Thread by @NaqadStudies

The Christological text in the inner octagonal arcade of the Dome of the Rock contains an important passage.

B17-18 (Q3:18) declares God's singularity; B19-22 (Q3.19) contains two terms, dīn and ˀIslām, and a commentary on those who do not follow Allāh's wishes regarding them.

Translated:
"Lo! dīn with Allāh is ˀIslām. Those who received the Book differed only after knowledge came to them, through envy'their own willfulness. Whoever denies the signs of Allāh, behold, Allāh is swift at reckoning."

The cognate root š.l.m. in Hebrew conveys the meaning 'whole, undivided.' The derivative mušlam (lit: made whole) means 'completed, finished' and also 'perfect.'

Lane records for s.l.m. the meanings 'safe, secure, absolutely free from any kind of evil' (i.e., perfect)

Yehuda Nevo suggested that the connotation 'perfect' is a derivation from the earlier meaning of 'whole, undivided,' as it is the cognate Hebrew.

Thus he understood ˀIslām, at this stage of the development of the religious vocabulary, as meaning 'unity' or perhaps 'concord.'

Dīn is usually translated 'religion,' and this is indeed one of its meanings. But it has many others, including 'a system of usages or rites, a mode of conduct' and 'the regulation of affairs' (Lane).

Nevo suggested that this was its meaning here: 'the correct way of behaving.'

Or 'the conduct of affairs' (i.e., of the community), even though the alternative meaning, 'faith' or 'religion,' would also make sense.

Nevo bases this suggestion on the remaining text of the passage, which is obviously intended as explanatory commentary to the first sentence.

For the point it criticizes is the growth of dissension within the community! The idea is that Allāh desires his community to be whole, unified. Those who continue to deny the signs that Allāh desires a unified community, according to the inscription, may expect swift punishment.

A community, of course, is defined in religious terms; but the point of this verse is nonetheless political rather than religious as such.

In the wake of the interregnum and the civil wars (fitnah), ˀAbdh al-Malik is here making a plea for the end to dissension and quarrels.

ˀAbdh al-Malik presents this as t he will of God: Allāh desires his community to be united - to avoid the error of the Christians, forever squabbling among themselves.

"Dīn with Allāh is ˀIslām" thus means "the communal conduct that Allāh desires is concord/unity."

There is much more point to this verse when so read, and a much stronger reason for including it in the Dome of the Rock.

The traditional reading of the first sentence - that "Islam ('surrender') is the religion of Allāh" - makes the rest of the verse a non sequitur.

The Dome of the Rock inscription, then, had several purposes. It called for an end to dissension, and for the population to unite into one community under their caliph, now firmly in control after years of civil war.

As the reason and justification - and framework - for this communal consensus, it presented an official religion: a form of Judeo-Christianity, with particular emphases.

To this end it took issue with, and rejected the tenets of Trinitarian Christianity.

And finally, it set within this framework an element which became the focal point of that religion - the Arab Prophet.

Concerning this prophet, we will write another thread at a later date.

Works cited:
Nevo, Yehuda D.; Koren, Judith (2003). Crossroads to Islam : the origins of the Arab religion and the Arab state.

Lane, Edward W. An Arabic-English Lexicon. 8 vols. London and Edinburgh, 1863-85. Reprinted New York: Ungar, 1955-56. 1:1412ff.