Islamization of Jerusalem

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An Arab Legion soldier in ruins of Hurva Synagogue. According to Abdullah el Tell, "Operations of calculated destruction had been set in motion because the Jewish Quarter had no strategic value. Its buildings and shrines were not destroyed in battle. All this took place after military activities had come to a standstill."[1]

The Islamization of Jerusalem began in the first year A.H. (620 CE), when Islam instructed Muslims to face Jerusalem while performing their daily prostrations and, according to Muslim religious tradition, Muhammad's night journey and ascension to heaven took place. After 16 months, the direction of prayer was changed to Mecca in present-day Saudi Arabia.[2] According to Mordechai Kedar Islamization of Jerusalem is a process started decades after the death of Muhammad aimed to destroy or deny Jewish and Christian connection to their holiest city.[3]

The Qu'ran denotes the area of Mohammad's acension to heaven as the Al Aqsa Mosque (which translates as "the further mosque") as per verse 17:1 of the Qur'an:

"Glory be to Him Who made His servant to go on a night from the Sacred Mosque to the Further Mosque of which We have blessed the precincts, so that We may show to him some of Our signs; surely He is the Hearing, the Seeing." [4] However, Muhammad died in 632 ACE, six years before Jerusalem fell to the Arabs under Caliph Omar in 638 ACE. The Al- Aqsa Mosque was not built until 712, eighty years after Mohammed's death. Kedar points out that the belief that the al-Aqsa mosque described in Islamic tradition is located in Jerusalem was developed much later, as Jerusalem is not mentioned in Qur'an by its name, nor was it under Arab control during Muhammad life.[5][6]Ancient Islamic tradition states that the al-Aqsa mosque is near Mecca on the Arabian peninsula. This was unequivocally stated in “Kitab al-Maghazi”, a book by the Muslim historian and geographer al-Waqidi.[7] Jerusalem importance rose in Islam in 682 CE, when Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr rebelled against the Islamic rulers in Damascus, conquered Mecca and prevented pilgrims from reaching Mecca [8]

There are numerous recorded sayings of Mohammad, known as the hadith, specify that Jerusalem is indeed the location of the Al Aqsa Mosque:

Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah: "Then he heard Allah's Apostle saying, "When the people of Quraish did not believe me (i.e. the story of my Night Journey), I stood up in Al-Hijr and Allah displayed Jerusalem in front of me, and I began describing Jerusalem to them while I was looking at it." Sahih Bukhari: Volume 5, Book 58, Number 226. [9]


Contents

Under the Caliphates[edit]

In 638 the Islamic Caliphate extended its dominion to Jerusalem.[10] With the Arab conquest, Jews were allowed back into the city.[11]While the majority population of Jerusalem during the time of Arab conquest was Christian[12] The majority of Palestine population about 300 000-400 000 inhabitants, was still Jewish[13]In the aftermath the process of cultural Arabization and Islamization took place, combing immigration to Palestine with the adoption of Arabic language and conversion of the part of local population to Islam.[14] According to Dr.Rivka Shpak Lissak the first decision to settle Muslim Arabs from outside in the area was made in late 7th and early 8th century ACE.[15]

Under the Rashidun Caliphate[edit]

The Rashidun caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab signed a treaty with Monophysite Christian Patriarch Sophronius, assuring him that Jerusalem's Christian holy places and population would be protected under Muslim rule.[16] When led to pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the holiest site for Christians, the caliph Umar refused to pray in the church so that Muslims would not request converting the church to a mosque. He prayed outside the church, where the Mosque of Umar (Omar) stands to this day, opposite the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

According to the Gaullic bishop Arculf, who lived in Jerusalem from 679 to 688, the Mosque of Umar was a rectangular wooden structure built over ruins which could accommodate 3,000 worshipers.[17]

Under the Umayyad Caliphate[edit]

