Today, the term "Holy Land" usually refers to a territory roughly corresponding to the modern states of Israel and Palestine.

Many sites in the Holy Land have long been pilgrimage destinations for adherents of the Abrahamic religions, including Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Baháʼís.

[5] Researchers consider that the concept of a land made holy by being the "earthly dwelling of the God of Israel" was present in Judaism at the latest by the time of Zechariah (6th century BCE).

[20] So significant in Judaism is the act of purchasing land in Israel, the Talmud allows for the lifting of certain religious restrictions of Sabbath observance to further its acquisition and settlement.

[21] Rabbi Johanan said that "Whoever walks four cubits in Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel] is guaranteed entrance to the World to Come".

[22][19] A story says that when R. Eleazar b. Shammua' and R. Johanan HaSandlar left Israel to study from R. Judah ben Bathyra, they only managed to reach Sidon when "the thought of the sanctity of Palestine overcame their resolution, and they shed tears, rent their garments, and turned back".

However, after suffering persecutions in Israel for centuries after the destruction of the Temple, Rabbis who had found it very difficult to retain their position moved to Babylon, which offered them better protection.

Christian books, including many editions of the Bible, often have maps of the Holy Land (considered to be Galilee, Samaria, and Judea).

"[24] As a geographic term, the description "Holy Land" loosely encompasses modern-day Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, western Jordan and south-western Syria.

In the Quran, the term Al-Ard Al-Muqaddasah (Arabic: الأرض المقدسة, English: 'Holy Land') is used in a passage about Musa (Moses) proclaiming to the Children of Israel: "O my people!

[28] The current construction of the Al-Aqsa mosque, which lies on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, is dated to the early Umayyad period of rule in Palestine.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali likens it to a wide land-range including Syria and Lebanon, especially the cities of Tyre and Sidon; Az-Zujaj describes it as "Damascus, Palestine, and a bit of Jordan"; Muadh ibn Jabal as "the area between al-Arish and the Euphrates"; and Ibn Abbas as "the land of Jericho".

[36] The Baháʼí Faith's founder, Bahá'u'lláh, was exiled to Acre Prison from 1868 and spent his life in its surroundings until his death in 1892.

In his writings he set the slope of Mount Carmel to host the Shrine of the Báb which his appointed successor 'Abdu'l-Bahá erected in 1909 as a beginning of the terraced gardens there.