Әл-Ақса мешіті: Құдстың қасиетті ғимараты

Main Islamic prayer hall at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem
main prayer hall within the Al Aqsa mosque compound

The Aqsa Mosque (جامع الأقصى), also known as the Qibli Mosque or Qibli Chapel (المصلى القبلي, , ), is the main congregational mosque or prayer hall in the Al Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem. In some sources the building is also named al Masjid al Aqṣā, but this name primarily applies to the whole compound in which the building sits, which is itself also known as "Al Aqsa Mosque". The wider compound is known as Al Aqsa or Al Aqsa mosque compound, also known as al Ḥaram al Sharīf (الحرم الشريف, ). During the rule of the Rashidun caliph Umar or the Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I , a small prayer house on the compound was erected near the mosque's site. The present day mosque, located on the south wall of the compound, was originally built by the fifth Umayyad caliph Abd al Malik or his successor al Walid I (or both) as a congregational mosque on the same axis as the Dome of the Rock, a commemorative Islamic monument. After being destroyed in an earthquake in 746, the mosque was rebuilt in 758 by the Abbasid caliph al Mansur. It was further expanded upon in 780 by the Abbasid caliph al Mahdi, after which it consisted of fifteen aisles and a central dome. However, it was again destroyed during the 1033 Jordan Rift Valley earthquake. The mosque was rebuilt by the Fatimid caliph al Zahir (r. 1021–1036), who reduced it to seven aisles but adorned its interior with an elaborate central archway covered in vegetal mosaics; the current structure preserves the 11th century outline. During the periodic renovations undertaken, the ruling Islamic dynasties constructed additions to the mosque and its precincts, such as its dome, façade, minarets, and minbar and interior structure. Upon its capture by the Crusaders in 1099, the mosque was used as a palace; it was also the headquarters of the religious order of the Knights Templar. After the area was conquered by Saladin in 1187, the structure's function as a mosque was restored. More renovations, repairs, and expansion projects were undertaken in later centuries by the Ayyubids, the Mamluks, the Ottomans, the Supreme Muslim Council of British Palestine, and during the Jordanian occupation of the West Bank. Since the beginning of the ongoing Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the mosque has remained under the independent administration of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf.

The English term "Al Aqsa Mosque" is the translation of both al Masjid al Aqṣā (ٱلْمَسْجِد ٱلْأَقْصَىٰ) and Jāmiʿ al Aqṣā (جَامِع ٱلْأَقْصَىٰ), which have distinct meanings in Arabic. The former (al Masjid al Aqṣā) refers to the Quran's Surah 17 – "the furthest mosque" – and thus is used for whole compound of the Temple Mount, also known as the Haram al Sharif, while the latter name (Jāmiʿ al Aqṣā) is used for the subject of this article – the silver domed congregational mosque building. 11th century scholar Nasir Khusraw, and 15th century Islamic scholar Mujir al Din, as well as 19th century American and British Orientalists Edward Robinson, Al Muqaddasi referred to the southern building (the subject of this article) as Al Mughattâ ("the covered part") and Nasir Khusraw referred to it with the Persian word Pushish (also the "covered part," exactly as "Al Mughatta") or the Maqsurah (a part for the whole synecdoche). "Qibli" is the name used in official publications by the governmental organization which administers the site, the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf (part of the Jordanian government), and the Jordanian government more widely. It is also the official name used by the Palestinian Liberation Organization. the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (whose role is to act as "the collective voice of the Muslim world"), and UNESCO, as well as various scholars

