Editing Temple Mount (section)

==Religious significance==
{{see also|Religious significance of Jerusalem}}
The Temple Mount has historical and religious significance for all three of the major [[Abrahamic religions]]: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It has particular religious significance for Judaism and Islam.

===Judaism===
{{see also|Jerusalem in Judaism}}

The Temple Mount is considered the holiest site in Judaism.<ref name=":112"/><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Cohen-Hattab |first1=Kobi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nizvDwAAQBAJ&q=holiest+site+in+judaism |title=The Western Wall: The Dispute over Israel's Holiest Jewish Site, 1967–2000 |last2=Bar |first2=Doron |date=2020 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-43133-1 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Gonen|2003|p=4}} According to Jewish tradition, both [[Temple in Jerusalem|Temples]] stood at the Temple Mount.<ref name="BBC - Science & Nature - Horizon">{{cite web |title=BBC – Science & Nature – Horizon |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/solomon_qa.shtml |work=BBC}}</ref> Jewish tradition further places the Temple Mount as the location for a number of important events which occurred in the Bible, including the [[Binding of Isaac]], Jacob's dream, and the prayer of Isaac and [[Rebekah]].<ref>[[Toledot]] 25:21.</ref> According to the Talmud, the [[Foundation Stone]] is the place from where the world was created and expanded into its current form.<ref name=":16" /><ref name=":17" /> [[Orthodox Jew]]ish tradition maintains it is here that the [[Third Temple|third and final Temple]] will be built when the [[Messiah in Judaism|Messiah]] comes.<ref name=":12">Baker,&nbsp;Eric W.&nbsp;''The Eschatological Role of the Jerusalem Temple: An Examination of the Jewish Writings Dating from 586 BCE to 70 CE''.&nbsp;Germany:&nbsp;Anchor Academic Publishing,&nbsp;2015, pp. 361–62.</ref>

The Temple Mount is the place Jews turn towards 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 [[Shekhinah|divine presence]] at the site.<ref name="ReferenceA2"/><ref name=":13">[[Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi]], [[Bernard Avishai]], [https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-jews-don-t-have-a-holiest-site-1.10797092 '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.‘</ref><ref name=":142"/>

==== The Temple ====
{{see also|Temple in Jerusalem}}[[File:Jerusalem Modell BW 2.JPG|thumb|The [[Holyland Model of Jerusalem]] depicts [[Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period|Jerusalem during the late Second Temple period]]. The Temple Mount and Herod's Temple are shown in the middle. View from the east.]]According to the [[Hebrew Bible]], the Temple Mount was originally a [[threshing-floor]] owned by [[Araunah]], a [[Jebusite]].<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Samuel|24:18–25|HE}}.</ref> The Bible narrates how [[David]] united the [[Twelve Tribes of Israel|twelve Israelite tribes]], conquered Jerusalem and brought the [[Israelites]]' central artifact, the [[Ark of the Covenant]], into the city.<ref>{{harvnb|Pruitt|2014|ps=. King David later took the Ark to Jerusalem.}}</ref> When a great plague struck Israel, a [[Destroying angel (Bible)|destroying angel]] appeared on Araunah's threshing floor. The prophet [[Gad (Bible prophet)|Gad]] then suggested the area to David as a fitting place for the erection of an altar to [[Yahweh|Yawheh]].<ref>II Sam. xxiv. 16 et seq.; I Chron. xxi. 15 et seq.</ref> David bought the property from Araunah, for fifty pieces of silver, and erected the altar. God answered his prayers and stopped the plague. David subsequently chose the site for a future temple to replace the [[Tabernacle]] and house the Ark of the Covenant;{{sfn|''Temple of Jerusalem''}}<ref name="eastons">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Moriah |encyclopedia=[[Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)|Easton's Bible Dictionary]] |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/easton/ebd2.html?term=Moriah |access-date=July 14, 2008}}</ref> [[God in Judaism|God]] forbade him from building it, however, because he had "shed much blood".{{sfn|Jonker|1990|p=656}}

The [[Solomon's Temple|First Temple]] was instead constructed under David's son [[Solomon]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Garfinkel |first1=Yosef |last2=Mumcuoglu |first2=Madeleine |date=2019-03-15 |title=The Temple of Solomon in Iron Age Context |journal=Religions |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=198 |doi=10.3390/rel10030198 |issn=2077-1444 |doi-access=free}}</ref> who became an ambitious builder of public works in [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|ancient Israel]]:{{sfn|Stefon|2020}}

{{blockquote|Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where [the LORD] appeared unto David his father; for which provision had been made in the Place of David, in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.|source=2 Chronicles 3:1<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Chronicles|3:1|ESV}}</ref>}}

Solomon placed the Ark in the Holy of Holies – the windowless innermost sanctuary and most sacred area of the temple in which God's presence rested;{{sfn|''Britannica: Holy of Holies''}} entry into the Holy of Holies was heavily restricted, and only the [[High Priest of Israel]] entered the sanctuary once per year on [[Yom Kippur]], carrying the blood of a sacrificial lamb and burning [[Incense offering in rabbinic literature|incense]].{{sfn|''Britannica: Holy of Holies''}} According to the Bible, the site functioned as the center of all national life – a governmental, judicial and religious center.<ref>Deuteronomy 12:5–26; 14:23–25; 15:20; 16:2–16; 17:8–10; 26:2; 31:11; Isaiah 2:2–5; Obadiah 1:21; Psalms 48.</ref>

