free-mind salaam, why was the dome of the rock built? Rajah It was Calif ?Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan who built the Dome of the Rock around 691 A.D. i.e 53-72 years after Hijrah. And Masjidu?l Aqsa was built on the Temple Mount by the end of the 7th century. This is reported in The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, Harper & Row, 1989, p. 46 and 102. So why did Muslims waited 72 years after death of prophet to move towards Jerusalem? What was the reason of a conflict between Malik and Abdullah b. al-Zubayr? Was it religous over Kabah or was it politically motivated? The first inscription on the outside dome of rock is meant for all Muslims and the inner inscription is written for Christians ALONE. Jews are not even considered in the context of the inner (or even the outer) inscription. The analysis of these two inscriptions shows that Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock t o satisfy Christian religious matters and it shows that the Dome of the Rock HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH JEWISH MATTERS WHATEVER! This clearly indicates this transfer of Hajj or Kabbah was nothing religous but politics! In actual fact, Omar (the Second Caliph and the first Muslim leader to enter Jerusalem) and Abd al-Malik about 50 years later actually honored the real site of the Jewish Temple that were shown to them on the southeast ridge and over the Gihon Spring (that is the very thing that Omar came to Jerusalem to accomplish) but these early Muslim leaders did NOT show the same type of reverence to the Rock now under the Dome of the Rock. The Dome was built by Muslims to wean Christians from the site, NOT to make it a more sanctified spot in Islam nor did the building of the Dome of the Rock have anything to do with Jewish religious matters or aspirations. Indeed, the "rock" underneath the Dome of the Rock was specifically and significantly of Christian importance and that the Jews up to the time of the Crusades showed no interest whatever in this former Christian spot that Abd al-Malik rebuilt as a Christian type of building (with its characteristic Byzantine dome) in order to wean Christians (who comprised at least 90% of the population of Jerusalem in the seventh century) from New Testament teachings and to win them over to the doctrines then being taught by Islam in and through the Koran. for any comments on this please post it in the thread "What Edip is trying to tell Us?" that will keep us focused on one thread for same topic.