Holiest sites in Sunni Islam

According to Sahih al-Bukhari, Muhammad said "Do not prepare yourself for a journey except to three Mosques: Masjid al-Haram, the Mosque of Aqsa (Jerusalem) and my Mosque."[1] In the Islamic tradition, the Kaaba is considered the holiest site, followed by the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (The Prophet's Mosque) and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Kaaba and Al-Masjid al-Haram, Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Masjid al-Haram

Worshipers flood the Grand mosque, its roof, and all the areas around it during night prayers

It is the holiest place in Islam.

The current structure covers an area of 356,800 m² (3,841,000 sq ft) including the outdoor and indoor praying spaces and can accommodate up to 820,000 worshipers during the Hajj period. During the Hajj period, the mosque is unable to contain the multitude of pilgrims, who pray on the outlining streets. More than 2 million worshipers gather to pray during Eid prayers.[2]

According to the teachings of Islam, God, in the Quran, used the word mosque when referring to the sites established by ʾIbrāhīm (Abraham) and his progeny as houses of worship to God centuries before the revelation of the Quran. The first of these spots is Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and the second is Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Before Mecca and Jerusalem came under Muslim control between 630 CE and 638 CE, the site of the Kaaba, which (according to Muslim belief) was established by Abraham and Ismail, was used by non-Muslim Arabs who worshiped multiple gods.

And when We assigned to Ibrahim the place of the House, saying: Do not associate with Me aught, and purify My House for those who make the circuit and stand to pray and bow and prostrate themselves.

— Quran, Sura 22 (Al-Hajj), ayah 26[3]

And remember Prophet Abraham and Isma'il raised the foundations of the House (With this prayer): "Our Lord!" Accept (this service) from us: For Thou art the All-Hearing, the All-knowing.

— Quran, Sura 2 (Al-Baqara), ayah 127[4]

Al-Masjid an-Nabawi

Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (Arabic: المسجد النبوي, pronounced [ælˈmæsdʒidæˈnːæbæwiː]) or the Mosque of the Prophet, located in Medina, is the second holiest site in Islam.

The edifice was originally the house of Muhammad; he settled there after his migration to Medina, and later built a mosque on the grounds. He himself shared in the heavy work of construction. The original mosque was an open-air building. The mosque also served as a community center, a court, and a religious school. There was a raised platform for the people who taught the Quran. The basic plan of the building has been adopted in the building of other mosques throughout the world.

Subsequent Islamic rulers greatly expanded and decorated the mosque. The most important feature of the site is the green dome over the center of the mosque, where the tomb of Muhammad is located. Constructed in 1817 CE and painted green in 1839 CE, it is known as the Dome of the Prophet.[5] Early Muslim leaders Abu Bakr and Umar are buried beside Muhammad.

Medina is also home to the historically significant Quba Mosque and Masjid al-Qiblatayn.

Al-Aqsa Mosque

Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem. South-eastern exposure of the Haram as-Sharif complex, with the lead-sheeted dome of Masjid al-Aqsa[6]

al-Ḥaram al-Šarīf ("the Noble Sanctuary"), also known as the Temple Mount, is a holy site in Shia and Sunni Islam and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem and widely regarded as the Temple Mount. It includes the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. It is the third holiest site in Sunni Islam, and is also regarded as the holiest site in the world by Judaism. The term Al-Aqsa Mosque was coined in the Quran:

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).

