Dome of the Chain
[2] It was built by the Umayyads, became a Christian chapel under the Crusaders, was restored as an Islamic prayer house by the Ayyubids, and has been renovated by the Mamluks, Ottomans and the Jordanian-based waqf.
[3] However, examination undertaken in 1975–76 under the later pavement showed that the structure has not been altered since its construction, contradicting early descriptions.
[1] The Dome of the Chain is counted among the most ancient buildings standing on the Al Aqsa Mosque enclave and was built by the Umayyads.
He wrote that it was built in 691/2 by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik, the builder of the Dome of the Rock, a fact widely accepted.
[1][2] Extensive restoration works in the 1970s have shown that the building has kept its general appearance since first being built, with the exception of six now blocked rounded-arch windows in the hexagonal drum supporting the dome.
[4][1] When the Crusaders invaded the Levant in 1099, they identified the dome as the spot where Saint James the Less, whom they saw as the brother of Jesus, fell when he was thrown down from the Temple, and transformed the building into a chapel dedicated to him next to the Templum Domini.
[1] The tradition connecting the Dome with King David and his court of justice is strictly Islamic, and all its sources date to the Early Muslim period.
[5] 3 Muslim sources, from Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi in 913, to Nāsir-i Khosro in 1047, to 'Ali of Herat in 1173, connect the Dome with a chain from the time of either the "Children of Israel", David, or Solomon, where justice was administered.
According to Mujir ad-Din (15th century), the Dome of the Chain owes its name to an ancient legend connecting it to King Solomon.
[3] Mujir ad-Din offers an explanation to why the chain is no more there: A man refused to return 100 golden dinars to the rightful owner.
After giving back the stick to the liar, the money's owner swore that the gold had not been returned to him, while also holding the chain.
[3] Much earlier than Mujir ad-Din, Wahb ibn Munabbih (d. 725–37), a transmitter of Israʼiliyyat and probable convert from Judaism, offers a drier explanation, writing that the chain was withdrawn still during David's lifetime and would return at the End of Days.
[5] According to al-Wasiti, one tradition identifies this location as the place where Muhammad, on his night journey to Jerusalem, met the black eyed maidens of Paradise (hur al-'ayn).
The Dome stands exactly at the geometric centre of the esplanade which houses the al-Aqsa compound, the Haram, at the spot where the two central axes meet.
[2][4] The central axes connect the centres of the opposing sides, and the Dome is also perfectly aligned on the long (approximately north-south) axis with what is presumed to be the oldest mihrab of the al-Aqsa Mosque.
[4] According to these considerations, the Dome of the Chain is located at the omphalos, or navel, of the Al Aqsa Mosque, and indeed of the Earth as a whole –surrat al-arḍ in Arabic.
[8] The pledge of the oath of allegiance would have secured them as being the rightful divine leaders of Davidic justice, emphasized by the religious significance of the location.
The tradition of David's chain is rooted strictly in Islamic sources from the Early Muslim period, a fact suggesting that it was intentionally created to support Umayyad attempts at legitimising their rule.
[2] Myriam Rosen-Ayalon was the first to notice its location in the center of the complex, and theorized that it might be connected to the original Jewish Temple or traditions surrounding it.
Thought by tradition to mark a place of holy judgment, it is speculated in Muslim sources to have been used in Umayyad times as a treasury, or a model for the construction of the Dome of the Rock.
[12] Ahmad al-Wasiti, writing around 1019, lists among the buildings standing in the Haram grounds the Dome of the Chain and the Treasury, therefore drawing a clear distinction between the two.
