The Umayyad Dynasty

When the Umayyad Dynasty seized power in the Islamic world midway through the seventh century, it signified a new era in Jerusalem—one of cultural development and a more entrenched Muslim presence in the city. It was during the reign of the Umayyads that one of the most famed Islamic structures in the world was built on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount—the Dome of the Rock. But struggles for succession were a constant and violent reality: These battles, coupled with a disastrous earthquake in Jerusalem, forced the Umayyad Dynasty out of power, and ushered forth a new chapter in the city’s history.

The murder of Caliph Umar in 644 A.D. triggered a period of intense warfare within Islam, specifically between the caliphs and the relatives of the Prophet Mohammed. This conflict would rage on for many years to come, and ultimately result to a permanent schism within Islam. Yet even during this time, the Islamic empire cut a vast swath across Eurasia and into North Africa.

Caliphs rose and fell as the battles between the aristocratic Umayyad clan and the family of Mohammed engaged in open civil war. At last the Ummayad leader Mu’awiyah, ruler of al-Sham, was declared Caliph in 661 A.D., and this signified the beginning of the Umayyad Dynasty.

During Mu’awiyah’s reign as caliph, he moved the capital of the empire from Medina to Damascus, which placed Jerusalem closer to the seat of power. Mu’awiyah was publicly devoted to Jerusalem, visiting the city often and declaring its importance to Islam.

But the death Mu’awiyah led to another outbreak of wars and the Umayyad Dynasty, still in its infancy, was threatened with rebellion and collapse. It was only with the ascendance of the Umayyad Caliph Marwan I in 684 A.D., and a year later his son, Abd al-Malik, that the Umayyad Dynasty was restored to its former strength.

Abd al-Malik and the Dome of the Rock

It was Abd al-Malik who was to contribute one of the most dazzling Islamic edifices to Jerusalem—the Dome of the Rock. While he made other repairs to the city walls and gates, it is for this monumental structure that al-Malik is best remembered. At long last, the Muslims wished to challenge the dominance of Christian architecture in the Holy City, where the domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Ascension reigned supreme.

The chosen site of the Dome was to have great significance as well. The rock in question is known in Judaism as the Foundation Stone, wellspring of the world’s creation, site of Jacob’s dream of a ladder of angels. Many years later, a mythos related to the rock arose in Islam as well: It became known as the place from which Mohammed ascended to heaven in the course of his Night Journey.

At the time of its construction, the Dome was plated with 100,000 gold dinar coins, so that it appeared then much as it does today. The interior of the dome is lavishly decorated with mosaic tiles.

Succeeding Caliph al-Malik was Caliph al-Walid I, who transformed Al-Aqsa Mosque from a crude wooden building into a majestic complex which included an imperial palace.

But in 744 A.D. Caliph al-Walid I was murdered, leading to further wars of succession. And in 747 A.D., an earthquake laid waste to al-Walid’s mosque, the Ummayad palace and parts of the Dome of the Rock, as well as killing many Muslims in the vicinity of the Temple Mount. This series of disasters heralded an end to the Ummayad Dynasty, and signalled the beginning of a new reign—that of the Abbasid clan.

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