Jordan in the Islamic era : the rock dome

JRT00022

Note

Jordan in the Islamic era : the rock dome

Collection title

The Jordanian television

JRT00022

Source

JRTV (JO)

First broadcast date

1992

Production year

1992

Abstract

The program is about one of the most important islamic monuments, the Rock Dome and El Aqsa mosque. It explains the event of "el isra wal miraj"; (when the Prophet Mohamed " P.B.U.H" was transported by angels from the Arabic Peninsula to Palestine). It also shows the importance of El Aqsa mosque as the first "Kibla"(direction towards which muslims pray), as well as the architecture that characterizes the mosque and the Rock Dome. In the centre of this mosque is the sacred rock which was wrongly believed to be suspended between the sky and the Earth. At the bottom of the rock is a cave with a prayer niche called the prophets' chapel. It is surrounded by a wooden fence renovated by Sultan Nacer Mohammed Bin Qalawun in 725 (Hegire). The place nearby is surrounded by four pillars of stone coated with marble tiles, among which are twelve marble columns holding sixteen archways on top of which is the dome.

Type

video

Production companies

the Jordanian television - Own production

Broadcaster

JRTV - Jordan Television

Audiovisual form

Documentary

Primary theme

Arab and muslim worlds

Secondary themes

Tourism and cultural sites / Architecture
Tourism and cultural sites / Archaeological sites
Tourism and cultural sites / Tourist sites
Society and way of life / Religious Practices

Credits / Cast

Toufan Fawaz - Author of original work
Toufan Fawaz - Speaker
AL Kardi Innad - Director

Period of events

From 500 to 1000

Map locations

Palestine - West bank - The Rock Dome

Original language

English

Media running time

22m4

Additional information

Inside and outside El Aqsa mosque - the stone dome - architecture - film in english Archive photos of El Qods 1964

Context

Islamic history in Jordan – The Temple Mount

Norig Neveu

Made in 1992, this episode in a documentary series about Islamic history in Jordan focuses on two major sites of Islamic history in Jerusalem: the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque. These monuments, located on the Haram al-Sharif, the Temple Mount, were built in the late 7^th century at the command of the Umayyad caliph, Abd al-Malik and his son al-Walid I. They have been renovated and rebuilt many times over the centuries.

These monuments, and in particular the al-Aqsa Mosque, were built on the site from which, according to Sura al-'Isra' (Qur'an, XVII, 1), the Prophet Muhammad was transported during his night journey between Mecca and Jerusalem. It is from here too that Muhammad performed the Mi'raj, the ascent into Paradise accompanied by the angel Gabriel. The Haram al-Sharif is considered as the first qibla (direction of prayer) and the third holiest site in Islam. It is thus of major symbolic importance in Islamic tradition.

The site is also important in Jordanian Islamic history: indeed, between 1948 and 1967, Jordan annexed the West Bank and East Jerusalem – including its holy sites. The maintenance and management of the Temple Mount became the Hashemite monarchy's responsibility. King Adullah I used this to give his family political legitimacy, relying on his status as sharif, descendant of the Prophet.

The first renovation of the site took place in 1922, when Abdullah was Emir of Transjordan, and was to strengthen the mosque's foundations. In 1954, King Hussein, Abdullah's grandson, set up a committee to renovate both the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque. The committee decided to renovate both the interior and exterior exactly has they had been. Between 1952 and 1964 the dome was also renovated. Even after 1967 Hashemite renovations did not stop since, by statute, the maintenance of these holy places was still Jordan's responsibility (Katz, 2003). In 2009, a minbar (the pulpit where the imam preaches his sermon), made at the Balqa University of Islamic Art (Jordan), was installed in the al-Aqsa Mosque. It is an exact replica of Saladin's minbar, burned in 1969 in a fire started by an Australian Christian Zionist extremist.

The Haram al-Sharif plays a key role in constructing a national history for Jordan. The Hashemite dynasty tries to create a strong historical link with Jerusalem and continues to claim supremacy over the city's holy places. However, since 1967, despite continuing interest in Jerusalem, the development of Islamic topography has refocused on national shrines.

Bibliography:

Julian Raby et Jeremy Johns, Bayt al-Maqdis: ‘Abd al-Malik’s Jerusalem, Première partie, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1992

Kimberly Katz, Jordanian Jerusalem: holy places and national spaces, Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 2005.

Kimberly Katz, «Building Jordan Legitimacy: Renovating Jerusalem Holy Places», in The Muslim World, vol. 93, Issue 2, Avril 2003, pp. 211-232.

Oleg Grabar, Le Dôme du Rocher : joyau de Jérusalem, Paris, Albin Michel, 1997