Al-Aqsa Mosque or Al-Haram al-Sharif
By: Muhammad Wajid Akhter
Source: http://muslimmatters.org/
There can be only one choice for the world’s most contested area of land, and that is the Masjid Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem. It is no exaggeration to say that for thousands of years, people have been dying for control over it.
For Muslims, it holds a very important place in our heart. It is the 3rd most holy site in Islam. It is the location that the Prophet
was transported to during the journey of Israa and Miraaj. It was the scene for the most extraordinary gathering in the history of mankind – when every Prophet that ever lived were gathered together for a congregational prayer behind Prophet Muḥammad.
And yet, here are some things you may not already know about masjid Al Aqsa:
8. It isn’t just one mosque
Yes – there are multiple mosques on the site that we know as masjid Al Aqsa. We think of masjid Al-Aqsa as the building at the southernmost corner of the Mosque. In actual fact, that is the Qibly mosque – so called because it is the closest to the Qibla. The whole mount is masjid Al Aqsa and is sometimes referred to the Haram Al-Sharif to prevent confusion. But there are other mosques present on the site which are usually connected to historical incidents e.g. the Buraq masjid (or Wall of the Buraq), the Marwani masjid ( or Marwan Prayer area) and more.
7. It is a burial ground
There is no record of how many Prophets and Sahaabas of the Prophet are buried there. But there are certainly many. For instance, Prophet…
Read the entire article at MuslimMatters.org.
MV editor’s note: Some readers have, in the past, objected to our choosing pictures of the Dome of the Rock to accompany stories related to the Aqsa Mosque. Some have even accused MuslimVillage of being part of a Zionist conspiracy to divert attention away from the Masjid al-Aqsa (which is actually the Qibli Mosque) to the Dome of the Rock. We would like it to be known that that assertion is based on ignorance of what Masjid al-Aqsa is as is evident from this article. The Dome of the Rock is known as the heart of Masjid al-Aqsa and so it is perfectly legitimate to use it as a point of reference for the entire Haram.
Regarding Zionist conspiracies it is worthy of note that the Dome of the Rock is of far greater significance to Jews than the Qibli Mosque and it would be more in Jewish interests to have Muslims confine themselves to the Qibli Mosque while occupiers storm the rest of Al-Aqsa (which in Judaism is called the Temple Mount) including the Dome of the Rock. Jewish websites, like this one, specifically claim that Al-Aqsa is confined to the Qibli Mosque which Jews do not interfere with while the Temple Mount is what interests them.
The point here is that we Muslims need to have knowledge about these matters and not be emotional and make unfounded accusations and claims. What is of interest to Muslims is al-Aqsa Mosque, which includes all of the Holy sites mentioned above, and is what the Jews call the Temple Mount. That is for this Umma to be the custodians of and that is what, in its entirety, we pray will be returned to the Umma with Allah’s permission.
