Abd al-Malik (Umayyad)

Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan became the fifth Umayyad caliph in 685, during a civil war, and ruled from Damascus until 705. His great monument is the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, whose mosaic inscription dates it to the year 72 of the Muslim calendar, 691/692. The domed octagon was built over the bedrock known in Jewish tradition as the Even HaShetiyah, the Foundation Stone. On the same platform had stood the First and Second Temples, and Islamic tradition links the site to Muhammad's Night Journey. The project was overseen by Raja ibn Haywa and Yazid ibn Salam.

Abd al-Malik also made Arabic the language of government and issued the first purely Islamic coins, without images. His son al-Walid I is generally credited with the al-Aqsa Mosque at the southern end of the Mount. The Dome of the Rock is the oldest surviving major Islamic building, and it has shaped Jerusalem's skyline ever since.