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REPORT ON

THE CENTRALITY OF JERUSALEM AND AL-AQSA TO THE PALESTINIAN CAUSE

BY

DR OSMAN LATIFF ¹

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A. INSTRUCTIONS

1. I have been instructed by Riverway Law to provide a report on matters within my expertise in support of the application to the British Home Secretary to deproscribe Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah (‘Hamas’).

2. One of the issues often quoted by Hamas as a justification for its actions is the frequent Israeli attacks on the Al-Aqsa Sanctuary in occupied Jerusalem and their preventing Palestinians from worshipping there. It is important to understand the significance of Al-Aqsa to Muslims generally and to Palestinians specifically.

B. QUALIFICATIONS

3. I give this report in my personal capacity.

4. I am a PhD trained historian with an Honorary Research Associate fellowship at Royal Holloway University of London, UK.

5. I have specialised knowledge in the field of the crusades, having completed a Masters in Crusader Studies (2005-2006) at Royal Holloway University of London, UK for which I received a pass by Distinction. The study enabled me to thoroughly understand the crusades, their origin, reasons, motivations and dynamics involved in the crusading experience and settlement of crusaders in the Holy Land.

6. I then pursued a PhD at Royal Holloway University of London, UK (2006-2010) in the Muslim effort to recapture Jerusalem with a focus on the influence of books of Fada’il al-Quds (Merits of Jerusalem) and religious poetry. The work was subsequently published into a book, ‘The Cutting Edge of the Poet’s Sword: Muslim Poetic Responses to the Crusades’ (Brill, 2018).

7. I thereafter pursued a PostDoc in Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway University of London, UK (2012-2014) which was subsequently published into a book, ‘Navigating War, Dissent and Empathy in Arab/U.S Relations: Seeing Our Others in Darkened Spaces’ (Springer, 2021). The study enabled me to understand well the discourses of war, suffering, media related studies and empathy in relation to Palestine and other areas of conflict.

8. I am the author of a wide range of articles, academic papers and other books, ranging in topics from Muslim-Christian studies, Islamic belief and practice to historical fiction. I have also provided expert advice in legal cases.

C. INTRODUCTION

9. On October 7, 2023, several Palestinian resistance groups, spearheaded by Hamas, launched a coordinated and unprecedented attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel. This marked a moment, albeit brief, where Palestinians reclaimed territories that had been seized from them during the Nakba of 1948. The operation was named “Al-Aqsa Flood”, with Hamas later attributing its launch in part to the increase in Israeli settlers’ incursions into the Al-Aqsa Sanctuary, describing it as an act of “aggression” that “had reached a peak.”²

10. The surprise attacks of October 7 underline the mosque’s symbolic importance to the cause of Palestinian liberation. Any threat to its sanctity carries deep political and religious implications, underlying its centrality as a unifying emblem in the Palestinians and a matter of faith. This reality has been consistently evident over the past century, beginning with the British-sponsored colonial project to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine. From the Buraq Uprising of 1929 to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s incursion into the Holy Sanctuary, which ignited the second Al-Aqsa intifada in 2000. Al-Aqsa has remained at the heart of the Palestinian right for self-determination. An exploration of Jerusalem’s profound historical and cultural legacy reveals why this sacred space remains so deeply intertwined with the Palestinian struggle.

D. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JERUSALEM

11. Jerusalem (Al-Quds) has long stood as a focal point of religious, cultural, and political significance for the three Abrahamic faiths. For Palestinians, of all faiths and none, it has played a pivotal role, not only as a symbol of national sovereignty in the face of the Zionist colonial enterprise but as the epicentre of a struggle against injustice.

12. In addition, Jerusalem’s centrality to the Islamic tradition has profoundly shaped the Palestinian liberation narrative, cementing the Palestinians as the custodians of Al-Aqsa Sanctuary.

13. This report examines Jerusalem’s spiritual and historical position within Islam and how this has galvanised Palestinian movements, providing a rallying cry and unifying symbol across multiple centuries of resistance. As this report is in support of the position that Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah should be deproscribed, it is imperative to assess the position of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Sanctuary to Palestinians, and Muslims the world over.

