This maqam on the Mount of Olives marks the place from which Nabi Isa ibn Maryam (AS) was raised to heaven by Allah. Known in Arabic as Qubbat al-Su‘ud (قبة…
This maqam on the Mount of Olives marks the place from which Nabi Isa ibn Maryam (AS) was raised to heaven by Allah. Known in Arabic as Qubbat al-Su‘ud (قبة الصعود), the Dome of the Ascension, it stands in Jerusalem’s al-Tur quarter, east of Masjid al-Aqsa. Nabi Isa (AS) was sent to Bani Isra’il, calling them to worship Allah and confirming the Tawrah revealed before him. Allah supported him with clear signs and protected him from those who sought to kill him. The Qur’an states the defining event remembered here: “Rather, Allah raised him up to Himself. And Allah is Almighty, All-Wise.” Surah al-Nisa 4:158 The stone of the ascension The site preserves a stone bearing the impression traditionally held to be the right footprint of Nabi Isa (AS) at his ascension. The stone is set within the present structure, beside a mihrab marking the direction of prayer towards Makkah. The Qur’an does not name the earthly location from which Nabi Isa (AS) was raised. Jerusalem’s tradition identifies this summit of the Mount of Olives with the event, within the wider landscape of al-Quds associated with Nabi Isa (AS), Sayyidah Maryam and the Prophets of Bani Isra’il. From Byzantine church to Ayyubid mosque A Byzantine church had been established at the site by the late fourth century. It was destroyed during the Persian conquest of Jerusalem in 614 and subsequently rebuilt. The present core took shape under the Franks in the twelfth century, following an octagonal plan around the stone of the footprint. After Salahuddin al-Ayubi liberated Jerusalem in 583 AH/1187, the building was adapted as a mosque and a mihrab was added. The Mount of Olives was placed within a waqf, an Islamic charitable endowment, and the site remains administered by the Islamic Waqf of Jerusalem. Ottoman work in 1835 enclosed and roofed the structure while retaining its earlier fabric and Ayyubid mihrab.