orders of Sultan Lajin. It has been inferred that the Ayyubids rebuilt the minaret after the Crusaders destroyed it. The Ayoubi judge Sharaf Ad-Din bin Abdul Rahman Bin As-Sahib rebuilt the Bani Ghanim Gate Minaret in 677 AH/1278 AC during the reign of Sultan Hussam Ad-Din Lajeen. It is named after Shaykh Ghanim ibn Ali ibn Husayn, who was appointed the Shaykh of the Salahiyyah Madrasah by Salahuddin Ayyubi. It is a square-shaped minaret located near Bani Ghanim's Gate and is considered the most decorated of Al-Aqsa's minarets. With a height of 38.5 meters, it is the highest minaret inside Al-Aqsa and has a staircase of 120 steps. In other words, with six stories high, it is the tallest minaret of al-Aqsa compound. The tower is almost entirely made of stone, apart from a timber canopy over the muezzin's balcony. The upper part is octagonal, with a large number of marble columns. Because of its firm structure, the Ghawanima Minaret has been nearly untouched by earthquakes. The minaret is divided into several stories by stone molding and stalactite galleries. The first two stories are wider and form the base of the tower. The additional four stories are surmounted by a cylindrical drum and a bulbous dome. The stairway is externally located on the first two floors but becomes an internal spiral structure from the third floor until it reaches the muezzin's balcony. The minaret is excavated into the naturally occurring layer of bedrock in the northwest corner of the Haram. It is partitioned into several 'stories' by stone molding and muqarnas (stalactite) galleries. The first two stories are wider and directly about the rock, forming the base of the tower. An additional four stories, including the muezzin's gallery, are surmounted by a circular drum and bulbous dome. The stairway is external on the first two floors but becomes an internal spiral structure until it reaches the muezzin's gallery, from which the call for prayer was performed. The western tunnel, which was dug by the Israeli Occupation Forces, has weakened the minaret's foundations, resulting in calls for its renovation in 1422/2001. Also, the Islamic Waqf Directorate has renovated this gate after an Israeli extremist burnt it in 1998. Chain Gate Minaret In 1329, Tankiz, the Mamluk governor of Syria, ordered the construction of a third minaret: the Chain Gate Minaret (Bāb al-Silsila Minaret), near the Chain Gate, on the western border