the Old City in JerUsalem. It is part of a complex
of buildings and monuments known as the Noble
Sanctuary, which stands atop the remains of the
Second Temple of israel, which was destroyed
by the Roman army in 70 c.e. Jews and Chris-
tians therefore commonly know this area as the
Temple Mount. The name of the mosque itself
was obtained from a passage in the qUran that
says, “Glory be to him who transported his ser-
vant by night from the sacred mosque [in Mecca]
to the most distant (aqsa) mosque, the precincts
of which we have blessed” (Q 17:1). Though
there was some dispute over where the mosque
mentioned in the Quran was actually located, the
verse was eventually linked by Islamic tradition
to the night JoUrney and ascent of mUhammad,
when he was believed to have been miraculously
transported one night from Mecca to Jerusalem,
up to heaven, then back down to Mecca. The Aqsa
Mosque, therefore, was said to be where Muham-
mad led the angels and former prophets in prayer
before his heavenly ascent to meet with God.
Despite this legendary account, the mosque
was first constructed after Muhammad’s death by
the Umayyad caliphs Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705)
and his son, al-Walid (r. 705–715). It was designed
as a rectangular congregational mosque for Friday
prayers, with a dome and a long north-south axis
that was aligned with the dome oF the rock, a
separate memorial structure to the north. Mosa-
ics, marble, and carved wood decorated its walls.
It had to be reconstructed and expanded several
times over the centuries because of earthquakes,
and it now can hold up to 400,000 worshippers.
When the crusaders seized Jerusalem in 1096,
the Aqsa Mosque was converted into a royal pal-
ace and later a barracks for the Knights Templar.
Muslims believed that these Christians had defiled
the mosque; when saladin (d. 1193) recaptured
the city in 1187, he purified the building so it
could once again be used as a place for congrega-
tional prayer. After Israel captured east Jerusalem
in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, administration of
the mosque remained in the hands of Muslim
authorities, and Palestinian Muslims were allowed
to continue using it for Friday prayers. Together
with the Dome of the Rock, the Aqsa Mosque
has since become a symbol for the Palestinian
nationalist movement and liberation from Israeli
occupation. Indeed, Palestinians call the second
intifada (uprising) in the West Bank and Gaza that
started in 2000 the al-Aqsa Intifada.
See also arab-israeli conFlicts; architectUre;
christianity and islam; palestine.Further reading: Oleg Grabar, The Shape of the Holy:
Early Islamic Jerusalem (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Uni-
versity Press, 1996); Robert W. Hamilton, The Structural
History of the Aqsa Mosque (Jerusalem: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 1949).Arab
Originally an ethnic designation for the people
of Arabia, Arab is now commonly used to refer
to people who speak Arabic, claim ancestry in
North Africa or the Middle East, or consider
themselves nationals in one of the recently created
Arab nation-states. In its original meaning, Arab
applied to several Arabic speaking tribes from the
Arabian Peninsula (the area including contem-
porary saUdi arabia, yemen, Oman, United Arab
Emirates, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Kuwait,
Jordan, and parts of syria and iraq). Classically
imagined as camel-breeding nomads, many Arabs
have always lived in cities and have been noted
for their loyalty to family and hospitality and to a
rich poetic tradition. Because mUhammad (d. 632)
was a member of the Arab tribe called qUraysh
and he delivered the qUran in Arabic, the Arabic
language became very important to the practice
and understanding of islam. Arabs played a cru-
cial role in helping expand the boundaries of
Islam beyond the Arabian Peninsula, and today
they remain guardians of the most holy Muslim
city of mecca. This has led to some confusion
between the terms Arab and Muslim: Arab is an
ethnic category, while Muslim refers to religion.Arab 49 J