Jerusalem in Early Abrahamic Narratives

14. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus entered the Holy Sanctuary in Jerusalem late in his mission. Observing that the Pharisees had transformed the sacred precinct from a place where God is worshipped to markets and money exchanges—he overturned the tables and rebuked those profiting within the house of prayer.³

“‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.” …

15. According to the tradition, the Pharisees protested, so Jesus proceeded to narrate the parable of the Landowner and the Vineyard. He asked them to consider a landlord who rents his vineyard to some farmer tenants. At harvest time, he sends his servants to collect the fruit. The tenants beat and kill the arriving servants. Repeating this, the landowner, becomes infuriated, ultimately sending his guards to kick the tenants out. The landowner represents God, and the arriving servants his prophets. By this, he identifies Jerusalem as the kingdom of God’s chosen heirs—those who “will produce its fruit”⁴, or otherwise lose their right to it.

“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

16. This profound biblical motif comes to embed the purpose of Jerusalem and its heirs, prophesising its divine requisition in the coming years, until another nation arrives, capable of restoring its godly purpose. Those who fail to uphold principles of truth and justice in the land would lose their stewardship to others more worthy.

17. In 70 CE (Christian Era), following a Jewish revolt, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, leaving only remnants such as the Western Wall (also known as the “Buraq Wall” in Islamic tradition). Biblical scholars often interpret Jesus physically turning the tables in the Holy Sanctuary as symbolic portent of Jerusalem’s ultimate destruction.⁵ The destruction removed the function of the Jewish priesthood and the central sacrificial system, paving the way for the rise of Rabbinic Judaism by the 3rd-4th centuries CE.⁶

18. Succeeding nations would often lament the corruptions and injustices that led to eviction from the ‘Vineyard’ - the loss of Jerusalem. Talmud (Yoma 9b) states:

“Why was the first Temple destroyed? Because the three cardinal sins were rampant in society: idol worship, licentiousness, and murder… And why then was the second Temple – wherein the society was involved in Torah, commandments and acts of kindness – destroyed? Because gratuitous hatred was rampant in society.”

19. Subsequent centuries witnessed a series of conquests and changing powers in Palestine. Between the 7th century Persian-Byzantine wars, Jewish communities attempted to regain autonomy through alliances with the Sassanid Empire, resulting in episodes of mass bloodshed. Historians determine that up to 17,000 Christians were killed and 37,000 expelled from their land during the Sassanid–Jewish recapture of Jerusalem.⁷

20. By 629 CE, Byzantines reconquered Jerusalem. In their reprisal, they killed and displaced scores of Jewish inhabitants.⁸ This turbulent period set the historical stage upon which Islam’s Final Prophet, Muhammad (570–632 CE) emerged in Arabia and around which the covenant of Caliph ‘Umar was drafted.

E. THE ISLAMIC INHERITANCE OF JERUSALEM

21. Across the scriptures, there are dozens of names for Jerusalem, including the ‘First Qibla’, ‘House of Purity’, ‘Faithful City’ and the ‘Oasis of Justice’. Islam’s theological inheritance in Jerusalem is rooted in the idea of Prophet Mohammad being part of a prophetic continuum connected to Jerusalem, termed in Islamic literature the ‘land of Prophets’.⁹

22. Himself coming from the same Abrahamic progeny ‘the Patriarchs’ or the ‘Hebrews’ linked to Jerusalem, Prophet Muhammad would remind his circle of companions about the land and its divine significance. The Qur’an and Prophetic traditions affirm that Muslims are the heirs to that legacy. The city, known as “Baitul Maqdis” or “the Home of Purity,” served as the first Qiblah (direction of prayer) for Muslims before it was changed to Mecca.¹⁰

23. Of the many mentions of the Holy Land in the Qur’an, one of the earliest revelations records the Isra’, the Prophet Muhammad’s miraculous Night Journey from Mecca to Al-Aqsa Sanctuary. This event established Jerusalem’s direct involvement in the institution of essential Islamic rites, such as the five daily prayers, and cements Al-Aqsa’s status as one of the most important sites in the divine tradition. According to the Quran: “…..whose surroundings We have blessed…..”¹¹

24. The large Hadith corpus, recorded in sources such as Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan al-Tirmidhi, and Musnad Ahmad, frequently references the blessings of the Levant (al-Shām), emanating from Jerusalem.