The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik commissioned the construction of the Dome of the Rock in the late 7th century.[18] The 10th century historian al-Muqaddasi writes that Abd al-Malik built the shrine in order to "compete in grandeur" with Jerusalem's monumental churches.[17] Over the next four hundred years Jerusalem's prominence diminished as Arab powers in the region jockeyed for control.[19]

Under the Fatimid Caliphate[edit]

In 1099, The Fatimid ruler expelled the native Christian population before Jerusalem was conquered by the Crusaders, who massacred most of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants when they took the solidly defended city by assault, after a period of siege; later the Crusaders created the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By early June 1099 Jerusalem’s population had declined from 70,000 to less than 30,000.[20]The second wave of Arabic immigration came from the middle of the 9th century until the occupation of the country by the Crusaders in 1099. According to Dr.Rivka Shpak Lissa during these years Beduins (Arab nomad tribes) from the deserts of Arabia, Trans-Jordan, Syrian desert, Sinai and Egypt gradually settled in the area[21]

Under the Ayyubid dynasty[edit]

In 1187, the city was wrested from the Crusaders by Saladin who permitted Jews and Muslims to return and settle in the city.[22] Under the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin, a period of huge investment began in the construction of houses, markets, public baths, and pilgrim hostels as well as the establishment of religious endowments. However, for most of the 13th century, Jerusalem declined to the status of a village due to city's fall of strategic value and Ayyubid internecine struggles.[23]

Under the Mamluk Sultanate[edit]

In 1244, Jerusalem was sacked by the Khwarezmian Tartars, who decimated the city's Christian population and drove out the Jews.[24] The Khwarezmian Tartars were driven out by the Ayyubids in 1247. From 1250 to 1517, Jerusalem was ruled by the Mamluks. During this period of time many clashes occurred between the Mamluks on one side and the crusaders and the Mongols on the other side. The area also suffered from many earthquakes and black plague.

Under the Ottoman Empire[edit]

In 1517, Jerusalem and environs fell to the Ottoman Turks, who generally remained in control until 1917.[22] Jerusalem enjoyed a prosperous period of renewal and peace under Suleiman the Magnificent – including the rebuilding of magnificent walls around the Old City.

Throughout much of Ottoman rule, Jerusalem remained a provincial, if religiously important center, and did not straddle the main trade route between Damascus and Cairo.[25] The English reference book Modern history or the present state of all nations written in 1744 stated that "Jerusalem is still reckoned the capital city of Palestine".[26]According to Dr. Rivka Shpak Lissal, during this period the forth and the largest wawe of Arab immigration to Palestine occurred. During the conquest of the country by the son of Muhammad Ali between 1832 1840. Egypt settled along the shore and the valleys, about 100,000 Egyptian peasants. Also, Arabs and Muslims were invited by the Ottomans to settle in Palestine. According to Lissak "The Zuabbian tribe was invited in 1873 from Irbid, Trans-Jordan to settle in the southern Galilee and Muslims from Muslim countries such as Kurds and Cireassians settled in the north".[27]

Under Hashemite rule[edit]

Main articles: Islamization of East Jerusalem under Jordanian occupation and Jordanian occupation of the West Bank
The Arab Legion in the process of destroying the synagogue

Jordan, although mandated by the UN to let Israeli Jews visit their holy sites, refused access to them. They also led a systematic destruction of the Jewish Quarter including many ancient synagogues.[28] Under Jordanian rule of East Jerusalem, all Israelis (irrespective of their religion) were forbidden from entering the Old City and other holy sites.[29] The Jewish Cemetery on the Mount of Olives was desecrated, with gravestones used to build latrines for Jordanian army barracks,[30][31] and almost every synagogue was demolished in the period from 1948 to 1967. Overall 58 synagogues and 38.000 Jewish tombstones, some of them dating from antiquity, were destroyed by Jordanians[32] All Jewish inhabitants from the parts of city occupied by Jordan, including residents of Old City Jewish Quarter were expelled. Christian charities and religious institutions were prohibited from buying real estate in Jerusalem. Christian schools were subject to strict regulations[33]

