Christians, Jews, and Muslims have been battling over mountaintop land in Jerusalem for centuries. Recent attempts at a rational, politically negotiated solution have all ended badly. Perhaps what politicians should do is reference prophetic sources which describe in great detail the end-of-days Temple Mount agenda for all concerned.

When most people think of the Temple Mount they consider one building; the golden Dome of the Rock built by the Muslims in the Seventh Century. The Temple Mount Compound is actually quite large, comprised of 144,000 sq. m./37 acres of land, most of it either empty or covered in trees planted in the last few decades. Though Israeli and international law mandates allowing equality of religions and universal prayer at the site, the Israeli police cite security concerns for restricting the right to pray only to Muslims.

In a rare display of Islamic pluralism, a 2017 article in The Muslim Times noted that there is certainly room at the site to create a worship space, even a Third Temple, for the Jews. The editor, Dr. Zia Shah, suggested a multi-story structure to maximize the space.

“Every Jewish, Christian and Muslim denomination that has a sizeable presence in Israel gets a floor in the plaza free of charge, as their synagogue, church or mosque and in return they provide a public relations campaign to make the project a success. The state of Israel gets to choose the leaders of those denominations, giving the state and PM Benjamin Netanyahu some stake in the process.”

Despite Dr. Shah’s largesse, Dr. Mordechai Kedar, a senior lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University, noted that the plan would be unacceptable to mainstream Islam.

“There is no way in Islam to accept such a plan,” Dr. Kedar told Breaking Israel News. “The essence of Islam is that Judaism and Christianity are no longer relevant in the world. The reason Islam exists is to replace them. Any visible reminder that Christianity or Judaism still exists is proof that Islam has failed in its primary mission.”

Jewish sources describe that in the end-of-days the descendants of Ishmael will have a place and a purpose on the Temple Mount. A surprisingly detailed description of the Messianic process is given in the Zohar Hadash, a collection of previously unpublished manuscripts pertaining to the Zohar printed in the late 16th century. In one section (Balak 68b), the Zohar Hadash describes a process that will begin in the 274th year of the sixth millennium. This works out to be the year 5774 in the Hebrew calendar which began in September 2013. Part of the process described included a “destruction” in a synagogue in “the south” in which five tzadikim (righteous men) will be killed.

Indeed, in November 2014, two Palestinian terrorists armed with knives, guns, and axes carried out a bloody attack in a Har Nof synagogue on November 18, 2014. Four Jews were killed in the attack, as well as, Zidan Saif, a Druze policeman. The following October, Rabbi Haim Rothman died from the wounds he suffered in the attack, bringing the death toll to five, precisely as predicted more than 400 years earlier.

This same prophecy is repeated in other sources, adding that the “Sons of Ishmael” (Arabs) will make war against the Messiah, and will “come and bow down before God at the holy mountain in Jerusalem”.

Rabbi Pinchas Winston, a prolific author and respected Torah scholar, noted the prominent end-of-Days role the Arabs are predicted to play on the Temple Mount.

“It is not a coincidence that Ishmael is on the Temple Mount,” Rabbi Winston told Breaking Israel News. “The Christians tried hard for centuries but mostly failed.”

“The rabbinic tradition teaches the reason why Ishmael succeeded in having a place in Israel and the Temple Mount is by virtue of Ishmael’s brit milah (circumcision). The Zohar related how the angel of Ishmael complained to God that since he performed brit milah, he should also receive a portion in Israel. God responded that the brit milah Ishmael and his descendants perform does not include priah (the folding back of the foreskin that is an essential stage in the circumcision and if it is not performed, the circumcision is not kosher). God described this form of brit milah as ‘empty.’ By virtue of Ishmael’s brit milah his descendants will have a part in the land but since the brit milah was ‘empty,’ they will have the land when the land is empty.”

Rabbi Winston cited another aspect of Ishmael’s presence on the Temple Mount.

“Ishmael was circumcised when he was 13 years old,” he explained. “For every year of his life before his circumcision, his descendants inherited 100 years on the Temple Mount. The Dome of the Rock was built in 648 CE. They lost control of the Holy Land in 1947 exactly 1,300 years later.”

According to the Rambam, it was preferable that Muslims should be on the Temple Mount. The Catholic religion has elements of idolatry and the Muslim presence on the Temple Mount protected it from idolatry. But the Muslim lease to the Temple Mount was finished in 1947. Their job now is implicit in their name: Yishma El (God will hear). Their job on the Temple Mount is like the Egyptians; to push us until we cry out to God to save us and bring Messiah and to bring back the Temple.

“This is why there can’t be peace with them based on reason or politics,” Rabbi Winston concluded. “The only thing the Jews can do is what we were supposed to do; cry out to God.”