Aqsa, Al-

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AQSA, AL-

The name of the mosque (the Arabic term means "distant, extreme, furthest,") atop Mount Moriah (known to Jews as the Temple Mount) in Jerusalem. It is one of the two main structures in the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary). The other is the Dome of the Rock, which encloses what Muslims believe is the site to which the Night Journey of the prophet Muhammad brought him, and from which he was taken to pray with the earlier prophets. The entire precinct is built upon what devout Jews believe to be the site of the Temple of Solomon and the ruins of the Second Temple, of which the Western Wall, or Kotel, is believed to be the remnant.

SEE ALSO Moriah, Mount;Western Wall.