Is this where everything began?

21 Things you may not know about this rock

A boulder, called "The Foundation Stone," al-Shakrah and "The Moriah Stone," atop the highest spot in Jerusalem could not be more holy to four major religions.

Today it is enshrined by Jerusalem's most recognizable building - the golden Dome of the Rock - which sits atop what the Jews revere as the Temple Mount.

This is the site of Solomon’s Temple. This hilltop was home to the Knights Templar for a century. From the site, they took their name.

This is said to be the very spot from which Islam was birthed.

In some traditions, it is believed to be the first rock created when the Earth was formed. In one legend, it is the spot where life was first breathed. In another, it caps a mysterious well where the souls of everyone yet not born await.

Thus, this is a place of beginnings.

For the last 1,000 years, it has been faithfully tended by a mysterious Muslim fraternity called the Waqf. Although Israel soldiers took control of the spot in 1967, within hours, the rock was returned to the Waqf's guardianship.

It has been said that tearing down the mosque over this site could easily provoke the start of World War III - and the Battle of Armaggedon.

So, why is a boulder on a small hill in a Mediterranean country the size of Delaware so vital to Christians, Jews, Muslims and Bahai?

2. Is this where God demonstrated His promise?

According to Jewish tradition, the rock is the very site on Mt. Moriah where Abraham - with a heavy heart - obeyed God and prepared to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac - the apple of his eye, the son born in his old age.

They also believe this is where an angel pointed out that God had provided a ram instead - as the Lord demonstrated to Abraham that His promises are not lightly made ... and, indeed, through Isaac, Abraham's offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands of the sea.

This is a promise that both Jews and Christians today believe still applies to them and their children.

5. The site of Solomon's Great Temple

It was on this site that Solomon’s Great Temple was built in 957 B.C., replacing the portable Tabernacle constructed in the Sinai Desert by Moses and the Children of Israel.

It was filled with the riches of Solomon's kingdom and included the original golden and jewel-encrusted altars, laver, menorah and the Ark of the Covenant, all which had been fashioned at the foot of the fiery mountain after Moses returned with the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments - which were kept inside the Ark along with Aaron's staff and a bowl of manna.

The Ark was kept in the Holy of Holies and viewed only once a year by the High Priest when he approached the Mercy Seat atop the Ark and sought forgiveness for the people's sins of the previous year. The rest of the time, it was hidden behind a thick veil, separating mankind from the presence of the Almighty.

Because no one but the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, strict Orthodox Jews today refuse to visit the Temple Mount for fear that they would unknowingly violate holy ground.

6. Here the Great Temple was destroyed

Solomon’s temple was first sacked and desecrated by an invading Egyptian army led by Pharoah Sheshonk I.

It was reconsecrated by Jehoash King of Judah in 835 BC during the second year of his reign.

Again filled with gold furnishings, it was stripped and desecrated by Sennacherib, King of Assyria around 700 B.C., then looted, defiled and finally destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. when their invading armies leveled Jerusalem,

Most of the Jewish population was forced into slavery in what became the first Jewish “dispora” during which they were expelled from the Promised Land and scattered over the face of the earth.

Of the 12 Tribes of Israel, ten were lost to history although some descendants claim they can prove their lineage today.

9. The miracle of the lights

The Jewish festival of Hannukah began here.

Ordered by a Greek official to perform a pagan sacrifice in the Temple, the Jewish priest Mattathias instead slew him in righteous indignation and led the people of Jerusalem in an armed rebellion.

Today Jews commemorate the successful insurrection as part of the annual Festival of Lights or Hanukkah, celebrating the miracle when the Temple’s sacred Menorah - a candelabra originally constructed by Moses at God’s command - continued to provide light for eight days ...

...although it only had enough oil for one day.

The temple was rededicated under Judas Maccabaeus in 164 B.C.

Their independence was short-lived as Jerusalem was soon conquered by the Romans. A century later, the Temple was renovated by the Roman-appointed Jewish King Herod the Great.

It became known as Herod's Temple

10. Here Jesus first proclaimed salvation

Christians revere this site, considering it particularly holy since Jesus spent a great deal of time in the Temple.

It is here that the baby Jesus was presented to the priests, two doves were offered to God on His behalf ... and the 40-day-old baby was first recognized by an elderly worshiper, Anna, and an aged priest, Simeon, as the being the long-awaited Savior of mankind, the Messiah.

It is here in the Temple that the 12-year-old Jesus turned up missing, worrying Mary and Joseph, who found Him discussing the Law and the Prophets with Temple scholars. When He heard her frustration, the boy gently told His mother, "Don't you know I must be about my Father's business?"

And it was here during His ministry, that He prayed, taught, performed miracles and drove out the moneychangers defiling the House of God . It was on His way here that all of Jerusalem turned out, shouting his name, waving palm branches and throwing down their coats in the street for Him to walk on in His "Triumphal Entry."

Here, too, His arrest and crucifixion were plotted by jealous temple officials - and it was here that 30 pieces of silver were paid for His betrayal.

11. Where the Church was founded

In obedience to Jesus’ instructions, the apostles waited in Jerusalem after His ascension for the promise of a "Comforter" and "helper" who would be with them always.

Ten days later, they received a dramatic infilling of the Holy Spirit of God.

Filled with power and boldness, it was on the Temple’s wide side plaza, called “Solomon’s Porch” that a formerly cowardly Jewish fisherman, Peter, in 33 A.D. proclaimed to festival-goers that God’s people had murdered their long-awaited Messiah, but that His death and resurrection offered mankind new hope if they would repent of their sins.

