Mosaic in The Dome of the Rock IN Jerusalem

Mosaic in The Dome of the Rock IN Jerusalem 

Dome of the Rock, Arabic Qubbat al-Ṣakhrah , shrine in Jerusalem built by the Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān in the late 7th century ce. It is the oldest extant Islamic monument. The rock over which the shrine was built is sacred to both Muslims and Jews. The Prophet Muhammad, founder of Islam, is traditionally believed to have ascended into heaven from the site. In Jewish tradition it is here that Abraham, the progenitor and first patriarch of the Hebrew people, is said to have prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. Both the Dome and Al-Aqṣā Mosque are located on the Temple Mount, the site of Solomon’s Temple and its successors, an area known to Muslims as Al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf. The Dome’s structure and ornamentation are rooted in the Byzantine architectural tradition, yet its construction in the 7th century represents an early stage in the emergence of a distinct Islamic visual style.

The interior and exterior of the structure are decorated with marble, mosaics, and metal plaques. Although the mosaics are similar in technique to those found in Byzantine public buildings and churches, the Dome’s mosaics exclude any representations of human or animal forms, instead featuring Arabic script and vegetal patterns intermixed with images of items such as jewels and crowns. Arabic religious inscriptions run around the octagonal arcade.

The original function and significance of the Dome of the Rock are uncertain. The building is not a mosque and does not fit easily into other categories of Muslim religious structures. After the advent of the ʿAbbāsid dynasty in the 8th century, some Muslim historians began to report that ʿAbd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock as a substitute for the Kaʿbah in an attempt to relocate the site of the Muslim hajj from Mecca, then under the control of rebels led by Ibn al-Zubayr, to Jerusalem. Modern scholars have questioned this interpretation, citing the strong anti-Umayyad bias of ʿAbbāsid historiography as well as evidence that Mecca remained the destination of the hajj throughout Ibn al-Zubayr’s revolt.