BAZ’s Fifth Position: The Most Valid Location Is the Place to Which the Prophet Was Taken During the Isra’ and Which Allah Showed Him Again

Series: The Incident of Quraysh Questioning the Prophet About Baitul Maqdis

Introduction

Brothers and sisters, we have now reached BAZ’s Fifth Position. This is also the final position before I move on to comparing the locations.

Thank you for following each of BAZ’s analyses.

We are not actually searching for the place that is most famous in human history. Nor are we searching for the place mentioned most frequently by Jews, Christians, historians, cultural figures, religious scholars or modern geopolitics.

We are searching for the most valid place in the narration of the Isra’. That is the place to which Prophet Muhammad SAW was truly taken and which Allah showed to him again when he was tested by Quraysh.

This is what we are searching for. It is extremely important to the direction of our thinking about many end-times matters today.

Therefore, I cannot begin this position with the question, “Palestine or Kedah?”

I also do not want you to read this position while your heart is already holding on to Kedah or Palestine.

If you continue reading my position while already holding firmly to one view, then your final conclusion already exists within you.

If that conclusion already exists and you are absolutely certain of it, then what is the point of continuing? Stop immediately.

Remain with your assumption that the location is in Kedah or Palestine.

You cannot continue in that manner because your existing position will become a barrier that veils us throughout the thinking process. You must be fair and neutral when facing the facts.

So please set aside that question or position for now. It should come later, when the foundation has become stronger and clearer.

This May Appear Repetitive, But It Is Important.

Some of you understand quickly while others are still learning to walk. We will proceed step by step.

My position begins with a very basic question that we have established through the four previous positions:

In that narration, which location is the most valid to use as a reference?

Is it the location assumed by Abu Jahl?

Is it the location known to Quraysh only through distance?

Is it the trading destination of the Quraysh caravan?

Is it the Jewish Holy House?

Or is it the location that Allah showed to the Prophet SAW, whose answer concerning it was then confirmed by the polytheist man without any recorded objection from Abu Jahl or Quraysh?

If we want to find the actual location of the Isra’, then we must search for it at the strongest point in the narration.

Follow the facts, not fame.

The strongest point is not Abu Jahl’s mockery. It is not Quraysh’s measurement of distance. It is not the name that is most famous in the minds of human beings.

The strongest point is the vision Allah gave to the Prophet SAW, followed by the polytheist man’s confirmation of the features of that place.

This fifth position will show that the most valid location in the narration is not merely the place imagined by Abu Jahl and Quraysh as the Jewish Holy House in Palestine.

The most valid location is the place Allah showed to the Prophet SAW and which the polytheist man confirmed through its building, appearance and proximity to a mountain.

Why is this fact about the mountain important?

Because a mountain cannot be built by human beings and cannot be demolished by them. It is the most concrete clue.

The Mountain Is Not a Minor Matter

One of the most important features mentioned in the narration is the proximity of Bayt al-Maqdis to a mountain.

قُرْبُهُ مِنَ الْجَبَلِ

“Its proximity to the mountain.”

So how could we possibly regard this as a minor matter?

A person would not ask about the proximity of a place to a mountain unless that mountain was indeed an important marker of the place.

The mountain must be sufficiently distinct. It must be sufficiently well known. It must be sufficiently close for the relationship between Bayt al-Maqdis and the mountain to be used as a test.

That is why I believe that if the Bayt al-Maqdis in question were merely a location known through the distance of a journey, then the most appropriate question would have been about distance.

Distance would have been enough. A landmark would not have been necessary.

Yet the polytheist man did not ask that. He asked about the building, the appearance and the mountain.

This shows that the place within the knowledge of the polytheist man was not merely a distant place.

It was a place with a form, a landscape, a structure and an appearance that could be tested. It had a building. It had an appearance. It had a real connection with a mountain.

Therefore, the most valid location in the narration is no longer merely the location that is famous by name.

The most valid location is the one that matches the identifying signs of the area being asked about and is then confirmed.

In this case, the mountain is major evidence.

It is true that the narration does not mention the name of Mount Jerai, the Temple Mount, Mount Ṭūr or Mount Suntobong. However, that does not mean that the mountain clue must be rejected.