The [[Genesis Rabba]], which was probably written between 300 and 500 CE, states that this site is one of three about which the nations of the world cannot taunt Israel and say, "you have stolen them," since it was purchased "for its full price" by David.<ref>[[Genesis Rabba]] 79.7: "And he bought the parcel of ground, where he had spread his tent...for a hundred pieces of money." Rav Yudan son of Shimon said: 'This is one of the three places where the non-Jews cannot deceive the Jewish People by saying that they stole it from them, and these are the places: Ma'arat HaMachpela, the Temple and Joseph's burial place. Ma'arat HaMachpela because it is written: 'And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver,' ([[Book of Genesis|Genesis]], 23:16); the Temple because it is written: 'So David gave to Ornan for the place,' ([[I Chronicles]], 21:26); and Joseph's burial place because it is written: 'And he bought the parcel of ground...Jacob bought Shechem.' (Genesis, 33:19)." See also: [[Abraham Isaac Kook|Kook, Abraham Issac]], ''Moadei Hare'iya'', pp. 413–15.</ref>

The First Temple [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|was destroyed in 587/586 BCE]] by the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] under the second Babylonian king, [[Nebuchadnezzar II]], who subsequently [[Babylonian captivity|exiled the Judeans to Babylon]] following the fall of the [[Kingdom of Judah]] and [[Yehud (Babylonian province)|its annexation as a Babylonian province]]. The Jews who had been deported in the aftermath of the Babylonian conquest of Judah were eventually [[Return to Zion|allowed to return]] following [[Edict of Cyrus|a proclamation]] by the Persian king [[Cyrus the Great]] that was issued after the [[fall of Babylon]] to the [[Achaemenid Empire]]. In 516 BCE, the returned Jewish population in Judah, under [[Yehud (Persian province)|Persian provincial governance]], rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem under the auspices of [[Zerubbabel]], producing what is known as the [[Second Temple]].

During the [[Second Temple period|Second Temple Period]], Jerusalem was the center of religious and national life for Jews, including those in the [[Jewish diaspora|Diaspora]].<ref name=":62">{{Cite book |last=Levine |first=Lee I. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/698161941 |title=Jerusalem: portrait of the city in the Second Temple period (538 BCE – 70 CE) |date=2002 |publisher=Jewish Publication Society, published in cooperation with the Jewish Theological Seminary of America |isbn=978-0-8276-0956-3 |edition=1st |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |pages=15–20 |language=en-us |oclc=698161941 |quote=}}</ref> The Second Temple is believed to have attracted tens and maybe hundreds of thousands during the [[Three Pilgrimage Festivals]].<ref name=":62"/> The holiday of [[Hanukkah]] commemorates the rededication of the Temple at the beginning of the [[Maccabean revolt]] in the 2nd century BCE. During the first century BCE, the Temple was renovated by [[Herod the Great|Herod]]. It [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)#Destruction|was destroyed]] by the [[Roman Empire]] at the height of the [[First Jewish–Roman War|First Jewish-Roman War]] in 70 CE. [[Tisha B'Av]], an annual [[Ta'anit|fast day]] in [[Judaism]], marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples, which according to Jewish tradition, occurred on the same day on the [[Hebrew calendar]].

==== In prophecy ====
The [[Book of Isaiah]] foretells the international importance of the Temple Mount:
{{blockquote|And it shall come to pass in the end of days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established as the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
And many peoples shall go and say: 'Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.' For out of [[Zion]] shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.|source=Isaiah 2:2–3<ref>{{bibleverse|Isaiah|2:2–3|ESV}}</ref>}}

==== Binding of Isaac ====
In Jewish tradition, the Temple Mount is also believed to be the location of Abraham's [[binding of Isaac]]. [[Books of Chronicles|2 Chronicles]] 3:1<ref name=":15" /> refers to the Temple Mount in the time before the construction of the temple as '''Mount Moriah''' ({{langx|he|הַר הַמֹּורִיָּה}}, {{transliteration|he|har ha-Môriyyā}}). The "[[Moriah|land of Moriah]]" ({{lang|he|אֶרֶץ הַמֹּרִיָּה}}, {{transliteration|he|ereṣ ha-Môriyyā}}) is the name given by [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] to the location of the binding of Isaac.<ref name="Delaney">Carol Delaney, ''Abraham on Trial: The Social Legacy of Biblical Myth,'' Princeton University Press, 2000, p. 120.</ref> Since at least the first century CE, the two sites have been identified with one another in Judaism, this identification being subsequently perpetuated by [[Jewish legend|Jewish]] and [[Christian legend|Christian tradition]]. Modern scholarship tends to regard them as distinct (see [[Moriah]]).

==== Creation of the world ====
[[File:The rock of the Dome of the Rock Corrected.jpg|thumb|upright|Picture showing what is presumed to be the [[Foundation Stone]], or a large part of it]]
According to the rabbinic sages whose debates produced the [[Talmud]], the [[Foundation Stone]], which sits below the [[Dome of the Rock]], was the spot from where the world was created and expanded into its current form,<ref name=":16">[[Babylonian Talmud]] [[Yoma]], 54b.</ref><ref name=":17">{{cite web |title=Jerusalem: Eye of the Universe |url=http://www.torah.org/features/israelmatters/eye.html# |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616185037/http://torah.org/features/israelmatters/eye.html |archive-date=2010-06-16 |work=torah.org}}</ref> and where God gathered the dust used to create the first human, [[Adam (Bible)|Adam]].<ref name="Delaney" />

