Why was the al aqsa mosque built?

Answer 1

As any mosque, it was built for God (Allah in Arabic) worship. It was built on zero ground land where prophet Muhammad prayed there during his miraculous journey from Makkah (Mecca) to Al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Answer2.

Al Aqsa is a mosque caliph Omar built in Jerusalem after conquering it in 638. Before that, there was not any mosque in Jerusalem- as there was not a single Muslim there. Omar needed some "legal ground" for declaring Jerusalem and Palestine, traditionally Jewish and Christian land, "the land of Islam", and in that time, when the people were extremely religious, the best proof was "the Divine Reason". So, Omar took a Kuranic sura( it was The Night Journey, extremely vague and unclear story about how muhammad, in his night dream, travelled from the "Sacred Mosque" to some "furthest mosque" on the back of some mysterious creature, half mule and half dragon, called AlBurak - and used it as a legal claim.

Glory be to He

Who carried His servant by night,

from the Holy Mosque

to the Furthest Mosque,

the precincts of which

We have blessed.

so that We might show him

some of Our signs.

Surely He is the All-Hearing,

the All-Seeing.

------------------Sura al-Isra'

------------------Qur'an 17:1

Find me a single word in this nonsense of the Night Journey that this "furthest mosque" was in Jerusalem. And of course anyone who would move such a " legal ground" as a night dream of someone flying on the back of a dragon as the legal claim on some territory would be just laughed over. However, there were over 30,000 horsemen behind Omar´s story, which made laughing over it somewhat risky. But Omar wanted to look not a savage and barbarian but a just and fair- although strict- ruler, and in order to look this he strived to make this insane story about flying dragons minimally credible. In that time people could believe whatever - but they could not believe the story about the mosque standing in Jerusalem if they saw with their own eyes that there was not any mosque . Omar was known for being a resolute man who took the decisions fast. There was not a single mosque in Jerusalem to support Omar´s claim? So, it must be built. And Omar in record time erected in Jerusalem, on the remnants of the Solomon Temple, a primitive wooden structure and said it was that same Al Aqsa - the Furthest mosque- of the Koran. Would you dare to call a liar someone by whose only word 30,000 horsemen would raise to the saddle?

In 685AD the Umayyad Khalif, 'Abdul Malik ibn Marwan, reconstructed AlAqsa. Now it was of stone, not of wood. Where was the stone taken from ? From the Christian Church of Our Lady. So, the muslim mosque was built of the stone of the Chrstian Church and built on the place of the Jewish Temple.

A wonderful proof to the frequently repeated by Muslims statement that "islam treats with respect all religions ".

Answer 2

Answer:

Well, the Temple Mount has always been the location where Jews worshipped. That means the Prophets of God (many of them) were there. So it is a holy site, mentioned as such (a holy site) by the Qur'an.

The mosque built there is at one end of the courtyard - well away from where Solomon's Temple would be. The controversy is about the Dome of the Rock; which is not a mosque, itself. It would be interesting to see an Architectural design encorporating both, the Temple and Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the same site.