Scholars
al-Aqsa
Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem: the third sanctuary, the Muslims'' first qibla and the Prophet''s night journey in Islamic memory. The Umayyads began her building in the late seventh century, the Abbasids and Fatimids rebuilt her after earthquakes, and Saladin restored her after retaking the city in 1187. Crusaders seized her in 1099, making her palace and stable until she became a mosque again after eighty-eight years. Al-Aqsa stayed the heart of the Noble Sanctuary: a prayer hall carrying six centuries of Islamic architecture and the holy city''s memory. From al-Aqsa Muslims learn that a mosque is living memory: a building renewed after every earthquake and fire, and a name gathering qibla, night journey and sanctuary in one word. Beneath it lie Umayyad foundations, above it the Abbasid dome, and in its courts the memory of every age that passed through Jerusalem — a school of generations, not only a sanctuary.