Al-Buraq Mosque

The al-Buraq Mosque (Arabic: مَسْجِدُ ٱلْبُرَاق, romanized: Masjid al-Burāq) is a subterranean musalla next to the Western Wall, near the southwest corner of the Masjid al-Aqsa compound in the Old City of Jerusalem. This mosque is called al-Buraq Mosque because of a ring that is nailed to its wall where Muslims believe Muhammad tied the Buraq that carried him from the al-Haram Mosque to the al-Aqsa Mosque during the Night Journey.^[1][2][3]

Entrance to al-Buraq Mosque at the western portico (riwāq)

History

The mosque is located inside the vaulted passage that once led to the old Hittah Gate, also known as Barclay's Gate in reference to the discoverer who held the position of the American Consul at the time (James Barclay), who discovered and documented the gate in the year (1852 CE). But the gate was already known to Muslims, as it was mentioned by the Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad al-Taflati al-Maghribi (d. 1777 CE): "It is the lower door, which is blocked by filling up soil and stones near the door of the Maghribeh Mosque."^[4][5] which is at the south end of the Western Wall. The inside of the gate, which served as an entrance to the compound during the early Islamic period, is currently known as al-Buraq Mosque.^{[6][7][N 1]} While it was known as Marbat Al-Buraq in the early periods.^[8][9] The entrance to the underground structure faces north and immediately left of the Moors' Gate (Bāb al-Magharibah).

It is believed that Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi closed the old Hittah gate (which Known as Barclay's Gate since the 19th century) and established the al-Magharibah Gate in its place.^[10]

Temple Mount traditionalists identify Barclay's Gate with the Kiponus Gate, mentioned as the western gate of the outer court in the Mishnah (Middot 3:1). They also suppose that the Kiponus Gate was named after Coponius (AD 6–9), a Roman procurator, thus one of the four gates described by Josephus.^[11]

Architecture

According to Barclay's and his followers' archeological researches, the gate measures 5.06 metres in width and 8.80 metres in height of the doorway,^[6] which provides insight into the dimensions of the mosque. According to archeological sites, this gate was used as an entrance to the Temple Mount during the Umayyad period, in connection with structural features, such as the chamfered edge: a distinctive feature of all Umayyad gates in the vicinity, such as the Golden Gate and the Double Gate.^[6] A sign outside the mosque indicates that it dates back to the Mamluk period. Overall, the gate passage was in use until some time after AD 985, when it was blocked and changed into a cistern adjacent to al-Buraq Mosque.^[6] Even though the main gate of al-Buraq Mosque located in the Western Wall is permanently sealed, the mosque is still accessible for worship from another entrance in Al-Aqsa mosque's western portico (riwāq).^[1]

Location of Marbat Al-Buraq

The oldest mention of it was made by the historian Ibn al-Faqih (903 CE), where he mentioned that it is located in the corner of the Qibla lighthouse.^[12] The Qibla lighthouse is located in the southwestern corner and has been replaced by the current minaret, Al-Fakhriyyah minaret dating back to the Mamluk era.^[13]

The current Al-Buraq Musalla

At the end of the western corridor there is a gate that leads through steps to a rectangular underground room. On its southern side there is a small mihrab, and to its right there is a metal ring symbolizing the event when Muhammad tied the Buraq before entering the mosque on the Night of the Night Journey.^[14]

In the west of the room, the upper part of a huge stone-blocked gate can be seen. Some believe that Muhammad entered through it, and then tied Al-Buraq next to the door, as it was previously a corridor for Al-Buraq Gate, then the place turned into Al-Buraq Musalla.^[15]

History of the current metal ring

According to the traveler Abu Salem Al-Ayashi (1662 CE). It was a perforated stone on the outside of some of the western doors of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The stone is in a wall that people visit and seek blessings from, and they say that it is the one with which Prophet Muhammad tied Al-Buraq on the night of the Isra’.^[16]

