Ambiguous is a word that leaps to mind when thinking about Jerusalem in the Qur˒ān. In the Old Testament, Jerusalem (literally) appears 669 times; the Christian New Testament mentions Jerusalem (literally) 154 times; the Qur˒ān (literally) mentions Jerusalem at no time.

            In reading Hadith, one can always find something to justify anything. These same six collections of Hadiths prohibit or glorify martyrdom in the form of a suicide bomber; and speak of heaven's physical reward of 70, or 71, or 72, black-haired and beautiful, or fat and gangly virgins.

            The first Hadiths were not collected until some 200 years after Muḥammad's death. The process of isnad does not change the fact that many Hadiths that were inconsistent with others were simply dropped from tradition. Even after the purging of inconsistencies, Goldziher's research demonstrated that many Hadiths remained outright forgeries.^[54]

            Many Hadiths were created for the 'good' of the community. Of course when Arabian Muslims opposed to the Damascus-based Caliphate created their own Hadiths, the Umayyad rulers naturally created their own. When the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad succeeded the Damascus Umayyads, the process gathered even more steam—they had to demonstrate their legitimacy.

            By 661, Muḥammad's dream of a unified Islamic kingdom was beset with internal schisms. Two branches of Islam were created (Sunni and Shi^˓a) and they were at odds with eachother. The last of the four Rightly Guided Caliphs, ^˓Ali, whom the Shi^˓a believe should have been Muḥammad's first successor, was murdered. A new Caliph, Mu^˓awiyya^[25] ruled the Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus, a dynasty that would last from 661–750.

            In Medina, ^˓Ali's son Husayn received word (according to Shi^˓a tradition) that he would be next in line to assume the Caliphate. When he arrived in Karbala (near Baghdad) in 680, he discovered that Mu^˓awiyya was already dead and he had appointed his son, Yazid as his successor. Husayn was subsequently killed in what has become the most defining moment in Shi^˓a history. By 685, there was open revolt. The roots of these disputes exist to today—and those roots began with the death of Muḥammad in 632. It is within this context that the Umayyad Caliph, Abd al-Malik commissioned the building of the Qubbat al-Sakhra in Jerusalem during the late 7th century.

            Chronologically, Muḥammad’s Night Journey and Ascension are the earliest events in Islam pertaining to Jerusalem. Sura 17:1 of the Qur˒ān tells the story:

"Glory be to Him, who carried His servant by night from the Holy Mosque to the Further Mosque the precincts of which We have blessed, that We might show him some of Our signs. He is the All-hearing, All-seeing."[10]

("Subḥana al-ladhi asra bi˓bdihi laīlan mina al-masjidi al-ḥarami ila al-masjidi alaqṣā, al-adhi baraknā ḥawlaū linuriyaū min 'ayatinā inaū huwa al-samī˓u al-baṣīru")

            Below are three alternative and trusted translations of the same Sura:^[11]

Yusif Ali: Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things).

Pickhal: Glorified be He Who carried His servant by night from the Inviolable Place of Worship to the Far distant place of worship the neighbourhood whereof We have blessed, that We might show him of Our tokens! Lo! He, only He, is the Hearer, the Seer.

Shakir: Glory be to Him Who made His servant to go on a night from the Sacred Mosque to the remote mosque of which We have blessed the precincts, so that We may show to him some of Our signs; surely He is the Hearing, the Seeing.

          Since the 1982 war in Lebanon, Israel has been transformed in mainstream media from the role of David fighting Goliath to the role of Goliath punishing David. In part, this is a symptom of the rise of Israeli and Jewish revisionist historians (Avi Shlaim, Benny Morris, Ilan Pappé, etc.) who began to publish their works in the 1980s; the increasing anti-Israeli biases in most Middle Eastern Studies departments at respected universities; Israel’s failure to present a concise narrative to combat the claims of their opponents; and laziness on the part of many mainstream reporters.
          A core problem is that it has become fashionable to publicly bash Israel and draw a moral equivalency between Israeli military strikes against known terrorists and the homicidal terrorists who seek to kill the maximum amount of civilians by strapping on bombs packed with nails. With the growing anti-Israel sentiment in the mainstream media, Americans who support Israel, value America’s security, and understand that there is a global war on political Islam that must be waged and won, will not likely be armed with enough facts to counter absurd claims in Western media and on Western campuses.