Lecture 15

Todays topic was Islamic Jerusalem.We went over the timeline from 638 to 1918. Today we mostly looked at 638 to 1099. We had Caliph Umar, the Umayyad Dynasty, Abbasids, and Fatimids.When the Byzantine empire fell, the Sasanians took palestine and Jerusalem in 614-628. But in 628, Heraclius, the Byzantine Emperor, took Jerusalem back and allowed Jews to be massacred. Professor added a quick slide about Muhammad and gave a little background on him. He also talked about the first three caliphs, which is when we first see dividing between the Shi'ites and the Sunnies.In 638, Muslim Caliph (delegate or representative) Umar took Jerusalem. He was the second Caliph. He was the most powerful of the early Caliphs. He does not allow Jewish settlement but later allowed them back into the city, causing the Jewish population to grow.Professor then went over some islamic terms for Jerusalem that he thought were important. Aelia, menas the city of the Temple. Bait Maqdis, meaning "house of the holy place", was shortened in the 10th century to al-Quds, meaning "the Holy". Lastly was hte Haram al-Sharif, meaning "the noble sacturary". It was used to describe the temple mount.Some terms that had to do with the architecture were Qibla- which was the direction of prayer. The second was Miharb, meaning the niche pointing the direction of prayer. He wanted us to know what Mihrab was becasue before it was moved to Mecca, it used to be Jerusalem.
Next we looked at the Kaaba in Mecca. When people are praying they all circle around the Kaaba. It is a cube shaped building made from granite. In the eastern corner of it, there is the black stone. As islam rises in the prominance, all of the traditions that were absorbed by Jerusalem are now coming towards the Kaaba. It connects heaven to earth, becasue it was said to be from outter space. It is the second most sacred space in islam. At one point it used to contain alot of idols representing all the arabian tribal Gods, including some for Jesus and Mary. Muslims do not worship the Kaaba, they worship around it.There are five pillars of Islam. 1. Shahada: ther eis no god  but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger 2. Salat: prayer five times a day towards Mecca 3. Zakat: Almsgiving to the needy 4. Sawm: Fasting in the month of Ramadan, in wich the Qu'ran was first revealed 5. Hajj: making pilgrimage to Mecca once in one's lifetime.We went into detail about Hajj. When one goes on Hajj, you paint your door with beautiful colors. It was a sign to people who would try to steal form you when you were away. It was like a triple sin to steel from soneone who was on Hajj.
Next we talked about Umayyad Jerusalem. The Umayyad Dynasty was from 638-750. Caliph Umar build a wooden Mosque and Abd al-Malik builds the Dome of the Rock.We then looked at pictures of Haram al-Sharif, or the "nobel sacturary". We saw pictures of the Southwestrn corner of the temple as well as a sketch of what the whole thing used to look like. The early Islamic Palaces and Administrative buildings began during the reign of Caliph Walid from 705-715. They had fresh water and sewage systems, decorated (with carved adn molded stucco) frescoes as well as floors paved with plagstone and mosaics. It was never completed as inteded, however it was sill used into the early Abbasid period.
We next looked at the Dome of the Rock. Professor explained to us that he was allowed to go in there before 9-11 but now they only let Muslims in. Artist had to be very creative when doing this becasue there was no picuteres allowed. they had to learn to do designs. It was originally known as the Mosque of Omar. It was build by Umayyad Ruler Abd al-Malik.Some of the key dates for the Rock were, 687, its commission, 691, its completion, 1099, the crusaders conquered Jerusalem and converted the dome to a church, and  1187, the dome is restored by Salah ad-Din when he re-conquered Jerusalem.Professor showed us pictures of the Dome, like the cross section, and some of the interior. I was fascinated by how much detail was put into it and how beautiful it was.Since the Dome was based off the church of they holy seplachur, we see many similar qualities. We also see similar qualites in the mosaics on the Umayad Mosque.
The Dome fo the Chain was a place where the final judgment will occur in the "end of days". It is the gemometric center of the Haram esh-Sharif. It is considered to be an Axis Mundi. It had one characteristic. If two men approached it to solbe a point of litigation, only the honest and upright man could take hod of it; the unjust man saw it move out of his reach.We then talked about the Al-Aqsa Mosque. There is a buldge in a wall because it is starting to give way. They are fighting over it in order to see who will fix it. We looked at a couple of pictures of it.It is considered to be the "farthest mosque". It was built between 705 and 715 by Caliph Walid. It was built over the "stables of solomon". There was alot of earthquake damage which cause for it to be rebuilt in 1033. A prayer there is considered to be worth 500 elsewhere.We ran out of time in class so we will finish it next time!