History of Jerusalem during the Early Muslim period

During his rule Muslim prayer was likely established on the Temple Mount and limited numbers of Jews were allowed to reside in the city after a several centuries-long ban by the Romans/Byzantines.

The Umayyads Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) and al-Walid I (r. 705–715) invested considerably in constructing Muslim edifices on the Temple Mount, namely the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque, as well other religious and administrative structures, gates, and roadworks.

Southern Palestine was conquered by the Muslims under the commander Amr ibn al-As following their decisive victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Ajnadayn, likely fought at a site about 25 kilometers (16 mi) south-southwest of Jerusalem, in 634.

The modern historians Fred Donner and Hugh N. Kennedy assess that he came to address multiple administrative matters in the newly conquered province.

[11] Another account, that contained in the histories of al-Ya'qubi (d. 898) and Eutychius of Alexandria (d. 940), holds that a treaty was agreed between the Muslims and Jerusalem's inhabitants, though the terms were largely the same as those cited by al-Baladhuri.

[11] The 10th-century history of al-Tabari, citing the 8th-century historian Sayf ibn Umar, reproduces the capitulation agreement in detail, though parts of it may have been altered from the time it was made.

[14][15] The agreement for Jerusalem was generally favorable for the city's Christian inhabitants, guaranteeing the safety of their persons, their property, and churches, and allowing them the freedom of worship in return for payment of the jizya (poll tax).

Byzantine troops and other residents seeking to evacuate the city were given security assurances from the time they left Jerusalem until they reached their point of departure from Palestine.

[16] Gil assessed that Umar adopted a lenient approach so that the inhabitants could continue their way of life and work and thus be able to subsidize the Arab tribesmen garrisoned in Palestine.

[20] The Christian accounts mentioned that Umar visited Jerusalem's churches, but refused to pray in them to avoid setting a precedent for future Muslims.

[11] Jerusalem is presumed by Goitein and the historian Amikam Elad to have been the Muslims' main political and religious center in Jund Filastin (district of Palestine) from the conquest until the foundation of Ramla at the beginning of the 8th century.

The historian Nimrod Luz, on the other hand, holds that the early Muslim tradition indicates Palestine from the time of Umar had dual capitals at Jerusalem and Lydda, each city having its own governor and garrison.

[24] Gil attributed the Caliph's move to his recognition of the Jews' local importance, by dint of their considerable presence and economic strength in Palestine, as well as a desire to weaken Christian dominance of Jerusalem.

[28] He opposed Uthman's successor Ali during the First Muslim Civi War and forged a pact against him with the former governor of Egypt and conqueror of Palestine, Amr ibn al-As, in Jerusalem in 658.

[29] According to the near-contemporary Maronite Chronicle and Islamic traditional accounts, Mu'awiya obtained oaths of allegiance as caliph in Jerusalem on at least two different occasions between 660 and July 661.

[35] The historian Irfan Shahid theorizes that the visits, in the company of the prominent Arab Christian poet al-Akhtal, were attempts to promote his own legitimacy as caliph among the Muslims.

[47] The milestones, all containing inscriptions crediting Abd al-Malik, were found, from north to south, in or near Fiq, Samakh, St. George's Monastery of Wadi Qelt, Khan al-Hathrura, Bab al-Wad and Abu Ghosh.

At that time, the Caliph had suppressed the Arab tribes in Palestine opposed to him for joining the revolt of the Umayyad prince Sulayman ibn Hisham in northern Syria.

[61] After the first Abbasid period (750–878), the Tulunids, a mamluk dynasty of Turkic origin, managed to independently rule over Egypt and much of Greater Syria, including Palestine, for almost three decades (878–905).

While the Tulunids managed to preserve a high degree of autonomy, the Abbasids retook control over Jerusalem in 905, and between 935 and 969 it was administered by their Egyptian governors, the Ikhshidids.

[66] After six decades of war and another four of relative stability, Turkish tribes invade the region, starting off a period of permanent upheaval, fighting against each other and the Fatimids and, in less than thirty years of warfare and vandalism, destroyed much of Palestine, bringing terrible hardships, particularly on the Jewish population.

[64] Turkish rule totalled more than a quarter of a century of constant warfare, negatively affecting the local Christian communities, as well as eventually blocking the access of pilgrims from Europe, which is seen as a factor in initiating the Crusades.

[67] We know however also about a visitor from Muslim Spain, who left us a report about the intense activity in Jerusalem's Sunni madrasas and his interaction with Jews and Christians in the years 1093–95.

[69] The Turcomans acted in the region as free agents, but became known as Seljuqs, after the primary rulers among the Turkish invaders of the Arab Muslim realm, the Seljuk dynasty, whom they were associated with.

[70] Seljuk emir Atsiz ibn Uvaq al-Khwarizmi, leader of the Turkic tribe of the Nawaki, besieged and captured Jerusalem in 1073 and held it for four years.

So when the knights of the First Crusade came to besiege Jerusalem, one of Dolberger's family members who was among them rescued Jews in Palestine and carried them back to Worms to repay the favor.

[78] Further evidence of German Jewish communities in the holy city comes in the form of halakic questions sent from Germany to Jerusalem during the second half of the 11th century.

[79] As the Byzantine borders expanded into the Levant in the early 11th century, the limited tolerance of the Muslim rulers toward Christians in the Middle East, began to wane.

The Church of the Holy Resurrection, revered by all Christians of the time as the site of Christ's crucifixion and burial, was among the places of worship destroyed, but permission was later given for its rebuilding.

The suffering and privation caused by the decades of bellicose Turkish rule lead some local Christians to expect the imminent coming of the End of Days, and as a consequence of the permanent war footing, the mainly Fatimid-held ports of Palestine turned away the pilgrims' ships arriving from Europe in 1093, a situation which contributed to the start of the First Crusade.