in Saudi Arabia.

In the inner courtyard of the Al-Haram mosque is the most revered shrine of Muslims - the sacred stone of the Kaaba, thanks to which millions of pilgrims from all over the world visit the mosque every year.

The area of ​​the entire temple complex is 357 thousand square meters, up to a million pilgrims can be accommodated here at the same time. Near the mosque in 2011, the world's largest complex of skyscrapers, Abraj al-Beit, was built.

Borobudur (Indonesia)

This giant building is the largest Buddhist temple in the world.

Borobudur is located on the island of Java, Indonesia. It is noteworthy that this amazing temple, built around 800 AD, after a volcanic eruption and strongest earthquake, about 800 years old was abandoned, covered with volcanic dust and overgrown with jungle.

The restoration of the temple began only in 1907. There are more than 500 statues of Buddha and about 1500 stone bas-reliefs with religious scenes in Barobodur.

Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow (Russia)

Full name: Cathedral Church of Christ the Savior. Has the highest status among Russians Orthodox churches- Patriarch's Metochion. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill is the rector of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

The current temple, built in the 1990s, is an external recreation of the temple of the same name, built for us in this place in the center of Moscow in the middle of the 19th century in memory of the war of 1812 and completely destroyed during Stalin's rule in 1931. The temple building can accommodate 10,000 people.

The only place on the globe, which from the deepest antiquity has been consecrated with the worship of the One God and which since ancient times the believers of three religions - Jews, Christians and Muslims - have looked with reverence, is located in the eastern part of Jerusalem.

At the end of X I - beginning of the tenth century. BC Jerusalem became the capital of the Hebrew state of Israel, and c. 935 BC - capital of the kingdom of Judah. By this time, the rise of construction in the city, when new fortress walls, palace and religious buildings were erected. The most prominent of them was the temple built in the era of the kings David and Solomon (late X 1st century - OK. 928 BC).

Most researchers, following the biblical account, believe that Solomon built the temple on Mount Moriah, on the site that his father David bought from Orna the Jebusite.(2 Samuel 24:18,25; 1 Chr. 21:18-30). But David was not destined to complete the building of the temple; he erected on the threshing floor of Orna only an altar to the One God and died, bequeathing the continuation of construction to his son Solomon.

Solomon began building the temple almost 1000 B.C. And Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, which was shown to David his father, in the place that David had prepared , - it says it in the bible(2 Chronicles 3:1).

The construction of the temple continued 7 years (1 Kings 6; 7; 2 Chronicles 3-4). The temple became the only place of worship for Jehovah God;I consecrated this house you built , - the Lord spoke to Solomon, - that my name may abide there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there all the days (see 1 Kings 9:3).

The Ark of the Covenant was transferred to this temple; the place where the Holy of Holies was located was forbidden to visit, and only once a year the high priest had access here.

Further History of the Old Testament Temple

Subsequently, Jerusalem was conquered, destroyed and rebuilt again by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II , Persian king Cyrus, the Egyptian king Ptolemy, the Romans. The fate of the city was shared by the temple of Solomon: in 588 BC it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. The second temple, the construction of which was begun upon the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity in 524 BC, built during 19 years and subsequently repeatedly suffered from destruction. It was restored to its former splendor under the Palestinian king Herod the Great (40– 4 years BC). Work continued 46 years old (see John 2:20).

This place of worship of the One God was still considered accessible only to the God-chosen people of Israel; as reported by Josephus Flavius ​​and Tacitus, inscriptions in Greek and Latin warned strangers about the ban on entering the territory of the temple.

In the last quarter X I In the 10th century, the French archaeologist Clermont Ganno discovered a stone with a Greek inscription near the place occupied in the past by the Old Testament temple. Its text reads: “No foreigner has access to the inside of the fence and the stone wall around the temple. Whoever is caught in violation of this rule, let him bear the responsibility for the death penalty that follows” (quoted from the Bible Dictionary, published in Toronto in 1980, p. 483).

The main gate of the temple was on the east side; besides, there were three gates in the north, three in the south. The first part of the courtyard was called the courtyard of women, from where they passed to the courtyard of men. Then came the third - for the clergy. It contained the sacrificial altar and the Holy of Holies. Such was the temple during the reign of Herod and at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Old Testament temple in gospel times

According to an ancient common Christian tradition, the Mother of God Mary was brought into the temple by the high priest. Many church writers testify that after her introduction into the temple, the Blessed Virgin remained until her betrothal in the temple itself, where a special part of the building was intended for residence by women and virgins who dedicated themselves to serving God, like Anna the prophetess,who did not leave the temple, serving God day and night with fasting and prayer (Luke 2:37). Subsequently, Christians called the church erected on this site the Church of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos. Here the elder Simeon received the Infant Jesus from the Blessed Virgin and proclaimed:Now you release your servant, Master, according to your word, in peace (Luke 2:29) . Here the Teacher of the world instructed the people, interpreted the Holy Scriptures; He called this temple the house of his Father; from the court of this temple He drove out the merchants (Jn. 2 : 13–22 ) . It was here that He praised the diligence of the poor widow (Lk 21 : 1–4 ) . Here the event took place, about which the Evangelist Matthew narrates:Then the devil takes him to the holy city and sets him on the wing of the temple, and says to him: if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written: He will command his angels about you, and in their hands they will carry you up, so that you will not stumble on your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, It is also written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. (Matthew 4:5-7).

This event is mentioned by one of the pilgrims who visited Iera salim in 333 year. In his "Journey" - The oldest pilgrimage description of the Holy Land mentions the site of the ruins of Solomon's temple. As this traveler notedfrom Bordeaux (now southern France), he saw there “the corner of a very high tower, on which the Lord ascended, and he who tempted Him said to Him: if You are the Son of God, throw yourself down. And the Lord answered him: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, and serve Him alone.” .

According to ancient legends, in the southeastern part of the temple courtyard lay a huge stone, prepared for construction, but for some reason did not enter the wall and for centuries remained "an unstoppable exile from among the elect." It is this stone, says the legend, that the Savior had in mind in his words about the stone, neglectedbuilders (see Mark 12:10). Catholic writers added that this cornerstone was also meant by the Savior in his address to the Apostle Peter:You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church (see Mt 16:18). In local Arabic legends there is also a mention of some forgotten stone, crying out to the sky about revenge on the builders who neglected it. .

And finally, the most terrible moments in the earthly life of the Savior are connected with this temple, when here the veil of the church was torn from the top to the bottom, when the redemption of the world took place (Lk 23 : 45).

The disciples and followers of the Lord also had a direct relationship with the Old Testament temple. This is stated in the Acts of the Apostles., where it says thatPeter and John went together to the temple at the ninth hour of prayer (Acts 3:1); from the steps of the temple, the apostle Paul addressed the people with a speech (Acts 21 : 40).

destruction of the Jerusalem temple (70 A.D.); Wall of Tears

The Savior's prophecy about the destruction of the temple (Matthew 24:2; Luke 21 : 6; Mk 13:2) happened shortly after His death on the cross: during the Jewish War(66–73 d.) Jerusalem was sacked by the troops of the Roman emperor Titus Flavius (41–81 years); Solomon's temple 70 The city was also destroyed, and to date only a part of the outer fence, that is, the Wailing Wall, has survived from it.

Such a place as the site of Jehovah's temple could not be forgotten after the destruction of the Old Testament sanctuary. The fame of this place forced the emperor Hadrian (117-138) through 50 years to build here from the ruins of the temple of Herod the pagan temple of Jupiter. Inside this temple, Hadrian ordered to put his statue.

Early IV in. under Emperor Constantine, Jerusalem became a Christian holy city, and the pagan temple of Jupiter was destroyed. But in 363, under Emperor Julian the Apostate, the Jews were allowed to begin rebuilding Solomon's temple on its ancient site. The decree of Julian, allowing the Jews to build a temple, was given to Rabbi Hillel, but after the ancient foundation was opened and the first stones were laid on it, strong earthquake threw them off, and the builders fled in fear .

AT southwestern part of the territory once occupiedTemple in Jerusalem, is the Wailing Wall. The crying of the Jews at the foot of the ruined temple of Solomon began in ancient times. As reported in 333 In the year a Bordeaux pilgrim, not far from the ruined temple, there was “a broken stone, to which once a year the Jews come, anoint it, weep with a cry, tear their clothes and then leave” . Blessed Jerome also mentions the permission for the Jews to visit the site of the former temple on the day of its destruction by Titus. . According to him, when Jerusalem was already converted into Aelia Capitolina, Jews from all over the world gathered at their ancient ashes and at the price of goldsought permission to “weep on the ruins of the temple.” This custom has been preserved for many centuries; in the days of the crusaders, Christian authors often referred to “the place of weeping of the Jews at the western wall”; about this custom in 1163 reportedVeniamin Tudelsky .

