'Religious sovereignty' was to remain with the Muslims while 'overall sovereignty' became Israeli. The Crusader period began in 1099 with the First Crusade's capture of Jerusalem. "[203] The occasion is assumed to have been Tisha b'Av, since decades later Jerome related that that was the only day on which Jews were permitted to enter Jerusalem. "[31], According to the Qur'an, Muhammad was transported to a site named Al-Aqsa Mosque "the furthest place of prayer" (al-Masjid al-'Aq) during his Night Journey (Isra and Mi'raj). In: A.G. Vaughn and A.E. [204], During his excavations in the 1930s, Robert Hamilton uncovered portions of a multicolor mosaic floor with geometric patterns inside al-Aqsa mosque, but did not publish them. It is the third-holiest site in Islam, and the holiest place for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount [303][305][306][307], In late 2002, a bulge of about 700mm (28in) was reported in the southern retaining wall part of the Temple Mount. [162] Based on the writings of the eighth century historians Al-Waqidi[163] and al-Azraqi, some scholars have suggested that al-Aqsa Mosque mentioned in the Qur'an is not in Jerusalem but in the village of al-Ju'ranah, 18 miles northeast of Mecca. During the 1990s, additional attempts were made for Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, which were stopped by Israeli police. [198], Hadrian had intended the construction of the new city as a gift to the Jews, but since he had constructed a giant statue of himself in front of the Temple of Jupiter and the Temple of Jupiter had a huge statue of Jupiter inside of it, there were on the Temple Mount now two enormous graven images, which Jews considered idolatrous. [220] The question then becomes whether the site can be ascertained accurately. The Western Wall was to remain the Jewish place of prayer. 15 et seq. Much of the Temple Mount's prominence stems from the story of the prophet Mohammed's Night Journey. [139][140] After the construction, Muslims believe, the temple was used for the worship of the one God by many prophets of Islam, including Jesus. . [251][252] In October 2021, a Jewish man, Aryeh Lippo, who was banned by Israeli police from the Temple Mount for fifteen days after being caught quietly praying, had his ban overturned by an Israeli court on the grounds that his behavior had not violated police instructions. This was probably by Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Warmund, Patriarch of Jerusalem at the Council of Nablus in January 1120. [65][66][67], The term "al-Aqsa" as a symbol and brand-name has become popular and prevalent in the region. [258] At various times, when there is fear of Arab rioting upon the mount resulting in throwing stones from above towards the Western Wall Plaza, Israel has prevented Muslim men under 45 from praying in the compound, citing these concerns. [22] Muslims view the site as being one of the earliest and most noteworthy places of worship of God. Among both Sunni and Shia Muslims,[citation needed] the entire plaza, known as the al-Aqsa Mosque, also known as Haram al-Sharif or "the Noble Sanctuary", is considered the third holiest site in Islam. A Jordanian team of engineers recommended replacing or resetting most of the stones in the affected area. The double and triple gates (the Huldah Gates) are more substantial; heading into the Mount for some distance they each finally have steps rising to the surface just north of al-Aqsa Mosque. Jerusalem, The Robinsons Arch Area. It is the third most holy site in Islam. Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, is not located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Saudi lawyer and journalist Osama Yamani is claiming. [295][296][297] Aside from visual observation of surface features, most other archaeological knowledge of the site comes from the 19th-century survey carried out by Charles Wilson and Charles Warren and others. This mountain top can be seen today, inside the Islamic Dome of the Rock. Umar then prayed at the spot where it was believed that Muhammad had prayed before his night journey, reciting the Quranic sura Sad. [310] In 2007 the Israel Antiquities Authority started work on the construction of a temporary wooden pedestrian pathway to replace the Mugrabi Gate ramp after a landslide in 2005 made it unsafe and in danger of collapse. There is a speculation that it had a function connected with the altar of the Second Temple (and possibly of the earlier Temple), Cistern 5 (located under the south eastern corner of the upper platform) a long and narrow chamber, with a strange anti-clockwise curved section at its north western corner, and containing within it a doorway currently blocked by earth. