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Jerusalem and Islam

I want you to be a Kaaba for the people of the earth,
A spacious house
Without guards;
I love you ... a voice from a minaret,
The sound of horns
Mingled with church bells.
I love you, a jasmine in the open air.
From the poem "To Jerusalem"
by Yusuf Hamdan

Ruling the city for over one thousand years, the Muslims have also had a very strong spiritual attachment to the city, revering it as the "Furthest Shrine" from which the Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven. Jerusalem is the site of the holiest Muslim shrine, The Dome of the Rock. In prayer, worshippers first turned to it before they turned to Mecca. Yet, despite this fact, the city was never considered a Muslim capital, having been ruled from the distant cities of Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, and Constantinople.