Moriah, Mount

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MORIAH, MOUNT

Biblical name of a hill in Jerusalem, which, by tradition, is the place where Abraham prepared Isaac for sacrifice on a rock. The hill is known to Jews as the Temple Mount. At the top of the hill is Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), an enclosure containing the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, enclosing Abraham's rock, which Muslims also believe is the place to which the Night Journey of the prophet Muhammad brought him, and from which he was taken to receive a message from God. It is the third holiest site in Islam. The Dome of the Rock, which replaced the earlier Mosque of Omar, is built upon what is said to be the site of the Temple of Solomon and the Second Temple, or Temple of Herod, of which the Western Wall, or Kotel, is believed by pious Jews to be the remnant.

SEE ALSO Abraham;Aqsa, al-;Haram al-Sharif;Western Wall Disturbances.

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