Yet given that Jerusalem isn't mentioned in the Koran, what is the uniquely Islamic connection to the site? The answer is found in the 17 Sura (chapter) of the Koran. This chapter recounts the story of a dream Mohammed has where he takes a midnight ride (al-Isra) on his flying horse al-Buraq, which had the face of a woman, the body of a horse and the tail of Peacock. The narrative of the Koran in Sura 17 describes it as follows:
"Glory be to Him, who carried His servant by night from the Holy Mosque (in Mecca) to the further mosque (al-masjid al-Aqsa), the precincts of which we have blessed."
The actual location of al-Aqsa (the "further mosque") in Mohammed's dream ride is never mentioned. Some early Moslems understood al-Aqsa metaphorically, or as a place in heaven.
In the late 7th century, the Umayyids claimed that the actual site of al-Aqsa was in fact the Temple Mount. Later the site of al-Aqsa was restricted to the mosque area at the southern end of the Temple Mount (the site of the current Al Aqsa Mosque). The original mosque, probably located on the site where Omar first prayed when he arrived in Jerusalem in 638, was built by the Umayyid Caliph al-Walid in the early 8th century. It was destroyed by earthquakes several times and later rebuilt.

Islam claims that the site of Mohammed's ascension to heaven was a rock atop Mount Moriah.

The narrative of the Koran then describes how Mohammed, having arrived at al-Aqsa, then ascends to heaven (al-Mi'raj -- "the ascension") accompanied by the angel Gibril (Gabriel), where he then traveled around the heavens and spoke with Allah and other prophets. The Umayyids in Jerusalem claimed that the actual site of Mohammed's ascension to heaven was the exposed piece of bedrock at the top of Mount Moriah. Thus Caliph Abd-al-Malik's beautiful Dome of the Rock was built to commemorate the location of this important event.


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