Chapter IV : The Holiness of the Al-Aqsa Mosque

The Umayyads enhanced the position of Jerusalem still further by the building of Al-Aqsa Mosque, sometimes referred to by Christian authors as ‘Solomon’s Temple’. Al-Aqsa Mosque was built by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid. Some Arab historians, however, say that its construction was started by Abdul-Malik and only completed by his son Al-Walid. We have already referred to repairs carried out at the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa. Abu-Ja’far Al-Mansur (758-75), the second Abbasid Caliph, Al-Mahdi (775-85), and Al-Malik al-Mu’azzam Isa (d. 1227) carried out repairs, improvements and additions. Al-Zahir, the Fatimid Caliph, rebuilt in 1033 Al-Aqsa Mosque previously rebuilt by Al-Mahdi. In both cases the Mosque was ruined by an earthquake. In 1066 the Fatimid Caliph, al-Mustansir, repaired the northern side of the Mosque. In 1168, Nur Al-Din Zengi had a pulpit made for the Mosque, to be installed after the recapture of Jerusalem from the Crusaders. This famous pulpit was unfortunately burnt down on 21 August 1969. In 1217, Al-Malik Al-Mu’azzam built the northern porches. Later on, other important repairs were carried out at the Mosque by order of the Mamluk Sultans Qalawun, his son Al-Nasir, Sha’ban, Hasan, Qaitbai, and Al-Ghuri. The Ottoman Sultans who kept the Mosque in good repair were Suleiman (1520-66), Mahmud II, Abdul-Hamid I, Abdul-Aziz, and Abdul-Hamid II (came to the throne in 1876). During the British Mandate, the Mosque was repaired by Muslims in 1922, 1927, and 1938-48.

The motive for the building must have been the establishment of a monument or a shrine to commemorate Al-Masjid al-Aqsa in the revelation, or, as some authorities say, to replace the primitive mosque of ’Umar by a sophisticated and solid one. It is not very clear from Arab historians how Al-Aqsa Mosque developed. Christian authorities are divided on the same question. It is claimed, on the one hand, that the basilica of the Virgin of Justinian was converted into a mosque, and, on the other hand, that materials from this basilica were used in the building. It is not easy now to represent to the mind the original structure of the Mosque as built by Al-Walid (705-15)(15), because it was repaired and altered on various occasions. During the Caliphate of the Abbasid Abu Ja’far Al-Mansur (758-75), the Mosque was damaged by an earthquake, and was later repaired. Another earthquake caused the Mosque, during the Caliphate of the Abbasid Al-Mahdi (775-85), to be rebuilt in an altered form. In 1060, the roof fell in, and was repaired. Col. Watson, in his book “The Story of Jerusalem”, p. 190, already referred to, says that ‘the Mosque of Aksa was completely transformed, and many additions were made to it’. Theodorich, who visited Jerusalem in 1172, describes it in the following words: ‘Next comes, on the south, the Palace of Solomon, which is oblong, and supported by columns within, like a church, and, at the end, is round like a sanctuary, and covered by a great round dome, so that, as I have said, it resembles a church. This building, with all its appurtenances, has passed into the hands of the Knights Templars, who dwelt in it and in the other buildings connected with it, having many magazines of arms, clothing, and food in it, and ever on the watch to guard and protect the country. They have below stables for horses, built by King Solomon himself in the days of old, which stables, we declare according to our reckoning, could take in ten thousand horses with their grooms.’ Col. Watson adds to this the following remark: ‘The new church referred to here, which was on the east side of the Mosque of Aksa, was not finished when Saladin captured the city (1187), and only the foundations remain, as he pulled it down, as well as many of the other additions made by the Templars, as he endeavoured to restore the Mosque to the condition in which it was before the Christian occupation of Jerusalem (1099). It is easy to understand on account of the many changes that had been made in the Mosque of Aksa since its original foundation in A.D. 691 that its architectural history presents considerable difficulties, and that there are a number of different theories with regards to it. Of these theories, one of the least probable is that it was an adaptation of the great Church of St. Mary, built by the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century.’

Al-Maqdisi was the first in 985 to give us a description of Al-Aqsa. It is claimed that the building dates from very ancient times. According to one of the traditions, it was begun by Shem, the father of the Semites, forty years after the building of Ka’ba in Mecca. According to Burhan Al-Din Al-Fazari, quoted by Michel Join-Lambert in his book “Jerusalem”, Mary, mother of Jesus, who had been received in the Temple, had something to do with the Mosque. ‘In Jerusalem, Allah revealed to Mary the good news of the coming of Jesus.’ There is in the Mosque a mihrab (niche) called the Mihrab of Zachary, the father of St. John the Baptist.

Inside the area of the two great sanctuaries stand other shrines with Biblical associations, such as the two mosques of Qubbat Musa (Dome of Moses) and of Kursi Suleiman (Seat of Solomon). In the neighbourhood of the Dome of the Rock, there are smaller domes built by various distinguished Muslims over the centuries. These are the domes of Al-Mi’raj (Ascension), of the Prophet’s Niche (Mihrab Al-Nabi), of Joseph, Moses, Solomon, Al-Khadr (St. George), and of David’s Niche (Mihrab Dawud).

