What is the meaning of Masjid Al-Aqsa and why Rasool A.S. explained or described Al-Qudus when Al-Mushrikeen asked him about the existence of Masjid Al-Aqsa? As far as Masjid Al-Aqsa is concerned, every historian knows that when this incident took place there was no Masjid Al-Aqsa in existence anywhere in the world. That is 100% correct. The mosque which was built on the ruins of King Solomon’s temple was done much later during Waleed Bill Abdul Malik. So obviously the Holy Quran is not referring to a future Masjid Al-Aqsa and tells us that Rasool A.S. journeyed to that mosque. Aqsa means remote and remote in what sense? Remote not only in the sense of mileage in space but remote can be also in sense of dimensions.
For instance here in this space there are things which are happening which are very very remote to us. Unless we have means to travel to them, we simply cannot reach them. Try to reach out to the radiations which are taking place here or music which is passing through here or dancing which is going on or the pictures of televisions, all sorts of noises and the cosmic radiation and everything, all these things in hundreds and ways and forms are taking place within the space of this occupied by my two hands. And it is so remote you can never reach it. And God exists everywhere and he is the remotest in that sense. Unless he reaches you somehow and breaks the barriers of dimensions, directly no man can ever reach God.
So space is not only the measure of distances, dimensions also are measures of distances. So remote mosque in what sense? Not covered by mileage because then you will have to conceive of a mosque built in space somewhere to which A.S. travelled at super, you know, at the speed of light for instance or beyond that if that is possible. That is not, that would have been a joke, that would have been an insult to Suleyman sallallahu alaihi wa sallam to make him travel as fast like this, you know, suddenly moving from one place to the other. And still what distance could he cover with that? One light year is a very small scope in the language of the modern scientists. One light year is just close neighbor of our earth.
In fact, the nearest group of stars which we have is seven miles, seven year miles I mean, seven years of light away from us. And there are universes spread over billions of light years away from us. So what would be the distance covered by A.S. if he travels at the speed of light? And you know what speed of light is? 186,000 miles per second. So is that what the Holy Qur’an wants to tell us? It is absurd, it is meaningless. So what is that Masjid Aqsa? That has been further described by A.S. himself. And that description tells us that it is not a material mosque at all.
It has a different dimension altogether and our own language cannot describe that mosque completely. Because Huzoor-e-Aqsa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam told us that all the prophets said their prayer behind him in that mosque. And you know the number of prophets as understood by the Muslims is about 124,000 prophets altogether. So if you look at this mosque, present day mosque, can 124 people say their prayer behind somebody here? And what was the form of those spirits? They were not things that can be measured in space. Prophets had died, all of them, except according to the Muslims, Hazrat Jesus Christ peace be upon him and Hazrat Iblis.
So what would be the view of that mosque where two bodily prophets were saying prayer behind A.S. and the rest were spirits which do not occupy any space. Spirits are in fact spaceless phenomena. You can’t measure a spirit in yards or in feet. And maybe they can occupy the same place without disturbing each other. And this can happen. Because in the world of radiation, and there must be something of some, I mean some form of radiation, some sort of energy. In the world of radiation, the smallest place can accommodate unlimited number of radiations. And they can be jammed into one short space and they do not still interfere with each other. This is the beauty of this phenomenon, this creation of Allah.
For instance, put the antenna of one instrument here in that space and it will start receiving signals of a certain type which it can receive and convey to the machine. And attach another machine to this which is differently attuned or change its tuning. It will start receiving the signals of a very different nature from the same space. And there is no limitation. Billions of messages can be jam-packed in this little space. And they will not interfere with each other. So the creation of Allah is mind-boggling. It’s impossible for human beings to reach, to fathom the depths of Allah’s creations.
So the souls, we don’t know whether they occupy a space or not. But we know that if Allah so desires, they can be jam-packed in unlimited number, in the smallest space possible. And yet, what would be their world, they would feel free, they would feel undisturbed by the presence of other souls. So the souls of prophets, if literally this is what is meant, must have said prayer behind Rasul-Allah in a space of different dimensions. And that is what Aqsa means. So for that he has not to travel far beyond, in mileage. But there where he was, there he could delve deep into Allah’s creations and reach a new dimension. And in that dimension he could have led the prayer to those prophets.