— Quran, Sura 17 (Al-Isra) ayah 1[7]

Al-Aqsa Mosque is sacred because the first of the two Qiblas (Arabic: اولى القبلتين) was Jerusalem.[8][9] In Islamic tradition, Al-Aqsa is said to be the second Masjid (Arabic: ثاني المسجدين). The mosque is also the third of the two holy Sanctuaries (Arabic: ثالث الحرمين), under Islamic Law.[10]

The term used for mosque, "masjid", literally means "place of prostration", and includes monotheistic places of worship but does not exclusively lend itself to physical structures but a location, as Muhammad stated "The earth has been made for me (and for my followers) a place for praying...".[11] When Caliph Umar conquered Jerusalem after Muhammad's wafat, a prayer house was built on the site. The structure was expanded by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan and finished by his son al-Walid in 705 CE. The building was repeatedly destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt, until the reconstruction in 1033 by the Fatimid caliph Ali az-Zahir, and that version of the structure is what can be seen in the present day. This same area was called at later Islamic periods as the Noble Sanctuary.[12][13][14] It is believed by many to be the area from where Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven,[15] although other theories claim it had been from a mosque in Medina, Jir'ana or Kufa.[16][17][18]

Although most political references to the Al-Aqsa Mosque date from the 12th century or later due to its occupation by the Crusades, others claim that the mosque's position in Islam is firmly grounded in a number of hadith dating from the birth of Islam.[19]

While Jerusalem is not mentioned by name in the Quran, it is recognized as a sacred site based on several references that have been linked to Jerusalem by later Islamic traditions such as the hadith.[20] Some academics attribute the holiness of Jerusalem to the rise and expansion of a certain type of literary genre, known as al-Fadhail or history of cities. The Fadhail of Jerusalem inspired Muslims, especially during the Umayyad period, to embellish the sanctity of the city beyond its status in the holy texts.[21] Others point to the political motives of the Umayyad dynasty which led to the sanctification of Jerusalem in Islam.[22]

Later medieval scripts, as well as modern-day political tracts, tend to classify al-Aqsa Mosque as the third holiest site in Islam.[9] For example, Sahih al-Bukhari quotes Abu Darda as saying: "the Prophet of God, Muhammad said a prayer in the Sacred Mosque (in Mecca) is worth 100,000 prayers; a prayer in my mosque (in Medina) is worth 10,000 prayers; and a prayer in al-Aqsa Mosque is worth 1,000 prayers", more than in any other mosque. In addition, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, refers to the al-Aqsa Mosque as the third holiest site in Islam (and calls for Arab sovereignty over it).[23]

Tombs of Biblical prophets

The tomb of Prophet Daniel

• Tomb of Daniel (Daniyal) - contains the grave of Islamic prophet Daniel
• Nabi Habeel Mosque in Syria - contains the grave of Abel (Arabic: Habeel ), son of Adam and Eve, the mosque was built by the Ottoman governor of the Damascus Eyalet, Ahmad Pasha ibn Ridwan.
• Great Mosque of Aleppo in Aleppo, Syria - contains the remains of Prophet Zechariah, father of John the Baptist.

• Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, West Bank, Palestinian territories - contains the graves of the Prophet Abraham and some of his family, It was said that Muhammad himself encouraged the activity, saying "He who cannot visit me, let him visit the Tomb of Abraham" and "He who visits the Tomb of Abraham, Allah abolishes his sins."[24]
• Al-Nabi Yusha' in Upper Galilee, Israel - Tomb of prophet Joshua

Ummayad Mosque in Damascus

• Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria - entombs the head of John the Baptist, as well as having sites relating to the Battle of Karbala, built by Ummayads
• Tomb of Noah

Other places

• Quba Mosque - is the mosque located outside the Medina, was the first ever constructed mosque by Muhammad.
• Cave of Hira is located on the mountain called Jabal al-Nour, is the cave where the first verses of the Quran were revealed to Muhammad.
• Masjid al-Qiblatain in Medina, Saudi Arabia - is the mosque where the direction of prayer (qibla) was changed from Jerusalem to Mecca.
• Al-Baqi' is the oldest Islamic cemetery, where Caliph Uthman, Caliph Hasan ibn Ali and Aisha were buried.
• Imam Ali Mosque is the mosque where Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib was buried.
• Imam Husayn Shrine is the mosque where Imam Husayn ibn Ali, and his relatives such as Abbas ibn Ali, Ali al-Akbar ibn Husayn, Ali al-Asghar ibn Husayn, Habib ibn Muzahir, and other martyrs of Karbalā were buried.
• ʾIbrāhīm, son of Musa al-Kazim - the direct descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and Caliph Abu Bakr.

