Mesopotamia and Canaan Under Muslim Eras

Past, Present and Future of the Cradle of Civilizations (6)

Continue Station Fifteen…

Jews specifically, enjoyed more freedom under Muslim rule than anywhere else in the world. They were granted in Palestine considerable autonomy to make and enforce their own religious, judicial and social traditions. Many Christians and Jews held important posts under various Muslim Caliphs.

Muslims rulers in Jerusalem removed all restrictions that Romans and Byzantines had placed on the right of Jews to visit and inhabit Holy City.

Station Sixteen

Muawiya Bin Abu Sufyan started what is called the Omayyad Era. He was proclaimed the 5th Caliph of Islam, and he took Damascus as his Capital city.

Damascus emerged as a significant city, and its new leaders were keen to link it with Jerusalem in an attempt to embrace the three religions.

Muawiya insisted to have excellent relations with the Christian communities of Syria, and actually one of his closest advisers was Sarjun who was the father of Saint John of Damascus. Sarjun also supervised taxes for the Omayyad Caliph for the entire Middle East.

John of Damascus served before being ordained as Chief Administrator to the Muslim Caliph.

However, Muawiya at the same time was tough on the Byzantine Empire. He took Rhodes and Crete and launched from there several attacks against Constantinople.

Muawiya also expanded his military power towards North Africa and founded the city of Kairouan, and Central Asia where he invaded Kabul, Bukhara and Samarkand.

 

The Byzantine province of Palaestina Prima became a military sub-province named Jund Filastin under the Omayyad rule. It formed a division of Greater Syria or Jund Al Sham. Jund Filastin extended from Sinai to the Plain of Acre or Akko (Akka) which extends from Lebanon borders in the north to the Carmel Promontory in Palestine in the south, including Rafah, Caesarea, Gaza, Jaffa, Nablus and Jericho. Lod or Al Lid was the capital of the province and later Ramla city took the lead. Jund Al Urdunn was the region to the north and east of Filastin that included cities of Acre or Akko, Bisan and Tiberias.

When Abed Al-Malik Bin Marwan became Caliph, he ordered to build the Dome of Rock near Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Later Al Aqsa Mosque was rebuilt by orders of Caliph Walid Bin Abed Al-Malik.

The site where the Dome was built is also known in Judaism as the Foundation Stone, the spot where Jacob saw in his dreams a ladder to the sky that he climbed and God gave him the name Israel.

Muslims believe that this is also the spot from where Muhammad ascended to heaven in the course of a night journey.

By building the Dome of Rock, Muslims actually were expressing their reverence for Jerusalem, as city of the Prophets from Abraham to Muhammad who according to Islam is the "Seal of Prophets".

Christians and Jews under Omayyad rule were given the official title "People of the Book" with reference to the common roots they share with Muslims.

A group of Jewish attendants were reported to be in charge of cleaning the Mosque and Temple Mount, and also responsible for the maintenance of their lighting. They were rewarded by being exempted from poll taxes.

The Omayyad Caliphs employed Jews and Christians and some of them attained high posts in the government hierarchy. More churches were built.

Muawiya established the principle of heredity for caliphate and before his death he appointed his son Yazid as his successor, whose opposition centered mainly in Persia, Iraq and Hejaz.

The end of Omayyad regime was plagued by natural disasters. A number of earthquakes occurred in Palestine and they caused heavy loss of life and the collapse of the Dome of the Rock.

Station Seventeen

Supported by the province of Khorasan Iran, Ibrahim Al Imam a fourth descent of Abbas Bin Abed Al Muttalib, the youngest uncle of Muhammad, rebelled against the Omayyad Caliph Marwan II, but was captured and died in prison. His brother Abdallah known as Abu Al Abbas Al Saffah, carried on the rebellion, defeated the Omayyad and was subsequently proclaimed Caliph.

The first change he made was to move the caliphate’s capital from Damascus to Baghdad. The Persian Mawali(s) in Iran (who were non Arab Muslims supported) the new caliph. Part of the Mawali(s) demanded less Arab dominance in the region.

