The Dome Of The Rock (Qubbat Al-Sakhra)

The most universally recognized symbol of Jerusalem is not a Jewish or Christian holy place but a Muslim one: the Dome of the Rock. When people see its golden dome rising above the open expanse of al-Masjid al-Aqsa, they think of only one place in the world.

There is an often quoted statement of Muslim historian al-Muqaddasi on the reason for the building of Dome of the Rock. Al-Muqaddasi asked his uncle why al-Walid spent spent so much money on the building of the mosques in Damascus. The uncle answered:

O my little son, thou has no understanding. Verily al-Walid was right, and he was prompted to a worthy work. For he beheld Syria to be a country that had long been occupied by the Christians, and he noted there are beautiful churches still belonging to them , so enchantingly fair, and so renowned for their spendour, as are the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Churches of Lydda and Edessa. So he sought to build for the Muslims a mosque that should be unique and a wonder to the world. And in like manner is it not evident that `Abd al-Malik, seeing the greatness of the martyrium [Qubbah] of the Holy Sepulchre and its magnificence was moved lest it should dazzle the minds of Muslims and hence erected above the Rock the Dome which is now seen there.

The Dome of the Rock is Jerusalem's answer to Paris' Eiffel Tower, Rome's St. Peter's Square, London's Big Ben and Kuala Lumpur's Petronas towers; dazzling the minds of Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The Dome of the Rock is Jerusalem.