Qu'ranic Inscriptions in the Dome of the Rock

    The Dome of the Rock, one of the most studied Islamic monuments and one of the most notable monuments in all of Jerusalem for its significance to Jews and Muslims alike, was first built (as outlined in One City, Three Faiths) by Caliph Abd al-Malik and completed in 691; "by restoring the Temple Mount and erecting the first Islamic building there, Muslims expressed their conviction that their new faith was rooted in the sanctity of the older traditions" (Armstrong 236). The construction of the Dome itself was supposedly motivated by the Islamic need to show Jews and Christians that, in a city ruled by holy places and great monuments, Islam had its own grand vision to express (Armstrong 237). As Jews and Christians, under Islam rule, were "protected minorities" (Armstrong 231), there wasn't as much outright force used in asserting Islamic superiority - rather, for al-Malik, propaganda was the name of the game.

    The Dome contains a long line (240 meters!) of Qur'anic inscriptions, both on the outer and inner face of the building, that highlights this goal, some of the earliest recordings of the Qur'an that we know. Scholastic interpretations of these inscriptions have noted that these inscriptions are specifically geared to reject the Holy Trinity, or highlight the significance of Jesus as a prophet in order to undermine the Christian idea that he is the son of God. For example:

In the name of God, the Merciful the Compassionate. There is no god but God. He is One. Praise to God, who has not taken a son and has had no partner in His dominion and has no need of a protector out of weakness; and glorify Him with great glorification. [Q 17:111, complete except the initial “And say”]

This lends credence to the idea that these inscriptions were meant as propaganda against the Christian faith and the idea of the Trinity for the sake of upholding the concept of the Divine Uniqueness and Islam as a whole. However, more recent perspectives, such as one by Lawrence Ness, highlight a different angle: these inscriptions were less anti-Christian than they "might well have been" (Ness). Not only does the Qur'an contains many anti-Christian verses that were outright not used in these inscriptions, but certain verses used, such as Q 4:171-172, "clearly state the status of Jesus according to Islam" (SquareKufic). From there we can extrapolate that the intent was not to alienate members of other faiths wholly but rather to convince them of the superiority of the Islamic faith.

Qur'anic inscription in the inner face of the Dome

The dome of the rock – reading its iconographic project. SquareKufic. (2016, January 26). https://squarekufic.com/2014/09/12/the-dome-of-the-rock-reading-its-iconographic-project/

The dome of the rock – its inscriptions and the religious relations in early Islamic jerusalem. SquareKufic. (2017, April 19). https://squarekufic.com/2016/01/26/the-dome-of-the-rock-its-inscriptions-and-the-religions-in-early-islamic-jerusalem/

L. Nees, Perspective on Early Islamic Art in Jerusalem, Brill, Leiden 2015.