Jerusalem – Al Kuds

Mr Arafat and other Palestinian officials deny a Jewish relationship to Jerusalem. That is contrary to the facts:

Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Koran. Jerusalem is mentioned in Jewish prayers three times daily. It is mentioned every time a Jew eats, and on every happy occasion, as when a child is born, and particularly at weddings when a glass is broken by the groom to demonstrate our sorrow for the ancient destruction of Jerusalem.

The Moslems pray towards Mecca even when they are in Jerusalem. The Christians never pray towards Jerusalem. No other religion in the world prays towards Jerusalem or for Jerusalem. No other religion or nation took an oath “if I forget thee Jerusalem let my right arm wither, let my tongue get stuck into my throat if I forget thee”.

The name, “Al Kuds” is a Hebrew name, taken from the Jewish name for Jerusalem “Ir Ha Kodesh” (the Holy city). Ha Kodesh has “Ha” as an article (in English “the”) and in Arabic “Al” and “Kodesh” which means “Holy” in Hebrew and was adapted as “Kuds” in Arabic. The reason the Arabs adopted the Hebrew name “Al Kuds” is that the first Khalif after the prophet Mohamad, Abu Bakr Al Saddik, who was a Jewish convert, (Saddik is a Hebrew name which means righteous) ordered Khalid Ibn Al Walid to liberate Jerusalem from the Byzantines at the request of the Jews and thus he called it Al Kuds as he was accustomed to call it in Hebrew.

Professor Heskel M Haddad
New York