Few names in history carry the weight that “Israel” and “Jerusalem” do — contested, sacred, and layered with millennia of spiritual significance. Yet for many Muslims, and for much of the world, the true origins of these names, and the theological claims built upon them, remain poorly understood. To engage meaningfully with the Palestinian conflict, with Zionism, with the status of Al-Quds, and with the sanctity of Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, we must first understand who Israel really was, what Judaism originally taught, and on precisely what terms the Promised Land was ever promised — because the answers, drawn from scripture itself, are more nuanced than political discourse ever allows.
Israel, Judah, and the True Origins of the Jewish Faith
“Israel” is not the name of a political state in origin — it is the name of a Prophet. According to both the Quran and the Bible, Israel is Prophet Jacob (Yaqub, peace be upon him), whose name was changed following the account in Genesis 32. Jacob had twelve sons, and from those twelve sons came the twelve tribes of Israel. Over time, one of these tribes was led by a man named Judah — not a prophet, not a divine messenger, simply a tribal leader — and his followers distinguished themselves from the other tribes by calling themselves “the Jewish people.” Their faith came to be labeled “Judaism,” yet the word “Judaism” does not appear even once in the Torah or Talmud. Their foundational belief was pure monotheism — the same recognition of one God that Islam upholds, confirmed in the Old Testament (Numbers 23:19): God is not a man, and He is not the son of man. The Torah and the Talmud, which functions analogously to the Hadith in Islam, form the twin pillars of Jewish religious law. This original monotheism is common ground between Islam and the earliest form of the Israelite faith — a fact that opens a powerful avenue for dawah that most Muslims have yet to explore.
“Israel is their Promised Land — but if we read their own Bible, we see that the promise came with conditions. God says in Deuteronomy 4:1: ‘Follow these laws so that you may live, and go and take possession of the land.’ The land was never unconditional.” — Brother Ahmed Rajab
- Israel = Prophet Jacob (Yaqub, peace be upon him): The name originates in Genesis 32, not from any political movement or modern nation-state.
- The 12 tribes: Jacob’s twelve sons formed the twelve tribes; the tribe of Judah gave rise to the terms “Jewish” and “Judaism” — neither of which appears as a term in Jewish scripture itself.
- Shared monotheism: The original Israelite faith affirms the absolute oneness of God, fully consistent with Islamic tawhid and directly contradicting the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.
- The Promised Land was conditional: Deuteronomy 4:25–27 explicitly warns that corruption and disobedience would result in rapid expulsion from the land; Daniel 9:11 records that Israel transgressed the law and received its sworn judgment.
- Zionism is secular, not religious: The Zionist movement emerged as a political-nationalist project in the late 19th century; approximately 50% of Ultra-Orthodox Jews worldwide oppose the existence of the modern state of Israel, considering it a sin against scripture — because their own books state that the reestablishment of Israel must be a divine act, through the Messiah, not a secular human project.
- Islam and the Messiah question: Jews cannot accept the Christian narrative of Jesus because their own scripture (Psalms 91) promises that the Messiah will be protected by angels and not harmed — a description that fits the Islamic account of Jesus being lifted by Allah, not crucified, far better than the Christian account does.
Jerusalem, Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, and the Weight of Islamic Custodianship
“Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa is the name for the whole of the place of worship built by Sulaymaan (peace be upon him)… Wherever you are when the time for prayer comes, pray, for that is the best thing to do.” — The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, as narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari (3366) and Sahih Muslim (520)
Al-Quds — Jerusalem — is not merely a city contested on geopolitical maps; it is a spiritual epicentre that has drawn Prophets, shaped prayers, and carried divine trust across five thousand years of recorded history. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was carried on the Night Journey (Isra’) to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, where he led all the Prophets in prayer — an event immortalised in Surah Al-Isra’ (17:1). Jerusalem came under Muslim governance in 636 CE under Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), and under Islamic rule it reached its peak of advancement, its minarets singing the praise of Allah, its domes rising in beauty toward the sky. The Dome of the Rock — among the most architecturally celebrated structures on earth — was completed in 691 CE by Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan; Surah Ya-Sin, the heart of the Quran, was hand-carved into the heart of Palestine. Critically, the Dome of the Rock is not Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa itself: the Mosque occupies the southern portion of the sacred plateau, while the Dome sits over the central rock. Confusing the two is not a trivial error — it opens the door to a calculated deception whereby the destruction of the actual mosque can be obscured. The walls of Al-Quds were destroyed more than seventeen times throughout history and rebuilt each time; the adhan fell silent during the Crusader occupation when the Mosque was converted into offices, the Dome into a church, and the prayer space into a stable for horses — and yet the call to prayer returned, because Allah wills that truth and justice endure. On July 30th, 1980, Israel’s parliament legislated to declare Jerusalem its capital, an act rejected by the international community, but the battle for Al-Quds is ultimately not merely political — it is a spiritual trust placed in the hands of every Muslim who understands the guidance of Islam, and our response must be one of knowledge, unity, and sincere faith in the promise of Allah that this blessed city belongs to those who uphold truth.
