Islam Unveiled: A Parable Exploration

I'm in Jerusalem! Jerusalem. To many, it is the holiest place on earth, and where three of the world's oldest religions began. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all started here. What secrets can I uncover on these streets? Let's find out. This is the exact spot where Muhammad rose to heaven? This week, a journey into the seeds of Islam. And more. Jerusalem. When people think of this place, many immediately think of it as the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity. And of course, it is. For Jews, Jerusalem is the home to the Temple Mount, where God's sacred word was placed on the Ten Commandments and guarded in Solomon's temple 2,600 years ago. For Christians, this is the exact place that Jesus Christ was dragged up the Via Dolorosa and crucified almost 2,000 years ago, sparking the largest religious movement in world history. But this ancient city is also sacred to Islam, the world's second largest religion, with over 1.2 billion believers worldwide. In fact, behind the cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, Jerusalem is the third most important place on earth to Muslims. And it all has to do with this place, the Dome of the Rock, and this area around it called the Noble Sanctuary. Because this is where it is believed that in the year 622 AD, Islam's prophet, Muhammad, ascended to heaven and received instructions from their god, Allah, to take back to the faithful. I'm standing at the third most important Islamic spot in the entire world. Over here is the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where Muslims come to pray five times a day. And over here, in this amazingly beautiful building, is the Dome of the Rock, where Muhammad rose to the heavens. I'm going to meet a young Palestinian who's going to explain it all to me. Hi. I'm Tavia. I'm Anwar. Nice to meet you, Anwar. Nice to meet you, too. It's a great pleasure for me to be at the Dome of the Rock today. Well, thank you. It's a beautiful place. Can you explain to me a little bit about the significance of this building to believers of the Islamic religion? Well, this place is considered to be one of the most important places for the Muslims. First of all, it has a high significance spiritually, because the prophet Muhammad was teleported to the sky from this place exactly. And it's said this is the closest place you can get to heaven. It has a huge importance to all of the religions. It's in a holy place, in a holy city. It's in the holy land. So it's considered a very religious place, a very emotional place for us, for people in Jerusalem, and for the whole Islamic world. Yeah. Can you tell me what it means to you? As a resident of Jerusalem, it is a very important place for me as a person who was born and raised in Jerusalem. This is part of my identity. When I want to pray, it's the place to go. When I want to feel closer to God, this is the place to go. It means a lot to me from that side. Well, if this is the closest place I can get to heaven, I have to go see. Well, you should. It's a beautiful place. Next, Anwar would give me a close-up tour outside of the Dome of the Rock, the mosque that surrounds the enormous rock that actually sits physically in the middle of it. And it was not hard to see the incredible workmanship of its ancient architecture. Can you tell me a little bit about, you know, you see how it has like a Moroccan motif? The colors, yeah. The colors and the tiles. Yeah, they brought people from all over the Islamic world to do all this work. And whoever did the best work was really rewarded for his work. So people tried their hardest. It was a piece of art of the age. So when they constructed this, the best craftsmen of the time came here to build it. Only the best did it. It's amazing. Wow. The dome itself, it's the symbol of Jerusalem now. Whenever you see a picture of Jerusalem, this has to be in it, you know? It defines Jerusalem. While standing outside this iconic Jerusalem building, I was desperate to go inside. But Anwar made it clear I had to wait. For right at this exact moment, it was women's prayer hour inside the dome. No men allowed. So Anwar suggested that while we wait, we should go for a walk through Jerusalem's old city and the Shuk, the ancient 2,000-year-old market that is famous throughout Israel. Well, the Shuk is as old as Jerusalem was built. So you're talking about maybe 2,000 years old. So are you telling me Jesus would come here and go shopping? Uh-huh. Yum. The labyrinth of the old city streets that he knows so well, it turns out Anwar had a little surprise for me. So now, actually, I'm going to take you to my shop in the market. OK. It's been my family business for the last 65 years now. OK. According to my religion, I have to make something useful every single day to be productive and to make the world a better place. Because God gave us the world as a gift, and we're supposed to take care of it, make it a better place, make it a productive place. So could we go inside, and you could show me what you do and what you sell? Yeah, sure. Did you grow up making jewellery? Yeah, I grew up making jewellery. I grew up watching my uncles, watching my father making jewellery. Did you make all the jewellery in here? Well, most of the jewellery, yes. You go pick the beads you like and come back, and I'll teach you how to make it. OK. It was time to try my hand at Anwar's family