Isn´t the Temple Mount one of the most important locations to all three world religions?
The Temple Mount is where the original Synagogue (Jewish Temple) was situated. It was destroyed twice. This was the most important location of Judaism in the world. The Moslems built their Mosque (the second most important place after Mekka for Muslems) on that site and now the only thing left of the original synagogue (Jewish Temple) is the 'Wailing Wall' (die Klagemauer)
, down below on one side. I don't know if it is an important site to Christians.
WRONG as that was Medina followed by the al aqsa mosque on the road outside of Medina. The holy sanctuary was not built until 50 years after mo'mads death as a tribute by one of his grandsons after he liberated Jerusalem from the Christians.The Christian Church was still there on the site of the Jewish holy of hollies and held no significance to islam at all. It was not until many years after that an arab sheik decided that islam owned all the land of Judea and Samaria and he would make up a story that the mosque was the one mo'mad visited on his night journey. Still contreversal in islam to this day with different factions believing different things. The words of mo'mad help clear thing up
Narrated Abu Dhar:I said, "O Allah's Apostle! Which mosque was first built on the surface of the earth?" He said, "Al-Masjid-ul-,Haram." I said, "Which was built next?" He replied "The mosque of Al-aqsa ." I said, "What was the period of construction between the two?" He said, "Forty years." He added, "Wherever (you may be, and) the prayer time becomes due, perform the prayer there, for the best thing is to do so (i.e. to offer the prayers in time)." [bukhari & muslim]
The first is the Qiblah the second is the mosque on the road outside medina. Many accounts add the term " in Jerusalem" to the al aqsa mosque because of the unknown factors in play. Daniel Pipes sums it all up with these words
According to the Arabic literary sources, Muhammad in A.D. 622 fled his home town of Mecca for Medina, a city with a substantial Jewish population. On arrival in Medina, if not slightly earlier, the Qur'an adopted a number of practices friendly to Jews: a Yom Kippur-like fast, a synagogue-like place of prayer, permission to eat kosher food, and approval to marry Jewish women. Most important, the Qur'an repudiated the pre-Islamic practice of the Meccans to pray toward the Ka'ba, the small stone structure at the center of the main mosque in Mecca. Instead, it adopted the Judaic practice of facing the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during prayer. (Actually, the Qur'an only mentions the direction as "Syria"; other information makes it clear that Jerusalem is meant.)
This, the first
qibla (direction of prayer) of Islam, did not last long. The Jews criticized the new faith and rejected the friendly Islamic gestures; not long after, the Qur'an broke with them, probably in early 624. The explanation of this change comes in a Qur'anic verse instructing the faithful no longer to pray toward Syria but instead toward Mecca. The passage (2:142-52) begins by anticipating questions about this abrupt change:
The Fools among the people will say: "What has turned them [the Muslims] from the
qibla to which they were always used?"
God then provides the answer:
We appointed the
qibla that to which you was used, only to test those who followed the Messenger [Muhammad] from those who would turn on their heels [on Islam].
In other words, the new
qibla served as a way to distinguish Muslims from Jews. From now on, Mecca would be the direction of prayer:
now shall we turn you to a
qibla that shall please you. Then turn your face in the direction of the Sacred Mosque [in Mecca]. Wherever you are, turn your faces in that direction.
The Qur'an then reiterates the point about no longer paying attention to Jews:
Even if you were to bring all the signs to the people of the Book [i.e., Jews], they would not follow your
qibla.
Muslims subsequently accepted the point implicit to the Qur'anic explanation, that the adoption of Jerusalem as
qibla was a tactical move to win Jewish converts. "He chose the Holy House in Jerusalem in order that the People of the Book [i.e., Jews] would be conciliated," notes At-Tabari, an early Muslim commentator on the Qur'an, "and the Jews were glad." Modern historians agree: W. Montgomery Watt, a leading biographer of Muhammad, interprets the prophet's "far-reaching concessions to Jewish feeling" in the light of two motives, one of which was "the desire for a reconciliation with the Jews."
After the Qur'an repudiated Jerusalem, so did the Muslims: the first description of the town under Muslim rule comes from the visiting Bishop Arculf, a Gallic pilgrim, in 680, who reported seeing "an oblong house of prayer, which they [the Muslims] pieced together with upright planks and large beams over some ruined remains." Not for the last time, safely under Muslim control, Jerusalem became a backwater.
This episode set the mold that would be repeated many times over succeeding centuries: Muslims take interest religiously in Jerusalem because of pressing but temporary concerns. Then, when those concerns lapse, so does the focus on Jerusalem, and the city's standing greatly diminishes.