One of the Russian pilgrims described in the 2nd half of X I X in. his visit to the Wailing Wall: “It is curious to see here on Friday evening crowds of the children of Israel, wrapped in white shrouds and leaning their foreheads against this shrine. They are going to pray here, read the “Lamentations of Jeremiah” and literally irrigate their precious stones with tears” .

Al-Aqsa - “the most distant mosque”

In VI century, on the site of the ancient Jerusalem temple, the church of Mary was erected, which later received the name of the Entry of the Virgin into the temple. But in 638 (according to other sources - in 637) the Arab troops under the leadership of Caliph Omar (634-644) took Jerusalem, and Omar accepted capitulation, then praying on an abandoned rocky wasteland, into which the ruins of the sacred temple of Solomon turned into. By this, Omar wanted to emphasize the successive nature of Islam in relation to the "preceding" Islam religions - Judaism and Christianity.

While in Medina, the founder of Islam - Muhammad met with the enmity of the Jewish part of the population. He tried to get closer to the Jews by adopting some of their rites and teachings and making Jerusalem a qibla - the place to which the believer turns his face during prayer. But the Jews rejected his teaching, and then he recognized as the main shrine not Jerusalem, but the Meccan Kaaba, and after 622 - the time of the migration from Mecca to Medina (Hijra), Muhammad ordered his followers to pray not to Jerusalem, but to Mecca. This is stated in 2nd Surah of the Qur'an: "Turn your face towards the forbidden mosque (Kaaba - a. BUT. ). And wherever you are, turn your faces towards her.” (2, 139).

And although Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Qur'an in this regard, it is clear from the text of the Qur'an that earlier it was prescribed to turn during prayer in a different direction: turning back" (2, 138) .

Shortly after the conquest of Jerusalem, the Arabs turned the Basilica of the Presentation of the Virgin into a temple into a mosque, which later becameto be called Al-Masjid al-Aqsa (‘the most distant mosque’). A few decades later, the importance of Jerusalem rose again; Caliph Abd al-MalikI(685-707) in the course of the struggle with his Meccan opponents forbade Muslims to visit Mecca and ordered to make the Hajj to Jerusalem. The fact is that during the Hajj to Mecca, the local ruler Ibn az-Zubair forced Muslim pilgrims to take an oath to him, and Abd al-Malik took drastic measures against this. But the believers were not happy with this, and, as the Arab historian Al-Mekin (d. 1273) relates, “in the year 65 AH (687/688 -a. BUT .) Abd al-Malik sent an order to Jerusalem to increase the masjid al-Aksu and ordered the people to perform the hajj to Jerusalem” .

Gradually, Jerusalem became the third most important (after Mecca and Medina) religious center of the entire Islamic world, and the al-Aqsa mosque began to be regarded as the greatest Muslim shrine. To a large extent, this was facilitated by Muslim tradition (sunnah) a collection of oral stories about Muhammad (hadith); Sunnah was formed gradually and took its final form in I X century. The fact is that in the Koran there is a brief mention of the “night journey” of Muhammad; The 17th sura is called: "Transferred at night." The first verse of this sura says: “Praise be to him who transferred His slave from the inviolable mosque to the farthest mosque around which We blessed, to show him from Our signs” (17:1).

Originally, the "most remote mosque" (al-Masjid al-Aqsa) meant the heavens where Muhammad was allegedly taken up one night. From the end VII in. a tradition has developed to view this journey as Muhammad's "night journey" to Jerusalem, distinguishing it from Muhammad's subsequent ascension to heaven. According to legend, Muhammad was sleeping near the Kaaba when the archangel Jibril (Gabriel) appeared to him with the winged horse Burak. Accompanied by Jibril, Muhammad set out on Buraqa to Palestine. In Jerusalem, he met Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses) and Isa (Jesus) and led their joint prayer.

There is another opinion among the Muslim commentators of the Koran, according to which this “night journey” was only a vision, which is mentioned in the same 17th sura: “The vision that We gave you to see served only to test people” ( 17, 62). As he testified at the beginning of the twentieth century. authoritative Islamic scholar A.E. Krymsky, “there is still a disagreement among Muslims about whether this event should be considered a vision (as the Koran indicates), or a real and bodily journey” .

Therefore, it is quite understandable that Muslims identified the remotest mosque (al-Masjid al-Aqsa), mentioned in the Koran, with Jerusalem, which became known as al-Aqsa. According to legend, it was here that Muhammad was supposedly miraculously transferred to Buraq before his ascension (mirage) to heaven. And in X I century, the Arab writer Nasir-i-Khosrow (d. 1088) defined the religious significance of Jerusalem for Muslims as follows: “This place is the third house of God. Learned theologians recognize that each prayer performed in Jerusalem is equal to 25 thousand prayers” .

Qubbat-as-Sahra (Mosque "Dome of the Rock")

The legend of the miraj, the ascension of Muhammad to heaven, is closely connected with the legend of the night journey of Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem. According to these ideas, after a night journey to Jerusalem, Muhammad was elevated by Jibril (Gabriel) to heaven.

The place of worship associated with the ascension of Muhammad was a rock located near the al-Aqsa mosque. It was here in 687-691. The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Merwan built an octagonal mosque with a large dome. This mosque was called Kubbat-as-Sakhra (“Dome of the Rock”).

The reason that prompted the Caliph to begin the construction of the mosque was the political rivalry with the Meccan ruler, as discussed above. According to the Arab historian Al-Ya'qubi (d. 904), Abd al-Malik, forbidding his subjects to make the hajj to Mecca, said: “The Jerusalem mosque (al-Aqsa -a. BUT. ) will replace the mosque of Mecca for you, and this rock (as-Sakhra), about which they say that the ambassador of God, ascending to heaven, stepped on it, will replace the Kaaba for you ” . And, as another Arab historian, Abu-l-Mahasin-ibn-Taghriberdi (died in 1469), continues, Caliph Abd al-Malik “built a dome over al-Sahra and the al-Aksu cathedral mosque, so that thanks to these buildings, people could replace the Hajj ” .

It should be noted that often Kubbat-as-Sahra is mistakenly called the mosque of Omar, believing that it was built in 637 year during the reign of this Caliph. But nevertheless, events related to the history of this mosque are connected with the name of Omar. As the legend tells, 638 Caliph Omar-ben-el-Khattab, having taken Jerusalem, turned to the then Jerusalem Patriarch Sophronius with a request to point him to the most sacred place in the city for the construction of a worthy sanctuary on it. Omar demanded that the Patriarch, for leaving the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, appoint his flock the most worthy place for building a mosque. The patriarch showed him several sacred places in Zion and Acre, but the caliph was not satisfied. Then the Patriarch said: “I will show you a place lying in the middle of the world, where the Holy of Holies of the Israelites was and where God appeared to Jacob,” and led the Caliph to the ruins of Solomon's temple.

The caliph, having examined this place, identified it as the site of the future Muslim temple. The Mosque of Omar, originally built here, contained within its walls 3000 people.

In 686 Caliph Abd al-Malik, in connection with the constant influx of Muslim pilgrims to Jerusalem, conceived the construction of a new mosque on this site - octagonal in plan. The sanctuary built shortly after that was considered a wonder of the world, and a rare pilgrimage going to Mecca did not go to see the “Dome of the Rock” mosque .

The forms of the mosque building are unusual. wooden dome 20,44 m in diameter rests on a high drum cut through by sixteen windows; the drum is on four pylons and twelve columns surrounding the rock. The outer walls form an octagon with side about 20.6 m. The sloping wooden roof covered with lead rests on a system of eight intermediate pylons and sixteen columns. Around the rock, the ritual procession of pilgrims is thus ensured.

Mosque "Dome of the Rock" stands among large area Haram al-Sharif of slightly trapezoidal plan (450 × 260 × 285 m), where 10 lead gate. Around the “Dome of the Rock” a smaller space of the same shape is fenced off (160× 125 × 150 m). According to Muslim teachings, this is haram,a sacred, protected area where you can not shed blood and carry weapons. Al-Aqsa Mosques and the Dome of the Rock are located in just such a place. But this prohibition was not always respected even among Muslims. When the Turkish emir Atsiz-ibn-Auk al-Khawarizli attacked Jerusalem in 1068, then, according to the Baghdad historian Ibn-al-Asir (d. in 1233), “the inhabitants of Jerusalem hid from him behind the walls of the city. He killed many of its inhabitants, even those who took refuge in Masjid al-Aqsa, but did not touch those who were near as-Sahra and its borders ” .

Mosque of Kubbat-as-Sahra - Temple of the Lord

The further history of the “Dome of the Rock” mosque is connected with a number of destructions and reconstructions. The light construction of the mosque could not withstand frequent earthquakes and was destroyed more than once. But the rulers of Jerusalem, with each renewal of the mosque, increased its splendor. The mosque was heavily damaged 1060 the year the roof of the building fell 500 lamps; on this occasion, Muslims expected misfortune for all followers of Islam. These fears came true in 1099 year, when the mosque "Dome of the Rock" was stained with the blood of Muslims shed by the crusaders.