25. The Quran and Sunnah (tradition of the Prophet) on the significance of Jerusalem imbricate it as part of Iman (faith). Al-Aqsa Sanctuary is the first Qibla, the second Sanctuary built on earth; its heritage goes back to the first man, Prophet Adam; it is linked to all the major Prophets; it is land blessed by Allah, and it is mentioned by name in the Quran. Muslims are advised to frequent, pray and care for the Al-Aqsa Sanctuary. The rewards for praying and supporting Al-Aqsa Sanctuary are also significantly increased. Based on the Quran and Sunnah, Muslim tradition has been informed of the need to protect and defend Al-Aqsa Sanctuary.

Islamic Conquest and Governance of Jerusalem

26. In 637 CE, Jerusalem, at the time under Christian Byzantine rule, surrendered peacefully to the second Caliph ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb (r. 634–644 CE), now marking the city’s physical integration into the Islamic realm. The arrangement, known as the “Umariyya Covenant,” ensured religious coexistence, allowing Christians and Jews to remain and worship freely.¹²

“[Umar] grants them security, to each person and their property: to their churches, their crosses, to the sick and the healthy, to all the people of their creed. We shall not station Muslim soldiers in their churches. We shall not destroy their churches nor impair any of their contents or their property or their crosses, or anything that belongs to them. We shall not compel the people of Jerusalem to renounce their beliefs, and we shall not do them any harm.”¹³

27. Muslims consider the serene and cordial opening of the holy city as earmarking the final transfer of its custodianship to the nation of truth and justice; the followers of the Final Messenger, fulfilling Jesus’ parable.

28. The Caliph Umar’s first major project was to restore the Al-Aqsa Sanctuary, which was used as garbage dumping grounds by the Byzantines, by cleaning the site and constructing a Mosque.

29. This early Islamic governance fostered an environment where non-Muslim communities retained their rights, setting a precedent of religious pluralism and tolerance.¹⁴ Significantly, ʿUmar permitted Jewish families to resettle in Jerusalem after a long Byzantine-imposed exile, reflecting the principles of inclusivity that shaped the city’s cultural and religious fabric.

30. The city's population remained diverse, with Muslims forming a small military class (Jund Falasteen) tasked with protecting the Palestinian collective. Muslims settled in a modest district near the base of the Holy Sanctuary. Under the early Muslim governance, the population of Jerusalem remained predominantly Christian.

31. Over subsequent centuries, Jerusalem’s Arabic-speaking population, linguistically congruent with its sister languages Hebrew and Aramaic, both Muslim and Christians developed a shared regional identity as Semitic Arab Palestinians. Jerusalem becoming a central point of religious and political significance for all people.¹⁵

32. Over the centuries, Palestinians have nurtured this heritage, connecting their identity to the city's historical and cultural importance. Today, in an attempt to avoid Christian denominational conflict, a Muslim family remains the caretaker for the keys to the Holy Sepulchre, handed to their forefathers by Umar and later Salah ad-Din al-Ayyubi (Saladin, d. 1193 CE) to facilitate access to Christianity’s holiest site whenever required.¹⁶

F. JERUSALEM UNDER THE CRUSADERS AND AYYUBIDS

33. The Crusades (1095–1291 CE) represented another crucial epoch for Jerusalem’s symbolism. In 1099 CE, European Crusaders captured the city, unleashing a massacre of Muslims, Jews, and Eastern Christians. Central to their endeavour was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which served as a potent rallying cry for the lords and knights of Christendom.