Baghdad by now is a significant city, which is already equipped to embrace polymath scientists as well as religious scholars.

Abu Abbas Al Saffah sent his forces to Central Asia, Sindh, Arabia, Anatolia, North Africa Egypt and entered Damascus to set up a new dynasty controlled from Baghdad.

He killed the remaining members of the Omayyad family at one dinner party, but one survivor Abed Al Rahman I, escaped to Al Andalus (Spain) where he assumed the title of Caliph and took Cordoba as a rival Caliphate’s Capital to Baghdad. He built up a Kingdom that dominated North Africa and lasted for about three hundred years.

Jews, Nestorian Christians and Persians were well represented in Abu Al Abbas’s government and in succeeding Abbasid administrations.

Before his death, Abu Al Abbas appointed his brother Abu Ja’far Al MansourAbi Taleb, the cousin of Muhammad and the fourth Caliph. Al Mansur also founded the House of Wisdom in Baghdad.

Shia’s believed that after the death of Muhammad, his cousin Ali was the one who should be the first Caliph and not Abu Bakr. They were very annoyed when Omar Bin Al Khattab and Othman Bin Affan became the second and third Caliph respectively.

When Ali Bin Abi Taleb proclaimed the fourth Caliph, Muawiya fought him and managed to be a Caliph instead of Ali after the latter was surprisingly murdered while praying in the mosque.

Later Ali’s son Al Hasan abandoned the Caliphate to Muawiya on the condition that he becomes the Caliph after him, which Muawiya accepted, but then appointed his son instead, and Al Hasan later was mysteriously murdered by his wife who poisoned him for no unknown reasons.

The other son of Ali, Al Husein decided to fight Muawiya claiming the Caliphate for himself after his supporters urged him to do so. But Yazid the son of Muawiya who is by now the new Caliph defeated him, and he was brutally killed and later all his wives and sons were murdered except one.

Shi’as believe that Ali is the first Imam of the line of twelve Imams who are the rightful successors of Prophet Muhammad. Each Imam was the son of the previous Imam with the exception of Husein bin Ali who was the brother of Hasan bin Ali.

The Twelfth and final Imam is Muhammad Al Mahdi who the Shi’as strongly believe that he is still alive and hidden until his return to bring justice to the world.

Same belief that the Christians apply on Jesus Christ that he shall return to save the world.

It is reported that Al Mansur flogged to Muslim scholars, Abu Hanifah and Imam AL Malki who both were founders of two out of four Muslim schools of law (Shari’a).

Under the rule of the second Abbasid Caliph AL Mahdi, the Barmakid family gained greater powers and worked closely with him to ensure stability and prosperity of his kingdom.

Several of the Abbasids’ caliphs were known to spent time in Jerusalem on their way to and from Makah. When Caliph Al Mansour visited Jerusalem, he ordered the destruction of the crosses on the churches and forbade the Christians to hold services at night.

However later Caliph Harun Al Rachid who was known to be a close friend of King Charlemagne of France, allowed the building of many new churches in the city including monasteries, a hostel, a marketplace and a library.

His son Abu Is’haq who was the Governor of Egypt, and later was Caliph Al Mu'tasem, had the inscription of the Dome of the Rock altered by inserting his own name in place of Abed Al Malik the Omayyad Caliph who first built the Dome.

Harun Al Rachid moved his capital city from Baghdad to Al Raqqah, close to the borders of the Byzantine borders.

Al Rachid depended heavily on his mentor and long-time associate Yahya Al Barmaky, and later his son Ja’far. He appointed him his first minister and his vizier and granted him full executive powers. Yahia and his sons served the Caliph faithfully and sincerely.

Yahia Al Barmaki was Persian and a member of the Barmakids family.

He and his sons helped in translating many Persian works. Ja’far convinced Harun to open a paper mill in Baghdad, which they had its paper making secrets from China.

Ja’far was executed for allegedly having a love affair with Harun’s sister. Some say it was a conspiracy that made the Caliph fears a Shi’a movement against him led by the Barmakids.

