It is a deceptively simple building located on a high platform that was erected at some indeterminate time on the large esplanade in the southeastern corner of the city. Its wooden gilt dome is slightly over twenty meters in diameter and rises like a tall cylinder to a height of some thirty meters over the surrounding stone-paved platform. It is supported by a circular arcade of four piers and twelve columns. An octagon of two ambulatories on eight piers and sixteen columns holds the cylinder tightly, as in a ring. The ambulatory is fourteen meters deep, thus giving to the whole building a diameter of forty-eight meters; it rises to only eleven meters inside and thirteen outside, thus strengthening the impact of the cupola, especially from afar. There are four doors, one at each of the cardinal points corresponding only approximately to the main axes of the Haram al Sharif, even less so to those of the higher platform on which the Dome of the Rock stands. An extensive decoration of mosaics, painted wood, marble, multi-colored tiles, carpets, and carved stone covers most of the building, inside and outside. This decoration comes from many different periods and has often been repaired with varying success, as the ravages of time and changes in taste affected the maintenance of the building.
The Dome of the Rock will here be shown to belong to a general architectural type that includes a number of mythologized pre-Dome structures located not only on the Temple Mount but also in South Arabia. The early sources frequently refer to these structures as “mihrabs.” These mihrabs must be integrated into the pre-history of the Dome of the Rock; they and their surrounding events are as important to understanding the Umayyad cultural personality as are the Biblical traditions that are accepted as major forces behind the building of the Dome of the Rock on its particular site. The Dome of the Rock is dated by inscription to the year 72 (690-91). This date in the reign of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik (685-705) is the pivot around which the complex that includes the Dome of the Rock was planned, executed, and later modified and expanded. Less than one hundred and fifty years after the Domes construction different views were offered about its significance. In 831, the Abbasid caliph al-Ma’mun replaced Abd al- Malik’s name in the foundation inscription with his own, thereby transforming the Dome of the Rock into a monument of Abbasid rule.” The Abbasid historian al-Yaqubi accused Abd al-Malik of attempting to divert the pilgrimage from Mecca to Jerusalem, thus characterizing the Umayyad Dome of the Rock as a rival to the Kaba. In 985 Muqaddasi explained the Dome of the Rock as a rival to the great churches of the Christian east, seeing it as both a great work of architecture and an emphatic statement in an architectural dialogue between the Islamic and Byzantine empires.'” All three statements acknowledge the greatness of the Dome of the Rock as a work of architecture, yet disagree on its raison d’etre.
The design may have been inspired by the new metaphysics of the Sufis, the mystics of Islam, who started to come to live in Jerusalem from a very early date. Because God was incomparable, the Muslims would eventually forbid all figurative art in their places of worship, but the patterns and shapes of geometry were permitted, because they reflected the ideal world of the imagination. They pointed to the underlying structure of existence to which Muslims must attune themselves if they were to find the harmony, peace, and unity of God. In the Meccan Ḥaram, the square of the Kabah had led to the circle of the tawaf, reflecting the journey from earth to eternity. There was a similar pattern in the Jerusalem shrine. The Rock and its cave symbolize the earth, the origin and starting point of the quest. It is surrounded by an octagon, which, in Muslim thought, is the first step away from the fixity of the square. It thus marks the beginning of the ascent toward wholeness, perfection, and eternity, replicated by the perfect circle of the Dome. The Dome itself, which would become such a feature of Muslim architecture, is a powerful symbol of the soaring ascent to heaven. But it also reflects the perfect balance of tawḥīd: its exterior, which reaches toward the infinity of the sky, is a perfect replica of its internal dimension. It illustrates the way the divine and the human, the inner and the outer worlds fit and complement one another as two halves of a single whole. The very colors of the shrine also convey a message. In Islamic art, blue, the color of the sky, suggests infinity, while gold is the color of knowledge, which in the Quran is the faculty which brings Muslims an apprehension of God.