Around the Haram area and inside it, there are many minarets, halls, fountains, and cisterns built over the centuries, bearing inscriptions of the names of their founders. Inside Jerusalem, mosques at one time numbered 34. Many Zawiyas or hospices were built for the comfort of pilgrims from all over the Islamic world. Among the famous ones are the Nagshabandiyya hospice for pilgrims from Turkistan and Uzbeckistan, the Indian hospice, and the Qadiriya hospice for the Afghani pilgrims [pp. 46-7, “The Arab Character of Jerusalem” by Dr. I. M. Husseini, Cairo, 1968 (in Arabic)]. There are other Zawiyas, such as the Adhamiya, Mawlawiya, Khaski, Sheikh Jarrah, and Abus-Su’ud.

In his book “A History of Jerusalem”, John Gray says: ‘Other parts of this spaced area within the Sacred Precinct have similar associations, representing the growth of tradition throughout the ages, and various features have been added to the precinct, such as schools and colleges, hospices for pilgrims and the more spectacular features of ornamental fountains and the open-air pulpit of judge Burhan Al-Din [d. 1456].’(16)

Apart from the two main Muslim sanctuaries in Jerusalem, there is the ’Umari mosque opposite the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, on the site of which the Caliph ’Umar is said to have performed his prayer, having refused to pray in the Church for fear, as he told the accompanying prelate, that the Muslims might regard the Church as holy and try to take it for themselves. There is also the famous mosque of the Prophet David on Mount Sion. This was captured by the Israelis in the 1948 war with the Arabs, and has now been transformed into a synagogue. The Buraq mosque, another of the lesser sanctuaries, is contiguous to the Haram area from the west. According to tradition, the site is the place where the Prophet tethered his Buraq (or holy steed) before ascending into heaven. The wall of the Haram there is called by the Jews ‘The Wailing Wall’. The place is an Islamic waqf (religious endowment) known as the waqf of Abu Madyan, after the name of one of the North African Sheikhs. The Jews claimed this as their own early during the British Mandate, and the issue was referred to an international commission under a Swede. The final finding of the commission, as laid down in its report, published in December, 1930, was that the Western Wall (the Wailing Wall) was an exclusively Muslim waqf property, and that the pavement between the wall and the North African quarter was also a Muslim waqf. But, after the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, this area was levelled down, and the North African quarter was demolished and its inhabitants forced to leave.(17)

Schools and colleges in Jerusalem were numerous. They normally used to be attached to mosques and hospices, and sometimes hospices themselves were used to be centres of learning. In many cases, libraries were attached to the sanctuaries, as in the case of all the famous Muslim cathedral mosques, such as Al-Azhar (Cairo), Al-Zaituna (Tunis), and Al-Qarawiyyin (Fez). Of these schools and colleges, Al-Salahiyya, Maimuniyya, Nasriyya, Tankiziyya, Arghaniyya, Khatimiyya, and Ashrafiyya were famous. Al-Salihiyya was established by Saladin after the recapture of Jerusalem, and continued for a long time to be widely known in the Islamic world. The school was, however, handed over to the French Catholics by the Ottomans after the Crimean War (1853-6) with Russia. But, during the First World War, the school was revived by the Turks on modern lines, and many foreign languages were taught there. In 1917, the British gave it back to the French Catholics. The Nasriyya School was later known as Al-Ghazaliyya, after the name of the great Muslim theologian Abu-Hamid Al-Ghazali who stayed there and was able during his stay in Jerusalem to work on his magnum opus: “The Revival of the Sciences of Religion”. The Ashrafiyya School was built by Al-Ashraf Qaitbay, the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt in 1482. The author of “Al-Uns Al-Jalil” describes it as ‘the third gem in the Haram area after the Dome of the Rock and the Dome of Al-Aqsa’.

These Muslim monuments, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, have always been the object of reverence and solicitude by Arab and Muslim rulers, not to mention the millions and millions of devout Muslims all over the world. Al-Aqsa Mosque was built by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid. Some Arab historians, however, say that it was begun by Abdul-Malik and only completed by his son Al-Walid. We have already referred to repairs carried out at the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa. Abu-Ja’far Al-Mansur (758-75), the second Abbasid Caliph, Al-Mahdi (775-85), and Al-Malik al-Mu’azzam Isa (d. 1227) carried out repairs, improvements and additions. Al-Zahir, the Fatimid Caliph, rebuilt in 1033 Al-Aqsa Mosque previously rebuilt by Al-Mahdi. In both cases the Mosque was ruined by an earthquake. In 1066 the Fatimid Caliph, al-Mustansir, repaired the northern side of the Mosque. In 1168, Nur Al-Din Zengi had a pulpit made for the Mosque, to be installed after the recapture of Jerusalem from the Crusaders. This famous pulpit was unfortunately burnt down on 21 August 1969. In 1217, Al-Malik Al-Mu’azzam built the northern porches. Later on, other important repairs were carried out at the Mosque by order of the Mamluk Sultans Qalawun, his son Al-Nasir, Sha’ban, Hasan, Qaitbai, and Al-Ghuri. The Ottoman Sultans who kept the Mosque in good repair were Suleiman (1520-66), Mahmud II, Abdul-Hamid I, Abdul-Aziz, and Abdul-Hamid II (came to the throne in 1876). During the British Mandate, the Mosque was repaired by Muslims in 1922, 1927, and 1938-48.

For the maintenance of these and other holy shrines, Muslims from early times have consecrated buildings and lands. The most important of such religious foundations are those of Abu-Madyan of North Africa, Saladin, and Khaski Sultan (wife of Sultan Selim, the Ottoman). The latest foundation, shortly before the termination of the British Mandate in 1948, was that of Mrs. Amina Khalidi.