Scholars
the Dome of the Rock
The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem: the world''s oldest standing Islamic building, raised by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan in 691 over the sacred rock on the Noble Sanctuary. Eight sides, a golden dome, blue mosaics and Kufic inscriptions carrying architecture''s oldest Islamic text. The Ottomans restored her with Iznik tile in the sixteenth century, and she stayed Jerusalem''s icon: a golden dome over the Old City every Muslim in the world knows. It is the first and oldest-surviving masterpiece of Islamic architecture: an octagon standing on Jerusalem's height for thirteen hundred years, telling that Islamic art began from text and light, not statue. Its Kufic band is architecture's oldest Islamic inscription, a declaration of oneness written in gold on blue, and under its dome pilgrims and prayers have met since the seventh century.