The Troubling Questions Posed by The Dome Of the Rock
A Jerusalem Landmark and Its Perplexing List of 'Firsts'
No photo album of a visit to Jerusalem is complete without an image of the spectacular golden dome dominating the Temple Mount. In fact, the Dome of the Rock is probably one of the most recognisable buildings on the planet. It also presents a major challenge to the accepted version of Islamic history.
The Dome of the Rock was constructed by the Muslim Khalif, Abd Al Malik, and completed in 691 AD. From its inscriptions it is clear that Abd Al Mallik had a clear ideological agenda, namely announcing the arrival of a new religion in the very city regarded by many Christians as the most sacred place on earth.
It should be noted that the Dome of the Rock is not a mosque. Nor is it primarily a monument to Muhammad’s fabled ‘night journey’ from Jerusalem. There is not a single reference to this mythical event in the original inscriptions. Instead it seems that part of its purpose was to present vehement anti-Christian rhetoric set in stone. Many of its inscriptions were designed to actively deny key Christian doctrines. Set against this are the claims of a new religion that seems to have suddenly emerged from nowhere. In fact, there are many Islamic ‘firsts’ associated with the Dome of The Rock. Including:
The first accurately datable occurrence of passages from the Qur’an on an inscription (although these are not in word-perfect agreement with the Qur’an Muslims use today).
Possibly the first incontestable Arabic reference to Muhammad.
The first expression of the sentiments expressed in the Shahada (i.e., the Muslim confession of faith: ‘There is no God but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God’). Although again the words are not exactly equivalent to those Muslims use in their prayers today.
The first references to Islam and to Muslims.
The first explicit Muslim repudiation of the divinity of Jesus.
There are, in fact, so many firsts included in the inscriptions that the inescapable conclusion is that the Dome of the Rock heralds a radical new beginning in Arab religious sensibilities. This building, dating from 691 AD, is in fact where Islam finally announces itself to the world, six decades after Muhammad supposedly last walked the earth.
The really troubling issue, from a Muslim perspective, is why there is not a single snippet of uncontested primary source evidence confirming the accepted Muslim historical accounts before the Dome of the Rock. This leaves the questions, which I explore in detail in my book ‘The Mecca Mystery - Probing the Black Hole at the Heart of Muslim History’ of whether some serious attention should be paid to the role of Abd al Malik in shaping Islam into what it eventually became. Did he, in fact, build far more than a building by also inventing a religion?
Kind regards,
Peter
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