Q&A about Al-Aqsa (from islam-qa.com)
Question:
Can you please clarify the situation and advise, if the Masjid Al-Aqsa is different from the Dome of the Rock, why do we see its picture representing Masjid Al-Aqsa at all Islamic places, and I (and many other muslims) were completely unaware of the difference.
Question:
Is al-Masjid al-Aqsa considered to be a sanctuary (Haram) like the sanctuaries of Makkah and Madeenah?.
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
Al-Masjid al-Aqsa is superior to other mosques. The best of all mosques is al-Masjid al-Haraam (The Sacred Mosque in Makkah), then al-Masjid al-Nabawi (the Prophet’s Mosque in Madeenah), then al-Masjid al-Aqsa.
These three mosques are the three for which it is prescribed to travel for the purpose of worship. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Do not travel (specifically) to any mosque except three: al-Masjid al-Haraam, Masjid al-Aqsa, and this mosque of mine.”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 1996.
One prayer in al-Masjid al-Aqsa is equivalent to two hundred and fifty prayers offered elsewhere.
It was narrated that Abu Dharr (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: We were discussing when we were with the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), which is better, the Mosque of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem). The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “One prayer in my mosque is better than four prayers offered there (in Bayt al-Maqdis), and what a good place of prayer it is. Soon there will come a time when, if a man has a piece of land the size of a horse’s rope from which he can see Bayt al-Maqdis, that will be better for him than the whole world.” Narrated by al-Haakim, 4/509; he classed it as saheeh and al-Dhahabi and al-Albaani agreed with him, as it says in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, at the end of the discussion on hadeeth no. 2902.
One prayer offered in the Prophet’s Mosque is equivalent to one thousand prayers (offered elsewhere), so one prayer offered in
al-Masjid al-Aqsa is equivalent to two hundred and fifty prayers.
With regard to the well-known hadeeth that says that one prayer offered there is equivalent to five hundred prayers, this hadeeth is da’eef (weak). See Tamaam al-Minnah by Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allaah have mercy on him), p. 292.
A Haram or sanctuary comes under special rulings which were prescribed by Allaah.
For example: it is haraam to fight therein; it is haraam to hunt the animals and birds that live there; it is haraam to cut down the plants that grow there naturally by the will of Allaah and have not been planted by anyone.
Allaah blessed the people of Makkah by making Makkah a sanctuary and safe place for them, in which both people and animals are safe. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
Have We not established for them a secure sanctuary (Makkah), to which are brought fruits of all kinds, a provision from Ourselves, but most of them know not” [al-Qasas 28:57]
“Have they not seen that We have made (Makkah) a secure sanctuary, while men are being snatched away from all around them?” [al-‘Ankaboot 29:67]
“whosoever enters it, he attains security” [Aal ‘Imraan 3:97]
Muslim (1362) narrated that Jaabir said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Ibraaheem made Makkah a sanctuary, and I have made Madeenah a sanctuary… its branches are not to be cut and its animals are not to be hunted.”
The word that is translated as “branches” here refers to every kind of tree that has thorns. If it is haraam to cut down the trees that have thorns then it is more appropriate that those that do not have thorns should not be cut down.
And Muslim (1374) narrated that Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “O Allaah, Ibraaheem made Makkah sacred and made it a sanctuary, and I have made Madeenah a sanctuary… no blood is to be shed therein, no weapon for fighting is to be carried, and no tree is to be struck to make its leaves fall, except to provide food for animals…” Al-Nawawi said:
This shows that it is permissible to take the leaves of plants to provide food for animals. What is meant here is that taking the leaves is haraam except for this purpose.
Al-Quds (Jerusalem) is not a sanctuary in this sense, according to the consensus of the Muslims. People use this word (Haram or sanctuary) in a very broad sense, to such an extent that they call al-Quds a sanctuary, and the Mosque of Ibraaheem al-Khaleel in Palestine a sanctuary, and even universities are called sanctuaries. There are no sanctuaries on earth apart from those in Makkah and Madeenah, and a valley in al-Taa’if called Wujj concerning which the scholars differed as to whether it was a sanctuary or not.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 27/14-15: Bayt al-Maqdis is not a place that can be called a sanctuary (haram), nor is the Tomb of al-Khaleel or any other place on earth, except for three:
The first is a sanctuary according to the consensus of the Muslims. This is the sanctuary of Makkah, which Allaah has honoured.
The second is a sanctuary according to the majority of scholars. This is the sanctuary of the Prophet (i.e., in Madeenah). This is a sanctuary according to the majority of scholars such as Maalik, al-Shaafa’i and Ahmad. There are many saheeh hadeeth concerning this narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
The third is Wujj, which is a valley in al-Taa’if. There is a hadeeth concerning this that was narrated by Ahmad in al-Musnad, not in the books of Saheeh. This is a sanctuary according to al-Shaafa’i because he believed the hadeeth to be saheeh, but it is not a sanctuary according to the majority of scholars. Ahmad classed as da’eef (weak) the hadeeth that was narrated concerning this and did not accept it.