During the Abbasid period the Muslim world became a challenging intellectual center of science, knowledge and education. Both Arab and non Arab Muslim scholars translated and gathered the entire world’s knowledge into Arabic.

The Muslim scientists without doubt significantly advanced the knowledge of ancient Roman, Greek, Chinese, Indian, Persian and Egyptian civilizations.

Many thinkers and scientists believe that the Abbasid Era played an important role in transmitting Islamic science to the Christian West.

The Abbasids however made a fatal turn against the Shi’as, who most of them fled to the Maghreb to establish the Idrisid and later other Kingdoms. They also executed their Imam Jafar Al Sadiq.

The Byzantine Empire was continuously fighting the Abbasids in Syria and Anatolia.

Former supporters of Abbasids split and formed their own kingdom in Khorasan in northern Persia.

By the 10^th century the Abbasids lost most of Iraq.

Outside Iraq all provinces became de facto states.

The Ismaili Fatimids challenged the Abbasids’ authority. They ruled in Tunisia and moved to Egypt, Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, Malta, Levant and Hejaz. They were Arabo Berber Muslim Shi’a.

The Fatimids, although had a swift successful era, they could not avoid the ethnic conflicts that split their armies mainly between the Berber and the Turks. The Turkish forces managed to seize Cairo.

Eventually the Berber declared their independence from the Fatimids and recognized the Sunni Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad by 1040.

Later the Fatimids were challenged by the Turkish invasion in the Levant coast and parts of Syria. After the first Crusades the Fatimid’s territory shrank to only Egypt. However, by 1160, the Seljuks ended them, and a new Era of the Ayyubids under Saladin began in Egypt and Syria.

The Seljuk Empire, a Sunni Empire was founded in 1037, and controlled a large area stretching from The Hindu Kush to Eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Arabian Gulf.

The Seljuks played a vital role in the first and second crusades.

Station Eighteen

The First Crusade

 To be continued .....

Sami Cherkaoui

www.samicherkaouiarabicblog.blogspot.com

Holy Land And Jerusalem Under Islamic Rule

Past, Present and Future of Cradle of Civilizations (5)

Station 13 – Continue…

Jerusalem was center of the Christian Church in the 1st century, because it had the prestige of being the city of Christ's death and resurrection and the center of the Apostolic Age. But it became decentralized and the 2nd century witnessed fierce attacks on the Apostles.

In the beginning of the new religion, Christians used to pray alongside with Jewish Believers, and the Romans did not distinguish between Christian and Jews probably for the same tax collecting reason.

 Saint Helana

The Land of Canaan, which is described in the Bible as the Holy Land did not regain significance to Christianity until the pilgrimage of Empress Helena (Saint Helana), who was the consort of Emperor Constantinus, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I, and who was credited with finding the relics of the true cross.

Rome became the most important Christian center in the West, while Antioch and Alexandria were the most important Christian centers in the East.

Christianity spread within the Parthian Empire, and became a state religion in the west by the end of the 3rd century.

 Spread of Christianity by year 600

City of Edessa (Now Urfa or Al Raha) in south-eastern Turkey, near the Euphrates River, was a strategic location on the main trade routes of the Fertile Crescent, and accessible to Antioch, where the mission of the Gentiles was inaugurated. The early Christians found refuge in this city, and rapidly grew in numbers where in no time Christianity became the state religion.

From this city, missionary movement began and Christianity slowly spread throughout Mesopotamia, Persia, Central Asia and China.

In the Arabian Peninsula, Christianity found a strong foothold in the ancient center of Semitic civilization in South-west Arabia in Sheba (Yemen)(Queen of Sheba once visited King Solomon) and also in Ethiopia. Christians believe that Apostle Mathew was assigned to that land.

In the 6th century Roman imperial rule continued in the East through the Byzantine Empire.

In the 530s the second Church of the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) was built in Constantinople under emperor Justinian I. The first church was destroyed during the Nika riots.

