The Al-Aqsa Mosque (Al-Aqsa, Arabic for 'the farthest'), is mentioned in the rendering of Muhammad's nocturnal journey from Mecca to Jerusalem (al-Isra'). This term at first described the entire area of the Temple Mount, but later alluded exclusively to the Mosque. The Al-Aqsa Mosque is regarded as the great Mosque of Jerusalem, the third city of importance to the Islam, following Mecca and Medina. The Al-Aqsa Mosque was erected specifically as a place of worship, and therefore the main concern of its builders was its size and not its decor, which was of concern to the builders of the Dome of the Rock.

The structure of the Al-Aqsa Mosque underwent a series of reconstructions following mighty earthquakes that affected the country during the Early Islamic period. The earliest building, made of simple (wooden?) construction, is known only from its description by Arculf.