The Eyüp Sultan Mosque, in Eyüp District, in the European section of Istanbul City, Turkey

• Eyüp Sultan Mosque is the türbe of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari in Istanbul, Turkey built by the Ottoman Sultans.

See also

• Holy city
• Holiest sites in Islam
• Destruction of early Islamic heritage sites in Saudi Arabia

Footnotes

1. Sahih al-Bukhari, 2:21:288
2. Mecca the Blessed
3. Quran 22:26
4. Quran 2:127
5. Encyclopedia of the orient
6. "Dome of Masjid al-Aqsa". Madain Project. Archived from the original on 19 May 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
7. Quran 17:1
8. Lindsay, James (2005). Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World. Greenwood Press. pp. 142–143. ISBN 0-313-32270-8.
9. Wendy Doninger, ed. (1999-09-01). Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions. Merriam-Webster. p. 70. ISBN 0-87779-044-2., reviewed on Google books
10. "Islamic History of Masjid Al Aqsa". Retrieved 14 April 2017.
11. Bukhari Volume 1, Book 7, Number 331
12. Oleg Grabar, THE HARAM AL-SHARIF: AN ESSAY IN INTERPRETATION, BRIIFS vol. 2 no 2 (Autumn 2000) "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2012-10-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
13. Palestinian Encyclopedia Volume 4, pp. 203
14. Palestinian Encyclopedia Volume 3, pp. 23
15. "Eyewitness: Inside al-Aqsa". BBC News. 2002-03-20. Retrieved 2010-05-04.
16. MEMRI: Special Dispatch Series - No. 564
17. al-Waqidi, Kitab al-Maghazi 9th century (Oxford UP, 1966, vol. 3, p. 958-9). Jirana, which Muhammad visited in 630, is about 10 mi (16 km) from Mecca.
18. The Early Arab Period - 638-1099
19. Hashimi, Sohail H; et al. (2003-05-07). "Political Boundaries and Moral Communities: Islamic Perspectives". In Allen E. Buchannan; Margaret Moore (eds.). States, Nations and Borders: the ethics of making boundaries. Cambridge University Press. pp. 192–193. ISBN 0-521-52575-6., reviewed on Google books
20. el-Khatib, Abdallah (1 May 2001). "Jerusalem in the Qur'ān". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 28 (1): 25–53. doi:10.1080/13530190120034549. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2006.
21. Talhami, Ghada Hashem (February 2000). "The Modern History of Islamic Jerusalem: Academic Myths and Propaganda". Middle East Policy Journal. Blackwell Publishing. VII (14). ISSN 1061-1924. Archived from the original on 16 November 2006. Retrieved 17 November 2006.
22. Silverman, Jonathan (6 May 2005). "The opposite of holiness". Retrieved 17 November 2006.
23. "Resolution No. 2/2-IS". Second Islamic Summit Conference. Organisation of the Islamic Conference. 24 February 1974. Archived from the original on 14 October 2006. Retrieved 17 November 2006.
24. Davidson, Linda Kay; Gitliz, David Martin. Pilgrimage: From the Ganges to Graceland: an Encyclopedia, Vol 1. p. 91.

References

• Aghaie, Kamran Scot (2004). The Martyrs of Karbala: Shi'i Symbols and Rituals in Modern Iran. University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-98448-1
• Majlisi, Mohammad Baqer. Bihar al-Anwar V.97.(In Arabic)
• Shimoni, Yaacov & Levine, Evyatar (1974). Political Dictionary of the Middle East in the 20th Century. Quadrangle/New York Times Book Co.
• Zabeth, Hyder Reza (1999). Landmarks of Mashhad. Alhoda UK. ISBN 964-444-221-0.