Why Palestine Became “Holy”: A Research-Based Reading of Javed Ahmed Ghamidi’s Lecture | Faith & Freedom News

Opinion · Faith & History · Part 2 of 2

Why Palestine Became “Holy”: A Research-Based Reading of Javed Ahmed Ghamidi’s Lecture on the Religious Roots of the Israel–Palestine Conflict. Why Israel Needs to be Accepted by the Whole Islamic World-Part 2 of 2

A scholarly lecture traces how a land became sacred, why Ghamidi argues that status was conditional, and what that means for today’s politics.

By Khurram Ali RazaFaith & Freedom News (FFN) · October 11, 2026 · 9 min read

Editor’s note: This opinion piece summarizes and translates into English the lecture “Historic And Religious Background of Conflict Between Israel & Palestine” by Javed Ahmed Ghamidi (Ghamidi Center of Islamic Learning, 2h 49m). Points below follow the lecture’s timestamped highlights and are paraphrased, not a verbatim transcript. Readers should check specifics against the video. Read Part 1 on FFN.

2:49:47

Click the preview to watch the full lecture on YouTube. Source: Ghamidi Center of Islamic Learning.

The Question Behind the Headlines

Few conflicts are argued as much through scripture as the Israel–Palestine dispute. Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, the Pakistani Islamic scholar, takes up the foundational question: how did this strip of land come to be called “holy,” who was it holy for, and does that holiness still bind anyone politically today?

His answer, built on the Farahi–Islahi tradition of Quranic reading, is that sanctity was tied to a mission and a covenant. When that mission was abandoned, he argues, the land’s special religious claim passed on. What remains is a political and human dispute, to be handled by law, peace and rebuilding strength.

Figure 1: The arc of the lecture’s argument, from covenant to transfer.

Research Highlights, Step by Step

The lecture’s main stages are summarized below. Click each to expand.

01:47A land set apart

Ghamidi says Allah sanctified Canaan (later Palestine) and the Arabian Peninsula as special lands for His worship, through the descendants of Ibrahim.
Prophethood became confined to Ibrahim’s lineage, and a whole nation was chosen to bear witness.

11:12Privilege that carries duty

Bani Israel were entrusted with responsibility, not privilege alone. Palestine was declared Al-Arz Al-Muqaddasa for their mission of Tawheed.
They built the Qibla and Masjid al-Aqsa under Dawood and Sulaiman, but declined after failing the demands of the mission.

20:57Judgment in this world

He cites divine punishment in this world: the Sabbath violation, the Babylonian conquest, and the Roman destruction of 70 CE.
After rejecting Isa, followers of Isa would prevail over them until Qiyamah, and the sacred trust passed to Bani Ismael.

31:01Transfer to Bani Ismael

The Qibla was changed from Baitul Maqdis to the Kaaba as a test of obedience.
The Quran’s condition applies: the covenant excludes the oppressors among their descendants.

41:04A new witnessing role

The Muslim community is designated as witnesses over humanity. The Prophet’s message went first to Arabia, then to the surrounding empires by letters.

51:08The conquest of Palestine

Under Caliph Umar, Palestine came under Muslim rule after a siege, with the city’s keys surrendered to Umar in person.

1:01:11From unity to decline

He traces the Umayyad and Abbasid eras, the Mongol destruction of Baghdad (1258), the Ottoman rise (1517), and decline leading to colonization after the First World War.

1:11:49What remains sacred

The Jews were deposed from their religious designation after the final proof was completed. Masjid-e Aqsa, however, was established by prophets and keeps its sanctity until Judgment Day.
The Arabian Peninsula holds religious status for Muslims.

1:21:55Crusades and the law of rise and fall

Jerusalem was held by Crusaders from 1099 until Salahuddin retook it in 1187, then passed to the Ottomans.
Nations decline when they weaken in knowledge, morality or unity of purpose.

In short: sanctity belongs to the mission. When the mission is abandoned, the claim does not pass down as an eternal title.

Figure 2: The three foundations Ghamidi says sustain a nation, and whose weakness explains decline.

Opinion: What This Means Today

On Ghamidi’s reading, a claim to Palestine as an eternal divine promise ended when the covenant’s conditions were broken. Modern Israel’s standing, he suggests, rests on the post-World War order and recognized political realities, not on scripture.

Masjid-e Aqsa stays sacred, but he argues Muslims should not frame the modern conflict as a holy war obliging jihad over sacred territory. The qibla and religious centre are in Mecca.

The dispute is political, territorial and a matter of human rights. This view favors diplomacy, law and building knowledge, unity and character over theological mobilization. This is the basis for the argument that the wider Islamic world should engage with Israel as a political reality. Many traditional scholars dispute this reduction of Aqsa’s theological weight, and readers should weigh those objections.

Conclusion

Ghamidi’s lecture is a long argument that “holy” describes a duty, not a deed of ownership. Whether readers accept every step, the practical conclusion is plain: the road to resolving the conflict runs through politics, rights and strength built on knowledge and ethics rather than through contested claims to sacred soil.