- Cistern 1 (located under the northern side of the upper platform). There is a speculation that it had a function connected with the altar of the Second Temple (and possibly of the earlier Temple), or with the bronze sea.
- 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 cistern's position and design is such that there has been speculation it had a function connected with the altar of the Second Temple (and possibly of the earlier Temple), or with the bronze sea. Charles Warren thought that the altar of burnt offerings was located at the north western end.
- Cistern 8 (located just north of the al-Aqsa Mosque) — known as the Great Sea, a large rock hewn cavern, the roof supported by pillars carved from the rock; the chamber is particularly cave-like and atmospheric, and its maximum water capacity is several hundred thousand gallons.
- Cistern 9 (located just south of cistern 8, and directly under the al-Aqsa Mosque) — known as the Well of the Leaf due to its leaf-shaped plan, also rock hewn.
- Cistern 11 (located east of cistern 9) — a set of vaulted rooms forming a plan shaped like the letter E. Probably the largest cistern, it has the potential to house over 700,000 gallons of water.
- Cistern 16/17 (located at the centre of the far northern end of the Temple Mount). Despite the currently narrow entrances, this cistern (17 and 16 are the same cistern) is a large vaulted chamber, which Warren described as looking like the inside of the cathedral at Cordoba (which was previously a mosque). Warren believed that it was almost certainly built for some other purpose, and was only adapted into a cistern at a later date; he suggested that it might have been part of a general vault supporting the northern side of the platform, in which case substantially more of the chamber exists than is used for a cistern.
- Bab al-Jana'iz/al-Buraq (Gate of the Funerals/of al-Buraq); eastern wall; a hardly noticeable postern, or maybe an improvised gate, a short distance south of the Golden Gate
- Golden Gate (Bab al-Zahabi); eastern wall (northern third), a double gate:
- Warren's Gate; western wall, now only visible from the Western Wall Tunnel
- Bab an-Nabi (Gate of the Prophet) or Barclay's Gate; western wall, visible from the al-Buraq Mosque inside the Haram, and from the Western Wall plaza (women's section) and the adjacent building (the so-called house of Abu Sa'ud)
- Double Gate (Bab al-Thulathe; possibly one of the Huldah Gates); southern wall, underneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque
- Triple Gate; southern wall, outside Solomon's Stables/Marwani Mosque
- Single Gate; southern wall, outside Solomon's Stables/Marwani Mosque
- Bab al-Asbat (Gate of the Tribes); north-east corner
- Bab al-Hitta/Huttah (Gate of Remission, Pardon, or Absolution); northern wall
- Bab al-Atim/'Atm/Attim (Gate of Darkness); northern wall
- Bab al-Ghawanima (Gate of Bani Ghanim); north-west corner
- Bab al-Majlis / an-Nazir/Nadhir (Council Gate / Inspector's Gate); western wall (northern third)
- Bab al-Hadid (Iron Gate); western wall (central part)
- Bab al-Qattanin (Gate of the Cotton Merchants); western wall (central part)
- Bab al-Matarah/Mathara (Ablution Gate); western wall (central part)
- Bab as-Salam / al-Sakina (Tranquility Gate / Gate of the Dwelling), the northern one of the two; western wall (central part)
- Bab as-Silsileh (Gate of the Chain), the southern one of the two; western wall (central part)
- Bab al-Magharbeh/Maghariba (Moroccans' Gate/Gate of the Moors); western wall (southern third); the only entrance for non-Muslims
- Bab as-Sarai (Gate of the Seraglio); a small gate to the former residence of the Pasha of Jerusalem; western wall, northern part (between the Bani Ghanim and Council gates).
- The imprint of a seal thought to have belonged to a priestly Jewish family mentioned in the Old Testament's Book of Jeremiah.
- More than 4300 coins from various periods. Many of them are from the Jewish revolt that preceded the destruction of the Second Temple by Roman legions in 70 CE emblazoned with the words "Freedom of Zion"
- Arrowheads shot by Babylonian archers 2,500 years ago, and others launched by Roman siege machinery 500 years later.
- Unique floor slabs of the 'opus sectile' technique that were used to pave the Temple Mount courts. This is also mentioned in Josephus accounts and the Babylonian Talmud.
The Temple Mount (Hebrew: הַר הַבַּיִת, Har HaBáyit, "Mount of the House [of God, i.e. the Temple]"), known
to Muslims as the Haram esh-Sharif (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, al-Ḥaram al-Šarīf, "the Noble Sanctuary", or الحرم
القدسي الشريف, al-Ḥaram al-Qudsī al-Šarīf, "the Noble Sanctuary of
Jerusalem"), a hill located in the Old City of Jerusalem, is one of the most important
religious sites in the world. It has been venerated as a holy site for
thousands of years by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The present site is dominated by
three monumental structures from the early Umayyad period: the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock and the Dome of the Chain, as well as four minarets. Herodian walls and gates with additions dating back to the late Byzantine and early Islamic periods cut through the flanks of the
Mount. Currently it can be reached through eleven gates, ten reserved for Muslims and one for
non-Muslims, with guard posts of Israeli police in the vicinity of each.
According
to the Bible, the Jewish Temples stood
on the Temple Mount. According to Jewish tradition and
scripture,the First
Temple was built by King Solomon the son of
King David in 957
BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586
BCE. The secondwas
constructed under the auspices of Zerubbabel in 516 BCE
and destroyed by the Roman
Empire in 70 CE. Jewish tradition maintains it is here that a Third and final Temple will
also be built. The location is the holiest site in Judaism and is the place
Jews turn towards during prayer. Due to its extreme sanctity, many Jews will
not walk on the Mount itself, to avoid unintentionally entering the area where
the Holy of Holies stood,
since according to Rabbinical law, some aspect of the divine presence is
still present at the site.
Among Sunni Muslims, the Mount
is widely considered the third
holiest site in Islam. Revered as the Noble Sanctuary, the location
of Muhammad's journey to Jerusalem
and ascent to heaven, the site is also associated with Jewish biblical
prophets who are also venerated in Islam. Umayyad Caliphs commissioned
the construction of the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock on
the site.The Dome was completed in 692 CE, making it one of the oldest extant
Islamic structures in the world. The Al Aqsa Mosque rests
on the far southern side of the Mount, facing Mecca. The Dome of the Rock currently
sits in the middle, occupying or close to the area where the Holy Temple previously
stood.
In
light of the dual claims of both Judaism and Islam, it is one of the most
contested religious sites in the world. Since the Crusades, the Muslim
community of Jerusalem has managed the site as a Waqf, without
interruption. As the site is part of the Old City, controlled by Israel since 1967, both
Israel and the Palestinian
Authority claim sovereignty over it, and it remains a major focal
point of the Arab–Israeli
conflict. In an attempt to keep the status quo, the Israeli
government enforces a controversial ban on prayer by non-Muslims.
