Dome of...on...in(?) the Rock

Just kidding friends, I know it's Dome OF the Rock, but every time I say the name I manage to use a new preposition. 'Of' is a preposition, right? Of the box? Yep. Preposition.

Last week, in between classes, friends and I hiked up the temple mount. The Dome of the Rock has weird hours due to the six times a day the place is preoccupied with prayers. So on Sat-Thurs the temple mount is open for a couple of hours in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. In any case there are lots of special rules about the area. You have to have sleeves that come to your wrists and long skirts and there is no touching ever. Ever. Even if you are just young, heterosexual girls that want a cute picture to put on refrigerators or magnets. There is no touching.



So we walked around and took lots of kewl pictures of the al-Asqa mosque and the Dome of the Rock and ogled at the brilliant and intricate tile adorning the outside like the good tourists we are. Then we spent a good five minutes considering all the ways we could actually get inside the mosque (ie bribing the guard, befriending a muslim, playing dress up) but ultimately decided that would be a bad idea and fairly irreverent. Also, I’m not sure I want to in any case. Imma use my imagination.


There are two theories as to what the rock of the Dome of the Rock is. Supposedly it is the rock on which Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac or else where the Prophet Mohammad was taken up into heaven. The actual rock is beneath the mosque and the Jews refer to it as the creation rock meaning Adam was created. It's the site of the past and future temples because it is where heaven and earth meet.