Capitalizing Jerusalem addresses a major lacuna in the monumental history of Early Islamic Jerusalem during the period of Mu’awiyah—the first Sufyanid Umayyad caliph (660-680)—who was in the region since the conquest in 637. This period has largely been ignored due to a perceived lack of surviving significant historical and archaeological documentary evidence from the Umayyad period. As a result, the history of Jerusalem relied on Abbasid and later evidence projecting backward to the Marwanid Umayyad period of ‘Abd al-Malik. This version of history was tainted by political bias against the Umayyads and focused on eradicating the memory of Mu’awiya. This volume looks at new archaeological and textual evidence and interpretations to shed light on this period. Mu’awiya’s political and monumental achievements in the regions of the Early Islamic Conquest testify to strong political agency in the region of Bilad al-Sham, economic success and the means and will to develop the region monumentally. His exercise of political control over and ownership and development of agricultural estates in his homeland region and supporting monument development in his ancestral land of Arabia, demonstrate the imperial power of the new Umayyad dynasty and set the stage for his development of Jerusalem as an imperial capital of the Sufyanids in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, where he was invested as Amir al-Mu’minin or Commander of the Faithful or Believers in his mosque in 660/661, his monumental development included rebuilding the walls that supported the destroyed Herodian platform, establishing the limits of Islamic Beit al-Maqdis on the footprint of the Temple Mount; construction and re-construction of the gates of entry to the sacred precinct; building his mosque in the southeast corner, planning and building the Dome of the Rock and the platform on which it sits; and at least initiating construction of the administrative district south of the precinct; and establishing new neighborhoods in that same area for Muslims and returning Jews from Tiberias to the city. His monumental construction in Jerusalem references the monumental language of the former Byzantine Palaestina Prima (capital at Caesarea) and Palaestina Secunda and its capital at Scythopolis, Persian Sasanian controlled areas of Iraq and Iran, and of and pre-Islamic central region of Mecca and Medina in Arabia and further south in Sabeo- Himyaritic Yemen. The result was a magnificent blending of cultural, political and religious traditions as can still be seen today in the Early Islamic monuments of Jerusalem.

Chapter 1 revises the epoch of Mu‘āwiya–the first Umayyad ruler–and his vision of Jerusalem as imperial Umayyad capital. Mu‘āwiya’s history is re-evaluated within newly defined parameters of current textual analysis. The primary focus is allowing the monuments themselves to speak their history and messaging within the context of complete access of author Isam Awwad to the monuments over multiple decades and new availability of archival sources.

Chapter 2 first explores Mu‘āwiya’s life and achievements in Arabia as scribe of the Prophet, monument builder and landowner prior to his departure for Greater Syria with the caliphal army in 634. Second, his later achievements after becoming governor of Syria and later Umayyad Commander of Believers include establishing an infrastructure of state and monumental construction in both Greater Syria, Arabia and South Arabia demonstrating the strength of his political administrative skills in unifying the empire and his major focus on architectural development throughout early Umayyad domains.

Chapter 3 concentrates on Mu‘āwiya’s establishing Jerusalem as a royal Umayyad center after its surrender in April 637. As governor after 638, he actively rebuilt the walls of the older destroyed Herodian sanctuary establishing the perimeter of the new Umayyad precinct over the older sanctuary and rebuilt old gates and created new ones. He first cleared by 638 the southeastern corner of debris for the construction of his new mosque and by 660 had cleared the central part of the sanctuary for construction of the Dome of the Chain–his royal audience pavilion–and the Dome of the Rock.

Chapter 4 locates Mu’āwiya’s mosque in what was considered Solomon’s Stables or the Old Mosque and today is the Marwani Musalla or prayer space. This mosque described by most scholars as the first mosque of Jerusalem is dated between 638-660 and the site of his accession as Commander of Believers. One major consequence of the very plain mosque’s survival is that it displaces the Dome of the Rock as the oldest surviving Islamic monument.

Chapter 5 revisits the time of construction and the function of the Dome of the Chain or Qubbat al-Silsila. By 660, the Dome of the Chain was under construction on the highest point of the sanctuary. Explored in this chapter are its links to the Battle of Salasil or the Battle of Chains and its newly determined function as Mu‘āwiya’s royal audience pavilion.

Chapters 6 focuses on a major revision of the dating, patronage and history of the Dome of the Rock and attributes the monument’s planning and construction by 660 to Mu‘āwiya who perhaps left it incomplete at his death in 680. Newly available archival sources reveal the Dome’s original siting on bedrock with no upper platform, without buttresses and porches and fully reveted in jewel-like mosaic above marble paneling. Connections to Byzantium, Persia and Yemen are explored as well as Biblical, Qur’anic and Zoroastrian linkages with the monument thus positing links to the monotheistic faiths to the Dome. The crowns of the interior mosaic décor reflect the unification of earlier Byzantine, Sasanian and pre-Islamic Arabia under Umayyad dominion in Jerusalem. This is reflected in the physical embodiment of this royal mosaic embellished Umayyad monument as both a bejewelled diadem or crown and as a pre-Islamic South Arabian royal sanctuary or palace of the ruler called a miḥrāb.

Chapter 7 focuses on the selective use of locally sourced spolia or ruins from recognizable Herodian and Christian buildings with clear intentional messaging. The patron Mu‘āwiya and his planners’ conscious selection of period spolia for prominent display in the new Umayyad monuments of Jerusalem demonstrates historic awareness invoking a message of egalitarianism with Judaism and Christianity proclaiming that message visually to a multicultural and multi-religious population in Jerusalem.

Chapter 8 concentrates on the initial construction of the foundations of the Umayyad administrative district immediately south of the sanctuary and west of Mu‘āwiya’s initial modest palace directly south of his mosque. All construction above the foundations dates from later Umayyad rulers but proves that Mu‘āwiya intended Jerusalem as the capital of the early Umayyad Empire and was keen to create the monuments of an administrative capital.