The
Temple Mount forms the northern portion of a very narrow spur of hill that
slopes sharply downward from north to south. Rising above the Kidron Valley to
the east and Tyropoeon
Valley to the west, its peak reaches a height of 740 m
(2,428 ft) above sea level. In around 19 BCE, Herod the Great extended
the Mount's natural plateau by
enclosing the area with four massive retaining walls and filling the voids.
This artificial expansion resulted in a large flat expanse which today forms
the eastern section of the Old City of
Jerusalem. The trapezium shaped
platform measures 488 m along the west, 470 m along the east,
315 m along the north and 280 m along the south, giving a total area
of approximately 150,000 m2 (37
acres). The northern wall of the Mount, together with the northern
section of the western wall, is hidden behind residential buildings. The
southern section of the western flank is revealed and contains what is known
as the Western Wall.
The retaining walls on these two sides descend many meters below ground level.
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. On the
southern and eastern sides the walls are visible almost to their full height.
The platform itself is separated from the rest of the Old City by the
Tyropoeon Valley, though this once deep valley is now largely hidden beneath
later deposits, and is imperceptible in places. The platform can be reached
via Gate of the Chain Street – a street in the Muslim Quarter at
the level of the platform, actually sitting on a monumental bridge; the
bridge is no longer externally visible due to the change in ground level, but
it can be seen from beneath via the Western Wall Tunnel.
Religious
significance
The
temple mount has historical and religious significance for all three of the
major Abrahamic
religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It has particular religious
significance for Judaism and Islam, and the competing claims of these faith
communities has made it one of the most contested religious sites in the
world.
Judaism
See also: Temple in Jerusalem
The
Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, which regards it as
the place where God's divine presence is
manifested more than in any other place, and is the place Jews turn towards
during prayer. Due to its extreme sanctity, many Jews will not walk on the
Mount itself, to avoid unintentionally entering the area where the Holy of Holies stood,
since according to Rabbinical law, some aspect of the divine presence is
still present at the site. It was from the Holy of Holies that the High
Priest communicated directly with God.
According to the rabbinic sages whose debates produced
the Talmud, it was from here the world expanded
into its present form and where God gathered the dust used to create the first
human, Adam.[19] Since at least the first century
CE, the site has been associated in Judaism with Mount Moriah (Hebrew: הַר הַמוריה, Har HaMōriyā); Mount Moriah is the name given by the Hebrew Bible to the location of
Abraham's binding of Isaac, this identification being
perpetuated by Jewish and Christian tradition.
Jewish
connection and veneration to the site arguably stems from the fact that it
contains the Foundation
Stone which, according to the rabbis of the Talmud, was the spot from
where the world was created and expanded into its current form. It was
subsequently the Holy
of Holies of the Temple, the Most Holy Place in
Judaism. Jewish tradition names it as the location for a number of
important events which occurred in the Bible, including the Binding of Isaac, Jacob's dream, and the prayer
of Isaac and Rebekah. Similarly,
when the Bible recounts that King David purchased a
threshing floor owned by Araunah the Jebusite, tradition
locates it as being on this mount. An early Jewish text, the Genesis Rabba, states
that this site is one of three about which the nations of the world cannot
taunt Israel and say "you have stolen them," since it was purchased
"for its full price" by David. According to the Bible,
David wanted to construct a sanctuary there, but this was left to his
son Solomon, who
completed the task in c. 950 BCE with the construction of the First Temple.
According
to the Bible, both Jewish Temples stood
at the Temple Mount, though archaeological evidence only exists for the Second
Temple.However, the identification of Solomon's Temple with the area of the
Temple Mount is widespread. According to the Bible the site should function as
the center of all national life—a governmental, judicial and religious center.
During the Second
Temple period it functioned also as an economic center. According to
Jewish tradition and scripture,the First Temple was
built by King Solomon the
son of King David in
957 BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586
BCE. The second was
constructed under the auspices of Zerubbabel in 516 BCE
and destroyed by the Roman
Empire in 70 CE. In the 2nd century, the site was used for a temple
to Jupiter
Capitolinus. It was redeveloped following the Arab conquest.
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 Jewish Messiah. A
number of vocal Jewish groups now advocate building the Third Holy Temple
without delay in order to bring to pass God's "end-time prophetic plans
for Israel and the entire world."
Several
passages in the Hebrew
Bible indicate that during the time when they were written, the
Temple Mount was identified as Mount Zion.
The Mount Zion mentioned
in the later parts of the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah
60:14), in the Book
of Psalms, and the First Book of
Maccabees (c. 2nd century BCE) seems to refer to the top of the hill,
generally known as the Temple Mount. According to the Book of Samuel, Mount
Zion was the site of the Jebusite fortress called the "stronghold of
Zion", but once the First
Temple was erected, according to the Bible, at the top of the Eastern
Hill ("Temple Mount"), the name "Mount Zion" migrated
there too. The name later migrated for a last time, this time to
Jerusalem's Western
Hill.
In
1217, Spanish Rabbi Judah al-Harizi found
the sight of the Muslim structures on the mount profoundly disturbing.
"What torment to see our holy courts converted into an alien
temple!" he wrote.
Christianity
The
Temple was of central importance in Jewish worship, in the Tanakh and the Christian
Old Testament. 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. After the
destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, which came to be regarded by early
Christians, as it was by Josephus and
the sages of the Jerusalem
Talmud, to be a divine act of punishment for the sins of the Jewish
people, the Temple Mount lost its significance for Christian worship with
the Christians considering it a fulfillment of Christ's prophecy at, for
example, Matthew
23:28 and 24:2.
It was to this end, proof of a biblical prophecy fulfilled and of
Christianity's victory over
Judaism with the New
Covenant, that early Christian pilgrims also visited the
site. Byzantine Christians, despite some signs of constructive work on
the esplanade, generally neglected the Temple Mount, especially when a
Jewish attempt to rebuild the Temple was destroyed by the earthquake in
363 and it became a desolate local rubbish dump, perhaps outside the city
limits, as Christian worship in Jerusalem shifted to the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre, and Jerusalem's centrality was replaced by Rome.
During
the Byzantine era,
Jerusalem was primarily Christian and pilgrims came by the tens of thousands
to experience the places where Jesus walked. After the Persian
invasion in 614 many churches were razed and the site was turned into
a dumpyard. The Arabs conquered the
city from the Byzantine Empire which had retaken it in 629. The Byzantine ban
on the Jews was lifted and they were allowed to live inside the city and visit
the places of worship. Christian pilgrims were able to come and experience the
Temple Mount area. The war between Seljuqs and Byzantine Empire and
increasing Muslim violence against Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem instigated
the Crusades. The
Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099 and the Dome of the Rock was given to
the Augustinians,
who turned it into a church, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque became the royal palace
of Baldwin
I of Jerusalem in 1104. The Knights Templar, who
believed the Dome of the Rock was the site of the Solomon's Temple,
gave it the name "Templum
Domini" and set up their headquarters in the Al-Aqsa Mosque adjacent
to the Dome for much of the 12th century.
