In an unexpected move, the Al-Aqsa Mosque was closed this Eid al-Fitr, marking the first time since 1967 that one of Jerusalem’s most sensitive sanctuaries was shut to worshippers at the end of Ramadan. As Israeli authorities continue to keep the complex closed, tensions rose among Palestinians who were forced to hold Eid prayers as close as possible to the sealed site on the road near the Old City’s outer gates. This closure does more than disrupt a holiday; it questions the historical and religious significance of the mosque for the Islamic world for over 1,400 years.
To understand the gravity of a locked Al-Aqsa, it is necessary to look at the very foundations of its Islamic identity. Al-Aqsa is not merely a mosque in Jerusalem. It is the first Qibla (Qibla al-Ula), i.e., the original direction towards which Prophet Muhammad and the early Muslim community prayed before the revelation directed Muslims to pray towards the Kaaba in Makkah. The mosque’s significance comes further from the events of Isra’ and Miraj (night journey and ascension, respectively). According to Islamic tradition, during the Isra and Miraj, Prophet Muhammad was transported from Makkah to this "farthest mosque," where he led all previous prophets in prayer. Thereafter, it is believed that Prophet Muhammad ascended to the heavens.
The “farthest mosque” mentioned here is Al-Aqsa. The event is believed to have transformed the al-Haram al-Sharif (the compound where Al-Aqsa is located) into a bridge between the human and the divine. Throughout the Islamic Empires, mainly including the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Ottoman Empires, the site was maintained as a hub of scholarship and pilgrimage, emphasising the concepts of Barakah (divine blessing) and Ribat (religious steadfastness). For the global Umma, Al-Aqsa stands as a living testament to their prophetic lineage.
One must note the solidification of the Al Aqsa compound's architecture. The Umayyad Caliphate intended to project spiritual and political authority through the construction of the Dome of the Rock. After the conquest in the 7th century, Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan decided to build the Dome of the Rock (finished in 691 CE) on the Moriah plateau. Instead of a mosque for communal worship, the Dome was intended as a mushhad (commemorative shrine) to house the Foundation Stone, the location associated with Muhammad’s Night Journey (Isra and Miraj). Through the use of Byzantine-style mosaics and a gold-clad dome, often mistaken for the Al-Aqsa mosque’s dome, the Umayyads established a visual and theological rebuttal to the Christian Holy Sepulchre. After a short time, his son, Caliph al-Walid I, completed the Al-Aqsa Mosque at the southern end of the plateau, making it the main space for congregational prayer for the Umma. Thus, the Haram al-Sharif was transformed into a single place of worship, and Jerusalem emerged in the Ummah's consciousness as the Third Holiest Site and the First Qibla.
The current incident of Al-Aqsa closure can be analysed through Henri Lefebvre’s Production of Space. It posits that space is not a static vacuum or a mere physical backdrop. Rather, it is a dynamic social product. He distinguished between "Conceived Space," which includes the abstract maps, security perimeters, and administrative bans designed by planners and state authorities, and "Lived Space," which includes the organic, symbolic, and actual experience of the people who inhabit and sanctify a location through their presence. In the current scenario, the Israeli state has attempted to achieve total hegemony by overwriting the "Lived Space" of the believers with a "Conceived Space" of military control.
This sociological framework finds an unexpected echo in Islamic ontological theology, which traditionally maintains that physical objects and locations are not sacred in themselves. In the Islamic worldview, sanctity does not come inherently from the objects, in this case, the property of the stone or the soil; rather, things are rendered holy through divine decree and, crucially, through human action and intention. This is best exemplified by the Prophetic tradition (Hadith) that declares, "The whole earth has been made a masjid (place of prostration) and a means of purification." This theological principle suggests that the sanctity of Al-Aqsa is not within its physical stones, but is continuously produced and renewed by the act of Sujud (prostration) and the Niyyah (intention) of the faithful who gather there. This was reflected in the worshippers’ offering Eid prayers on the street outside the Old City of Jerusalem. However, these acts of prayer-offering should not be confused with the uniformly inherent understanding among Muslims on the issue of “sanctity” of an object or a place.
As such, Al-Aqsa, today, shows how space, faith, and power intersect. The locked gates of Al-Aqsa do not indicate the absence of faith. It rather indicates the sharpening of conflict, memory, and sacredness that is sharpened because of the practice, invocation and struggle over it, not in spite of it.
Mohammed Shoaib Raza is a doctoral candidate at the Centre for West Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.