In the inner face of the innermost ambulatory, above these evocative figures, is a text in mosaic from the Qur’an chosen to compliment the symbolism of the building. It forcibly carries the message that Malik built the Dome to convey. It is a continuous sequence and there is much repetition, but these extracts are explicit: beginning on the South East [SE] inner face of the Octagonal Arcade:
People of the Book! Do not exaggerate in your religion [E] nor utter aught concerning God save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a Messenger of God, and His Word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him…….It befitteth not (the Majesty of) God that He should take unto Himself a son….. God (Himself) is witness that there is no God save Him. And the angels and the men of learning (too are witness). Maintaining His creation in justice, there is no God save Him.
And on the outer face of west and northwest walls:
In the name of God, the Merciful the Compassionate. There is no God but God. He is One. Praise be to God, Who hath not taken unto Himself a son, and Who hath no partner in the Sovereignty, nor hath He any protecting friend through dependence.
These texts chosen do not simply assert the fundamental principle of Islam and the power of its prophecies in comparison to those who had gone before – they focus on Christ. While offering praise for Jesus (Isa) and Mary (Marium), no other prophets or family of prophets are mentioned by name. They attack the Christian claim of Christ’s divinity with the forceful and insistent cry that Jesus could not have been the son of God.
The most ominous command is taken from Sura 4, The Women:
the Messiah, Isa son of Marium is only an apostle of Allah and His Word which He communicated to Marium and a spirit from Him; believe therefore in Allah and His apostles, and say not, Three. Desist, it is better for you; Allah is only one God; far be It from His glory that He should have a son, whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His, and Allah is sufficient for a Protector.
In the conceiving of the Dome, Malik invited comparison, not only with the Holy Sepulcher, but also between Christian and Muslim on the essential nature of God’s power and mercy. The Dome would stand as a symbol of the profound difference between the God of Abraham sparing the life of Isaac, and the Christian God allowing his so-called son Jesus Christ to die brutally on the Cross. This had been incomprehensible to Muhammad; no God of Abraham would act in such a way. Christ did not die on the cross nor was he divine. This was the lesson that Malik chose to carry across the walls of the Dome of the Rock.
The Israa and Miraj refer to, two parts of an miraculous journey that Prophet Muhammad took in one night from Makka to Jerusalem and then an ascension to the heavens. Israa is an Arabic word referring to Prophet Muhammad’s miraculous night journey from Makka to Jerusalem – specifically, to the site of al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem – as referred to in Surah Al-Israa in the Quran. It is believed to have been followed by the Mi’raj, his ascension to heaven. According to some of the Hadith scholars this journey is believed to have taken place just over a year before Prophet Muhammad migrated to from Makka to Madina, on the 27th of Rajab. Muslims celebrate this night by offering optional prayers during this night, and in many Muslim countries, by illuminating cities with electric lights and candles. Following is the translation of the first verse of chapter 17, Al-Israa, from the Quran that refers to this journey:
“Holy is He Who carried His servant by night from the Holy Mosque (in Makka) to the farther Mosque (in Jerusalem) – whose surroundings We have blessed – that We might show him some of Our signs. Indeed He alone is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.” (Quran 17:1)
This is a reference to the event known as Mi’raj (Ascension) and Isra’ (Night Journey). According to most traditions – and especially the authentic ones – this event took place one year before Hijrah. Detailed reports about it are found in the works of Hadith and Sirah and have been narrated from as many as twenty-five Companions. The Quran here only mentions that the Prophet was taken from the Ka’bah to the mosque in Jerusalem, and specifies that the purpose of the journey was such that God might “show him some of His signs”. Beyond this, The Quran does not concern itself with any detail. However, according to Hadith reports, Gabriel took the Prophet at night from the Ka’bah to the mosque in Jerusalem on a buraq. On reaching Jerusalem the Prophet along with other Prophets offered Prayers. Gabriel then took him to the heavens and the Prophet met several great Prophets in different heavenly spheres. Finally, he reached the highest point in the heavens and was graced with an experience of the Divine Presence. On that occasion the Prophet received a number of directives including that Prayers were obligatory five times a day. Thereafter, the Prophet returned from the heavens to Jerusalem, and from there to the Holy Mosque in Makka. Numerous reports on the subject reveal that the Prophet was also enabled on this occasion to observe Heaven and Hell.