Al-Qibli Mosque is the covered congregational prayer hall along the southern side of Al-Aqsa. Its present building combines early Islamic foundations with successive rebuilding and restoration. It should be distinguished from the entire sanctuary, even though many architectural records call the building itself Al-Aqsa Mosque.[1][2]
In this guide
How the prayer hall is organized
The custodial guide describes a central aisle with three aisles to either side, making seven in the present arrangement. The main central approach leads toward the southern prayer niche beneath the dome. Columns and arches divide the interior without turning each aisle into a separate enclosed room. This arrangement helps explain why an exterior image of the dome alone gives little sense of the breadth of the hall.[3]
Early patronage is not a single uncontested date
Museum With No Frontiers gives the early monument a broad Umayyad range of 685–715 and names both Abd al-Malik and al-Walid as patrons, while warning that its stages remain debated. Archnet associates the beginning with Abd al-Malik and a major phase with his son; the custodial guide gives 706–714 for al-Walid’s campaign, and the Aga Khan restoration summary uses 711. These records support an Umayyad building process, not one uncontested completion year.[4][1][5][6]
A building repeatedly remade
Earthquakes and rebuilding shaped the mosque after the Umayyad period. Archnet identifies Abbasid interventions and another major reconstruction under the Fatimids in the eleventh century. Later uses during Crusader rule and renewed Muslim use after Saladin also belong to the building’s history. Its age cannot be reduced to the age of every visible column, ceiling panel or outer surface.[1]
The dome as a conservation example
The Aga Khan conservation record describes replacing an aluminum covering with lead and recovering painted decoration inside the dome. The project used fine distinguishable strokes in reconstructed painted areas. The surface preserves an old decorative scheme alongside identifiable modern repairs. Restoration is itself a documented chapter of the building’s history.[7]
What to connect when looking
Read the southern hall together with Al-Kas Fountain and the courtyard in front of it. Inside, connect the mihrab, central aisle and minbar rather than treating each as an isolated ornament. The landmark record below supplies the same photograph and introductory facts used by Explore; the linked history and conservation guides explain the different kinds of date encountered in its references.[8]
Sources & references
References are attached to the passages they support. Dates below record source consultation.
- Jamiʿ al-Aqsa
Archnet · Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT · Consulted 2026-09-14
- Aqsa Mosque · Yusuf al-Natsheh
Museum With No Frontiers · Discover Islamic Art · Consulted 2026-09-14
- A Guide to Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Ash-Sharif (2015)
pp. 10–11
PASSIA · Jerusalem Awqaf · Hashemite Fund · Consulted 2026-09-14
- Aqsa Mosque · Yusuf al-Natsheh
Date, patrons and description
Museum With No Frontiers · Discover Islamic Art · Consulted 2026-09-14
- A Guide to Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Ash-Sharif (2015)
p. 8
PASSIA · Jerusalem Awqaf · Hashemite Fund · Consulted 2026-09-14
- Restoration of Al-Aqsa Mosque
Aga Khan Trust for Culture · Consulted 2026-09-14
- Restoration of Al-Aqsa Mosque
Conservation description
Aga Khan Trust for Culture · Consulted 2026-09-14
- A Guide to Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Ash-Sharif (2015)
pp. 10–11, 54, 58–59
PASSIA · Jerusalem Awqaf · Hashemite Fund · Consulted 2026-09-14