Al-Walid also has had mosques built at Medina and Jerusalem (the al-Aqsa Mosque, rebuilt on a larger scale); these are to become famous examples of Umayyad architecture.

The mihrab, a prayer niche in the qiblah wall (that facing Mecca) of a mosque; of variable size but usually ornately decorated, originates in the reign of al-Walid.

The structure is an adaptation of the prayer niches common to the oratories of Coptic Christian monks.

When compared to the first Muslim buildings of Iraq and Egypt, the monuments of al-Walid at Damascus, Medina, and Jerusalem are characterized by the growing complexity of their forms, by the appearance of uniquely Muslim symbolic and functional features, and by the quality of their construction.

A first and essential component of al-Walid's mosques is their imperial character; they are to symbolize the permanent establishment of the new faith and of the state that derived from it.

John Damascene, who had succeeded his father to high office as a treasury official under the Muslim caliph, in around 715 enters the monastery of Saint Sabas (Mar Saba) near Jerusalem, where he studies theology, eventually to receive ordination as a priest.