Lecture 14

After Byzantine Jerusalem we began with Islamic Jerusalem, which went from 638-1088 CE.  At this time in Jerusalem's history we see several groups of people fighting for power.  One of the stronger groups, called the Sasanians (Iranians), had power in the East while the Romans had power in the West.  Although Hadrian had exiled the Jews from Jerusalem again, the Iranians allowed them to come back.  In this time period we see that Muhammad began to have a strong influence over many people.  Because he didn't leave an heir, however, the Caliphs took over this Islamic Jerusalem.

The struggle over control became very strong between Ali and Mu'awiya lead to the formation of two prominent group: the Sunnis and the Shi'ites.  With this formation we also saw shifts in the religious preferences the people had.  The different monumental aspects of belief for the Jews began to change.  For example, the importance of jerusalem began to dwindle as people started to pray towards Mecca.  Now, we see Mecca become like Jerusalem in that it begins to gravitate stories and legends.  They use the thought that the stone in the Kaaba came from space, thus being an attempt to "connect" heaven and earth for the minds of those people.

In this lecture we also covered the five pillars of islam.  Here are notes for that:
1. Shahada: Only god is Allah and only prophet of this god is Muhammad
2. Zakat: give to those in need
3. Sawm: fast in the 1st month of Ramadan
4. Salat: pray everyday 5 times towards mecca
5. Hajj: Make a pilgrimage to mecca

With this pilgrimage to mecca we see several accommodations because the trek is very long.  People would decorate their houses to show to others that they were making the journey.  Also, more importantly, Abd-al Malik made a different site for the pilgrimage, which is now called the dome of the rock.  This was at the postulated place of the temple.  The dome is a big octagonal building with no graven images, as established by the jews and their coins.  The architects of this building were Christians, so the structure of it resembles christian work.