4. The final status of Temple Mount

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem, now occupied by Islamic buildings only, has a significant role as a public symbol of historical injustice and war between religions. Whenever non-Muslims visit the Old City of Jerusalem and see the Temple Mount in its present state, they are reminded of the era of enmity between the three Abrahamic religions, so bitter that these three cannot even fit on the same square of 14 hectares.

King Solomon built the First Temple in 960 BC, which was destroyed by Babylonians in 586 BC. Prophet Ezra built the Second Temple in 515 BC, which was renovated by King Herod in 20 BC, frequently visited by Jesus of Nazareth, and finally destroyed by Romans in 70 AD.

Jerusalem was conquered for Islam in 637 by Caliph Umar, who was a personal companion of Muhammad and the second Caliph of Islamic history. He built the Aqsa Mosque on the southern edge of Temple Mount, which is now considered one of the holiest shrines of Islam. But Caliph Umar wanted to have peaceful relations with Jews and Christians, and therefore he showed respect to the holy sites of Jews and Christians, and did not build anything at the highest peak of the mountain, where the Temple had once stood.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Mosque)

40 years later, during the reign of later Umayyad dynasty, Caliph el-Malik decided to build something else than the Temple in the place of the ancient Temple of King Solomon and the prophets. This was a deviation from the peaceful policies of Caliph Umar, and in later history has served as a declaration of war between the three Abrahamic religions.

Shia Muslims strongly criticize the Umayyad dynasty of this era. The Shi’ite doctrinal book Sulh al-Hasan complains that the Umayyad rulers made “various lies and baseless claims”, and there is a “continuous disagreement between the Umayyad Muslims and those who were loyal to Islam”.
(www.balagh.net/english/ahl_bayt/sulh_al-hasan/24.htm)
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad#Shi.27a_view)

Also Sunni Muslims are critical of this era of the Umayyad dynasty, viewing many of the Umayyad rulers as sinners that caused great disaster among the people.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad#Sunni_view)

Does Islam not respect King Solomon and the ancient prophets, who built the Temple of Jerusalem? It does, to the extent that every major Arab city has a Suleiman Street. But neither Shia nor Sunni Muslims acknowledge the Umayyad dynasty of this era as Muslim authorities in the full meaning of the word.

Occupying the ancient site of the Temple of Jerusalem with something else than the Temple is the path of war between religions. It was the path of later Umayyad dynasty, but it may not be the path of true Islam. In any case it was a path avoided by Umar, the second Caliph of Islam and the first Islamic conqueror of Jerusalem.