Evidence Library / Dome of the Rock
The Dome of the Rock Inscriptions (72 AH / 691–692 CE)
A monumental Kufic inscription band, roughly 240 meters long, running around the interior and exterior arcades of the Dome of the Rock: the earliest securely dated substantial body of Qur'anic-related text.
The interior and exterior faces of the octagonal arcade inside the Dome of the Rock carry a continuous Kufic inscription of roughly 240 meters, commissioned under the caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan and dated by an internal foundation text to 72 AH (691–692 CE).
Content
The inscription combines the shahada, blessings on Muhammad, and several passages paraphrasing or closely echoing Qur'anic material, most notably material corresponding to Surah 19 (Maryam), verses 33–35, and Surah 112 (al-Ikhlas), framed as an explicit rejection of the divine sonship of Jesus.
Why it matters
As a physically fixed, internally dated text from the first Islamic century, the inscription is treated by historians as an important independent data point for the state of Qur'anic material in circulation by 692 CE. See the companion paper, The Dome of the Rock Inscriptions and Early Islamic Identity, for a full discussion of what this evidence supports and where scholarly interpretation of it diverges.
Bibliography
- Grabar, Oleg. "The Umayyad Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem." Ars Orientalis 3 (1959): 33–62.
- Kessler, Christel. "‘Abd al-Malik’s Inscription in the Dome of the Rock: A Reconsideration." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 102, no. 1 (1970): 2–14.