Temple Mount

The Temple Mount Hebrew, Har haBáyit), also called the Noble Sanctuary Arabicالحرم القدسي الشريف, al-haram al-qudsī ash-sharīf), is a religious site in the Old City of Jerusalem of Jerusalem. Due to its importance for Judaism and Islam it is one of the most contested religious sites in the world.

The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. Jewish Midrash holds that it was from here that the world expanded into its present form, and that this was where God gathered the dust he used to create the first man, Adam. The Torah records that it was here that God chose to rest His Shekhinah, Divine Presence, and consequently two Jewish Temples were built at the site. Observant Jews believe that the Third Temple, which they hope will be the final one, will also be located here. In recent times, due to difficulties in ascertaining the precise location of the Mount's holiest spot, many Jews will not set foot on the Mount itself.

In Islam, the site is revered as the location of Islamic prophet Muhammad's journey to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven and is associated with other local Muslim figures of antiquity. The site is the location of the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, the oldest extant Islamic structure in the world.