Islamization of the Temple Mount[edit]

Main article: Islamization of the Temple Mount

Muslim authorities have sought to appropriate and Islamicize the Temple Mount for exclusive Muslim use.[34] Originally an Israelite and subsequently Jewish holy site, as the location of the First and Second Temples, the site was subsequently the location of a Byzantine church and later of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

At the time of the Muslim conquest, the Temple Mount is understood to have been the site of an elaborate Byzantine church with an elaborate mosaic floor, some of the remains of which have been discovered by the Temple Mount Sifting Project.[35] In 682 CE, 50 years after Muhammad’s death, ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr rebelled against the Caliph of Damascus, conquered Mecca and stopped pilgrims from coming south to the Hajj in Mecca.[36] ‘Abd al-Malik, the Umayyad Caliph, responded by creating a new holy site.[36] He chose sura 17, verse 1, “Glory to Him who caused His servant to travel by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose precincts We have blessed, in order to show him some of Our Signs, He is indeed the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.”[36] And designated the Temple Mount in Jerusalem as the "Farthest Mosque" mentioned in that verse.[36]

Dome of the Rock[edit]

Main article: Dome of the Rock

The Islamization of the Temple Mount climaxed at the end of the seventh century, with the construction of the Dome of the Rock in the early 690s when Abd al-Malik was developing his program of Islamization. It was built over the Foundation Stone, the site of the historic Jewish Temple.[37] The al-Aqsa mosque was built at the southern end of the mount in the 8th-century.

Throughout the entire period of the Muslim conquest until the capture of Jerusalem in 1099, various structures were built on the mount including memorial sites and gates.[38]

From the 13th-century onwards, after the Muslims had regained control of the city, building projects in Jerusalem and around the Temple Mount sought to further establish the city’s Islamic character.[39]

After the conquest of the city by Saladin, the Jews were not permitted to rebuild the synagogue and neither Jews nor Christians were permitted to set foot on the Temple Mount.[40]

Al-Aqsa Mosque[edit]

Main article: Al-Aqsa Mosque

It is unknown exactly when the al-Aqsa Mosque was first constructed and who ordered its construction, but it is certain that it was built in the early Umayyad period of rule in Palestine. Architectural historian K. A. C. Creswell, referring to a testimony by Arculf, a Gallic monk, during his pilgrimage to Palestine in 679–82, notes the possibility that the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, Umar ibn al-Khattab, erected a primitive quadrangular building for a capacity of 3,000 worshipers somewhere on the Haram ash-Sharif. However, Arculf visited Palestine during the reign of Mu'awiyah I, and it is possible that Mu'awiyah ordered the construction, not Umar. This latter claim is explicitly supported by the early Muslim scholar al-Muthahhar bin Tahir.[41]

According to several Muslim scholars, including Mujir ad-Din, al-Suyuti, and al-Muqaddasi, the mosque was reconstructed and expanded by the caliph Abd al-Malik in 690 along with the Dome of the Rock.[41][42] Guy le Strange claims that Abd al-Malik used materials from the destroyed Church of Our Lady to build the mosque and points to possible evidence that substructures on the southeast corners of the mosque are remains of the church.[42] In planning his magnificent project on the Temple Mount, which in effect would turn the entire complex into the Haram al-Sharif ("the Noble Sanctuary"), Abd al-Malik wanted to replace the slipshod structure described by Arculf with a more sheltered structure enclosing the qibla, a necessary element in his grand scheme. However, the entire Haram al-Sharif was meant to represent a mosque.

