Al-Aqsa Mosque

Al-Aqsa Mosque, Al-Aqsa Mosque ("The Farthest Mosque") is one of the many buildings where Muslims go to pray in the Al-Aqsa Compound, in East Jerusalem.

The other major mosque in the complex is us. The other name for this mosque is "the Dome of the Rock".

They are two of the most important and sacred mosques in the Muslim world. The compound is a symbol of Palestinian national identity.^[1]

Jews and Christians call the compound containing both these buildings "the Temple Mount".^[2]

History

The mosque was first built in 705 AD. The first mosque was destroyed in an earthquake in 748 AD and had to be built again. We do not know when it was built again, but it was probably in 771 AD, and this mosque was destroyed soon after they finished building it. The third mosque was built around 780 AD. In 1033 AD there was another earthquake, and the mosque had to be built again.^[3]

East Jerusalem was taken over by the Crusaders in 1099. Instead of taking down the mosque, the crusaders used the mosque as a palace. In 1119 it was changed into the headquarters for the Templar Knights.^[4]

Attacks

In September of 2000 Ariel Sharon visited Al-Aqsa, and Palestinians who were at the mosque threw objects at the police force that was with Sharon. In return the police shot rubber bullets at the group of Palestinians. Palestinians said Sharon visited the mosque to make people angry, but Sharon said he had gone there with a message of peace.^[5] This visit is what some believe caused the Second Intifada.^[6]

Name

"Al-Aqsa Masjid" means "the farthest Mosque". The masjid's name comes from a story in the Quran called "The Night Journey". In the story Muhammad goes from Makkah to East Jerusalem, where the Al-Aqsa Masjid is. Then he went up to Heaven (Jannah).^[7]^[8]

Al-Aqsa Mosque Media

Extract of an 1841 British map showing both "Mesjid el-Aksa" and "Jami el-Aksa"
The mosque is situated at the Southern end of al-Masjid al-Aqsa (al-Haram al-Sharif)
The mosque along the southern wall of al-Masjid al-Aqsa (al-Haram al-Sharif)
A 19th-century chromolithograph of the mosque's interior. The mosaic designs on the drum of the dome, the pendentives, and the archway in front of the mihrab date from the mid-11th-century Fatimid reconstruction
Decorated wall above the middle portico near the central dome facing main entrance, with the two-line Fatimid-era inscription above the arch
The original minbar installed under Saladin in 1187. The minbar was built on Nur al-Din's orders in 1168 in Damascus, and destroyed in the arson attack of 1969.
The inscription above the mihrab dated to 583 AH (1187 CE), commemorating its restoration by the Ayyubid Saladin
On the mosque façade, the left inscription commemorates al-Adil I’s renovation, while the right records Qaitbay’s restoration
Fatimid-era Interior decoration of the main dome, with inscriptions recording restorations by the Mamluk Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad in 728 AH (1328 CE) and the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II in 1233 AH (1818 CE)
Gerusalemme, la moschea "Masjid Al-Aqsa", fra il 1890 e il 1900.