In 1099 the Crusaders stormed Jerusalem; The Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem was formed. Struck by the grandeur of the “Dome of the Rock” mosque, the crusaders who took possession of Jerusalem at first considered it to be a genuine Old Testament temple and called it the temple of Solomon, or the temple of the Lord - Templum Domini. The temple was named after and founded in 1119 year, the order of the Knights Templar monks, whose abode was originally arranged near the temple.

The crusaders did not change anything in the structure of the mosque and limited themselves to the fact that a Christian altar was placed on the rock revered by Muslims, and the walls were painted with Christian scenes. The rock was covered with marble in the form of an elevated square or floor, on which stood the altar and choir stalls. On the third day of Easter 1136 In the 1990s, the papal legate Alberich solemnly consecrated the former mosque as a Christian church. The chronicler John of Würzburg, who saw a Christian temple converted from the Rock Mosque, reported on many inscriptions in the temple, with which the crusaders reminded those praying of those New Testament events that took place at this place or near it.

In this temple, the three-year-old maiden Mary was brought to God. This event was commemorated by the inscription: Virginibus septem virgo comitata puellis / Servitura Dei fuit oblata triennis (The virgin, accompanied by seven young virgins, was brought here to serve God at the age of three).

Without a doubt, the Virgin received heavenly comforts here: Pascitur angelico virgo ministerio (The Virgin is guarded by angelic care).

From the narthex of this temple, Jesus Christ drove out the merchants. In remembrance of this event, on the right side of the temple, a stone was shown, consecrated by the feet of the Savior, surrounded by many lamps. Another stone was attached to this stone, on which Jesus Christ was brought to the temple for the first time, as on the altar. The painting depicting this event was inscribed: Hic fuit oblatus Rex regum virgine natus / Qua propter sanctus locus est hic jure vocatus (Here the King of Kings, born of the Virgin, was brought (as a Sacrifice), because of which this place is rightfully called holy ).

Near this temple, Jesus Christ justified the harlot, saying to her accusers:He who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. . The painting depicting this episode was inscribed: Absolvo gentes sua crimina corde fatentes (I free (from sins) peoples who confess their sins in their hearts).

Zechariah entered and left here when the birth of his son was announced to him. The caption on this image said:Ne timeas Zacharia exaudita est oratio tua(Do not be afraid, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard).

Above the four gates of the temple from the outside there were special inscriptions. On the western:Pax aeterna ab aeterno Patre sit huic domui / Benedicta gloria Domini de loco sancto suo(Eternal peace from the eternal Father be to this house, / Blessed be the glory of the Lord in this holy place).

At the south gate: Bene fundata est domus Domini supra firmam petram/ Beati qui habitant in domo tua, in saecula saeculorum laudabunt te(The house of the Lord is built well on solid stone; / Blessed are those who dwell in Your house, forever and ever they will praise You.)

On the east: Vere Dominus est in loco isto et ego nesciebam / In domo tua Domine omnes dicent gloriam(Truly, the Lord is present in this place; but I did not know. / In Your house, Lord, everyone will praise (You).

In the north: Templum Domini sanctum est / Dei cultura est, Dei aedificatio est (The temple of the Lord is holy, / This is the place of God, this is the house of God) .

It is interesting to note that this temple was seen by one of the first Russian pilgrims - hegumen Daniel, who made a journey to the Holy Land in 1106-1108, when it was still under the rule of the Crusaders. This is how he describes the temple of the Lord - the former "Dome of the Rock" mosque, which he calls by its Old Testament name- Holy of Holies. “There are churches in the Holy of Holies wonderfully and cunningly created, - writes a Russian pilgrim, - and her beauty is unspeakable, created in a round way; from the outside it is written cunningly and inexpressibly, its walls are beaten with marble boards of other marble and are paved with red marble boards. Pillars to have under the top, standing around, obly 12, and building pillars 8; doors to have 4-re; gilded media forged are the essence of the door.And the top is inscribed from the bottom with a musiy (artist - a. BUT. ) cunningly and inexpressibly, but I’ll ring, the top was beaten there was a gilded media” .

In 1187 d., when Sultan Salah ad-Din ousted the crusaders from Jerusalem, the golden cross was removed from the temple of the Lord and the crescent was again placed; Christian inscriptions are destroyed, and the walls are washed with rose water, brought here on 500 camels. In 1229 the year of the German Emperor Frederick II, who returned Jerusalem under his rule for a short time, concluded an agreement with Sultan Kamal, according to which Christians and Muslims were to jointly own the Rock Mosque, and a symbolic statue of the common brotherhood was placed in the temple. But this did not last long, and around 1250 the Muslims again completely took possession of the mosque and rebuilt it. According to X V century, the Rock Mosque with its beauty attracted many thousands of pilgrims and travelers .

Al-Aqsa Mosque - Temple of Solomon

As already noted, in VI in. Al-Aqsa Mosque was a Christian church of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the temple. The Crusaders turned her back into christian church. Jerusalem King Baldwin II (d. 1131) gave part of the temple building to the Templars, who soon built another long gallery adjoining the temple from the west. The crusaders had a royal residence here, called the “Solomon's Court”. Al-Aqsa became the main center of the Templars. Their buildings crowded around this church, and al-Aqsa was then called the “Temple of Solomon”.

This ancient Christian basilica, despite numerous rebuildings, has largely retained its original Byzantine character. The well-known Russian public figure A.S. Norov, who compared this ancient basilica with built by Noah at the end of IV in. Church of Saint Paul in Rome. As Norov recalled his visit to the al-Aqsa mosque in 1835 year, “we headed towards a large building painted red; it is built in a parallelogram, with a dome at its tip. This is a former Christian church in the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary<…>Entering this solemn building through a covered porch, I thought that I was in the church of St. Paul outside the walls of Rome" .

According to another Russian researcher who visited the al-Aqsa mosque in the middle XIX century, “following the temple, you notice everywhere the Byzantine character of the building. It has 7 crusades or naves. The central nave is supported by massive marble pillars, 6 on each side; the capitals of these pillars are somewhat reminiscent of those of Corinth.” O the original Christian character of the architecture of the al-Aqsa mosque was also testified by a Russian publicist E . L. Markov, who visited here at the end of X I X century. According to him, “the Gothic style of the pediment and the long majestic nave of this church, supported by two rows of columns, has been completely preserved even now. Islam only painted the inside of the Christian temple with the usual brocade of its motley arabesques” .

Haram al-Sharif during the Ottoman era (1517–1917)

In 1250 The Ayyubid dynasty, founded in Egypt by Salah ad-Din, was replaced by the Mamluks. In 1516, near Aleppo (modern Aleppo, Syria), the army of the next Mamluk sultan was defeated by the army of the Turkish Sultan Selim I. The territory of Palestine became part of the Turkish Empire, and this continued until the endFirst World War. Turkish pashas began to rule Syria, and in 1516 Palestine became part of the Damascus Pashalik.

As a result of the Turkish-Egyptian war of 1831–33. the Egyptian army under the command of Ibrahim Pasha extended the Egyptian dominance to Palestine. Beneficial changes were felt first of all by those Christians who lived in Jerusalem. Previously, they were subjected to numerous requisitions from the local Muslim authorities. So, for example, the then Pasha of Damascus from the Greek monastery in Jerusalem alone “charged a thousand sacks (about 120 thousand rubles in silver per year) for the right to own holy places” .

Upon entering Jerusalem, Ibrahim Pasha at the head of the Egyptian garrison in 1831 year, his order addressed to the chief judge was published - Sheikh of the Rock Mosque."AT Jerusalem has temples, monasteries and worship, to which all Christian and Jewish peoples of different confessions come from distant countries, - stated in the order. - These worshipers have hitherto been burdened with huge taxes in fulfilling the vows and duties of their faith. Wishing to eradicate such abuse, we order the abolition of such taxes on all roads without exception. .

But, demonstrating his religious tolerance, Ibrahim Pasha, like his father - the ruler of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, did not take into account all the consequences of his bold undertakings. As a Russian researcher wrote in the middle of X I X century, “instead of limiting himself to the wise taming of the fanaticism of the people, the pasha uselessly offended the most religious feeling of the people. Many European travelers were allowed to visit the Omar Mosque in Jerusalem (“Dome of the Rock” - a. BUT. ), which is revered as the second sanctuary in Islam after the temple of Mecca. Nothing could produce more temptation in the fanatical populace of Jerusalem. The old attendants of the Omar Mosque wept over this desecration, hitherto unheard of in the Muslim world, and every time foreigners visited the mosque, the local authorities had to surround themselves and the visitors with a military team.” .

This circumstance, connected with the Jerusalem shrines of Islam, was one of the important reasons for the rapid weakening of Egyptian power with the 70,000-strong army of Ibrahim in 1840. At the end of 1840, the Egyptian army was forced to evacuate from Palestine and other areas that were part of the Ottoman Porte. Under the terms of the London Treaty 1840 Palestine was again handed over to the Turkish government.