==== Third Temple ====
Jewish texts predict that the Mount will be the site of a [[Third Temple|Third and final Temple]], which will be rebuilt with the coming of the [[Messiah in Judaism|Messiah]]. The rebuilding of the Temple remained a recurring theme among generations, particularly in thrice daily [[Amidah]] (Standing prayer), central prayer of the [[Jewish liturgy]], which contains a plea for the building of a Third Temple and the restoration of [[Korban|sacrificial services]]. A number of vocal Jewish groups now advocate building the Third Temple without delay in order to bring to pass God's "end-time prophetic plans for Israel and the entire world."<ref>[[Todd Gitlin]], [http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/186741/apocalypse-soonest 'Apocalypse Soonest,'] [[Tablet (magazine)|Tablet]] 11 November 2014.</ref>

===Christianity===
{{See also|Jerusalem in Christianity}}
The Temple was of central importance in Jewish worship in the [[Tanakh]] ([[Old Testament]]). 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.<ref>Jonathan Klawans, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zJpwA3EareUC&pg=PA236 ''Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple: Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism,''] Oxford University Press, US, 2006 p. 236: "Some analyses rest on the assumption that the ancient Jewish temple was inherently flawed, and in need of replacement. This kind of approach is contradicted by the rather significant evidence that can be marshaled to the effect that early Christians remained loyal to the Jerusalem temple, long after Jesus' death."</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jervell |first=Jacob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H8TLCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 |title=The Theology of the Acts of the Apostles |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-58247-3 |page=45 |language=en-uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Jeff S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VWnc_I4quw0C&pg=PA132 |title=The Internal Diversification of Second Temple Judaism: An Introduction to the Second Temple Period |date=2002 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-7618-2327-8 |page=132 |language=en}}</ref> 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,<ref>[[Catherine Hezser]], 'The (In)Significance of Jerusalem in the Yerushalmi Talmud,' in Peter Schäfer, Catherine Hezser (eds.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=_mkWzIlrwDoC&pg=PA17 ''The Talmud Yerushalmi and Graeco-Roman Culture,''] Mohr Siebeck, Vol. 2, 2000, pp. 11–49 [17].</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Klawans |first=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKpHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 |title=Josephus and the Theologies of Ancient Judaism |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-992862-0 |page=13 |language=en}}</ref> 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<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|23:28|NRSV}}.</ref> and Matthew 24:2.<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|24:2|NRSV}}.</ref> It was to this end, proof of a biblical prophecy fulfilled and of Christianity's [[supersessionism|victory]] over Judaism with the [[New Covenant]],<ref name="Marsham">Andrew Marsham, 'The Architecture of Allegiance in Early Islamic Late Antiquity,' in Alexander Beihammer, Stavroula Constantinou, Maria G. Parani (eds.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=0WJTAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 ''Court Ceremonies and Rituals of Power in Byzantium and the Medieval Mediterranean: Comparative Perspectives''], Brill, 2013, pp. 87–114 [106].</ref> that early Christian pilgrims also visited the site.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kofsky |first=Arieh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jmzC2VEIXgIC&pg=PA303 |title=Eusebius of Caesarea Against Paganism |date=2000 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-11642-9 |page=303 |language=en}}</ref> Byzantine Christians, despite some signs of constructive work on the esplanade,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Avni |first=Gideon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2aTFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA132 |title=The Byzantine-Islamic Transition in Palestine: An Archaeological Approach |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-150734-2 |location=Oxford, England |page=132 |language=en}}</ref> generally neglected the Temple Mount, especially when a Jewish attempt to rebuild the Temple was destroyed by the [[Galilee earthquake of 363|earthquake of 363]].<ref name="Shick">Robert Shick, 'A Christian City with a Major Muslim Shrine: Jerusalem in the Umayyad Period,' in Arietta Papaconstantinou (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=JhOrCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA300 ''Conversion in Late Antiquity: Christianity, Islam, and Beyond: Papers from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar'', University of Oxford, 2009–2010 pp. 299–317, 300], Routledge 2016.</ref> It became a desolate local rubbish dump, perhaps outside the city limits,<ref>Shick, p. 301.</ref> as Christian worship in Jerusalem shifted to the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]], and Jerusalem's centrality was replaced by Rome.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lundquist |first=John M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R9VeCEwbNvsC&pg=PA158 |title=The Temple of Jerusalem: Past, Present, and Future |date=2008 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-275-98339-0 |page=158 |language=en}}</ref>

During the [[Byzantine]] era, Jerusalem was primarily Christian and pilgrims came by the tens of thousands to experience the places where Jesus walked.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} After the [[Sasanian conquest and occupation of Jerusalem|Persian invasion]] in 614 many churches were razed, and the site was turned into a dump. The Arabs [[Siege of Jerusalem (637)|conquered]] the city from the Byzantine Empire which had retaken it in 629. The Byzantine ban on the Jews was lifted and they were allowed to live inside the city and visit the places of worship. Christian pilgrims were able to come and experience the Temple Mount area.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Davidson |first1=Linda Kay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YVYkrNhPMQkC&q=Pilgrimage:+From+the+Ganges+to+Graceland+:+an+Encyclopedia,+Volume+1 |title=Pilgrimage [2 Volumes]: From the Ganges to Graceland, An Encyclopedia |last2=Gitlitz |first2=David M. |date=2002 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-57607-004-8 |location=Santa Barbara, CA |page=274 |language=en}}</ref> The war between Seljuqs and Byzantine Empire and increasing Muslim violence against Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem instigated the [[Crusades]]. The Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099 and the Dome of the Rock was given to the [[Augustinians]], who turned it into a church, and al-Aqsa Mosque became the royal palace of [[Baldwin I of Jerusalem]] in 1104. The [[Knights Templar]], who believed the Dome of the Rock was the site of [[Temple of Solomon|Solomon's Temple]], gave it the name "[[Templum Domini]]" and set up their headquarters in al-Aqsa Mosque adjacent to the Dome for much of the 12th century.{{citation needed|date= April 2015}}

