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The Early Muslim Age - 638 - 1099 CE
Players in this timeline included:
? The Caliph Omar
? The Prophet Muhamad
The Arab conquest of Jerusalem was bloodless.
Tradition has it that the Patriarch Sophronios
surrendered the city to Omar, the commander of the
Arab forces. In return the Patriarch was granted a
writ of privileges which guaranteed the right of
Christians to maintain their holy places and pursue
their customs unhindered. At the end of the 7th
century Jerusalem was recognized as the third
holiest city in Islam, after Mecca and Medina, and
as a destination for pilgrimage. The Temple
Mountwas identified by Muslims as the place
Muhammed reached in his Night Voyage and from which
he ascended to heaven.
During the first century of Islamic rule in
Jerusalem, the Omayyad Dynasty ruled in the
country. Abd Al-Malik ibn Al Marwan, a leading
caliph of the dynasty, built the Dome of the Rock,
inaugurated in 691 as one of the two symbols of
Jerusalem in the eyes of Muslims. The other was
Al-Aqsa mosque on the southern edge of the Temple
Mount. South of the Temple Mount the Omayyads
erected a network of palaces and public buildings
extending over a broad area.
It was a shortlived efflorescence. The Omayyad
Dynasty was wiped out and succeeded by the
Abbasids, who transferred their capital from nearby
Damascus to distant Baghdad and imposed a fanatical
regime that was a far cry from the enlightened
government of the Omayyads. Jerusalem's political
and economic importance, which in part had derived
from its proximity to the center of power, now
declined. The population shrank and with it the
size of the city.
Still, Jerusalem's importance as a religious
center was not affected. Under Arab rule Jews were
permitted to reside in the city. The Jewish
community developed rapidly and soon claimed a
central position among the communities of the
region. The three monotheistic religions continued
to perceive Jerusalem as a holy city, yearned for
it and went on pilgrimage to the sacred sites
within its walls.
The Crusader and Ayyubid Period (1099-1250 CE)
On 15 July 1099 Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders
after a five week siege and the victors proceeded
to massacre the city's Muslims and Jews. After 460
years of Muslim rule the Crusaders restored
Jerusalem to Christian hands, and declared the city
the capitalof the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
The city's populations underwent a significant
change. Western culture now took center-stage, with
French the day-to-day language and Latin the
language of prayer. The Jewish and Muslimin
habitants were replaced by European and Eastern
Christians.
Under the Crusaders Jerusalem once more assumed
a Christian character, they renewed Christian
traditions and rebuilt churches and monasteries.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the prime
destination of the Crusaders, was magnificently
restored in stone, in Romanesque fashion.
The palace of the Patriarch of Jersualem stood
west of the church. To the south was the quarter
occupied by the Hospitalers (warrior knights who
initially undertook to protect and guide pilgrims,
and to lodge them in their vast Jerusalem hospice,
and eventually became part of the Kingdom's
defenses). The holysites on the Temple Mount were
declared Christian. The Temple Mount was the seat
of the Templars, an order of monastic knights whose
names derived from their location. In 1187
Jerusalem fell to Saladin (Salah-al-Din ibn Ayyub),
putting an end to the Crusader Kingdom of
Jerusalem. The great golden cross that rose above
the Dome of the Rock was toppled and shattered, to
be replaced by the crescent, the symbol of Islam.
The city was gradually restored by Saladin, who
built numerous public structures.
Saladin rebuilt the city fortifications and
expanded them to include Mount Zion. In 1212 his
nephew Al-Mu'azim Issa, ruler of Damscus, continued
the building and added inscriptions in his honor in
the walls. Seven years later, however, in 1219 he
pulled down the walls, fearing that the Crusaders
were liable to return to Jerusalem and make use of
the fortifications. Jerusalem remained an
unprotected, unwalled city until Suleiman the
Magnificent rebuilt its defenses. Following
Saladin's victory Jews returned to Jerusalem, and
were joined by immigrants from the Maghreb, France
and Yemen.
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