The Arabic name for the Western Wall, Jerusalem’s most important Jewish site, which is also part of al-Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, Jerusalem’s most significant site for Muslims. Its name derives from an Islamic tradition that relates how the Prophet Muhammad traveled “from the Sacred Mosque [Mecca] to the Farthest Mosque [al-Aqsa]” (Quran 17:1), riding al-Buraq, a supernatural steed from Paradise. He tied his horse by the wall, went in to pray, then ascended to Paradise. Later that same evening, he remounted al-Buraq and returned to Mecca.
Once forming the northern border of the Haret al-Maghariba, home to a diverse community of Palestinians who were expelled when Israel razed the neighborhood in 1967, the al-Buraq Wall located below Bab al-Maghariba is today a fortified area attended by large gatherings of Jewish worshippers. Its Palestinian and Arab character meticulously erased by Israel, today the Buraq Wall is more widely known as the Western Wall (or the Wailing Wall pre-1967 when Jews were said to mourn for it). Importantly, it was the site of the 1929 al-Buraq Uprising, instigated by Palestinian protests against a provocative Zionist rally there, as well as against the increased Judaization of Palestine.