The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem The first of Islam’s masterpieces, the Dome of the Rock, was built on the orders of the Umayyad Caliph Abdul Malik in 687 A.D., half a century after the death of the Holy Prophet. An attentive reading of this monument, with a view to grasping its inner spiritual meaning, reveals that it contains the germ of the major themes in Islamic art, whose fundamental purpose is to express the faith of the Qur’an. This art is decipherable only if one recalls the tents of the Muslim faith.10
The Dome of the Rock presents the first example, and a very striking one, of this truth. The very site where it was established, the structure of the building, its dimensions and proportions, the forms to be found within it, the colours that enliven it, its external outline, and the system its internal space, are all representative of the faith which inspired its construction.
