Since its occupation in 1967, Al-Aqsa Mosque has been subjected to continuous attacks, most notably the raids of ministers, members of the Knesset, police officers, and settlers, and their attempts to perform religious rituals, including offering sacrifices inside the Temple Mount.

The religious importance of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

It is the mosque to which the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was taken on the journey. The story is mentioned in the Qur’an, as God Almighty said at the beginning of Surat Al-Isra, “Glory be to Him who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, whose surroundings We have blessed” (Al-Isra – Verse 1).

It is also the first of the two qiblas, as Muslims prayed to it throughout the Meccan period, in addition to 17 months after the Hijra, before they were ordered to turn towards the Grand Mosque. It is also the third mosque to which travelers travel after the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina.

In addition, for many centuries, Al-Aqsa Mosque has remained an important center for teaching sciences and knowledge of Islamic civilization, a center for major religious celebrations, and a place for announcing royal decrees and appointing senior officials.

When was Al-Aqsa Mosque built?

Al-Aqsa Mosque was built more than two thousand years before Christ. It is the second mosque built on earth after the Sacred Mosque. The evidence for that is what Al-Bukhari narrated on the authority of Abu Dhar al-Ghafari, may God be pleased with him. He said: I said, O Messenger of God, which mosque was placed on earth first? He said: Masjed Al-haram, I said: then what? He said: “Al-Aqsa Mosque.” I said: How much was there between them? He said: “Forty years, then wherever prayer catches you, pray, and the earth will be a mosque for you.”

Who built Al-Aqsa Mosque?

It is not known precisely who built Al-Aqsa Mosque the first time, as historians disagreed among themselves over who laid the first brick to build the mosque. Some of them said that the Prophet Adam, the father of humans, was the one who built it. Some say that it was Shem, son of Noah, and others said that the Prophet Abraham He was the one who built Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Some accounts suggest that the first person to build it was Adam, peace be upon him. He marked its borders 40 years after he laid the foundations of the Sacred House by order of God Almighty, without there having been a synagogue, church, temple, or temple before them.

History of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Just as construction and reconstruction operations continued on the Grand Mosque, they continued on the Blessed Al-Aqsa. Our master Abraham built it around the year 2000 BC, then his sons Isaac and Jacob, peace be upon them, took over the task after him. Our master Solomon, peace be upon him, renewed its construction around the year 1000 BC.

In one of the most famous Islamic conquests in the year 15 AH (636 AD), Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab came from Medina to Jerusalem and received it from its residents in an agreement known as the “Omar Covenant.” He personally cleaned the overlooking rock and Al-Aqsa Square, then built a small mosque in the far south.

Many companions delegated with Omar, including Abu Ubaidah Amer bin Al-Jarrah, Saad bin Abi Waqqas, Khalid bin Al-Walid, and Abu Dhar Al-Ghafari.

The name of the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is given to the entire semi-rectangular area of ​​144 dunams, and the facilities in it, the most important of which is the Dome of the Rock, which was built by Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan in the year 72 AH (691 AD) along with the Al-Qibli Mosque, which is considered one of the most wonderful Islamic monuments. Then the Caliph completed Al-Walid bin Abdul Malik built the Al-Qibli Mosque during his reign, which extended from 86 to 96 AH (705 – 714 AD).

The Dome of the Rock has remained in its original form to this day. As for the Al-Qibli Mosque, its current building differs from that of the Umayyads, as the mosque was built several times in the wake of earthquakes it was exposed to over the past centuries, starting with the earthquake that it suffered at the end of the Umayyad rule in the year 130 AH (747 AD). And passing through the earthquake that occurred during the era of the Fatimids in the year 425 AH (1033 AD).

What are the most prominent features of Al-Aqsa Mosque?

Al-Aqsa Mosque includes both the Dome of the Rock (the Golden Dome) located at the heart of it, and the Al-Qibli Mosque (with the lead dome) located at its southernmost point, towards the Qiblah.

The Al-Qibli Mosque includes 7 galleries (a middle galleries, three galleries on the east side, and three on the west side). These galleries rise on 53 marble columns and 49 stone columns.

There are 25 fresh water wells in Al-Aqsa Square, 8 of which are in the courtyard of the Holy Rock and 17 in the lower courtyards. There are also sites for ablution.

As for drinking water fountains, the most important of them is the Qaitbay Sabil, which is covered with a magnificent stone dome, which caught the attention of Arab and foreign travelers who visited the mosque, along with the Badiri Sabil and the Qasim Pasha Sabil.

There are also several mastabas, numbering up to forty, raised one or two degrees above the ground, and used for sitting, praying, and teaching Islamic knowledge (the noble hadith, the biography of the Prophet, interpretation, Islamic culture, and jurisprudence, in addition to the Arabic language and drawing), and they accommodate all ages and both genders, and their number reaches 35 mastabas, brown. Some of them are from the Mamluk era, and most of them are from the Ottoman era. 

Al-Aqsa Mosque: area, shape, and number of doors.

The area of ​​Al-Aqsa Mosque is about 144 dunums (one thousand square meters), and it occupies about one-sixth of the area of ​​the Old City of Jerusalem.

s shape is polygonal or semi-rectangular, and its western side is 491 meters, its eastern side is 462 meters, its northern side is 310 meters, and its southern side is 281 meters.

At the top of the mosque is a dome, and it has 11 doors, 7 of which are in the north, one in the east, two in the west, and one in the south.

What is the reward for praying in Al-Aqsa Mosque?

Praying in Al-Aqsa Mosque doubles the reward, and there have been many narrations and hadiths about how much it is equivalent to it. It has been reported that it is equivalent to 500 prayers, and it has also been reported that it is equivalent to 250 prayers, and it has also been said that praying in it is equivalent to 50 thousand prayers, which is what scholars believe is not correct because it exceeds the virtue of prayer. In the Grand Mosque, and they confirm that the most authentic narration regarding prayer in Al-Aqsa Mosque is the narration that indicates that it is a thousand prayers.

Whoever enters Al-Aqsa and performs prayer anywhere in it – whether under one of its trees, or one of its domes, or on top of one of its terraces, or inside the Dome of the Rock, or the Al-Qibli Mosque – it is written for him to pray in Al-Aqsa Mosque, then the matter there is the same, and there is no difference in Praying between one place and another, there is all the merit in it.