Jerusalem

=== Islam ===
{{Further|Jerusalem in Islam}}
{{see also|Islamization of Jerusalem}}
Jerusalem is the third-holiest city in [[Sunni Islam]].<ref name="3rd" /> Islamic tradition holds that for approximately a year, before it was permanently switched to the [[Kaaba]] in [[Mecca]], the ''[[qibla]]'' (direction of [[salat|prayer]]) for Muslims was Jerusalem.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Israeli-Palestinian War: Escalating to Nowhere |last=Cordesman |first=Anthony H. |publisher=Praeger Security International |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-275-98758-9 |page=62 |chapter=The Final Settlement Issues: Asymmetric Values & Asymmetric Warfare |author-link=Anthony Cordesman}}</ref><ref>{{Qref|2|142|b=yl|c=}}</ref> The city's lasting place in Islam, however, is primarily due to [[Muhammad]]'s [[Isra and Mi'raj|Night Journey]] ({{Circa|620 CE}}). Muslims believe that Muhammad was miraculously transported one night from the [[Great Mosque of Mecca]] to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, whereupon he ascended to [[Jannah|Heaven]] to meet previous [[prophets of Islam]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Monotheists: The Peoples of God |last=Peters |first=Francis E. |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-691-11460-6 |author-link=Francis Edward Peters |chapter=Muhammad the Prophet of God |pages=[https://archive.org/details/monotheistsjewsc00pete_0/page/95 95–6] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/monotheistsjewsc00pete_0/page/95}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Sahih Bukhari |url=http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/093.sbt.html#009.093.608 |publisher=University of Southern California |work=Compendium of Muslim Texts |access-date=9 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081127160919/http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/093.sbt.html |archive-date=27 November 2008}} (from an English translation of [[Sahih al-Bukhari|Sahih Bukhari]], Volume IX, Book 93, Number 608)</ref><ref>{{Quotehadith|bukhari|7517|b=yl}}</ref> The first verse in the [[Qur'an]]'s [[al-Isra|''Surat al-Isra'']] notes the destination of Muhammad's journey as ''al-masjid al-aqṣā'' ("the farthest place of prayer").<ref>From [[Abdullah Yusuf Ali]]'s English translation of the [[Qur'an]]: "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)." ([[al-Isra|17]]:1)</ref><ref>{{Qref|17|1|b=yl}}</ref> In the earliest days of Islam, this was understood as a reference to a site in the heavens,<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam |publisher=Brill |year=2006 |edition=New ed. 2006 |volume=7 |pages=97–105}}</ref> however, Post-[[Rashidun Caliphate|Rashidun]] Islamic scholars understood it as relating to Jerusalem, and particularly to the site of the former Jewish Temple.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Colby |first=Frederick S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sasZCjcTisIC&pg=PA15 |title=Narrating Muhammad's Night Journey: Tracing the Development of the Ibn 'Abbas Ascension Discourse |date=6 August 2008 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-7788-5 |pages=15 |language=en |quote=From the earliest extant Muslim texts, it becomes clear that a group of Muslims from the beginning interpreted the 'furthest place of prayer' (al-masjid al-aqṣā) with the city of Jerusalem in general and its Herodian/Solomonic Temple in particular... Eventually, a general consensus formed around the idea that Muhammad's journey did indeed take him to Jerusalem.}}</ref> The [[hadith]], a collection of the sayings of Muhammad, mentions that the location of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is in Jerusalem.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://haditsbukharionline.blogspot.ca/2010/11/merits-of-helpers-in-madinah-ansaar.html |title=Merits of the Helpers in Madinah (Ansaar) – Hadith Sahih Bukhari |publisher=Haditsbukharionline.blogspot.ca |access-date=7 December 2012}}</ref> The [[Qibli Mosque|Al-Aqsa Mosque]], originally named after the wider compound it sits within,<ref>{{cite book |last=Hughes |first=Aaron W. |author-link=Aaron W. Hughes |title=Theorizing Islam: Disciplinary Deconstruction and Reconstruction |publisher=Taylor & Francis |series=Religion in Culture |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-317-54594-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWV_BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 |page=45 |quote=Although later commentators would debate whether or not this journey was a physical one or took place at an internal level, it would come to play a crucial role in establishing Muhammad's prophetic credentials. In the first part of this journey, referred to as the isra, he traveled from the Kaba in Mecca to "the farthest mosque" (al-masjid al-aqsa), identified with the Temple Mount in Jerusalem: the al-Aqsa mosque that stands there today eventually took its name from this larger precinct, in which it was constructed.}}</ref> was built on the Temple Mount under the Umayyad Caliph [[Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik|Al-Walid]] several decades after Muhammad's death to commemorate the place from which Muslims believe he had ascended to Heaven.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.al-islam.org/al-miraj |title=Me'raj – The Night Ascension |date=27 September 2012 |publisher=Al-islam.org |access-date=7 December 2012}}</ref><gallery mode="packed">
File:THE TEMPLE MOUNT JERUSALEM.jpg|A view of the [[Temple Mount]]
File:Western Wall at night (20063).jpg|The [[Western Wall]], also known as the Wailing Wall and the Kotel, i
File:The Church of the Holy Sepulchre-Jerusalem.JPG|The [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]]
File:Al-Aqsa Mosque (Jerusalem).jpg|[[Qibli Mosque|Al-Aqsa Mosque]], on the Temple Mount ([[Haram al-Sharif]] or [[Al-Aqsa compound]])
File:Jerusalem-Garden-Tomb-KTM-1266.jpg|[[The Garden Tomb]] – a new holy site established by British [[Protestantism|Protestants]] in the 19th century
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