The Eschatological Meaning of the Templum Domini (The Dome of the Rock) in Jerusalem

A chapter of the Gesta Tancredi in expeditione Hierosolymitana, written between 1112 and 1118 by Ralph of Caen, is devoted to the discovery and destruction of an idol of the Prophet Muhammad placed inside the Templum Domini in Jerusalem. This was the name given by the Crusaders to the Dome of the Rock, the shrine built by the Umayyad Caliph 'Abd al- Malik ibn Marwan (685-705/65-86) on the area once occupied by the Jewish Temple. The analysis of the text will infer that the statue described by Ralph, rather than a representation of the Prophet of Islam as the god of the Saracens, is that of the Antichrist, who was identified as Muhammad and located in the Dome of the Rock because of the eschatological meaning of the shrine. Indeed, it will be shown that some Crusader texts, until now overlooked in reference to this aspect, recognized the Dome of the Rock as the Temple of Solomon rebuilt by the Antichrist according to the events expected to occur in Jerusalem before the end of time. This tradition will be related to Christian and Jewish reactions to the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem in 637 and to the interpretation of the figure of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (r. 634-644/13-23).