A rchive Date
[ 26-12-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Palestine ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/mansur_london.html
Jerusalem lacks state of mind for peace
By SALIM MANSUR -- For the London Free Press
December 26, 2002
There can be no peace in the Middle East, no end to conflict among people and states in the region, unless there is peace in the hearts of those who reside in Jerusalem and those who rule over it.
The above observation is axiomatic, for Jerusalem is unlike any other city in the world. It has been coveted, fought over, lost, regained, pillaged, divided, reunited and the fighting continues.
Each of the three monotheistic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, claims Jerusalem (in Arabic, al-Quds, meaning the Holy) for itself, and their followers at different times have contested its possession.
Peace is generally mistakenly understood as an absence of conflict, when, on the contrary, peace represents an effect, or an outcome, of a situation among people where truth and justice exist.
Arabs and Muslims have ruled the city for a third of the three millennia of Jerusalem's history, until recently. When Jerusalem passed from the control of the Byzantium to the Arabs in 638 A.D., Sophronius, the Christian patriarch, asked for the leader of Muslims to come in person and take possession of the city that once belonged to David and Solomon, and where Jesus preached before his passage from this world.
The story of Umar ibn al-Khattab, the leader of Muslims and a successor to Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam, entering Jerusalem on foot, accompanied only by a travelling companion is widely known. Sophronius received Umar in awe, and guided him through the holy sites.
While visiting the Church of Resurrection, Umar needed to pray and stepped outside to offer his devotion. To Sophronius's question why he declined to pray within the church, Umar remarked that if he did, future generations of Muslims would have taken his example to convert churches into mosques.
Umar, on receiving the symbolic keys of Jerusalem from the patriarch, spoke to the assembled crowd. He knew well the city's sacred history and cautioned those present, and those who would come after, with words worth recalling in the times we live.
Umar reminded the assembled crowd that so long Muslims cherished in their hearts and in their conduct the four qualities of faith, wisdom, justice and truth, Jerusalem would be at peace while in their possession. But when Muslims would abandon these qualities, so would Jerusalem be lost to them.
Peace represents an effect, or an outcome, of a situation among people where truth and justice exist.
"When Muslims sell the truth and collect worldly wealth and seek worldly pleasures; when they lose good faith, good conduct, and good behaviour; when they relate to women in an immoral and unjust way; when they practise backbiting, jealousy and envy; when they lack unity and engage in hypocrisy; when they destroy good deeds and commit evil actions, when all this occurs in Islam, then unity and peacefulness will be destroyed. This holy city will then be lost to us, and this is certain."
Umar concluded, "When this happens, the followers of Islam will be as numerous as the granules of flour in dough. But the numbers of those who shall take possession of the city will be as few as the grains of salt in the dough."
Umar's words may be read, alternatively, as a warning to Muslims only about cause and effect of their behaviour, or as a warning to all that Jerusalem may only be possessed and ruled in peace by people among whom the qualities he stressed remained dominant in practice.
The stories of the prophets in the Abrahamic tradition are reminders of the quest for justice, and warnings in its absence. In our secular world characterized by skepticism toward religions, the quest for justice still remains the most powerful engine of our politics.
Since Solomon completed the Temple begun by David, his father, in 950 B.C., Jerusalem has symbolized for Jews, then Christians, and lastly Muslims, the earthly centre of the heaven above.
And history records that Jerusalem, meaning peace, remains a measure for all discerning souls why peace is wanting in our world when justice is undone in that holy city.
Salim Mansur is a professor of political science at the University of Western Ontario. His column appears alternate Wednesdays. Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@lfpress.com
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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