he wrote.[113]. The lower platform also houses an ablution fountain (known as al-Kas), originally supplied with water via a long narrow aqueduct leading from the so-called Solomon's Pools near Bethlehem, but now supplied from Jerusalem's water mains. By. [44], The governmental organization which administers the site, the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf (part of the Jordanian government), have stated that the name "The Temple Mount" is a "strange and alien name" and a "newly-created Judaization term". [194] Massive stone collapses from the upper walls were discovered laying over the Herodian street that runs along the southern part of the Western Wall,[195] with some of the stones burned at temperatures reaching 800C (1472F). [167] Muhammad later prayed towards the Kaaba in Mecca after receiving a revelation during a prayer session [168][169] in the Masjid al-Qiblatayn. Annika Bjrkdahl and Susanne Buckley-Zistel: "The site is known in Arabic as Haram al-Sharif the Noble Sanctuary and colloquially as the Haram or the al-Aqsa compound; while in Hebrew, it is called Har HaBeit the Temple Mount. There are several cisterns beneath the lower platform, designed to collect rain water as a water supply. [241], On 3 January 2023, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem sparking protests by Palestinians and the condemnation of several Arab countries. During the first century BCE, the Temple was renovated by Herod. [161], Other academics attribute the holiness of Jerusalem to the rise and expansion of a certain type of literary genre, known as al-Fadhail or history of cities. [221], Neither Israeli Arabs nor Israeli Jews could visit their holy places in the Jordanian territories during this period.[223][224]. Together with the extension of Israeli jurisdiction and administration over east Jerusalem, the Knesset passed the Preservation of the Holy Places Law,[256] ensuring protection of the Holy Places against desecration, as well as freedom of access thereto. Rising above the Kidron Valley to the east and Tyropoeon Valley to the west,[77] its peak reaches a height of 740m (2,428ft) above sea level. [227][228][229], On 15 January 1988, during the First Intifada, Israeli troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters outside the mosque, wounding 40 worshipers. The trapezium shaped platform measures 488m (1,601ft) along the west, 470m (1,540ft) along the east, 315m (1,033ft) along the north and 280m (920ft) along the south, giving a total area of approximately 150,000m2 (37 acres). Due to the extreme political sensitivity of the site, no real archaeological excavations have ever been conducted on the Temple Mount itself. [220][bettersourceneeded], There is debate over whether reports that Maimonides himself ascended the Mount are reliable. [49] The Mount Zion mentioned in the later parts of the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 60:14),[50] in the Book of Psalms, and the First Book of Maccabees (c.2nd century BCE) seems to refer to the top of the hill, generally known as the Temple Mount. ", in practice, wire and concrete barriers were the reality. [39] Shahar and Shatzman reached different conclusions. The official reason is that it was built to commemorate Mohammed flying on a winged horse named Buraq from Mecca to Al Aqsa Mosque , which is also on the Temple Mount, and from there to heaven for a visit. News", "Tourism Min. The lower platform which constitutes most of the surface of the Temple Mount has at its southern end al-Aqsa Mosque, which takes up most of the width of the Mount. [204], Constantine's nephew Emperor Julian granted permission in the year 363 for the Jews to rebuild the Temple. (The Mosque of Omer was built at the end of the Seventh Century 16 centuries after Solomon's Temple was built.) [204], During his excavations in the 1930s, Robert Hamilton uncovered portions of a multicolor mosaic floor with geometric patterns inside al-Aqsa mosque, but did not publish them. The holiest place in Judaism as the site of the two biblical temples . The term "Noble Sanctuary" or "Haram al-Sharif", as it was called later by the Mamluks and Ottomans, refers to the whole area that surrounds that Rock.[216]. . "[203] The occasion is assumed to have been Tisha b'Av, since decades later Jerome related that that was the only day on which Jews were permitted to enter Jerusalem. [citation needed][81], In 1980, Jordan proposed that the Old City be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site[82] and it was added to the List in 1981. [274], Rabbinical consensus in the post-1967 period, held that it is forbidden for Jews to enter any part of the Temple Mount,[275] and in January 2005 a declaration was signed confirming the 1967 decision.[276]. Aelia came from Hadrian's nomen gentile, Aelius, while Capitolina meant that the new city was dedicated to Jupiter Capitolinus, to whom a temple was built overlapping the site of the former second Jewish temple, the Temple Mount. Le. ", Yehia Hassan Wazeri THE FARTHEST MOSQUE OR THE ALLEGED TEMPLE AN ANALYTIC STUDY, Journal of Islamic Architecture Volume 2 Issue 3 June 2013, The blessed Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, which is mentioned in the Ever Glorious Qur'an (in Sura Al-Isra'), is the blessed spot that is now called Al-Haram Al-Qudsi and is surrounded by the great wall along with the buildings and monuments that have been built on it, on top of which is Al-Masjid Al-Qibli (covered Masjid) and the Dome of the Rock., Omran M. Hassan, A Graphical Vision of Aesthetics of Al-Quds Architecture through the Digital Technology, International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology Vol. The Mamluks