Mosque of Omar / Dome of the Rock located in Jerusalem is the subject of our selected notes tonight.

The Dome of the Rock, Mosque of Omar(Umar) or the Temple Mount appears of several currencies, Iraqi, Iranian, and Saudi Arabian. It was built between 687 and 691. Located in what Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary which Jews and Christians call the Temple Mount — it remains one of the best known landmarks of Jerusalem. The rock in the center of the dome is believed by Muslims to be the spot from which Muhammad ascended through the heavens to God accompanied by the angel Gabriel, where he consulted with Moses and was given the (now obligatory) Islamic prayers before returning to earth. Though the location is not historically certain, a Qur'anic verse says that Muhammad took a night journey on a winged horse from a sacred mosque (probably Mecca) to the farthest mosque (al-Masjid al-Aqsa), which later came to be associated with Jerusalem. Since Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Qur'an, many neutral historians point to the concept that the caliph decided on the location of the mosque, which started out as a tiny wooden shrine, to show what he perceived to be Islam's superiority over Judaism. Building a shrine on top of Judaism's holiest site - the Temple Mount - would seem to point to the caliph's belief in this idea, although many, if not most Muslims, disagree on the grounds of their religious traditions in the ensuing centuries.

Jews and Christians believe this to be the site where Abraham almost sacrificed his son Isaac. However, Muslims believe that this event occurred in Mecca where millions of muslims offer pilgrimage every year and that it was Abraham's elder son Ishmael and not Isaac who was offered for sacrifice. There is some controversy among secular scholars about equating Mount Moriah (where Isaac's binding occurred according to the Biblical narrative), the Temple Mount and the location where Jacob saw the ladder to heaven; but for orthodox Jews at least, there is no doubt that all these events occurred on this spot. Other, extra-Biblical Jewish traditions say it is the spot where the first stone was laid in the building of the world.

Iraqi 250 Dinar (Back)

Iranian 1000 Rials (Back)

Saudi Arabian 50 Riyals (Front)