The Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik completed the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem in 691 CE, making it the oldest surviving Islamic monument. Built on the Temple Mount atop the site of the Second Jewish Temple, this shrine with its golden dome and intricate mosaics became a central symbol of Islamic faith and political power. Its construction established Jerusalem as a holy city for Islam alongside Judaism and Christianity.

The Dome of the Rock is a recurring image in Islamic poetry, from the devotional verse of the medieval period to the modern Palestinian poetry of Mahmoud Darwish. In Western poetry, it has often been invoked in poems about Jerusalem's sacred geography, appearing in works by William Blake, Lord Byron, and countless pilgrim narratives.