What is the history/historicity of the Islamic religious significance of Al Quds/Jerusalem?
Today, Muslims all rank Jerusalem as the site with the third greatest religious significance after Mecca and Medina. Was that always the case? Was that the case prior to the emergence of the Zionist movement?
I have read claims from pro-Israel political partisans that Al Quds was not nearly so high on the list of significant Islamic religious locations prior to Zionism, and that its significance as a religious site to Muslims grew in large part as a reaction against the perceived encroachment by Jewish "others".
However, I always bring all the skepticism I can muster to any and all claims that have anything to do with the Middle East. Of course pro-Israel partisans would like if it was the case that the whole Muslim connection to Jerusalem is an exaggeration. I do not take this claim for granted.
I also don't find the claim so dubious as to be dismissed out of hand: I am familiar enough with the history of the Palestine region that I know that it was mostly a rural backwater that few of the wealthier Muslims cared to visit before the emergence of Zionism. Even the Arab aristocrats that owned most of the land in Palestine mostly lived in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, or elsewhere, and rarely if ever visited. This contrasts to Mecca and Medina which Muslims from all over the world have always traveled to visit. Additionally, I find in my anecdotal experience that most Muslims are under the mistaken impression that Al Quds is mentioned in the Quran, and it isn't, so there is at least that manner in which many Muslims have a mistaken impression of the prominence of Jerusalem in their religion.
This should be a simple and objective question. Out of all historical documents written before ~1890 referring to Islamic religious sites, where do they place Jerusalem/Al Quds on the list of importance or significance?
Jerusalem holds significance in Islam for many of the same reasons that Christianity and Judaism hold it as significant, mainly to the city and area's connection to the key figures of the Abrahamic religions such as David, Solomon, and the prophet Elijah.
What is exclusive to Islam, however, is a passage in the Quran known as the Al-Isra’ wal-Mi‘raj (Arabic: الإِسـراء والـمِـعـراج, "The Night-Journey and the Ascension"), telling of the Prophet Muhammad travelling to a location known as "the Furthest Mosque" in 620 and was ascended into Heaven, and the claim was made from there that the Dome of the Rock is what the Furthest Mosque was referring to. As to when that claim was made is unsure to people.
Outside of the Quran, however, there are no accounts of the Prophet Muhammad ever making it to Jerusalem, which was still in Byzantine possession by the time of the account written in the Quran, so whether it this journey actually happened is a matter of debate.
but if you want to read further into the city's importance in Islam, Dr. Mustafa Abu Sway wrote a pretty insightful essay delving deeper into the subject. check it out here