The Temple Mount

            The Temple Mount known as The Noble Sanctuary to Arabs and Muslims, or as the Temple Mount to Jews and some Christians.  It is a religious site in the Old City of Jerusalem.
           
            It was the site of the first (c.10th Century BCE, destroyed c. 587 BCE) and second (c.515 BCE, destroyed in 70 CE) Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and according to Judaism is to be the site of the third and final Temple to be rebuilt with the coming of the Messiah. 

            It is also the site of two major Muslim religious shrines, the Dome of the Rock (c. 690) and Al-Aqsa Mosque (c. 710). It is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest site in Islam. 

            It is thus one of the most contested religious sites in the world. Under Jordanian rule of Eastern Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967, Israelis were forbidden from entering the Old City. Currently, as territory of Israel, the government of Israel has granted a Muslim Council full administration of the site.  Jews and Christians are barred from conducting services there.

Religious Significance

The rock in the center of the dome it is believed by Muslims to be the spot from which
Muhammad ascended through the heavens to God accompanied by the angel Gabriel, where he consulted with Moses and was given the Islamic prayers before returning to earth. When he ascended to the heavens he learned prayers.

            In Judaism, the stone is the site where Abraham fulfilled God's test to see if he would be willing to sacrifice his son Isaac. Muslims believe that this event occurred in the desert of Mina where millions of Muslims offer pilgrimage every year and that it was Abraham's elder son Ishmael and not Isaac who was offered for sacrifice.  There is some controversy among secular scholars about equating Mount Moriah (where Isaac's binding occurred according to the Biblical narrative), the Temple Mount and the location where Jacob saw the ladder to heaven; but for orthodox Jews at least, there is no doubt that all these events occurred on this spot. It is also identified as the rock upon which Jacob dreamt about angels ascending and descending on a ladder and consequently offing a sacrifice upon. Situated inside the Holy of Holies, this was the rock upon which the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the First Temple.  During the Second Temple, the stone was used by High Priest who offered up the incense and sprinkled the blood of the sacrifices on it during the Yom Kippur Service.

            In Christianity, it is believed that the spot where the Dome was constructed was where Constantine's mother built a small church, calling it the Church of St. Cyrus and St. John, later on enlarged and called the Church of the Holy Wisdom.