Al-Aqsa Mosque (
Arabic:المسجد الاقصى
al-Masjid al-Aqṣā, IPA:
[ʔælˈmæsdʒɪd ælˈʔɑqsˤɑ] , "the Farthest Mosque") also known as
Al-Aqsa and
Bayt al-Muqaddas, is located in the
Old City of
Jerusalem. The site on which the silver domed mosque sits, along with the
Dome of the Rock, also referred to as
al-Haram ash-Sharif or "Noble Sanctuary," is the
Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, the place where the
Temple stood before being destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.
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
Fatimidcaliph
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 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.
lolz pakistan first should stop drones talibans and free herself . lolz bijli na paani phir bhi saapny aaty hai israel india se jung ke .
Pakistan is the citadel of Islam and custodian of the Islamic bomb. Its the duty of Pakistan to liberate the Palestinians from their Zionist oppressors.