As can be seen from the above information, in the first half of X I 10th century Muslims living in Jerusalem continued to show religious intolerance towards non-Christians and, above all, towards Christians. It was an echo of the era of the Crusades. This is eloquently spoken by a Russian pilgrim who visited Jerusalem in the middle of the 10th century. I X century. According to him, on Friday the city gates And Jerusalem were locked up around noon, when “the Mohammedans of Jerusalem flock in droves for common prayer to the former temple of Solomon, converted into their main mosque; at the same time, all city exits are locked and even the gatekeepers move away from their seats. .

And then the author gives the following explanation of this tradition: “there is an old legend among the inhabitants that someday on Friday, during the general prayer of the people, numerous crowds of armed giaours (non-believers, as they call Christians) will suddenly come to the walls of Jerusalem, who, surging from all sides, they will take possession of the city and, rushing to the main mosque, the ancient temple of Solomon, filled with inhabitants immersed in prayer, they will destroy the worshipers of Muhammad with fire and sword” .

Another curious explanation of the religious intolerance of Muslims towards non-Christians that existed at that time was given in one of the Russian almanacs. Mentioning that non-Muslims, on pain of death, were forbidden to enter the Haram al-Sharif square and visit the al-Aqsa and Qubbat al-Sahra mosques, the author writes further: “This place is so holy, - they say (Muslims - a. BUT. ), - that any prayer uttered there must necessarily be accepted by God, and, consequently, it is very important to remove from this place Christians who would not fail to pray for the fall of the Mohammedans, for their expulsion from Jerusalem, etc.” .

AT At that time, Christian-Muslim relations remained generally tense. Nevertheless, the successes achieved by European countries and Russia in the fight against the Ottoman Porte increased the influence of Christian powers in the Middle East. As A. A. Olesnitsky, a professor at the Kyiv Theological Academy, wrote during these years, “the confluence of Mohammedan pilgrims to Jerusalem is almost as good as the number of Christian pilgrims; here you can meet Mohammedan pilgrims from Siberia, India, Morocco; a rare pilgrim going to Mecca will not be in the Haram of Jerusalem” .

In the second half of X I In the 10th century, a number of influential Christian powers opened their missions in Jerusalem; the influx of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land increased markedly. All this could not but arouse concern among the Muslim clergy of Jerusalem, who were looking for means to protect the followers of Islam from excessive communication with Christians. One such method was reported by the Russian researcher E.E. Kartavtsev, who visited Jerusalem in the late 1880s and early 1890s. According to him, during these years a tradition of mass pilgrimage has already developed with the transfer of the banners of Caliph Omar to the grave of the Prophet Moses (Musa), revered by Muslims after Muhammad and Jesus Christ (Isa). As we know from the Bible, Moses never was in Palestine and after his death wasburied in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Pegor, and no one knows the place of his burial even to this day (Deut 34: 6). Nevertheless, one of the hills "versts in 35 from Jerusalem." Next, you should give the floor to the author of the notes.

"Both time and place, - writes E. E. Kartavtsev, - chosen with fine calculation; time is adjusted to the moment when a particularly large number of Christian pilgrims accumulate in Jerusalem, so that one huge fanatical mass could be opposed by another, no less; if both of these masses remained one near the other, then clashes and bloodshed might become inevitable; it is avoidedby the fact that on Friday on Palm Week the sacred banners are taken out of the mosque of Omar and, accompanied by a mass of people, the Muslim clergy, go to the tomb of Moses, where the zealous worshipers of the prophet camp and spend several days.

Thus, in its time, this pilgrimage to the grave of Moses coincides with the day of the solemn worship of Christians and avoids clashes” .

European Christians near Muslim shrines in Jerusalem

In order to more fully present the picture of Christian-Muslim relations in the Holy City, one can cite excerpts from the memoirs of Christian pilgrims who described, along with Christian shrines, Muslim ones.

“And in the midday corner (Jerusalem - a. BUT. ) stands the church is wonderful and high velmi, in Hebrew it is called Eroya, and in Russian"Holy of Holies" wrote Moscow priest John Lukyanov, who visited Jerusalem in January 1711. - And the Church of the Holy of Holies, the creation of Solomon, was completely ruined to the ground by Titus, the king of Rome<…>now in that place there are two fine Turkish mosques; and the Turks will by no means let you see whether they kill him or turn him around ” .

Next, X I In the tenth century, it would seem that nothing has changed if you read the lines written by another Russian pilgrim in the 1840s. “At the entrance to the Mosque of Omar, he writes, there were armed gatekeepers who did not allow us even to stop in front of him (the temple - a. BUT .): a Christian, under the death penalty, is forbidden to enter this mosque if he does not agree to destroy his future life by renouncing Christ and accepting the Muhammadan law in order to save his present life” .

But already at that time there were some small improvements in the sphere of Christian-Muslim relations and, in particular, religious intolerance decreased. As noted by the Russian publicist and public figure A. S. Norov, “they say that Burkhard,the famous traveler and orientalist, who was related to oriental customs to such an extent that he was recognized by the Arabs as a sheikh, visited the Omarov mosque; Mrs. Belzoni, dressed in a Muslim dress, in 1818, quickly ran through part of the Omarova mosque, worried by fear, and everything that she said about her is also completely wrong about" .

As for A. S. Norov, he was, apparently, the first Russian pilgrim since the time of abbot Daniel (X II c.), who in 1835 managed to visit both mosques located in the fence of Haram al-Sharif. “I had a chance- wrote Norov, - visit both mosques located in fence of Solomon's temple: Omarov - el-Sahra and another, called el-Aqsa, which is turned into a mosque from the ancient Church of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos” .

BUT. S. Norov managed to get a written permission from the Syrian pasha to enter the “Omarov Mosque”, but, in order to avoid possible incidents, Norov and his companions “were asked to somewhat hide the European costume under oriental clothes.” “There has never been an example of such an almost official permission and, no doubt, we are indebted for this success to the mighty action of the name of the Russians” - noted with satisfaction A. S. Norov.

The reaction of the gatekeeper of the mosque was interesting,a simple Muslim who was far from new trends in the balance of power in the Middle East arena. On this occasion, A. S. Norov noted that “the gatekeeper looked at us with surprise, but, seeing the kavas with us, he entered into a conversation with him, which lasted several minutes; we could see from his facial expressions that he represented difficulties; but it ended with the fact that we, leaving our shoes at the gate, stepped onto the marble platform of the vast courtyard. .

Thus, A. S. Norov and his companions were given a rare opportunity at that time to inspect both famous Jerusalem mosques calmly, without risk to their lives, and thanks to this, the Russian researcher was able to compile a detailed and thorough description of the interior of the Kubbat-as-Sahra and al-Aqsa .

After the Crimean campaign (1853–1856), the positions of the European powers in the Middle East strengthened even more, and this, in turn, led to easier access for Christians to the territory of the Haram– ash-Sharif. As V. N. Berg wrote about this in his book, “ in 1862 In the same year, I saw Count Vogüet, a well-known explorer of the antiquities of Palestine, walking freely around the courtyard of the mosque, without any escort. He worked in the Mosque of Omar as boldly as he would in the Vatican. Now you can see chromolithographic drawings of the mysterious mosque in many print shops in St. Petersburg” .

It is interesting to note that A. S. Norov, who was discussed above, again managed to visit Jerusalem in 1861 and visit Haram al-Sharif.“In 1835, - recalled a Russian traveler, - I was from that very small number of Europeans who managed to see the interior of the sacred mosques of al-Sahra and al-Aqsa. My visit was then fraught with danger, and now, having paid 20 half-imperials, I was freely allowed to survey in a large society not only both mosques, but also the underground constructions of Mount Moriah, which I could not then see” .

The well-known explorer of the Perm Territory D. Smyshlyaev, who visited Jerusalem in 1864–1865 gg. and having visited both famous mosques there, he already busily notes that “having ascended the stairs, the visitor is obliged to replace his shoes with grandmothers” . And the abbot of the Guslitsky monastery, Hieromonk Parthenius, still through 5 years, faced in Jerusalem with the fact that “nowadays every week a Turkish kavas walks around the monasteries and invites them to the Omar mosque, only they take from each 6 piastres, that is, according to the Russian two-hryvnia ” .

In 1874 In 1995, Professor of the Kyiv Theological Academy A. A. Olesnitsky went to the Middle East for scientific purposes. For him, visiting Haram al-Sharif was no longer a problem, and he spent a long time inside each of the two mosques, which resulted in a monumental study he later published entitled “The Old Testament Temple in Jerusalem” (St. Petersburg, 1889).

