TheGate of the Chain orChain Gate (Arabic:باب السلسلة,romanized: Bāb as-Silsila;Hebrew:שער השלשלת,romanized: Sha'ar HaShalshelet) is one half of a double gate, part of the gates to theAl-Aqsa Mosque compound on theTemple Mount in theOld City of Jerusalem. It was known early Islamic periodBāb Daud, which meansDavid's Gate.[1][2][3][4][5]It was also known asBāb al-Maḥkama (باب المحكمة),Gate of the Law Court, named after the nearbyMaḥkama (Shari'a court) in theTankiziyya building.[6]
Its rectangular doors are 4.5 m high. There is a small opening large enough for one person to pass through when the gate is closed.[7]
Of the double gate, the southern Chain Gate is known today as Bab Al-Silsilah, and its northern twin gate as Bab as-Sakinah (Tranquility Gate). It[which?] was considered the most beautiful of the Al-Aqsa mosque gates.[8][9] The entrance to the Gate of the Sakinah is closed and is not opened except for necessity. It worth to notice that the closure of the northern gate happened a long time ago, with the historian Al-Omari (746 AH/1345 CE) mentioning this fact[dubious –discuss].[10] The Gate of the Chain, which is open, is secured by a tall two-wing door, with a small door cut into one wing, large enough for one person to enter when the larger door is closed.[8] According toNasir-i-Khusraw, in order to reach the gate one had to pass through the market in the eastern section of the city and the gate itself had two openings that led into a large hall.[1] Its construction was renewed in the Ayyubid period, in 600 AH/1200 CE, during the reign ofKing Issa[dubious –discuss].[8][11]
Bāb as-Sakīna is the northern half of the double gate that includes the Chain Gate.[12][13]It is always closed.[14] Its names:
The southwestern part of theMuslim Quarter is outside the gate. The neighborhood (Bāb as-Silsila / Bāb al-Silsila) is named after the gate.[23]Chain Gate Street leads toward a market (Sūq Bāb as-Silsila) and eventually the gate.[24]Once inside the compound, one can immediately see theDome of Moses (south) andFountain of Qasim Pasha (north, also namedSabīl Bāb al-Maḥkama, after the gate). Thesouthwestern colonnade is the closest of theMawazin.
TheChain Gate Minaret is just north of it. And north of that, one finds theal-Ashrafiyya Madrasa. South of the gate, and part of the compound wall, one sees theat-Tankiziyya Madrasa.[7]
The first bridge built at the site over theCentral Valley, to which the so-calledWilson's Arch belongs, dates to c. 20 BCE–20 CE, as confirmed by radiocarbon dating published in 2020, and was probably built byHerod the Great.[25] It is presumed that one of theSecond Temple's main gates was located at the site.[26]
The current Street of the Chain leading to the gate is supported by a number of stone arches, now situated underground. In the 1990s, the date of the oldest surviving parts of thisviaduct or causeway (sometimes called a "bridge") was still a matter of debate, with a Roman-period date being less well accepted than a later, Byzantine or rather Early Muslim-period one. Archaeological excavations along the western wall of the Al-Aqsa compound have confirmed that the causeway crossed from an elevated position over the main street, which located along and adjacent to the western wall. Its purpose was of offering access to the compound without the need to descend into thevalley and climb back up on the Temple Mount. For this reason, some leading archaeologists proposed in the 1990s that the Chain Gate and the bridge were built at the same time, that is: in the early Islamic period.[9][clarification needed]
This Gate is one of the three Gates that open alone for worshipers at the prayers of Isha'a and Fajr since 1967. It is the closest gate leading to the Al-Qibli Musalla hall after the closure of the Maghriba Gate by the Israel. It is also the closest to theWestern Wall/Al-Buraq Wall.[27]
Gate of the Chain […], also known as Gate of the Law Court (bāb al-maḥkama) after the Shari'a Court to its south
Bāb al-Silsila / Bāb al-Sakina […] The twin gate is bounded to the north by the Baladiyya Madrasa, the Ashrafiyya Madrasa and the Bāb al-Silsila Minaret, to the east by the West Portico
the Bab al-Sakina, shown first to have been on the southern side – probably one of the sides of the Double Gate – and migrating to the northern part of the Bab al-Silsila (on the western side of the Haram) at some undetermined date, but probably after the Crusades when the southern entrances to the Haram were blocked off […] [p. 54:] the double gate Bab al-Salam-Bab al-Silsila […] Such is already the list provided byMujir al-Din, with the substitution of Bab al-Sakina for Bab al-Salam […] The same number is already present inal-'Umari (c. 1350), with, curiously, the name Bab al-Salam for the northern half of the double gate.
أما الباب على اليمين فهو مغلق دائماً واسمه باب السكينة . [As for the door on the right, it is always closed, and its name is Bāb as-Sakīna.]
through a handsome double gate. The southern gate is called the Báb as Silsilé (Gate of the Chain), the northern Báb as Salâm (Gate of Peace). [footnote:]Mejr ed-Din states that the gate was built in A.H. 877 (1492-3 A.D.), and he calls the Báb as Salâm the Gate of Tranquillity (Sekiné).
The left bay (north) is Bab al-Sakina, 'the Gate of the Dwelling', and the right Bab al-Silsila, 'the Gate of the Chain'.
it is this (force) which is called in Arabic the Indwelling (al-sakîna) and the Holy Spirit (rûḥ al-quds).
the indwelling of the Divine Presence (Ar. Sakīna) [among them]
سكنةsakina, pl.-āt: residence, home
The Silsila neighbourhood owed its name to one of the gates to the Haram al-Sharīf, the Chain Gate or Bāb al-Silsila.
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