09 November 2021
Ebrahim Moosa | Palestine Information Network
Along the Eastern Wall of the Old City of Bayt al-Maqdis, lies two historic Muslim burial grounds intersected by Bab al-Asbat (Lions Gate). The northern half is known as the Yusufiyyah cemetery, and the southern half is called Bab al-Rahmah.
Straddling Masjid al-Aqsa, Bab al-Rahmah is of the oldest Muslim graveyards in Bayt al-Maqdis. It contains 1500 graves including those of prominent Sahabah (رضی اللہ عنھم). Most notable of these are Sayyiduna Ubadah ibn Samit and Sayyiduna Shaddad ibn Aus (رضی اللہ عنھم).
Ubadah bin Samit (رضي الله عنه) was from the Ansar and one of the twelve Sahabah (رضی اللہ عنھم) who accepted Islam at Aqabah. He participated in the Battle of Badr and fought in every battle with the Prophet (ﷺ). Sayyiduna Umar (رضي الله عنه) sent him to Palestine as a judge. He passed away in Bayt al-Maqdis in the year 34 AH at the age of 72.
Shaddad ibn Aus (رضي الله عنه) was a Sahabi who was promised by the Prophet (ﷺ) that he or his progeny would become Imams of Bayt al-Maqdis. After relocating to Palestine following the Muslim liberation, he passed away there in the year 58 AH at the age of 55.
Besides these two most prominent Sahabah (رضی اللہ عنھم), 72 other companions are said to be buried in Bab al-Rahmah alone.
The Ma’manillah cemetery, located in another part of Bayt al-Maqdis, also contained the graves of several Sahabah (رضی اللہ عنھم), and numerous emirs, muftis and Sufis from subsequent periods in Islamic history.
Lamentably, ever since the onset of the Israeli Occuaption, the resting places of Muslim deceased have become battlegrounds for Zionists as they press ahead with Judaization plans. Judaization entails transforming the historic makeup of Bayt al-Maqdis, affording it a Jewish character and modifying demographics in favour of Jews.
To this end, the Bab ar-Rahmah cemetery has been subjected in recent years to a series of Israeli violations, including uprooting of trees, excavation of graves, fencing off, and being invaded by settlers for performance of religious rituals.
The size of Ma’manillah, meanwhile, has shrunk to less than a fifth of its original after the Israeli State seized control of it in 1948, bulldozing a large part of it, and converting this area into a car park and public toilets. A paradoxically named ‘Museum of Tolerance’ has also been erected upon sections of the cemetery.
Last month, the ‘Israel Nature and Parks Authority’ bulldozed parts of the Yusufiyyah cemetery, resulting in a number of bones and skulls of the deceased to be unceremoniously exhumed. Israel plans to incorporate the area of the desecrated graves into a ‘Bible Trail’ it is developing.
The Israeli crimes against Muslim deceased, which are still ongoing, has led to confrontations between Palestinians and the Occupation in the vicinity of affected cemetery, and a spirited defence of the dignity of the dead.
Said Khaled Meshal of Hamas, “They are afraid of dead Palestinians; what about the Palestinians who are alive?”
