Leading Islamic voice calls for reconquering Jerusalem



Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on his countrymen to refocus on the Ottoman goal of re-conquering Jerusalem for Islam and uniting Shia and Sunni tribes for that same mission.

In a speech that got almost no coverage in the Western media, Erdogan talked about invading and reconquering Jerusalem, according to an article in the Anadolu Agency of Turkey.
“We Muslims lost our way toward Jerusalem,” he told throngs of adoring Turks while in the state of Erzincan in central Turkey. “The water of our eyes froze making us blind, and our hearts that was destined to beat for Jerusalem is now instead conditioned for rivalry being in a state of war with each other.”
Erdogan was in the city to promote numerous service projects, but the speech focused on Jerusalem.
“When you mention the worse ascension, the first thing that comes to mind is Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque,” he said, referring to the mosque that sits on the Temple Mount.
The Mount is controlled by Arab Muslim Waqf officials, who do not allow Jews to pray accept at the Western Wall. But apparently Erdogan is not satisfied with this arrangement. He told his countrymen to “ask Allah to restore the Al-Aqsa Mosque to the infallibility of the Muslims.”
Erdogan has ruled Turkey for 13 years, but the increasingly vitriolic nature of his anti-Israel rhetoric proves he has consolidated his power over the less strident Islamist views of Fethullah Gulen...
The Turkish president called on citizens to “raise their hands in supplication for this blessed night toward Allah to restore the Al-Aqsa Mosque [Jerusalem] to be re-owned by Muslims, and to remove the mist from their eyes, to see Jerusalem in their hands at every moment and at every opportunity.”
Erdogan has compared himself to Tariq Bin Ziad, who conquered Spain, Alp Arslan and Saladin.
“These are the Muslim leaders who fought Christendom, and Saladin was the one who conquered Jerusalem,” noted the blog Israel, Islam and the End Times. “He wants to declare war on the strongest fortresses to advance his foreign God, Allah, through warfare.”
“Khalifat (Caliph) literally is one who rules the world and now Erdogan wants to fulfill Zechariah 12 and 14 where Jerusalem becomes the ‘cup of trembling’ to ‘all surrounding nations’ when they storm against Jerusalem to annihilate all Israel.”