The Temple Mount or al-Haram al-Sharif (, or ) is an elevated plateau in the Old City of Jerusalem that comprises the Islamic religious compound known as al-Aqsa, which includes the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Historically the location of two successive Jewish temples, the area has been venerated as a holy site for thousands of years including in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The present site is a flat plaza surrounded by retaining walls (including the Western Wall), which were originally built by Herod the Great in the first century BCE to expand the Second Temple. The plaza is dominated by two monumental structures originally built during the Rashidun and early Umayyad caliphates after the 637 first Muslim conquest of Jerusalem:Nicolle, David (1994). Yarmuk AD 636: The Muslim Conquest of Syria. Osprey Publishing. the Qibli Mosque of al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, near the center of the hill, which was completed in 692, making it one of the oldest extant Muslim structures in the world. The Herodian walls and gates, with additions from the late Byzantine, early Muslim, Mamluk, and Ottoman periods, flank the site, which can be reached through eleven gates, ten reserved for Muslims and one for non-Muslims, with guard posts of the Israel Police in the vicinity of each. The courtyard is surrounded on the north and west by two Mamluk-era porticos or arcades (arwiqa) and four minarets.
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, and where the Temples in Jerusalem once stood. According to Jewish and Samaritan tradition and scriptures, the first Temple was Solomon's Temple, built by King Solomon, the son of King David, in 957 BCE, and was destroyed along with the city itself by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the Siege of Jerusalem, in 587 BCE. No archaeological evidence has been found to verify the existence of the First Temple, and scientific excavations are limited due to religious sensitivities.
The Second Temple, constructed under Zerubbabel in 516 BCE, was later renovated by King Herod and destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70 CE. Judaism maintains it is here that the third and final Temple will be built when the Messiah comes.Baker, Eric W.. The Eschatological Role of the Jerusalem Temple: An Examination of the Jewish Writings Dating from 586 BCE to 70 CE. Germany: Anchor Academic Publishing, 2015, pp. 361–62
Jews face the Temple Mount during prayer. Jewish attitudes towards entering the site vary. Due to its extreme sanctity, many Jews will not walk on the Mount itself to avoid unintentionally entering the area where the Holy of Holies stood, since, according to rabbinical law, there is still some aspect of the divine presence at the site.Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Avoda, Beit haBechira, 6:14.Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi, Bernard Avishai, 'Jews Don’t Have a ‘Holiest’ Site,' Haaretz 13 May :’The point is, this kind of recklessness not only offended secular democrats, it vulgarized what “holy” has meant for most observant Jews, too. Not coincidentally, more than 85 percent of Israel’s Haredi Jews oppose prayer on the Mount, for reasons having to do with purity and impurity that cannot be resolved in “our time.” Advocates of such prayer and sacrifice tend to be, like Goren, Orthodox-nationalist zealots educated in local yeshivas and identified with the neo-Zionist settlement project. They are, like Islamists, fanatics warped by violence and nationalist fantasy – “Jewists,” not Jews.‘Sam Sokol, Should Jews Be Allowed to Pray on the Temple Mount? Many Israelis Think So, Poll Shows,' Haaretz 3 May 2022: '86.5 percent of ultra-Orthodox Jews opposed prayer for reasons of halakha, while national religious (51 percent), traditional religious (54.5 percent) and traditional non-religious respondents (49 percent) supported worship on the mount for nationalist reasons. Many rabbis, and almost all ultra-Orthodox ones, prohibit their followers from ascending the Temple Mount due to concerns over ritual purity.'
In Islam, the Mount is believed to be the second mosque mentioned by the Quran and one of the three Sacred Mosques, the holiest sites in Islam; it is revered as "the Noble Sanctuary".* Where Heaven and Earth Meet, p. 13: "Nowadays, while oral usage of the term Haram persists, Palestinians tend to use in formal texts the name Masjid al-Aqsa, habitually rendered into English as 'the Aqsa Mosque'".
