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اكتمال بناء قبة الصخرة في القدس
The Dome of the Rock (Qubbat al-Sakhra) was completed in Jerusalem in 72 AH (691–692 CE) under the commission of the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. It stands as one of the oldest surviving Islamic monuments in the world and one of the most architecturally significant buildings in history, constructed over the sacred rock from which Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ ascended to the heavens during the Night Journey (Isra wal-Miraj).
The rock at the summit of Mount Moriah, known in Arabic as al-Sakhra al-Musharrafa (the Noble Rock), holds layers of religious significance that predate Islam. In Jewish tradition, it is identified as the site of the binding of Isaac and the location of the Holy of Holies in Solomon's Temple. Early Christian sources also venerated the site. For Muslims, its primary significance is as the point from which the Prophet ﷺ ascended through the heavens to receive the command of prayer, as described in Surah al-Isra (17:1) and elaborated in hadith literature.
The site came under Muslim control in 16 AH when Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab received the surrender of Jerusalem from the Patriarch Sophronius. According to historical accounts, Umar himself cleared the accumulated debris from the rock and established a simple prayer space nearby. The site was holy but unadorned during the Rashidun and early Umayyad periods.
The decision to construct a major monument at the site was made by Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, who became caliph in 65 AH. The project was entrusted to two architects: Raja ibn Haywah, a scholar from Baysan, and Yazid ibn Sallam, a freedman from Jerusalem. Construction began around 66 AH and was completed in 72 AH.
The cost of the project was reported in some sources as equivalent to seven years of tax revenue from Egypt, reflecting the enormous investment Abd al-Malik was willing to make. Workers were brought from across the Byzantine and Sasanid architectural traditions that the Islamic world had absorbed.
The Dome of the Rock's design draws on the domed octagonal structure of late Roman and Byzantine martyria — memorial shrines built over sacred sites or graves. Its closest architectural parallel is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which also features a circular martyrium beneath a dome. The Muslim architects adapted this tradition to Islamic religious requirements: no figurative imagery, abundant geometric ornament, and extensive Quranic inscriptions.
The building consists of an octagonal outer arcade surrounding a circular inner arcade, which in turn surrounds the sacred rock. The wooden dome, gilded and rising to a height of approximately 35 meters, dominates the entire Temple Mount. The exterior is faced with Ottoman-era tiles installed by Suleiman the Magnificent in the 10th century AH (though the original facing was also polychrome). The interior retains much of its original mosaic work — intricate floral and vegetal patterns in gold and green — representing the earliest surviving large-scale mosaics in the Islamic tradition.
The inscriptions around the inner ambulatory include verses from Surah Maryam and Surah al-Isra, as well as passages affirming the Islamic understanding of Jesus as a prophet and servant of God — marking the building as an expression of Islamic theology in dialogue with the Christian and Jewish traditions present in Jerusalem.
Scholars have debated the political motivations behind the Dome of the Rock's construction. During the Second Fitna, Ibn al-Zubayr controlled Mecca, and the Ka'bah was under his authority. Some historians, following a report in al-Ya'qubi, have suggested that Abd al-Malik built the Dome in part to redirect pilgrimage toward Jerusalem and away from Mecca where his rival held power. This interpretation is controversial and rejected by many scholars, who point out that Abd al-Malik never formally declared the Dome a replacement for the Ka'bah as a pilgrimage site, and that no Muslim sources from the period support this claim.
The more commonly accepted interpretation is that the Dome of the Rock was built to assert Islamic sovereignty over one of the world's most contested sacred sites, to honor the location of the Prophet's ﷺ Night Journey, and to demonstrate the cultural and architectural ambitions of the Umayyad caliphate. Its construction was a statement of permanence: Islam had come to Jerusalem and was there to stay.
The Dome of the Rock is often confused with al-Masjid al-Aqsa, but they are distinct structures. Al-Aqsa Mosque — the prayer hall that Umar had established — was also rebuilt and expanded during Abd al-Malik's reign and that of his son al-Walid. The entire elevated platform (al-Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary) contains both buildings. The Dome of the Rock is a shrine built over the sacred rock, not a congregational mosque, though it contains an open space for prayer.
The Dome of the Rock has stood for over thirteen hundred years, surviving earthquakes, crusades, fires, and numerous political changes in the region. It underwent significant restoration under the Abbasids, Fatimids, Crusaders (who briefly converted it to a church), Ayyubids (who restored it to Islamic use), Mamluks, and Ottomans. The gilded aluminum dome visible today dates to a 1993 restoration funded by Jordan.
The building represents the earliest example of what would become the Islamic artistic tradition: the unification of architecture, calligraphy, geometric ornament, and Quranic inscription into a coherent aesthetic vocabulary. Its influence on subsequent Islamic architecture — from the mosques of North Africa to the mausoleums of Central Asia — was immense.
For Muslims today, the Dome of the Rock and the Noble Sanctuary in which it stands are among the most sacred sites in the world, marking the location of the Prophetic ascent and the site of the first qibla of the Muslim community.
For the Prophetic era, see the Seerah timeline.