The third holiest site in Islam, located in the southeastern corner of the Old City of Jerusalem, and referred to in English as the Temple Mount. The term “al-Haram al-Sharif" (Arabic for “The Noble Sanctuary”) is used interchangeably with the terms “al-Aqsa Mosque compound” or, simply, “al-Aqsa.” The elevated compound, which includes al-Aqsa Mosque and Qubbat al-Sakhra (Dome of the Rock), was built between 685 and 809 CE.
Muslims revere al-Haram al-Sharif as the site where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. The site is so important to Islam that it is one of the only two mosques mentioned in the Quran (the other being the al-Haram Mosque in Mecca). The Quran also considers al-Aqsa Mosque to be the first qibla, or point of direction for praying, and the Prophet and Muslims prayed toward it before it was changed to Mecca; as such, al-Aqsa is also known as the Qibla Mosque.
Al-Haram al-Sharif (Har ha-Bayit in Hebrew) is also one of the holiest sites in Judaism, believed to be where Abraham attempted to sacrifice his son Isaac. Jews also consider the Western Wall (al-Buraq Wall, for Muslims) of al-Haram al-Sharif to be the last remnant of King Herod’s Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Al-Haram al-Sharif is thus a highly significant and contested site for Muslims and Jews, and the site of violent confrontations between the two communities, including in the 1929 al-Buraq Uprising, the 2000 Second Intifada, and the 2021 Unity Intifada. To this day Israeli occupation forces carry out assaults on Palestinian worshippers in al-Aqsa.
Also referred to as Haram al-Sharif.