Mapping the Borders of Holiness: Islamicjerusalem and Its Holy Land

Abstract

In the seventh century, soon after his Prophethood, Muhammad started to refer to regions far beyond his reach. Qur’anic verses were making reference to a city of Bayt al-Maqdis and to the regions around it. The importance of these regions is embedded within Quranic terminologies. There has, however, been little study into the geographical extents of these regions and concepts or, even more generally, into the geographies of the Qur’an. The extent of the regions around al-Aqsa Mosque, namely the Holy Land or the land of Bayt al-Maqdis, and the Land of Barakah, have been mentioned by many scholars in the past. This paper will deal with these Muslim concepts and contrast them with the Christian and Jewish notions. This is together with drawing parallels with another Quranic concept of the Makkan Haram.