Islamic Jerusalem
End of Byzantine Jerusalem
- Sasanians take Palestine and Jerusalem 614-628
- Jews allowed to resettle, but this causes Christian riots against the Jews in Jerusalem
- Byzantine Emperor Heraclius retakes Jerusalem and allows massacres of Jews in Jerusalem
Early Islamic Jerusalem (638-1099)
- Caliph Umar takes over Jerusalem 638 CE
- At first doesn't allow Jewish settlement, but later he does
- Aelia = Temple
- Bait Maqdis --> al-Quds = Holy
- Haram al-Sharif = Temple Mount
- Qibla - direction of prayer
- Jerusalem --> Mecca
- Mihrab - niche pointing the direction of prayer
- Praying towards Jerusalem was an idea in 1 Kings & Daniel too
- Kaaba - stone box built by Abraham, known to be a meteorite from space (Eliade's theophany), used to be a pagan shrine pre-Islam
- Five Pillars of Islam: (1) Shahada - testimony/witness (2) Salat - prayer (3) Zakat - Almsgiving (4) Sawm - fasting (5) Hajj - prilgrimage w/ door decorations
- Umayyad Dynasty 638-750 CE (Damascus)
- Caliph Umar build wooden Mosque
- Abd al-Malik built Dome of the Rock 691 CE and also restores Haram al-Sharif
- Many traditions moved to the Dome of the Rock
- Al-Aqsa Mosque built
- Great Umayyad Palaces
- Started in Caliph Walid's reign
- Fresh water + sewage systems --> technologically advanced
- Build over Byzantine buildings
- Geometric shapes
- New Ramla = Palestine capital
- All of these edifices were meant to divert pilgrimage from Mecca to Jerusalem
- Tolerance of Christians and Jews and their pilgrimages
- Sacred mosque = Mecca; farthest Mosque = Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem
- Dome of the Chain
- Abbasids 750-969 (Bagdad)
- Try to wipe out memory of Umayyid accomplishments
- Ex: Abbasid Caliph Al-Ma-mun takes credit for Dome of the Rock but forgets to change the date of the construction
- Al-Ma-mun's polemic against Christianity - they incorporated and accepted Jews and Christians, and called them the people of the book. They accepted the prophets, but not the theology.
- Unlike the Umayyads, more hostility toward Christians
- Muhammad al-Sanhaji, governor of Jerusalem, kills John, Patriarch of Jerusalem, 965 CE
- Fatimids 969-1099 (Egypt)
- Not Sunnis
- Welfare of Christians and Jews change depending on the ruler
- Near the end of their rule, Fatamids appoint Jewish and Christian governors of Jerusalem
- 969-1029 "The War of Sixty Years": Byzantine army goes South, captures Muslim territory of Syria, with aim of recapturing Jerusalem
- 1009 Caliph al-Hakim orders destruction of all Jewish and Christian houses of prayer, including Holy Sepulcher
- 1033 - earthquake destroy's Jerusalem, wall, and Dome of the Rock (wall and Dome later restored)
- 1070-1098 - Seljuqs occupy Jeruslaem, looting and massacring inhabitants
- 1098 - Fatamid's 40 day siege lets them to retaike Jerusalem with a part of the wall destroyed.
- Similar to the previous situation where two parties quarrel amongst each other and weaken themselves, just enough so that other third parties (Byzantines) could take over.
The Islamic history is one I am not very familiar with, so it was confusing for me to follow along during this lecture, especially with the use of esoteric words like Haram al-Sharif instead of the Temple Mount.
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