Reasons for Building the Dome of the Rock by Abdul Malik bin Marwan

The Dome of the Rock is one of the oldest surviving historical monuments from the Umayyad period, which was built in 66 AH by the order of Abdul Malik bin Marwan (d. 86 AH). It is known that Abdul Malik's main purpose in building the dome on the honorable Rock was to prevent the people of Syria and Egypt from contacting Abdullah Ibn Zubayr, who ruled in Mecca and called on the people to pledge to him. The present study shows that Abdul Malik had other motives for building the Dome of the Rock, in addition to the mentioned reason; These include: capturing the hearts of the Jews of the Sham, countering the civilization-cultural supremacy of the Christian Romans, keeping alive the event of the Prophet's ascension, protecting the rock from climate change, and commemorating a trace of his reign. This article seeks to examine the reasons and motives of Abdul Malik for building the Dome of the Rock with a descriptive-analytical approach and criticizes them.