How Medieval Christians Coped with the Islamic Past of the Templum Domini (the Dome of the Rock) and Read 'Abd al-Malik’s Inscription

After the Crusader conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, the Dome of the Rock, commissioned by 'Abd al-Malik around 72 H (691/2 AD), became known in Latin writings as the Templum Domini (the Temple of the Lord). Several medieval authors who dealt with the Crusades and pilgrimage to the Holy Land identified the building as the ancient Jewish Temple built by Solomon, others as a Christian church, while a few recognized it as a shrine built by a Muslim prince of Egypt or the Caliph 'Umar ibn al-Khattab. This last group of texts base their reconstruction on the Arabic inscription found in the Dome of the Rock, which proclaims the tenants of Islam and reports the name of its patron. This paper will deal with this last group of sources in particular, pointing out how they preserved the memory of early Christian and Jewish reactions to the construction of the Dome of the Rock and how it was revived in the eschatological scenario that emerged during the Crusader conquest of Jerusalem.