specialty in making world-class Jerusalem jewellery. Beautiful collection. Beautiful choice. So you make a loop like I did. You open it. Before I came to meet you today, I really did some research on Islam. And I learned about the five pillars of Islam. Can you tell me a bit more about that? Yeah. If you remember, when we went to the mosque today, I told you Muhammad was teleported to the sky. And when he was teleported to the sky, he was given instructions. And he was given the five pillars of Islam that you cannot be a good Muslim unless you stick with those. What are those pillars? First of all, you have to acknowledge in your heart and by your tongue there is only one God, and Muhammad is his prophet. That's number one. Number two is praying. Number three is giving charity. Then comes fasting in Ramadan. That's four. And the fifth is going to Hijj. Hijj is when you go to Mecca one time of a year. You go around the Kaaba, which is in Mecca. According to the Quran, the Kaaba, or cube, was built by the prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael as a house of worship to the world's one and only God. So if you have the money to do it and if you have the ability to do it, you have to do it once in your lifetime. For Muslims, the importance of the once in a lifetime Hajj, or journey to Mecca, is profound. So vital is Mecca to their religion that all Muslims worldwide pray five times a day facing the Kaaba. They're beautiful. Okay, how does it look? Perfect, just as this one. You can't even spot the difference. Let me see. Thank you. It was an honor. And just as Anwar and I finished making our Jerusalem jewelry, we heard this. I was about to find out that it is one of the most important calls in all of Islam. On the first stage of my Jerusalem journey into the world of Islam, I had met a young Muslim Palestinian. Hi, I'm Javier. I'm Anwar. Who not only showed me the importance of the Dome of the Rock and the Noble Sanctuary, he also gave me a tour of the Shuk, the ancient market of Jerusalem, where his family's shop has operated for decades. Okay, how does it look? Perfect. And just as I had finished honing my jewelry-making skills, we heard this. What is it? A call that bellows throughout all of Jerusalem. It is a call to all Muslims for midday prayer. It was amazing to see Muslims everywhere walking quickly right towards the Noble Sanctuary and the Al-Aqsa Mosque that I was just at hours before. I'm at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, and it's Friday. Now, all the Muslims from miles around are answering the call to prayer. Muslims pray five times a day, and everyone is rushing to Al-Aqsa Mosque. Even on the streets and in their shops, a Muslim's midday prayer is sacred. Can you tell me how you pray? What are the steps? Wash your feet. And then you wash your hands. Okay, and you wash your face. You bow, and then you get on your knees. My understanding is the steps are, first he washes his hands, then he takes off his shoes and his socks, and he washes his feet. He throws down his rug, and he gets on his knees, and he bows his head. That's what I think he said. And just after midday prayers, Anwar let me know it was time to go back to the Dome of the Rock, where I was about to touch the rock. That is the closest place on earth Muslims can get to their God. So I have to put your shoes in here? Take your shoes off? This is amazing. It's a beautiful place. How does it make you feel to be here? Makes me feel really good. Makes me feel really emotional when I come here. Makes you feel proud to be Muslim? Absolutely. I am very proud to be here as a Muslim, as a resident of Jerusalem as well. It's a very beautiful place to be. It's a very spiritual place. I feel incredibly honored to be here. I'm sorry it's covered this time of the year, but it's covered because they are renovating right now. I just want to be clear, this is the exact spot where Muhammad rose to heaven? It is absolutely the X of the X plot. It's from that rock all the way to heaven. That's amazing. You never get used to it. You know what, I'm not Muslim, but I am so overwhelmed by the significance of this space. I can't even imagine how you must feel. We'll wait till you see the whole thing. Can we take a closer look? Please. Walking around this sacred building, one thing you notice is that the carpet feels spring-loaded, almost like a gymnastics mat. It was built that way, so that believers could pray anywhere in this building and have comfort under their knees as they do so. You see there's like small spots for people to pray on. It's all meant to be like prayer rugs. Anwar, so these are all Qurans? Yeah, that's the holy book. That's the holy book of the Muslims. That's our holy Quran. This is God's instruction that came through Muhammad to us. It's the words of God through Gabriel, the angel Gabriel, to Muhammad himself and written exactly the same time, the same words exactly into those books. So they are all the same, nothing changes. It's basically the instruction to the Muslims or to the whole world, let's say. So this is not one man's interpretation. This is God talking. It's not one's man, it's no one's interpretation. It's not changed. It's not through people. It's not interpreted. It's only the words of God. Wow. Have you actually ever read the entire Quran? I have read the entire book. It's basically about everything. It's how you are supposed to behave to other