In
Christian art, the Circumcision of
Jesus was conventionally depicted as taking place at the Temple, even
though European artists until recently had no way of knowing what the Temple
looked like and the Gospels do not state that the event took place at the
Temple.
Though
some Christians believe that the Temple will be reconstructed before, or
concurrent with, the Second
Coming of Jesus (also see dispensationalism),
pilgrimage to the Temple Mount is not viewed as essential in the beliefs and
worship of most Christians. The New Testament recounts
a story of a Samaritan woman asking Jesus about the appropriate place to
worship, Jerusalem or the Samaritan holy place at Mount Gerizim, to which
Jesus replies,
"Woman,
believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem
will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what
we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. God is spirit, and those
who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."(John 4:21-24)
This
has been construed to mean that Jesus dispensed with physical location for
worship, which was a matter rather of spirit and truth.
Islam
Almost
immediately after the Muslim
conquest of Jerusalem in 638 CE, Caliph 'Omar ibn al Khatab,
disgusted by the filth covering the site, had it thoroughly cleaned, and
granted Jews access to the site. Among Sunni Muslims, the Mount
is widely considered the third
holiest site in Islam. Revered as the Noble Sanctuary, the location
of Muhammad's journey to Jerusalem
and ascent to heaven, the site is also associated with Jewish biblical
prophets who are also venerated in Islam. Muslims preferred to use the
esplanade as the heart for the Muslim quarter, since it had been abandoned by
Christians, to avoid disturbing the Christian quarters of
Jerusalem. Umayyad Caliphs commissioned the construction of the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock on
the site. The Dome was completed in 692 CE, making it one of the oldest
extant Islamic structures in the world. The Al Aqsa Mosque rests
on the far southern side of the Mount, facing Mecca. The Dome of the Rock currently
sits in the middle, occupying or close to the area where the Holy Temple previously
stood.
A
13th-century claim to an extended region of holiness was made by Ibn Taymiyyah who
asserted: "Al-Masjid al-Aqsa is the name for the whole of the place of
worship built by Sulaymaan..."
which, according to western tradition, presents: "...the place of worship
built by Solomon"
known as Solomon's
Temple. Ibn Taymiyyah had also opposed giving any undue religious honors
to mosques (even that of Jerusalem), to approach or rival in any way the
perceived Islamic sanctity of the two most holy mosques within
Islam, Masjid
al-Haram (in Mecca)
and Al-Masjid
al-Nabawi (in Madina).
Muslims
view the site as being one of the earliest and most noteworthy places of
worship of God.
For a few years in the early stages of Islam, Muhammad instructed his
followers to face the Mount during prayer.
The
site is also important as being the site of the "Farthest Mosque"
(mentioned in the Quran as
the location of Muhammad's miraculous Night Journey) to
heaven.:
"Exalted
is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram (the Sacred
Mosque) to al-Masjid al-Aqsa (the Further Mosque), whose surroundings We have
blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the
Seeing." Quran 17:1
The hadith, a collection of the
sayings of the Prophet Mohammad, confirm that the location of the Al-Aqsa
mosque is indeed in Jerusalem:
"When
the people of Quraish did not believe me (i.e. the story of my Night Journey),
I stood up in Al-Hijr and Allah displayed Jerusalem in front of me, and I
began describing Jerusalem to them while I was looking at it." Sahih
Bukhari: Volume 5, Book 58, Number 226.
Muslim
interpretations of the Quran agree that the Mount is the site of a Temple
built by Sulayman,
considered a prophet in Islam, that was later destroyed.
After
the construction, Muslims believe, the temple was used for the worship of one
God by many prophets of Islam, including Jesus. Other Muslim scholars
have used the Torah (called Tawrat in Arabic) to expand on the
details of the temple.
History
Israelite period
The
hill is believed to have been inhabited since the 4th millennium BCE.
Assuming colocation with the biblical Mount Zion, its southern
section would have been walled at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE,
in around 1850 BCE, by Canaanites who
established a settlement there (or in the vicinity) named Jebus. Jewish tradition
identifies it with Mount
Moriah where the binding of Isaac took
place. According to the Hebrew Bible, the Temple
Mount was originally a threshing-floor owned
by Araunah, a Jebusite. The prophet Gad suggested
the area to King David as
a fitting place for the erection of an altar to YHWH, since a destroying angel
was standing there when God stopped a great plague in Jerusalem.
David
then bought the property from Araunah, for fifty pieces of silver, and erected
the altar. YHWH instructed David to build a sanctuary on the site, outside the
city walls on the northern edge of the hill. The building was to replace
the Tabernacle,
and serve as the Temple of
the Israelites in Jerusalem. The Temple Mount is an important part
of Biblical
archaeology.
Persian, Hasmonean and Herodian periods
Much
of the Mount's early history is synonymous with events pertaining to the
Temple itself. After the destruction of Solomon's Temple by Nebuchadnezzar II,
construction of the Second
Temple began under Cyrus in around
538 BCE, and was completed in 516 BCE. Evidence of a Hasmonean expansion of
the Temple Mount has been recovered by archaeologist Leen Ritmeyer. Around
19 BCE, Herod the
Great further expanded the Mount and rebuilt the temple.
The ambitious project, which involved the employment of 10,000
workers, more than doubled the size of the Temple Mount to approximately
36 acres (150,000 m2). Herod
leveled the area by cutting away rock on the northwest side and raising the
sloping ground to the south. He achieved this by constructing huge buttress
walls and vaults, and filling the necessary sections with earth and
rubble. A basilica,
called by Josephus "the Royal Stoa",
was constructed on the southern end of the expanded platform, which provided a
focus for the city's commercial and legal transactions, and which was provided
with separate access to the city below via the Robinson's Arch overpass. In
addition to restoration of the Temple, its courtyards and porticoes, Herod
also built the Antonia
Fortress, abutting the northwestern corner of the Temple Mount, and a
rainwater reservoir, Birket
Israel, in the northeast. As a result of the First
Jewish–Roman War, the fortress was destroyed in 70 CE by Titus, the army commander and
son of Roman emperor Vespasian.
Middle Roman period
The
city of Aelia
Capitolina was built in 130 CE by the Roman emperor Hadrian, and occupied by
a Roman colony on
the site of Jerusalem, which was still in ruins from the First Jewish Revolt in
70 CE. Aelia came from
Hadrian's nomen gentile, Aelius, while Capitolina meant
that the new city was dedicated to Jupiter Capitolinus,
to whom a temple was built on the site of the former second Jewish temple, the
Temple Mount.
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. It was also customary in Roman rites to
sacrifice a pig in
land purification ceremonies. In addition to this, Hadrian issued a
decree prohibiting the practice of circumcision. These
three factors, the graven images, the sacrifice of pigs before the altar, and
the prohibition of circumcision, are thought to have constituted for
non-Hellenized Jews a new abomination of
desolation, and thus Bar Kochba launched
the Third
Jewish Revolt. After the Third Jewish Revolt failed, all Jews were
forbidden on pain of death from entering the city or the surrounding territory
around the city.