Destruction of Temple Mount antiquities, 1995–2001[edit]

Between 1995 and 2001, the Islamic Waqf carried out extensive construction work in order to build the biggest mosque in the region named Marwani mosque, with a capacity of 10,000 worshipers in an area of about 5,000 square meters. During unsupervised construction, the Waqf obliterated many of the antiquities at Solomon’s Stables section of Temple Mount. The original Herodian structure was converted into a mosque. The structure stones were stripped of its original surface.[43] At eastern Hulda gate, the Waqf destroyed the original Herodian ornamentation and later plastered them and painted them over.[44] Tens of truck loads of dirt were dumped into Kidron Walley. Thousands of artifacts from the First Temple period until today[when?] were later rescued in the operation named Temple Mount Sifting Project. The findings included some 1000 ancient coins, Israelite bullas with ancient Hebrew inscriptions, 10,000-year-old tools like a blade and scraper, as well as Hasmonean, Ptolemaic and Herodian artifacts, ancient stones with signs of Second Temple destruction and other important artifacts.[45] The Waqf justified its action by calling the site a "mosque from the time of Adam and Eve" and by rejecting Jewish historical connection with the site.[46] As many artifacts were moved from its original location the damage done by this construction is considered irreparable by archeologists.[47] In August 2007, the Islamic Wagf started new construction on the Temple Mount to create a 500-foot trench for water pipes and electricity cables. By indiscriminately piling up earth and stones, the Waqf damaged a wall that dates back to Second-Temple times and was likely part of the Temple courts.[48]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ The Complete Idiot's Guide to Jerusalem, by Jeffers, H. Paul. Alpha Books, 2004, p.164. ISBN 1-59257-179-4
  2. ^ The Significance of Jerusalem for Muslims
  3. ^ http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/1134/the-islamization-of-jerusalem
  4. ^ http://www.cmje.org/religious-texts/quran/verses/017-qmt.php#017.001
  5. ^ http://www.cmje.org/religious-texts/quran/verses/017-qmt.php#017.001
  6. ^ http://208.84.118.121/pf_early_palestine_jerusalem.php
  7. ^ Oxford University Press,1966,vol. 3, pp. 958-9
  8. ^ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3596681,00.html
  9. ^ http://haditsbukharionline.blogspot.ca/2010/11/merits-of-helpers-in-madinah-ansaar.html
  10. ^ Jerusalem: Illustrated History Atlas Martin Gilbert, Macmillan Publishing, New York, 1978, p. 7
  11. ^ Gil, Moshe (February 1997). A History of Palestine, 634–1099. Cambridge University Press. pp. 70–71. ISBN 0-521-59984-9. 
  12. ^ http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/MSR_VI_2002-Luz_pp133-154.pdf
  13. ^ Israel Cohen (1950).Contemporary Jewry: a survey of social, cultural, economic, and political conditions, p 57
  14. ^ Lauren S. Bahr; Bernard Johnston (M.A.); Louise A. Bloomfield (1996). Collier's encyclopedia: with bibliography and index. Collier's. p. 328. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  15. ^ http://rslissak.com/content/arab-muslim-waves-immigration-palestine-land-israel-drrivka-shpak-lissak
  16. ^ Runciman, Steven (1951). A History of the Crusades:The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Penguin Books. Vol.1 pp.3–4. ISBN 0-521-34770-X. 
  17. ^ a b Shalem, Yisrael. "The Early Arab Period – 638–1099". Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies, Bar-Ilan University. Retrieved 2008-07-20. 
  18. ^ Hoppe, Leslie J. (August 2000). The Holy City: Jerusalem in the Theology of the Old Testament. Michael Glazier Books. p. 15. ISBN 0-8146-5081-3. 
  19. ^ Zank, Michael. "Abbasid Period and Fatimid Rule (750–1099)". Boston University. Retrieved 2007-02-01. 
  20. ^ Hull, Michael D. (June 1999). "First Crusade: Siege of Jerusalem". Military History. Retrieved 2007-05-18. 
  21. ^ http://rslissak.com/content/arab-muslim-waves-immigration-palestine-land-israel-drrivka-shpak-lissak
