Израиль мен Палестина: Ұлы Жерлердің тарихы мен қасиеті

Abrahamic term for Israel and Palestine

The Holy Land is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. Today, the term "Holy Land" usually refers to a territory roughly corresponding to the modern states of Israel and Palestine. Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Bahá'ís regard it as holy. Part of the significance of the land stems from the religious significance of Jerusalem (the holiest city to Judaism, and the location of the First and Second Temples), as well as its historical significance as the setting for most of the Bible, the historical locale of Jesus' ministry, the location of the first Qibla before Kaaba in Mecca and the site of the Isra and Mi'raj event in Islam, and the site of the most revered pilgrimage sites in the Bahá'í faith. The holiness of the land as a destination of Christian pilgrimage contributed to launching the Crusades, as European Christians sought to win back the Holy Land from Muslims, who had conquered it from the Christian Eastern Roman Empire in AD 630. In the 19th century, the Holy Land became the subject of diplomatic wrangling as the holy places played a role in the Eastern Question which led to the Crimean War in the 1850s. Many sites in the Holy Land have long been pilgrimage destinations for adherents of the Abrahamic religions, including Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Bahá'ís. Pilgrims visit the Holy Land to touch and see physical manifestations of their faith, to confirm their beliefs in the holy context with collective excitation, and to connect personally to the Holy Land.

For Christians, the Holy Land is considered holy because of its association with the birth, ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, whom Christians regard as the incarnation of God and the Messiah. Christian books, including many editions of the Bible, often have maps of the Holy Land (considered to be Galilee, Samaria, and Judea). For instance, the Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae of Heinrich Bünting (1545–1606), a German Protestant pastor, featured such a map. His book was very popular, and it provided "the most complete available summary of biblical geography and described the geography of the Holy Land by tracing the travels of major figures from the Old and New testaments." Jerusalem (referred to as Al Quds, الـقُـدس, 'The Holy') has particular significance in Islam. The Quran refers to Muhammad's experiencing the Isra and Mi'raj as "Glory be to the One Who took His servant ˹Muḥammad˺ by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We may show him some of Our signs". Ahadith infer that the "Farthest Masjid" is in Al Quds; for example, as narrated by Abu Hurairah: "On the night journey of the Apostle of Allah, two cups, one containing wine and the other containing milk, were presented to him at Al Quds (Jerusalem). He looked at them and took the cup of milk. Angel Gabriel said, 'Praise be to Allah, who guided you to Al Fitrah (the right path); if you had taken (the cup of) wine, your Ummah would have gone astray'." Jerusalem was Islam's first Qiblah (direction of prayer) in Muhammad's lifetime, however, this was later changed to the Kaaba in the Hijazi city of Mecca, following a revelation to Muhammad by the Archangel Jibril. The current construction of the Al Aqsa mosque, which lies on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, is dated to the early Umayyad period of rule in Palestine. Architectural historian K. A. C. Creswell, referring to a testimony by Arculf, a Gallic monk, during his pilgrimage to Palestine in 679–82, notes the possibility that the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, Umar ibn al Khattab, erected a primitive quadrangular building for a capacity of 3,000 worshipers somewhere on the Haram ash Sharif. However, Arculf visited Palestine during the reign of Mu'awiyah I, and it is possible that Mu'awiyah ordered the construction, not Umar. This latter claim is explicitly supported by the early Muslim scholar al Muthahhar bin Tahir. According to the Quran and Islamic traditions, Al Aqsa Mosque is the place from which Muhammad went on a night journey (al isra) during which he rode on Buraq, who took him from Mecca to al Aqsa. Muhammad tethered Buraq to the Western Wall and prayed at al Aqsa Mosque and after he finished his prayers, the angel Jibril (Gabriel) traveled with him to heaven, where he met several other prophets and led them in prayer. The historical significance of the al Aqsa Mosque in Islam is further emphasized by the fact that Muslims turned towards al Aqsa when they prayed for a period of 16 or 17 months after migration to Medina in 624; it thus became the qibla ('direction') that Muslims faced for prayer. The exact region referred to as being 'blessed' in the Quran, in verses like , and , This overall region is referred to as "Ash Shām" (الـشَّـام).

The holiest places for Bahá'í pilgrimage are the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh and the Shrine of the Báb, which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the coastal cities of Acre and Haifa, respectively. The Bahá'í Faith's founder, Bahá'u'lláh, was exiled to Acre Prison from 1868 and spent his life in its surroundings until his death in 1892. In his writings he set the slope of Mount Carmel to host the Shrine of the Báb which his appointed successor 'Abdu'l Bahá erected in 1909 as a beginning of the terraced gardens there. The Head of the religion after him, Shoghi Effendi, began building other structures and the Universal House of Justice continued the work until the Bahá'í World Centre was brought to its current state as the spiritual and administrative centre of the religion. Its gardens are highly popular places to visit and Mohsen Makhmalbaf's 2012 film The Gardener featured them.