Returning to the history of the Middle East region, we can mention that in the last quarter of X I X century in the Middle East began to strengthen the position of Germany, despite the fact that the spheres of influence in this region were already divided between France andGreat Britain. As you know, Germany sought to become an ally of the Ottoman Porte. In the autumn of 1898 Kaiser Wilhelm II visited Jerusalemand Damascus, where he examined not only Christian, but also Muslim shrines . 21 October, while in Jerusalem, the German Kaiser visited the Al-Aqsa and Kubbat-as-Sahra mosques. Both shrines were repaired for the arrival of the distinguished guest. “The magnificent tiles that adorn the walls of the mosque have been cleaned and shine like new. Inside, everything is renewed, gilded”, - reported on this subject in the Russian press .

Christianity and Islam in Jerusalem

All of the above facts indicate that the Christian-Muslim conflicts were based on the “human” factor, and as the relationship developed, the problem lost its sharpness and relevance. In this regard, it makes sense to at least briefly summarize those religious moments that bring Christians and Muslims closer in their veneration of Jesus Christ and the Mother of God.

We can recall that Muhammad himself ordered that the image of Mary with the Divine Infant be preserved in the Meccan Kaaba, which remained there until the fire of 683. . It can also be noted that the Muslim Arabs, who invaded Palestine in the 7th century, initially showed tolerance for Christians and Jews, who in the Koran are called “people of the Book”, that is, Scripture, Divine Revelation.

The veneration of Jesus Christ persisted among Muslims during the Middle Ages, despite the sharp deterioration in their attitude towards Christians, which was associated with the events of the Crusades. A Christian pilgrim from Munich, Johann Schiltberger, who traveled through the Middle East at the end of the 10th century IV- first quarter X V centuries, testified to this. According to him, “Muslims say that Abraham was the friend of God, Moses - prophet of God, Jesus - Word of God and Muhammad - messenger of God. In general, they put Jesus among the four main prophets and consider Him the highest near God, so that all people will be judged by Him on the last day ” .

Similar thoughts were expressed almost through four century and A. S. Norov when visiting the Jerusalem mosque in 1835. “Muslims call the Savior the prophet Isa, and it is wonderful that they give Him a special nameRuhullah , that is, the Spirit of God, - says a Russian scientist. - The Most Holy Theotokos is called among them, as among Christians, Mariam; they put her above all the women in the world; recognize the incorporeal conception of Jesus; they say that only Jesus and Mary are sinless; recognize the main events of the life of the Savior, but say that God did not allow His crucifixion; also have the concept of the Gospel, calling itEnzhil and considering it given from God to Jesus” .

Speaking of the "most distant mosque", the Arab historian Al-Masudi (d. 956) wrote about the common veneration of this temple by both Muslims and Christians. “Solomon was the first to build Beit al-Maqdis (the sacred house - a. BUT .), that is, that Mesjid al-Aksu, the surroundings of which God blessed<…>In the eyes of Christians, this is the main church in Jerusalem, where they have other churches.” , this author noted.

The above message is supplemented by the Benedictine monk from Montecassino, Peter the Deacon(XI c.), who, speaking of the holy places of Jerusalem, remarks thatMuslims revere those available thererelics associated with the Divine Infant. First, Peter the Deacon speaks of "the temple of the Lord, built by Solomon." “In the middle of the temple there is a large walled mountain, where there was a tabernacle, and in it the Kivot of the Covenant, transferred to Rome after the destruction of the temple by the emperor Vespasian”. “Not far, - continues Peter the Deacon, - the temple of Solomon was built, in which he dwelt<…>Below, nearby is the cradle of Christ, His font and the bed of the Most Holy Theotokos. Below the temple of the Lord to the east is a beautiful gate, into which the Lord entered, sitting on the foal of a donkey; Here Peter healed the lame.”

And again, we can cite the message of a medieval Arab chronicler, once again confirming the antiquity of the Islamic tradition of worshiping Jesus Christ. Nasiri-Khosrow (d. in 1088 d.) says about the underground mosque at the eastern wall of Haram al-Sharif: “Here is the cradle of Jesus. It is made of stone and is so large that people pray in it. I prayed there. The cradle is so firmly attached to the floor that it is motionless. Jesus lay in this cradle as a child and talked to people. In this mosque, the cradle replaces the mihrab (a niche indicating the direction of prayer - a. BUT .); in the same mosque on its eastern side there is a mihrab of Mary. There is also another mihrab, the mihrab of Zechariah. Under these mihrabs, those verses of the Koran were written that deal with Mary and Zechariah<…>This mosque is known as Megd-Isa (Cradle of Jesus). It hangs a large number of copper and silver lamps that burn all night.” .

Of course, one can doubt the authenticity of this “stone cradle” of the Divine Infant, but in this case what is important is the evidence of the deep reverence that Muslims rendered to the One by whose name Christians call themselves. A. S. Norov also reported about the imaginary cradle of Jesus, preserved by Muslims for many centuries.“In the southeast corner of the square (Haram al-Sharif - a. BUT .) is deep square room, illuminated by a window overlooking the Cedar Valley. In this room, Muslims with deep reverence preserve in a niche under a canopy the so-called cradle of Jesus Christ, carved from stone and more like a bath or to the sarcophagus."

This cave, which was mentioned by many Christian and Muslim authors, is located near the al-Aqsa mosque, where adherents of both religions could also bow to their common shrine. For the first time in Russian pilgrimage literature, A. S. Norov mentioned this. Describing the interior of the al-Aqsa Mosque, he Special attention drew on the altar of the former Church of the Entrance of the Virgin into the temple. “Where there should be an altar,- noted Noro in, - there is now a Muslim pulpit made of carved wood, and behind its partition two niches are visible in the outer wall. On the platform of the first niche, which is on the right side, the trace of one human foot is printed on a simple stone; and on the platform the second - trace of two feet. The first, solitary foot, is the footprint of Jesus, brought here from the top of the Mount of Olives, where another imprint of the Divine foot remained. The other two footprints are left on the ground, as Muslims say, by the Blessed Virgin Mary. I fell on my face and kissed both holy things.” .

In the same context, E. L. Markov also writes about the al-Aqsa mosque, noting that “not only for Muslims, but also for Christians, there is also a place for many memorable events of the Gospel<…>The Most Pure Virgin, consecrated to God, lived here as a maiden, and travelers are still shown in the niche of the lower cave the place of her virgin lodgings” . “This is also a very revered Muslim mosque, it bears the name mentioned in the Koran, - the author continues, emphasizing that there are more Christian and Biblical memories in it than Mohammedan<…>A special marble niche near the main mihrab marks the place where Christ prayed and where the imprint of His foot is shown in the marble slab.<…>In another similar niche is the seat of the high priest Zechariah” .

The same shrine for Christians is the Qubbat-as-Sakhra mosque, inside which there is a descent not far from the rock, where, according to legend, the Mother of God in fortieth day after the birth of Christ, brought two doves for a cleansing offering.

"It should be noted- wrote Norov, - that the inscription from the Koran, made in gold letters on a blue field, which encircles the rotunda of the dome of al-Sahra, contains everything that relates to Jesus Christ, such as: “Jesus is the son of Mary, the messenger of God, His Word, God made Him human in Mary, He is His breath." The as-Sakhra mosque was built by Byzantine architects. The remark made by Count Vogüe is very curious: “...many mosaics decorating the walls approximately express the heads of cherubs. Obliged to comply with the requirements of Muslims, who do not allow images of human beings, Greek artists were able to compose essays from flower drawings and arabesques, reminiscent of the holiness of the place trampled on by the infidels. Grapes and ears - emblems of the Eucharist, woven into flower leaves spread out like wings.” .

And finally, summing up what has been said, we can give the floor to the well-known Russian publicist V. Doroshevich, who most fully summarized the messages of his predecessors related to the topic under consideration. “In this square, on which the temple towered, the temple where he received the Infant in his arms– Simeon of Christ, where the Child Christ talked with the scholars about the Scriptures, where Christ preached, where He drove out the merchants, - everything is still full of the memory of Christ<…>Patterned gold inscriptions from the Koran on the blue enamel of the Mosque of Omar - verses from the Quran talking about the Messiah, Jesus, the Son of Mary<…>Going around this square with the mullah, at every step you will hear the name- "Christ". This elevated platform, which has always served to worship God, is flooded with the rays of His glory. And the memory of Him is preserved here, like a quiet ray of sunset trembling for a long time on the top of the mountain. .

This is how the Russian pilgrim writer at the junction X expressed his impressions. I X and XX centuries. And it was difficult at that time to assume that the good relations that were being established between the adherents of the three great religions who lived in Palestine would soon be overshadowed by the changed political situation.

Arab-Israeli conflict in its religious aspect

In the middle of XI In the 10th century, the Jewish population of Palestine was insignificant and numbered a little more than 11 thousands of people. While Muslims began to allow gentiles to visit Haram al-Sharif, Jews still avoided going there. As V. Doroshevich wrote, “it is not known exactly where the Holy of Holies was, and the Jews do not come here (to Haram), being afraid to touch with their feet the sacred place on which the Ark of the Covenant stood” .

