Jerusalem's Importance in Early Islam

            By 661, Muḥammad's dream of a unified Islamic kingdom was beset with internal schisms. Two branches of Islam were created (Sunni and Shi^˓a) and they were at odds with eachother. The last of the four Rightly Guided Caliphs, ^˓Ali, whom the Shi^˓a believe should have been Muḥammad's first successor, was murdered. A new Caliph, Mu^˓awiyya^[25] ruled the Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus, a dynasty that would last from 661–750.

            In Medina, ^˓Ali's son Husayn received word (according to Shi^˓a tradition) that he would be next in line to assume the Caliphate. When he arrived in Karbala (near Baghdad) in 680, he discovered that Mu^˓awiyya was already dead and he had appointed his son, Yazid as his successor. Husayn was subsequently killed in what has become the most defining moment in Shi^˓a history. By 685, there was open revolt. The roots of these disputes exist to today—and those roots began with the death of Muḥammad in 632. It is within this context that the Umayyad Caliph, Abd al-Malik commissioned the building of the Qubbat al-Sakhra in Jerusalem during the late 7th century.