Journey to the Rose of All Cities… To you, our eyes travel everyday

O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem… For you, City of prayers, I do pray

This is the lyrics of a great song performed by Fayrouz. This lyric is written by the Lebanese poet Saeed Aql and composed by Rahbani brothers. The song is a dedication to the Arabism of the holy city of Jerusalem “Al-Quds”.

Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world, which be occupied around its history.

“Yabous, Jerusalem, Elijah, Bayt al-Maqdis, Rose of All Cities, the holy Quds (Al Quds Al Sharif), City of Peace” all of those previous names are different names for Jerusalem; its history extended thousands of years ago.

Despite Jerusalem is the city of peace it has never seen peaceful era, as it faced forty occupation eras and still suffer until now. Jerusalem is considered a holy and sacred city for followers of the three Abrahamic Religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

For the Jews, the city became the holiest site after it was conquered by the Prophet and King David and made it the capital of the unified kingdom of Israel about 1000 BC. Then his son Solomon built the first temple there, according to the Torah.

For the Christians, Jerusalem became a holy site, after Jesus was crucified on one of its hills called “Calvary” around 30 CE. After St. Helena found the cross that he had hung inside the city about 300 years ago, according to the New Testament.

As for Muslims, Jerusalem is the third holiest city after Mecca and Madinah, and it is the first mecca of the Muslims two meccas (Qibla), where the Muslims were heading to it in their prayers after it was imposed on them around 610 AD. It also represents the site from which the prophet of Islam, Muhammad bin Abdullah, started his holy trip of Isra and Mi’raj, according to the Islamic belief.

As a result of this great status, the Old City houses a number of religious monuments, such as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Al-Buraq Wall and Al-Aqsa Mosque; which Consisting of several sacred landmarks, the most important of which is the Dome of the Rock mosque and Al-Qibli Chapel.

During its long history, Jerusalem was destroyed twice, trapped 23 times, attacked 52 times, invaded and lost 44 times. The site was built by humans since the fourth millennium BC, making Jerusalem one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world.

The Old City is classified as a world heritage site and has traditionally been divided into four lanes. However, the names used today for each of these alleys: the Armenian Quarter, the Christian Quarter, al-Sharaf or the Jewish Quarter, and the Muslim Quarter, In the early 19th century.

The “portal-center”- “albawabhnews” website travelled in a trip to the landmarks of the Rose of All Cities, to say: To you, our eyes travel everyday