1: Temple Mount al- Sharif Jerusalem
CAUTION: There are 3 different books with the same title by the same authors, but with different re-write contents in different years. All discuss the "Dome of the Rock" or the "Al-Haram al-Sharif" hilltop in Jerusalem. [Atop this rock is where Jews believe their now-destroyed Second Temple was located; where Christians await the building of the Third Temple to enhance the return of Jesus; and is from where the Muslim Prophet Mohammad ascended into Heaven to talk with Allah before returning upon his flying-horse al-Buraq to Medina.] #1 (Sept. 1996): "The Dome of the Rock" by Said Nuseibeh AND Oleg Grabar. [Nuseibeh was the photographer, translator and writer, with co-author Grabar adding valuable commentary regarding the architecture of the dome.] It is the large "coffee table" size: 9.6"x12", hardback with 175 pages; Rizzoli publisher; {ISBN-10: 08-47819426} $60 new, $35 used. This book provides countless photographs of every ornately tiled wall and crook-and-cranny niche within this octagon-shaped building, and is the first one that I have seen that translates the extensive Arabic inscriptions contained inside the dome. How should Christians view this inscription in the Dome: "So believe in God and all the messengers, And stop talking about a Trinity. Cease in your own best interests! Verily God is the God of unity. Lord Almighty! That God would beget a child? Either in the Heavens or on the Earth?" (p.107) [Muslims don't believe in the concept of the Christian "Holy Trinity"; and maintain that while Jesus was actually a MUSLIM prophet, he was not the "son" of God and therefore not divine.] Also, this is the only book I've found that has a very detailed bird's-eye view of the top of the entire Haram al-Sharif complex, and depicts where about 65 different shrines, stairs, gates, and domes are located. #2 (Jan. 1997): "Le Dome du Rocher" by Said Nuseibeh and Oleg Grabar; hardback same as #1 but in French. #3 (Oct. 2006): "The Dome of the Rock" by only Oleg Grabar. It is medium-size: 6"x8", hardback with 234 pages; specialty Belknop Press of Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass.; printed in Canada; {ISBN-10: 0-674-02313-7} $25 new; $13 used. This is NOT a smaller reprint of #1; it is a totally different re-write! It has perhaps only 5% of the photographs contained in #1, but does provide several new site maps along with new analysis. #4 (Aug. 1985): "Dome of the Rock" (in 'Wonders of Man' series) by Jerry Landay; 160 pgs; Newsweek Books {ISBN-10: 0882250183 or 088225019-1}. As related items you should review: (a) "Secrets of Jerusalem's Temple Mount" by Leen Ritmeyer {ISBN-10:188-031-752-4}; a study of the architectural history of the building of various temples atop the Temple Mount; and (b) "The End of Days" by Gershom Gorenberg {ISBN-10: 0-684-87179-3}; an analysis of the religious and political struggles between Jews, Christians and Muslims for control of the Temple Mount to accelerate the much-anticipated coming of the calamitous hells-a-poppin "End of Times."
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