Candi Lembah Bujang and Mount Jerai

In BAZ’s reading, this feature becomes more compelling when understood in relation to Candi Lembah Bujang, which is located in a valley on the edge of Mount Jerai.

This is more coherent.

The fifth position does not repeat the fourth position. Instead, it moves one level higher:

from “who is carrying which reference” to “which features determine the most valid location”.

The Mountain and the Valley in the Story of Musa

I will close this position with the Qur’anic verse that speaks about the mountain beside Masjidil Aqsa.

Read it and reflect on it first.

Begin with Surah al-Qaṣaṣ 28:29-30. Observe the position of the mountain and the valley beside it.

فَلَمَّا قَضَىٰ مُوسَى الْأَجَلَ وَسَارَ بِأَهْلِهِ آنَسَ مِن جَانِبِ الطُّورِ نَارًا قَالَ لِأَهْلِهِ امْكُثُوا إِنِّي آنَسْتُ نَارًا لَّعَلِّي آتِيكُم مِّنْهَا بِخَبَرٍ أَوْ جَذْوَةٍ مِّنَ النَّارِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَصْطَلُونَ

Then when Musa had completed the term and travelled with his family, he saw a fire from the side of Mount Ṭūr (jānibi al-ṭūri). He said to his family: “Wait here. Indeed, I see a fire. Perhaps I can bring you some news from it or a burning ember from the fire so that you may warm yourselves.”

فَلَمَّا أَتَاهَا نُودِيَ مِن شَاطِئِ الْوَادِ الْأَيْمَنِ فِي الْبُقْعَةِ الْمُبَارَكَةِ مِنَ الشَّجَرَةِ أَن يَا مُوسَىٰ إِنِّي أَنَا اللَّهُ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ

Then when he reached it, he was called from the right side of the valley, in the blessed area, from the direction of the tree: “O Musa, indeed I am Allah, Lord of all the worlds.”

Then continue with this passage so that the account becomes complete.

Surah Ṭāhā 20:9-15

وَهَلْ أَتَاكَ حَدِيثُ مُوسَىٰ

And has the story of Musa reached you?

إِذْ رَأَىٰ نَارًا فَقَالَ لِأَهْلِهِ امْكُثُوا إِنِّي آنَسْتُ نَارًا لَّعَلِّي آتِيكُم مِّنْهَا بِقَبَسٍ أَوْ أَجِدُ عَلَى النَّارِ هُدًى

When he saw a fire, he said to his family: “Wait here. Indeed, I see a fire. Perhaps I can bring you a burning brand from it or find guidance at the fire.”

فَلَمَّا أَتَاهَا نُودِيَ يَا مُوسَىٰ

Then when he reached it, he was called: “O Musa.”

إِنِّي أَنَا رَبُّكَ فَاخْلَعْ نَعْلَيْكَ ۖ إِنَّكَ بِالْوَادِ الْمُقَدَّسِ طُوًى

Indeed, I am your Lord, so remove both your sandals. Indeed, you are in the sacred valley, Ṭuwā (wādi al-muqaddasi Ṭuwā).

وَأَنَا اخْتَرْتُكَ فَاسْتَمِعْ لِمَا يُوحَىٰ

And I have chosen you, so listen to what is revealed.

إِنَّنِي أَنَا اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدْنِي وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ لِذِكْرِي

Indeed, I am Allah. There is no ilah except Me. So worship Me and establish prayer for My remembrance.

إِنَّ السَّاعَةَ آتِيَةٌ أَكَادُ أُخْفِيهَا لِتُجْزَىٰ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ بِمَا تَسْعَىٰ

Indeed, al-Sāʿah will certainly come. I am almost concealing it so that every soul may be rewarded according to what it strives for.

Reflect on this.

In the story of Musa, Allah does not merely mention the fire, the revelation and the call. Allah also preserves the arrangement of the location: the mountain, the valley, the blessed area, the tree and Ṭuwā.

If the Qur’an itself connects the major events of the prophets with tangible features of the earth, will we still choose to close our eyes to the earthly clues in the narration of the Isra’?

Human fame can change. Names can be inherited. Claims can be constructed. History can be created.

But mountains and valleys remain enduring witnesses.

That is where this search must return, not to the place most famously mentioned by human beings but to the place most strongly indicated by the evidence.