The succession of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (c. 584–644 AD) as the second Rightly-Guided Caliph in 634 marked a continuation of the policy in sending out military expeditions to spread Islam which soon encompassed Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Armenia, and Palestine.
Muslim victory at the Battle of Yarmuk in September 636 shattered Emperor Heraclius’s plan to retake Syria and effectively ended Byzantine rule there. It opened the way for ‘Umar to liberate territories including Jerusalem in Palestine, a city of great religious and spiritual significance.
Situated geopolitically not only as the meeting point of the three continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe but also at the heart of Palestinian land, Jerusalem is regarded as holy by the three major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Muslims know Jerusalem as al-Quds (The Sanctuary) or Bayt al-Maqdis (The Sanctified House), the third holiest city after Makkah and Madinah, whose precincts of al-Masjid al-Aqsa (the Farthest Mosque) God has blessed (Surah al-Isra’ [17]:1).
It is the very place which bore witness to all the past Prophets and Messengers of God, from Adam to ‘Isa, gathering—by God’s permission—in a congregational prayer led by the Prophet Muhammad, during the miraculous event known as the Night Journey (al-Isra’ wa’l-Mi‘raj).
At the heart of al-Aqsa al-Sharif (The Noble Precinct) rests al-Sakhrah al-Musharrafah (The Noble Rock), called as such for it being the spot from where the Prophet Muhammad ascended unto the Heavens to be in the presence of God and receive the commandment of the five daily obligatory prayers.
Sometime in November 636, ‘Umar dispatched Abu ‘Ubaydah at the head of a 20,000-strong Rashidin army to besiege and capture the city of Jerusalem. After six months, Sophronius (c. 560–638 AD), the Patriarch of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, finally surrendered the city.
‘Umar personally came to receive the key to the city from Sophronius, who then brought him on a tour to visit the various holy sites and places of worship, including the Jewish Temple Mount and al-Aqsa al-Sharif. Finding them in poor states of affairs, the Caliph immediately ordered their restorations.
‘Umar and Sophronius then signed a treaty known as the Covenant of ‘Umar (‘Aqd ‘Umar or al-‘Uhdah al-‘Umariyyah) which guaranteed the protection of lives, properties, and places of worship.
Consequently, Bayt al-Maqdis remained under Muslim control for next 400 years until 1099 when Crusader armies from Europe came to conquer Jerusalem.
As the historian Ibn al-Qalanisi (d. 1160 AD) chronicled, the Crusaders massacred whomever from the city’s populace they encountered including women and children. By December 1099, tens of thousands of the city’s Jewish and Muslim populations have been killed in the atrocities.
Corroborating Ibn al-Qalanisi, who witnessed the invasion of Muslim lands that is the First Crusade, the Western sources give even more horrifying accounts such as one by William, the Archbishop of Tyre: “No mercy was shown to anyone, and the whole place was flooded with the blood of the victims.”
It took nearly a hundred years later after the initial invasion for the Muslims to recover. In 1183, a leader known as Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi (r. 1174–1193 AD) rose to prominence and in the next four years he would struggle to liberate the Holy Land.
By 1187, Salah al-Din’s coalition forces have grown to 40,000 men and gained considerable momentum in the military campaign against the Crusaders. On 2 October, they succeeded in liberating Bayt al-Maqdis.
Unlike the previous Babylonian and Roman conquests where each time the conquerors laid waste to the Jewish Temple and killed thousands of Jerusalem’s inhabitants, neither desecration nor massacre accompanied ‘Umar’s and Salah al-Din’s respective entrances to the city; those who wanted to leave were allowed to do so with all their possessions.
With the exception of the short period in time when the Crusaders ruled, more than 1,200 years of peaceful and benevolent Islamic rule of al-Quds is a testament that Muslims have been its very best custodians.
Indeed, Muslim leadership is the only power which has ruled al-Quds and, at the same time, has been trusted to open the city to all. It is only when al-Quds is under the authority of Islam that the sanctity of the Holy Land could be enjoyed by all devotees of the three major religions.