After 120 years, Al-Meknasy described the ring and said that the current ring (1785 CE) is not the place where Al-Buraq was tied, but it is a sign of the place, after the original place was backfilled by the soil.^[17]

Gallery

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  The Buraq Mosque located (circled in orange) beside the Western Wall (also known as Buraq Wall)
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  Al-Buraq Mosque, c. 1940, view towards south-west
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  Vaulted space inside the subterranean chamber of Barclay's Gate, view towards east, c. 1940
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  Vaulted space view towards the west, c. 1940

References

1. Al-Ratrout's texts refer to Barclay's Gate by its former name of Bab Hittah — not to be confused with the current (and different) Bab Hittah near the Bab Hittah (Bab Hutta) neighborhood north of the compound. The current Bab Hittah was called Bab al-Asbat; the current Bab al-Asbat was called Mihrab Zakariyya (p. 350).^[7]

1. "Al-Aqsa Mosque Al-Haram Ash-Sharif" (Document). Jerusalem: PASSIA: Palestine Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs. 2013.^{[page needed]}
2. Sahih Muslim
3. Al-Jallad, I. (2017). معالم المسجد الأقصى تحت المجهر [Al-Aqsa Mosque landmarks under the microscope]. Baytul Maqdis Center for Literature.
4. حُسْنُ الاِسْتِقْصَا لِمَا صَحّ وَثَبَتَ فِي المَسْجِدِ الأَقْصَى (ص 53 – 54)
5. "باب حطة القديم" [Al Qods Islamic Waqf Administration and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs]. ادارة اوقاف القدس وشؤون المسجد الأقصى المبارك (in Arabic). 2020-04-23. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
6. Al-Ratrout, H.F. (2004). "The architectural development of al-Aqsa Mosque in Islamic Jerusalem in the early Islamic period: sacred architecture in the shape of the "Holy"". Monograph on Islamic Jerusalem Studies. Dundee: Al-Maktoum Institute Academic Press: 349.
7. Al-Ratrout, Haithem Fathi (2002). The architectural development of al-Aqsa mosque in Islamic Jerusalem in the early Islamic period, Sacred architecture in the shape of "The Holy" (Thesis). University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. p. 282. doi:10.48730/h1k1-q778. The gate passage was in use until some time after 985 AD [...] when it was then blocked and changed into a cistern adjacent to the mosque known as al-Burāq [Burgoyne, 1992,p109].
8. Al-Jallad, I. (2017). معالم المسجد الأقصى تحت المجهر [Al-Aqsa Mosque landmarks under the microscope]. Baytul Maqdis Center for Literature.
9. مختصر كتاب البلدان, p.151
10. باب حطة القديم. (n.d.). ادارة اوقاف القدس وشؤون المسجد الأقصى المبارك. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://www.awqafalquds.org/ar/aqsa-landmark/%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%AD%D8%B7%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%85
11. Robertson, Norma (2013). "Locating Solomon's Temple" (PDF). Retrieved 23 April 2020.
12. مختصر كتاب البلدان, p.151
13. Al-Jallad, I. (2017). معالم المسجد الأقصى تحت المجهر [Al-Aqsa Mosque landmarks under the microscope]. Baytul Maqdis Center for Literature.
14. Al-Jallad, I. (2017). معالم المسجد الأقصى تحت المجهر [Al-Aqsa Mosque landmarks under the microscope]. Baytul Maqdis Center for Literature.
15. Al-Jallad, I. (2017). معالم المسجد الأقصى تحت المجهر [Al-Aqsa Mosque landmarks under the microscope]. Baytul Maqdis Center for Literature.
16. Al-Ayyashi, A. (n.d.). الرحلة العياشية (Vol. 2).
17. Al-Jallad, I. (2017). معالم المسجد الأقصى تحت المجهر [Al-Aqsa Mosque landmarks under the microscope]. Baytul Maqdis Center for Literature.

 

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