Well of Souls

Lore & Background

The Well of Souls is located under the Foundation Stone, which in Jewish tradition is considered the place where creation began and where Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac. In Islam, the Foundation Stone is known as the Noble Rock; some modern Muslims believe it to be the spot from which Muhammad ascended to heaven during the Night Journey. According to a medieval Islamic tradition, the Stone tried to follow Muhammad as he ascended, leaving his footprint and hollowing out the cave below. The name 'Well of Souls' derives from a medieval Islamic legend that the spirits of the dead can be heard there awaiting Judgment Day, though this is not a mainstream view in Sunni Islam.

Reader's Guide

The Well of Souls holds layered significance across Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Jewish tradition, the Foundation Stone above it marks the center of the world and covers the Abyss containing the waters of the Flood. Muslim tradition likewise places it at the center of the world over a bottomless pit with flowing waters of Paradise. During the Crusader period, Christians called the cave the 'Holy of Holies' and venerated it as the site of the archangel's announcement of John the Baptist's birth. The cave contains four prayer niches dedicated to prophets David, Solomon, Abraham, and Khidr-Elijah, and a depression in the floor elicits an echo suggesting a chamber beneath. The shaft in the ceiling has been variously interpreted as a 4,000-year-old tomb remnant, a Crusader ventilation chimney, or part of a drainage system for Temple sacrifices. The site continues to be a focus of pilgrimage and legend, though modern scholarship places the Holy of Holies of the Jewish Temple on top of the Foundation Stone, not inside it.

Did You Know?

• The cave contains a shaft 0.46 meters in diameter that penetrates 1.7 meters up to the surface of the Foundation Stone; it has no rope marks and was never used as a well.
• The prayer niche dedicated to Prophet Solomon in the cave is generally dated to the Crusader period or later, not to the 7th or 9th century.
• The 16th-century rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra referred to a cave under the Dome of the Rock called the 'Well of Souls'.