The mosque is located on the southern part of the Temple Mount or Haram al Sharif, an enclosure expanded by King Herod the Great beginning in 20 BCE during his reconstruction of the Second Jewish Temple. The mosque resides on an artificial platform that is supported by arches constructed by Herod's engineers to overcome the difficult topographic conditions resulting from the southward expansion of the enclosure into the Tyropoeon and Kidron valleys. During the late Second Temple period, the present site of the mosque was occupied by the Royal Stoa, a basilica running the southern wall of the enclosure. Analysis of the wooden beams and panels removed from the mosque during renovations in the 1930s shows they are made from Lebanese cedar and cypress. Radiocarbon dating gave a large range of ages, some as old as 9th century BCE, showing that some of the wood had previously been used in older buildings. However, reexamination of the same beams in the 2010s gave dates in the Byzantine period. During his excavations in the 1930s, Robert Hamilton uncovered portions of a multicolor mosaic floor with geometric patterns, but did not publish them. 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 mosaic from an Umayyad palace excavated adjacent to the Temple Mount's southern wall. Moreover, the mosaic designs were common in Islamic, Jewish and Christian buildings from the 2nd to the 8th century. the al Aqsa Mosque was used as a royal palace and also as a stable for horses. In 1119, the Crusader king accommodated the headquarters of the Knights Templar next to his palace within the building. During this period, the mosque underwent some structural changes, including the expansion of its northern porch, and the addition of an apse and a dividing wall. A new cloister and church were also built at the site, along with various other structures. The Templars constructed vaulted western and eastern annexes to the building; the western currently serves as the women's mosque and the eastern as the Islamic Museum. Saladin's predecessor—the Zengid sultan Nur al Din—had commissioned the construction of a new minbar or "pulpit" made of ivory and wood in 1168–69, but it was completed after his death; Nur ad Din's minbar was added to the mosque in November 1187 by Saladin. The Ayyubid sultan of Damascus, al Mu'azzam, built the northern porch of the mosque with three gates in 1218. In 1345, the Mamluks under al Kamil Shaban added two naves and two gates to the mosque's eastern side. The sultans did make additions to existing minarets, however. The first renovation in the 20th century occurred in 1922, when the Supreme Muslim Council under Amin al Husayni (the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem) commissioned Turkish architect Ahmet Kemalettin Bey to restore al Aqsa Mosque and the monuments in its precincts. The council also commissioned British architects, Egyptian engineering experts and local officials to contribute to and oversee the repairs and additions which were carried out in 1924–25 by Kemalettin. The renovations included reinforcing the mosque's ancient Umayyad foundations, rectifying the interior columns, replacing the beams, erecting a scaffolding, conserving the arches and drum of the main dome's interior, rebuilding the southern wall, and replacing timber in the central nave with a slab of concrete. The renovations also revealed Fatimid era mosaics and inscriptions on the interior arches that had been covered with plasterwork. The arches were decorated with gold and green tinted gypsum and their timber tie beams were replaced with brass. A quarter of the stained glass windows also were carefully renewed so as to preserve their original Abbasid and Fatimid designs. Severe damage was caused by the 1837 and 1927 earthquakes, but the mosque was repaired in 1938 and 1942. An earthquake in 1927 and a small tremor in the summer of 1937 eventually brought down the roof of the Aqsa mosque, prompting the reconstruction of the upper part of the north wall of the mosque and the internal refacing of the whole; the partial reconstruction of the jambs and lintels of the central doors; the refacing of the front of five bays of the porch; and the demolition of the vaulted buildings that formerly adjoined the east side of the mosque. On 20 July 1951, King Abdullah I was shot three times by a Palestinian gunman as he entered the mosque, killing him. His grandson Prince Hussein, was at his side and was also hit, though a medal he was wearing on his chest deflected the bullet. The site fell under Israeli control on 7 June 1967, during the Six Day War. On 21 August 1969, a fire was started by a visitor from Australia named Denis Michael Rohan, an evangelical Christian who hoped that by burning down al Aqsa Mosque he would hasten the Second Coming of Jesus. In response to the incident, a summit of Islamic countries was held in Rabat that same year, hosted by Faisal of Saudi Arabia, the then king of Saudi Arabia. The al Aqsa fire is regarded as one of the catalysts for the formation of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC, now the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) in 1972. Following the fire, the dome was reconstructed in concrete and covered with anodized aluminium, instead of the original ribbed lead enamel work sheeting. In 1983, the aluminium outer covering was replaced with lead to match the original design by az Zahir. In the 1980s, Ben Shoshan and Yehuda Etzion, both members of the Gush Emunim Underground, plotted to blow up the al Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Etzion believed that blowing up the two mosques would cause a spiritual awakening in Israel, and would solve all the problems of the Jewish people. They also hoped the Third Temple of Jerusalem would be built on the location of the mosque. On 5 November 2014, Israeli police entered Al Aqsa for the first time since capturing Jerusalem in 1967, said Sheikh Azzam Al Khatib, director of the Islamic Waqf. Previous media reports of 'storming Al Aqsa' referred to the Haram al Sharif compound rather than the Al Aqsa mosque itself.

