How Would Islam React if the Walls Fell Under the Al-Aqsa Mosque
?
Supplement to Archive Prophecy Update Numbers 155B & 165A
November 20, 2005
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
I received the article which follows from a Lebanese friend of mine. It came from Netscape News (AFP) with CNN. As I have indicated in two previous Archive BLOGS this month, the Temple Mount is the holiest site of Judaism, the third holiest site of Islam, and the place where the Head of the first New Testament Church worshipped. This being the case, any occurrence there has international consequences, and causes it to be an accident looking for a place to happen. The most dangerous zone on the Temple Mount is beneath the Al Aqsa Mosque on the south end of the temple mount.
Any destruction of a mass character to this site would be grounds for a Holy Jihad, if the Islamic extremists could give even a shred of proof that Israel was directly or indirectly a part of the reason it happened.
This silver topped mosque at the southern end of the Temple Mount, the third holiest site of Islam, is Al Aqsa.
It straddles a vast underground chamber area enclosed within the weakened bulging walls referred to in the aforementioned article, which follows. When King Herod rebuilt the Temple Mount Complex, he built a level platform over the original irregular temple mount strata, which dropped off rapidly to the south into the old city of David.
This created a large cavern complex under where the Al Aqsa Mosque now stands. The first structure placed where the Al Aqsa Mosque stands today was the Royal Portico of King Herod, which stretched east to west across the southern end of the rectangular Temple Mount. This structure was leveled by the Romans under Titus in 70 AD, and the stones from it pushed off the platform into the valley to the south. Muslims then conquered the Temple Mount and built the Al Aqsa Mosque on its southern end.
Islam, in turn, was driven out by the crusaders, who stabled their horses under the Al Aksa Mosque and, eventually, the cavern under it got the name of Solomon’ s Stable
s. Up until the late seventies it was possible for tourists to go down into this underground cavern by an entrance on the Temple Mount Platform just to the east of the Mosque, but it was sealed up in the early eighties. In the nineties, the Muslim Wakf began to build an underground extension of the Mosque under and to the east of it, and work continued on it into this century. It was doing this time period that their underground building activities produced a weakening of Herod’s foundation in this area, and a bulge developed, which was immediately spotted by the Israelis, and a verbal barrage of charges and countercharges has been raging between the two parties ever since.
All of this was going on during my many trips to Israel, but I was never able to get into Solomon’s Stables again after the middle eighties.
The Arabs at first denied there was a bulge or any structural damage to Herod’s foundation but, as the bulge grew, they had to cease from that stance, and begin to say they had reinforced it internally, and there was no danger to the Al Aqsa Mosque. In any case, if and when the bulge happens to collapse, the worse case scenario would be that the eastern portion of the Mosque would fall into the cavern, and the newly created underground extension would be destroyed. If all this were to h
appen at just the right time on the prophetic front, then a worldwide cry for a Holy Jihad would be issued and carried out by Islam.
If such a collapse has not occurred by the time Revelation 6:12 occurs in the Jordan Valley, it will occur at that time.
Revelaion 6:12 – And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
And what remains of the existing structures on the Temple Mount will all fall when Revelation 11:13 is fulfilled.
Revelation 11:13 – And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted,
and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Revelation 12:17 – And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
It is very interesting that Revelation 11:13 says a tenth part of the old city of Jerusalem will fall, and the second paragraph in the article which follows, indicates that one-tenth of the old city walls “are in immediate danger of collapse,” according to an engineering survey by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
BEGIN NETSCAPE NEWS ARTICLE
Walls of Jerusalem’s Old City in Danger of Collapse
November 18, 2005
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Large sections of the 16th century walls surrounding Jerusalem’s Old City are in danger of collapse unless they undergo immediate restoration.
According to an engineering survey conducted by the Israeli Antiquities Authority, 380 metres (yards), or one-tenth, of the walls’ extension are in immediate danger of collapse, Israeli newspaper Maariv reported on Friday.
The survey showed 11 sections of the stone wall needing attention, most of them located along the northern stretch, which flanks the Muslim quarter, and the southern stretch, which skirts the Jewish quarter.
The area in most need of work is the section which flanks the southern supporting wall of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam.
The site also houses the ruins of the ancient Jewish temple, the most sacred spot in Judaism, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
Israeli authorities have repeatedly called attention to a bulge in the southern supporting wall of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, provoking tensions between the Jewish and Muslim communities.
“The examination shows that the signs of cracking and crumbling, which are evidence of structural problems, have increased and become more widespread,” the report said.
“New cracks were also revealed in the southern wall (of the mosque compound), which shows evidence of movement in the entire wall.”
Another 29 sections of the wall, extending a total of 1,280 metres, are also in danger of collapse, but the threat is not quite so imminent, the report said.
The Old City is divided culturally and historically into four parts — the Jewish, Armenian, Christian and Muslim quarters.
Built by Suleiman the Magnificent between 1536-1541, the Old City walls stretch a total length of 3.8 kilometres (2.3 miles).
Seven gates in the wall lead into the Old City — Jaffa, Damascus, Herod’s, Zion, Dung, Lion’s and New gates.
An eighth, the Golden Gate, is sealed off.
END NEWSCAPE NEWS ARTICLE