And if he had done that, that mosque cannot be reached by us. Whatever you do, it will remain Aqsa to you. But this Aqsa mosque can be reached by everybody. Those who live around, it’s not Aqsa for them. While according to the statement of the Holy Qur’an, that mosque has to remain Aqsa forever and forever. It is the farthest removed mosque to everybody else but to Rasul-Allah. And to those prophets who were accommodated in that mosque. So I believe that there has to be that explanation and only that interpretation is valid.
Because number one, we did not have any outward manifestation of a mosque which could be called Aqsa. There was no such thing. At the time of the Prophet when this incident took place. So that mosque, whatever it was, was not in this world. Secondly, it is absurd to conceive of a mosque in material terms to be situated in space elsewhere. And where and how far? As far as the human knowledge, present knowledge is concerned, no such mosque is built anywhere and this is meaningless. That God should build a mosque somewhere and also a lottery at the farthest corner of heaven. So all these are symbols. This is how they are understood by Ahmadis. It was a symbolic language used by the Holy Qur’an to denote values. And only those whom Allah himself taught understood these things.
The others just failed and their material concept, limited concept, kept them limited to the four walls of materialism. But the Holy Qur’an speaks of spiritualism and the language of the Holy Qur’an should be understood in the terms of spirituality. So in those terms there is no problem, no paradox, no enigmas to be solved. Again I have referred to that lottery. You know what lottery is? What are the words? In the Sidratul Muntaha, you know what Sidra means? Sidra is a tree which is very thorny in nature. So it has a small fruit. It is found in the desert mostly. And Arabian deserts know this tree.
I mean this was something known to the everyday Arab of that time. Maybe also there are Sidras today but you don’t know perhaps because they are not perhaps found in Syria but in the Arabian Peninsula they are found in abundance. This is a very thick and profuse tree. And the growth has such abundance all around and it has so many thorns. You know what thorn is? Pricking things. That if grown in close proximity then it would not permit any animal or any other human or human being to pass through that hedge. So Sidra also stood as a symbol of a hedge, a boundary line between this and that. But literally it means a bush, a tree with thorns and with small fruit which is not very valuable.
The Holy Quran tells us of Masjid-e-Aqsa as well as of Sidratul Muntaha. A Sidra situated in a place beyond which Allah could not go. That is the boundary line between Allah and the creation. So if you translate Masjid-e-Aqsa to be a literal mosque, a material mosque, then you are bound to translate Sidra also as a material Sidra and a literal Sidra. So what is a lottery doing on the boundary line between the creation and God? A very stupid thing apparently. Why should a lottery be chosen for Allah to be grown there in reality? In the space one dangling tree is there and that is lottery and what is the choice? Does Allah like the fruit of that tree? And while nobody else can reach there, not even the angels, what that tree is doing there?
So you should only understand it in the light of interpretation, in the spiritual term. And the interpretation which I offer is this, that because Sidra is a type of tree which can be used as a symbol of boundaries, it can be used as a hedge. My land begins here and your land ends there. So Sidra was only a symbol. It tells us that Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa s.a.w. went so close to God as beyond that, he could not be closer to him without being a God himself. Because the boundary line between the creator and created was reached by him. He touched that line. That is to say he was the topmost in creation and the lowest in Godhood. That is he did not, he was not a God. He just touched the borders beyond which if he had risen, he would have become a God. So if he were not made a God, how could Allah choose a lesser person to be his son?
So that is also the final message of oneness of God, unity of God. The one who is closest, he can reach Sidra and not beyond. So we understand all this in the spiritual terms, not in material terms. But the present day Muslims are told by the Mullahs, by the Mualvis, that these are material expressions. So this is their world of Islam. There is a mosque, Aqsa Mosque, which is built a hundred years later, maybe, or a few, thirty-four years perhaps later, or more than that, was it? About seventy years, yes, about seventy years, because that was the Khilafah period, thirty-four. About seventy years later, after the death of the Prophet, and before the mosque is built, people start saying prayers in that mosque. This is their belief, not ours. And they also have to believe then that a lot tree is grown somewhere in the heaven and beyond that nobody can travel. That is the end of space. But again, that is absurd. Look at it from the scientific point of view, there can’t be any end to space.
Because wherever you divide space, unlimited space has to be beyond that as well. So how can you divide a space without circle? One single tree cannot divide space. So the modern concepts of the universe and the mathematical concepts of the universe defy all these things. Yet these Mualvis would have us believe in things which are totally unreal. They cannot happen. And reduce the teachings of the Holy Qur’an to such small things, a childish view. It is only through Ahmadiyya view that you can really, truly respect the Holy Qur’an and study it in its true perspective.
