The Dome of the Rock is considered one of the most important Islamic architectural monuments in the world. The building is incomparable splendor, so that many theories have been researched and published about the interpretation of the construction of this dome and the interpretation of its shape and the reason for its construction on this distinguished basis and different from all buildings of a religious nature in all Muslim eras.

This dome was built by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (86-65 AH / 684-705 AD). Work began on its construction in the year 66 AH / 685 AD, and it was finished in the year 72 AH / 691 AD. The two engineers supervised its construction. Raja bin Haywah al-Kindi, a well-known follower, originally from the city of Bisan in Palestine, and Yazid bin Salam, the mawla of Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, an engineer from Jerusalem.

 The Dome of the Rock is an octagonal building, in the middle of the building is the honorable rock, and this rock rises about one and a half meters above the floor of the building. A circular dome about 20 meters in diameter.

 The general octagonal shape of the dome building is based on two rows of columns, each row consisting of a group of large rectangular columns called (stacks and a group of small cylindrical marble columns, and the number of stacks in the outer row is (External valuation) Eight Madamak

The main building stands on it, and between each two of them there are two small columns, and thus the total of these small columns in the external octagon is 16 columns. As for the inner row, it surrounds the rock itself and contains 4 large courses, and between each two of them there are 3 small columns, thus a total of 12 columns. These four internal courses are the foundation on which the neck of the dome itself rests.

                             40-50 cm, and it is used to light the cave, and many superstitions and myths are mentioned in it, the most important of which is that it was formed by the finger of Gabriel, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him), or that it was breached due to the ascension of the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, from him to heaven on the night of Isra and Mi’raj, and all these myths have no basis, and the truth This hole is the work of the Crusaders, as we will show later.

 There is a group of 14 mihrabs in the Dome of the Rock: seven are adjacent to each other in front of the northern door of the building, one is in the northeastern side at the inner row of the columns surrounding the rock, and another is the mihrab in the direction of the qiblah. The main building and three adjoining ones on the western side of the building, and two Umayyad and Fatimi mihrabs, are located under the rock in the Cave of Souls. The building contains 52 windows and arches covered with mosaics connecting the 24 columns and 99 distinct black marble slabs.

 The Dome of the Rock building contains very rich architectural and decorative elements, especially the Umayyad motifs. All of them (whether the mosaic ones or the capitals of the columns) that there is no decorative unit in it that resembles the other at all, and there are scattered Umayyad writings with mosaics that are among the oldest remaining traces of writing in the Umayyad era. God bless him and grant him peace, and parts of Surat Taha that mention the story of Moses, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, were written with mosaics on the lower frame, the neck of the dome. As for the golden dome itself, it actually consists of two internal and external domes, between them a distance of about one meter. As for the outer dome, it was in the past made of lead and covered with gold, then the cladding was changed to sheets of lead until the fifties of the last century, when it was re-clad with gilded aluminum panels.

   The dome building during the Umayyad era was covered from the inside and outside with mosaics, until the Ottoman period  Where the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent ordered the building to be covered from the outside with blue faience tiles instead of faience. The faience tiles are made of pottery and painted, then covered with a hard and shiny layer called enamel, and it was called a ratio * in Persia, and during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II, Surat Yaseen was written on The perimeter of the building, which is decorated outside by the hand of the calligrapher Muhammad Shafiq).

 

 The Crusader occupation.