They were still content to pray at the Wailing Wall, gathering here in large numbers on Friday evenings. “Crowds of Jews and Jewesses in their prayer clothes, old women, boys, girls and grey-haired old men of an important kind with stern spectacled eyes and ancient books in their hands, filled this nook that had no way out; all stood with their heads pressed against the moss-covered stones of Moriah and with passionate enthusiasm sent prayers of adoration to the foot of their broken temple. , - wrote at the end of X I X century E. L. Markov.

In the Ottoman Empire, which included Palestine, 1876 A constitution was promulgated, one of the provisions of which read as follows: “Islam is the state religion. While adhering to this principle, the State shall nevertheless protect the free practice of all confessions recognized in the Empire and preserve the religious privileges accorded to the various communities, provided that no damage is done to public order and good morals.” .

Although this provision of the constitution was intended to guarantee religious tolerance, in practice this was not always implemented. In the minds of many Muslims, the opinion has long been established that the Wailing Wall - this is the same wall that is mentioned in the 57th sura of the Qur'an:" AT the day when hypocrites and hypocrites will say to those who believe: “Wait for us so that we can borrow your light!” - they will be told: “Go back and look for the light!”. And a wall was erected between them, having a gate; its interior - mercy, but appearance- from her side - punishment "(57, 13). Such an interpretation, which was mentioned back in 1496 by the chief judge of the Hanbalis in Jerusalem, Mujiraddin al-Hanbali (d. in 1520) , did nothing to improve relations between Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem.

December 9, 1917 English troops entered Jerusalem. Centuries of Turkish rule in Palestine was over. According to an agreement with Russia concluded back in 1916 year, the British undertook to establish international administration in Palestine. But, having entered Palestine, they tried with all their might to keep this country under their rule. . At this time, the Qubbat-as-Sahra mosque was in a deplorable state. Therefore, in 1918, a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Ernst T. Richmond, was invited to lead the restoration of the Rock Mosque. It was urgent to put 26 thousands of new tiled tiles on the surface of the walls to save the crumbling base of ornamental decorations .

In 1922 In the same year, Great Britain received from the League of Nations a mandate for Palestine, which stood out as a separate territory during the division of the Turkish Empire. A few years later, a conflict arose in Jerusalem between Muslims and Jews due to the fact that representatives of local authorities gave permission to the Majlis Islam (Muslim religious council) to attach a school and other premises to the Wailing Wall. In the middle of August 1929 year, the Arabs demanded that the entire Wailing Wall be given to their direct use. The Jews refused to do so. The dispute escalated due to the fact that these days the Jewish and Arab communities of Jerusalem celebrated their religious holidays: 15 August the Jews had a day of mourning in memory of the destruction of the temple of Solomon, and 17 August Muslims celebrated the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.

23 August a large crowd of Arabs came to the Wailing Wall and dispersed the Jews gathered there. The last to come to the rescuearmed militia and entered into a skirmish with the Arabs, during which more than 100 people were killed and wounded. In response, Muslim committees were formed to protectbeetroot (as the Western Wall is called by the Arabs) from capture. Arab-Muslim com The parties launched a broad pan-Islamist campaign, calling for a holy war in defense of the Wall, which was then a waqf - the sacred property of the Muslim community . In turn, the Jews made their demands - cry and pray at this wall in Jerusalem.

Jewish demonstrations began, arranged in the Arab quarters at the Wailing Wall and held under anti-Arab slogans. AT in response to this, the executive committee of the Arab Palestinian Congress staged a protest demonstration that took place at the same Wailing Wall. Mufti of Jerusalem Hajj al-Husseini led the Muslims - religious head and chairman of the Supreme Muslim Council.

In the history of the Arab-Jewish confrontation in Palestine, the Mufti of Jerusalem occupies a special place. It is a historical fact that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, the spiritual leader of the Palestinian Arabs, in November 1941 had a meeting with Hitler in Berlin. During the Second World War, he lived in Germany, was an SS officer. He organized within german army a military unit from the Arabs and, together with Hitler, developed plans for the final decision on the fate of the Jews in Palestine and the conquest of the Middle East region by the African corps of Field Marshal Rommel .

In 1990 In 1994, the book of famous French journalists Roger Faligot and Remy Coffer "The Crescent and the Swastika" was published in Paris. It tells about the links of Arab nationalists with Nazi Germany. “I met with the authors of the book,” writes Kirill Privalov, a Paris correspondent for Literaturnaya Gazeta. - Roger Faligot showed me symbolic photographs. The Fuhrer is talking to the Grand Mufti, both are smiling - both Hitler and his guest. Right hand thrown up in a Nazi salute - Grand Mufti receives the parade of the Waffen-SS division- "Yatagan", made up of Bosnian Muslims. Another shot: the Grand Mufti - hands reverently folded on the stomach - thanks Allah for the creation in Berlin of the “Arab Legion” of volunteers rushing in the ranks of the SS to fight the “infidels” ” .

But before that, there were still whole 12 years old, and in the summer of 1929 2010, events gradually began to go beyond the Arab-Jewish conflict, pouring into a nationwide movement against the British presence in Palestine. The struggle of the Palestinian people found a response and sympathy in many Arab countries. Thousands of fellahs and Bedouins from Transjordan, Syria, Sinai were sent to helpPalestinians. “We live like on a volcano,” wrote a correspondent for the London Daily News in those days, “now the Arabs rely on the help of fellow believers in Syria, Egypt, the Arabian states and India” .

The presence of unrest in the country in the form of religious clashes served as a pretext for the transfer of British troops to Palestine, and by the beginning of 1929 they managed to suppress the uprising .

An important milestone in the history of Jerusalem was the UN resolution adopted on November 29, 1947 on the division of Palestine and the creation of two states on its territory - an Arab and a Jewish one. Due to the fact that the Jerusalem shrines associated with the history of the three religions are of exceptional value to hundreds of millions of believers, it was decided that Jerusalem should be internationalized and endowed with a special status. A special section of the resolution was devoted to this issue (§ 13. Holy places), which said the following:

a) already existing rights in relation to holy places or buildings and places intended for religious purposes are not subject to cancellation and cannot be limited;

b) free access to holy places or buildings and sites intended for religious purposes, and free worship shall be provided in accordance with existing rights, subject to compliance with the requirements for maintaining public order and decency;

c) holy places and buildings and plots intended for religious purposes are subject to protection. No action is permitted that may violate their sacred character.

The first Arab-Israeli war began immediately after the declaration of independent Israel. On May 15, 1948, the troops of seven Arab countries - Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Yemen - entered the territory of Palestine .

As a result of the Arab-Israeli war (1948–1949), Jerusalem was divided by a demarcation line into 2 parts: the western part became part of Israel, the eastern part, which included the Old City with its shrines, became part of Jordan.

During the "battle for Jerusalem" - the hostilities that took place in 1948 between the Israeli Haganah ("defense") and the Arab Legion, Haram al-Sharif and the mosques located on this site received significant damage. “Fresh breaks in the wonderful patterns of azure and golden smalt, broken window bars, reminiscent of finest stone lace, bring you back to the events of our days. Only a few years ago, during the Palestinian war, shells exploded here, destroying the precious treasures of human culture,” wrote one of the correspondents who visited East Jerusalem in the mid-1950s. .

On October 15, 1948, the Coptic Patriarch of Jerusalem declared King Abdullah of Jordan the King of Palestine . In his policy, Abdallah relied on Britain; at the same time, he resisted American penetration into Jordan and, as a result of Anglo-American contradictions in the Middle East, became the victim of a conspiracy. On July 20, 1951, he was killed in Jerusalem at the entrance to the al-Aqsa Mosque. a member of the pro-American military organization "Al-Jihad al-muqaddas" (Holy War Organization). Thus, in addition to the damage that had been on the al-Aqsa mosque since the war of 1948-49, there were added bullet holes that killed the grandfather of King Hussein of Jordan .

Between 1958 and 1964 a number of Arab countries, such as Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, allocated funds in the amount of 750 thousand Jordanian dinars for the restoration of the Dome of the Rock mosque , for the repair of stained-glass windows, rare in beauty and elegance, mosaics and murals, on which the most skillful masters of India, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey and other countries of the East worked at one time. The restoration of the mosque was basically completed. But soon the Jerusalem shrines came under a new threat of destruction, which arose with the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli war in 1967.

On the night of June 5, 1967, the Israeli army launched a preemptive strike against the armed forces of three Arab countries: Egypt, Jordan and Syria. During this "six-day war" Israeli troops occupied East Jerusalem. This was given not only strategic, but also religious significance. One of Israel's two chief rabbis, Isser Yehuda Unterman, said of the 1967 war: “This is an unusual war. This is the chapter that will be added to the Bible.” .

Israeli leaders solemnly celebrated the victory 1967 year, arranging an off-site meeting of the government cabinetin Jerusalem with a visit to the Wailing Wall. In those days, the Shearim newspaper wrote:Holy Jerusalem is back in the hands of Israel. We liberated it from foreign possession and hoisted on its walls the flag of freedom and liberated Israel, after it fell at Edom 1900 years ago” .

