The Dome of the Rock: Origin of its Octagonal Plan

Abstract

The Dome of the Rock or Qubbat al-Sakhra is a monument in the city of Jerusalem built on the platform at the top of Mount Moriah known as Bayt al-Maqdis or Bayt al-Muqaddas (the Holy House) and, by the common term for similar Muslim sacred places in Makkah and Madinah, the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary). The 34-acre platform is also known as Masjid al-Aqsa (the Farthest Mosque) following such reference in the Qur’an, although a mosque called by the same name exists on its southern edge. The monument itself is a singlestorey building of octagonal plan with sides of 20.6 m covered at the centre by a dome 20.44 m in diameter, resting on a cylindrical drum, and rising up to a height of about 36 m. The drum is supported by an arcade of sixteen arches resting on four piers and twelve columns between them forming a circular perimeter around the sacred ‘rock’ that has some significance in all the three Abrahamic religions. The area between the inner circle and the outer octagonal wall is divided into two ambulatory spaces separated by an inner octagon made of twenty-four arches resting on eight piers and sixteen columns (Fig. 1). The Dome of the Rock was designed and built during the caliphate of Abd al-Malik, the 5th Umayyad caliph of Islam (685–705 ad), and its construction was completed in 692 ad under the supervision of Raja ibn Haywa and Yazid ibn Sallam who are thought to have been in financial and administrative control. However, further research shows that the former, from Beysan in Palestine and originally of the Kinda tribe of Yemen, worked as a treasurer and special assistant of Abd al Malik and also as advisor to two later caliphs, Sulayman (715–717 ad) and Umar II (717–720 ad). He was a renowned Tabi’, i.e., a scholar of the generation that followed the companions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) known as Sahaba, a transmitter of hadith (the traditions of the Prophet) and was trustfully quoted by the later scholars (Ibn Asakir 1995, 359). In keeping with the tradition of the Sahaba’s contribution in the design of mosques of that period, it is likely that Raja ibn Haywa was also involved in the design of the Dome of the Rock. Yazid ibn Sallam was a local Jerusalemite. The religion of Islam introduced to the world of architecture a new type of building — the mosque — the basic plan of which was standardised by the time of the Dome of the Rock’s construction. Evolving from the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah (632 ad) (Fig. 2), typically it was a square or a rectangular building with an inner courtyard, the covered area towards the qibla (the direction to face for prayer) side being the main prayer hall, with narrow porticoes (riwaqs) on the other three sides (Fig. 3). In the very earliest phase of Islam, all the mosques and other public buildings were very simple, made of sun-dried mud bricks and timber, providing the basic functional needs that satisfied the religious guideline for the practice of modesty in all aspects of life. Minor enlargements to the mosques were made during the rule of the pious caliphs (632–661 ad) who followed the Prophet to cater for the growing size of congregation. However, major extension to or reconstruction of the mosques with more durable and expensive materials began in the early Umayyad period — Basra 665 ad, Kufa 670 ad and Fustat 673 ad — and the mosque of Kufa was now 100 m (E–W) × 150 m (N–S) in plan built with stone columns specially cut from the mountain of Ahwaz, and its prayer hall was 16.2 m high with riwaqs surrounding the other three sides of the courtyard (Tabari, 4/46). These were the earliest examples of Umayyad attempts at the symbolic expression of the presence of Islam in a visually perceptible form. The only extant building of the period, the Dome of the Rock, which is ‘in all probability the first Islamic