. . PEF Survey of Palestine, 1883, volume III Jerusalem, p. 119: "The Jamia el Aksa, or 'distant mosque' (that is, distant from Mecca), is on the south, reaching to the outer wall. The whole enclosure of the Haram is called by Moslem writers Masjid el Aksa, 'praying-place of the Aksa,' from this mosque." Yitzhak Reiter: "This article deals with the employment of religious symbols for national identities and national narratives by using the sacred compound in Jerusalem (The Temple Mount/al-Aqsa) as a case study. The narrative of The Holy Land involves three concentric circles, each encompassing the other, with each side having its own names for each circle. These are: Palestine/Eretz Israel (i.e., the Land of Israel); Jerusalem/al-Quds and finally The Temple Mount/al-Aqsa compound...Within the struggle over public awareness of Jerusalem's importance, one particular site is at the eye of the stormthe Temple Mount and its Western Wallthe Jewish Kotelor, in Muslim terminology, the al-Aqsa compound (alternatively: al-Haram al-Sharif) including the al-Buraq Wall... "Al-Aqsa" for the Palestinian-Arab-Muslim side is not merely a mosque mentioned in the Quran within the context of the Prophet Muhammad's miraculous Night Journey to al-Aqsa which, according to tradition, concluded with his ascension to heaven (and prayer with all of the prophets and the Jewish and Christian religious figures who preceded him); rather, it also constitutes a unique symbol of identity, one around which various political objectives may be formulated, plans of action drawn up and masses mobilized for their realization", "Narratives of Jerusalem and its Sacred Compound", Israel Studies 18(2): 115–32 (July 2013). Annika Björkdahl and Susanne Buckley-Zistel: "The site is known in Arabic as Haram al-Sharifthe Noble Sanctuaryand colloquially as the Haram or the al-Aqsa compound; while in Hebrew, it is called Har HaBeitthe Temple Mount." Mahdi Abdul Hadi: "Al-Aqsa Mosque, also referred to as Al-Haram Ash-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), comprises the entire area within the compound walls (a total area of 144,000 m2)including all the mosques, prayer rooms, buildings, platforms and open courtyards located above or under the groundsand exceeds 200 historical monuments pertaining to various Islamic eras. According to Islamic creed and jurisprudence, all these buildings and courtyards enjoy the same degree of sacredness since they are built on Al-Aqsa's holy grounds. This sacredness is not exclusive to the physical structures allocated for prayer, like the Dome of the Rock or Al-Qibly Mosque (the mosque with the large silver dome)"Mahdi Abdul Hadi Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs; Tim Marshall: "Many people believe that the mosque depicted is called the Al-Aqsa; however, a visit to one of Palestine's most eminent intellectuals, Mahdi F. Abdul Hadi, clarified the issue. Hadi is chairman of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs, based in East Jerusalem. His offices are a treasure trove of old photographs, documents, and symbols. He was kind enough to spend several hours with me. He spread out maps of Jerusalem's Old City on a huge desk and homed in on the Al-Aqsa compound, which sits above the Western Wall. "The mosque in the Al-Aqsa [Brigades] flag is the Dome of the Rock. Everyone takes it for granted that it is the Al-Aqsa mosque, but no, the whole compound is Al-Aqsa, and on it are two mosques, the Qibla mosque and the Dome of the Rock, and on the flags of both Al-Aqsa Brigades and the Qassam Brigades, it is the Dome of the Rock shown," he said. USA Today: "A view of the Al-Aqsa compound (Temple Mount) in Jerusalem's Old City" . Al Jazeera: "Israeli Deputy Minister Tzipi Hotovely referred to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as 'the centre of Israeli sovereignty, the capital of Israel'... In response, Netanyahu's office later that night put out a statement saying that 'non-Muslims visit the Temple Mount [Al-Aqsa compound]' but are not permitted to pray there. Its courtyard (sahn) can host more than 400,000 worshippers, making it one of the largest mosques in the world.
For Sunni and Shia Muslims alike, it ranks as the third holiest site in Islam. The plaza includes the location regarded as where Muhammad ascended bodily into heaven, and served as the initial qibla, the direction Muslims turn towards when praying. As in Judaism, Muslims also associate the site with Solomon and other prophets also venerated in Islam., . The site, and the term "al-Aqsa", in relation to the whole plaza, is also a central identity symbol for Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians.Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs; Tim Marshall: "Many people believe that the mosque depicted is called the Al-Aqsa; however, a visit to one of Palestine's most eminent intellectuals, Mahdi F. Abdul Hadi, clarified the issue. Hadi is chairman of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs, based in East Jerusalem. His offices are a treasure trove of old photographs, documents, and symbols. He was kind enough to spend several hours with me. He spread out maps of Jerusalem's Old City on a huge desk and homed in on the Al-Aqsa compound, which sits above the Western Wall. "The mosque in the Al-Aqsa [Brigades] flag is the Dome of the Rock. Everyone takes it for granted that it is the Al-Aqsa mosque, but no, the whole compound is Al-Aqsa, and on it are two mosques, the Qibla mosque and the Dome of the Rock, and on the flags of both Al-Aqsa Brigades and the Qassam Brigades, it is the Dome of the Rock shown," he said. ; Mahdi Abdul Hadi, Mahdi Abdul Hadi : "Al-Aqsa Mosque, also referred to as Al-Haram Ash-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), comprises the entire area within the compound walls (a total area of 144,000 m2) – including all the mosques, prayer rooms, buildings, platforms and open courtyards located above or under the grounds – and exceeds 200 historical monuments pertaining to various Islamic eras. According to Islamic creed and jurisprudence, all these buildings and courtyards enjoy the same degree of sacredness since they are built on Al-Aqsa's holy grounds. This sacredness is not exclusive to the physical structures allocated for prayer, like the Dome of the Rock or Al-Qibly Mosque (the mosque with the large silver dome)."
Since the Crusades, the Muslim community of Jerusalem has managed the site through the Jerusalem Waqf. The site, along with the whole of East Jerusalem (which includes the Old City), was controlled by Jordan from 1948 until 1967 and has been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. Shortly after capturing the site, Israel handed its administration back to the Waqf under the Hashemite (Jordanian) custodianship while maintaining Israeli security control. Israel enforces a ban on prayer by non-Muslims as part of an arrangement usually referred to as the "status quo". The site remains a major focal point of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
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