Ivividly recall how being in Jerusalem felt like a flow of back-to-back powerful and often overwhelming experiences. Clichés can get boring with overuse, but while in Jerusalem in June 2012, I kept thinking about my hometown and the popular expression
“Sarajevo is Europe’s Jerusalem.” It felt true while walking on different streets and observing the architecture in the Old Town and while listening to curious tourists who flocked from all over the world and chatted with craftsmen about the provenance of their souvenirs.
Those noises were blending with equally familiar sounds of the church bells and calls to prayer from the nearby mosques. I sensed a similar melancholy in the air as well, the echoes of a rich multicultural history and painful episodes of grim violence. They are gorgeous cities.
The aura of the holiness in Jerusalem was inevitable though. Spending a day at the Temple Mount (or Haram al-Sharif: “the Noble Sanctuary”) — which includes the Dome of the Rock, several mosques and 11 historic gates was one of the most formidable experiences of my life. For us Muslims, heading to Jerusalem means going to the next-holiest place after Mecca and Medina.
Visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque is a sort of pilgrimage, because we believe it is the site from where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven and spoke to God during the miraculous Al-Isra’ wal-Mi’raj (“the Night Journey and Ascension”)