In [[Christian art]], the [[circumcision of Jesus]] was conventionally depicted as taking place at the Temple, even though European artists until recently had no way of knowing what the Temple looked like and the Gospels do not state that the event took place at the Temple.<ref>Schiller, Gertud. ''Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I'', 1971 (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London, {{ISBN|978-0-85331-270-3}}; [[Nicholas Penny|Penny, Nicholas]]. National Gallery Catalogues (new series): ''The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume I'', 2004, National Gallery Publications Ltd., {{ISBN|978-1-85709-908-9}}.</ref>

Though some Christians believe that the Temple will be reconstructed before, or concurrent with, the [[Second Coming]] of Jesus (also see [[dispensationalism]]), pilgrimage to the Temple Mount is not viewed as important in the beliefs and worship of most Christians. The New Testament recounts a story of a Samaritan woman asking Jesus about the appropriate place to worship, Jerusalem (as it was for the Jews) or [[Mount Gerizim]] (as it was for the [[Samaritans]]), to which Jesus replies:

{{blockquote|Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.|source=John 4:21–24<ref>{{bibleverse|John|4:21–24|ESV}}</ref>}}

This has been construed to mean that Jesus dispensed with physical location for worship, which was a matter rather of spirit and truth.<ref>Andreas J. Köstenberger, 'The Destruction of the Second Temple and the Composition of the Fourth Gospel,' in John Lierman (ed.)[https://books.google.com/books?id=fWXC2krd_6IC&pg=PA101 ''Challenging Perspectives on the Gospel of John,''] Mohr Siebeck, 2006, pp. 69–108 [101–02].</ref>

===Islam===
[[File:Dan Hadani collection (990040387040205171).jpg|thumb|{{circa}}300,000 Muslims praying at [[Ramadan]], 1996]]
[[File:Al-Aqsa05.JPG|thumb|Façade of al-Aqsa's main praying hall, the [[Qibli Mosque]], viewed from the north.]]
[[File:Interior view of Aqsa main dome.jpeg|thumb|Interior decoration of the Dome of the Rock]] 
[[File:Quds,jerusalem.jpeg|thumb|The [[Dome of the Rock]] as an Islamic shrine, as seen from the north]]
{{see also|Jerusalem in Islam}}
{{Main|Holiest sites in Islam}}
{{See also|Holiest sites in Sunni Islam|Holiest sites in Shia Islam}}

Among both [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] and [[Shia Islam|Shia]] Muslims,{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} the entire plaza, known as the al-Aqsa Mosque, also known as Haram al-Sharif or "the Noble Sanctuary", is considered the [[Holiest sites in Sunni Islam|third holiest site in Islam]].<ref name=":22" /> According to Islamic tradition, the plaza is the location of [[Muhammad]]'s [[Isra and Mi'raj|ascension to heaven from Jerusalem]], and served as the first "''[[qibla]]''", the direction Muslims turn towards when praying. As in Judaism, Muslims also associate the site with [[Abraham]], and other prophets who are also venerated in Islam.<ref name="Quran 2:4, 34:13-14" /> Muslims view the site as being one of the earliest and most noteworthy places of worship of [[Islamic concept of God|God]]. They preferred to use the esplanade as the heart for the Muslim quarter, since it had been abandoned by Christians, to avoid disturbing the Christian quarters of Jerusalem.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Avni |first=Gideon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLucAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA136 |title=The Byzantine-Islamic Transition in Palestine: An Archaeological Approach |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-968433-5 |page=136 |language=en}}</ref> Umayyad Caliphs commissioned the construction of al-Aqsa Mosque on the site, including the shrine known as the "[[Dome of the Rock]]".<ref name="Nicolle, David 19942"/> The Dome was completed in 692 CE, making it one of the oldest extant Islamic structures in the world. The [[Qibli Mosque|Al-Aqsa Mosque]], sometimes known as the Qibli Mosque, rest on the far southern side of the Mount, facing [[Mecca]].

==== In early Islam ====
Early Islam regarded the Foundation Stone as the location of Solomon's Temple, and the first architectural initiatives on the Temple Mount sought to glorify Jerusalem by presenting Islam as a continuation of Judaism and Christianity.<ref name=":18" /> Almost immediately after the [[Muslim conquest of Syria#Capturing Jerusalem|Muslim conquest of Jerusalem]] in 638 CE, [[Umar|Caliph 'Omar ibn al Khatab]], reportedly disgusted by the filth covering the site, had it thoroughly cleaned,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Coogan |first=Michael D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gM-tZeEO4wgC&pg=PA443 |title=The Oxford History of the Biblical World |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-988148-2 |page=443 |language=en}}</ref> and granted Jews access to the site.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frank |first=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MzqwUksGUrkC&pg=PA209 |title=Search Scripture Well: Karaite Exegetes and the Origins of the Jewish Bible Commentary in the Islamic East |date=2004 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-13902-2 |page=209 |language=en}}</ref> According to early Quranic interpreters and what is generally accepted as Islamic tradition, in 638 CE Umar, upon entering a conquered Jerusalem, consulted with [[Ka'ab al-Ahbar]] – a Jewish convert to Islam who came with him from [[Medina]] – as to where the best spot would be to build a mosque. Al-Ahbar suggested to him that it should be behind the Rock "...&nbsp;so that all of Jerusalem would be before you." Umar replied, "You correspond to Judaism!" Immediately after this conversation, Umar began to clean up the site – which was filled with trash and debris – with his cloak, and other Muslim followers imitated him until the site was clean. Umar then prayed at the spot where it was believed that Muhammad had prayed before his night journey, reciting the Quranic ''sura'' ''[[Sad (sura)|Sad]]''.<ref name="Mosaad">Mosaad, Mohamed. [http://www.godsholymountain.org/papers/bayt.pdf Bayt al-Maqdis: An Islamic Perspective] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910050432/http://www.godsholymountain.org/papers/bayt.pdf|date=10 September 2008}} pp. 3–8</ref> Thus, according to this tradition, Umar thereby reconsecrated the site as a mosque.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Al-Aqsa Mosque: Chapter one – The History of Palestine |url=https://www.mustaqim.co.uk/ipb-archive/alaqsa/chapone.htm |access-date=2024-03-09 |website=www.mustaqim.co.uk}}</ref>