  22. ^ a b "Main Events in the History of Jerusalem". Jerusalem: The Endless Crusade. The CenturyOne Foundation. 2003. Retrieved 2007-02-02. 
  23. ^ Abu-Lughod, Janet L.; Dumper, Michael (2007). Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 209. ISBN 978-1-57607-919-5. Retrieved 2009-07-22. 
  24. ^ Jerusalem: Illustrated History Atlas Martin Gilbert, Macmillan Publishing, New York, 1978, p.25.
  25. ^ Amnon Cohen. "Economic Life in Ottoman Jerusalem"; Cambridge University Press, 1989
  26. ^ Salmon, Thomas (1744). Modern history or the present state of all nations. p. 461. Retrieved 28 Jan 2011. 
  27. ^ http://rslissak.com/content/arab-muslim-waves-immigration-palestine-land-israel-drrivka-shpak-lissak
  28. ^ http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/db942872b9eae454852560f6005a76fb/a8138ad15b0fcac385256b920059debf!OpenDocument
  29. ^ Martin Gilbert, Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century (Pilmico 1996), p254.
  30. ^ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/destoc.html
  31. ^ Oren, M, Six Days of War, ISBN 0-345-46192-4, p307
  32. ^ http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ewJXKcOUJlIaG&b=7679423&ct=11145967
  33. ^ http://www.sixdaywar.org/content/jordanianocuupationjerusalem.asp
  34. ^ Raphael Israeli (2003). War, peace and terror in the Middle East. Psychology Press. pp. 21–. ISBN 978-0-7146-5531-4. Retrieved 3 October 2010. "During the process of the Islamization of Jerusalem, a mosque was built on the site...The Islamicized Mount became the destination of Muhammad's isra’..." 
  35. ^ "Was the Aksa Mosque built over the remains of a Byzantine church?,", Etgar Lefkowitz, November 16, 2008, Jerusalem Post.
  36. ^ a b c d "The Islamization of Jerusalem," Mordechai Kedar, April 9, 2010, Hudson Institute.[unreliable source?]
  37. ^ Matthew Gordon (2005). The rise of Islam. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-313-32522-9. Retrieved 3 October 2010. 
  38. ^ Mahdī ʻAbd al-Hādī; PASSIA. (2007). Documents on Jerusalem. PASSIA, Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs. p. 247. ISBN 978-9950-305-19-9. Retrieved 3 October 2010. "The Islamization of the Temple Mount culminated at the end of the seventh century, with the establishment of the Dome of the Rock above the Foundation Stone and the construction of the al-Aqsa mosque in the south of the Temple Mount." 
  39. ^ Hava Lazarus-Yafeh (1 December 1981). Some religious aspects of Islam: a collection of articles. Brill Archive. p. 69. ISBN 978-90-04-06329-7. Retrieved 3 October 2010. "In the same way, when Jerusalem was taken back under the leadership of Saladin in 1187, and particularly from the 13th-century and on, a great deal of building activity began around the Temple Mount and in the whole city — obviously so as to establish its Islamic character." 
  40. ^ "Entering the Temple Mount - in Halacha and Jewish History," Gedalia Meyer and Henoch Messner, PDF available at [1], VOl 10, Summer 2010, Hakirah.
  41. ^ a b Elad, Amikam. (1995). Medieval Jerusalem and Islamic Worship Holy Places, Ceremonies, Pilgrimage BRILL, pp.29–43. ISBN 90-04-10010-5.
  42. ^ a b le Strange, Guy. (1890). Palestine under the Moslems, pp.80–98.
  43. ^ http://www.templemountdestruction.com/Destruction/Destructionofantiquities19952001/tabid/186/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/12/Conversion-of-the-Solomons-Stables-structure-into-a-mosque.aspx
  44. ^ http://www.templemountdestruction.com/Destruction/Destructionofantiquities19952001/tabid/186/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/14/The-Double-Gate-passageway-western-Hulda-Gate.aspx.
  45. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/news/first-temple-artifacts-found-in-dirt-removed-from-temple-mount-1.202839
  46. ^ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/templemountgarbage.html
  47. ^ http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=4&x_article=1404
  48. ^ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths3/MFjerusalem.html
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