The geographer Al-Muqaddasi(985) relates that the city of Jerusalem was fortified by a massive wall and had eight iron gates: (1) Bab Sihyun (Gate of Zion) (2) Bab at Tih (Gate of the desert of the wanderings) (3) Bab al Balat (Gate of the Palace or Court) (4) Bab Jubb Armiya (Gate of Jeremiah's Pit) (5) Bab Silwan (Gate of Siloam) (6) Bab Ariha (Gate of Jericho) (7) Bab al `Amud (Gate of the Columns) (8) Bab mihrab Daud (Gate of David's Oratory) The early scholars of Jerusalem attempted to identify these gates with the gates of the Ottoman city wall, as they assumed that the ancient city wall followed the same course. This theory has been corroborated by historiographic descriptions and by the preservation of some names of gates to this day.

An alternate identification of Al-Muqaddasi's gates is based on the assumption that the lengths of the Islamic and the Ottoman city walls were similar, except on the south parts. According to this proposal there was a gate in the north wall: Bab al `Amud, in the east wall: Bab Ariha, and in the west wall: Bab mihrab Daud, and five gates in the southern wall: Bab Sihyun, Bab at Tih, Bab al Balat, Bab Jubb Armiya, and Bab Silwan.

A third proposal situates the gates in accordance with the street layout of the city, i.e., two gates in each wall: in the north wall: Bab al `Amud and Bab Jubb Armiya, in the east wall: Bab Arihaand Bab al Balat, in the west wall: Bab mihrab Daud and Bab Sihyun, and in the south wall: Bab at Tih and Bab Silwan The fourth proposal reconstructs two sets of walls in the south - an internal wall, almost identical to the Ottoman wall, and an external wall, which follows the course of the Byzantine wall, and was in use during the Islamic period. According to this proposal the gates were arranged as follows: In the north wall: Bab al `Amud, in the east wall: Bab Ariha, in the west wall: Bab mihrab Daud, in the internal south wall: Bab at Tih and Bab al Balat, and in the external south wall: Bab Silwan (along the spur of the City of David), Bab Sihyun (south of Kayafa's House) and Bab Jubb Armiya (south of the Siloam Pool).