Al-Haram al-Sherif

Well, it took me a whole week but I made it to Mount Moriah. My hands have touched the Dome of the Rock, located on Al-Haram al-Sherif or “the Noble Sanctuary.” Every day that I’ve gone into the city we’ve tried to get to it and been repelled each time. Finally we found the narrow time slot when “infidels”, the term for non-Muslims, are allow on the platform. We are never allowed inside the shrine. There is one entrance, by the wailing wall, that is closely guarded by security (although honestly the security in the Air and Space Museum was tighter). We are only allowed up for three hours in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. We have to leave when they are doing prayers. We walked up a wooden ramp to the  platform and immediately were surrounded by a bunch of people offering tours for shekels. We almost negotiated it for 60 shekels for 3 of us. But with limited time and as it was the first visit we shook them off.

It feels like a ruin. All around are empty ancient buildings and columns. Some of them hide who knows what kind of offices and treasures but most look empty and unused. A couple of Muslim leaders seated at the entrance pointed to one of the girls in our group and she was soon taken (with a companion) to a place where she could (had to) purchase a shawl to cover herself properly while on the mount. 30 shekels but at least it was pretty, and with a story behind it too.

The building is spectacular. It is all alone there in the middle of this huge plaza (with weeds growing in the cracks of the rocks) The tiles are intricate and glimmering in the sun. At this time of day it was covered in tourists but not as many as you would think considering what it is. Interestingly enough the Dome of the Rock is not the holiest site for Islam on the mount. It is actually the Al Aqsa Mosque on the southern end. It is much less spectacular then the dome of the Rock which is actually just a shrine commemorating a past event. The Mosque is the actual church.

Aside from the central square with the Dome on it the rest of the temple complex is dry and dusty with lots of large trees and some very poor grass growing here and there.   There are ruins all over it and armed guards. The comparison with Temple Square was sobering. It we owned that piece of the land it would be spectacular. As it is now they spend too much time protecting it to cherish it. It seems untended, like the grounds are unimportant in and of themselves. We had only a few minutes up there and soon had to leave but it seemed a very ponderous spot. I wonder what Christ would say if he returned to it now. I’m not sure the loafing soldiers would remain very long.

I look forward to visiting it many more times, for some reason it naturally draws the eye no matter where in the city you are. There is something powerful there.