Dome of the Rock

7th-century Mosaics (Winged Crowns)

7th-century Mosaics (Jewels)

7th/9th-century Inscriptions

These inscriptions are inside the Dome of the Rock. They are mostly from the building’s construction, but an ‘Abbasid caliph changed out the name of the building’s patron in the 9th century. The change is underlined here.

Source, pp. 234-5.

A 9th-century Description

This passage is from the 9th-century historian and geographer Ya’qubi. He explains that ‘Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock to divert pilgrimage when Mecca was under Zubayrid control during the second fitna.

A 10th-century Description

A 10th-century Arab geographer named Muqaddasi (whose name means “Jerusalemite”) recorded his explanation for why it was right to build the Great Mosque of Damascus and the Dome of the Rock.

A 13th-14th-century Description

This passage is from a famous jurist and malcontent, Ibn Taymiyya, who lived in the 13th and 14th centuries. According to this report, when the caliph Umar b. al-Khattab captured Jerusalem in 638, he decided to build a mosque. He avoided aligning the mosque with the Rock on the Temple Mount for fear of blurring the lines between Judaism and Islam. In the process, he tells a brief history of the Rock and its place in the sacred landscape of early Islam, from his perspective.

Source, pp. 316-8.