Preservation of Holy Sites

The Hashemite Fund for the Reconstruction of the Al Aqsa Mosque, which was established under a law issued in 2007 (after amending the Law of the Reconstruction of the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock No. 32 of 1954, is supervised by a board of trustees chaired by HRH Prince Ghazi Bin Mohammad, King's Adviser on Religious and Cultural Affairs and His Majesty's Personal Envoy.

The Committee for the Reconstruction of the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, which was formed under a 1954 law, oversees the maintenance and restoration of these holy sites.

Projects for the care and reconstruction of holy sites in Jerusalem include: the rebuilding of the Minbar of Salaheddin and its installation in Al Aqsa Mosque; the restoration of the southern and eastern walls of Al Aqsa Mosque; and another 11 restoration and maintenance projects involving the various facilities and sections of Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

Studies were completed for six other projects, related to the installation of sophisticated systems for lighting, sound, mechanical and sanitary works and for the fifth minaret of Al Aqsa Mosque on the eastern wall, adjacent to Dar Al-Hadith to the north of the Golden Gate. 

The Minbar now stands proudly inside Al-Aqsa Mosque after it was relocated on 2 February 2007, following the completion of its construction in the Kingdom on 25 July 2006. It was reconstructed at the hands of talented craftsmen brought to Jordan upon directives by His Majesty King Abdullah, who insisted on completing this project, which was started by his father, His Majesty the late King Hussein Bin Talal.

The minbar, a decorated pulpit from which the imam delivered sermons, was considered a great artwork from the height of the Islamic empire. During the 12th century AD, when Jerusalem was still under Crusader occupation, the Muslim leader of Aleppo, Nureddin Zengi, called upon the finest craftsmen in the state to construct a spectacular minbar for the Al Aqsa Mosque. It symbolised the grandeur of the Islamic civilization, its devotion to God, and its hope of regaining sovereignty in its third holiest city.

In 1187, Nureddin's successor, the great Salaheddin Al Ayyubi, re-conquered Jerusalem. He installed Nureddin's minbar in Al Aqsa Mosque where it remained for nearly 800 years.

In 1969, a firebomb was thrown inside Al Aqsa by a radical Zionist. The fire nearly destroyed the building and it reduced to ashes one of the Muslim world's great treasures. After the arson attack, His Majesty the late King Hussein Bin Talal of Jordan pledged to rebuild the minbar – a task that would prove much more challenging than anticipated.

Little remained of the original minbar, and no detailed records had been made of its construction, dimensions, materials or interior structure. Fragments of charred wood, antique paintings and black-and-white photographs were the only guides available to the committee established to oversee this noble task.

For the purposes of the mission, His Majesty King Abdullah II directed his religious affairs and cultural adviser, HRH Prince Ghazi Bin Mohammad, to find someone who could re-draw the minbar's design from the little known then.

The pursuit ended with selecting Minwer Meheid, a young man from a bedouin family in Saudi Arabia, with degrees in engineering and architecture. Although Meheid had no formal artistic training, Islamic geometry had been his personal interest, part of his own quest to understand the history of Islam.

Using the traditional geometric principles he had learned from books, Meheid resolved the question of how to reproduce the complex inlaid patterns of the minbar's surface with absolute precision. Based on these initial sketches, Meheid was appointed to lead the reconstruction project.

This was followed by months of study, as Meheid travelled the Islamic world, searching for other ancient minbars from which he could learn how the Islamic master craftsmen actually constructed their works. The oldest minbars, he learned, were built on a lattice of tightly fitted wooden pieces, held together by precisely carved mortise and tenon joints – without a single nail or drop of glue.

By the time he finished his plans, Meheid had produced close to 1,400 architectural drawings for the minbar, detailing the exact dimensions of more than 60,000 wooden pieces.

To complete the construction of the new minbar, a workshop was opened in the city of Salt, and some of the finest woodworkers from the Islamic world were hired to create an exact copy of the one destroyed by the fire. Even with a team of a dozen people, it took nearly four full years to construct it. When it was finally finished and moved to Jerusalem on 2 February 2007, it fit in the spot of the original minbar to the centimeter.

The Salt facility has become the main workshop of the newly-established Institute of Traditional Islamic Art and Architecture, headed by Meheid, whose designs for the minbar earned him a doctorate from the most prestigious academy of traditional art in the world: the Prince's School for Traditional Arts in London.

The mausoleums and shrines of several prophets, righteous persons, companions of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him), martyrs and national leaders are considered an asset that stands witness to the role of the Jordanian land in making the Ummah's history.

Jordan realized the importance of these sites and the need to preserve and maintain them. In 1984, His Majesty the late King Hussein Bin Talal ordered the formation of a Royal committee for the restoration and maintenance of shrines in Jordan and the building of mosques on their sites. He launched a new phase of maintenance and restoration work in 1992.

His Majesty King Abdullah II continued this process and a Royal committee for the reconstruction of the shrines of prophets, companions and martyrs was formed and tasked with the mission. The panel drew up a comprehensive plan to complete the reconstruction, renovation and maintenance projects. Accordingly, the following projects were achieved:

• Shrines of Companions of the Prophet Mohammad, South Mazar, Karak: Zaid Bin Haritha, Jaafar Bin Abi Taleb and Abdullah Bin Rawaha, the leaders of Mu'ta Battle (May God be pleased with them)
• Mosque and Shrine of the Companion of the Prophet Abu Ubaydah Amer Bin Al Jarrah, Central Ghor
• Mosque of the Companion of the Prophet Dirar Bin Al Azwar, Central Ghor
• Mosque of the Companion of the Prophet Shurhabil Bin Hasna, Northern Ghor
• Mosque of the Companion of the Prophet Amer Bin Abi Waqqas, Northern Ghor
• Mosque of the Companion of the Prophet, Muath Bin Jabal, North Shouneh
• Mosque of the Companion of the Prophet, Al Harith Bin Umayr Al Azdi, Tafileh Governorate
• Mosque of the Companion of the Prophet Al Qatham Bin Abbas, Tashkent , Uzbekistan (Central Asia)
• Site of the tree that shaded and sheltered Prophet Mohammad, (peace be upon him) during his trade with the Levant, in the Bakiawiyyeh, Safawi
• Mosque of the Companion of the Prophet Abu Dhar Al Ghafari, Madaba
• Shrine of the Companion of the Prophet Bilal Bin Rabah, Wadi Seer
• Development of the site of Kahf Ahl Al Kahf (Cave of the Seven Sleepers), Raqim
• Mosque of the Companion of the Prophet Abdul Rahman Bin Awf, Jubeiha
• Development of the site of Abu Sulayman Al Darani, a second-generation early Islam figure, Shobak
• Mosque of the Prophet Shuayb (Jethro) - peace be upon him- Wadi Shuayb, Salt
• Mosque of the Prophet Yosha (Joshua) -peace be upon him- Salt
• Mosque of the Prophet Harun (Aaron) -peace be upon him-, Wadi Musa
• Mosque of the Prophet Hud (peace be upon him) Jerash

The committee also completed the maintenance and restoration of a number of projects including: the cave of the Prophet Isa (peace be upon him) in Umm Qays-Irbid; the sanctuary of Abu Al Dardaa in Soum Ashunnaq–Irbid; the sanctuary of Saint Al Khader in Mahis; the sanctuary of the Companion of the Prophet Maysarah Bin Masruq Al Abassi; and the mosque and sanctuary of Hazir, in Salt, along with the sanctuary of the Prophet Noah (peace be upon him) in Karak.

Maintenance works have also been carried out in a number of sites, including: the sanctuaries of Al Khader the Saint in Bayt Ras and Karak; the sanctuary of the Companion of the Prophet Ikramah Bin Abi Jahl in Ajloun; the sanctuary of the Companion of the Prophet Farwa Bin Amro Al Judhami in Tafileh; the sanctuary of the Prophet Sulayman (Solomon) -peace be upon him- in Karak; and the development of Moses’ Springs in Madaba.