The Holy City of Al-Quds

Al-Quds, Jerusalem, is the third holiest city of Islam after Mecca and Medina, its sanctity concentrated on the Haram al-Sharif. Muslims believe Muhammad was carried there by night from Mecca and ascended to heaven from the rock at its heart; Jerusalem was the first direction of Muslim prayer before the Kaaba.

After the Arab conquest of 637 the caliph Umar founded a prayer house on the platform, and in 691 to 692 the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik raised the Dome of the Rock over the holy rock. The neighbouring Al-Aqsa Mosque was rebuilt by the Fatimid caliph al-Zahir after the earthquake of 1033.

Crusaders turned the sanctuary into a church and the Knights Templar headquarters after 1099, until Saladin retook Jerusalem in 1187 and restored Muslim worship. Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman rulers then maintained it.