also raised the level of Jerusalem's Central or Tyropoean Valley bordering the Temple Mount from the west by constructing huge substructures, on which they then built on a large scale. There are several Mamluk buildings on and around the Haram esplanade, such as the late 15th-century al-Ashrafiyya Madrasa and Sabil (fountain) of Qaitbay. Another group disagreed with this identification and preferred the meaning of the term as referring to heaven. Roman general Pompey, who had been invited to intervene in the conflict, decided to side with Hyrcanus; Aristobulus and his followers barricaded themselves inside the Temple Mount and destroyed the bridge linking it to the city. The Fadhail of Jerusalem inspired Muslims, especially during the Umayyad period, to embellish the sanctity of the city beyond its status in the holy texts. A 2013 Knesset committee hearing considered allowing Jews to pray at the site, amidst heated debate. The head of manuscripts at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Najeh Bkeirat, has accused Israel of trying to "Judaize" the Temple Mount by building a new Holy Temple. What's the story behind Jerusalem's Golden Dome? It is also significant for Christians because it was where Jesus was born and celebrated Jewish festivals. The Temple Mount is believed by Jews to be the site of two biblical temples. It stands north-south 262 ft long. [295][296][297] Aside from visual observation of surface features, most other archaeological knowledge of the site comes from the 19th-century survey carried out by Charles Wilson and Charles Warren and others. [212] Al-Ahbar advised Umar to build a mosque to the north of the rock, so that worshippers would face both the rock and Mecca, but instead Umar chose to build it to the south of the rock. Many Israelis Think So, Poll Shows,', "The Temple Mount/al-Aqsa in Zionist and Palestinian National Consciousness: A Comparative View", "Amid Temple Mount tumult, the who, what and why of its Waqf rulers", "EXPLAINER: What Are the Temple Movements and Why Should We Be Worried? In October 1986, an agreement between the Temple Mount Faithful, the Supreme Muslim Council and police, which would allow short visits in small groups, was exercised once and never repeated, after 2,000 Muslims armed with stones and bottles attacked the group and stoned worshipers at the Western Wall. On 26 October 2016, UNESCO passed the Occupied Palestine Resolution that condemned Israeli escalating aggression and illegal measures against the waqf, called for the restoration of Muslim access and demanded that Israel respect the historical status quo[85][86][87] and also criticized Israel for its continuous "refusal to let the body's experts access Jerusalem's holy sites to determine their conservation status". He permits entry from all the gates into the 135 x 135 cubits of the Women's Courtyard in the east, since the biblical prohibition only applies to the 187 x 135 cubits of the Temple in the west. The Jews who had been deported in the aftermath of the Babylonian conquest of Judah were eventually allowed to return following a proclamation by the Persian king Cyrus the Great that was issued after the fall of Babylon to the Achaemenid Empire. El Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Judaism considers the Temple Mount to be the holiest site on the planet. During the 1990s, additional attempts were made for Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, which were stopped by Israeli police. There have been several changes to the status quo: Many Palestinians believe the status quo is threatened since right-wing Israelis have been challenging it with more force and frequency, asserting a religious right to pray there. The Temple Mount has historical and religious significance for all three of the major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. According to Islamic tradition, the Dome of the Rock, built in 691, marks the spot where Muhammed ascended to Heaven. These resulted in the Dome of the Rock being built over the ancient temple site and the Al-Aqsa Mosque being built on the south end of the Temple Mount. On 7 June 1967, during the Six-Day War, Israeli forces advanced beyond the 1949 Armistice Agreement Line into West Bank territories, taking control of the Old City of Jerusalem, inclusive of the Temple Mount. For several centuries this mosque was used for the worship of Allah by many Prophets and Messengers of Allah. 'Mount of the House [of the Holy]'), also known as al-aram al-Sharf (Arabic: , lit. Sometimes violence broke out at the entrance between Jews and Muslims. [37][38], The exact moment when the concept of the Mount as a topographical feature separate from the Temple or the city itself first came into existence is a matter of debate among scholars. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the Night Journey was associated with Jerusalem by the Umayyads as a political means to advance the glory of Jerusalem to compete with the glory of the sanctuary in Mecca then controlled by Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. 