Does History Have "Facts?"

The Temple Mount (to Muslims, Haram esh Sharif) is the site of the Second Temple and according to Muslim tradition, the site (specifically, Dome of the Rock) of Muhammed’s Night Journey and ascension to heaven. The Temple Mount is most certainly one of the richest archeological sites in the world, made more valuable by the fact that heated, contentious religious and political claims make it unimaginable that any excavation would actually take place. A recent book, The Shape of the Holy, by Moshe Sharon of Hebrew University, argues that the origins of the Dome are much more mundane and rooted in early Jewish custom. He reports that the Muslim tradition and early Jewish writings considered the construction the first steps in re-building Solomon’s Temple. Rituals similar to Jewish ritual were practiced on Mondays and Thursdays, of import in Jewish custom. The Night Journey belief emerged years later, according to the author. In what must be an understatement, the article notes that the research has “inflamed some figures in Israel’s Islamic community.” Of course the explosive disputes in this region will not be resolved through coming to agreement on the historical record. Nonetheless, great effort is expended to document that record, where politics and sovereignty permit. One could ask if there is a larger obligation to humankind to uncover and interpret the historical record, independent of the intense religious/political conflict raging in this region.