Places other than these are not sanctuaries according to any of the Muslim scholars. The sanctuary is that in which Allaah has forbidden hunting and cutting its plants, and Allaah has not forbidden hunting and cutting plants in any places except these three.
And Allaah knows best.
Islam Q&A
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Al-Masjid al-Aqsa (in Jerusalem) was the first of the two qiblahs, and is one of the three mosques to which people may travel for the purpose of worship. And it was said that it was built by Sulaymaan (peace be upon him), as stated in Sunan al-Nasaa’i (693) and classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Nasaa’i. And it was said that it existed before Sulaymaan (peace be upon him) and that Sulaymaan rebuilt it; this is based on the evidence narrated in al-Saheehayn from Abu Dharr (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said:
“I said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah, which mosque was built on earth first?’ He said, ‘Al-Masjid al-Haraam [in Makkah].’ I said, ‘Then which?’ He said, ‘Al-Masjid al-Aqsa.’ I said, ‘How much time was there between them?’ He said, ‘Forty years. So wherever you are when the time for prayer comes, pray, for that is the best thing to do.’”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 3366; Muslim, 520.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was taken on the Night Journey (isra’) to Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem), where he led the Prophets in prayer in this blessed mosque.
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Glorified (and Exalted) be He (Allaah) [above all that (evil) they associate with Him]
Who took His slave (Muhammad) for a journey by night from Al-Masjid Al-Haraam (at Makkah) to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsaa (in Jerusalem), the neighbourhood whereof We have blessed, in order that We might show him (Muhammad) of Our Ayaat (proofs, evidences, lessons, signs, etc.). Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer”
[al-Isra’ 17:1]
The Dome of the Rock was built by the caliph ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwaan in 72 AH.
It says in al-Mawsoo’ah al-Filasteeniyyah (4/203): “The name al-Masjid al-Aqsa was historically applied to the entire sanctuary (al-Haram al-Shareef) and the buildings in it, the most important of which is the Dome of the Rock which was built by ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwaan in 72 AH/691 CE, which is regarded as one of the greatest Islamic historical buildings. But today the name is applied to the great mosque which is situated in the southern part of the sanctuary plateau.”
It also says in al-Mawsoo’ah (3/23): “The Dome of the Rock is situated in the middle of the plateau of al-Masjid al-Aqsa, which is in the southeastern part of the city of al-Quds (Jerusalem). It is a spacious rectangular plateau which measures 480 meters from north to south, and 300 meters from east to west. This plateau occupies approximately one-fifth of the area of the Old City of Jerusalem.
The mosque which is the place of prayer is not the Dome of the Rock, but because pictures of the Dome are so widespread, many Muslims think when they see it that this is the mosque. This is not in fact the case. The Mosque is situated in the southern portion of the plateau, and the Dome is built on the raised rock that is situated in the middle of the plateau.
We have already seen above that the name of the mosque was historically applied to the whole plateau.
This is supported by the words of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) in Majmoo’at al-Rasaa’il al-Kubra, 2/61: “Al-Masjid al-Aqsa is the name for the whole of the place of worship built by Sulaymaan (peace be upon him). Some people started to give the name of al-Aqsa to the prayer-place which was built by ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab in front of it. Praying in this prayer-place which ‘Umar built for the Muslims is better than praying in the rest of the mosque, because when ‘Umar conquered Jerusalem there was a huge garbage dump on the rock, since the Christians wanted to show their scorn for the place towards which the Jews used to pray.
So ‘Umar issued orders that the filth be removed and he said to Ka’b: ‘Where do you think we should build a place of prayer for the Muslims?’ He said, ‘Behind the rock.’ He said, ‘O you son of a Jewish woman! Are influenced by your Jewish ideas! Rather I will build it in front of it.’
Hence when the imams of this ummah entered the mosque, they would go and pray in the prayer-place that was built by ‘Umar. With regard to the Rock, neither ‘Umar nor any of the Sahaabah prayed there, and there was no dome over it during the time of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs. It was open to the sky during the caliphate of ‘Umar, ‘Uthmaan, ‘Ali, Mu’aawiyah, Yazeed and Marwaan… The scholars among the Sahaabah and those who followed them in truth did not venerate the rock because it was an abrogated qiblah… rather it was venerated by the Jews and some of the Christians.”
‘Umar denounced Ka’b al-Ahbaar and called him the son of a Jewish woman because Ka’b had been a Jewish scholar and rabbi, so when he suggested to ‘Umar that he should build the mosque behind the rock, that was out of respect for the rock so that the Muslims would face it when praying, and veneration of the rock was part of the religion of the Jews, not the religion of the Muslims.
The Muslims’ fondness for the picture of the Dome may be because of the beauty of this building, but this does not excuse them from the resulting mistake of not distinguishing between the Mosque and the buildings that surround it.
And Allaah knows best.
Islam Q&A
