This is the oldest Muslim building which has survived basically intact in its original form. It was built by the Caliph Abd al-Malik and completed in 691 CE. The building encloses a huge rock located at its center, from which, according to tradition, the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven at the end of his Night Journey. In the Jewish tradition this is the Foundation Stone, the symbolic foundation upon which the world was created, and the place of the Binding of Isaac. The Caliph Omar is said to have cleared the waste which had accumulated on the rock during the Byzantine period. The structure is octagonal and the dome is borne by a double system of pillars and columns. The walls, ceiling, arches, and vaults are decorated with floral images. The dome, on the inside, is covered with colored and gilded stucco. Abd al-Malik marked the end of the construction with a dedicatory inscription (still visible) which reads: "This dome was built by the servant of God Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwan, emir of the faithful, in the year seventy-two" (Hejira 72 in the Muslim calendar is691/692 CE). Under the Abassid ruler, Caliph al-Mamun (r. 813-833), repairs were carried out, and the caliph also seized the occasion to replace the tiles bearing al-Malik's name with others bearing his own name as the building's founder. However, since he failed to replace the tiles bearing the original date, the ruse was easily discovered. 
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