The Dome of the Rock, transliterated as Masjid Qubbat As-Sakhrah, is a Muslim prayer house and one of the most iconic landmarks of Jerusalem. It was built between 687 and 691 by the 9th Caliph, Abd al-Malik, making it the oldest extant Islamic building in the world. The Rock under the Dome was the first praying direction for Muslims before Mecca. Next to the Dome of the Rock is the congregation building of the Al-Aqsa Mosque which lie within the vicinity of what Jews and Christians call Temple Mount, or Har ha-Bayit.
According to Islamic tradition, the rock in the center of the dome is the spot from which Prophet Muhammad ascended for a night-long journey to Heaven in AD 621, accompanied by the angel Gabriel. There he met many prophets like Abraham and Moses and was given the Islamic prayers before returning to Earth. There is a Qur'anic verse that says that Muhammad took an instantaneous night journey from al-Masjid al-Haram ("the sacred mosque", interpreted as being the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca) to al-Masjid al-Aqsa ("the farthest mosque", interpreted as the mosque in Jerusalem).
In Judaism, this spot marks the site where Abraham fulfilled God's test to see if he would be willing to sacrifice his son Isaac (See Genesis 22:1-19). Muslims believe that event involved Abraham's other son Ishmael and occurred in the desert of Mina. There is some controversy among secular scholars about equating Mount Moriah (where Isaac's binding occurred according to the Biblical narrative), the Temple Mount, and the rock where Jacob dreamed about angels ascending and descending on a ladder to heaven (See Genesis 28:10-19). Among Orthodox Jews, however, there is no doubt that all these events occurred on this spot.
According to Jewish scholars, it was this rock which was situated inside the Holy of Holies and upon which the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the Temple. The stone was used by the High Priest who offered up the incense and sprinkled the blood of the sacrifices on it during the Yom Kippur Service. Rabbinic legend also alleges that the entire world was created from this stone, hence the name Foundation Stone.
In Christianity, in addition to Jesus's actions in the temple, it is believed that during the time of the Byzantine Empire, the spot where the Dome was later constructed was where Constantine's mother built a small church, calling it the Church of St. Cyrus and St. John, later on enlarged and called the Church of the Holy Wisdom.
Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
Photo: Orientalist, GNU Free Documentation License
Dome of the Rock at night Photo: Abraham, GNU Free Documentation License
Find lowest price for your Hotel Room
Before booking a hotel room, make sure you are getting the lowest price for it. Different hotel booking websites offers the same room at different prices. If you stick with one site all the time, you could be paying more for the same room. Now why pay more?
The form below is a Research Engine. It doesn't take bookings. Instead it lets you find the hotel booking website that offers the room you want at the lowest price. You can see and compare what different sites are offering, and then click to choose the one with the best price. Do this, and you're guaranteed to save a whole lot of money on your room reservations!
Our Flight Checker helps travelers compare flights and get the lowest fare for their trips. If you're flying somewhere, use our Flight Checker to compare the rates from different airlines. To use it, enter where you will be flying from, where you will be flying to, your departure date and return date. Select the number of passengers, and then click search.
Our engine will return you a list of possible flights that you can take. You can compare the fare of different airlines for your trip. Click on your selected airline, and we transfer you to the airline website.
