Arab conquest: This illustration from Nizami’s
poem “Khamza” shows Muhammad’s Night Journey (Isra) to Jerusalem,
riding Buraq, his steed with a human face, followed by his
Ascension (Miraj) to converse with Jesus, Moses and Abraham.
(illustration credit
ill.26)
Caliph Abd al-Malik (seen here in one of the
last Islamic coins to show human features) was the real formulator
of Islam and a visionary statesman—yet it was said that his breath
was so vile it could kill flies. In 691 he built the first
surviving Muslim shrine, the Dome of the Rock, inscribed with the
earliest quotations from the Koran. (illustration credit
ill.27)
Abd al-Malik’s Dome (above) affirmed
the supremacy of Islam and his Umayyad empire, challenged
Christianity, outshone the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and
emphasized the Muslims as successors to the Jews by building on the
Rock, the foundation stone of the Jewish Temple
(below).
In 1099, after four hundred years of Islamic
rule, the Crusaders stormed Jerusalem with an orgy of killing. The
city still stank of putrescent flesh six months later. (illustration credit
ill.30)