people. So it's a good book to read, you know, even if you are not a Muslim. The Quran is a manual on how to be an amazing human being. How to be a good person. How to treat people well. Does the Quran talk about this building and the dome of the rock? It's mentioned and the whole thing about teleportation to the sky is mentioned in the book and the whole, you know, there's a chapter that talks about it. Wow. You know, I don't think I could wait another second. I've got to get closer to that rock. Well, yeah, let's go. Let's go. Next, after watching Muslim lady after Muslim lady touch their hands through this hole and pray, I was in for a bit of a surprise. Well, you got to see this. Here you have the hairs of the prophet Muhammad. The hairs of the prophet Muhammad, when he went to the sky, some of the hairs fell and they kept them in that beautiful place. And you can actually still smell. There's a beautiful smell coming out. If you stick your hand. So what are you touching? You're touching basically a rock where some of Muhammad's hairs fell, which is near to the rock he teleported to the sky. Now, am I touching the rock that he was on? Well, yeah, it's a big rock. So he was on part of it. So this is a piece of the rock. It's a piece of the rock. Yeah. So if you stick your hand, you smell your hand. So basically there's a good smell to it. It's been there for thousands of years. It's not going. It smells like, it smells like perfume. It smells. It smells like aloe vera. Well, it has a distinctive smell. I don't know the exact name. It's not, you know, but it smells good. It smells like moisturizer. Well, there's a lot of hands going in. Wow. Now, how does this make you feel? Do you feel like you're like, you're really close to God? Well, you feel close to God. Wow. Anywhere you are. When you are here, you feel close to God, you know? They say, as I said, this is the closest you can get to heaven. So this is the closest you can get to heaven. We are standing now, the closest place you can get to heaven. Now, could we get even closer to the rock or can I see it up close? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can see it, but there's a better view of the rock. Let me show you. Okay. Where was Anwar about to take me? It turns out I was about to get an even closer relationship with one of the most religiously significant rocks in all of human history. Where would that be? You won't believe it. So far on my journey into the world of Islam in Jerusalem, I have walked the old city. I've seen how Muslims operate their businesses and how they pray. But most importantly, I've spent a lot of time here at the Noble Sanctuary, the third most important holy site in the Muslim world. But it was getting into the dome of the rock that is very tough for non-Muslims, let alone their film crews. That was incredible. This is amazing. But now Anwar was gonna take me on an experience I will likely never have again, to actually go under the rock where Islam's prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. So we are now underneath the rock. You are absolutely, yeah, you are underneath the rock. That's the rock where Muhammad was still the prophet. So this here is the rock. Yeah, that's the rock. So I'm touching it. You are touching it, absolutely. This is the rock that Muhammad rose to heaven. Yeah, that's the side, you know. But up there is the center of the dome of the rock where Muhammad went down. And Muhammad actually was lying on this rock. He was lying, yeah, on the upper side. On top of the rock, so we're underneath it. We are underneath it. He was lying on the upper side of the rock and then he went all the way to heaven. So this spot where we're standing is the third most religious spot for Muslims on earth. Absolutely, the closest place to heaven. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing. Anwar, thank you so much. Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure. And with that, I had just taken part in one of the most intimate religious Muslim experiences a person could have. What could top that? Well, we would head to the Arab quarter of the ancient Jerusalem market. That's mostly a traditional food restaurant. It's my friend's place, actually. Hi, how are you? I'm Tavia. Nice to meet you. How are you, I'm Zubrah. Hi. Now, I wanted to ask you about customs and food. Do the Jews come and eat in the Islamic quarter and do the Christians eat in the Jewish quarter? How does all of that work? Well, what we have here is halal and the same spices, the same cooking. What's different about it is the method of killing the beast, of killing the animal, which is called halal or kosher. Now, we and the Jews share almost the same exact methods of preparing the food, of making the meal, you know? So we are allowed to eat from the Jews, no problem at all, you know? This is considered a mixed area. So the Jews come here, the Christians come here, so they're all supposed to be able to eat from here. Come, have a seat. Traditionally, here, we mostly share the food. Oh, it smells good. Yeah, it's fresh salad, fresh chicken. And we traditionally here say the food, but for that, we have to pray. We say bismillah, which means in the name of God. Bismillah. Enjoy. Thank you. I love pickles. Yeah? It's good. That was worth flying for 13 hours to get here. The pickles. And with that, I would conclude my Jerusalem journey into the tastes, sights, and sounds of Islam.