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the First Temple Period: An Archaeologist's View. [156] Al-Bukhari and Al-Tabari, for example, are believed to have rejected the identification with Jerusalem. [241], On 3 January 2023, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem sparking protests by Palestinians and the condemnation of several Arab countries. It is also significant for Christians because it was where Jesus was born and celebrated Jewish festivals. Al Aqsa Mosque ("Al-Masjid al-Aqsa"), which literally means, "The Farthest Mosque," occupies the southern end of Temple Mount and faces the Dome of the Rock. Jewish codifiers accepted the opinion of Maimonides who ruled that the holiness of the Temple sanctified the site for eternity and consequently the restrictions on entry to the site are still currently in force. [215] The shrine became known as the Dome of the Rock ( , Qubbat as-Sakhra). These two structures remain intact today. Between 1922 and 1924, the Dome of the Rock was restored by the Islamic Higher Council. The rebuilding of the Temple remained a recurring theme among generations, particularly in thrice-daily Amidah (Standing prayer), central prayer of the Jewish liturgy, which contains a plea for the building of a Third Temple and the restoration of sacrificial services. [112] The Second Temple is believed to have attracted tens and maybe hundreds of thousands during the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. Solomon placed the Ark in the Holy of Holies the windowless innermost sanctuary and most sacred area of the temple in which God's presence rested;[109] entry into the Holy of Holies was heavily restricted, and only the High Priest of Israel entered the sanctuary once per year on Yom Kippur, carrying the blood of a sacrificial lamb and burning incense. The Temple Mount is a holy site within the Old City of Jerusalem for Jewish, Christian, and Muslim people. Some would also say the Greek word for generation in Mark 13:30 is interpreted as race or family, speaking of Jews.There certainly have been a few "foreshadowers" of the antichrist and its "abomination", including Nebuchadnezzar and his image, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, King Herod and the golden Roman Eagle he built at the entrance to the temple (Dan 11:31); all before Jesus spoke those words. * "The Rock was in the time of Solomon the son of David 12 cubits high and there was a dome over itIt is written in the Tawrat [Bible]: 'Be happy Jerusalem,' which is Bayt al-Maqdis and the Rock which is called Haykal." [115], Jewish texts predict that the Mount will be the site of a Third and final Temple, which will be rebuilt with the coming of the Messiah. The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. [259] Sometimes such restrictions have coincided with Friday prayers during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Due to the extreme political sensitivity of the site, no real archaeological excavations have ever been conducted on the Temple Mount itself. Indeed, He alone is the All-Hearing, All-Seeing. [217] The Temple Mount had a mystique because it was above what were believed to be the ruins of the Temple of Solomon. In the western face, near the southern corner, is the Barclay's Gate only half visible due to a building (the "house of Abu Sa'ud") on the northern side. During the Maccabean times, the temple mount was expanded to the north another 100 ft and the Temple was also moved north. "Early Muslims regarded the building and destruction of the Temple of Solomon as a major historical and religious event, and accounts of the Temple are offered by many of the early Muslim historians and geographers (including Ibn Qutayba, Ibn al-Faqih, Mas'udi, Muhallabi, and Biruni). Architecture The Dome of the Rock's structure and ornamentation are rooted in the Byzantine architectural tradition, yet its construction in the 7th century represents an early stage in the emergence of a distinct Islamic visual style. [208] The date of the mosaic is disputed: Zachi Dvira considers that they are from the pre-Islamic Byzantine period, while Baruch, Reich and Sandhaus favor a much later Umayyad origin on account of their similarity to a known Umayyad mosaic.[208]. . Beneath the surface of this rock there is a cave known as the Well of Souls, originally accessible only by a narrow hole in the rock itself; the Crusaders hacked open an entrance to the cave from the south, by which it can now be entered. The golden domed mosque is called the Dome of the Rock because it was built on top of the Foundation Stone which according to Jewish tradition is the holiest place in the world. On the southern and eastern sides the walls are visible almost to their full height. 329342. [68], Some scholars have used the terms Sacred Esplanade or Holy Esplanade as a "strictly neutral term" for the site. The Jews never had a temple in Jerusalem - ever. [26] The Israeli government enforces a ban on prayer by non-Muslims as part of an arrangement usually referred to as the "status quo. [citation needed]. (RNS) For the past few weeks, the area surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Muslims as the Al-Aqsa compound and to Jews as the Temple Mount, has been calm. [221], Neither Israeli Arabs nor Israeli Jews could visit their holy places in the Jordanian territories during this period.