Jerusalem under Umer ibn al-Khattab’s Rule

Umar ibn al-Khattab was one of the closest companions of Prophet Muhammad (s) and was the second caliph / ruler of the Muslims (after Abu Bakr Siddiq.) This post reviews some historical facts related to Umar’s forces conquering Jerusalem during the 7th century. This article is taken from the book  Jerusalem is Ours: The Centuries old Christian, Jewish, and Islamic  struggle for the Holy Lands – authored and published by IqraSense.com.

After the death of Prophet Muhammad, Umar ibn al-Khattab’s forces  conquered Jerusalem.[1] During Umar’s reign, Jerusalem was conquered bloodlessly for the first time by Muslims in the year 638 CE. As Prophet Muhammad (s) had laid the foundation of the religion of Islam (through revelation from God, Allah), Umar’s conquest of Jerusalem is considered to be the first in Islamic history.

During Umar’s reign, his armies advanced into many territories. During these conquests, as the Muslim forces marched toward Jerusalem, the Byzantines were forced to leave Syria. The Muslim armies under the commandership of Amr ibn Al-As reached Jerusalem and lay siege of the city. Amr was later joined by prominent Muslim commanders such as Khalid bin Waleed and Abu Ubaidah ibn al Jarrah. At that time, Bishop Sophronius was the Patriarch[3] of Jerusalem. Sophronius, who was of an Arab descent, is venerated as a saint in the Catholic as well as the Eastern Orthodox Church. Seeing little hope in resisting, the Christians in Jerusalem decided to surrender at the hands of Caliph Umar’s forces. However, the Bishop demanded that the city keys would be handed over to the Muslims without resistance only if Caliph Umar personally received the city keys. Muslims at that time didn’t favor entertaining the patriarch’s demands saying that as the Christian forces had been vanquished, they were in no position to dictate terms and thus there was no need for the Caliph to go to Jerusalem. On this, Caliph Umar sought the advice of Ali,[4] one of the Prophet’s closet aides and companions. Ali instead advised Umar to go to Jerusalem on the grounds that he was the victor and that it was from Jerusalem that the Prophet Muhammad (s) ascended the Heavens. On this, Caliph Umar agreed to go to Jerusalem to accept the Christian surrender. When Umar entered the city, he first asked about the location of the site of Al-Aqsa and the Rock from where Prophet Muhammad (s) ascended for Me’raj. At that time, the Dome of the Rock had not yet been built. The Bishop took him to the site (known to the Jews as Temple Mount), which to Umar’s disappointment was being used as a garbage dump. This is because under the Christian rule at that time, Jews were not allowed to worship or even enter Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa site (Temple Mount) had no specific religious significance for the Christians. He also found out that the Al-Aqsa mosque was destroyed by the Romans. On seeing the state of the Al-Aqsa site (Temple Mount), Umar said:



    “Allah (God) is Great, I swear by the one who holds my soul in his hand that this is the Mosque of David which the prophet of Allah described to us after his night journey.” [5]