Temple Mount
The Temple Mount is a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem. Once the site of two successive Temples in Jerusalem, it is now home to the Islamic compound known as al-Aqsa, which includes the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. It has been venerated as a holy site for thousands of years, including in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
The present site is a flat plaza surrounded by retaining walls, which were originally built by Herod the Great in the first century BCE to expand the Second Temple. The plaza is dominated by two monumental structures originally built during the Rashidun and early Umayyad caliphates after the 637 first Muslim conquest of Jerusalem: the Qibli Mosque of al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, near the center of the hill, which was completed in 692, making it one of the oldest extant Muslim structures in the world. The Herodian walls and gates, with additions from the late Byzantine, early Muslim, Mamluk, and Ottoman periods, flank the site, which can be reached through eleven gates, ten reserved for Muslims and one for non-Muslims, with guard posts of the Israel Police in the vicinity of each. The courtyard is surrounded on the north and west by two Mamluk-era porticos or arcades and four minarets.
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, and where the Temples in Jerusalem once stood. According to Jewish and Samaritan tradition and scriptures, the first Temple was Solomon's Temple, built by King Solomon, the son of King David, in 957 BCE, and was destroyed along with the city itself by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the Siege of Jerusalem, in 587 BCE. No archaeological evidence has been found to verify the existence of the First Temple, and scientific excavations are limited due to religious sensitivities.
The Second Temple, constructed under Zerubbabel in 516 BCE, was later renovated by King Herod and destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70 CE. Orthodox Judaism maintains it is here that the third and final Temple will be built when the Messiah comes.
Jews face the Temple Mount during prayer. Jewish attitudes towards entering the site vary. Due to its extreme sanctity, many Jews will not walk on the Mount itself to avoid unintentionally entering the area where the Holy of Holies stood, since, according to rabbinical law, there is still some aspect of the divine presence at the site.
The Al-Aqsa mosque compound atop the site is the second oldest mosque in Islam, and one of the three Sacred Mosques, the holiest sites in Islam; it is revered as "the Noble Sanctuary". Its courtyard can host more than 400,000 worshippers, making it one of the largest mosques in the world.
For Sunni and Shia Muslims alike, it ranks as the third holiest site in Islam. The plaza includes the location regarded as where Muhammad ascended bodily into heaven, and served as the initial qibla, the direction Muslims turn towards when praying. As in Judaism, Muslims also associate the site with Solomon and other prophets also venerated in Islam. The site, and the term "al-Aqsa", in relation to the whole plaza, is also a central identity symbol for Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians.
Since the Crusades, the Muslim community of Jerusalem has managed the site through the Jerusalem Waqf. The site, along with the whole of East Jerusalem, was controlled by Jordan from 1948 until 1967 and has been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. Shortly after capturing the site, Israel handed its administration back to the Waqf under the Hashemite custodianship while maintaining Israeli security control. Israel enforces a ban on prayer by non-Muslims as part of an arrangement usually referred to as the "status quo". The site remains a major focal point of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Terminology
The name of the site is disputed, primarily between Muslims and Jews, in the context of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Some Arab-Muslim commentators and scholars attempt to deny Jewish connection with the Temple Mount, while some Jewish commentators and scholars attempt to belittle the importance of the site in Islam. During a 2016 dispute over the name of the site, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova stated: "Different peoples worship the same places, sometimes under different names. The recognition, use of and respect for these names is paramount."Temple Mount
The term Har haBayīt – commonly translated as "Temple Mount" in English – was first used in the books of Micah and Jeremiah, literally as "Mount of the House", a literary variation of the longer phrase "Mountain of the House of the Lord". The abbreviation was not used again in the later books of the Hebrew Bible or in the New Testament. The term remained in use throughout the Second Temple period, although the term “Mount Zion”, which today refers to the eastern hill of ancient Jerusalem, was used more frequently. Both terms are in use in the Book of Maccabees. The term Har haBayīt is used throughout the Mishnah and later Talmudic texts.The exact moment when the concept of the Mount as a topographical feature separate from the Temple or the city itself first came into existence is a matter of debate among scholars. According to Eliav, it was during the first century CE, after the destruction of the Second Temple. Shahar and Shatzman reached different conclusions. In the Books of Chronicles, edited at the end of the Persian period, the mountain is already referred to as a distinct entity. In 2 Chronicles, Solomon's Temple was constructed on Mount Moriah, and Manasseh's atonement for his sins is associated with the Mountain of the House of the Lord. The conception of the Temple as being located on a holy mountain possessing special qualities is found repeatedly in Psalms, with the surrounding area being considered an integral part of the Temple itself.