Muslim interpretations of the Quran agree that the Mount is the site of the Temple originally built by [[Solomon]], [[Solomon in Islam|considered a prophet in Islam]], that was later destroyed.<ref>"The Farthest Mosque must refer to the site of the [[Solomon's Temple]] in Jerusalem on the hill of [[Moriah]], at or near which stands the [[Dome of the Rock]]... it was a sacred place to both Jews and Christians... The chief dates in connection with the [[Temple in Jerusalem]] are: It was finished by [[Solomon]] about 1004 BCE; destroyed by the [[Babylonians]] under [[Nebuchadnezzar]] about 586 BCE; rebuilt under [[Ezra]] and [[Nehemiah]] about 515 BCE; turned into a heathen idol temple by one of [[Alexander the Great]]'s successors, [[Antiochus Epiphanes]], 167 BCE; restored by [[Herod the Great|Herod]], 17 BCE to 29; and completely razed to the ground by the Emperor [[Titus]] in 70. These ups and downs are among the greater signs in religious history." ([[Abdullah Yusuf Ali|Yusuf Ali]], ''Commentary on the Koran'', p. 2168.)</ref><ref name=":9">Khalek, N. (2011). "Jerusalem in Medieval Islamic Tradition". ''Religion Compass'', 5(10), pp. 624–30, {{doi|10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00305.x}}. "One of the most pressing issues in both medieval and contemporary scholarship related to Jerusalem is whether the city is explicitly referenced in the text of the Qur'an. Sura 17, verse 1, which reads [...] has been variously interpreted as referring to the miraculous Night Journey and Ascension of Muhammad, events recorded in medieval sources and known as the isra and miraj. As we will see, this association is a rather late and even a contested one. [...] The earliest Muslim work on the Religious Merits of Jerusalem was the Fada'il Bayt al-Maqdis by al-Walid ibn Hammad al-Ramli (d. 912 CE), a text which is recoverable from later works. [...] He relates the significance of Jerusalem vis-a-vis the Jewish Temple, conflating 'a collage of biblical narratives' and comments pilgrimage to Jerusalem, a practice which was controversial in later Muslim periods."</ref> After the construction, Muslims believe, the temple was used for the worship of the one God by many prophets of Islam, including Jesus.<ref>"The city of Jerusalem was chosen at the command of Allah by Prophet David in the tenth century BCE. After him his son, the Prophet Solomon built a mosque in Jerusalem according to the revelation that he received from Allah. For several centuries this mosque was used for the worship of Allah by many Prophets and Messengers of Allah. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in the year 586 BCE., but it was soon rebuilt and was rededicated to the worship of Allah in 516 BCE. It continued afterwards for several centuries until the time of Prophet Jesus. After he departed this world, it was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 CE." (Siddiqi, Dr. Muzammil. [http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503544626 Status of Al-Aqsa Mosque] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211205231/http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaE&cid=1119503544626|date=2011-02-11}}, [[IslamOnline]], May 21, 2007. Retrieved July 12, 2007.)</ref><ref>"Early Muslims regarded the building and destruction of the Temple of Solomon as a major historical and religious event, and accounts of the Temple are offered by many of the early Muslim historians and geographers (including Ibn Qutayba, Ibn al-Faqih, Mas'udi, Muhallabi, and Biruni).

Fantastic tales of Solomon's construction of the Temple also appear in the Qisas al-anbiya', the medieval compendia of Muslim legends about the pre-Islamic prophets." (Kramer, Martin. [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/The+Temples+of+Jerusalem+in+Islam.htm The Temples of Jerusalem in Islam], Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, September 18, 2000. Retrieved November 21, 2007.)

* "While there is no scientific evidence that Solomon's Temple existed, all believers in any of the Abrahamic faiths perforce must accept that it did." (Khalidi, Rashid. ''Transforming the Face of the Holy City: Political Messages in the Built Topography of Jerusalem'', [[Bir Zeit University]], November 12, 1998.)</ref><ref>''A Brief Guide to al-Haram al-Sharif'', a [http://www.templeinstitute.org/1925-wakf-temple-mount-guide.pdf booklet published in 1925] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105172459/http://www.templeinstitute.org/1925-wakf-temple-mount-guide.pdf|date=2009-01-05}} (and earlier) by the "Supreme Moslem Council", a body established by the British government to administer [[waqf]]s and headed by Hajj [[Amin al-Husayni]] during the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate]] period, states on page 4: "The site is one of the oldest in the world. Its sanctity dates from the earliest (perhaps from pre-historic) times. Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which 'David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.'(''2 Samuel 24:25'')"</ref> Other Muslim scholars have used the Torah (called {{transliteration|ar|[[Tawrat]]}} in Arabic) to expand on the details of the temple.<ref>"The Rock was in the time of Solomon the son of David 12 cubits high and there was a dome over it... It is written in the Tawrat [Bible]: 'Be happy Jerusalem,' which is Bayt al-Maqdis and the Rock which is called Haykal." al-Wasati, ''Fada'il al Bayt al-Muqaddas'', ed. Izhak Hasson (Jerusalem, 1979) pp. 72ff.</ref> The term ''Bayt al-Maqdis'' (or ''Bayt al-Muqaddas''), which frequently appears as a name of Jerusalem in early Islamic sources, is a cognate of the Hebrew term ''bēt ha-miqdāsh'' (בית המקדש), the Temple in Jerusalem.<ref>Di Cesare, M. (2017). "A Lost Inscription from the Dome of the Rock?: the Western Attitude Towards Islamic Epigraphy in 17th-Century Jerusalem", pp. 77–86.</ref><ref>Jacobson, D.M. The Enigma of the Name Īliyā (= Aelia) for Jerusalem in Early Islam. ''Dio'', ''69'', 1.</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Carroll |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yZvTLDOgc1EC&pg=PA117 |title=Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World |date=2011 |publisher=HMH |isbn=978-0-547-54905-7 |language=en}}</ref> [[Mujir al-Din]], a 15th-century Jerusalemite chronicler, mentions an earlier tradition related by al-Wasti, according which "after David built many cities and the situation of the [[Israelites|children of Israel]] was improved, he wanted to construct Bayt al-Maqdis and build a dome over the rock in the place that [[God in Islam|Allah]] sanctified in Aelia."<ref name=":18" />

