Al-Buraq Wall

About Al-Buraq Wall

Holy site of Judaism in Jerusalem

The Al-Buraq Wall is the southern stretch of the western wall of the Al-Aqsa compound (Al-Haram al-Sharif) in the Old City of Al-Quds. It runs for about 50 metres between Bab al-Maghariba (the Moroccan Gate) to the south and the Tankiziyya Madrasa to the north, and stands a little under 20 metres high. The name comes from the Islamic tradition that the Prophet Muhammad tethered his mount, al-Buraq, at this spot on the Night Journey (al-Isra wal-Mi'raj) before entering Al-Aqsa to pray. The stones read like a cross-section of the city's history. The huge blocks of the lower courses belong to Herod's expansion of the sanctuary platform in the first century BCE; the medium-sized stones above them were laid in the Umayyad period; and the small stones of the uppermost courses are much later, mostly Ottoman. Because this section was never hidden behind medieval buildings, much of the original masonry is still visible. Today the wall faces a wide open plaza. For Muslims it is inseparable from Al-Aqsa and its enclosure, a station on the route of the Night Journey and a reminder of how many eras have left their mark on the same stones.

Where:

Jerusalem, Palestine