Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem, Israel
The Al-Aqsa Mosque, originally constructed about 20 years after the nearby Dome of the Rock, is Jerusalem’s biggest mosque.
Its spacious interior, divided by columns into seven aisles, allows room for more than 4000 Muslims to prostrate themselves on the carpeted floor during worship.
Actually the whole area of the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as Haram esh-Sharif or the Noble Sanctuary, including all its minor domes, chapels and colonnades, is regarded as a mosque. It is Islam’s third holiest site (after Mecca and Medina).
The whole compound contains more than 14 hectares of buildings, fountains, gardens and domes.
It comprises nearly one-sixth of the walled Old City of Jerusalem and can accommodate hundreds of thousands of worshippers.
The name Al-Aqsa Mosque also spelt El-Aksa translates to “the farthest mosque”, a description relating to Muhammad’s Night Journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and back.
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