[223][224]. The head of manuscripts at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Najeh Bkeirat, has accused Israel of trying to "Judaize" the Temple Mount by building a new Holy Temple. What's the story behind Jerusalem's Golden Dome? This stunning temple has a storied past, that initially functioned as a Christian church for several centuries until . In. 2008. pp. [45] In 2014, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) issued a press release urging journalists not to use the term "Temple Mount" when referring to the site. Le. Historic Cities of the Islamic World edited by Clifford Edmund Bosworth P: 226. Is there a mosque on the Temple Mount? [88][89] While the text acknowledged the "importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls for the three monotheistic religions", it referred to the sacred hilltop compound in Jerusalem's Old City only by its Muslim name Al-Haram al-Sharif. Herod moved . Jewish rabbis ordered the restart of animal sacrifice for the first time since the time of Second Temple and started to reconstruct the Jewish Temple. On 7 June 1967, soon after Israel had taken control of the area during the Six-Day War, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol assured that "no harm whatsoever shall come to the places sacred to all religions". Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led prayers towards this site until the 17th month after he migrated from Mecca to Medina . After a three-month siege, the Romans were able to topple one of the guard towers and storm the Temple Mount. An Islamic Waqf has managed the Temple Mount continuously since the Muslim reconquest of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1187. The Chief Rabbi of the Israeli Defense Forces, Shlomo Goren, led the soldiers in religious celebrations on the Temple Mount and at the Western Wall. sfn error: no target: CITEREFTemple_of_Jerusalem (, sfn error: no target: CITEREFJonker1990 (, sfn error: no target: CITEREFStefon2020 (, sfn error: no target: CITEREFBritannica:_Holy_of_Holies (, Deuteronomy 12:5-26; 14:23-25; 15:20; 16:2-16; 17:8-10; 26: 2; 31: 11; Isaiah 2: 2-5; Obadiah 1:21; Psalms 48. Also known as Mount Moriah, Har haByit in Hebrew and as the Noble Sanctuary or al-haram al-quds ash-sharf for Muslims, Temple Mount is believed to be the site of many significant events for each of these religions. [5] The Dome was completed in 692 CE, making it one of the oldest extant Islamic structures in the world. For several centuries this mosque was used for the worship of Allah by many Prophets and Messengers of Allah. [16][17][18], Among Muslims, the whole plaza is revered as "the Noble Sanctuary" or as the al-Aqsa Mosque, the second oldest mosque in Islam,[19] and one of the three Sacred Mosques, the holiest sites in Islam. [citation needed], According to archeologists, the Temple Mount served as the center of the religious life of biblical Jerusalem as well as the royal acropolis of the Kingdom of Judah. The Temple Mount is holy to both Muslims and Jews, and to Christians as well. Speaking on January 4 to the Palestine . On 12 October 1990 Palestinian Muslims protested violently the intention of some extremist Jews to lay a cornerstone on the site for a New Temple as a prelude to the destruction of the Muslim mosques. [293] They were used as stables by the Crusaders, but were built by Herod the Great along with the platform they were built to support. [12][13][14] The Second Temple was constructed under the auspices of Zerubbabel in 516 BCE, was renovated by King Herod, and was destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70 CE. The original mosque was most likely made of wood with a metal covered dome, and it was almost a thousand years later that the gold covered dome and beautiful ceramic tiles were added by Suleiman the Magnificent. [178] In 2014, Finkelstein, Koch and Lipschits proposed that the tell of ancient Jerusalem lies beneath the modern-day compound, rather than the nearby archeological site known as the City of David, as mainstream archaeology believes;[179] however, this proposal was rejected by other scholars of the subject. [137] Thus, according to this tradition, Umar thereby reconsecrated the site as a mosque. al-Wasati. The Politics of Prayer at the Temple Mount. A northern portion of the western wall may be seen from within the Western Wall Tunnel, which was excavated through buildings adjacent to the platform. The Israeli police work with the Islamic Waqf to provide safe entrance at specific times during the day for non-Muslims to tour the Temple Mount. The Qur'an does not mention the exact location of "the furthest place of prayer", and the city of Jerusalem is not mentioned by any of its names in the Qur'an. [123] It was to this end, proof of a biblical prophecy fulfilled and of Christianity's victory over Judaism with the New Covenant,[124] that early Christian pilgrims also visited the site. [180], All scholars agree that the Iron Age Temple Mount was smaller than the Herodian compound still visible today. On 7 June 1967, during the Six-Day War, Israeli forces advanced beyond the 1949 Armistice Agreement Line into West Bank territories, taking control of the Old City of Jerusalem, inclusive of the Temple Mount. The attempt was blocked by Israeli authorities but demonstrators were widely reported as having stoned Jews at the Western Wall. The Byzantine ban on the Jews was lifted and they were allowed to live inside the city and visit the places of worship. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compound, or simply al-Aqsa Mosque ( , al-Masjid al-Aq, lit. Warren was able to investigate the inside of these gates. A number of vocal Jewish groups now advocate building the Third Temple without delay in order to bring to pass God's "end-time prophetic plans for Israel and the entire world. Many Israelis regarded this as a radical change of the status quo, which should not have been undertaken without first consulting the Israeli government. Herod leveled the area by cutting away rock on the northwest side and raising the sloping ground to the south. [222], Jordan undertook two renovations of the Dome of the Rock, replacing the leaking, wooden inner dome with an aluminum dome in 1952, and, when the new dome leaked, carrying out a second restoration between 1959 and 1964. [242], Jews were not allowed to visit for approximately one thousand years. Fifteen years later, negotiation between Israel and Jordan might result[needs update] in reopening of those sites once again. Warren secretly[citation needed] excavated some tunnels near the Temple Mount walls and was the first one to document their lower courses. Cultural and religious sites in both sides of the city were destroyed and neglected and the Jewish community barred from its sacred places.[247]. The Temple Institute wants to disassemble the Dome of the Rock and the Muslim mosques . [39] Shahar and Shatzman reached different conclusions. The project was paid for by King Hussein personally, at a cost of $8 million. [204], Constantine's nephew Emperor Julian granted permission in the year 363 for the Jews to rebuild the Temple. Organizations that encourage Jews to immigrate to the Temple Mount replaced the Chief Rabbinate's sign prohibiting prayer in the compound, and stuck an identical sticker on it with reversed procedures. New evidence of the Royal Stoa and Roman flames. Biblical Archaeology Review, 36, 2, pp. ), The Dome of the Rock as Palimpsest, Necipoglu, Muqarnas 2008. [129], During the Byzantine era, Jerusalem was primarily Christian and pilgrims came by the tens of thousands to experience the places where Jesus walked. [262][263][264], Due to religious restrictions on entering the most sacred areas of the Temple Mount (see following section), the Western Wall, a retaining wall for the Temple Mount and remnant of the Second Temple structure, is considered by some rabbinical authorities to be the holiest accessible site for Jews to pray at. In the early years of the Israelite kingdom, the Ark of the Covenant was periodically moved about among several sanctuaries, especially those of Shechem and Shiloh. The construction of many sabils was considered the hallmark of a . It mirrors the terminology of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca;[70][71][72][73] This term elevated the compound to the status of Haram, which had previously only been reserved for the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina. This was the Temple known to Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Peter, and Paul. The Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem has long been one of the main flashpoints of Israeli-Palestinian friction. In 638 C.E. Istanbul's Hagia Sophia is one of the world's most significant religious site. World Explained: Why al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is a regular site of conflict between Israel and Palestine More than 170 have been injured in Israeli-Palestinian clashes around the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem since Friday. [125] Byzantine Christians, despite some signs of constructive work on the esplanade,[126] generally neglected the Temple Mount, especially when a Jewish attempt to rebuild the Temple was destroyed by the earthquake in 363. Jerusalem is a site of major significance for the three largest . Modern scholarship tends to regard them as distinct (see Moriah). The 37-acre trapezium-shaped platform rises 2,400 feet above ground. Annika Bjrkdahl and Susanne Buckley-Zistel: "The site is known in Arabic as Haram al-Sharif the Noble Sanctuary and colloquially as the Haram or the al-Aqsa compound; while in Hebrew, it is called Har HaBeit the Temple Mount. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. It is significant for Jews because it was where Jesus was born and celebrated Jewish festivals. Is that God's plan? [271], A few hours after the Temple Mount came under Israeli control during the Six-Day War, a message from the Chief Rabbis of Israel, Isser Yehuda Unterman and Yitzhak Nissim was broadcast, warning that Jews were not permitted to enter the site. [218][219] The Crusaders therefore referred to al-Aqsa Mosque as Solomon's Temple, and it was from this location that the new Order took the name of "Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon", or "Templar" knights. Fantastic tales of Solomon's construction of the Temple also appear in the Qisas al-anbiya', the medieval compendia of Muslim legends about the pre-Islamic prophets." God answered his prayers and stopped the plague. [19], The upper platform was built around the peak of the Temple Mount, carrying the Dome of the Rock; the peak just breaches the floor level of the upper platform within the Dome of the Rock, in the shape of a large limestone outcrop, which is part of the bedrock. There are no contemporary records, but many traditions, about the origin of the main Islamic buildings on the mount. [170][171] The qibla was relocated to the Kaaba where Muslims have been directed to pray ever since. One of them, Shlomo Goren, held that it is possible that Jews are even allowed to enter the heart of the Dome of the Rock in time of war, according to Jewish Law of Conquest. This fort was built to house 10,000 men (6,000 soldiers and 4,000 support staff) as all Roman forts have a standard size: 35 acres, or 14.2 hectares. One was a terrorist attack . In Muslim Tradition the Dome of the Rock Restored Solomon's Temple. The mount is also the site of both ancient Jewish temples. It stands where past Jewish temples are commonly believed to have stood. [101] When a great plague struck Israel, a destroying angel appeared on Araunah's threshing floor. 16 et seq. Al-Aqsa [100] The Bible narrates how David united the twelve Israelite tribes, conquered Jerusalem and brought the Israelites' central artifact, the Ark of the Covenant, into the city. In 2 Chronicles, Solomon's Temple was constructed on Mount Moriah (3:1), and Manasseh's atonement for his sins is associated with the Mountain of the House of the Lord (33:15). The second was built in 1297 by order of a Mameluk king, the third by a governor of Jerusalem in 1329, and the last in 1367. Many saw the capture of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount as a miraculous liberation of biblical-messianic proportions. The Masjid al-Aqsa of Jerusalem is linked in the Quran to the story of the night journey of Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem and has deep religious meaning for Muslims across the world. A world of subterranean caves, tunnels, and chambers is hidden in Har Habayit, cloaked in mystery and surrounded by legend. Following the Ottoman conquest of Palestine in 1516, the Ottoman authorities continued the policy of prohibiting non-Muslims from setting foot on the Temple Mount until the early 19th century, when non-Muslims were again permitted to visit the site. The Israeli Chief Rabbinate also declared a religious holiday on the anniversary, called "Yom Yerushalayim" (Jerusalem Day), which became a national holiday to commemorate the reunification of Jerusalem. Occupied East Jerusalem - Israeli Jewish activist Raphael Morris has a lot to do before his unauthorised visit to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.. On 26 October 2016, UNESCO passed the Occupied Palestine Resolution that condemned Israeli escalating aggression and illegal measures against the waqf, called for the restoration of Muslim access and demanded that Israel respect the historical status quo[85][86][87] and also criticized Israel for its continuous "refusal to let the body's experts access Jerusalem's holy sites to determine their conservation status". After the city's conquest, the Crusading order known as the Knights Templar was granted use of Al-Aqsa Mosque to use as their headquarters. The Temple Mount is believed by Jews to be the site of two biblical temples. [226] The Muslims objected to Dayan's offer, as they completely rejected the Israeli conquest of Jerusalem and the Mount. Ernst Axel Knauf, Jerusalem in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages: A Proposal, TA 27 (2000): 7590. Cistern 16/17 (located at the centre of the far northern end of the Temple Mount). [220] While secular Jews ascend freely, the question of whether ascending is permitted is a matter of some debate among religious authorities, with a majority holding that it is permitted to ascend to the Temple Mount, but not to step on the site of the inner courtyards of the ancient Temple. [234], On 8 October 1990, 22 Palestinians were killed and over 100 others injured by Israeli Border Police during protests that were triggered by the announcement of the Temple Mount Faithful, a group of religious Jews, that they were going to lay the cornerstone of the Third Temple. [36] The term Har haBayt is used throughout the Mishnah and later Talmudic texts. [124][127], Emperor