34. After years of anti-Muslim rhetoric spread by the pope and his bishops across Europe, the Crusaders stormed the city's ancient streets and narrow alleys. The result was a brutal and systematic massacre of thousands of the city's Muslim, Jewish, and Christian inhabitants, converting Mosques within the Al-Aqsa Sanctuary into Christian shrines.¹⁷

35. Muslims – scholars, poets and litterateurs – reacted immediately to the occupation of Jerusalem, stirred by the significance of Al-Aqsa. Inspired by Al-Aqsa’s spiritual centrality, Nur al-Din Mahmud Zengi (d. 1174 CE) made the liberation of Jerusalem his banner, constructing a Mimbar (pulpit) destined for Al-Aqsa¹⁸, and Salah ad-Din al-Ayyubi famously fulfilled this vision in 1187 CE.

36. Both Nur ad Din and Salah ad Din commissioned treatises on fadhail al Quds (Virtues of Jerusalem) to be read in mosques throughout their control. The works of al-Wasiti, al-Rabai, al-Rumayli, Ibn Asakir and al-Maqdisi became famous, motivating thousands to join Salah ad Din for the liberation of Jerusalem. Hillenbrand goes further and considers Muslim unification and volunteering against the Crusaders “focused on the sanctity of Palestine and more especially of Jerusalem”.¹⁹

37. By 1187, Salah ad Din’s army, nurtured by the enduring image of Al-Aqsa’s golden dome, stood at the gates of Jerusalem, 88 years after the marauding Crusaders had torn through its ancient streets. After a ten-day siege, the Crusader armies were unable to defend the city any longer, Balian of Ibelin, a French nobleman, rode out to offer a bloodless surrender of the city.²⁰

38. Unlike the infamous and bloody massacre that occurred during the Crusader’s rampage through Jerusalem in 1099, Salah ad Din, informed by the practice of Caliph Umar, spared the Europeans the same fate. In a further display of magnanimity that won universal admiration of chroniclers for centuries to come, Salah ad Din freed many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem without ransom after they were taken as prisoners of war.²¹

39. From Caliph ‘Umar to Salah ad Din, this legacy of justice and mercy became a foundational narrative for Palestinians, who look to these two’s reclamation of Jerusalem as a paragon of principled resistance. As such, Palestine remained under the heirship of Islam, hosting members of the three Abrahamic faiths and none until the rise of Zionism and the 1948 Nakba.

G. MODERN PALESTINIAN MOVEMENTS AND THE CENTRALITY OF JERUSALEM

40. From the late 20th century onward, with the rise of Zionism and British colonial influence, Jerusalem again became the linchpin of Palestinian identity. The Buraq Uprising of 1929—named after the wall revered by Muslims as the spot where the Prophet’s steed Buraq was tethered — demonstrates how threats to Jerusalem’s sanctity regularly catalysed mass resistance. Again and again, the city became a recurrent rallying cry for Palestinians as Zionist settlement expansions and the 1948 Nakba violently displaced indigenous populations.

41. Post-1948, various Palestinian factions — secular, leftist, and Islamic — placed Jerusalem at the heart of their struggle. The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Fatah, despite their secular-nationalist leaning, still heavily invoked Jerusalem as the political and cultural capital from their earliest charters. Leftist groups like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) also integrated Jerusalem’s iconography into their liberation strategy.

42. Hamas recalling the Muslim legacy had in its founding charter calls for liberating Jerusalem as a religious duty incumbent upon the entire Muslim community.²² Hamas’ new charter (2017) lays similar emphasis on the significance of Jerusalem, stating: “Not one stone of Jerusalem can be surrendered or relinquished.”²³  Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, another resistance faction, is aptly named the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Brigades.

43. During the First Intifada (1987–1993) and the Second Intifada (2000–2005), Jerusalem’s status and access to Al-Aqsa Sanctuary became flashpoints that rallied all of Palestine, transcending factional divides. Ariel Sharon’s incursion into Al-Aqsa in September 2000 sparked the Second Intifada, called Al-Aqsa Intifada.