The rectangular al Aqsa Mosque and its precincts cover , although the mosque itself is about in area and can hold up to 5,000 worshippers.

Muslims who are residents of Israel or visiting the country and Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are normally allowed to enter the Temple Mount and pray at al Aqsa Mosque without restrictions. other times they are over an extended period of time. Restrictions are most severe for Gazans, followed by restrictions on those from West Bank. The Israeli government states that the restrictions are in place for security reasons. Until 2000, non Muslim visitors could enter the Aqsa Mosque by getting a ticket from the Waqf. That procedure ended when the Second Intifada began. Over two decades later, the Waqf still hopes negotiations between Israel and Jordan may result in allowing visitors to enter once again.

Several excavations outside the Temple Mount took place following the 1967 War. In 1970, Israeli authorities commenced intensive excavations outside the walls next to the mosque on the southern and western sides. Palestinians believed that tunnels were being dug under the Aqsa Mosque in order to undermine its foundations, which was denied by Israelis, who claimed that the closest excavation to the mosque was some to its south. The Archaeological Department of the Israeli Ministry of Religious Affairs dug a tunnel near the western portion of the mosque in 1984. According to UNESCO's special envoy to Jerusalem Oleg Grabar, buildings and structures on the Temple Mount are deteriorating due mostly to disputes between the Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian governments over who is actually responsible for the site. In February 2007, the department started to excavate a site for archaeological remains in a location where the government wanted to rebuild a collapsed pedestrian bridge leading to the Mughrabi Gate, the only entrance for non Muslims into the Temple Mount complex. This site was away from the mosque. The excavations provoked anger throughout the Islamic world, and Israel was accused of trying to destroy the foundation of the mosque. Ismail Haniya—then Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas leader—called on Palestinians to unite to protest the excavations, while Fatah said they would end their ceasefire with Israel. Israel denied all charges against them, calling them "ludicrous".

In April 2021, during both Passover and Ramadan, the site was a focus of tension between Israeli settlers and Palestinians. Jewish settlers broke an agreement between Israel and Jordan and performed prayers and read from the Torah inside the compound, an area normally off limits to non Muslims. On 14 April, Israeli police entered the area and forcibly cut wires to speakers in minarets around the mosque, silencing the call to prayer, claiming the sound was interfering with an event by the Israeli president at the Western Wall. On 16 April, seventy thousand Muslims prayed in the compound around the mosque, the largest gathering since the beginning of the COVID pandemic; police barred most from entering the structure itself. In May 2021, hundreds of Palestinians were injured following clashes in the compound after reports of Israel's intention to proceed to evict Palestinians from land claimed by Israeli settlers. On 15 April 2022, Israeli forces entered the Temple Mount and used tear gas shells and sound bombs to disperse Palestinians who, they said, were throwing stones at policemen. Some Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the Al Aqsa mosque, where they were detained by Israeli police. Over 150 people ended up injured and 400 arrested. On April 5, 2023, Israeli police raided the temple, saying "agitators" who had thrown stones and fired fireworks at the police, had barricaded themselves and worshippers inside. Following the incident, militants fired rockets from Gaza into southern Israel. On 22 April, 2024 Israeli police arrested 13 for incitement to violence after they were caught in the act of smuggling goats onto the site for ritual sacrifice, 3 had been arrested in 2023 for trying to smuggle lambs and goats onto the site.