The De-Islamisation of Al-Aqsa Is a Step Away; How Will We Respond?

News:

Over the last fortnight, media outlets have reported that the US and Jewish entity are conspiring to terminate Jordan’s custodianship of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem and replace the Islamic Waqf with a new ‘Israeli’-controlled body that would declare the site a “multi-faith centre”, effectively erasing Al-Aqsa of its Islamic identity. Under this plan, Jews would be granted “equal access” to the mosque site and large-group Jewish prayers would be formally permitted there. The Jewish entity would also have major control over the appointment of Imams, preachers, and senior officials at the mosque as well as the content of Friday sermons. According to the Middle East Eye, a western official and a source briefed by the Jordanian government said that Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates had all been briefed on the US proposal. A few weeks ago, an ‘Israeli’ lawmaker, Yitzhak Kroizer, publicly called for Al-Aqsa to be demolished and replaced with a Jewish temple on the site.

Comment:

These are the latest plans to impose Jewish sovereignty over Al-Aqsa and to eventually destroy it and build their so-called third Temple. The agenda of the Judaisation of Jerusalem and the sacred sanctuary by the Jewish entity, and expanding Jewish control over Al-Aqsa, has intensified in recent years with increased raids on the mosque by ‘Israeli’ police, nearly daily incursions by Jewish settlers, increased restrictions on Muslims entering the mosque, attacks on Muslim worshippers, the closure of Al Aqsa for 40 days, and repeated calls by ‘Israeli’ ministers for Jewish prayer rights at the site. In 2023, Amit Halevi, an MP from the Likud Party proposed a plan to divide Al Aqsa between Muslims and Jews, allocating 30% of the south section of the complex to Muslims while reserving the remainder, including the area where the Dome of the Rock stands, to Jews. Ben Gvir, the Jewish entity’s national security minister, has called for the building of a synagogue at the mosque site. Jewish settlers already recite their prayers loudly in groups, perform their Talmudic rituals in its courtyards, and sing and dance and hoist their ‘Israeli’ flag in the compound. An official at Jerusalem’s Islamic Waqf told the Middle East Eye, “What is happening at Al-Aqsa Mosque is not just a series of passing violations...It’s a comprehensive Judaisation project aimed at imposing full Israeli sovereignty over the mosque...Palestinians and the Muslim world must realise the magnitude of the challenge and prepare to confront a plan that is racing against time, before the imposed reality becomes irreversible.”

These proposals for Al-Aqsa mirrors what happened to the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, where following a massacre of Palestinian worshippers in 1994 by a Jewish settler, the Jewish entity stripped the Islamic identity of the mosque by dividing the site between Muslims and the Jews, allocating 2/3 of the prayer space to Jewish worshippers and the remainder to Muslims. And in 2025, the Jewish entity transferred administrative control over parts of the Ibrahimi Mosque compound from the Palestinian-run municipality to the religious council of a local Jewish settlement.

It is clear that the Jewish entity already has de-facto control over the affairs of Al-Aqsa, dictating who enters it, who worships there, and even whether prayers are allowed within it. No-one is able to even undertake maintenance work within the mosque without facing arrest, unless prior approval is obtained from the Jewish entity.

This is the humiliating status that we have been reduced to as an Ummah – where our 3rd most sacred site is subject to the whims of an occupation who gets to decide whether we are allowed to worship our Rabb within its walls or not!

The custodianship of the Jordanian government over this sacred site is paper thin, being unwilling to prevent its desecration and repeated violations of its sanctity. In 2022, the regime failed to even get a new carpet donated by King Abdullah II into the mosque, due to a block by the occupation. Indeed, there is no ruler, regime or state in the Muslim lands today who will militarily oppose this systematic campaign to erase the Islamic identity of Al-Aqsa, or who will protect its sanctity. Their priority is to preserve, strengthen or expand their political, economic and security ties with the Jewish entity through their peace agreements, trade relationships, and the Abraham Accords, or to please its US sponsor through their silence and inaction.

Al-Aqsa will not be saved except by the state which is the guardian of the Deen, the Muslims and their land – the Khilafah (Caliphate) based upon the method of the Prophethood. It was under this state that the Blessed land of Palestine and Al-Aqsa was liberated in the past from the Christian crusaders. And it is under this state that they will be liberated again, with Al-Quds (Jerusalem) becoming its capital Insha Allah, in accordance to the Glad Tidings of our beloved Prophet (saw) who said,

«هذا الأمر كائن بعدي بالمدينة ثم بالشام ثم بالجزيرة ثم بالعراق ثم بالمدينة ثم ببيت المقدس فإذا كان ببيت المقدس فثم عقر دارها ولن يخرجها قوم فتعود إليهم أبدا»

“This matter (the Caliphate) will be after me in Madinah, then in Al-Sham, then in the Peninsula, then in Iraq, then in Madinah, then in Bait ul-Maqdis (Jerusalem). If it is in Bait ul-Maqdis, its home country is there, and no people will be able to remove it, so it will return to them forever.”

So, how will we respond as Muslims as the Masra (site of the Night Journey) of our Prophet (saw), the first qibla of Islam, and our 3rd holiest site is stripped of its Islamic identity, and the prayers and rituals of those who have earned Allah’s Wrath are performed within its sacred grounds? What do the Words of Allah (swt):

[سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَى بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلاً مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ البَصِيرُ]

“Exalted is He [Allah] Who took His servant by night from Al-Masjid Al-Haram to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our Signs. Indeed, He is the All-Hearing, All-Seeing” [Al-Isra: 1], mean to us? Will we stand aside and allow this blessed sanctuary to be further desecrated and defiled by this genocidal occupation? Will our legacy be of the generation that abandoned it to the hands of these modern-day crusaders?

Or will we be of those who called for its protection and worked for its liberation by carrying the Dawah for the urgent establishment of the second Khilafah Rashidah (Rightly Guided Caliphate)? For indeed, there is no other solution nor state that will save Al-Aqsa, liberate this Blessed Land, and protect the blood of our Ummah - for the Prophet (saw) said, «إِنَّمَا الْإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ» “Verily, the Imam (Khaleefah) is the shield behind whom they fight, and he protects them.”

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Asma Siddiq
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir