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Document 13 THE NOBLE SANCTUARY

ISLAMIC STRUCTURES ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT

The Dome of the Rock Material from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_of_the_Rock

The Al-Aqsa Mosque

Material from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Mosque

The Dome of the Chain Material from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_of_the_Chain

The Dome of the Ascension

Material from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_of_the_Ascension

The Dome of the Prophet Material from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_of_the_Prophet

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THE DOME OF THE ROCK

The Dome of the Rock (Arabic: Qubbat Al-Sakhrah) is a shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was initially completed in 691 CE at the order of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik during the Second Fitna. The Dome of the Rock is now one of the oldest works of Islamic architecture. It has been called “Jerusalem’s most recognizable landmark.” Its architecture and mosaics were patterned after nearby Byzantine churches and palaces. The octagonal plan of the structure may also have been influenced by the Byzantine Chapel of St Mary (also known as Kathisma and al-Qadismu) built between 451 and 458 on the road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The site’s significance stems from religious traditions regarding the rock, known as the Foundation Stone, at its heart, which bears great significance for Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

Location The Dome of the Rock is located at the visual center of a platform known in English as the Temple Mount and in Arabic as Al-Haram al-Sharif, or “the Noble Sanctuary.” It was constructed on the site of the Second Jewish Temple, which was destroyed during the Roman Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Muslims believe the location of the Dome of the Rock to be the site of the Islamic miracle of the Isra and Mi’raj. Caliph Omar ibn al Khattab (579–644) was advised by his associate, Ka’ab al-Ahbar, a Jewish rabbi who converted to Islam, that the Night Journey (Isra and Mi’raj), which is mentioned in the Quran and specified by the hadiths of being located in Jerusalem, took place at the site of the former Jewish temples.

History Pre-Islam The Dome of the Rock is situated in the center of the Temple Mount, the site where, it is believed, the Jewish First Temple and Second Temple had stood. The Second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans, who built a temple to Jupiter (Zeus) on the site. During the Byzantine era, Jerusalem was primarily Christian, and pilgrims came by the tens of thousands to experience the first church of Christianity and places where Jesus walked.

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Description English: From the Temple Mount

Date 25 November 2012, 00:27:35

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Construction and Dimension With the Persian invasion in 614, followed by the Muslim Siege of Jerusalem in 637, the Dome of the Rock was constructed by the order of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik between 689 and 691 CE. The Temple Mount had by then been left undeveloped for centuries after another Jewish revolt against Roman rule in the fourth century CE. Its architecture and mosaics were patterned after nearby Byzantine churches and palaces. The two engineers in charge of the project were Raja ibn Haywah, a Muslim theologian from Beit She’an and Yazid Ibn Salam, a non-Arab who was Muslim and a native of Jerusalem. Shelomo Dov Goitein of the Hebrew University states that the Dome of the Rock was intended to compete with the many fine buildings of worship of other religions. Goitein said:

The very form of a rotunda, given to the Qubbat as-Sakhra, although it was foreign to Islam, attempted to rival the many Christian domes of its time.

A. C. Cresswell in his book Origin of the plan of the Dome of the Rock notes that those who built the shrine used the measurements of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The diameter of the dome of the shrine is 20.20 meters and its height 20.48 meters, while the diameter of the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is 20.90 meters and its height 21.05 meters. The structure is basically octagonal. It comprises a wooden dome, approximately 20 meters in diameter, which is mounted on an elevated drum consisting of a circle of 16 piers and columns. Surrounding this circle is an octagonal arcade of 24 piers and columns. The outer facade is made of porcelain and mirrors the octagonal design. They each measure approximately 60 feet (18 meters) wide and 36 feet (11 meters) high. Both the dome and the exterior walls contain many windows. Crusaders For centuries Christian pilgrims still were able to come and experience the Temple Mount but escalating violence against 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 while the Al-Aqsa Mosque became a royal palace. The Knights Templar, who believed the Dome of the Rock was the site of the Temple of Solomon, later set up their headquarters in the Al-Aqsa Mosque adjacent to the Dome for much of the twelfth century. The “Templum Domini,” as they called the Dome of the Rock, featured on the official seals of the Order’s Grand Masters (such as Everard des Barres and Renaud de Vichiers), and soon became the architectural model for Round Templar churches across Europe. Ayyubids and Mamluks Jerusalem was recaptured by Saladin on October 2, 1187, and the Dome of the Rock was re-consecrated as a Muslim shrine. The cross on top of the dome was replaced by the Islamic crescent, and a wooden screen was placed around the rock below. Saladin’s nephew al-Malik al-Mu’azzam Isa carried out other restorations within the building, and added the porch to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Dome of the Rock was the focus of extensive royal patronage by the sultans during the Mamluk period, which lasted from 1250 until 1510. Ottoman Empire (1517–1917) During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520–1566) the exterior of the Dome of the Rock was covered with tiles. This work took seven years.

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The interior of the dome is lavishly decorated with mosaic, faience and marble, much of which was added several centuries after its completion. It also contains Quranic inscriptions. Surah Ya Sin is inscribed across the top of the tile work and was commissioned in the sixteenth century by Suleiman the Magnificent. Al-Isra is inscribed above this. Adjacent to the Dome of the Rock, the Ottomans built the free-standing Dome of the Prophet in 1620. Large-scale renovation was undertaken during the reign of Mahmud II in 1817. From British Mandate to present Haj Amin al-Husseini, appointed Grand Mufti by the British during the 1917 mandate of Palestine, along with Yaqub al-Ghusayn, implemented the restoration of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock was badly shaken during an earthquake in Palestine on July 11, 1927, damaging many of the repairs that had taken place over previous years. In 1955, an extensive program of renovation was begun by the government of Jordan, with funds supplied by the Arab governments and Turkey. The work included replacement of large numbers of tiles dating back to the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, which had become dislodged by heavy rain. In 1965, as part of this restoration, the dome was covered with a durable aluminum bronze alloy made in Italy that replaced the lead exterior. The restoration was completed in August 1964. A few hours after the Israeli flag was hoisted over the Dome of the Rock in 1967 during the Six-Day War, Israelis lowered it on the orders of Moshe Dayan and invested the Muslim waqf (religious trust) with the authority to manage the Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif, in order to “keep the peace.” In 1993, the golden dome covering was refurbished following a donation of $ 8.2 million by King Hussein of Jordan who sold one of his houses in London to fund the 80 kilograms of gold required. The Dome of the Rock is depicted on the reverse of the Iranian 1000 rials banknote.

Accessibility The Dome is maintained by the Ministry of Awqaf in Amman, Jordan. Until the mid-twentieth century, non-Muslims were not permitted in the area. Since 1967, non-Muslims have been permitted limited access; however non-Muslims are not permitted to pray on the Temple Mount, or carry any form of religious artifact or anything with Hebrew letters. The Israeli police help enforce this. Due to security concerns, Israel restricts access of Palestinian residents of the West Bank to Jerusalem on Muslim holidays only. West Bank Palestinian men must be over 35 to be eligible for a permit. Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, who hold Israeli residency cards, and Palestinians with Israeli citizenship are permitted unrestricted access. In 2006, the Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslim visitors during the hours of 7:30–11:30 a.m. and 1:30–2:30 p.m. during summer and 7:30–10:30 a.m. and 1:30–2:30 p.m. during winter. Non-Muslims are prohibited from entering after 2:30 pm and may not enter on Fridays, Saturdays, or Muslim holidays. Entry is through a wooden walkway next to the entrance to the Western Wall. Non-Muslims are prohibited from entering the mosques, entering the Dome of the Rock, and accessing the Temple Mount through the Cotton Market. Visitors are subject to strict security screening. Orthodox rabbis regard entry to the compound to be a violation of Jewish law.

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Religious Significance According to some Islamic scholars, the rock is the spot from which the Islamic prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven accompanied by the angel Gabriel. Further, Muhammad was taken here by Gabriel to pray with Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Other Islamic scholars believe that the Prophet ascended to heaven from the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Foundation Stone and its surroundings is the holiest site in Judaism. Though Muslims now pray towards the Kaaba at Mecca, they once faced the Temple Mount as the Jews do. Muhammad changed the direction of prayer for Muslims after a revelation from Allah. Jews traditionally regarded the location of the stone as the holiest spot on Earth, the site of the Holy of Holies during the Temple Period. According to Jewish tradition, the stone is the site where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. In the story of the near-sacrifice in the Quran, the son is not named, but the majority opinion among Muslims is that the son was Ishmael rather than Isaac. On the walls of the Dome of the Rock is an inscription in a mosaic frieze that includes the following words from Quran (19:33–35), which are considered blasphemy to Christianity:

33. “So peace is upon me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!” 34. Such is Jesus, son of Mary. It is a statement of truth, about which they doubt. 35. It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! when He determines a matter, He only says to it, “Be,” and it is.

According to Goitein, the inscriptions decorating the interior clearly display a spirit of polemic against Christianity, whilst stressing at the same time the Quranic doctrine that Jesus was a true prophet. The formula la sharika lahu (“God has no companion”) is repeated five times, the verses from Sura Maryam 19:35–37, which strongly reaffirm Jesus’ prophethood to God, are quoted together with the prayer: Allahumma salli ala rasulika wa’abdika ‘Isa bin Maryam – “O Lord, send your blessings to your Prophet and Servant Jesus son of Mary.” He believes that this shows that rivalry with Christendom, together with the spirit of Muslim mission to the Christians, was at work at the time of construction. The date recorded as 72 after the Hijra (or 691–692 CE), is the year historians believe the Dome was constructed. Groups such as the Temple Mount and Eretz Yisrael Faithful Movement wish to relocate the Dome to Mecca and replace it with a Third Temple. Since Muslim religious foundations own the Dome and consider it particularly sacred such actions would inevitably lead to violence. Many Israelis are ambivalent about the Movement’s wishes. Some religious Jews, following rabbinic teaching, believe that the Temple should only be rebuilt in the messianic era, and that it would be presumptuous of people to force God’s hand. However, some Evangelical Christians consider rebuilding of the Temple to be a prerequisite to Armageddon and the Second Coming. Jeremy Gimpel, a U. S.-born candidate for Habayit Hayehudi in the 2013 Israeli elections, caused a controversy when he was recorded telling a Fellowship Church evangelical group in Florida in 2011 to imagine the incredible experience that would follow were the Dome to be blown up. All Christians would be immediately transported to Israel, he opined, perhaps whimsically. This view is steeped in the belief that there will be a prophetic rebuilding of the Temple in place of the Dome of the Rock.

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Architectural Homages The Dome of the Rock has inspired the architecture of a number of buildings. These include the octagonal Church of St. Giacomo in Italy, the Mausoleum of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in Istanbul, the octagonal Moorish Revival style Rumbach Street Synagogue in Budapest, and the New Synagogue in Berlin, Germany. It was long believed by Christians that the Dome of the Rock echoed the architecture of the Temple in Jerusalem, as can be seen in Raphael’s The Marriage of the Virgin and in Perugino’s Marriage of the Virgin.

THE AL-AQSA MOSQUE

Al-Aqsa Mosque (Arabic: al-Masjid al-Aqṣā, “the Farthest Mosque”), also known as Al-Aqsa and Bayt al-Muqaddas, is the third holiest site in Islam and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem. The site on which the silver domed mosque sits, along with the Dome of the Rock, is referred to as al-Haram ash-Sharif (“the Noble Sanctuary”), or the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night Journey. Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led prayers towards this site until the seventeenth month after the emigration, when God directed him to turn towards the Kaaba. The mosque was originally a small prayer house built by the Rashidun caliph Umar, but was rebuilt and expanded by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik and finished by his son al-Walid in 705 CE. After an earthquake in 746, the mosque was completely destroyed and rebuilt by the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur in 754, and again rebuilt by his successor al-Mahdi in 780. Another earthquake destroyed most of al-Aqsa in 1033, but two years later the Fatimid caliph Ali az-Zahir built another mosque which has stood to the present day. During the periodic renovations undertaken, the various ruling dynasties of the Islamic Caliphate constructed additions to the mosque and its precincts, such as its dome, facade, its minbar, minarets and the interior structure. When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099, they used the mosque as a palace and the Dome of the Rock as a church, but its function as a mosque was restored after its recapture by Saladin in 1187. More renovations, repairs and additions were undertaken in the later centuries by the Ayyubids, Mamluks, Ottomans, the Supreme Muslim Council, and Jordan. Today, the Old City is under Israeli control, but the mosque remains under the administration of the Jordanian/Palestinian-led Islamic Waqf.

Etymology Masjid al-Aqsa translates from Arabic into English as “the farthest mosque.” The name refers to a chapter of the Quran called “The Night Journey” in which it is said that Muhammad traveled from Mecca to “the farthest mosque,” and then up to heaven on a heavenly creature called al-

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English: Northeast exposure of Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, in the Old City of Jerusalem. Considered to be the thirdholiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina.

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Buraq al-Sharif. Al-Aqsa Mosque as a whole is confused with a particular building within it, also known as al-Jami’ al-Aqsa or al-Qibli or Masjid al-Jumah or al-Mughata; these names refer to the southern building with the silver lead dome. For centuries, al-Masjid al-Aqsa referred not only to the mosque, but to the entire sacred sanctuary, while al-Jami’ al-Aqsa referred to the specific site of the mosque. This changed during the period of Ottoman rule (c. early 16th century to 1917) when the sanctuary complex came to be known as al-Haram al-Sharif.

History Pre-Construction The al-Aqsa Mosque is located on the Temple Mount, referred to by Muslims today as the “Haram al-Sharif” (“The Noble Sanctuary”), an enclosure expanded by King Herod the Great beginning in 20 BCE. The mosque resides on an artificial platform that is supported by arches constructed by Herod’s engineers to overcome the difficult topographic conditions resulting from the southward expansion of the enclosure into the Tyropoeon and Kidron valleys. At the time of the Second Temple, the present site of the mosque was occupied by the Royal Stoa, a basilica running the southern wall of the enclosure. The Royal Stoa was destroyed along with the Temple during the sacking of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. It was once thought that Emperor Justinian’s “Nea Ekklesia of the Theotokos,” or the New Church of the God-Bearer, dedicated to the God-bearing Virgin Mary, consecrated in 543 and commonly known as the Nea Church, was situated where al-Aqsa Mosque was later constructed. However, remains identified as those of the Nea Church were uncovered in the south part of the Jewish Quarter in 1973. Analysis of the wooden beams and panels removed from the mosque during renovations in the 1930s shows they are made from Cedar of Lebanon and cypress. Radiocarbon dating indicates a large range of ages, some as old as ninth-century BCE, showing that some of the wood had previously been used in older buildings. In 2012, it was reported that Robert Hamilton, an archaeologist who worked on the Temple Mount after the 1927 Jericho earthquake, had discovered remains under al-Aqsa mosque that he did not publish in his book on the excavations. These included a mosaic like those used in Byzantine churches, and a Jewish mikvah from the Second Temple period. Construction by the Umayyads It is known that the current construction of the al-Aqsa Mosque is dated to the early Umayyad period of rule in Palestine. Architectural historian K. A. C. Creswell, referring to a testimony by Arculf, a Gallic monk, during his pilgrimage to Palestine in 679–682, notes the possibility that the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, Umar ibn al-Khattab, erected a primitive quadrangular building for a capacity of 3,000 worshipers somewhere on the Haram al-Sharif. However, Arculf visited Palestine during the reign of Mu’awiyah I, and it is possible that Mu’awiyah ordered the construction, not Umar. This latter claim is explicitly supported by the early Muslim scholar al-Muthahhar bin Tahir. According to several Muslim scholars, including Mujir ad-Din, al-Suyuti, and al-Muqaddasi, the mosque was reconstructed and expanded by the caliph Abd al-Malik in 690 along with the Dome of the Rock. Guy le Strange claims that Abd al-Malik used materials from the destroyed Church of Our Lady to build the mosque and points to possible evidence that substructures on the southeast corners of the mosque are remains of the church. In planning his magnificent project on the Temple Mount, which in effect would turn the entire complex into the Haram al-Sharif

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(“the Noble Sanctuary”), Abd al-Malik wanted to replace the slipshod structure described by Arculf with a more sheltered structure enclosing the qibla, a necessary element in his grand scheme. However, the entire Haram al-Sharif was meant to represent a mosque. How much he modified the aspect of the earlier building is unknown, but the length of the new building is indicated by the existence of traces of a bridge leading from the Umayyad palace just south of the western part of the complex. The bridge would have spanned the street running just outside the southern wall of the Haram al-Sharif to give direct access to the mosque. Direct access from palace to mosque was a well-known feature in the Umayyad period, as evidenced at various early sites. Abd al-Malik shifted the central axis of the mosque some 40 meters (130 feet) westward, in accord with his overall plan for the Haram al-Sharif. The earlier axis is represented in the structure by the niche still known as the “mihrab of ‘Umar.” In placing emphasis on the Dome of the Rock, Abd al-Malik had his architects align his new al-Aqsa Mosque according to the position of the Rock, thus shifting the main north–south axis of the Noble Sanctuary, a line running through the Dome of the Chain and the Mihrab of Umar. In contrast, Creswell, while referring to the Aphrodito Papyri, claims that Abd al-Malik’s son, al-Walid I, reconstructed the al-Aqsa Mosque over a period of six months to a year, using workers from Damascus. Most scholars agree that the mosque’s reconstruction was started by Abd al-Malik, but that al-Walid oversaw its completion. In 713–714, a series of earthquakes ravaged Jerusalem, destroying the eastern section of the mosque, which was subsequently rebuilt during al-Walid’s rule. In order to finance its reconstruction, al-Walid had gold from the dome of the Rock minted to use as money to purchase the material. The Umayyad-built al-Aqsa Mosque most likely measured 112 x 39 meters. Earthquakes and Reconstructions In 746, the al-Aqsa Mosque was damaged in an earthquake, four years before as-Saffah overthrew the Umayyads and established the Abbasid Caliphate. The second Abbasid caliph Abu Ja’far al-Mansur declared his intent to repair the mosque in 753, and he had the gold and silver plaques that covered the gates of the mosque removed and turned into dinars and dirhams to finance the reconstruction which ended in 771. A second earthquake damaged most of al-Mansur’s repairs, excluding those made in the southern portion in 774. In 780, the successor caliph Muhammad al-Mahdi had it rebuilt, but curtailed its length and increased its breadth. Al-Mahdi’s renovation is the first known to have written records describing it. In 985, Jerusalem-born Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi recorded that the renovated mosque had “fifteen naves and fifteen gates.” In 1033, there was another earthquake, severely damaging the mosque. The Fatimid caliph Ali az-Zahir rebuilt and completely renovated the mosque between 1034 and 1036. The number of naves was drastically reduced from fifteen to seven. Az-Zahir built the four arcades of the central hall and aisle, which presently serve as the foundation of the mosque. The central aisle was double the width of the other aisles and had a large gable roof upon which the dome—made of wood—was constructed. Persian geographer, Nasir Khusraw describes the Aqsa Mosque during a visit in 1047:

The Haram Area (Noble Sanctuary) lies in the eastern part of the city; and through the bazaar of this (quarter) you enter the Area by a great and beautiful gateway (Dargah) . . . . After passing this gateway, you have on the right two great colonnades (Riwaq), each of which has nine-and-twenty marble pillars, whose capitals and bases are of colored marbles, and the joints are set in lead. Above the pillars rise arches, that are constructed, of masonry, without mortar or cement, and each arch is constructed of no more than five or six blocks of stone. These colonnades lead down to near the Maqsurah.

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Jerusalem was captured by the Crusaders in 1099, during the First Crusade. They named the mosque “Solomon’s Temple,” distinguishing it from the Dome of the Rock, which they named Templum Domini (Temple of God). While the Dome of the Rock was turned into a Christian church under the care of the Augustinians, the al-Aqsa Mosque was used as a royal palace and also as a stable for horses. In 1119, it was transformed into the headquarters of the Templar Knights. During this period, the mosque underwent some structural changes, including the expansion of its northern porch, and the addition of an apse and a dividing wall. A new cloister and church were also built at the site, along with various other structures. The Templars constructed vaulted western and eastern annexes to the building; the western currently serves as the women’s mosque and the eastern as the Islamic Museum. After the Ayyubids under the leadership of Saladin re-conquered Jerusalem following the siege of 1187, several repairs and renovations were undertaken at al-Aqsa Mosque. In order to prepare the mosque for Friday prayers, within a week of his capture of Jerusalem Saladin had the toilets and grain stores installed by the Crusaders at al-Aqsa removed, the floors covered with precious carpets, and its interior scented with rosewater and incense. Saladin’s predecessor—the Zengid sultan Nur al-Din—had commissioned the construction of a new minbar or “pulpit” made of ivory and wood in 1168–69, but it was completed after his death; Nur ad-Din’s minbar was added to the mosque in November 1187 by Saladin. The Ayyubid sultan of Damascus, al-Mu’azzam, built the northern porch of the mosque with three gates in 1218. In 1345, the Mamluks under al-Kamil Shaban added two naves and two gates to the mosque’s eastern side. After the Ottomans assumed power in 1517, they did not undertake any major renovations or repairs to the mosque itself, but they did to the Noble Sanctuary as a whole. This included the building of the Fountain of Qasim Pasha (1527), the restoration of the Pool of Raranj, and the building of three free-standing domes—the most notable being the Dome of the Prophet built in 1538. All construction was ordered by the Ottoman governors of Jerusalem and not the sultans themselves. The sultans did make additions to existing minarets, however. In 1816, the mosque was restored by Governor Sulayman Pasha al-Adil after having been in a dilapidated state. Modern Era The first renovation in the twentieth-century occurred in 1922, when the Supreme Muslim Council under Amin al-Husayni (the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem) commissioned Turkish architect Ahmet Kemalettin Bey to restore al-Aqsa Mosque and the monuments in its precincts. The council also commissioned British architects, Egyptian engineering experts and local officials to contribute to and oversee the repairs and additions which were carried out in 1924–1925 by Kemalettin. The renovations included reinforcing the mosque’s ancient Umayyad foundations, rectifying the interior columns, replacing the beams, erecting a scaffolding, conserving the arches and drum of the main dome’s interior, rebuilding the southern wall, and replacing timber in the central nave with a slab of concrete. The renovations also revealed Fatimid-era mosaics and inscriptions on the interior arches that had been covered with plasterwork. The arches were decorated with gold and green-tinted gypsum and their timber tie beams were replaced with brass. A quarter of the stained glass windows also were carefully renewed so as to preserve their original Abbasid and Fatimid designs. Severe damage was caused by the 1927 and 1937 earthquakes, but the mosque was repaired in 1938 and 1942. On August 21, 1969, a fire was started by a visitor from Australia named Denis Michael Rohan. Rohan was a member of an evangelical Christian sect known as the Worldwide Church of God. He hoped that by burning down al-Aqsa Mosque he would hasten the Second Coming of Jesus, making way for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount. Rohan was subsequently hospitalized in a mental institution. In response to the incident, a summit of Islamic

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countries was held in Rabat that same year, hosted by Faisal of Saudi Arabia, the late king of Saudi Arabia. The al-Aqsa fire is regarded as one of the catalysts for the formation of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC, now the Organization of Islamic Cooperation) in 1972. In the 1980s, Ben Shoshan and Yehuda Etzion, both members of the Gush Emunim Underground, plotted to blow up the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Etzion believed that blowing up the two mosques would cause a spiritual awakening in Israel, and would solve all the problems of the Jewish people. They also hoped the Third Temple of Jerusalem would be built on the location of the mosque. On January 15, 1988, during the First Intifada, Israeli troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters outside the mosque, wounding 40 worshipers. On October 8, 1990, 22 Palestinians were killed and over 100 others injured by Israeli Border Police during protests that were triggered by the announcement of the Temple Mount Faithful, a group of religious Jews, that they were going to lay the cornerstone of the Third Temple. On September 28, 2000, then-opposition leader of Israel Ariel Sharon and members of the Likud Party, along with 1,000 armed guards, visited the al-Aqsa compound; a large group of Palestinians went to protest the visit. After Sharon and the Likud Party members left, a demonstration erupted and Palestinians on the grounds of the Haram al-Sharif began throwing stones and other projectiles at Israeli riot police. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowd, injuring 24 people. The visit sparked a five-year uprising by the Palestinians, commonly referred to as the al-Aqsa Intifada, though some commentators, citing subsequent speeches by PA officials, particularly Imad Falouji and Arafat himself, claim that the Intifada had been planned months in advance, as early as July upon Yasser Arafat’s return from Camp David talks. On September 29,, the Israeli government deployed 2,000 riot police to the mosque. When a group of Palestinians left the mosque after Friday prayers (Jumu’ah,) they hurled stones at the police. The police then stormed the mosque compound, firing both live ammunition and rubber bullets at the group of Palestinians, killing four and wounding about 200. On November 5, 2014, Israeli police enter Al-Aqsa of the first time since capturing Jerusalem in 1967, said Sheikh Azzam Al-Khatib, director of the Islamic Waqf. Previous media reports of ‘storming Al-Aqsa’ referred to Haram al-Sharif compound rather than the Al-Aqsa mosque itself.

Architecture The rectangular al-Aqsa Mosque and its precincts are 144,000 square meters (1,550,000 square feet), although the mosque itself is about 35,000 square meters (380,000 square feet) and could hold up to 5,000 worshipers. It is 272 feet (83 meters) long, 184 feet (56 meters) wide. Unlike the Dome of the Rock, which reflects classical Byzantine architecture, the Al-Aqsa Mosque is characteristic of early Islamic architecture. Dome Nothing remains of the original dome built by Abd al-Malik. The present-day dome was built by az-Zahir and consists of wood plated with lead enamelwork. In 1969, the dome was reconstructed in concrete and covered with anodized aluminum, instead of the original ribbed lead enamel work sheeting. In 1983, the aluminum outer covering was replaced with lead to match the original design by az-Zahir. Al-Aqsa’s dome is one of the few domes to be built in front of the mihrab during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, the others being the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus (715) and the Great Mosque at Sousse (850). The interior of the dome is painted with fourteenth-century-era decorations. During the 1969 burning, the paintings were assumed to be irreparably lost, but

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were completely reconstructed using the trateggio technique, a method that uses fine vertical lines to distinguish reconstructed areas from original ones. Minarets The mosque has four minarets on the southern, northern, and western sides. The first minaret, known as al-Fakhariyya Minaret, was built in 1278 on the southwestern corner of the mosque, on the orders of the Mamluk sultan Lajin. It was named after Fakhr al-Din al-Khalili, the father of Sharif al-Din Abd al-Rahman who supervised the building’s construction. It was built in the traditional Syrian style, with a square-shaped base and shaft, divided by moldings into three floors above which two lines of muqarnas decorate the muezzin’s balcony. The niche is surrounded by a square chamber that ends in a lead-covered stone dome. The second, known as the Ghawanima minaret, was built at the northwestern corner of the Noble Sanctuary in 1297–1298 by architect Qadi Sharaf al-Din al-Khalili, also on the orders of the Sultan Lajin. Six stories high, it is the tallest minaret of the Noble Sanctuary. The tower is almost entirely made of stone, apart from a timber canopy over the muezzin’s balcony. Because of its firm structure, the Ghawanima minaret has been nearly untouched by earthquakes. The minaret is divided into several stories by stone molding and stalactite galleries. The first two stories are wider and form the base of the tower. The additional four stories are surmounted by a cylindrical drum and a bulbous dome. The stairway is externally located on the first two floors, but becomes an internal spiral structure from the third floor until it reaches the muezzin’s balcony. In 1329, Tankiz—the Mamluk governor of Syria—ordered the construction of a third minaret called the Bab al-Silsila Minaret located on the western border of the al-Aqsa Mosque. This minaret, possibly replacing an earlier Umayyad minaret, is built in the traditional Syrian square tower type and is made entirely out of stone. Since the sixteenth-century, it has been tradition that the best muezzin (“reciter”) of the adhan (the call to prayer) is assigned to this minaret because the first call to each of the five daily prayers is raised from it, giving the signal for the muezzins of mosques throughout Jerusalem to follow suit. The last and most notable minaret was built in 1367, and is known as Minaret al-Asbat. It is composed of a cylindrical stone shaft (built later by the Ottomans), which springs up from a rectangular Mamluk-built base on top of a triangular transition zone. The shaft narrows above the muezzin’s balcony, and is dotted with circular windows, ending with a bulbous dome. The dome was reconstructed after the 1927 earthquake. There are no minarets in the eastern portion of the mosque. However, in 2006, King Abdullah I of Jordan announced his intention to build a fifth minaret overlooking the Mount of Olives. The King Hussein Minaret is planned to be the tallest structure in the Old City of Jerusalem. Façade and Porch The facade of the mosque was built in 1065 CE on the instructions of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir. It was crowned with a balustrade consisting of arcades and small columns. The Crusaders damaged the facade during their era of rule in Palestine, but it was restored and renovated by the Ayyubids. One addition was the facade’s covering with tiles. The second-hand material of the facade’s arches includes sculpted ornamental material from taken from Crusader structures in Jerusalem. There are fourteen stone arches along the facade, most of which are of a Romanesque style. The outer arches added by the Mamluks follow the same general design. The entrance to the mosque is through the facade’s central arch.

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The porch is located at the top of the facade. The central bays of the porch were built by the Knights Templar during the First Crusade, but Saladin’s nephew al-Mu’azzam ordered the construction of the porch itself in 1217. Interior The al-Aqsa Mosque has seven aisles of hypostyle naves with several additional small halls to the west and east of the southern section of the building. There are 121 stained glass windows in the mosque from the Abbasid and Fatimid eras. About a fourth of them were restored in 1924. The mosque’s interior is supported by 45 columns, 33 of which are white marble and 12 of stone. The column rows of the central aisles are heavy and stunted. The remaining four rows are better proportioned. The capitals of the columns are of four different kinds: those in the central aisle are heavy and primitively designed, while those under the dome are of the Corinthian order, and made from Italian white marble. The capitals in the eastern aisle are of a heavy basket-shaped design and those east and west of the dome are also basket-shaped, but smaller and better proportioned. The columns and piers are connected by an architectural rave, which consists of beams of roughly squared timber enclosed in a wooden casing. A great portion of the mosque is covered with whitewash, but the drum of the dome and the walls immediately beneath it are decorated with mosaics and marble. Some paintings by an Italian artist were introduced when repairs were undertaken at the mosque after an earthquake ravaged the mosque in 1927. The ceiling of the mosque was painted with funding by King Farouk of Egypt. The minbar (“pulpit”) of the mosque was built by a craftsman named Akhtarini from Aleppo on the orders of the Zengid sultan Nur ad-Din. It was intended to be a gift for the mosque when Nur ad-Din would capture Jerusalem from the Crusaders and took six years to build (1168–74). Nur ad-Din died and the Crusaders still controlled Jerusalem, but in 1187, Saladin captured the city and the minbar was installed. The structure was made of ivory and carefully crafted wood. Arabic calligraphy, geometrical and floral designs were inscribed in the woodwork. After its destruction by Rohan in 1969, it was replaced by a much simpler minbar. In January 2007, Adnan al-Husayni—head of the Islamic waqf in charge of al-Aqsa—stated that a new minbar would be installed; it was installed in February 2007. The design of the new minbar was drawn by Jamil Badran based on an exact replica of the Saladin Minbar and was finished by Badran within a period of five years. The minbar itself was built in Jordan over a period of four years and the craftsmen used “ancient woodworking methods, joining the pieces with pegs instead of nails, but employed computer images to design the pulpit [minbar].” Ablution Fountain The mosque’s main ablution fountain, known as al-Kas (“the Cup”), is located north of the mosque between it and the Dome of the Rock. It is used by worshipers to perform wudu, a ritual washing of the hands, arms, legs, feet, and face before entry into the mosque. It was first built in 709 by the Umayyads, but in 1327–1328 Governor Tankiz enlarged it to accommodate more worshipers. Although originally supplied with water from Solomon’s Pools near Bethlehem, it currently receives water from pipes connected to Jerusalem’s water supply. In the twentieth century, al-Kas was provided taps and stone seating. The Fountain of Qasim Pasha, built by the Ottomans in 1526 and located north of the mosque on the platform of the Dome of the Rock, was used by worshipers for ablution and for drinking until the 1940s. Today, it stands as a monumental structure.

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Religious Significance in Islam In Islam, the term “al-Aqsa Mosque” refers to the entire Noble Sanctuary. The mosque is believed to be the second house of prayer constructed after the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. Post-Rashidun-era Islamic scholars traditionally identified the mosque as the site referred to in the sura (Quranic chapter) al-Isra (“the Night Journey”). This specific verse in the Quran cemented the significant religious importance of al-Aqsa in Islam. The specific passage reads “Praise be to him who made his servant journey in the night from the sacred sanctuary to the remotest sanctuary.” Muslims traditionally identify the “sacred sanctuary” as the Masjid al-Haram and the “remotest sanctuary” as the al-Aqsa Mosque, even though initially, Rashidun and Umayyad-era scholars were in disagreement about the location of the “remotest sanctuary” with some arguing it was actually located near Mecca. Eventually scholarly consensus determined that its location was indeed in Jerusalem. Isra and Mi’raj According to the Quran and Islamic traditions, al-Aqsa Mosque is the place from which Muhammad went on a night journey (al-isra) during which he rode on Buraq, who took him from Mecca to al-Aqsa. Muhammad tethered Buraq to the Western Wall and prayed at al-Aqsa Mosque and after he finished his prayers, the angel Jibril (Gabriel) traveled with him to heaven, where he met several other prophets and led them in prayer. First qibla The historical significance of the al-Aqsa Mosque in Islam is further emphasized by the fact that Muslims turned towards al-Aqsa when they prayed for a period of sixteen or seventeen months after migration to Medina in 624, thus it became the qibla (“direction”) that Muslims faced for prayer. Muhammad later prayed towards the Kaaba in Mecca after receiving a revelation during a prayer session (Quran 2:142–151) in the Masjid al-Qiblatayn. The qibla was relocated to the Kaaba where Muslims have been directed to pray ever since. The altering of the qibla was precisely the reason the Rashidun caliph Umar, despite identifying the mosque which Muhammad used to ascend to heaven upon his arrival at the Noble Sanctuary in 638, neither prayed facing it nor built any structure upon it. This was because the significance of that particular spot on the Noble Sanctuary was superseded in Islamic jurisprudence by the Kaaba in Mecca after the change of the qibla towards that site. 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 “. . . 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. Thus, according to this tradition, Umar thereby re-consecrated the site as a mosque. Because of the holiness of Noble Sanctuary itself—being a place where David and Solomon had prayed—Umar constructed a small prayer house in the southern corner of its platform, taking care to avoid allowing the Rock to come between the mosque and the direction of Kaaba so that Muslims would face only Mecca when they prayed.

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Religious Status Jerusalem is recognized as a sacred site in Islam. Though the Quran does not mention Jerusalem by name, it has been understood by Islamic scholars since the earliest times that many passages in the Quran refer to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is also mentioned many times in the hadith. Some 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. Others point to the political motives of the Umayyad dynasty which led to the sanctification of Jerusalem in Islam. Later medieval scripts, as well as modern-day political tracts, tend to classify al-Aqsa Mosque as the third holiest site in Islam. For example, Sahih al-Bukhari quotes Abu Darda as saying: “the Prophet of God Muhammad said a prayer in the Sacred Mosque (in Mecca) is worth 100,000 prayers; a prayer in my mosque (in Medina) is worth 10,000 prayers; and a prayer in al-Aqsa Mosque is worth 1,000 prayers,” more than in any other mosque. In addition, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, refers to the al-Aqsa Mosque as the third holiest site in Islam (and calls for Arab sovereignty over it).

Current Situations Administration The Waqf Ministry of Jordan held control of the al-Aqsa Mosque until the 1967 Six-Day War. After Israel’s victory in that war, Israel transferred the control of the mosque and the northern Noble Sanctuary to the Islamic waqf trust, who are independent of the Israeli government. However, Israeli Security Forces are permitted to patrol and conduct searches within the perimeter of the mosque. After the 1969 arson attack, the waqf employed architects, technicians and craftsmen in a committee that carry out regular maintenance operations. The Islamic Movement in Israel and the waqf have attempted to increase Muslim control of the Temple Mount as a way of countering Israeli policies and the escalating presence of Israeli security forces around the site since the al-Aqsa Intifada. Some activities included refurbishing abandoned structures and renovating. Muhammad Ahmad Hussein is the head imam and manager of the al-Aqsa Mosque and was assigned the role of Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in 2006 by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Ownership of the al-Aqsa Mosque is a contentious issue in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Israel claims sovereignty over the mosque along with all of the Temple Mount (Noble Sanctuary), but Palestinians hold the custodianship of the site through the Islamic waqf. During the negotiations at the 2000 Camp David Summit, Palestinians demanded complete ownership of the mosque and other Islamic holy sites in East Jerusalem. Currents Imams: Sheikh Abu Yusuf Sneia, Sheikh Ali Al Abbasi, Sheikh Sa’eed Qalqeeli, Sheikh Walid. Access Muslim residents of Israel and Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are normally allowed to enter the Temple Mount and pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque without restrictions. Due to security measures, the Israeli government occasionally prevents certain groups of Muslims from reaching al-Aqsa by blocking the entrances to the complex; the restrictions vary from time to time. At times restrictions have prevented all men under 50 and women under 45 from entering, but married men over 45 are allowed. Sometimes the restrictions are enforced on the occasion of Friday prayers, other times they are over an extended period of time. Restrictions are most severe

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for Gazans, followed by restrictions on those from West Bank. The Israeli government states that the restrictions are in place for security reasons. Until 2000, non-Muslim visitors could enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque by getting a ticket from the Waqf. That procedure ended when the Second Intifada began. Fifteen years later, negotiation between Israel and Jordan might result in allowing visitors to enter once again. Excavations Several excavations outside the Temple Mount took place following the 1967 War. In 1970, Israeli authorities commenced intensive excavations outside the walls next to the mosque on the southern and western sides. Palestinians believed that tunnels were being dug under the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to undermine its foundations, which was denied by Israelis, who claimed that the closest excavation to the mosque was some 70 meters (230 feet) to its south. The Archaeological Department of the Israeli Ministry of Religious Affairs dug a tunnel near the western portion of the mosque in 1984. According to UNESCO’s special envoy to Jerusalem Oleg Grabar, buildings and structures on the Temple Mount are deteriorating due mostly to disputes between the Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian governments over who is actually responsible for the site. In February 2007, the Department started to excavate a site for archaeological remains in a location where the government wanted to rebuild a collapsed pedestrian bridge leading to the Mughrabi Gate, the only entrance for non-Muslims into the Temple Mount complex. This site was 60 meters (200 feet) away from the mosque. The excavations provoked anger throughout the Islamic world, and Israel was accused of trying to destroy the foundation of the mosque. Ismail Haniya—then Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas leader—called on Palestinians to unite to protest the excavations, while Fatah said they would end their ceasefire with Israel. Israel denied all charges against them, calling them “ludicrous.”

THE DOME OF THE CHAIN

The Dome of the Chain (Arabic: Qubbat as-Silsila) is a free-standing dome located adjacently east of the Dome of the Rock in the Old City of Jerusalem. One of the oldest structures on the Haram ash-Sharif (Temple Mount), it is not a mosque or shrine, but is used as a prayer house. It was built by the Ummayads, became a Christian chapel under the Crusaders, was restored as an Islamic prayer house by the Ayyubids, and has been renovated by the Mamluks, Ottomans, and the Palestinian-based waqf.

History Some structures within the dome date to pre-Islamic times, but it is widely accepted by both Arab and Western scholars that the Dome of the Chain was originally built by the caliph Abd al-

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English: The Dome of the Chain (Arabic: !4545%& !78, Qubbat al-Silsila), on the Temple Mount in the Old City ofJerusalem. The Dome of the Chain was constructed during the Umayyad Caliphate (c. 685 AD) and served as amodel for the building of The Dome of the Rock (Arabic: BGNO%& !78 .P5+", Hebrew: כיפת הסלע) (c. 691 AD).

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Malik in 691, during the Umayyad rule in Palestine. The Umayyad design of the building has largely remained unaltered by later restorations. In addition to being a prayer house, the dome was used as a treasury for the local Muslim community. When the First Crusade invaded the Levant in 1099, they identified the dome as the spot where Saint James was martyred and transformed the building into a chapel dedicated to him. In 1187, the building was returned to Islamic use after Saladin recaptured Jerusalem for the Muslims. In 1199 the ceiling and pavings were renewed and marble was added to the columns by the ruling Ayyubids. The Crusaders briefly re-used the place from 1240–1244, but they were defeated by the Mamluks of Egypt. The Mamluk sultan Baibars renovated the dome and slightly reduced the number of columns in the thirteenth century, as well as re-facing the mihrab with marble. In 1561, under the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the tiles of the mihrab were glazed and later in 1760, more tiles were added to it. The last major renovation was undertaken by the Islamic waqf of Jerusalem in 1975-1976.

Religious Significance The Dome of the Chain owes its name to an ancient legend during King Solomon’s rule. According to Mujadir ad-Din, Among the wonders of the Holy House is the chain, which Solomon, son of David, suspended between Heaven and Earth, to the east of the Rock, where the Dome of the Chain now stands. The chain had one characteristic. If two men approached it to solve a point of litigation, only the honest and upright man could take hold of it; the unjust man saw it move out of his reach. The building in Islamic tradition is the spot where Judgment Day will occur in the “end of days” and where a chain will stop the sinful and let the just pass through. Notably, the mihrab in the al-Aqsa Mosque is located exactly in the middle of the qibla wall of the Temple Mount on north-south axis with the Dome of the Chain.

Architecture The building consists of a domed hexagonal structure with open arches. The dome, consisting of an inner hexagonal drum, is made of timber and is supported by six columns, enclosed by a wall-less roof. The roof is situated atop of eleven columns supported by a polygonal outer arcade. The plan of the structure is a triangular base with two inter-columnar spaces of the inner drum which correspond to three of the outer polygons on the northeastern and northwestern sides. The qibla wall contains the mihrab or prayer niche and is flanked by two smaller columns. There are a total of seventeen columns in the structure, excluding the mihrab, versus the original amount which was twenty. The Dome of the Chain has a diameter of 14 meters (46 feet), making it the third largest building on the Haram after the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Dome of the Rock model According to a number of early Arab historians, the Dome of the Chain (excluding its outer wall) was used as a model for the Dome of the Rock. Like the latter, the Dome of the Chain has two concentric polygons, with pillars bound together by a wooden beam and supporting arcades. The Dome of the Rock is three times the size of the Dome of the Chain and the ground plan and height are proportional.

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THE DOME OF THE ASCENSION

The Dome of the Ascension (Arabic: Qubbat al-Miraj; Hebrew: Kippat Ha'Aliyah) is a free-standing dome that commemorates the Islamic prophet Muhammad's ascension to heaven. It is located just north the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It is not clear when the original dome was built, but is assumed to have been either Ummayad or Abbasid work, because it is mentioned by Ibn al-Fakih in 903 CE and by al-Muqaddasi in 985 CE as being one of the “two minor domes;” the other being the Dome of the Prophet. However, the modern-day Dome of the Ascension was built by the Ayyubid governor of Jerusalem, Izz ad-Din az-Zanjili in 1200 from Crusader construction materials.

THE DOME OF THE PROPHET

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The Dome of the Prophet also known as the Dome of Gabriel (Qubbat Jibril) is a free-standing dome in the northern Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif) in Jerusalem that serves as a symbolic monument rather than a religious building. It is a part of the terrace of the Dome of the Rock and is one of three Ottoman-built free-standing domes in the Temple Mount vicinity.

History Originally, the Dome of the Prophet was built in 1538 by Muhammad Bey, Ottoman Governor of Jerusalem. However, it was restored in 1620 on the orders of Farruk Bey, the succeeding Governor of Jerusalem and completed during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman II. The dome today mostly reflects the 1620 restoration. The dome is a commemoration of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Further additions were made to the dome in 1845. Several Muslim writers, most notably al Suyuti, claimed that the site of the dome is where Muhammad led the prophets and angels in prayer on the night of Isra and Mir’aj before ascending to heaven. Endowment documents from the Ottoman period indicate that a portion of the endowment of the al-Aqsa Mosque was dedicated to maintain the lighting of an oil-lamp in the Dome of the Prophet each night.

Architecture The Dome of the Prophet's octagonal structure is built atop eight gray marble columns. The dome is hemispherical and is supported by pointed arches decorated with red, black and white stones. The ancient mihrab is made of a White marble slab embedded in the floor and surrounded by red-colored stones and subsequently delimited by a low wall, that traditionally opened in the north to allow entrance of Muslim worshipers heading southward to Mecca for the Haij. The dome is much smaller than the other free-standing domes in the vicinity, being no larger than the entrance to the Dome of the Rock structure.

the noble sanctuary - coastalseniorcollege.org 2016... · it was initially completed in 691 ce at...

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