Constantine I promoted the Christianization of Roman society, giving it precedence over pagan cults. Jews and other non-Islamic visitors can only visit from Sunday to Thursday, for four hours each day. The official reason is that it was built to commemorate Mohammed flying on a winged horse named Buraq from Mecca to Al Aqsa Mosque , which is also on the Temple Mount, and from there to heaven for a visit. Friedman [226] The President of the High Court of Justice, Aharon Barak, in response to an appeal in 1976 against police interference with an individual's putative right to prayer on the site, expressed the view that, while Jews had a right to prayer there, it was not absolute but subject to the public interest and the rights of other groups. [47] According to Jan Turek and John Carman, in modern usage, the term Temple Mount can potentially imply support for Israeli control of the site.[48]. In the process of investigating Cistern 10, Warren discovered tunnels that lay under the Triple Gate passageway. [7] The courtyard is surrounded on the north and west by two Mamluk-era porticos (riwaq) and four minarets. This fact was written by great Muslim writers such as Omar ibn Khatir and in the book by Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, The History of the . The plaza is dominated by two monumental structures originally built during the Rashidun and early Umayyad caliphates after the city's capture in 661 CE:[5] the main praying hall of al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, near the center of the hill, which was completed in 692 CE, making it one of the oldest extant Islamic structures in the world. Several passages in the Hebrew Bible indicate that during the time when they were written, the Temple Mount was identified as Mount Zion. [220][bettersourceneeded], There is debate over whether reports that Maimonides himself ascended the Mount are reliable. If you mean the al-Aqsa mosque, it was opened in 705CE, 73 years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. The sanctity of Jerusalem in Islam. [221] The Temple Mount remains, under the terms of the 1994 IsraelJordan peace treaty, under Jordanian custodianship. Warren's Gate and the Golden Gate simply head towards the centre of the Mount, fairly quickly giving access to the surface by steps. ), discovered a series of tunnels near the Temple Mount. The traditions locating the Jewish Temple on the plateau above the Western Wall are so ingrained that this shocking revelation will continue to be ridiculed and quashed for as long as possible. The 26-year-old . The site, along with the whole of East Jerusalem (which includes the Old City), was controlled by Jordan from 1948 until 1967, and has been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. ; I Chron. The trapezium shaped platform measures 488m (1,601ft) along the west, 470m (1,540ft) along the east, 315m (1,033ft) along the north and 280m (920ft) along the south, giving a total area of approximately 150,000m2 (37 acres). The Caliph Omar ibn Al-Khattab, founder of the Muslim Empire, fought against the Byzantines and conquered Israel and Jerusalem, and ordered the construction of Al-Aqsa Mosque on the ruins of an entire temple. There are several Mamluk buildings on and around the Haram esplanade, such as the late 15th-century al-Ashrafiyya Madrasa and Sabil (fountain) of Qaitbay. [238][239][240] On 29 September, the Israeli government deployed 2,000 riot police to the mosque. Many of these recent opinions rely on archaeological evidence. Killebrew (eds.). [230][231], On October 8, 1990, Israeli forces patrolling the site blocked worshippers from reaching it. Grand stoas encircled the platform on three sides, and on its southern side stood a magnificent basilica Josephus referred to as the Royal Stoa. The Mamluks also raised the level of Jerusalem's Central or Tyropoean Valley bordering the Temple Mount from the west by constructing huge substructures, on which they then built on a large scale. The Israeli police manage the Temple Mount, standing guard at the entrances and exits. Did Judaism's holiest site become Muslim? In the New Testament, Herod's Temple was the site of several events in the life of Jesus, and Christian loyalty to the site as a focal point remained long after his death. [200], From the first through the seventh centuries Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, gradually became the predominant religion of Palestine and under the Byzantines Jerusalem itself was almost completely Christian, with most of the population being Jacobite Christians of the Syrian rite. [161], Other academics attribute the holiness of Jerusalem to the rise and expansion of a certain type of literary genre, known as al-Fadhail or history of cities. Pompey himself entered the Holy of Holies, but did not harm the Temple, and allowed the priests to continue their work as usual. It was built at the original site of Solomon's Temple. 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