---
title: "How the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque Were Built"
description: "The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik commissioned the Dome of the Rock, completed in 691–692. The congregational mosque at the south end of the platform took shape under the Umayyads in the late seventh and early eighth centuries."
url: "https://hasbara.co.il/resources/dome-of-the-rock-and-al-aqsa-mosque-context-and-significance/umayyad-construction-of-islamic-shrines-on-the-temple-mount"
type: "resource-page"
locale: "en"
categories: ["Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque: Context and Significance"]
---

# How the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque Were Built

*The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik commissioned the Dome of the Rock, completed in 691–692. The congregational mosque at the south end of the platform took shape under the Umayyads in the late seventh and early eighth centuries.*

The Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque are distinct Umayyad-era buildings on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, which Muslims call al-Haram al-Sharif. The Dome of the Rock was completed in 691–692 under Caliph Abd al-Malik; the southern congregational mosque developed during the Umayyad period. Their construction made Jerusalem a major center of early Islamic architecture. [Smarthistory’s account of the Umayyads](https://archive.ph/lCUMV) dates the Dome and places it within the dynasty’s wider building program.

## A shrine around the Foundation Stone

The Dome of the Rock is an octagonal shrine built around the exposed rock at the center of the platform. It is not a mosque designed primarily as a congregational prayer hall. Its plan, central dome, marble revetment, and extensive mosaics combine forms and craft traditions familiar in the late antique eastern Mediterranean with Arabic inscriptions and Islamic religious themes. The mosaics use vegetal and jeweled motifs rather than human figures.

The building’s inscriptions include Quranic passages and declarations about God and Jesus. They make the monument’s religious message legible in its architectural setting. The shrine stands near the center of a platform already carrying layers of sacred history: Jewish tradition associates it with the First and Second Temples, while Islamic tradition links Jerusalem to Muhammad’s Night Journey and ascent.

## The southern congregational mosque

Al-Aqsa Mosque occupies the southern edge of the compound, facing toward Mecca. Its early Umayyad construction is commonly associated with Caliph al-Walid I, son of Abd al-Malik, though earthquakes and successive rebuilding changed the structure over time. Today’s building therefore reflects a long architectural history rather than a preserved original seventh-century fabric. Britannica notes that the building has undergone many architectural changes and that the term “Al-Aqsa Mosque” is also often used for the whole plaza.

The surviving monuments show the Umayyad rulers’ investment in Jerusalem. Historians discuss religious, dynastic, and political dimensions of the project; evidence for a particular private motive should not be treated as settled fact. The dynasty built monumental religious architecture in several cities, including the Great Mosque of Damascus, and used the skilled artisans and materials of the region. Read also [the Jewish history of the Temple Mount](https://hasbara.co.il/resources/dome-of-the-rock-and-al-aqsa-mosque-context-and-significance/mount-moriah-and-the-legacy-of-jewish-temples) and [how the name Al-Aqsa is used](https://hasbara.co.il/resources/dome-of-the-rock-and-al-aqsa-mosque-context-and-significance/the-evolution-of-the-al-aqsa-term).

## Pages

- [Temple Mount Status Quo: Who Administers the Site and Who May Pray?](/resources/dome-of-the-rock-and-al-aqsa-mosque-context-and-significance/overview.md)
- [The Temple Mount: Jewish History and Archaeological Evidence](/resources/dome-of-the-rock-and-al-aqsa-mosque-context-and-significance/mount-moriah-and-the-legacy-of-jewish-temples.md)
- [Al-Aqsa, Haram al-Sharif, and the 1925 Guidebook](/resources/dome-of-the-rock-and-al-aqsa-mosque-context-and-significance/the-evolution-of-the-al-aqsa-term.md)
- [Temple Mount Archaeology: Solomon’s Stables and the Sifting Project](/resources/dome-of-the-rock-and-al-aqsa-mosque-context-and-significance/destruction-of-temple-mount-antiquities-at-solomon-s-stables.md)
- [Temple Denial and “Al-Aqsa Is in Danger” Claims](/resources/dome-of-the-rock-and-al-aqsa-mosque-context-and-significance/the-al-aqsa-is-in-danger-libel-and-regional-incitement.md)

## Sources

- [archive.ph](https://archive.ph/lCUMV)
- [jewishvirtuallibrary.org](https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jerusalem-architecture-in-the-umayyad-period)