Message #13177

[N. Truth Seeker]

Right Sister Heba, it's from Hadith.  I've done some research on this.  Soon after studying this thread, we had a brief discussion on this topic in our monthly meetings at the community center.  Someone (a hadither) happened to mention the name of Prophet Solomon in connection with the building of Masjid Al-Aqsa.  I didn't ask him anything about it because I had guessed it must be from Hadith, there could be no other source.  After coming home that evening I looked it up and found that it was the Hadith that has constructed several unfounded stories about the building of Al-Aqsa Masjid .... this guesswork is from 2 different sources of Hadith.  One source is from Nasai and the other is from Ibn Hajar's "fath-e-bari."  Our scholars have passed it has "sahih" or "authentic" because they agree with the isnad.   This is surprising, but Ibn Hajar goes as far as contradicting the Noble Quran by claiming that Prophet Abraham and his son, Ishmael, were not the first ones to build the Kaaba but Adam first built it.  Ibn Hajar claims that Abraham and Ishmael renovated it.  This info totally clashes with the Quran.  The Noble Quran makes it very, very clear that Prophet Abraham and Ishmael built the Kaaba by laying its foundation.  They didn't just renovate it, they built it. 

The following are the Hadith stories only for your information so that you can know the sources of the guesswork about Prophet Sulaiman constructing Masjid Al-Aqsa. 

Nothing of the following should be taken as confirmed, let alone true.  Only Allah knows the truth.  Most likely Masjid Al-Aqsa was constructed much later as sister Zeynab's response stated by the 2nd righteous Caliph, Umer bin Khattab, and Dome of Rock was constructed by one of the Ommayad rulers.  All other details must be left upon Allah.  Only He knows. 

QUOTING THE AHADITH:
Sunan an-Nasa’i and classed as authentic by al-Albani .... also presumed that it existed before Sulayman (peace be upon him) and that Sulayman rebuilt it; this is based on the hadith reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim on the authority of Abu Dharr who said: “I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, which mosque was built on earth first?’ He said, ‘Al-Masjid Al-Haram [in Makkah].’ I said, ‘Then which?’ He said, ‘Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa.’ I said, ‘How much time was there between them?’ He said, ‘Forty years. So wherever you are when the time for prayer comes, pray, for that is the best thing to do.’”


Ibn Hajar says about this hadith in Fath al-Bari:
   
Ibn al-Jawzi said: It raises a problem since Abraham built the Ka`bah and Solomon built Bayt al-Maqdis [another name of al-Masjid al-Aqsa cf. Hebrew Bet ha-Miqdash] and there are 1,000 years between them. His evidence for saying that it is Solomon - peace be upon him - who built the Farthest Mosque is the narration of al-Nasa'i from the hadith of `Abd Allah Ibn `Amr Ibn al-`As attributed to the Prophet with an authentic isnad that "When Solomon built Bayt al-Maqdis he asked God the Most High for three things etc." and in al-Tabarani from the hadith of Rafi` Ibn `Umayrah that "David - peace be upon him - started building Bayt al-Maqdis but God inspired him: I shall accomplish its building with Solomon" and the hadith has a story. He [Ibn al-Jawzi] said: "The answer to that is that the mention concerns the first construction and the foundation of the mosque and it is not Abraham who built the Ka`bah for the first time nor is it Solomon who built Bayt al-Maqdis for the first time. Indeed, we have narrated that the first one who built the Ka`bah is Adam. Then his progeny spread out on earth. Therefore, it is possible that one of them built Bayt al-Maqdis. Later, Abraham (re)built the Ka`bah according to the Qur'an." Likewise, al-Qurtubi said: The hadith does not indicate that Abraham and Solomon were the first ones to build the two mosques. It was only a renovation of what had been founded by others.

After quoting other opinions, Ibn Hajar insists :

But the possibility mentioned by Ibn al-Jawzi is more pertinent. And I found evidence supporting those who say that it is Adam who founded both mosques. For instance, Ibn Hisham mentioned in "Kitab al-Tijan" that when Adam built the Ka`bah, God ordered him to walk to Bayt al-Maqdis and build it and so he did and offered worship in it. And the construction of the House [Arabic: al-Bayt, i.e., the Ka`bah] is famous and we have mentioned earlier the hadith of `Abd Allah Ibn `Amr that the House was elevated in the time of the flood until God showed Abraham its location. Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from the way of Ma`mar from Qatadah: God founded the House with Adam when he descended. But Adam missed the voices of the Angels and their prayers. Therefore, God told him: I sent down a House around which [people] will revolve like it is revolved around my Throne, so set out to it. Adam set out to Makkah - He had descended in India, and his steps were enlarged until he reached the House and revolved around it. It was also said that when he had prayed at the Ka`bah, he was ordered to set out to Jerusalem where he built a masjid [mosque] and prayed therein so that it became a qiblah to a part of his progeny.
UNQUOTE: