Al-Aqsa Library Explained

The al-Aqsa Library (Arabic: مكتبة الأقصى), also known as the al-Aqsa Mosque Library (Arabic: مكتبة المسجد الأقصى), is the assemblage of books in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem.

Locations

The library has two components:^[1]

• The main library: west of al-Aqsa Mosque (al-Qibli).
• The al-Khutniyya Library: south of al-Aqsa Mosque.

Both locations are only accessible from within the compound.

Main library

The main al-Aqsa library is a general library.^[2] It is in a building immediately west of al-Aqsa Mosque (al-Qibli Mosque), inside the compound's south wall. This structure went by many names:

• the "White Mosque"^[3] and (Arabic: البقعة البيضا ,)^[4] because of its stones' color.^[5]
• the "Women’s Mosque" (Arabic: جامع النساء), (Arabic: مصلى النساء "women's musalla")^[1] and "women's hall" because of its former use by women.^{[6] [7]}
• the "Templars' Armory", because of its use before as a hall or monastic quarters or refectory^[8] or armory by the Templars,^{[9] [10] [11]} who might have it constructed in the 1160s. After 1193 (during the Ayyubid dynasty), a mihrab was installed in the south wall.^[12]
• the "mosque of Abu Bekr" :^{[7] [13]} possibly a misnomer by 19th-century Europeans.^[14]

Its entrance faces the courtyard with the Dome of Yusuf Agha. To its west is the southern section of the Islamic Museum and the al-Fakhariyya Minaret.

In 1922, the Supreme Muslim Council established the (al-Aqsa Mosque's House of Books, Arabic: دار كتب المسجد الأقصى المبارك ).In 1923, books dispersed throughout the compound were gathered in the an-Naḥawiyya Dome.^[15] After inactivity from 1948 to 1976, the library was revived in 1977; books were moved from the Islamic Museum to the Ashrafiyya Madrasa, and then in 2000 to the Women's Mosque.^[16]

Al-Khutniyya Library

The al-Khutniyya Library^{[17] [3]} (also al-Khutaniyya^{[18] [2]} and al-Khataniyya^[19]) (Arabic: مكتبة الختنية) is a manuscript library.^[2] It shares its name with a former zawiya and madrasa, which was named after a scholar, Sheikh al-Khutnī/al-Khatanī (Arabic: الختني).^{[20] [21]}

It is inside Old al-Aqsa and on top of the now-sealed Double Gate.The library is in a (wall projection) attached to the compound's south wall,^[17] at 31.7758°N 35.2358°W.^[22] Its access is via a tunnel under the al-Aqsa Mosque (al-Qibli Mosque). The tunnel's only entryway/exit is before the mosque's portico, facing north.

This library began in 1998 as the initiative of a mosque volunteer, Marwan Nashashibi (1934-2014), and his wife, Um Adnan.^[23] Its collection has texts on jurisprudence, hadiths, hagiography, Sufism and other topics.^[22]

Services

Its director (chief librarian) is often also the director (head curator) of the Islamic Museum.^{[24] [25]}

It has about 20,000 books, notably on Islamic archaeology. Books are mostly in Arabic and English, with some in French.It has about 2,000 titles of Arabic manuscripts, from the 5th century to the Ottoman period.^[26] Only researchers have access to the manuscripts.^[8] It also has a large number of Palestinian newspapers and magazines, many dating to the early 20th century.^[27]

It has a department dedicated to children and youths in the main library.

See also

• Ashrafiyya Madrasa (the al-Aqsa Center for the Restoration of Islamic Manuscripts)
• Other Palestinian libraries in the area:
  • Issaf Nashashibi Center for Culture and Literature
  • Khalidi Library
  • Al-Budeiri Library

References

31.7759°N 35.2351°W

External links

• • • (about 5 minutes): The clips switch back and forth between the two libraries and some interviews
• Library's collection of manuscripts: 12th–19th century

Notes and References

1. Web site: الموقع والمباني – مكتبة المسجد الأقصى المبارك . ar. (Several photos of the buildings from the outside)
2. Web site: Mack . Merav . Jerusalem's Historical Libraries and Archives . 19 . 2014 . The al-Aqsa Mosque Library has been reduced in size since 2007 to allow room to revive the female mosque that used to be there in the past, in the location of in the medieval (Knight Templar) building. This change seems to be related to the change in management. Khader Salameh has left and is currently the director of the Khalidi library. Sheikh Hamed abu Tair is the head of the manuscript library (Khutaniyye) as well as the general library..
3. Web site: 11 . [in the small blueprint of the mosque:] White Mosque (Women's Mosque) . A Guide to Al-Aqsa Mosque (Al-Haram Ash-Sharif) . The Hashemite Fund, Amman; Department of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, Jerusalem; PASSIA, Jerusalem . 2015 . (The spelling Khutniyah is on pp. 17 and 36 (also al-Khutni for the sheik).)
4. An 1865 map with the label Al Baka'at al Baidha (bottom center)
5. Web site: Southern Wall . Madain Project . It was called White mosque due to the colour of the stone used, it was majorly used by women..
6. Book: Serageldin, Ismail . etal . Space for Freedom . 1989 . Aga Khan Award for Architecture . 978-0-408-50049-4 . The annex building next to al-Aqsa was converted to an Islamic museum and library. […] The women's mosque which is presently used for offices will be integrated with the complex and restored. . [page number N/A in the limited preview]
7. Book: Hawari, Mahmoud . Ayyubid Jerusalem . Archaeopress . 2007 . 57 . 9781407300429 . Jāmiʿ al-Nisāʾ. Converted . Other names: Jāmiʿ Abū Bakr. Modern name: Maktabat al-Aqsa (the al-Aqsa Library)..
8. Web site: Natsheh . Yusuf. The al-Aqsa Mosque Library of al-Haram al-Sharif . 2001. Institute for Palestine Studies.
9. Book: Baedeker, Karl . Palestine and Syria . 1894 . K. Baedeker . 51 . the Knights Templars, who used it as an armoury or something of that sort […] This part of the building is now the women's mosque, the 'white mosque'..
10. Web site: Le Strange . Guy . Palestine Under the Moslems . Alexander P. Watt for the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund . 1890 . 110–111 . the Templars' Armoury, sometimes called Baka'at al Baida, and incorrectly Al Aksá al Kadîmah ('the Ancient Askâ'). [Page 111: …] the Jâmi’ an Nisâ, ‘the Mosque of the Women’ (the Templars' Armoury) .
11. Book: Necipoğlu . Gülru . Muqarnas . 1999 . 16 . 14 . Brill . 9004114823 . "[…] the Armoury of the Templars." Now this would be the White (or Women’s) Mosque.
12. Web site: Women's Mosque . Institute for International Urban Development (I2UD).
13. such as on this 1888 map: French: mosquée d’Abou-Bekr
14. Book: Wilson, Charles William . Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem . 1865 . 41 . To the west of Al-Aksa is the building called by Catherwood and others, the Mosque of Abu Bekr, but the Sheikh of the Haram knew nothing of this name, nor did any of the educated Moslems living at Jerusalem, they invariably called it Al-Baka'at al-Baidha (the white corner or place), sometimes adding "of Solomon"..
15. Nussiebeh . Mazen . Islamic libraries in Jerusalem . Al-Aqsa Journal . 2007 . 10 . 1 . 23 . 2022-04-28 . 2022-04-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220426075953/https://www.foa.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Vol10_issue1.pdf . dead .
16. Book: Abu Harb, Qasem . From Dust to Digital . 2016 . Open Book Publishers . 978-2-8218-7626-2 . 377–415 . 12. Digitisation of Islamic manuscripts and periodicals in Jerusalem and Acre.
17. Book: Grabar . Oleg . Ḳedar . B. Z. . Where Heaven and Earth Meet: Jerusalem's Sacred Esplanade . 2009 . University of Texas Press . 978-0-292-72272-9 . A southern annex, built by the Crusaders over the southern salient in the city wall, was converted and endowed in 1189 as a zawiya ([…] a residence for a Sufi shaykh and a meeting place for his followers), known as al-Khutniyya or al-Khatuniyya.
18. Book: ʻAsalī, Kāmil Jamīl . Jerusalem in History . 1997 . Kegan Paul International . 978-0-7103-0559-6 . 190 . [map] Al-Khutaniyya. . See also: preview at archive.org (free account needed).
19. Book: Mack . Merav . Balint . Benjamin . Jerusalem: City of the Book . 2019 . Yale University Press . 978-0-300-24521-9 . al-Khataniyya library.
20. Web site: Official guide . 117 . Arabic: المدرسة / الزاوية الختنية [structure number 129] . دليل . The Hashemite Fund, Amman; Department of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, Jerusalem; PASSIA, Jerusalem . 2020 . ar . 2022-05-01 . 2022-08-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220802221939/https://haramalaqsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/aqsa-jordan-final.pdf . dead .
21. Web site: The Khataniyeh Zawia and the Dual Carriageway at al-Aqsa Mosque . The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive . the Khatania Zawia that includes a school and a library, named after Sheikh al-Khatani. […] Al-Zawiya al-Khutaniyyeh).
22. Web site: تعريف بالمكتبة – مكتبة المسجد الأقصى المبارك . ar . 2022-04-28 . 2019-04-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190402161557/http://aqsalibrary.org/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%AA%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9/%D8%AA%D8%B9%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%81-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8%D8%A9/ . dead . (The 1st photo shows how the al-Khutniyya Library is in a structure outside of the al-Aqsa Compound's south wall.)
23. News: AbuSharar . Salam . Volunteer's dream of Al-Aqsa Library comes true . Anadolu Agency . April 6, 2022 . Nashashibi and his wife began to promote the idea of establishing a library in 1998 in the southern corner of the mosque compound and called it Al-Khataniah Library. […] A couple of years later, the Al-Khataniah Library was attached to the main library in the mosque, which was established in 1923 in the southwestern corner of the compound. Both libraries are now affiliated with the Jordanian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs to manage them..
24. Book: Mack . Merav . Balint . Benjamin . Jerusalem . 2019 . Yale University Press . 978-0-300-22285-2 . Khader Salamah [also: Salameh], former director of the al-Aqsa Mosque Library and Islamic Museum..
25. Book: Borchardt . Karl . etal . The Templars and their Sources . 2017 . Taylor & Francis . 978-1-315-47528-8 . ʿAdil Effendi Jaber, a professor of law […] in 1922 he became the first director of the newly established al-Aqsa Library and of the Islamic Museum.. [pages are unnumbered in the preview]
26. Web site: Archives and Libraries of Jerusalem . Palestinian American Research Center . 2022-04-28 . 2022-03-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220302222234/http://parc-us-pal.org/resources/jerusalemArchives.htm . dead .
27. Web site: Matusiak . Krystyna . Abu Harb . Qasem . Digitizing the Historical Periodical Collection at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Library in East Jerusalem . 2009 . The Al-Aqsa Mosque Library holds one of the largest collections of Palestinian historical newspapers and periodicals..