Abd Al-M?lik Ibn M?rwan°
ABD AL-M?LIK IBN M?RWAN°
ABD AL-M?LIK IBN M?RWAN ° (ruled 685–705), *Umayyad caliph who restored the unity of the young Arab Empire after years of civil wars. ?Abd al-M?lik built the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aq?? Mosque in the Temple area in Jerusalem. The building of the Dome was an act of propaganda for the Muslim faith, partly directed against the still strong Christian community, as is proved by the inscriptions inside the Dome. The restoration of the Temple site to a state of splendor impressed mystically inclined Jewish circles. There is no information about the general situation of the Jews under ?Abd al-M?lik's rule. According to the majority of sources the armed rising of the Jewish pseudo-messiah Ab? ?Is? of Isfahan was suppressed during his reign. The Jew Sumayr was master of the mint in Iraq during the monetary reforms of ?Abd al-M?lik.
bibliography:
S.D. Goitein, Studies in Islamic History and Institutions (1966), 135–48; idem, in: Zion, 1 (1935), 80–81; Hirschberg, in: Rocznik Orientalistyczny, 17 (1951–52), 314–50. add. bibliography: eis2, 1 (1960), 70–71, bibl.
[Shelomo Dov Goitein]