Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
Though visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque is originally recommended, Muslims should consider the benefits and harms of visiting it. The current status of Al-Aqsa should be considered while assessing the harm and benefits of visiting this sacred place.
Responding to this question, Sheikh Husain Halawah, the secretary general of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) and imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of Ireland (ICCI) states:
The status of Al-Aqsa is clearly explained in the hadith that reads: “People are not to travel except to three mosques: the Sacred Mosque (in Makkah), Al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem), and my Mosque (in Madinah).” (Muslim)
The reward for prayer offered therein will be greater than offering prayer in other mosques. Hence, we encourage Muslims in Palestine to visit Al-Aqsa as much as possible.
Muslims outside Palestine have to support Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa financially and with projects that preserve it and also by raising awareness of the crimes being perpetrated by the occupier.
However, it is currently not permissible to visit it at the moment as doing so would support the occupier and give Israel the legal recognition that they seek. It would show the occupier as protectors of Jerusalem.
Elaborating on this issue, the Ifta’ committee of the Islamic University, Gaza, stated:
Currently, visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque or making a tourist tour there is not allowed for Muslims in general, Arabs and non-Arabs alike, especially leaders, officials, decision-makers, intellectuals, journalists and official and unofficial delegations.
Excluded from this prohibition are the Palestinians, both those who are living in occupied Palestine or those who immigrated to the diaspora. This falls under what is called the Shari`ah–oriented policy. The prohibition is founded upon the following:
First: Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, is an Islamic endowment. It was occupied by the Israelis. Hence, there is an obligation under Islamic Shari`ah to liberate it.
This is an individual duty upon all Palestinians and a collective duty upon other Muslims. Given that the Palestinian Muslims could not liberate their land alone, jihad has become an individual duty upon adjoining Muslims in what is known as the surrounding countries.
However, some of these countries signed peace treaties with Israel and the rest have refrained from jihad on the pretext that there is military imbalance (between them and the enemies)—something which has no weight in Islam.
Consequently, jihad has moved to the wider circle and has become an individual duty upon all Muslims everywhere. This is based on the hadith in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said, “Islam is superior and nothing is superior to it.” (Al-Bayhaqi)
It is also founded upon the ruling given by the scholars of this Ummah that jihad is an individual duty, first upon those whose land is captured by the enemy; if they are incapable of performing it alone, then the duty falls upon those who are immediately next to them; and if they are still incapable, then on the next. And, this continues until the whole Ummah engages in jihad.
While Muslim rulers deal with Israel in a subservient and submissive manner and fail to carry out the duty of jihad, this, nonetheless, does not exempt the other Muslims from fulfilling this obligation to the best of their abilities, as (Allah does not charge a soul with more than it can bear.)(Al-Baqarah 2:286)
Since the Muslims cannot perform direct jihad to liberate Palestine, because rulers prevent them from doing so and seal the borders to them, jihad in this case may take other forms, such as the following:
1- To refrain from visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque or traveling to it, whether from the countries that have peace treaties with Israel or the countries that do not. Such treaties are not approved or recognized by the Shari`ah. In fact, any such visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque is tantamount to approval of the legitimacy of these treaties and of Jewish control over Jerusalem, particularly if the visit has a political, cultural, or religious character.
2- To boycott the usurping Zionist entity on all fronts and in all fields—political, social, cultural, and economic. That is because having any relation with the enemy in these fields constitutes material and moral support extended to it so that it can continue its aggression against the Ummah and its sanctities.
3- To raise Muslim children to know that Jerusalem is a Muslim land that cannot be renounced. Love of jihad to liberate this land from the hands of usurpers should be instilled in their hearts.
4- To render material and moral support to the Mujahideen among the people of Palestine so that they can show steadfastness in the face of their enemies and repel their ferocious aggression on their land and the sacred places. This will also help them to hold onto their land and not leave it, as wished by their enemies.
Second: Tourist trips and visits made to Al-Aqsa Mosque by Muslims from countries around the world are exploited by the Jews in propagating their (so-called) right to keep Jerusalem under their authority.
This is part of their claim that Jerusalem is their eternal capital. They utilize the Muslims’ visits to Al-Aqsa as a means whereby they show that they have freedom of worship and religious tolerance. By doing so, they want to display to the world how democratic they are by allowing the Muslims to enter Jerusalem and offer worship there. Moreover, the Muslims who want to visit Jerusalem are required to obtain permission from the Jews, and this affords them elevation and high status and is a form of recognition of their so-called right to control Jerusalem.
Another possible consequence of such visits is that the Jews may thus, have the chance to penetrate the Muslim countries by searching among Muslim visitors for individuals they can hire as agents, thus, falling into the mire of treason and collaboration with the enemy. We, the people of Palestine, are well-aware of this fact due to our long-time struggle and direct contact with this enemy and our real knowledge of its nature.
Third: Palestinian Muslims are obligated to go to Al-Aqsa Mosque whenever they can, especially at this time when this sacred mosque is facing danger at the hands of the Jews, who make repeated attempts to demolish it, including the excavations conducted under it. Furthermore, Muslim worshippers are barred access to this sacred place. Therefore, doing this is in itself a form of jihad.
Fourth: Those in charge of the mass media in Muslim countries should expose Zionist practices against the Islamic sanctities in Jerusalem and display photos of Zionist soldiers desecrating the courtyards of Al-Aqsa with their horses and weapons and pursuing the worshippers coming to this sacred mosque and denying them the right to offer worship there.
In conclusion, we say that visiting Al-Aqsa to perform prayer is forbidden for non-Palestinian Muslims who come with the intention of making such a visit.
If, however, a Muslim comes to visit his or her relatives or relatives-in-law who live in Palestine, and they take him or her to Al-Aqsa Mosque for prayer, we see nothing wrong with that, so long as the visit is free from any particular significance: political, cultural and the like.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.