Portal:Islam/Selected Location

The dome, porch and a minaret of the al-Aqsa Mosque

Al-Aqsa Mosque ("The Farthest Mosque") (Arabic: المسجد الاقصى, al-Masjid al-Aqsa}}), is a mosque located in what Arabs and Muslims refer to as al-Haram ash-Sharif ("the Noble Sanctuary"), although the whole area of the Noble Sanctuary is considered al-Aqsa Mosque according to Islamic law. It is known as the Temple Mount to Jews and Christians. It is located in the Old City of eastern Jerusalem, a disputed territory governed as part of Israel since its annexation in 1967 but claimed by the Palestinian National Authority as part of a future State of Palestine. The oldest mosque in Palestine, its congregation building can accommodate about 5,000 worshipers, while its precincts could accommodate 400,000. The Israeli government has granted an Islamic council, the Waqf, full administration of the mosque and has barred Jews from visiting the site.

The historical significance of al-Aqsa Mosque is further emphasized by the fact that the Jews used to turn towards the Temple Mount when they prayed. As it was the place at which Muhammad performed the first commanded prayer after Isra and Mi'raj, it became the qibla (direction) that Muslims faced during prayer and continued to be so for sixteen or seventeen months. After a revelation was recorded in the Qur'an, the qibla was then turned towards Mecca. Originally, the Rashidun caliph Umar built a small prayer house on the site, but the Ummayad caliphs Abd al-Malik and al-Walid I built a larger mosque on the site in 705 CE. Nothing remains of the Ummayad mosque, and the present-day mosque dates back to the renovated version commissioned by the Fatimid caliph Ali az-Zahir in 1033 CE. The Crusaders, Mamluks and Ayyubids added a facade, porch, a mihrab and four minarets to al-Aqsa Mosque throughout the later centuries and the mosque's last major renovation took place in 1983 with the restoration of a lead-plated dome.