The Umayyad al-Aqsa mosque completed under al-Walid I

بناء المسجد الأقصى الأموي وإتمامه في خلافة الوليد الأول

c. 715 CE · c. 96 AH

The Umayyad mosque of Jerusalem was a hypostyle building: many aisles perpendicular to the qibla with a wider central nave on the axis of the Dome of the Rock, reusing earlier materials, and it was either built from scratch or completed under the caliph al-Walid I 1; Abd al-Malik had built on the earlier foundation, as al-Muqaddasi reports 2. It served as the city's congregational mosque and as the roofed part of the whole Haram.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Umayyad Period
Region
Levant & Iraq

In time

700710720730 c.
The Umayyad Period

Overview

The Umayyad mosque of Jerusalem rose on the pattern of the great hypostyle mosques; it was built from scratch or completed in the caliphate of al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik (86–96/705–715), after Abd al-Malik had built upon the earlier foundation. 1 2

What happened

The Umayyad mosque was a hypostyle building: many aisles perpendicular to the qibla wall, a wider central nave on the very axis of the Dome of the Rock, and a great deal of reused material from earlier structures. Architectural historians judge it either built anew or completed under al-Walid I. 1 It served as Jerusalem's congregational mosque and as the roofed part of the whole Haram, which counted as the city's mosque; al-Muqaddasi, writing centuries later, says describers deemed it fairer than the Damascus mosque until the Abbasid-era earthquakes struck it. 2

Connections

Explore the connections

Occurred at
Masjid Al-Aqsa
Had participant
al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik
Related to
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan
During the reign of
al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik· سليمان بن عبد الملك

People and things also explored

Umayyad Caliphate· al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik· The Founding of al-Ramla· Muwatta 690· Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan· سليمان بن عبد الملك· Dome of the Rock· Diwan al-Barid (the postal diwan)

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes , vol. 6 p. 734
  2. Ahsan al-Taqasim fi Ma'rifat al-Aqalim of al-Muqaddasi , p. 143-144
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The Umayyad al-Aqsa mosque completed under al-Walid I”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/aqsa-umayyad-completion/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-09.

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Related

Umayyad Caliphate

A caliphate that ruled the Arab Islamic territories from a centre in Syria from 41/661 to 132/750, with its capital at Damascus. Its caliphs all descended from Umayya ibn Abd Shams of Quraysh, in two lines, the Sufyanids and the Marwanids. The period saw the first properly Islamic coinage, government records begin in Arabic and the Dome of the Rock built, and lands from Central Asia to al-Andalus were first significantly Islamised and Arabised. Muslim tradition gives a largely negative picture of the dynasty, while the Encyclopaedia of Islam notes that this tradition was shaped by the dynasty's opponents.