s
of his army, the Commander of the Faithful undertook the pious office of
clearing the ground with his own hands, and of tracing out the
foundations of the magnificent mosque which now crowns with its dark and
swelling dome the elevated summit of Mount Moriah.

This great house of prayer, the most holy Mussulman temple in the world
after that of Mecca, is erected over the spot where "Solomon began to
build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where the Lord
appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in
the threshing-floor of Oman the Jebusite."

It remains to this day in a state of perfect preservation, and is one of
the finest specimens of Saracenic architecture in existence. It is
entered by four spacious doorways, each door facing one of the cardinal
points: the _Bab el D'Jannat_ (or "Gate of the Garden"), on the north;
the _Bab el Kebla_, (or "Gate of Prayer"), on the south; the _Bab ibn el
Daoud_ (or "Gate of the Son of David"), on the east; and the _Bab el
Garbi_, on the west. By the Arabian geographers it is called _Beit
Allah_ ("the House of God"), also _Beit Almokaddas_ or _Beit Almacdes_
("the Holy House"). From it Jerusalem derives its Arabic name, _El Kods_
("the Holy"), _El Schereef_ ("the Noble"), and _El Mobarek_ ("the
Blessed"); while the governors of the city, instead of the customary
high-sounding titles of sovereignty and dominion, take the simple title
of _Hami_ (or "Protectors").

On the conquest of Jerusalem by the crusaders, the crescent was torn
down from the summit of this famous Mussulman temple, and was replaced
by an immense golden cross, and the edifice was then consecrated to the
services of the Christian religion, but retained its simple appellation
of "the Temple of the Lord." William, Archbishop of Tyre and Chancellor
of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, gives an interesting account of this famous
edifice as it existed in his time, during the Latin dominion. He speaks
of the splendid mosaic work, of the Arabic characters setting forth the
name of the founder and the cost of the undertaking, and of the famous
rock under the centre of the dome, which is to this day shown by the
Moslems as the spot whereon the destroying angel stood, "with his drawn
sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem." This rock, he informs
us, was left exposed and uncovered for the space of fifteen years after
the conquest of the Holy City by the crusaders, but was, after tha