# Talk:Al-Aqsa Mosque

This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Please add the following passage to section 4.4 Conflicts:
On the morning of 5 April 2023, Israeli forces smashed doors and windows to enter al-Aqsa mosque and deployed stun grenades and rubber bullets once inside. Footage shared on social media showed Israeli officers striking screaming people with batons inside the building. Israeli police said their forces entered the mosque after "hundreds of rioters...barricaded themselves inside." When the police entered, stones were thrown at them and fireworks were fired from inside the mosque. Police arrested more than 350 people in the mosque and at least 12 people were injured during the clash. Later that evening, Israeli forces stormed al-Aqsa again, deployed stun grenades, and ordered Muslim worshippers to leave. Six people were treated for injuries.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/05/middleeast/israel-al-aqsa-mosque-clash-intl-hnk/index.html  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Neoman2026 (talk • contribs) 17:39, 10 April 2023 (UTC) 
Another addition for the conflict section, in light of recent events:
Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque complex on fifth day of Sukkot
Ryz (talk) 19:54, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

There is something wrong with the description of the mosque's size in section "Architecture". It says 5 ha; that would be 100x500 m but the states length & width are much smaller.  2A02:3030:810:7EB5:6478:226C:C345:7C79 (talk) 07:57, 5 October 2023 (UTC)

To be precise, 5 ha equals 50'000 m2. The stated length & width result in approximately 4000 m2, less than 10%. The Azhar mosque has 15'000 m2 and holds 4 times as many worshippers.  2A02:3030:810:7EB5:6478:226C:C345:7C79 (talk) 08:02, 5 October 2023 (UTC)
Right, the stated size is only 0.46 hectares or 1.15 acres.  I used the dimensions in feet given in the source, which is not a great source but is close to what I measured on a map so it can't be far off. I changed it. Zerotalk 14:19, 5 October 2023 (UTC)
The 2022 PASSIA guide gives slightly smaller dimensions: 80m by 55m. Zerotalk 14:26, 5 October 2023 (UTC)


### Conflicts
Apply to change to->


### Conflicts
 Cbls1911 (talk) 11:57, 19 October 2023 (UTC)
 Done NotAGenious (talk) 14:34, 19 October 2023 (UTC)

The current name is confusing for people who have never heard of this place, or heard about it mostly from a non-western perspective. Because, according to most people with strong feelings about a place they call "Al-Aqsa mosque" (those being the people most likely to speak or write about the a place they call Al-Aqsa mosque) this is only part of Al-Aqsa mosque. So if somebody who has no knowledge of this complex hears a news story about "Al-Aqsa mosque", them finding this article will often be telling them about the wrong building.
I can add heaps of examples if you don't believe me about common usage?
The introduction currently does a fairly good job of explaining it, but adding some words like "controversial" or "disputed" could explain to that hypothetical reader why that news story seemed to be about  a completely different building.
I think the page probably needs to be moved to avoid confusion, but I only found out this week that some people think "Al-Aqsa mosque" is only this part of it, so I'm still a bit unclear on what a better page title would be.
Also … if  the other thing is not a mosque what IS it? (and I mean currently use, not in future or in the distant past.) I don't think a prayer hall by itself is a mosque? A mosque is bigger? The prayer hall at my university (an entire converted 3-bedroom house, not small) was never called a "mosque" just a "prayer room", but that distinction could be administrative rather than architectural.
Irtapil (talk) 12:30, 30 December 2023 (UTC)
@Irtapil: we have been working on fixing this, on and off, for a couple of years now. I agree that there remains room for improvement. Have you read the article Al-Aqsa? Onceinawhile (talk) 14:09, 30 December 2023 (UTC)
It's a good question about the Dome of the Rock. Certainly it is not currently used as a mosque, but that's not a complete answer. The fact that it has a mihrab (usually given as one of the characteristics of a mosque) complicates the question. Zerotalk 03:12, 31 December 2023 (UTC)

remove "User:CheezDeez ON TOP" El-Beheri (talk) 16:37, 28 April 2024 (UTC)

 Done This was caused by a template-vandalising sock. Needed a null edit to reset pages; see Special:Diff/1221201657#Strange bug on Flag of Russia article. Liu1126 (talk) 16:54, 28 April 2024 (UTC)

Hi @Rangasyd, about the edits in this article in particular: please don't repeat all the changes you made here, they've already been reverted once ([1]). Can you please revert your latest edit? 
Your edits include WP:NPOV violations (stating that the mosque is in "Israel"; please see East Jerusalem if you are not familiar with the political context), factual issues such as putting Abd al-Malik as the founder when the article states that the origins are uncertain and complicated, and generally too much material with too little context (such as providing two "destruction" dates and four "completed" dates for what is an 11th-century building preserved with a few later modifications, as the article explains). 
As for the script templates in the "native name" parameter, I don't see what part of WP:MOS forbids this, but it would probably be best to consult other editors about this first. The mosque's name has been (directly and indirectly) the topic of many discussions before, I see no urgency in deleting some of the names now. R Prazeres (talk) 03:05, 14 July 2025 (UTC)

Seeing no response, I'm going to restore the former infobox for now, for the reasons above.
Note: in the meantime, I suggested this short addition to one of the parameters that can still be filled with a reliable summary. R Prazeres (talk) 18:52, 16 July 2025 (UTC)