Mohammed's chasm
On the eastern
side of the Turkish wall of the Old City you will find a column that protrudes
about nine meters above the ground, stretching eastwards towards the Mount
of Olives.
According to Muslim tradition, the prophet Mohammed will sit astride this column on the Day of Judgement and strain a horse-tail hair to the Mount of Olives, forming a bridge over the Valley of Jehosephat.
Everyone will have to cross the bridge (after dying and resurrecting). Those with a clean conscience will be assisted by angels, while all the others will unfailingly fall down into the chasm.A bridge which souls cross after death is also mentioned in the ancient Persian text Ghata ,hymns attributed to Zoroaster, the founder of the Mazdean religion (7th-6th century B.C.). In this case, too, good souls cross the bridge into Heaven and bad ones fall down into Hell.
A monk called Felix Fabri, a pilgrim from Germany, visited the city in 1480. He tells about the column and of a Muslim who arrived in Jerusalem and was greeted by the people as a holy man. One day the man gathered a group of Muslims around him and led them outside the walls to show them how Mohammed would judge his followers on Judgement Day. He climbed on top of the column and sat down, his back to the wall, facing the crowd. He began to prophesy but became so enthralled that he lost his balance, slipped and fell crashing down to the ground.
According to Muslim tradition, the prophet Mohammed will sit astride this column on the Day of Judgement and strain a horse-tail hair to the Mount of Olives, forming a bridge over the Valley of Jehosephat.
Everyone will have to cross the bridge (after dying and resurrecting). Those with a clean conscience will be assisted by angels, while all the others will unfailingly fall down into the chasm.A bridge which souls cross after death is also mentioned in the ancient Persian text Ghata ,hymns attributed to Zoroaster, the founder of the Mazdean religion (7th-6th century B.C.). In this case, too, good souls cross the bridge into Heaven and bad ones fall down into Hell.
A monk called Felix Fabri, a pilgrim from Germany, visited the city in 1480. He tells about the column and of a Muslim who arrived in Jerusalem and was greeted by the people as a holy man. One day the man gathered a group of Muslims around him and led them outside the walls to show them how Mohammed would judge his followers on Judgement Day. He climbed on top of the column and sat down, his back to the wall, facing the crowd. He began to prophesy but became so enthralled that he lost his balance, slipped and fell crashing down to the ground.
