Friday, July 22, 2011

The Stuff Legends Make Up

As I blogged, a bell was found near the Temple Mount, a supposed part of the garments of a priest, or someone of high social status.

I suggested that this was another, figurative, nail in the coffin of Temple denial.

And then I recalled this morning, what Islamic itmes connect to the Temple Mount. You do know that:

The reliquary next to the rock dates from the Ottoman period and contains a hair of Muhammad's beard.

and that

the Dome of the Rock was built to commemorate Muhammad's ascension into heaven after his night journey to Jerusalem (Qur'an 17)

since

By the 11th century, several legends had developed concerning the Dome of the Rock and its sacred stone, including the following:

They say that on the night of his Ascension into Heaven the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, prayed first at the Dome of the Rock, laying his hand upon the Rock. As he went out, the Rock, to do him honor, rose up, but he laid his hand on it to keep it in its place and firmly fixed it there. But by reason of this rising up, it is even to this present day partly detached from the ground beneath.

Of course, all religions promote legends and myths.

But so far, we have archaeological proof, scientific, for our Biblical history.

^

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