“Guardians of Al-Aqsa” Game Goes Viral

A new video game that allows players to test their knowledge of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque — and defend the site from Israeli police — has captured the imagination of young Palestinian gamers.

As quoted from Anadolu, it is available for free online (on both IOS and Android platforms), Haaris al-Aqsa (“Guardians of Al-Aqsa”) has been downloaded tens of thousands of times within less than two weeks, its developers said.

According to Burj al-Laqlaq, a West Bank-based NGO that helped come up with the concept, the game is aimed at giving young Muslims a better understanding of Al-Aqsa, Islam’s third holiest site after Mecca and Medina.

“Arab children ought to have some historical background about Al-Aqsa,” Burj al-Laqlaq Director Muntasir Idyedik told Anadolu Agency.

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Players must answer 250 questions — through four increasingly difficult levels — about the flashpoint religious site.

If they answer enough of these correctly (and collect enough energy-boosting stars and crescents), they will wrest the key to Al-Aqsa’s Al-Maghariba Gate from Israeli police and deliver it safely to Jerusalem’s Jordan-run Religious Endowments Authority.

Noting the game’s entirely non-violent nature, al-Laqlaq explained: “It delivers the message to players that the key to the gate — i.e., Al-Aqsa’s liberation — can only be obtained by acquiring knowledge and wisdom.”

According to Idyedik, Haaris al-Aqsa was developed by Palestinian programmers with the help of Turkey’s Vakt-i Kiraat Association.

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The development team, he said, is currently working on English- and Turkish-language versions of the game as well so that non-Arab players might also download and play it.

Mohamed Abdalhak, the game’s chief programmer, told Anadolu Agency that development of Haaris al-Aqsa had endowed him with a “great sense of responsibility”.

“I felt a tremendous responsibility, along with an indescribable joy,” he said. “Because this isn’t only a social responsibility, but a religious one.”

According to Abdalhak, he and members of his development team — while working on the latest version of the game — have received threats from extremist Jewish groups.

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Even though the game is devoid of violent content, Israeli daily Hayom was recently moved to urge the Israeli authorities to takes steps to stop what it described as “anti-Israel” activities. (T/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)

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