Al-Aqsa And The Dome Of The Rock

When you read this post, just regard it like I am telling a story, ok? Some of the facts may not be too accurate as I may have misunderstood some of the things I have read.

Al-Aqsa is most prominent for being the first qibla and also for Isra' Mi'raj. When Rasulullah saw made the night journey on the winged steed Buraq, he arrived at al-Aqsa and then performed a two rakaah prayer. After that from a rock there he ascended to the heavens with Jibril.

History said that al-Aqsa fell into the hands of the Roman Empire for some time and later it was Umar al-Khattab ra who rebuilt the masjid on its current location.

Masjid Al Aqsa is located within a precinct of religious buildings in eastern Baitul-maqdis (fyi Baitul-maqdis was captured by the Israel in 1967). According to tradition, the whole area is called al-Aqsa, not just the mosque particularly.

The name al-Aqsa translates as the 'farthest' ie Masjid al-Aqsa means 'the farthest masjid'. It is located in the southern part of the al-Aqsa precinct. It can take as many as 5,000 prayer congregation at any time. It is the masjid with the greyish dome (some said blue).

Now Dome of the Rock is a dome over the stone where Rasulullah saw stood for Mi'raj (some said it is a masjid also) and it was built by a latter day khalifah, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. Its proper name is Qubbat as-Sakhrah (ie Dome of the Rock). The gold cover of the dome is made of real gold.

There are lengthy narrations of the history of al-Aqsa - the site is also believed as the place where Prophet Sulaiman, Daud and Zakaria had worshipped Allah.

Now the Jews believed the site is also where the Temple Mount is - the first Jewish temple. They also believed that the final temple will be built by Moshiach (the Jewish Messiah) on the same location when he reappears.

As such, that is why today there are many conflicts over the site. So that's the story I want to tell.

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