Faithful viewers, welcome to The World Around Us on Supreme Master Television. Jerusalem is the holy city for three of the world’s religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The Noble Sanctuary or the Haram esh-Sharif in Arabic， which is also well known as the Temple Mount， is one of most sacred sites in the city. To Jews， it is the holiest place where the great Temple of Jerusalem stood; to Christians， it was blessed by the presence of Lord Jesus. For Muslims， the Noble Sanctuary was the destination of Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him, during the Night Journey and the place of His Ascension to Heaven.

There are about 40 historic structures on the Noble Sanctuary. The Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque are perhaps the two most famous and significant landmarks. Standing at the heart of the Noble Sanctuary， the Dome of the Rock， the holy shrine of pilgrimage， probably is the most famous Islamic site in Jerusalem， as well as one of the oldest Muslim monuments of the world. The golden colored dome appears as a shining crown of Jerusalem and is visible from everywhere in the city.

Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ordered the construction of the dome，which was completed in 691 AD. The colorful tiles and white marbles adore the exterior walls. Inside the building is the sacred rock. Besides being seen as the location that the Prophet ascended to Heaven，it is respected by Muslims and Jews for being assumed as the original location of Solomon’s temple.

Some years after the Dome of the Rock was built，Abd al-Malik started to build the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The construction was continued by his son Al-Walid，who completed the work around 705. Throughout its history，the mosque has been rebuilt and restored many times. The present structure of the mosque is mainly formed by the reconstruction by Caliph Al-Dhahir in 1033. It is believed that Al-Dhahir’s construction followed the previous plan except to narrow it.