Grammarian Dome

The Grammatical Dome

One of the domes of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, located at the southwestern end of the courtyard of the Dome of The Rock, opposite the Chain Gate. It was established by King Sharaf al-Din Abu al-Mansur Isa al-Ayyubi in the year 604 AH - 1207 AD, at the hands of Prince Hussam al-Din Abi Maad Qumbaz, to be a specialized school for teaching linguistic sciences such as morphology and grammar inside the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. King Isa endowed her with many endowments to spend on her, as he was one of the most prominent people who were keen on the reconstruction of this noble mosque, as he was a lover of the Holy Qur’an and its language.

The dome consists of three connected rooms, its largest dome is above the western room, while another dome is less high above the eastern room, and it has a main entrance located on its northern façade.

The Nahwiyya Dome was turned into a library during the British occupation, and is used today as the headquarters of the Sharia Court of Appeal (part of the Sharia Court in Jerusalem, which belongs to Jordan), and its exact name now is: the Office of the Acting Chief Justice, and underneath it is the court’s archive.

Perhaps this use is what protected it from the dangers of the occupation, as it clearly overlooks the Al-Buraq Wall from inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as the Maghribi and Silsilah Gates. Therefore, it is considered a hotspot in the event of Zionist attacks on the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, as happened in the last Al-Aqsa Intifada, specifically on 6/30/2000 AD, when the Zionists stormed Al-Aqsa from the Chain Gate, took control of the grammatical dome, and then took control of the southwestern side of the mosque. They killed a worshipper at the Mughrabi Gate, among 5 other worshipers who were martyred by the occupation bullets that day, in addition to the injury of dozens.

This article was translated and edited from its Arabic source: http://www.foraqsa.com/index.php/aqsa-character/aqsa-guide/aqsa-domes/nahwiyah