==== Isra and Mi'raj ====
According to the [[Quran|Qur'an]], [[Muhammad]] was transported to a site named Al-Aqsa Mosque – "the furthest place of prayer" (''al-Masjid al-'Aqṣā'') during his [[Isra and Mi'raj|Night Journey]] (''[[Al-Isra|Isra]] and Mi'raj'').<ref name="17th2">{{Cite book |last=Buchanan |first=Allen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bntCSupRlO4C&pg=PA192 |title=States, Nations, and Borders: The Ethics of Making Boundaries |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-521-52575-6 |author-link=Allen Buchanan}}</ref> The Qur'an describes how Muhammad was taken by the miraculous steed [[Buraq]] from the [[Great Mosque of Mecca]] to al-Aqsa Mosque where he prayed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vuckovic |first=Brooke Olson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AB6lPcjgSzwC |title=Heavenly Journeys, Earthly Concerns: The Legacy of the Mi'raj in the Formation of Islam |date=2003 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-203-48747-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="17th2" /><ref name="enc">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World |date=2003 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers (United States)|Macmillan Reference USA]] |isbn=978-0-02-865603-8 |editor1=Martin |editor-first=Richard C. |page=482 |editor2=Arjom |editor-first2=Said Amir |editor3=Hermansen |editor-first3=Marcia |editor4=Tayob |editor-first4=Abdulkader |editor5=Davis |editor-first5=Rochelle |editor6=Voll |editor-first6=John Obert}}</ref> After Muhammad finished his prayers, the angel [[Jibril]] ([[Gabriel]]) traveled with him to heaven, where he met several other [[Prophets in Islam|prophets]] and led them in prayer:<ref>Religion and the Arts, Volume 12. 2008. pp. 329–42.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Vuckovic |first=Brooke Olson |title=Heavenly Journeys, Earthly Concerns: The Legacy of the Mi'raj in the Formation of Islam (Religion in History, Society and Culture) |year=2004 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-96785-3}}</ref><ref>{{Href|bukhari|7517|b=yl}}.</ref>

{{blockquote|Glory be to the One Who took His servant ˹Muḥammad˺ by night from the [[Masjid al-Haram|Sacred Mosque]] to the Farthest Mosque whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We may show him some of Our signs. Indeed, He alone is the All-Hearing, All-Seeing.|{{Qref|17|1|c=y}}}}

The Qur'an does not mention the exact location of "the furthest place of prayer", and the city of Jerusalem is not mentioned by any of [[Names of Jerusalem|its names]] in the Qur'an.<ref name="Khatib">{{cite journal |last=el-Khatib |first=Abdallah |date=1 May 2001 |title=Jerusalem in the Qur'ān |url=http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&issn=1353-0194&volume=28&issue=1&spage=25 |url-status=dead |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=25–53 |doi=10.1080/13530190120034549 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121209133352/http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&issn=1353-0194&volume=28&issue=1&spage=25 |archive-date=9 December 2012 |access-date=17 November 2006 |s2cid=159680405}}</ref><ref name=":9" /> According to the [[Encyclopaedia of Islam]], the phrase was originally understood as a reference to a site in the heavens.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam |publisher=Brill |year=2006 |edition=New  |volume=7 |pages=97–105 |chapter=Miʿrād̲j̲ |quote=For this verse, tradition gives three interpretations: The oldest one, which disappears from the more recent commentaries, detects an allusion to Muhammad's Ascension to Heaven. This explanation interprets the expression al-masjid al-aksa, "the further place of worship" in the sense of "Heaven" and, in fact, in the older tradition isra is often used as synonymous with miradj (see Isl., vi, 14). The second explanation, the only one given in all the more modern commentaries, interprets masjid al-aksa as "Jerusalem" and this for no very apparent reason. It seems to have been an Umayyad device intended to further the glorification of Jerusalem as against that of the holy territory (cf. Goldziher, Muh. Stud., ii, 55–56; Isl, vi, 13 ff), then ruled by Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr. Al-Tabarl seems to reject it. He does not mention it in his History and seems rather to adopt the first explanation.}}</ref> A group of Islamic scholars understood the story of Muhammad's ascension from al-Aqsa Mosque as relating to the [[Temple in Jerusalem|Jewish Temple in Jerusalem]]. Another group disagreed with this identification and preferred the meaning of the term as referring to heaven.<ref name="Colby2008">{{cite book |author=Colby |first=Frederick S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sasZCjcTisIC&pg=PA15 |title=Narrating Muhammad's Night Journey: Tracing the Development of the Ibn 'Abbas Ascension Discourse |year=2008 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-7788-5 |page=15 |quote=If Muslims interpret the qur'anic phrase "the sacred place of prayer" in diverse ways, one encounters even more debate over the destination of the night journey, the "furthest place of prayer". From the earliest extant Muslim texts, it becomes clear that a group of Muslims from the beginning interpreted "furthest place of prayer" with the city of Jerusalem in general and its Herodian/Solomonic Temple in particular. It is equally clear that other early Muslims disputed this connection, identifying the "furthest place of prayer" instead as a reference to a site in the heavens. Eventually a general consensus formed around the idea that Muhammad's journey did indeed take him to Jerusalem. Even if the night journey verse were thought to refer first and foremost to the terrestrial portion of Muhammad's journey, nevertheless for centuries scholars and storytellers also continued to connect this verse with the idea of an ascent through the levels of the heavens. |access-date=14 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715080148/https://books.google.com/books?id=sasZCjcTisIC&pg=PA15 |archive-date=15 July 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Muhammad al-Bukhari|Al-Bukhari]] and [[Al-Tabari]], for example, are believed to have rejected the identification with Jerusalem.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":10" /> Eventually, a consensus emerged around the identification of the "furthest place of prayer" with Jerusalem, and by implication the Temple Mount.<ref name="Colby2008" /><ref>Busse, H. (1968). The sanctity of Jerusalem in Islam. ''Judaism'', ''17''(4), 441. "Tradition varies as to the location of the Ascension; Syrian local tradition was able to prevail, by maintaining that the Ascension started in Jerusalem rather than in Mecca, directly following the Night Journey".</ref> Later ''[[hadith]]s'' referred to Jerusalem as the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque:<ref>''Historic Cities of the Islamic World,'' edited by Clifford Edmund Bosworth, p. 226.</ref>

