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To
Muslims, Jerusalem is third only to Mecca and Medina as a sacred
shrine. Through the ages the Dome of the Rock, which looms above
Jerusalem, has been revered and cared for by all Muslims.
This
magnificent structure stands in the heart of the Noble Sanctuary,
bound to the east by Al Haram’s East Wall and surrounded by eight
arcades called “Mawazeen”.
AL Aqsa is the
largest mosque in Al-Quds and where a huge group of people normally
prays. The Dome of the Rock Mosque is an octagonal structure built
in 691 by the fifth Umayyad Khalifah Abd-il- Malek ibn Marwān. In
the middle of the mosque is the honored rock on which the Prophet
Muhammad stood on, before he was raised to heaven.
The Golden Dome is
the symbol of the Holy City Al-Quds, is topped by the Crescent of
Islam, which points in the direction of prayers Al Qiblah.
A woman said to
the Prophet Muhammad, “O Apostle of God! Give us rule as to
Jerusalem.” And he said: “It is the land of the Resurrection
and the Judgment assembly; go there and pray. For indeed a prayer
there is worth a thousand elsewhere.”
A single prayer in Al Aqsa is equivalent to 500 prayers in any other mosque except for the
Haram Mosque in Macca and the Prophet’s (An-Nabawi) Mosque in
Medina.
It is a showcase for
Islamic architecture and design from Umayyad to Ottoman times that
continues as an important religious and educational center for
Muslims to the present day.
It is the second
house of worship on earth, and was the first direction of prayers
for Muslims.
The aggressions against
this Holy place are not new. The rabbis put off discussion of a
proposal to build a synagogue at the Dome of the Rock shrine.
The following are
just few of the acts of aggression and desecration against the Al Aqsa Mosque since June 7, 1967:
-The occupation
authorities confiscated the keys of the western gate known as
Bab-el-Maghrabia immediately after Israeli troops seized the town
from the fleeing Jordanians.
-The
congregational Friday Prayer was not held on orders from the
occupation authorities. That was the first time Jum’a prayer did not
place since the liberation of Jerusalem from the hands of the
Crusades in 1187 A.D.
-A group of Rabbis
issued a final ruling allowing Jews to pray at the Haram-al-Sharif
and demanded the establishment of a synagogue in the area, Israeli
soldiers opened fire on a peaceful Muslim march at the Haram,
killing, and wounding about a hundred Palestinians.
And like these many
other aggressions….
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