Jerusalem, Palestine
Coordinates: 31.776074, 35.235773
Nur Ad-Din Zangi رحمة الله عليه built this pulpit in 564 AH/1168 AC to be placed inside Al-Aqsa Mosque after liberation from the Crusaders; however, he died before hand.
When Salahuddin Ayyubi رحمة الله عليه conquered the Crusaders and liberated Jerusalem he shipped Nur Ad-Din Zangi’s رحمة الله عليه Pulpit from Aleppo and placed it in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The pulpit is made of cedar wood which is decorated with ivory and sea shells.
It has a gate that is topped with a magnificent crown believed to be the slogan of the Tankaziyah State, most probably added to its structure by Prince Tankz An-Nasiri in 731 AH/1330 AC. The pulpit also has a staircase that is topped with an arch and a wooden porch.
Description
The minbar is considered one of the finest examples of woodwork art from medieval Syria, and one of the most significant historic minbars of the Muslim world for both its artistic and symbolic merits.
It was made of interlocking pieces of pine wood decorated with inlaid mother-of-peal, ivory, and ebony.
Composed of a total of about 6500 pieces, it was held together without glue or metal nails by using an interlocking technique (ta’shiq) also found in other major works of its kind, aided by wooden nails or pins.
Desecrated by Crusaders
When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099 CE, Masjid al-Aqsa was desecrated. Pigs were installed in the mihrab and a church was erected in place of one of it’s oratories.
Imad Eddin (Biographer of Salahuddin Ayyubi) speaks of the mihrab of the mosque being full of pigs and excrement.
After the reconquest of Jerusalem Masjid al-Aqsa was filled for Jumma prayers for the first time in 88 years, people wept with emotion as the Qadi of Jerusalem, Muhyi ad-Din al-Qurashi mounted the new pulpit.
Destroyed by Zionist
In 1969, Dennis Michael Rohan, an Australian Christian Zionist, set Al-Qibly Mosque on fire; the historical pulpit was destroyed completely in the arson.
It was temporarily replaced with a simpler one until an identical pulpit was built in Jordan using the same original materials, which was brought to Jerusalem in 2007 to be placed inside Al-Aqsa Mosque.