During the 1967 war, the Muslim shrines of Jerusalem again received significant damage. Speaking about these sad facts, the Jordanian Minister of Religious and Islamic Affairs, Abdul Hamid al-Sayeh, stated: “During the occupation, the large gate of the Mosque of Omar was hit by an artillery shell and completely destroyed<…>One of the minarets of the mosque of Omar was also shelled. The bombing also damaged the building of the mosque.” .

In August 1969 part of the al-Aqsa mosque was set on fire.

21 August, a young religious fanatic from Australia, Denis Mikael Rohan, acting “on a call from above” to restore the ancient Jerusalem temple, set fire to the al-Aqsa mosque; at the same time, priceless carved pulpits made of valuable breeds eight trees centuries ago, in the era of Salah ad-Din . This crime was committed under unclear circumstances. Charged with arson with premeditated intent, this Australian was soon declared mentally deranged and, after a formal trial, was released. As for the Arab press, she saw in this case an analogy with the burning of the Reichstag during the period when the Nazis came to power in Germany .

Until 1967, almost a quarter of a million pilgrims filled the courtyard of the al-Aqsa Mosque during the Friday afternoon service in the holy month of Ramadan. And in 1973, on the Ramadan holiday, only a few thousand people could arrive here.

On April 11, 1982, tragic events again took place in the al-Aqsa mosque. In the morning, at about 9 o'clock, a man of about thirty in Israeli military uniform with a machine gun in his hands entered here. He opened fire on the praying Muslims; as a result, 2 people were killed and over 35 injured; all victims were Arabs . The shooter was arrested after police and soldiers managed to break into the mosque and wound him in the leg. The terrorist turned out to be a certain Eliot Gutman, who arrived in Israel from New York in 1976.

On April 14, 1982, the UN Security Council began to consider the complaint of a group of Arab and Muslim states in connection with the terrorist attack on the al-Aqsa mosque, which was by no means an isolated phenomenon, but represented another link in the chain of the Middle East conflict.

During those years terrorists planted bombs in mosques, one such group, calling itself "Messianic Jews", set out to blow up Arab mosques in Jerusalem in order to "hasten the coming of redemption." The bombing of the al-Aqsa mosque planned by the terrorists was averted at the last minute thanks to the vigilance of the guards. There was also another extremist organization - the Movement for the Capture of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which demanded that this shrine of the Arab world be immediately demolished from the face of the earth, since it is located on the site of the ancient temple of Solomon.

As reported in 1988 Jerusalem Post newspaper, there were serious talks in Jerusalem about the restoration of the temple of Solomon, destroyed by the Romans about 70 A.D. The Society of Believers of the Temple on Mount was formed in Jerusalem, under the chairmanship of Stanley Goldfoot, and began to raise funds for the construction of a new temple. "Goldfoot says donations are largely coming from fundamentalist Christian groups," The Jerusalem Post reported. - They see the fulfillment of prophecies in the existence of the State of Israel.

There is disagreement among Orthodox Jews regarding the very location of the future temple. Some groups encourage going to the top of the mountain, which once had an ancient temple and now stands mosques, in order to teach believers to worship in this place, while other groups, on the contrary, forbid their followers to go there, believing that Jews should not defile the site of the former Holy of Holies. “The mosque has two entrances and both are locked. By agreement with the Muslims, the key of one of the entrances was also given to the Jews so that they could also go there at will, but the second key is still with the Arabs and serves as proof that they are now still the owners of the place where they once stood the Old Testament temple. The Jewish side has set up guards at one of the entrances to warn Jews who want to visit this place that a group of chief rabbis of Israel forbid their believers to go there. There are also compromise groups that allow visiting the mountain on the condition that the pilgrims perform a special ritual of ablution and enter there without shoes” .

“It is absolutely certain, - this message ends, - that whatever the opinions of the Jews regarding visiting the site of their former temple, the question of building a new one is now on the agenda and the Jews are preparing to solve this problem politically, financially, and religiously.

In the 1980s Israeli specialists have begun archaeological excavations in the territory of Haram al-Sharif - where Solomon's temple once stood. This was perceived by Muslims as one of the ways of "Judaization". “A whole series of attacks on religious, educational and social structures in the West Bank and Gaza, - noted in 1983 the Arab publicist J. Saeg, - is an unconditional evidence of a systematic policy of cultural genocide<…>The expropriation of Muslim and Christian religious shrines and the threat of destruction due to the excavation of sacred sites such as the Mosque of the Rock in Jerusalem, - here are just a few examples of this policy.” .

All these events contribute to the activation of pan-Islamist sentiments in the Arab world, and this is primarily used by such extremist organizations that have branches in many Arab countries, such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

Currently living in Jerusalem 200 thousands of Arabs who consider themselves the keepers of the Muslim shrines of the city, to which the attention of the entire Islamic world is riveted. Apparently, this prompted the mayor of Jerusalem, T. Kollek, in 1985 to take measures to ensure access for Arabs from other countries to the holy places of Jerusalem. . The Israeli leadership is also aware that in the event of the destruction of the al-Aqsa or Kubbat al-Sahra mosques, it will turn against itself all the Arab and Muslim states without exception.

Question about Jerusalem - one of the main ones in the complex of Palestinian-Israeli relations. Negotiations on this issue were to start at 1996 year. However, it should be borne in mind that Jordan also has its own interests in resolving this long-standing dispute. The fact is that the Jordanian king Hussein (sc. in 1999) always considered himself the “keeper” of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem (by analogy with the king of Saudi Arabia, who bears the title “keeper of the two sacred places” - mosques in Mecca and Medina). At one time, the Jordanian monarch spent 10 million dollars for the restoration of the sacred complex on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. There, on the steps of al-Aqsa, in 1951 d. in front of King Hussein, then a teenager, an Arab terrorist killed his grandfather, King Abdullah - the only Arab leader who wanted to make peace with Israel. In wars 1948 and 1967 gg. many Jordanian soldiers gave their lives fighting for Jerusalem .

In 1994 The Israeli-Jordanian declaration was signed in Washington to end the 46-year state of war between the two states. Returning from Washington, King Hussein opened an air corridor over Israel. Former combat pilot Hussein personally flew the plane, making several circles at low altitude over old Jerusalem. After landing in Amman, Hussein, with difficulty containing his excitement, told reporters that he could not express the feelings he experienced flying over the holy city. According to him, Jerusalem should henceforth be a place of meeting and peace for all: Israelis, Arabs, Palestinians .

However, two years later, in September 1996, another conflict erupted in Jerusalem over the Temple Mount. This time, the unrest of the Palestinian Muslim Arabs began after the opening by the Israelis of a tunnel leading under the al-Aqsa mosque. Jews used this historical water tunnel three thousand years ago. Animals sacrificed in Solomon's temple were washed with its water. However, the underground passage under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem existed long before the Jews settled in these places - it is of natural origin: no one dug or built it.

But worried Muslims decided that clearing the tunnel of rubble could cause the al-Aqsa mosque to sag or even collapse altogether, or that the terrorists would fill the tunnel with dynamite and blow up the Temple Mount. According to the Palestinians, by opening the tunnel, the Israeli authorities intend not only to prove that al-Aqsa was erected on the site of Solomon's temple, but also, by letting tourists in, destroy the mosque and erect a copy of Solomon's temple in its place.

The Israeli version boiled down to the fact that the tunnel is just an excuse for Yasser Arafat to improve his image with disillusioned Palestinian radicals by organizing mass riots .

The problem of demolishing the archaeological conduit and putting it into operation arose in the 1980s. The Likud government first attempted to open the tunnel in 1988, but abandoned the attempt, as the Shabak security service predicted an outburst of Palestinian outrage. The problem of the tunnel and the possible consequences of its opening were dealt with by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his closest employees; senior officials came to the conclusion that the tunnel could only be opened as a result of an agreement with the relevant Muslim religious authorities. Rabin, who secretly visited the tunnel, rejected the recommendation: “We now lacked only the turmoil and bloodshed around the tunnel. And all this in a holy place for Muslims, and even in Jerusalem! It will shake up the entire Muslim world.” Thus, resolving the issue of underground passage, leading from the Via Dolorosa to the Temple Mount, was frozen at the very top. Then the government of Shimon Peres returned to the issue of the tunnel, but also postponedopening before 2000 - the expected completion date of the negotiation process.

The Netanyahu government has cut the knot. Bibi Netanyahu, after conferring with the minister of internal security and the mayor of Jerusalem, gave permission to open the tunnel. Immediately afterwards, six Palestinian factions issued a joint statement calling for anti-Israeli demonstrations. Among them are Fatah headed by Yasser Arafat and its longtime rivals, who have always rejected the idea of ​​peace with Israel, the Islamist movement Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Result: 15 Israeli soldiers and officers killed, 30 Palestinians killed, many dozens wounded on both sides. And according to analysts, this is not the end.

