<P> Al - Aqsa Mosque ( Arabic : المسجد الاقصى ‎ ‎ Al - Masjid al - ' Aqṣā , IPA : ( ʔælˈmæsdʒɪd ælˈʔɑqsʕɑ ) ( listen ) , `` the Farthest Mosque '' ) , also known as Al - Aqsa and Bayt al - Maqdis , is the third holiest site in Islam and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem . Whilst the entire site on which the silver - domed mosque sits , along with the Dome of the Rock , seventeen gates , and four minarets , was itself historically known as the Al - Aqsa Mosque , today a narrower definition prevails , and the wider compound is usually referred to as al - Haram ash - Sharif ( `` the Noble Sanctuary '' ) , or the Temple Mount , the holiest site in Judaism . Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al - Aqsa during the Night Journey . Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led prayers towards this site until the seventeenth month after the emigration , when God directed him to turn towards the Kaaba . </P>
the great mosque constructed in jerusalem at the site of the old temple is the
Al - Aqsa Mosque