The shrine as it now stands constitutes a most precious and remarkable record of history and of human effort. In it is to be found the handiwork not only of many generations of men but also of many races; of Greeks and Armenians, of Arabs, Persians and Turks, and even of Franks.
The present purpose is not, however, to describe but to direct attention. Those who desire a fuller knowledge will refer to the many already published descriptions of this famous shrine, and, above all, will examine the shrine itself.
There are in Palestine no other monuments of the Omayyad period; for, though the Mosque of al-Aqsa was founded by ʾAbd al-Melek ibn Marwan, yet it has been so altered as to bear but little relationship to the mosque he built. Nor are there in Palestine any architectural remains to reflect the splendid days of the earlier ʾAbbasid Khalifs. Towards the end of the ninth century these Khalifs ceased to possess any real power in Palestine. The power passed successively to the Tulunid, Ikhshidid and Fatimite dynasties of Egypt. Nothing is left of their works. To the inroads of the Karmathians in the tenth century, of the savage Turkomans towards the end of the eleventh century and to the Crusades is no doubt largely due the destruction of the Tulunid, Ikhshidid and Fatimite work. It is not until after the Battle of Hattin in 1187 (cf. Part I., § 5), the capture by Saladin of Jerusalem from the Crusaders and the loss by the Crusaders of all the hill-country and the Jordan valley, that we again find examples of Moslem architecture. In respect of Moslem architecture in Palestine there is, then, a blank period of five hundred years between the Dome of the Rock (687 A.D.) and the next Moslem architectural work that has survived in Palestine (1187).
Saladin's first task was to undo much that the Crusaders had done. The Dome of the Rock, which they had turned into a church, he restored to its former use. He did the same for the Aqsa Mosque. The existing mihrab (prayer niche) of that mosque is his work. An inscription above
