Temple Mount

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Lore & Background

The Temple Mount is a flat plaza surrounded by retaining walls originally built by Herod the Great in the first century BCE to expand the Second Temple. The plaza is dominated by two monumental structures originally built during the Rashidun and early Umayyad caliphates after the 637 first Muslim conquest of Jerusalem: the Qibli Mosque of al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, completed in 692. The Herodian walls and gates, with additions from the late Byzantine, early Muslim, Mamluk, and Ottoman periods, flank the site, which can be reached through eleven gates, ten reserved for Muslims and one for non-Muslims.

Reader's Guide

The Temple Mount's significance spans millennia and multiple faiths. In Judaism, it is where the First Temple (Solomon's Temple, built 957 BCE) and Second Temple (constructed 516 BCE, renovated by Herod, destroyed 70 CE) once stood. Jews face the Temple Mount during prayer, and many avoid walking on the Mount itself due to the potential location of the Holy of Holies. In Islam, it is revered as the Noble Sanctuary, believed to be the second mosque mentioned by the Quran and the site of Muhammad's bodily ascension to heaven. It served as the initial qibla for Muslim prayer. Since the Crusades, the Muslim community has managed the site through the Jerusalem Waqf. After the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel handed administration back to the Waqf under Jordanian custodianship while maintaining security control, enforcing a ban on non-Muslim prayer as part of the status quo. The site remains a major focal point of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, with disputes over its name reflecting broader tensions.

Did You Know?

• The Dome of the Rock, completed in 692, is one of the oldest extant Muslim structures in the world.
• No archaeological evidence has been found to verify the existence of the First Temple, and scientific excavations are limited due to religious sensitivities.
• The site can be reached through eleven gates, ten reserved for Muslims and one for non-Muslims.
• The term 'Temple Mount' was first used in the books of Micah (4:1) and Jeremiah (26:18), literally as 'Mount of the House'.
• In 2014, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) issued a press release urging journalists not to use the term 'Temple Mount' when referring to the site.

Architectural Layers Across Millennia

The physical landscape of the site reads like a palimpsest of construction spanning nearly two millennia. At its core sits a flat plaza ringed by massive retaining walls that Herod the Great erected in the first century BCE to expand the Second Temple complex. These Herodian walls and their gates have been supplemented over the centuries by additions from the late Byzantine, early Muslim, Mamluk, and Ottoman periods. Access to the compound is possible through eleven gates—ten designated for Muslim worshippers and one for non-Muslims—each flanked by Israel Police guard posts. Two Mamluk-era arcades line the northern and western edges of the courtyard, and four minarets rise above the perimeter. Dominating the center are two monumental structures from the Rashidun and early Umayyad caliphates, raised after the 637 Muslim conquest of Jerusalem: the Qibli Mosque of al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, the latter completed in 692 and recognized as one of the oldest surviving Muslim buildings in the world.

The Jewish Sacred Narrative

For Judaism, this hilltop represents the single most sacred location in the entire faith. Jewish and Samaritan tradition holds that King Solomon, son of David, constructed the first Temple here in 957 BCE, a structure ultimately razed alongside the city during the Neo-Babylonian Siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. No archaeological evidence has yet been uncovered to confirm the First Temple's existence, and scientific excavation remains constrained by deep religious sensitivities. The Second Temple, raised under Zerubbabel in 516 BCE, was later extensively renovated by Herod before the Roman Empire destroyed it in 70 CE. Jewish eschatology maintains that a third and final Temple will be erected on this very spot at the arrival of the Messiah. In daily practice, Jews orient themselves toward the Mount during prayer, yet attitudes toward physically entering the plaza vary widely. Because of its extreme sanctity, many observant Jews refuse to walk upon the Mount itself, fearing they might inadvertently step into the area where the Holy of Holies once stood, since rabbinical law holds that some dimension of the divine presence persists there to this day.

Islamic Reverence and the Noble Sanctuary

In the Islamic tradition, the Mount carries a distinction of the highest order. It is identified as the second mosque referenced in the Quran and counted among the three Sacred Mosques, the most holy sites in the entire faith, earning the title "the Noble Sanctuary." Both Sunni and Shia Muslims rank it as the third holiest location in Islam. The plaza encompasses the site where, according to Islamic belief, the Prophet Muhammad ascended bodily into heaven, and it served as the original qibla—the direction toward which all Muslims turned in prayer before the orientation shifted to Mecca. The Islamic connection to the site also extends to Solomon and other prophets venerated within the faith. The courtyard, known as the sahn, is vast enough to accommodate more than 400,000 worshippers simultaneously, making it one of the largest mosque courtyards in the world. For Palestinians broadly, including Palestinian Christians, the term "al-Aqsa" applied to the entire plaza functions as a central symbol of collective identity.

Contested Sovereignty and the Status Quo

The modern political history of the site is inseparable from the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Jordan administered the Mount, along with the entirety of East Jerusalem including the Old City, until the Six-Day War of 1967. After Israel captured the site, it returned day-to-day administration to the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf under Hashemite Jordanian custodianship while retaining Israeli security control. A framework commonly called the "status quo" prohibits non-Muslims from praying on the Mount, and the site remains one of the most volatile flashpoints in the ongoing conflict. Even the name by which it is known has become a battleground: the Jerusalem Waqf has called "Temple Mount" a "strange and alien" and "newly-created Judaization term," while the Palestine Liberation Organization issued a 2014 press release urging journalists to avoid that designation. In a 2016 UNESCO dispute, Director-General Irina Bokova emphasized that different peoples worship the same places under different names and that respect for those names is paramount.

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