Virtues of Masjid Al-Aqsa
Glorious is He Who made his servant travel by night from Al-Masjid al- Har\m to Al-Masjid al-Aq]\ whose environment We have blessed… (Surah Al-Isrā’ : 1)
I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the mosque that was first set up on the earth. He said: Al-Masjid al-Haram. I said: Then which next? He said: The Masjid al- Aqsa. I said: How long is the space of time between the two? He said: Forty years. [Saḥīḥ Muslim 520]
We prayed with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ (with our faces) towards Bayt-al-Maqdis for sixteen months or seventeen months. Then we were made to change (our direction) towards the Ka’bah. [Saḥīḥ Muslim 525]