{{blockquote|Narrated Jabir bin `Abdullah:<br>
That he heard Allah's Messenger saying, "When the people of Quraish did not believe me (i.e. the story of my Night Journey), I stood up in Al-Hijr and Allah displayed Jerusalem in front of me, and I began describing it to them while I was looking at it."|{{Href|bukhari|3886|b=yl}}}}[[File:Miraj_by_Sultan_Muhammad.jpg|thumb|A depiction of Muhammad's ascent to heaven by [[Sultan Mohammed]]]]
Some scholars point to the political motives of the [[Umayyad dynasty]] which led to the sanctification of Jerusalem in Islam. 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]].<ref name=":8" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Silverman |first=Jonathan |date=6 May 2005 |title=The opposite of holiness |newspaper=Ynetnews |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3095122,00.html |url-status=live |access-date=17 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060912145223/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3095122,00.html |archive-date=12 September 2006 |quote=<!--After the prophet died in June 632 a series of successors, or caliphs, assumed authority as Islam's leaders. Between 661 and 750 the Umayyad Dynasty held the Caliphate and ruled from Damascus. ''During the time they ruled, on account of various internal and external pressures, the Umayyads exerted enormous effort to elevate Jerusalem's status'', perhaps even to the level of Mecca ... the Palestinian historian A.L. Tibawi writes, that building an actual Al Aqsa Mosque "gave reality to the figurative name used in the Koran ..." As Pipes points out, moreover, "it had the hugely important effect of giving Jerusalem a place in the Koran post hoc which naturally imbued the city with a higher status in Islam." Which is another way of saying, before the Umayyads built Dome of the Rock and Al Aksa, Jerusalem had no status at all in Islam. Israeli scholar Izhak Hasson says: "construction of the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque, the rituals instituted by the Umayyads on the Noble Sanctuary and the dissemination of Islamic-oriented Traditions regarding sanctity of the site, ''all point to the political motives which underlay the glorification of Jerusalem among the Muslims''." In other words the sanctification of Jerusalem in Islam is based on the Umayyad building program.-->}}</ref> The construction of the Dome of the Rock was interpreted by [[Ya'qubi]], a 9th-century [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] historian, as an Umayyad attempt to redirect the [[Hajj]] from Mecca to Jerusalem by creating a rival to the [[Kaaba|Ka'aba]].<ref>Nuha N. N. Khoury, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1523172 ''The Dome of the Rock, the Kaʿba, and Ghumdan: Arab Myths and Umayyad Monuments,''] in ''Muqarnas, Vol. 10, Essays in Honor of Oleg Grabar,'' Brill (1993), pp. 57–65. "The Abbasid historian al Ya'qubi (d. 874) accused Abd al-Malik of attempting to divert the pilgrimage from Mecca to Jerusalem, thus characterizing the Umayyad Dome of the Rock as a rival to the Kaaba"</ref>

