Haram al-Sharif

So, a while ago, I was able to go on a VIP tour of what the Muslims refer to as the Haram al-Sharif (or the Noble Sanctuary) and the Jews call the Temple Mount. This was a great opportunity because normally the buildings up there, the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque are off limits to the public. This is mainly for security reasons (not anything related to Islam). The restriction (as far as I know...) was set down in 2000 after Ariel Sharon went up on the Mount and made some inflammatory remarks while at the mosque. This was partially the cause that set off the 2nd Intifada.
So, since I wasn't able to tour through it with my padre when he came to visit, I thought I'd put up some pictures, and videos as well as some thoughts on it all.

From my experience journal:

I woke up this morning at 7 am with Kyler Kronmiller, one of the members of the branch who works at the Consulate and is in charge of the religious affairs portfolio there, calling to see if I would like to come join a VIP tour of the Haram al-Sharif as they had had someone drop out. At first I refused, because I was sleepy and confused and would have had to get dressed and ready and get to the old city within half an hour. I thought about it though, and decided that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity because I would be allowed to tour through the Dome of the Rock as well as the al-Aqsa mosque. So I hustled myself down to Stephen’s/Lion’s gate to meet the tour. It turned out that there were a lot of spaces on the tour that were not taken up by consulate workers, but instead were other Mormons who had been “smuggled” in. It was a pretty cool experience.

The tour guide led us onto the Haram al-Sharif and talked a little about the religions and what the general landmarks were: the Golden Gate, through which the Messiah will come, etc. He was very careful to avoid mentioning anything specifically Jewish, though he did say some things that referenced it. All in all, his English wasn’t the best, so some of what he tried to say was garbled, but I figured I already knew everything that he would explain on the outside.

We went into the Dome of the Rock, (took our shoes off of course) and he led us around and explained the overall architecture and motifs found in the building. The best part of the experience, though, was right when we entered the building. There was a man doing his prayers right there, standing, prostrating and kneeling, etc.

Despite this, and in true Arab/Israeli fashion, the tour guide launched into his spiel in a loud voice describing very mundane things (watch the video...). I had pulled out my camera to film this first little spiel and was lucky enough to get the flabbergasted response of the man praying who slowly rose, and began berating the tour guide for choosing to do his explanation right there and so loudly as someone was trying to pray. It was great! They of course argued for a second, but then the tour guide just went on.

We looked around the building really quick seeing the basic architecture- the columns, pillars, octagonal shapes and windows, inscriptions, etc. Then we went down into the Rock of the Dome of the Rock to see down there. It was interesting, but slightly anti-climactic. (But then again, how inspiring can a simple cave in a very plain rock be? Maybe you just have to be Muslim, or Jewish…but if you were really spiritually religious Jewish you wouldn’t be there….). Photography in the building was hard because the lighting was rather dim, and the room is large, so flashes don’t work and you can’t get really good pics. On top of that, they have been doing some renovations for the last couple years, so the middle is covered in scaffolding and blocked out of view. You can see all this in the background of some of these pictures. As well, we were kind of squished on time, so we were hustling, I only had a few minutes in the Dome and the Mosque.

After that, we went out and headed across to the al-Aqsa mosque. This is probably one of my favorite mosques I have ever been in. (The picture on the left is of Koran kursi or seat, meant to hold a holy book while one reads).The outside is very bland, plain and somewhat depressing, but inside, the walls are a pristine white, and the ceilings are intricate, with either wood carving or plaster moldings. The hypostyle hall is raised and has sufficient large windows to allow in a lot of light (as opposed to the Dome, whose windows are small and covered with intricate mashrabiyya which blocks out a lot of the light). There are a lot of stained glass windows, one of which is a particularly massive and impressive one that was put in place by the Crusaders. Apparently, its beauty outweighs who constructed it. (Sadly, we were so squeezed for time, I didn't get a picture of it...)

The mosque has a particular place within Islamic theology as being the historical “First Qibla” or direction of pray. Muhammad changed the direction to Mecca about the time of the Hijra (622 AD). So this place has been pretty important for a long time to a lot of people. The Crusaders used it as a palace and a church.

More modern aspects that are apparent in the building are: 1- a bullet hole in one of the pillars that marks the place where Amir Abdullah I of Jordan/Transjordan was assassinated in 1951; 2- Bullet holes in other pillars dating from the 1967 War when the Israelis took control of East Jerusalem from the Jordanians; and 3- a glass cabinet (see below) containing grenades, shells and other implements of war from that same conflict that were collected from the mosque and its surroundings. Kinda funny things to have in a building dedicated to worshipping the God of Peace. This last picture is of the minbar, or place from which the Imam will offer the Friday sermons. This one was apparently commissioned specially for this mosque and is made of like a bajillion little pieces of wood put together without nails or glue. Simply because of where it is located, you can be sure that it has seen its fair share of fiery rhetoric and inflammatory speeches meant to incite rebellion...

This last video is just a general picture of the mosque...