Islam was first brought to the region of Palestine during the Early Muslim conquests of the 7th century, when the Rashidun Caliphate under the leadership of ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb conquered the Shaam region from the Byzantine Empire. The Muslim army conquered Jerusalem, held by the Byzantine Romans, in November, 636.
The region is part of the so-called fertile crescent and human habitation there can be traced back to before 10, 000 BCE. The lands were originally inhabited by nomadic hunter-gatherers who most likely immigrated from Mesopotamia but became sedentary agriculturalists by the Early Bronze Age (c. 3300-c. 2000 BCE).
Palestine has undergone many demographic and religious upheavals throughout history. During the 2nd millennium BCE, it was inhabited by the Canaanites, Semitic-speaking peoples who practiced the Canaanite religion. The Israelites emerged later as a separate ethnic and religious community in the region.
Palestine's Early Roots
Throughout history, Palestine has been ruled by numerous groups, including the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Fatimids, Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Egyptians and Mamelukes.
The Islamic history of Jerusalem begins with the conquest of the city by Caliph Umar in 635 (or 638).
After World War I, Great Britain took over Jerusalem, which was part of Palestine at the time. The British controlled the city and surrounding region until Israel became an independent state in 1948.
The History of Jerusalem during the Kingdom of Jerusalem began with the siege of the city in 1099 as part of the First Crusade. This resulted in Jerusalem being conquered by Christian forces, after it had been under Muslim rule for nearly 450 years.
Islam was first brought to the region of Palestine during the Early Muslim conquests of the 7th century, when the Rashidun Caliphate under the leadership of ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb conquered the Shaam region from the Byzantine Empire. The Muslim army conquered Jerusalem, held by the Byzantine Romans, in November, 636.
Following the Muslim conquest, place names were converted to Arabic. Palestina Prima became Filastin and Secunda was Urdunn (Jordan). The name “Palestine” became common in Early Modern English.
While the State of Israel was established on 15 May 1948 and admitted to the United Nations, a Palestinian State was not established. The remaining territories of pre-1948 Palestine, the West Bank - including East Jerusalem- and Gaza Strip, were administered from 1948 till 1967 by Jordan and Egypt, respectively.
Archaeologic and genetic data support that both Jews and Palestinians came from the ancient Canaanites, who extensively mixed with Egyptians, Mesopotamian, and Anatolian peoples in ancient times.
In 1917, in order to win Jewish support for Britain's First World War effort, the British Balfour Declaration promised the establishment of a Jewish national home in Ottoman-controlled Palestine.
The British, who held a colonial mandate for Palestine until May 1948, opposed both the creation of a Jewish state and an Arab state in Palestine as well as unlimited immigration of Jewish refugees to the region.
Palestine was among former Ottoman territories placed under UK administration by the League of Nations in 1922.
Palestine is a nation, which is held in high esteems in Islamic history and has great significance for Muslims. Some of the major reasons for Palestine being of significance to Muslims are: Allah has named it the Holy Land and the Blessed Land” in the Quran. It's mentioned in Surah Al- Ma'idah ( 5:21 ):
It was at first called Ahuzat Bayit ( lit. "House Estate" or "Homestead"), the name of the association which established the neighbourhood. Its name was changed the following year to Tel Aviv, after the biblical name Tel Abib ( lit.
Prior to their adoption of the Arabic language from the seventh century onwards, the inhabitants of Palestine predominantly spoke Jewish Palestinian Aramaic (as witnessed, for example, in Palestinian Jewish and Palestinian Christian literature), as well as Greek (probably in the upper or trader social classes), and ...
The term "Palestine" first appeared in the 5th century BCE when the ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote of a "district of Syria, called Palaistinê" between Phoenicia and Egypt in The Histories.
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict has its roots in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the birth of major nationalist movements among the Jews and among the Arabs, both geared towards attaining sovereignty for their people in the Middle East.
It became a centre for Christian pilgrimage. By AD638, with the rapid spread of a new religion in the region, Islam, the city was captured by an army led by Abu Ubaydah under the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab and Islam came to Palestine.
The Arab-Israeli War of 1948 broke out when five Arab nations invaded territory in the former Palestinian mandate immediately following the announcement of the independence of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948.
The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations, which recommended a partition of Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted the Plan as Resolution 181 (II).
For Muslims, Jerusalem is a site of key events in the life of Jesus and other important figures. It's also the spot where, according to traditional interpretations of the Koran and other texts, the prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
Jerusalem, Hebrew Yerushalayim, Arabic Bayt al-Muqaddas or Al-Quds, ancient city of the Middle East that since 1967 has been wholly under the rule of the State of Israel.