44. In May 2021, the “Sword of Jerusalem” resistance (Saif al-Quds) erupted following Israeli actions in Sheikh Jarrah and illegal incursions into Al-Aqsa during Ramadan. Occupation forces, periodically entering the Al-Aqsa Sanctuary using tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets against worshippers.

45. Hamas issued ultimatums demanding Israeli authorities withdraw security forces from Al-Aqsa and halt the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah. When these ultimatums went unmet, Hamas fired a volley of rockets toward Jerusalem — an unusual and high-profile choice of target — on May 10, 2021. The actions by the besieged people delineated that despite nearly two decades of besiegement and bombardment, Jerusalem remained the focal point of the conflict, and the resistance in Gaza was willing to act at the behest of Muslims worldwide to protect it.

46. By October 2023, Jerusalem’s climate had become increasingly fraught, shaped by encroaching illegal settlements and the policies of a maximalist Israeli government. Figures such as Itamar Ben-Gvir (National Security Minister), a lawyer known for defending Jewish extremist terrorism, including the suspects who firebombed the Dawabsheh family in July 2015, and Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister with authority over parts of the West Bank administration, were vocal proponents of illegal Jewish settlement expansion over Jerusalem. Their ascendancy erased the prospect for compromise and intensified the environment of control, especially in and around Al-Aqsa Sanctuary.

47. Throughout much of 2023, Jewish nationalist groups, often accompanied by Israeli politicians, repeatedly trespassed on the Al-Aqsa Sanctuary and provoked worshippers. Such incursions, though illegal, were under heavy Israeli police guard, conveying an incremental normalisation in practice. Although the focus of unrest in 2023 often shifted to areas like Jenin and Nablus in the northern West Bank, Jerusalem was not immune. Israeli raids, arrests, and ruthless policing of Palestinian protests in Jerusalem’s neighbourhoods became more frequent. Palestinian youth clashed with Israeli forces over arrests, evictions and home demolitions.

48. The Israeli government’s refusal to rein in settler violence in the West Bank and its strong backing of a nationalist narrative resonated back into Jerusalem’s tense environment, linking all fronts of Palestinian life under occupation.

49. By the time October arrived, Jerusalem stood as both a pressure cooker and a barometer of broader Palestinian anger. Even though Hamas operated from Gaza, it was seen as a defender of Jerusalem, being the last democratically elected government of the Palestinians. While the outbreak of the resistance in October 2023 centred on events beyond Jerusalem, the city remained a core backdrop.

50. During the attack of October 2023, Palestinians reclaimed territories that had been seized from them during the Nakba of 1948. The operation was named “Al-Aqsa Flood”, with Hamas later attributing its launch in significant part to the increase in Israeli settlers’ incursions into the Al-Aqsa Sanctuary, describing it as an act of “aggression” that “had reached a peak.”²⁴

H. CONCLUSION

51. Jerusalem is intimately connected to Islamic eschatology and prophecy and forms part of faith, reinforcing the idea that righteous believers are destined to uphold justice there. Throughout history, Jerusalem has inspired collective identity and resistance, shaping Palestinian liberation movements that regard the city’s protection and eventual liberation as both a moral and spiritual imperative. Its significance to Muslims is rooted in Quranic verses, Prophetic traditions, and centuries of Islamic governance. These provide the theological and cultural framework undergirding Palestinian efforts. By positioning Jerusalem as the ultimate prize, these movements have mobilised domestic and international Muslim solidarity.

I. EXPERT OBLIGATIONS

52. I confirm that I have made clear which facts and matters referred to in this report are within my own knowledge and which are not. Those that are within my own knowledge I confirm to be true. The opinions I have expressed represent my true and complete professional opinions on the matters to which they refer.

53. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought by anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

54. I confirm that I have not received any remuneration for preparing this report.

Dr Osman Latiff

Slough

United Kingdom

21 January 2025