Three thousand Jews responded to the first-ever altar call.

12. Here persecution began - violently

Peter and the other disciples were arrested days later after performing healing miracles at the Temple in Jesus’ name.

They were ordered by officials not to preach anymore - an admonition they ignored.

Stephen, a young deacon filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, defied the ban on preaching and became the first martyr – stoned to death for proclaiming the Gospel.

Saul of Tarsus then undertook a reign of terror against the Christians – forcing them out of Jerusalem. As a result, Christianity began its spread worldwide as the exiles preached the Gospel wherever they went. In a surprising turn of events, Saul was dramatically convinced of the legitimacy of this new religion after Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus, Syria.

Saul became the Apostle Paul and not only was transformed into the first Christian missionary, but the writer of most of the New Testament - letters to the widely dispersed Church.

13. A new Diaspora

Herod's Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. in an effort to subdue the ever-rebellious Jews.

In what was the final revolt of the Jews against the Romans in 132–135 A.D., Judean leader Simon bar-Kokhba wanted to rebuild the Temple, but his revolt failed.

Jews were barred from Jerusalem and exiled throughout Europe, Africa and Asia.

Their Promised Land taken away from them for more than 2,000 years.

For 20 centuries, they were denied access even to pray at the ruins of the Temple.

Today all that remains is the Western Wall.

For 2,000 years, Jews prayed facing the direction of that wall and the hilltop above it, the former site of the Holy of Holies.

14. An emperor's influential mother

For centuries, Christianity was forbidden by Roman law. Terrible persecution resulted with Christians being fed to wild animals before cheering crowds in Rome's Colosseum, with Nero burning Christians to death as human torches to illuminate his drunken orgies, and with the Apostles each dying for Jesus, just as He warned them they would.

However, 300 years after Peter's Pentecost sermon, the Roman Emperor Constantine’s mother, Helena, a devout but secret Christian, convinced her son to abolish the religious laws.

In February 313, Constantine proclaimed the Edict of Milan, allowing all Roman subjects to follow the faith of their choosing. He also removed all penalties under which perhaps a million Christians had been martyred over 300 years.

In Jerusalem, Helena built a church amid the ruins of the Temple.

She called it the Church of St. Cyrus and St. John. It was later enlarged and called the Church of the Holy Wisdom

15. Here Islam was founded

Islam teaches that around 621, Muhammad was praying in Mecca, when the archangel Jibral (Gabriel) brought him Buraq, the heavenly horse of the prophets.

Buraq carried Muhammad to the Temple ruins in Jerusalem. There on the same rock where Adam first breatthed, Adam, Moses and Jesus joined Mohammed in prayer.

Buraq then took Mohammed to heaven where Allah instructed him that peace would come only through total submission to divine will. At one point, He said that mankind should pray 25 times daily. Mohammed negotiated this requirement down to five times daily, saying that 25 times a day was too much for everyday men and women.

Islam means “submission” to Allah, proven by obedience to shari’a, Islamic law

19. The Jews return

Israel took control of the Dome of the Rock during its victory in the Six-Day War in 1967.

Israeli soldiers hoisted their flag with the Star of David atop the dome and a soldier named Shlomo Goren entered the building with a Torah scroll – the first five books of the Old Testament – and a shofar, a trumpet made from a ram’s horn.

A few hours later, the soldiers lowered the flag on the orders of Israeli General Moshe Dayan, who returned custody of the site to the Waqf. Dayan said he did so in order to "keep the peace."

The Waqf continue to have a special relationship with the Israelis as well as with Arab governments and exercise almost complete authority over the site.

Can the Temple be rebuilt here?

Will the Jewish Temple be rebuilt here?

Some say Bible prophecy requires it. Others say that even touching a single tile of the Dome would provoke World War III and the Battle of Armageddon.

A few years ago, a controversial plan - illustrated in this photo - was unveiled that would leave the Dome in place, but put a new Temple next to it. Scholars supporting the concept said that the Dome is actually not over the site of the ancient Holy of Holies, but slightly south.

The idea was not well received. There are no known proposals at present before the Waqf or the Israeli government for any such construction project.

20. The Well of Souls

Beneath the Dome of the rock is a cave open to visitors and called by many the “Well of Souls.”

According to legend, it is a place where the voices of the dead can be heard along with the sounds of the Rivers of Paradise. Indeed, the cave resounds with unexplained noises that are the subject of much conjecture.

The Well of Souls is believed by some Christians to be the hiding place of the Ark of the Covenant – and was where fictional archeologist Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr. found the Ark in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, although the movie inexplicably moves the Well of Souls to Tunis in northern Africa.

In Jewish legend, the Well of Souls is “Guf,” where the souls of the not-yet-born are stored - making this spot even more the location where all of us began life.

21. The umbilical of our planet

The Jewish holy book, the Midrash, refers to this heavily contested site as the very first rock created in the formation of our planet.

    "As the navel is set in the centre of the human body,
    so is the land of Israel the navel of the world...
    situated in the centre of the world,
    and Jerusalem in the centre of the land of Israel,
    and the sanctuary in the centre of Jerusalem,
    and the holy place in the centre of the sanctuary,
    and the ark in the centre of the holy place,
    and the foundation stone before the holy place,
    because from it the world was founded."
                                                 Midrash Tanchuma, Qedoshim