AMMAN — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, HRH Prince Feisal, the Regent, on Sunday attended a celebration organised by the Awqaf Ministry on the occasion of Al Israa wal Miraj. 

 

In a speech he gave at the King Abdullah I Mosque’s Islamic Cultural Centre, Awqaf Minister Abdul Nasser Abul Bassal said that preserving Jerusalem is “a pillar of the Jordanian diplomacy” since the establishment of modern Jordan, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

 

He noted that His Majesty, the custodian of Islamic holy sites in the city, always exerts efforts to preserve and defend the city and its holy shrines, and supports Jerusalemites.

 

He referred to King Abdullah’s stance on Al Aqsa Mosque as being an Islamic waqf (endowment) on the entire 144-dunum area of Al Haram Al Sharif, stressing that the mosque is a place of worship for Muslims alone and cannot be shared or divided. 

 

The celebration included broadcasting a short film produced by the Awqaf Ministry under the title “Jerusalem in the eyes of the Hashemites”, which highlighted the Hashemite role in defending Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and its custodianship on the holy city. 

 

Poet Haider Mahmoud recited a piece in the presence of senior officials and officers, scholars and ambassadors.

 

The Israa, followed by Miraj, happened on Rajab 27, in the seventh month of the Hijri lunar calendar, in the 10th year of Mohammad’s prophethood, according to Muslim beliefs.

 

Islamic sources say that the prophet was carried from the Grand Mosque in Mecca to the Farthest Mosque (Al Aqsa Mosque) in Jerusalem on a creature called Al Buraq, in the company of Archangel Gabriel.

 

There, he led a congregational prayer of the prophets of God, before Gabriel took him to the heavens where he met prophets Adam, John, Jesus, Idris, Aaron and Moses, according to Islam Online, an authoritative Islamic web portal.

 

During this journey, Muslims believe God ordered the five daily prayers. The prophet then returned to Mecca on the same night.