For the purpose of worship, the Prophet ﷺ admonished all Muslims to travel to only three mosques: the Haram in Holy Makkah, the Prophet’s ﷺ Mosque in Madinah, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Bayt al-Muqaddas. This book relates the true and fascinating story of the creation, installation, destruction, and eventual rebirth of the magnificent pulpit (minbar) of the Al-Aqsa Mosque from which each week the khatib (sermon reciter) would deliver his address. Salah al-Din, the great leader of the counter-crusade, had to wait twenty years before he could enter Jerusalem in 1187 CE and install the minbar of Nur al-Din Zangi in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. And eight hundred years later, Dar al-Islam had to wait almost forty years for a new minbar to replace the original one destroyed by vandalism.
Although East Jerusalem has suffered from a brutal occupation since June 1967 CE, the patient Palestinians have not lost hope that their Al-Aqsa Mosque may soon be liberated and that Muslims the world over will be able to fulfill the Prophet’s ﷺ admonishment to visit it. And then, insha’Allah, Muslims from every corner of Dar al-Islam will once again benefit from the Friday and Eid sermons delivered from the most beautiful minbar.