The 10 Ages of Palestine

5. Arab Caliphate Rule 638 – 1099 AD

In 638, for the first time, in 500 years, since the Roman ban on Jews, the Jewish people were allowed to return to Palestine. Omar Ibn al-Khattab, the first conquerer of Jerusalem to enter the city on foot, declared it to be a holy place in Islam. In 691, Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ordered that the Dome of the Rock be built on the site where the Islamic prophet Muhammad is believed by Muslims to have begun his nocturnal journey to heaven, on the Temple Mount. About a decade afterward, Caliph Al-Walid I had the Al-Aqsa Mosque built. It was under Umayyad rule that Christians and Jews were granted the official title of “Peoples of the Book” to underline the common monotheistic roots they shared with Islam. European Christian pilgrims visited and made generous donations to Christian holy places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Read more : The 10 Ages of Palestine
Source : http://listverse.com/2007/09/23/the-10-ages-of-palestine/

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