The Mosque of Omar built upon the Site of the Temple (litho)

The Mosque of Omar built upon the Site of the Temple. After Mecca and Medina, Jerusalem was revered by the Mohammedans as the temple of the Holy Land, and in AD 636 Abu Obeidah attempted to gain possession of it. The Patriarch Sophronius capitulated after a siege of four months on condition that the articles of the treaty should be ratified by the authority and presence of the Caliph. Omar, who treated the inhabitants with courtesy, returned to Mecca, but ordered a mosque to be built on the site of the Temple of Solomon. The Mosque, according to an Arabic (Cufic) inscription in the interior, was erected in AD 692, probably by the Caliph Abdul Malik. It was restored in AD 913. Illustration for Hutchinson's History of the Nations (Hutchinson, c.1920). Note: Image has been digitally enhanced to facilitate repro.