The Al-Aqsa Mosque as a Political Symbol: The Mosque in Symbolic Perspective

Abstract

The Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem was originally an Islamic building. Later in the 20th century, as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict intensified, the religious function of the Al-Aqsa Mosque gradually gave way to a political one, becoming a political symbol of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which the Palestinians saw as a symbol of statehood and Israel administered as part of its national territory. The transformation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque from a religious to a political function is not only an expression of its transformation from a religious building to a political symbol, but also a manifestation of the tension between religious culture and the presence of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the city of Jerusalem as an important reason for its transformation into a political symbol.