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'''Masjid al-Haram''' is a [[mosque]] in the Saudi Arabian city of [[Mecca]]. It is the largest building dedicated to religious worship in the entire world. Masjid al-Haram contains the [[Kaaba]].
'''Masjid al-Haram''' is a [[mosque]] in the Saudi Arabian city of [[Mecca]]. It is the largest building dedicated to religious worship in the entire world. Masjid al-Haram contains the [[Kaaba]].
Colloquially, it is known as the '''Dome of the Rock''', as it houses the rock upon which [[Mohammed]] is said to have ascended to heaven, coincidentally the same rock upon which Isaac offered up his son to God, to prove his faith. It is also on the site of the [[Second Temple]] of [[Judaism]], or, the [[Temple Mount]]. The holiness of the site to the three Abrahamic sites is intense, to say the least.
After the Second Temple was destroyed in the Roman years, leaving Jerusalem in [[Roman Empire|Roman]] and later [[Byzantine]] hands, the Temple Mount became an empty site, used alternately as empty space, or as a city dump. According to legend, when the first Muslim conquerors took [[Jerusalem]], they approached the Temple Mount. There, the conqueror [[Umar I]] called the Christian [[Patriarch]] of the city before him to answer for the derelict state of the holy site. Insisting that such a site, sacred to all three religions, deserved respect, Umar insisted that the Patriarch himself begin cleaning the Mount.
The ''Masjid al-Haram'' was built shortly thereafter, first in a primitive, wooden state, as a placeholder, and in its final spectacular version somewhat later.
[[Category:Islam]]
[[Category:Islam]]