On 15 April a devastating fire broke out at France’s famous Notre Dame Cathedral.
In the course of the conflagration the church’s distinctive 93-meter medieval spire and two thirds of its roof were destroyed. Had it not been for the tireless efforts of French firefighters who fought day and night to extinguish the blaze the damage would have been far more extensive.
For days the story was front-page news in Western countries and media outlets were saturated with expert analyses of the cathedral’s history architecture and significance.
Symbol of national identity
There is no doubt that Notre Dame dating from 1163 is a Gothic masterpiece and a Parisian landmark. It is a symbol of France and of Roman Catholicism even though France is an officially secular state that prides itself on what it calls laicité. Church and state were formally separated in 1905.
But that did not stop crowds of people from singing hymns in a vigil near the stricken cathedral and marching in its honor. Paris’s deputy mayor of tourism and sports joined others in creating a human chain to save the ancient relics held inside the cathedral.
Notre Dame is today not just a religious monument but a symbol of French national identity. For that reason the French president quickly took on the responsibility of rebuilding the cathedral and French billionaires and businesses have already pledged more than €700 million ($787m) towards that goal.
In recognition of that nationalist bond many western states from Australia to Europe hastened to send their condolences to President Emmanuel Macron. Japan Egypt Lebanon and Jordan did the same.
In the United States the One World Trade Center and the Empire State Building were lit up in the tricolor of the French flag and the governor of New York pledged his city’s solidarity with the people of France.
Sacred character
What if a similar fate overtook al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem? This building is older than Notre Dame built by the Umayyad caliphs in the eighth century and has a long rich history. The mosque was hit by earthquakes in 746 and 1033 and rebuilt each time; taken over by crusaders in 1099 and reclaimed by Saladin in 1187; then remained under Muslim rule until the war of 1967 when it came under Israel’s control.
Muslims everywhere revere this mosque. It is the third holiest place after the mosques of Mecca and Medina. Many associations bind al-Aqsa to Muslim religious sentiment.
Interpreted as the place referenced in the Isra verse in the Quran al-Aqsa has taken on a sacred character and is traditionally associated with the Prophet Muhammad’s miraculous night journey to Jerusalem. Its spiritual significance for Muslims is hard to overstate. Jerusalem was Islam’s first qibla or direction of prayer and it has been an important place of pilgrimage ever since.
For Palestinians al-Aqsa is their very own possession – a symbol of Arab historical continuity in a city claimed by non-Arabs and an affirmation of Arab identity in an anti-Arab environment. Though it stands beside what is claimed to be the site of the now-vanished Jewish Second Temple it is the only concrete historical building in that place.
No assaults by religious Jewish groups claiming rights to the mosque can alter this reality nor have Israel’s constant excavations to detect a trace of Jewish history at the site since 1967 produced that evidence.
The case of the 1969 fire
What if this unique building so meaningful for the 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide succumbed to fire or collapsed after Israel’s archaeological digs weakened its ancient foundations?
Would the Arab and Islamic world rise up as one? Would Israel the de facto custodian of Jerusalem’s holy places be made accountable? Would world leaders rush to rebuild the mosque or to help the Palestinian people?
We have a preliminary answer in the case of the fire that burned Saladin’s minbar inside al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969. Denis Michael Rohan an evangelical Christian Australian started a fire in the mosque to try to destroy it aiming to clear the way for the Jewish Temple to be rebuilt in its place thus hastening Christ’s second coming. The incident led to the establishment of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
Jordan’s representative to the UN presented letters of protest over the fire at al-Aqsa. These came from just 17 states and a further 58 letters came from NGOs Muslim religious bodies other Muslim groups and Muslim individuals around the world. They called on the UN to intervene to protect the holy site from Israel’s occupation.
An orphan without allies
The Western response to the fire at al-Aqsa was muted. None displayed solidarity with Palestinians or Muslims and no effective action was taken by the UN.
In the 50 years since the fire at al-Aqsa Israel has only increased its hold on Jerusalem’s holy places. In 2017 it illegally installed turnstiles and metal detectors at the entrances to al-Haram al-Sharif although they were subsequently removed. Religious settlers are now regularly allowed to march through al-Aqsa compound threaten Muslim worshippers and perform Jewish religious ceremonies.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is no less a religious and nationalist symbol for Arabs and Muslims than Notre Dame is for the French. But if it burned down it is doubtful in today’s US-dominated world – and given Arab and Islamic weakness – that anyone would rally to its cause. Only the Palestinians who live there would go on fighting to defend it.
Like them this wonderful Islamic icon is an orphan in a world without allies.
– Ghada Karmi is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies University of Exeter. She was born in Jerusalem and was forced to leave her home with her family as a result of Israel’s creation in 1948. The family moved to England in 1949 where she grew up and was educated. Her article appeared in the Middle East Eye.