Late Roman period
From
the 1st through the 7th 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.
Emperor Constantine I promoted
the Christianization of Roman society, giving it precedence over pagan
cults. One consequence was that Hadrian's Temple to Jupiter on
the Temple Mount was demolished immediately following the First Council of
Nicea in 325 CE on orders of Constantine.
The Bordaeux Pilgrim,
who visited Jerusalem in 333–334, during the reign of Emperor Constantine I,
wrote that "There are two statues of Hadrian, and, not far from them, a
pierced stone to which the Jews come every year and anoint. They mourn and
rend their garments, and then depart." 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.
Constantine's
nephew Emperor Julian granted
permission in the year 363 for the Jews to rebuild the Temple. In a
letter attributed to Julian he wrote to the Jews that "This you ought to
do, in order that, when I have successfully concluded the war in Persia, I may
rebuild by my own efforts the sacred city of Jerusalem, which for so many
years you have longed to see inhabited, and may bring settlers there, and,
together with you, may glorify the Most High God therein." Julian
saw the Jewish God as a fitting member of the pantheon of gods he believed in,
and he was also a strong opponent of Christianity. Church historians
wrote that the Jews began to clear away the structures and rubble on the
Temple Mount but were thwarted, first by a great earthquake, and then by
miracles that included fire springing from the earth. However, no
contemporary Jewish sources mention this episode directly.
Byzantine period
Archaeological
evidence in the form of an elaborate mosaic floor similar to the one in
the Church
of the Nativity in Bethlehem and multiple
fragments of an elaborate marble Templon(chancel screen) prove
that an elaborate Byzantine church or monastery or other public building stood
on the Temple Mount in Byzantine times.
Sassanid period
See also: Jewish revolt against Heraclius and Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628
In
610, the Sassanid
Empire drove the Byzantine Empire out
of the Middle East, giving the Jews control of Jerusalem for the first time in
centuries. The Jews in Palestine were allowed to set up a vassal state under
the Sassanid Empire called the Sassanid
Jewish Commonwealth which lasted for five years. 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. Shortly before the
Byzantines took the area back five years later in 615, the Persians gave
control to the Christian population, who tore down the partially built Jewish
Temple edifice and turned it into a garbage dump, which is what it was
when the Rashidun Caliph Umar took the city in 637.
Early Muslim period
In 637
Arabs besieged and
captured the city from the Byzantine Empire, which had defeated the Persian
forces and their allies, and reconquered the city. There are no contemporary
records, but many traditions, about the origin of the main Islamic buildings
on the mount. A popular account from later centuries is that the Rashidun Caliph Umar was led to the place
reluctantly by the Christian patriarch Sophronius. He
found it covered with rubbish, but the sacred Rock was found with the help of
a converted Jew, Ka'b
al-Ahbar. Al-Ahbar advised Umar to build a mosque to the north of the
rock, so that worshippers would face both the rock and Mecca, but instead Umar
chose to build it to the south of the rock. It became known as the
Al-Aqsa Mosque. According to Muslim sources, Jews participated in the
construction of the haram, laying the groundwork for both the Al-Aqsa and Dome
of the Rock mosques. The first known eyewitness testimony is that of the
pilgrim Arculf who
visited about 670. According to Arculf's account as recorded by Adomnán, he saw a
rectangular wooden house of prayer built over some ruins, large enough to hold
3,000 people.
In 691 an octagonal Islamic building topped by a dome was
built by the Caliph Abd al-Malik around the rock, for a myriad of
political, dynastic and religious reasons, built on local and Quranic
traditions articulating the site's holiness, a process in which textual and
architectural narratives reinforced one another. The shrine became known
as the Dome of the Rock (قبة الصخرة, Qubbat as-Sakhra). (The dome itself was covered in
gold in 1920.) In 715 the Umayyads, led by the Caliph al-Walid I,
transformed the temple shops Chanuyot nearby
into a mosque (see illustrations and detailed drawing ), which
they named the Aqsa Mosque (المسجد الأقصى, al-Masjid al-Aqsa, lit. "Furthest Mosque"), corresponding to the
Islamic belief of Muhammad's miraculous nocturnal journey as recounted in the Quran and hadith.
The term "Noble Sanctuary" or "Haram al-Sharif", as it was
called later by the Mamluks and Ottomans,
refers to the whole area that surrounds that Rock.
For
Muslims, the importance of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque makes
Jerusalem the third-holiest
city, after Mecca and Medina.
The mosque and shrine are currently administered by a Waqf (an Islamic trust).
The various inscriptions on the Dome walls and the artistic decorations imply
a symbolic eschatological significance of the structure.
Crusader and Ayyubid period
The
Crusader period began in 1099 with the First Crusade's capture
of Jerusalem. After the city's conquest, the Crusading order Knights Templar was
granted use of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount by Baldwin II of
Jerusalem and Warmund,
Patriarch of Jerusalem, probably at the Council of Nablus in
January 1120, giving the Templars a headquarters in the captured Al-Aqsa Mosque. The
Temple Mount had a mystique because it was above what were believed to be the
ruins of the Temple
of Solomon. The Crusaders therefore referred to the 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.
In
1187, once he retook Jerusalem, Saladin removed all traces of Christian
worship from the Temple Mount, returning the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa
Mosque to their original purposes. Even during the relatively short periods of
diplomatically-won Crusader rule after that date, the Temple Mount remained in
Muslim hands.
Mamluk period
There
are several Mamluk buildings on and around the Haram esplanade. The Mamluks
also raised the level of Jerusalem's Central or Tyropoean Valey bordering the
Temple Mount from the west by constructing huge substructures, on which they
then built on a large scale. The Mamluk-period substructures and over-ground
buildings are thus covering much of the Herodian western wall of the Temple
Mount.
Ottoman period
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.
In
1867, a team from the Royal Engineers, led
by Lieutenant Charles
Warren and financed by the Palestine
Exploration Fund (P.E.F.), discovered a series of underground tunnels
near the Temple Mount. Warren secretly[citation needed] excavated some tunnels near the
Temple Mount walls and was the first one to document their lower courses.
Warren also conducted some small scale excavations inside the Temple Mount, by
removing rubble that blocked passages leading from the Double Gate chamber.
British Mandatory period
Between
1922 and 1924, the Dome of the Rock was restored by the Islamic Higher
Council.
Jordanian period
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.
Neither
Israeli Arabs nor Israeli Jews could visit their holy places in the Jordanian
territories during this period.
Israeli period
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
Chief Rabbi of the Israeli Defense Forces, Shlomo Goren, led the
soldiers in religious celebrations on the Temple Mount and at the Western
Wall. 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. Many saw the capture of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount as a
miraculous liberation of biblical-messianic proportions. A few days after
the war was over 200,000 Jews flocked to the Western Wall in the first mass
Jewish pilgrimage near the Mount since the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.
