Sixth: idea four — Umar's stand at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and at the Rock

06Sixth: idea four — Umar's stand at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and at the Rock

• Umar visited the Church of the Resurrection (the Holy Sepulchre); the time of noon prayer fell due, and the Patriarch invited him to pray where he stood.
• He refused to pray inside the church so that the Muslims after him would not take it as a mosque for themselves, and he prayed outside it.
• He visited the Sacred Rock and ordered a mosque to be built above it, so the Muslims began to build a mosque of wood.
• The significance: Umar's care to protect the churches of the Christians even from well-intentioned acts — and at the same time binding the Muslims to their holy land.