Al-Masjid El-Aqsa is an Arabic name which means the Farthest Mosque. To understand its name, and its importance, it must be remembered that the roots of Islam began in the Arabian Peninsula .
Ten years after the Prophet Mohammad(sm) received his first revelation, he made a miraculous night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and to the Seven Heavens on a white flying horse called Al-Buraq El-Sharif. During his interval in Jerusalem, the Prophet stopped to pray at the rock, and was given the commandment to pray five times a day.
Today, Muslims throughout the World use Mecca as the direction of prayers . However, for 16½ months following the Prophet Mohammad's miraculous journey, Jerusalem was the Qibla.During Prophet Mohammad's life , he instructed Muslims to visit not only the mosque where they lived in Mecca, but also the 'Farthest mosque' from them which lay 2000 kilometers north, in Jerusalem. Hence the name Al-Masjid El-Aqsa, or Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the second oldest mosque in Islam after the Ka'ba in Mecca, and is third in holiness and importance after the mosques in Mecca and Medina.
The rectangular Al-Aqsa Mosque is 144,000 square meters, 35 acres, or 1/6 of the entire area within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem as it stands today. It is also called Al-Haram El-Sharif. The Dome of the Chain marks the exact central point of this Mosque.
Al-Aqsa Mosque holds up to 400,000 worshippers at one time, bearing in mind that the space required for each person is roughly 0.8m x 0.5m to enable the submissive kneeling in prayer. On Fridays at noon, during the fasting month of Ramadan, and particularly the 27th of Ramadan, the area is filled to virtual capacity.
There are 11 gates to Al-Aqsa Mosque: 7 of which are open. Of the 4 closed gates, one is the Golden Gate.