329342. [242], Jews were not allowed to visit for approximately one thousand years. [117][118][119] After the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, which came to be regarded by early Christians, as it was by Josephus and the sages of the Jerusalem Talmud, to be a divine act of punishment for the sins of the Jewish people,[120][121] the Temple Mount lost its significance for Christian worship with the Christians considering it a fulfillment of Christ's prophecy at, for example, Matthew 23:38[122] and Matthew 24:2. On 26 January 1984 Waqf guards detected members of B'nei Yehuda, a messianic cult of former gangsters turned mystics based in Lifta, trying to infiltrate the area to blow it up. [65][66][67], The term "al-Aqsa" as a symbol and brand-name has become popular and prevalent in the region. Built in the seventh century, it actually was only covered in gold in 1962. Indeed, its armed wing, the Haganah militia, assassinated a Jewish man when his plan to blow up the Islamic sites on the Haram came to their attention in 1931. [51][52][53] Al-Masjid al-'Aq "the farthest mosque" is derived from the Quran's Surah 17 ("The Night Journey") which writes that Muhammad travelled from Mecca to the mosque, from where he subsequently ascended to Heaven. [156] Al-Bukhari and Al-Tabari, for example, are believed to have rejected the identification with Jerusalem. This was probably by Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Warmund, Patriarch of Jerusalem at the Council of Nablus in January 1120. To the Jews it is known as Har HaMoriyah ("Mount Moriah") and Har HaBayit ("Temple Mount"); to Muslims it is known as Haram el Sharif ("the Sacred Noble Sanctuary"). 15 et seq. [261] Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, which because of Israel's annexation of Jerusalem, hold Israeli permanent residency cards, and Israeli Arabs, are permitted unrestricted access to the Temple Mount. [299], Over the period 197088, a number of tunnels were excavated in the vicinity, including one that passed to the west of the Mount and became known as the Western Wall Tunnel, which was opened to the public in 1996. [310] In 2007 the Israel Antiquities Authority started work on the construction of a temporary wooden pedestrian pathway to replace the Mugrabi Gate ramp after a landslide in 2005 made it unsafe and in danger of collapse. [130] The war between Seljuqs and Byzantine Empire and increasing Muslim violence against Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem instigated the Crusades. Bab as-Sarai (Gate of the Seraglio); a small gate to the former residence of the Pasha of Jerusalem; western wall, northern part (between the Bani Ghanim and Council gates). [279][280] The boundaries of the areas which are completely forbidden, while having large portions in common, are delineated differently by various rabbinic authorities. [266] Non-Jews were also prohibited from entering the inner court of the Temple. [30], The name of the site is disputed, primarily between Muslims and Jews, in the context of the ongoing IsraeliPalestinian conflict. Yehoshua Frenkel, 'Jerusalem', in Abdelwahab Meddeb, Benjamin Stora (eds. [138], Muslim interpretations of the Quran agree that the Mount is the site of the Temple originally built by Solomon, considered a prophet in Islam, that was later destroyed. The 26-year-old . [314] Accusations of vandalism at the site resurfaced in 2018 and again in 2022. A September 2000 visit to the Temple Mount by the Israeli politician Ariel Sharon was interpreted by Palestinians as a provocative assertion of Israel's sovereignty, and helped spark the second. ", "The Conquests of Jerusalem by Pompey and Herod: On Sabbath or Sabbath of Sabbaths? [237], On the occasion of an upsurge in Palestinian knifing attacks on Israelis, associated with fears that Israel was changing the status quo on the Mount, the Haredi newspaper Mishpacha ran a notification in Arabic asking 'their cousins', Palestinians, to stop trying to murder members of their congregation, since they were vehemently opposed to ascending the Mount and consider such visits proscribed by Jewish law. Jews with religious appearance must visit in groups monitored by. During the Maccabean times, the temple mount was expanded to the north another 100 ft and the Temple was also moved north. In the New Testament, Herod's Temple was the site of several events in the life of Jesus, and Christian loyalty to the site as a focal point remained long after his death. One who is ritually impure through direct or in-direct contact of the dead cannot walk in the higher sanctified areas. In addition to the restoration of the Temple, its courtyards and porticoes, Herod also built the Antonia Fortress, which dominated the northwestern corner of the Temple Mount, and a rainwater reservoir, Birket Israel, in the northeast. When a group of Palestinians left the mosque after Friday prayers (Jumu'ah,) they hurled stones at the police. Ernst Axel Knauf, Jerusalem in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages: A Proposal, TA 27 (2000): 7590. [124][127], Emperor Constantine I promoted the Christianization of Roman society, giving it precedence over pagan cults. [200], From the first through the seventh centuries Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, gradually became the predominant religion of Palestine and under the Byzantines Jerusalem itself was almost completely Christian, with most of the population being Jacobite Christians of the Syrian rite. Tel Aviv; Jerusalem; Haifa; Eilat; North District; Center District; Jerusalem District; South District; Where To Stay. ), The Dome of the Rock as Palimpsest, Necipoglu, Muqarnas 2008. They mourn and rend their garments, and then depart. "The city of Jerusalem was chosen at the command of Allah by Prophet David in the tenth century BCE. [291] The passageway for each is vaulted, and has two aisles (in the case of the triple gate, a third aisle exists for a brief distance beyond the gate); the eastern aisle of the double gates and western of the triple gates reach the surface, the other aisles terminating some way before the steps Warren believed that one aisle of each original passage was extended when al-Aqsa Mosque blocked the original surface exits. (Siddiqi, Dr. Muzammil. 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