"Whose surroundings we have blessed": The Islamic Movement in Israel Unites around the Al-Aqsa Mosque

Résumé 0

The current wave of violence did not spring up ex nihilo; it should be situated in abroader context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general, and is related to thetensions involving the sacred sites to Jews and Muslims, specifically the sites inJerusalem. The wave of stabbings appeared in early October but it was preceded by aconsiderable worsening of tension and violent incidents on the Temple Mount / al-Aqsa Mosque esplanade. The deterioration began with the Tisha B’Av incidents in thesame place, and the tension that triggered these events had continued and escalatedthrough the Jewish High Holiday period. One of the responses of Israeli authoritieswas to outlaw the groups called Murabitun and Murabitat operating in Al-AqsaMosque. (Ribat is to voluntarily defend Islam from external enemies. This Islamicterm goes back to the Muslim-Christian 8th century encounter in North-West Africa.Its original meaning was a fortification post on the frontier with the infidels. Thosewho volunteered to station those posts, combining holy war with a pious way of life,were called Murabitun and for woman Murabitat. Today this term carries morecomplex meanings, such as inner-spiritual struggle of the believer against mundanechallenges. Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa mosque are often described as places of Ribat,and the current use of the term in al-Aqsa, describing groups of Muslims who stay atthe al-Aqsa compound, study Quran and confronts religious Jewish visitors at the site,echoes back the original meaning of Ribat).