Islamic authorities did not disturb Goren when he went to pray on the Mount
until, on the Ninth
Day of Av, he brought 50 followers and introduced both a shofar, and a portable ark to
pray, an innovation which alarmed the Waqf authorities and led to a
deterioration of relations between the Muslim authorities and the Israeli
government. The then Prime
Minister of Israel, Levi Eshkol, gave control
of access to the Temple Mount to the Jerusalem Islamic
Waqf. The site has since been a flash-point between Israel and local
Muslims.
In
June 1969 an Australian tried to set fire to Al-Aqsa; on April 11, 1982 a Jew
hid in the Dome of the Rock and sprayed gunfire, killing 2 Palestinians and
wounding 44; in 1974, 1977 and 1983 groups led by Yoel Lerner conspired
to blow up both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa; on 26 January 1984 Waqf
guards detected members of B'nei Yehuda, a messianic cult of former gangsters
turned mystics based in Lifta,
trying to infiltrate the area to blow it up. On October 8, 1990, Israeli
forces patrolling the site blocked worshipers from accessing it. A tear gas
canister was detonated among the female worshipers, which caused events to
escalate. 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. The attempt was
blocked by Israeli authorities but demonstrators were widely reported as
having stoned Jews at the Western Wall. According to Palestinian
historian Rashid
Khalidi, investigative journalism has shown this allegation to be
false. Rocks were eventually thrown, while security forces fired rounds
that ended up killing 21 people and injuring 150 more. An Israeli inquiry
found Israeli forces at fault, but it also concluded that charges could not be
brought against any particular individuals. In December 1997, Israeli
security services preempted an attempt by Jewish extremists to throw a pig's
head wrapped in the pages of the Quran into the area, in order to spark a riot
and embarrass the government.
Between
1992 and 1994, the Jordanian government undertook the unprecedented step of
gilding the dome of the Dome of the Rock, covering it with 5000 gold plates,
and restoring and reinforcing the structure. The Salah Eddin minbar was also restored.
The project was paid for by King Hussein personally,
at a cost of $8 million. The Temple Mount remains, under the terms of the
1994 Israel–Jordan
peace treaty, under Jordanian custodianship.
On
September 28, 2000, Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited
the Temple Mount. He toured the site, together with a Likud party delegation
and a large number of Israeli riot police. The visit was seen as a provocative
gesture by many Palestinians, who gathered around the site. Demonstrations
quickly turned violent, with rubber bullets and tear gas being used. This
event is often cited as one of the catalysts of the Second Palestinian
Intifada. Evidence reveals, however, that one month earlier,
Palestinian Authority Justice Minister Freih Abu Middein warned that:
"Violence is near and the Palestinian people are willing to sacrifice
even 5,000 casualties."A few weeks before the outbreak, the official PA
publication, Al-Sabah, declared: "The time for the Intifada has
arrived... the time for jihad has arrived."Palestinian leader Marwan
Barghouti would later admit that the Intifada was planned and Sharon merely
"provided a good excuse" for the violence.
Status
quo
Since
1757 a status quo
has been applied for the ruling of the Holy places in Jerusalem.
The
situation between Jews and Muslims was confirmed in 1919 and Faisal–Weizmann
Agreement concluded that:
Article
V. No regulation nor law shall be made prohibiting or interfering with the
free exercise of religion; (...)
Article
VI. The Mohammedan Holy Places shall be under Mohammedan control.
In
1929 tensions
around the Western Wall in which Jews were accused of violating the
status quo generated riots during which 133 Jews and 110 Arabs were killed.
Following
the 1948
Arab-Israeli War, the status quo was not respected any more after Jordan
took control of the Old City of
Jerusalem and Jews were prohibited from visiting their Holy Places in
the city.
Under Israeli control
A few
days after the Six-Day
War, on June 17, 1967, a meeting was held at al-Aqsa between Moshe Dayan
and Muslim religious authorities of Jerusalem reformulating the status quo. Jews were given the right to
visit the Temple Mount unobstructed and free of charge if they respected
Muslims' religious feelings and acted decently, but they were not allowed to
pray. The Western Wall was to remain the Jewish place of prayer. 'Religious
sovereignty' was to remain with the Muslims while 'overall sovereignty' became
Israeli.Dayan's offer was objected to by the Muslims, as they totally rejected
the Israeli conquest of Jerusalem and the Mount. Some Jews, led by Shlomo Goren, then the
military chief rabbi, had objected as well, claiming the decision handed over
the complex to the Muslims, since the Western Wall's holiness is derived from
the Mount and symbolizes exile, while praying on the Mount symbolizes freedom
and the return of the Jewish people to their homeland. 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. Israel's courts have considered the
issue as one beyond their remit, and, given the delicacy of the matter, under
political jurisdiction. He wrote:
The
basic principle is that every Jew has the right to enter the Temple Mount, to
pray there, and to have communion with his maker. This is part of the
religious freedom of worship, it is part of the freedom of expression.
However, as with every human right, it is not absolute, but a relative
right... Indeed, in a case where there is near certainty that injury may be
caused to the public interest if a person's rights of religious worship and
freedom of expression would be realized, it is possible to limit the rights of
the person in order to uphold the public interest.
Police
continued to forbid Jews to pray on the Temple Mount. Subsequently,
several prime ministers also made attempts to change the status quo, but
failed to do so. In October 1986, an agreement between the Temple Mount
Faithful, the Supreme Muslim Council and police, which would allow short
visits in small groups, was exercised once and never repeated, after 2,000
Muslims armed with stones and bottles attacked the group and stoned worshipers
at the Western Wall. During the 1990s, additional attempts were made for
Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, which were stopped by Israeli police.
Until
2000, non-Muslim visitors could enter the Dome of the Rock, al-Aqsa Mosque and
the Islamic Museum by getting a ticket from the Waqf. That procedure ended
when the Second
Intifada erupted. Fifteen years later, negotiation between Israel and
Jordan might result in reopening of those sites once again.
In the
2010s, fear arose among Palestinians that Israel planned to change the status
quo and permit Jewish prayers or that the al-Aqsa mosque might be damaged or
destroyed by Israel. Al-Aqsa was used as a base for attacks on visitors and
the police from which stones, firebombs and fireworks were thrown. The Israeli
police had never entered al-Aqsa Mosque until November 5, 2014, when dialog
with the leaders of the Waqf and the rioters failed. This resulted in imposing
strict limitations on entry of visitors to the Temple Mount. Israeli
leadership repeatedly stated that the status quo would not
change. According to then Jerusalem police commissioner Yohanan Danino,
the place is at the center of a "holy war" and "anyone who
wants to change the status quo on the Temple Mount should not be allowed up
there", citing an "extreme right-wing agenda to change the status
quo on the Temple Mount"; Hamas and Islamic Jihad continue to erroneously
assert that the Israeli government plans to destroy Al-Aksa Mosque, resulting
in chronic terrorist attacks and rioting.
