Foundation Stone

It is also known as the Pierced Stone, because it has a small hole on the southeastern corner that enters a cavern beneath the rock, known as the Well of Souls.

[1][2] The rock is located towards the centre of the Temple Mount, a term usually applied to an artificial platform built and expanded over many centuries at the top of Jerusalem's southern hill.

The current shape is the result of an expansion by Herod the Great on top of vaults over a summit called Mount Moriah which three millennia ago was the highest elevation in early Jerusalem's proximity to the City of David.

Al-Tabari then identifies the rock with the place where the Romans had "buried the temple (bayt al-maqdis) at the time of the sons of Israel.

"[8] David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra was convinced (c. 1570) that "under the dome [on the Temple Mount] – there is the Foundation Stone, undoubtedly – which the Arabs call al-Sakrah".

This is the view of Isaac Luria[11] and the Maharsha,[12] who state the prophecy that "Zion will become a ploughed field" indicates that no dwelling will be established there until the time of the Redemption.

[15] Modern Jewish academics list four possible locations of the Foundation Stone:[16] Although the rock is part of the surrounding 90 million-year-old, Upper Turonian Stage, Late Cretaceous karsted limestone,[citation needed] the southern side forms a ledge, with a gap between it and the surrounding ground; a set of steps currently uses this gap to provide access from the Dome of the Rock to the Well of Souls beneath it.

Jewish sources identify this rock as the place of the Binding of Isaac mentioned in the Bible, where Abraham fulfilled God's test to see if he would be willing to sacrifice his son.

[28] When, according to the Bible, King David purchased a threshing floor owned by Araunah the Jebusite,[29] it is believed that it was upon this rock that he offered the sacrifice mentioned in the verse.

[31] An early Christian source noting Jewish attachment to the rock may be found in the Itinerarium Burdigalense, written between 333 and 334 CE when Jerusalem was under Roman rule, which describes a "perforated stone to which the Jews come every year and anoint it, bewail themselves with groans, rend their garments, and so depart.

[33] During the Second Temple period when the Ark of the Covenant was not present, the stone was used by the High Priest who offered up the incense and sprinkled the blood of the sacrifices on it during the annual Yom Kippur service.

In further commemoration of the Foundation Stone, it is also forbidden to eat meat or drink wine from the beginning of the week in which Tisha B'av falls until after the fast.

[36] In the days when Selichot are recited, in the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur, the supplications include the following references: טענתנו גפי קרת נתונים, ישבתנו שן סלע איתנים You carried us and placed us on the [Holy] City's height, You settled us on the Patriarch's rocky peak.

The Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, is thought by commentators of the Quran to be the place from where Muslims believe Muhammad began his Night Journey.