27 October 2022
Ebrahim Moosa | Palestine Information Network
Masjid al-Ibrāhīmi is located at the southeast corner of modern Al-Khalil (Hebron) and in the heart of its old town.
Its large rectangular structure encloses a series of caves wherein are said to lie the graves of Sayyiduna Ibrahim, Isḥaq, Yaʿqub and Yusuf, and the wives of the former, Sarah, Rifqah and Layya (alayhimus salaam).
A Masjid was constructed at the site after Muslims liberated the land of Palestine. Muslim dynasties paid particular attention to the site and had special decorations for it embroidered with Qurʾanic verses and other Islamic inscriptions.
The site was used exclusively by Muslims for worship from the 7th century until June, 8, 1967, when Israel occupied al-Khalil. Rabbi Shlomo Goren, chief rabbi of the Israeli army, on that day, shot at the doors of the Ibrahimi Masjid with his submachine gun before forcing them open with chains which were tugged at by his military jeep.
From then, Jewish prayer services and a greater Israeli presence at the site was increased incrementally. This was abetted by the installation of Jewish settlers in the heart of al-Khalil and the division of the city between Israeli Occupation and limited Palestinian control.
On February 25, 1994, an American-born Jewish settler, Baruch Goldstein, opened fire on Muslim worshippers praying at dawn. Goldstein, an Israel Defence Forces reservist, was wearing his army uniform at the time of the shooting. The incident transpired during the holy month of Ramadan. 29 Palestinians were massacred and a further 150 injured.
Following the incident, an Israeli commission suggested implementing arrangements to force a complete separation between Muslims and Jewish worshippers at the site, this despite it being, by character, and historical continuity, a mosque. The site was therefrom divided, with a portion being transformed into a synagogue for Jewish worship. Muslim access was reduced from the entire space to around 40 percent of the site. The other 60 percent was allocated to Jewish worshippers, who accessed the site from a separate entrance.
Currently, at certain times of the year, the entire masjid is allotted exclusively for Jewish usage. Israeli authorities also strictly control Muslim entry and routinely deny permission for Athaan to be called out at the site.
The effects of this premeditated division of Masjid al-Ibrahimi were again on full display during recent Jewish holidays when footage taken at the Masjid showed settlers partying wildly and dancing amidst the graves of the Ambiyaa at the site, in a most depraved manner.
This grave affront to Muslims worldwide and desecration of a sacred space had hardly registered a blip on the radar of the Ummah. Emboldened by the lack of consequences, Zionists are now agitating ever louder and harder to transplant the Hebron model of division onto al-Quds and Masjid al-Aqsa itself.
In particular, two specific ‘blueprints’ from the hostile takeover of the Ibrahimi Masjid are now becoming the lived reality of Masjid al-Aqsa: Time division, which is the suggestion of division of the times of entry into al-Aqsa between Muslims and Jews by allocating specific hours for Muslim visitation, and other specific hours for Jews; and Spatial segmentation, which entails the division of the various squares and buildings of al-Aqsa between Muslims and Jews. This, as an intended prelude to a complete Zionist annexation of the Masjid.
The recent Jewish holiday period has made evident how these schemes are no longer some distant pipedream of a handful of zealots. Large numbers of settlers under Israeli armed guard trespassed the masjid during these holidays, amassing in the eastern region of the site, which has to a great extent been declared off-bounds to Muslims. Here, and at the entrances to Masjid al-Aqsa, Jewish settlers prayed, carried prayer offerings, wore prayer shawls and blew the shofar horn. The adjoining Bab al-Rahmah cemetery which houses graves of prominent Sahaba (radi Allahu anhum) came under similar pressure from settlers. Coinciding with every Jewish incursion into the masjid, Israeli surveillance drones buzzed overhead, and the entry of Muslim worshippers was draconically curtailed.
In a heartfelt plea recorded from al-Quds on October 12, Palestinian activist Shahd Najeeb lamented, “What is happening at al-Aqsa today is different from before. When entering at the time of Fajr, you are not [even] asked about your identity or documents, or which part of Palestine you come from. You are simply not permitted to enter! There is no entry. Al-Aqsa is simply no longer accessible to us. This is the stark reality: We have lost Al-Aqsa!
“Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the Best Disposer of affairs upon any person who is capable of assisting the cause of Masjid al-Aqsa but instead abandons it.”