There
have been several changes to the status quo: (1) Jewish visits are often
prevented or considerably restricted. (2) Jews and other non-Islamic visitors
can only visit from Sunday to Thursday, for four hours each day. (3) Visits
inside the mosques are not allowed. (4) Jews with religious appearance must
visit in groups monitored by Waqf guards and policemen.
Many
Palestinians believe the status quo is threatened since right-wing Israelis
have been challenging it with more force and frequency, asserting a religious
right to pray there. Until Israel banned them, members of Murabitat, a group of
women, cried 'Allah Akbar' at groups of Jewish visitors to remind them the
Temple Mount was still in Muslim hands.[112][113]
Management
and access
An
Islamic Waqf has
managed the Temple Mount continuously since the Muslim reconquest of the Latin Kingdom of
Jerusalem in 1187. On June 7, 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". Together with the extension of Israeli jurisdiction and
administration over east Jerusalem, the Knesset passed the Preservation of the
Holy Places Law, ensuring protection of the Holy Places against
desecration, as well as freedom of access thereto. The site remains
within the area controlled by the State of Israel, with
administration of the site remaining in the hands of the Jerusalem Islamic
Waqf.
Although
freedom of access was enshrined in the law, as a security measure, the Israeli
government currently enforces a ban on non-Muslim prayer on the site.
Non-Muslims who are observed praying on the site are subject to expulsion by
the police. 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. Sometimes such restrictions have coincided with Friday prayersduring the
Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Normally,
West Bank Palestinians are allowed access to Jerusalem only during Islamic
holidays, with access usually restricted to men over 35 and women of any age
eligible for permits to enter the city. Palestinian residents of
Jerusalem, which because of Israel's annexation of Jerusalem, hold Israeli
permanent residency cards, and Israeli Arabs, are permitted unrestricted
access to the Temple Mount. The Mughrabi Gate is
the only entrance to the Temple Mount accessible to non-Muslims.
Jewish attitudes towards entering the site
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. A 2013 Knesset committee
hearing considered allowing Jews to pray at the site, amidst heated
debate. Arab-Israeli MPs
were ejected for disrupting the hearing, after shouting at the chairman,
calling her a "pyromaniac". Religious Affairs Minister Eli Ben-Dahan of Jewish Home said his
ministry was seeking legal ways to enable Jews to pray at the site.
Jewish religious law concerning entry to the site
Main article: Temple Warning inscription
During
Temple times, entry to the Mount was limited by a complex set of purity laws. Those who were not
of the Jewish nation were prohibited from entering the inner court of the
Temple. A hewn stone measuring 60 x 90 cm. and engraved with Greek
uncials was discovered in 1871 near a court on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem
in which it outlined this prohibition:
ΜΗΟΕΝΑΑΛΛΟΓΕΝΗΕΙΣΠΟ
ΡΕΥΕΣΟΑΙΕΝΤΟΣΤΟΥΠΕ
ΡΙΤΟΙΕΡΟΝΤΡΥΦΑΚΤΟΥΚΑΙ
ΠΕΡΙΒΟΛΟΥΟΣΔΑΝΛΗ
ΦΘΗΕΑΥΤΩΙΑΙΤΙΟΣΕΣ
ΤΑΙΔΙΑΤΟΕΞΑΚΟΛΟΥ
ΘΕΙΝΘΑΝΑΤΟΝ
Translation:
"Let no foreigner enter within the parapet and the partition which
surrounds the Temple precincts. Anyone caught [violating] will be held
accountable for his ensuing death." Today, the stone is preserved
in Istanbul's
Museum of Antiquities.
Maimonides wrote that
it was only permitted to enter the site to fulfill a religious precept. After
the destruction of the Temple there was discussion as to whether the site,
bereft of the Temple, still maintained its holiness or not. 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. 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. The question then becomes whether the site can be
ascertained accurately. A second complex legal debate centers around the
precise divine punishment for stepping onto these forbidden spots.
There
is debate over whether reports that Maimonides himself
ascended the Mount are reliable. One such report claims that he did
so on Thursday, October 21, 1165, during the Crusader period. Some early
scholars however, claim that entry onto certain areas of the Mount is
permitted. It appears that Radbaz also
entered the Mount and advised others how to do this. He permits entry from all
the gates into the 135×135 cubits of the Women's Courtyard in the east, since
the biblical prohibition only applies to the 187×135 cubits of the Temple in
the west. There are also Christian and Islamic sources which indicate
that Jews accessed the site, but these visits may have been made under
duress.
Opinions of contemporary rabbis concerning entry to
the site
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. This
warning was reiterated by the Council of the Chief Rabbinate a few days later,
which issued an explanation written by Rabbi Bezalel Jolti (Zolti) that
"Since the sanctity of the site has never ended, it is forbidden to enter
the Temple Mount until the Temple is built." The signatures of more
than 300 prominent rabbis were later obtained.
A
major critic of the decision of the Chief Rabbinate was Rabbi Shlomo Goren,
the chief rabbi of the IDF. According to General Uzi Narkiss, who led the
Israeli force that conquered the Temple Mount, Goren proposed to him that the
Dome of the Rock be immediately blown up. After Narkiss refused, Goren
unsuccessfully petitioned the government to close off the Mount to Jews and
non-Jews alike. Later he established his office on the Mount and
conducted a series of demonstrations on the Mount in support of the right of
Jewish men to enter there. His behavior displeased the government, which
restricted his public actions, censored his writings, and in August prevented
him from attending the annual Oral Law Conference at which the question of
access to the Mount was debated. Although there was considerable
opposition, the conference consensus was to confirm the ban on entry to
Jews. The ruling said "We have been warned, since time immemorial [lit. for generations and generations],
against entering the entire area of the Temple Mount and have indeed avoided
doing so." According to Ron Hassner, the ruling
"brilliantly" solved the government's problem of avoiding ethnic
conflict, since those Jews who most respected rabbinical authority were those
most likely to clash with Muslims on the Mount.
Rabbinical
consensus in the post-1967 period, held that it is forbidden for Jews to enter
any part of the Temple Mount, and in January 2005 a declaration was
signed confirming the 1967 decision.
While
Rabbi Moshe
Feinstein permitted, in principle, entry to some parts of the
site, most other Haredi rabbis
are of the opinion that the Mount is off limits to Jews and non-Jews
alike. Their opinions against entering the Temple Mount are based on the
current political climate surrounding the Mount, along with the potential
danger of entering the hallowed area of the Temple courtyard and the
impossibility of fulfilling the ritual requirement of cleansing oneself with
the ashes of a red
heifer. The boundaries of the areas which are completely forbidden,
while having large portions in common, are delineated differently by various
rabbinic authorities.