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. 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Talhami |first=Ghada Hashem |date=February 2000 |title=The Modern History of Islamic Jerusalem: Academic Myths and Propaganda |url=http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol7/0002_talhami.asp |journal=Middle East Policy Journal |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |volume=VII |issue=14 |issn=1061-1924 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061116144218/http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol7/0002_talhami.asp |archive-date=16 November 2006 |access-date=17 November 2006 |quote=<!--The holiness of Jerusalem was related to the rise and expansion of a certain type of literary genre, known as al-Fadhail or history of cities. The Fadhail of Jerusalem preserved the traditions of the Prophet regarding Jerusalem, the statements of various holy personages, and the city's popular lore. All of these inspired Muslims to ''embellish the sanctity of the city beyond its status in the holy texts''. The greatest source of information for al-Fadhail was the hadith, the Prophet's traditions, which were beginning to be quoted extensively in the last third of the first Muslim century (the seventh century of the Christian era). The traditions were used to enumerate the values of visiting the city and al-Aqsa Mosque. Circulating widely during the Umayyad period, these traditions were often a reflection of the ''Umayyad policy of enhancing the religious status of Jerusalem''.-->}}
</ref> Based on the writings of the eighth century historians [[Al-Waqidi]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wāqidī |first=Muḥammad ibn ʻUmar, or 748–823 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/539086931 |title=The life of Muḥammad : al-Wāqidī's Kitāb al-maghāzī |date=2011 |publisher=Routledge |others=Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail, Abdulkader Tayob, Andrew Rippin |isbn=978-0-415-57434-1 |location=Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon |pages=469 |oclc=539086931 |quote=When he desired to turn back to Medina, he set out from al-Jirrana on Wednesday night, twelve nights remaining in Dhul-Qada. He donned his ihram at the furthest mosque (al-masjid al-Aqsa), which was below the wadi on a remote slope. It was the place of prayer of the Messenger of God when he was in al-Jiranna. As for the closest mosque, a man from the Quraysh built it and he marked that place with it. |access-date=2 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220530124719/https://www.worldcat.org/title/life-of-muhammad-al-waqidis-kitab-al-maghazi/oclc/539086931 |archive-date=30 May 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[al-Azraqi]], some scholars have suggested that al-Aqsa Mosque mentioned in the Qur'an is not in Jerusalem but in the village of [[Al-Juʽranah|al-Ju'ranah]], 18 miles northeast of Mecca.<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last=Grabar |first=Oleg |date=1959 |title=The Umayyad Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4629098 |journal=Ars Orientalis |volume=3 |pages=33–62 |jstor=4629098 |issn=0571-1371 |quote=Bevan has shown that among early traditionists there are many who do not accept the identification of the masjid al-aqsd, and among them are to be found such great names as al-Bukhari and Tabarl. Both Ibn Ishaq an al-Ya'qubi precede their accounts with expressions which indicate that these are stories which are not necessarily accepted as dogma. It was suggested by J. Horovitz that in the early period of Islam there is little justification for assuming that the Koranic expression in any way referred to Jerusalem. But while Horovitz thought that it referred to a place in heaven, A. Guillaume's careful analysis of the earliest texts (al-Waqidi and al-Azraqi, both in the later second century A.H.) has convincingly shown that the Koranic reference to the masjid al-aqsa applies specifically to al-Ji'ranah, near Mekkah, where there were two sanctuaries (masjid al-adnai and masjid al-aqsa), and where Muhammad so-journed in dha al-qa'dah of the eighth year after the Hijrah.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Israel applauds Egyptian writer's remarks on Jerusalem |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/27/israel-applauds-egyptian-writers-remarks-on-jerusalem |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202170026/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/27/israel-applauds-egyptian-writers-remarks-on-jerusalem |archive-date=2 February 2022 |access-date=2022-02-02 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kasraoui |first=Safaa |title=Saudi Lawyer Claims Al Aqsa Mosque Is In Saudi Arabia, Not Jerusalem |url=https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/11/326128/saudi-lawyer-claims-al-aqsa-mosque-is-in-saudi-arabia-not-jerusalem |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117142238/https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/11/326128/saudi-lawyer-claims-al-aqsa-mosque-is-in-saudi-arabia-not-jerusalem/ |archive-date=17 November 2020 |access-date=2022-02-02 |website=www.moroccoworldnews.com/ |date=16 November 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

Later medieval scripts, as well as modern-day political tracts, tend to classify al-Aqsa Mosque as the third holiest site in Islam.<ref name="Webster">{{cite book |last=Doninger |first=Wendy |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877790440/page/70 |title=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions |date=1 September 1999 |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |isbn=978-0-87779-044-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877790440/page/70 70] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

====First qibla====
[[File:Al-aqsa mosque 06.jpg|thumb|Al-Aqsa Mosque in 2019]]
The historical significance of al-Aqsa Mosque in Islam is further emphasized by the fact that Muslims turned towards al-Aqsa when they prayed for a period of 16 or 17 months after [[Hijra (Islam)|migration]] to [[Medina]] in 624; it thus became the ''[[qibla]]'' ("direction") that Muslims faced for prayer.<ref name="17th">{{Cite book|last=Buchanan|first=Allen |author-link=Allen Buchanan |year=2004 |title=States, Nations, and Borders: The Ethics of Making Boundaries |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-52575-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bntCSupRlO4C&pg=PA192}}</ref> Muhammad later prayed towards the [[Kaaba]] in [[Mecca]] after receiving a revelation during a prayer session<ref>{{Qref|2|142-151}}.</ref><ref>Shah, 2008, p. 39.</ref> in the [[Masjid al-Qiblatayn]].<ref>Raby, 2004, p. 298.</ref><ref>Patel, 2006, p. 13.</ref> The ''qibla'' was relocated to the Kaaba where Muslims have been directed to pray ever since.<ref>Asali, 1990, p. 105.</ref>

==== Religious status ====
The [[Organisation of Islamic Cooperation]] refers to al-Aqsa Mosque as the third holiest site in Islam (and calls for Arab sovereignty over it).<ref>{{cite web |date=24 February 1974 |title=Resolution No. 2/2-IS |url=http://www.oic-oci.org/english/conf/is/2/2nd-is-sum.htm#2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061014111124/http://www.oic-oci.org/english/conf/is/2/2nd-is-sum.htm |archive-date=14 October 2006 |access-date=17 November 2006 |work=Second Islamic Summit Conference |publisher=Organisation of the Islamic Conference}}</ref>