Abd al-Malik had focused his main attention on consolidating power in Syria, leaving his rival Caliph Abdallah ibn Zubayr to battle against Kharijites in Iraq and Arabia. This allowed almost a decade in which Mecca was ruled by a power hostile to the Umayyads in general and Abd al-Malik in particular. If Muslims in his territories decided to journey there for the Hajj, they were likely to hear sedition against him. They might have their loyalty shaken by going to the Prophet’s birthplace, the city built by Abraham, only to hear propaganda in favor of Ibn Zubayr or even the family of Ali.
One of his early projects for showing off his wealth was to build a new shrine in Jerusalem. A new shrine would draw Muslim pilgrims away from Mecca, and it would compete with the continuing Christian presence in Jerusalem. He chose to build over a piece of exposed bedrock that legend claimed was the site of Abraham’s near-offering of Isaac (or Ishmael, as Muslims said).
Nearby, there was a church that sheltered another rock. This was the Church of the Kathisma, that is, the Sitting-down. Legend said that Mary grew tired as she journeyed from Jerusalem (where she had been staying with Elizabeth and Zachariah) to Bethlehem. She sat on this rock. The church was not built for congregations to fill; it was small and just sheltered the exact rock, with space for pilgrims to walk around it. It was octagonal so that pilgrims could walk in the eight-sided hallway, with chapels off to the side, and doorways opening into the central area with the rock. (It has long since fallen down, but it is currently exposed as an inactive archeological site in Israel, owned by the Greek Orthodox Church.)
Circumambulating a rock? That idea came straight out of traditional Arab religion, only this time, the rocks were not standing for a deity but marking a place where something holy had happened. Abd al-Malik wanted to build something very much like the church around Mary’s rock.
Either legend had already worked a Muhammad connection into the rock that Abd al-Malik chose, or legend followed the choice. Muslim legend is that this rock, where Abraham stood, was also the rock on which Muhammad stood when he was lifted into the heavens for a tour of its levels. This event is called the Night Journey, told in Surah 17. Muhammad journeyed at night from the Sacred Masjid/Mosque, to the Farther Mosque. There, he was taken into heaven on a flying horse. In order to connect Muhammad to Jerusalem, the Farther Mosque was taken to mean this place in Jerusalem.
Muslims today assume that this is what the text means, and now there is a mosque next to the Dome of the Rock that is literally named The Farther (al-Aqsa) Mosque. It seems obvious that it must be what the text refers to, but contrarian scholars point out that actually the Quran never says “Jerusalem”. “The Farther Mosque” could have been a shrine in Arabia that Muhammad believed was also connected to Abraham. We don’t know if Muslims in 690 believed that Jerusalem was “al-Aqsa,” because there is no reference to the Night Journey in the Quranic inscriptions inside the building. Lack of reference seems to suggest that it wasn’t a prime consideration at the time. The Abrahamic connection may have been enough.
Caliph Abd al-Malik may have begun with a Byzantine church that stood on the site, or his architects may have started from scratch. The Dome of the Rock shrine was eight-sided, like the nearby church, and decorated with mosaics inside and perhaps outside. It had a walkway that encircled the rock, as in the nearby church. Above the rock, there was a dome, which was not an Arabian type of architecture. The shrine needed a dome to compete with the Christian basilicas, especially the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Some of the inscriptions inside offered a direct rebuke to Christians, reminding them that Allah had no associate and no begotten son.
The appearance of the Dome now is entirely modern; the gold facing was added in 1964. In earlier times, the wooden domed roof was covered with lead to make it weatherproof. We think that some of the current interior is original, but the building has been rebuilt many times. The current blue tile exterior was added in the 1800s.