However,
there is a growing body of Modern Orthodox and national religious rabbis
who encourage visits to certain parts of the Mount, which they believe are
permitted according to most medieval rabbinical authorities. These rabbis
include: Shlomo Goren (former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel); Chaim David
Halevi (former Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv and Yaffo); Dov Lior (Rabbi
of Kiryat Arba); Yosef Elboim; Yisrael Ariel; She'ar Yashuv Cohen (Chief
Rabbi of Haifa); Yuval Sherlo (rosh yeshiva of
the hesder yeshiva
of Petah Tikva); Meir Kahane. 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. These authorities demand an attitude of veneration on the part
of Jews ascending the Temple Mount, ablution in
a mikveh prior to
the ascent, and the wearing of non-leather shoes. Some rabbinic
authorities are now of the opinion that it is imperative for Jews to ascend in
order to halt the ongoing process of Islamization
of the Temple Mount. Maimonides, perhaps the greatest codifier of Jewish
Law, wrote in Laws of the Chosen House ch
7 Law 15 "One may bring a dead body in to the (lower
sanctified areas of the) Temple Mount and there is no need to say that the
ritually impure (from the dead) may enter there, because the dead body itself
can enter". One who is ritually impure through direct or in-direct
contact of the dead cannot walk in the higher sanctified areas. For those who
are visibly Jewish, they have no choice, but to follow this
peripheral route as it has become unofficially part of the status quo
on the Mount. Many of these recent opinions rely on archaeological evidence.
In
December 2013, the two Chief Rabbis of Israel, David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef,
reiterated the ban on Jews entering the Temple Mount. They wrote,
"In light of [those] neglecting [this ruling], we once again warn that
nothing has changed and this strict prohibition remains in effect for the
entire area [of the Temple Mount]". In November 2014, the Sephardic
chief rabbi Yitzhak
Yosef, reiterated the point of view held by many rabbinic authorities that
Jews should not visit the Mount. On the occasion of an upsurge in
Palestinian knifing attacks on Israelis, associated with fears that Israel was
changing the status quo on the Mount, the Haredi newspaper Mishpacha ran a
notification in Arabic asking 'their cousins', Palestinians, to stop trying to
murder members of their congregation, since they were vehemently opposed to
ascending the Mount and consider such visits proscribed by Jewish law.
Current
features
Dome of the Rock platform
A flat
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. 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.
There
is also a smaller domed building on the upper platform, slightly to the east
of the Dome of the Rock, known as the Dome of the Chain —
traditionally the location where a chain once rose to heaven.
Several
stairways rise to the upper platform from the lower; that at the northwest
corner is believed by some archaeologists be part of a much wider monumental
staircase, mostly hidden or destroyed, and dating from the Second Temple era.
Lower platform
The
lower platform – which constitutes most of the surface of the Temple Mount –
has at its southern end the al-Aqsa Mosque, which takes up most of the width
of the Mount. Gardens take up the eastern and most of the northern side of the
platform; the far north of the platform houses an Islamic school.
The
lower platform also houses an ablution fountain (known
as al-Kas), originally supplied
with water via a long narrow aqueduct leading from the so-called Solomon's Pools pools near Bethlehem, but now supplied
from Jerusalem's water mains.
There
are several cisterns beneath
the lower platform, designed to collect rain water as a water supply. These
have various forms and structures, seemingly built in different periods,
ranging from vaulted chambers built in the gap between the bedrock and the
platform, to chambers cut into the bedrock itself. Of these, the most notable
are (numbering traditionally follows Wilson's scheme.
Gates
Sealed gates
The
retaining walls of the platform contain several gateways, all currently
blocked. In the eastern wall is the Golden Gate,
through which legend states the Jewish Messiah would
enter Jerusalem. On the southern face are the Hulda Gates —
the triple gate (which has
three arches) and the double gate (which
has two arches, and is partly obscured by a Crusader building); these were the
entrance and exit (respectively) to the Temple Mount from Ophel (the oldest part of
Jerusalem), and the main access to the Mount for ordinary Jews. 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. Also
in the western face, hidden by later construction but visible via the
recent Western
Wall Tunnels, and only rediscovered by Warren, is Warren's Gate; the
function of these western gates is obscure, but many Jews view Warren's Gate
as particularly holy, due to its location due west of the Dome of the Rock.
Traditional belief considers the Dome of the Rock to have earlier been the
location at which the Holy of Holies was
placed; numerous alternative opinions exist, based on study and calculations,
such as those of Tuvia Sagiv.
Warren
was able to investigate the inside of these gates. Warren's Gate and the
Golden Gate simply head towards the centre of the Mount, fairly quickly giving
access to the surface by steps. Barclay's Gate is similar, but abruptly
turns south as it does so; the reason for this is currently unknown. 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 the al-Aqsa
Mosque. The passageway for each is vaulted, and has two aisles (in the
case of the triple gate, a third aisle exists for a brief distance beyond the
gate); the eastern aisle of the double gates and western of the triple gates
reach the surface, the other aisles terminating some way before the steps –
Warren believed that one aisle of each original passage was extended when the
al-Aqsa Mosque blocked the original surface exits.
In the
process of investigating Cistern 10, Warren discovered tunnels that lay under the Triple Gate
passageway. These passages lead in erratic directions, some leading
beyond the southern edge of the Temple Mount (they are at a depth below the
base of the walls); their purpose is currently unknown – as is whether they
predate the Temple Mount – a situation not helped by the fact that apart from
Warren's expedition no one else is known to have visited them.
Altogether,
there are six major sealed gates and a postern, listed here counterclockwise,
dating from either the Roman/Herodian, Byzantine, or Early Muslim periods:
Bab al-Rahma (Door of Mercy) is the southern opening,
Bab al-Tauba (Door of Repentance) is the northern opening
Open gates of the Haram
There
are currently eleven open gates offering access to the Muslim Haram al-Sharif.
Two
twin gates follow south of the Ablution Gate, the Tranquility Gate and the
Gate of the Chain:
A
twelfth gate still open during Ottoman rule is now closed to the public:
Solomon's Stables/Marwani Mosque
East
of and joined to the triple gate passageway is a large vaulted area,
supporting the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount platform – which is
substantially above the bedrock at this point – the vaulted chambers here are
popularly referred to as Solomon's Stables. They
were used as stables by the Crusaders, but were built by Herod the Great –
along with the platform they were built to support.
Minarets
Main article: Minarets of the Temple Mount
The
existing four minarets include three near the Western Wall and
one near the northern wall. The first minaret was constructed on the southwest
corner of the Temple Mount in 1278. 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.
Alterations
to antiquities and damage to existing structures
Main article: Excavations at the Temple Mount
See also: Temple Denial and Islamization of the Temple Mount
Due to
the extreme political sensitivity of the site, no real archaeological
excavations have ever been conducted on the Temple Mount itself. Protests
commonly occur whenever archaeologists conduct projects near the Mount. This
sensitivity has not, however, prevented the Muslim Waqf from destroying
archeological evidence on a number of occasions. 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.