For the next four years, the Arab-Israeli conflict over the Temple Mount was like a smoldering fuse leading to a keg of gunpowder. In 2000, discussions on the status of East Jerusalem intensified. September 19 of the same year, Pope John Paul II made a statement on the issue of Jerusalem: "The unique religious character of Jerusalem must be secured by a special status guaranteed at the international level." On the same day, Israel's Minister of Religious Affairs put forward the idea of ​​giving the Temple Mount in Jerusalem an international extraterritorial status. On September 22, Israel offered to transfer the Temple Mount under the sovereignty of the UN Security Council, more precisely, its five permanent members. This idea was supported by the United States, France, Egypt and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan .

On September 28, a delegation of the Likud parliamentary faction, headed by its chairman Ariel Sharon, visited the Temple Mount. On the eve of Sharon announced his intention to visit these places, sacred to both Muslims and Jews, as a sign of peace and at the same time protest against the possible loss of Israeli power over them.(Ariel Sharon is an extremely negative figure for the Palestinians, since in 1982 in Beirut he allowed Maronite Christians to destroy the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila). The visit resulted in serious clashes between Muslim Palestinians and the police guarding the delegation. The Palestinians threw stones at them. Stones flew down the mountain towards the Jews at the Wailing Wall. In turn, the police fired rubber bullets at the demonstrators. As a result, about 80 people, mostly Israelis, were injured on both sides. Perhaps this was a provocation, but in any case, Sharon had the right to go anywhere in his own country, in particular, to the Temple Mount, where crowds of non-Muslims, including Jews, constantly go. But the Arab radicals, who attacked the police there and began from that moment to throw stones and Molotov cocktails at everything, throw stones at passers-by and cars, secretly or openly kill individual Jews they come across, thereby actually violated the existing framework. peace process” armistice.

Excesses have happened before. But this time, the pogrom actions of the radicals were openly supported by the Arafat administration, whose leaders, including Arafat himself, called the ongoing uprising (there is a joke in the Middle East: “Tell me that Arafat is your friend, and I will tell you who you are”).

Even from the early morning of September 28, the muezzins of Jerusalem mosques called on Muslims to go to the Temple Mount and by any means disrupt the visit of the Likud delegation to it. In response to warnings against visiting the Temple Mount, Ariel Sharon replied that he had the right to visit any places under Israeli sovereignty. In turn, 4 members of the Knesset from the Arab parties went to the Temple Mount. They tried to enter into an argument with their parliamentary colleagues there, but were pushed back by the police. .

In those days The situation in the Middle East continued to worsen. Clashes between Palestinians and Israelis took place in the territories of the Palestinian Authority - in Gaza, Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem. Shots were fired in the residential areas of Jerusalem. There were casualties, mostly among Palestinians. The Israeli authorities closed the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for 4 days - until the evening of October 9, until the end of the Yom Kippur holiday, but this not only did not prevent the clashes from continuing, but only aggravated them.

On October 6, a day that Hezbollah and Fatah militants declared a “day of wrath”, a real battle broke out on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Young Palestinians leaving the al-Aqsa mosque after Friday prayers already prepared for battle (in black knitted helmets with holes for the eyes or in white scarves covering the lower part of the face), seeing two or three Israeli soldiers at the Lion's Gate, threw a hail of stones at them . Others shattered surveillance cameras set up by the Israeli army near al-Aqsa. A crowd of Palestinian youths shouting "We will protect you, al-Aqsa!" broke into the Old City, where the Israeli police met them with rubber bullets. To no avail, Faisal Hussein, one of the few still respected Palestinian leaders, urged the crowd to calm down from the minaret of the al-Aqsa mosque. Demonstrators set fire to the police station at Lion's Gate, hurled stones at Jews at the Wailing Wall, tried to raise the Palestinian flag over al-Aqsa. The police detained 110 people that day .

The next day, thousands of Palestinians, firing into the air and shouting anti-Israeli slogans, looted the tomb of Joseph on the outskirts of Nablus. The Israeli army surrendered the tomb of Joseph to the Palestinians, leaving their positions in Shechem (Nablus) - a city located on the territory of the Palestinian Authority on the west bank of the Jordan River. About a dozen Israeli soldiers guarding the tomb were withdrawn from there at three in the morning. The Israeli army stressed that the troops left the shrine temporarily . The tomb was guarded by Palestinian police, who tried to push back hundreds of young Arabs who had gathered here to celebrate the victory over the Israelis.

The border guard unit guarding the tomb of Joseph in Shechem was evacuated on the personal order of the head of government, Ehud Barak. All religious values, Torah scrolls and sacred books were taken out. But despite the fact that the withdrawal of the Israeli unit was agreed with the command of the Palestinian police, fire was opened on the armored car from automatic weapons, and one of the border guards was injured.

The Palestinians pledged to secure the safety of Joseph's tomb, but they did not keep their word. Early in the morning, after the Israeli unit was withdrawn, crowds of Arabs surrounded the tomb, set it on fire, and then completely destroyed the religious school and synagogue located there. The walls were smashed with picks and shovels, and then the Palestinian flag appeared over the defiled ruins. .

Army bunkers and trees in the yard were burned, the walls were stormed by a bulldozer, the dome of the tomb was destroyed. At nine o'clock in the morning, the police and security forces of the Palestinian Authority began to disperse the rioters, and only thanks to this the tomb itself survived.

The amazing fact of the pogrom of the tomb of Joseph, revered by Muslims as a prophetYusuf , is explained by the widespread belief among the Arabs that Joseph was buried in Egypt, and the tomb in Nablus is an “Israeli fake”, while Joseph, at his request, was really buried not in Egypt, where he ended his days, but in the land of Israel .

The controversy between Muslims and Jews around the Temple Mount and its environs entered a new stage after the mufti of Jerusalem, Ikram Sabri, declared the Wailing Wall - the main shrine of Judaism - Muslim property. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch of the Western Wall denounced the statement as an attempt to distort history.

The spiritual leader of the Islamic community of Jerusalem stated on February 20, 2001 that the Western Wall of the Jerusalem Temple (Wailing Wall) is the foundation of the al-Aqsa Mosque and has nothing to do with the Jews. "Not a single stone of the Western Wall is connected with the history of the Jewish people," the Mufti's decree says. According to legend, right in front of the Western Wall, the Prophet Mohammed tied his horse Al-Buraqa before he was taken to heaven.

Muslim temples are called mosques, and they are built according to certain rules. Firstly, the building should be oriented strictly to the East, that is, to the holy place for all Muslims - Mecca. Secondly, obligatory element any mosque has a minaret - a tall and narrow extension, most often cylindrical or rectangular in shape. There can be from one to nine of them in a mosque. It is from this room that the muezzin calls the faithful to prayer.

Almost all Muslim temples are equipped with a courtyard. Here, according to tradition, a fountain, a well or any device intended for ablutions should be arranged. According to Muslim customs, it is forbidden to enter the temple dirty for prayer. There are also outbuildings in the yard. A madrasah differs from a mosque in that rooms for seminarians can be equipped in the courtyard. Modern temples, of course, have a rather modest architecture. However, if you look at the old magnificent ones, you will notice that in the past the courtyards were often surrounded by columns, even arranged along the perimeter of the gallery.

The building of the mosque is crowned with a dome decorated with a crescent.

These are the features of the Muslim temple in terms of exterior. Inside, the building is divided in our time into two halves - male and female. On the eastern wall of the prayer room, a mihrab is arranged without fail - a special niche. To the right of him is a special pulpit from which the imam reads his sermons to believers. During prayer, old people stand closest to him. Behind them - the people And in the very last rows - the youth.

Images of people and animals are prohibited in Islam. Therefore, of course, there are no icons in the prayer room or anywhere else. Nowadays, the walls are usually decorated with Arabic scripts - lines from the Koran. Very often, fractal or fractal designs are also used to decorate mosques. They can be made both outside the building and from the inside. Muslim temples are usually decorated in traditional blue and red colors. In addition, blotches of white and gold can often be observed in the ornaments.

A remarkable example of Islamic architecture can be considered, for example, the Taj Mahal in Agra. It is very which is considered a global pearl of culture. This Muslim temple was built, the photo of which you can see at the very top of the page, by Shah Jahad in honor of his wife. The woman's name was Mumtaz Mahal (hence the slightly altered name of the temple), and she died in childbirth. There are two tombs in the temple - the shah's wife and his own.

The second photo shows the Sultan Ahmet Mosque, located in Istanbul. A distinctive feature of Turkish Muslim temples is the special shape of the dome - more gentle than in mosques in other countries. The third photo shows the Sultan Ahmet Mosque from the inside. Quite often, Muslims adapted the conquered peoples for their own. An example of this is the most significant monument of early Christian culture - Sophia of Constantinople, to which minarets were attached by the Turks.

Thus, buildings such as Muslim temples can be called a dome and the presence of a courtyard. In addition, the obligatory architectural elements are the minarets, the mihrab and the pulpit.