If I remember correctly, Masjid al-Aqsa is separate from the Dome of the Rock (according to Wikipedia, called Qubbat as-Sakhrah). Because of this, I have some questions:
According to Muslim beliefs, when Muhammad ascended to heaven, did he ascend from Masjid al-Aqsa or from the Dome of the Rock? (I understand that some believe the journey was purely spiritual, but there are a good number of Muslims who insist it was physical, as in Muhammad physically ascended to Heaven from some point in Jerusalem, which point I would like to know.)
Which is more sacred/holy: Masjid al-Aqsa or the Dome of the Rock? In other words, which one of the two buildings is actually the Third Holiest Place of Islam (after al-Haraam ash-Sharif in Mekkah and Masid al-Nabi in Madinah).
Why do people speak of “al-Aqsa” when they mean “the Dome of the Rock”? The same extends to pictures: I have never seen a picture of Masjid al-Aqsa being displayed, it is always the Dome of the Rock, but the talk is always about al-Aqsa instead of specifically the Dome of the Rock.
Is the Dome of the Rock a mosque? If not, what is its purpose?
What building did Ariel Sharon enter: Masjid al-Aqsa or the Dome of the Rock?
Muhammed supposedly ascended into heaven from the area that’s now the Dome of the Rock. As far as I know, it’s not used as a mosque or anything like that (even though it does get called “the Mosque of Umar”). It’s just a mashaad, a shrine protecting the rock that Muhammed ascended to heaven from.
The Dome probably gets confused with the Al-Asqa Mosque a lot because they’re right next to each other. Ariel Sharon didn’t visit either, I don’t think. He visited an archeological site on the Mount.
Also Masjid al-Qubba or Masjid as-Sakhra. The Dome of the Rock was a mosque started by the Umayyad Caliph Marwan I in 685 and completed by his successor Abd al-Malik in 691. It was built supposedly to house the place ( stone ) from which Muhammad ascended ( physically ) to heaven.
In essense, both. They are right next to each other and in the same compound, but the Dome of the Rock houses the actualy physical site.
Masjid al-Aqsa which supposedly represents a pre-Muslim Muslim site of worship ( if that makes sense ) that is mentioned in the Qur’an. It was the “farthest mosque.” However the term generally refers to the whole compound ( referred to as the Haram al-Sharif - identical to the Temple Mount ), including both mosques.
[17:1] .Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, Whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He Is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things).
To my understanding the words mosque and masjid are essentially interchangeable ( though I welcome correction on that ), but in this case seems to mean shrine more than mosque, with the neighboring Masjid al-Aqsa filling the mosque role.
Apparently neither - he entered the compound, the Haram al-Sharif ( Temple Mount ).
Eh. The whole area seems to be frequently referred to generically as al-Aqsa, hence the al-Aqsa intifida and al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade. The Masjid al-Aqsa is the actual mosque on the site, but the whole compound is holy. Semi-speculatively I’d say Haram al-Sharif refers to the physical compound structure, the Masjid al-Aqsa to the actual physical mosque, the Dome of the Rock to the shrine of the physical point of ascension, and al-Aqsa in the Qur’anic sense as the “farthest point of prostration” to the whole site inclusively.
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