Al-Masjid al-Aqsa

Second mosque ever placed on earth, terminus of the Night Journey, prayer-hall of all the prophets for one night.

The account

Abu Dharr asked which mosque was placed on earth first; the Prophet ﷺ answered al-Masjid al-Haram, then al-Aqsa, "and between them forty years" (Bukhari 3366, Muslim 520). The Qur'an's single most concentrated sentence of geography binds the two forever: "Glory to Him who took His servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed" (17:1).

On the night of the Isra, al-Buraq was tethered at its ring and the prophets assembled behind their final brother in prayer: the transfer of the imamate of mankind, performed in the building's own liturgy. It was the first qiblah of this ummah, faced for sixteen or seventeen months in Madinah until the verse of turning. It is one of only three mosques to which journeys may be set out (Bukhari 1189), and its opening to the ummah came bloodlessly under Umar, who cleaned its rock with his own cloak. The end of time returns here too: the road of the hordes and the era of Isa's justice run through this land, "whose surroundings We have blessed."

The facts

Placed2nd on earth, +40 years
First qiblah16-17 months
IsraAll prophets prayed behind him ﷺ
JourneysOne of the three mosques

The Qur'an on it

سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ

Glory to Him who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Furthest Mosque, whose surroundings We have blessed.

Qur'an 17:1

Read beside it

The words

Lights that name it

Al-Aqsa is the whole enclosure, not only the silver domeAl-Haram al-Sharif, Jerusalem

On the Path

People beside it

Places

BeforeAl-Masjid an-Nabawi & the Rawdah AfterMasjid Quba

On the Places page The Path