After
the Six-Day War of 1967, Israeli archeologists began a series of excavations
near the site at the southern
wall that uncovered finds from the Second Temple period through
Roman, Umayyad and
Crusader times. Over the period 1970–88, a number of tunnels were
excavated in the vicinity, including one that passed to the west of the Mount
and became known as the Western Wall Tunnel,
which was opened to the public in 1996.The same year the Waqf began
construction of a new mosque in the structures known since Crusader times
as Solomon's
Stables. Many Israelis regarded this as a radical change of the status
quo, which should not have been undertaken without first consulting the
Israeli government. The project was done without attention to the possibility
of disturbing historically significant archaeological material, with stone and
ancient artifacts treated without regard to their preservation.
In
October 1999, the Islamic Waqf, and the Islamic Movement conducted an
illegal dig which inflicted much archaeological damage. The earth from
this operation, which has archeological wealth relevant to Jewish, Christian
and Muslim history, was removed by heavy machinery and unceremoniously dumped
by trucks into the nearby Kidron Valley. Although the archeological finds in
the earth are already not in
situ, this soil still contains great archeological potential. No
archeological excavation was ever conducted on the Temple Mount, and this soil
was the only archeological information that has ever been available to anyone.
For this reason Israeli archaeologists Dr. Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Zweigestablished a
project sifting all the earth in this dump: the Temple Mount
Sifting Project. Among finds uncovered in rubble removed from the Temple
Mount were:
In
late 2002, a bulge of about 700 mm was reported in the southern retaining
wall part of the Temple Mount. A Jordanian team of engineers recommended
replacing or resetting most of the stones in the affected area.In February
2004, the eastern wall of the Mount was damaged by an earthquake. The damage
threatened to topple sections of the wall into the area known as Solomon's
Stables. A few days later, a portion of retaining wall, supporting the
earthen ramp that led from the Western Wall plaza to the Gate of the Moors on
the Temple Mount, collapsed. 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. The works sparked
condemnation from Arab leaders.
In
July 2007 the Muslim
religious trust which administers the Mount began digging a
400-metre-long, 1.5-metre-deep trench from the northern
side of the Temple Mount compound to the Dome of the Rock in
order to replace 40-year-old electric cables in the area. Israeli
archaeologists accused the waqf of a deliberate act of cultural vandalism.
Israelis
allege that Palestinians are deliberately removing significant amounts of
archaeological evidence about the Jewish past of the site and claim to have
found significant artifacts in the fill removed by bulldozers and trucks from
the Temple Mount. Since the Waqf is
granted almost full autonomy on the Islamic holy sites, Israeli archaeologists
have been prevented from inspecting the area, and are restricted to conducting
excavations around the Temple Mount.[citation needed] Muslims allege that the Israelis
are deliberately damaging the remains of Islamic-era buildings found in their
excavations.[167]
Recent
events
February 2004
Partially collapsed Mughrabi-Bridge: An
800-year-old wall holding back part of the hill jutting out from the Western Wall leading
up to the Mughrabi Gate partially collapsed. Authorities believed a recent
earthquake may have been responsible.
March 2005
Allah inscription: The
word "Allah", in
approximately a foot-tall Arabic script, was found newly carved into the
ancient stones, an act viewed by Jews as vandalism. The carving was attributed
to a team of Jordanian engineers
and Palestinian laborers in charge of strengthening that section of the wall.
The discovery caused outrage among Israeli archaeologists and many Jews were
angered by the inscription at Judaism's holiest site.
October 2006
Synagogue proposal: Uri Ariel, a member of
the Knesset from
the National
Union party (a right wing opposition party) ascended to the
mount, and said that he is preparing a plan where a synagogue will be
built on the mount. His proposed synagogue would not be
built instead of the mosques but in a separate area in accordance with rulings
of 'prominent rabbis.' He said he believed that this will be correcting a
historical injustice and that it is an opportunity for the Muslim world to
prove that it is tolerant to all faiths.
Minaret proposal: Plans
are mooted to build a new minaret on the mount, the first of its kind for 600
years. King Abdullah
II of Jordan announced a competition to design a fifth minaret for
the walls of the Temple Mount complex. He said it would "reflect the
Islamic significance and sanctity of the mosque". The scheme, estimated
to cost $300,000, is for a seven-sided tower – after the seven-pointed
Hashemite star – and at 42 metres (138 ft), it would be 3.5 metres
(11 ft) taller than the next-largest minaret. The minaret would be
constructed on the eastern wall of the Temple Mount near the Golden Gate.
February 2007
Mugrabi Gate ramp reconstruction: Repairs to an earthen ramp leading to
the Mugrabi Gate sparked
Arab protests.
May 2007
Right-wing Jews ascend the Mount: A
group of right-wing Religious Zionist rabbis entered the Temple
Mount. This elicited widespread criticism from other religious Jews and
from secular Israelis, accusing the rabbis of provoking the Arabs. An
editorial in the newspaper Haaretz accused the rabbis of
'knowingly and irresponsibly bringing a burning torch closer to the most
flammable hill in the Middle East,' and noted that rabbinical consensus in
both the Haredi and the Religious Zionist worlds forbids Jews from entering the
Temple Mount. On May 16, Rabbi Avraham Shapira,
former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel and rosh yeshiva of
the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva, reiterated his
opinion that it is forbidden for Jews to enter the Temple Mount. The
Litvish Haredi newspaper Yated Ne'eman, which is controlled by
leading Litvish Haredi rabbis including Rabbi Yosef Shalom
Eliashiv and Rabbi Nissim Karelitz,
accused the rabbis of transgressing a decree punishable by 'death through the
hands of heaven.'
July 2007
Temple Mount cable replacement: The Waqf began digging a ditch
from the northern side of the Temple Mount compound to the Dome of the Rock as
a prelude to infrastructure work in the area. Although the dig was approved by
the police, it generated protests from archaeologists.
October 2009
Clashes: Palestinian
protesters gathered at the site after rumours that an extreme Israeli group
would harm the site, which the Israeli government denied. Israeli police
assembled at the Temple Mount complex to disperse Palestinian protesters who
were throwing stones at them. The police used stun grenades on
the protesters, of which 15 were later arrested, including the Palestinian
President's adviser on Jerusalem affairs. 18 Palestinians and 3 police
officers were injured.
July 2010
A public opinion poll in
Israel showed that 49% of Israelis want the Temple to be rebuilt, with 27%
saying the government should make active steps towards such reconstruction.
The poll was conducted by channel 99, the government-owned Knesset channel, in
advance of the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av, on which Jews commemorate
the destruction of both the first and second Temples, which stood at this
site.
Knesset Member Danny Danon visited the Temple Mount in accordance
with rabbinical views of Jewish Law on the 9th of the Hebrew Month of Av,
which commemorates the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in
Jerusalem. The Knesset Member condemned the conditions imposed by Muslims upon
religious Jews at the site and vowed to work to better conditions.
Temple Mount shooting: Three men from the
Israeli-Arab city of Umm al-Fahm opened fire on two Israeli Druze policemen at
the Lions' Gate. Gun attacks have been unusual at the Temple Mount in recent
decades.
Following the July 14 attack, the site was shut down, and
reopened on July 16 with metal detector-equipped checkpoints, spurring calls
for protests by Muslim leaders associated with the site.