The governmental organization which administers the site, the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, have stated that the name "The Temple Mount" is a "strange and alien name" and a "newly-created Judaization term". In 2014, the Palestinian Liberation Organization issued a press release urging journalists not to use the term "Temple Mount" when referring to the site. In 2017, it was reported that Waqf officials harassed archeologists such as Gabriel Barkay and tour guides who used the term at the site. According to Jan Turek and John Carman, in modern usage, the term Temple Mount can potentially imply support for Israeli control of the site.
Other Hebrew terms
3:1 refers to the Temple Mount in the time before the construction of the temple as Mount Moriah.Several passages in the Hebrew Bible indicate that during the time when they were written, the Temple Mount was identified as Mount Zion. The Mount Zion mentioned in the later parts of the Book of Isaiah, in the Book of Psalms, and the First Book of Maccabees seems to refer to the top of the hill, generally known as the Temple Mount. According to the Book of Samuel, Mount Zion was the site of the Jebusite fortress called the "stronghold of Zion", but once the First Temple was erected, according to the Bible, at the top of the Eastern Hill, the name "Mount Zion" migrated there too. The name later migrated for a last time, this time to Jerusalem's Western Hill.
Al-Aqsa Mosque
The English term "al-Aqsa Mosque" is a translation of either al-Masjid al-'Aqṣā or al-Jâmi' al-Aqṣā. Al-Masjid al-'Aqṣā – "the farthest mosque" – is derived from the Quran's Surah 17 which writes that Muhammad travelled from Mecca to the mosque, from where he subsequently ascended to Heaven. Arabic and Persian writers such as 10th-century geographer Al-Maqdisi, 11th-century scholar Nasir Khusraw, 12th-century geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi and 15th-century Islamic scholar Mujir al-Din, as well as 19th century American and British Orientalists Edward Robinson, Guy Le Strange and Edward Henry Palmer explained that the term Masjid al-Aqsa refers to the entire esplanade plaza which is the subject of this article – the entire area including the Dome of the Rock, the fountains, the gates, and the four minarets – because none of these buildings existed at the time the Quran was written.Al-Jâmi' al-Aqṣá refers to the specific site of the silver-domed congregational mosque building, also referred to as Qibli Mosque or Qibli Chapel, in reference to its location on the southern end of the compound as a result of the Islamic qibla being moved from Jerusalem to Mecca. The two different Arabic terms, translated as "mosque" in English, parallel the two different Greek terms translated as "temple" in the New Testament: and , and use of the term "mosque" for the whole compound follows the usage of the same term for other early Islamic sites with large courtyards such as the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and the Great Mosque of Kairouan. Other sources and maps have used the term al-Masjid al-'Aqṣā to refer to the congregational mosque itself.
The term "al-Aqsa" as a symbol and brand-name has become popular and prevalent in the region. For example, the Al-Aqsa Intifada, the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, al-Aqsa TV, al-Aqsa University, Jund al-Aqsa, the Jordanian military periodical published since the early 1970s, and the associations of both the southern and northern branches of the Islamic Movement in Israel are all named Al-Aqsa after this site.
al-Haram ash-Sharif
During the period of Mamluk and Ottoman rule, the wider compound of the Temple Mount began to also be popularly known as the Haram al-Sharif, or, which translates as the 'Noble Sanctuary,' or, the 'Noble Jerusalem/Holy Sanctuary.' The Arabic word ḥaram —related to but distinct from the word haram —is used to refer to a campus or a compound, especially of a mosque, as in ḥaram jāmiʿī.It mirrors the terminology of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca; This term elevated the compound to the status of Haram, which had previously been reserved for the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, and the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina. Other Islamic figures disputed the haram status of the site. Usage of the name Haram al-Sharif by local Palestinians has waned in recent decades, in favor of the traditional name of Al-Aqsa Mosque.