When Was Al Aqsa Mosque Built, and How Old Is It?

When was Al Aqsa Mosque built? There is no single date, because the name covers more than one thing. The hadith places its founding as a place of worship forty years after the Sacred Mosque in Mecca. The Dome of the Rock was completed in 691/692 CE. The Qibli mosque building, the one with the grey dome, dates to the Umayyad period, roughly 705 to 715 CE, and was rebuilt several times afterwards.

That answer is short because the question is not. For the broader story, see the full history of Al-Aqsa. This page stays on one question: when, and how old.

Three things share one name

Before any date makes sense, the word has to be pinned down.

So "how old is Al-Aqsa" has three answers.

The answer from the hadith: forty years after the Sacred Mosque

Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) asked the Prophet ﷺ which mosque was set down first on earth. He said: al-Masjid al-Haram. Abu Dharr asked which came next, and he said: al-Masjid al-Aqsa. Asked how long lay between them, he said: "forty years" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3366; Sahih Muslim 520). The Arabic is:

«قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، أَىُّ مَسْجِدٍ وُضِعَ فِي الأَرْضِ أَوَّلُ؟ قَالَ: الْمَسْجِدُ الْحَرَامُ. قَالَ قُلْتُ: ثُمَّ أَىٌّ؟ قَالَ: الْمَسْجِدُ الأَقْصَى. قُلْتُ: كَمْ كَانَ بَيْنَهُمَا؟ قَالَ: أَرْبَعُونَ سَنَةً»

Sahih al-Bukhari 3366, wording from Abu Dharr

Two points matter here. The wording is *wudi'a*, "was set down", which is about the founding of a place of prayer and not about a stone building. And the hadith gives no calendar date and does not name who laid the foundation. Scholars have understood the forty years in different ways and have named different people as the first founder, so this page does not pick one. What can be said is that the sanctuary's use for prayer reaches back to the earliest period of monotheistic worship, long before any structure that survives.

The Night Journey is the other early text. Allah says: «سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا مِنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ» (Quran 17:1). The verse calls it "the farthest mosque" and gives a reason, "whose surroundings We have blessed", but it gives no construction date either.

Dated timeline: from the first prayer house to today

The table separates the sources. Dates before the 7th century come from the hadith and have no calendar year. Later dates come from historians, and the Hijri years are approximate conversions unless an inscription gives them.

How old is Al Aqsa Mosque in years?

Counting from 2026 CE, and using the dates above:

The common "over 1,300 years" refers to the Umayyad building; "thousands of years" refers to the site.

'Umar and the simple prayer house

Muslim tradition credits 'Umar ibn al-Khattab with praying on the site and having a plain prayer place set up there. The earliest detailed description is from a Gallic monk named Arculf, who saw it in the late 7th century and described a rectangular timber structure. Historians are careful with this stage. The sources are later or from outside the Muslim community, and they use the word "mosque" for the sanctuary as a whole. That is why the table says "sources vary" and does not claim one exact year.

The Dome of the Rock: the fixed date

The Dome of the Rock is the easiest to date, because it carries a year. A Kufic inscription inside the dome gives 72 AH, which corresponds to 691/692 CE. 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, the Umayyad caliph, commissioned it. Over a century later his name was replaced in the inscription with that of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun, but the year was left as it was, which is how scholars noticed the change. A few historians read the year as the start of construction rather than the finish. Most take it as completion.

The Qibli mosque: a debated Umayyad date

This is where sources disagree. Scholars such as K. A. C. Creswell attribute the original Umayyad mosque to al-Walid I, who ruled 705-715 CE. Others, including Amikam Elad, argue that 'Abd al-Malik began the project and al-Walid finished or expanded it. The medieval writers who credit al-Walid often copy one earlier source, and that source does not mention Al-Aqsa at all. So the honest range is c. 705-715 CE, and any single year such as 709 is a convention.

Why the dates differ from site to site

Four reasons account for most of the gaps.

1. Different objects. The sanctuary, the Qibli mosque and the Dome of the Rock each have their own date.

2. Founding versus building. The hadith speaks of when a place of worship was set down, and historians date surviving construction.

3. Many rebuildings. The Qibli mosque was damaged and rebuilt repeatedly: after 746, after 1033, and in later centuries. A page that says "rebuilt in 758" and one that says "rebuilt in 1035" are both right.

4. Scholarly disagreement. The Umayyad attribution, the exact year of 'Umar's prayer house and the Fatimid work (given as 1034-1036 in one source and 1035 in another) are all debated.

The Mamluks, the Ottomans and today

The Mamluk sultans repaired the dome in 1327-1328. In the 1540s and 1550s Suleiman the Magnificent had the exterior of the Dome of the Rock covered with the glazed tiles visible today. The Old City of Jerusalem, including the sanctuary, is on UNESCO's World Heritage List. The mosque is a working place of prayer, with the five daily prayers held in the Qibli mosque.

Connecting with Al-Aqsa by du'a

For anyone who cannot be there, a du'a can be made by name at the mosque. Details are on the prayer page. It is added to your own du'a at home. It is not a promise of any result, and answering is with Allah alone.

Sources