The second Hagia Sophia would become the center of the ecclesiastical community for the rulers of the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium.

Station Fourteen

The 7th century witnessed the birth of Islam under Prophet Muhammad Bin Abdullah, a new religion that did not deny the Jewish and Christian’s teachings, but added new visions of faith.

Those visions were considered a great challenge to the Christian Church and Jewish traditions.

By 630 AD, Muhammad united the entire Arabian Peninsula under Islam, including the former Christian Kingdom of Yemen.

Later the Muslim Empire emerged and began to expand beyond Arabia.

During this period the Roman Empire and Sassanid Empire concluded decades of wars that left both Empires powerless.

Islam revived the term (Hanif) that refers to an era prior to the advent religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In Islam it refers to the pre-Islamic people in the period of (Jahilyah) or the Age of Ignorance, who rejected polytheism (Shirk) and retained the tenets of the monotheist religion of Ibrahim.

In other words Islam considered Ibrahim neither Jew nor Christian, but referred to him and his son Ismail as the first Muslims.

Muslims believe that Ibrahim and Ismail built the Ka'aba in Mekkah, and they are the ancestors of Arabs.

"Hanifiyyas" are seen in Islam as followers of the religion of Ibrahim, a definition that is not accepted by Christians.

Station Fifteen

Shortly after the death of Muhammad, the Muslim Empire began to expand. Iran, Levant and Egypt were under the Islamic control by year 642.

In the 8th century all North Africa, Spain, Portugal, India and Indonesia became Islamic Lands.

Map of Arabia at dawn of Islam

By this time Baghdad became the Capital of Knowledge and accumulated many key geographical works from Greeks and Romans.

The Sassanid and Byzantine Empires collapsed under Muslim conquests, which reacquired the lands of Egypt, Palestine and Syria. Jews and Christians eventually lost their influence in these territories.

Before he died, Prophet Muhammad ordered preparation of a large expedition against the Roman Empire.

Abu Bakr, his first Caliph, ordered the army, to move despite a serious uprising by many tribes against him that broke the army, but he was able to win and most of those tribes re-embraced Islam. (Riddah Wars)

The Muslim Army marched then to fought the Christians Arabs of Banu Kalb and Ghassanids, and then moved to raid Iraq and defeated the Sassanid army.

Prior entering Mesopotamia, the Muslim Army under Khalid Bin Al Walid, won decisive victories in the battles of Chains, Yamama, River, and Walaja.

After the death of Abu Bakr, and obeying his will, Omar (The second Caliph) continued the conquest of Syria and Mesopotamia. His army marched to Qadisiyah, south of Iraq and defeated the Persian army, effectively ending the Sassanid rule west of Persia proper.

The army later conquered Babylon, Kososie, Bahrahsher and Madein.

By 638 the Tigris valley and the Euphrates were completely under the control of the Muslims.

The Battle of Nihawanad is considered as the most decisive battle in Islamic history, because it was the key to Persia. All of Persia is now under the Muslim Empire.

Romans after the fall of Jerusalem re-named the Land of Canaan; Palaestina, and also re-named the area including Negef, Sinai and the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula as Palaestina Salutoris, sometimes called Palaestina III.

In 603, Persians under Khosrau II occupied Syria, Palestine and Egypt before they were conquered by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius.

Abrahamic religions.

Syria was partly an Arab land, and the Arabs were there since pre-Roman times. The region was of no significance till Ghassan tribe from Yemen immigrated to Syria and ruled the Ghassanid Kingdom under the Roman Empire. The kingdom was ruling at the time of Muslim invasion over the Arabs in Jordan and Southern Syria from its capital Bosra now in Dara’a Province.

Muslim Army under Khalid Bin Al Walid was dispatched to the Syrian front. Khalid avoided the Mesopotamia's route because of the presence of Roman garrisons in Northern Syria. The army crossed the Syrian Desert, surprised the Byzantines in Northern Syria and unhinged their defenses.

 Map showing Muslim routes to Syria

After capturing several cities, Khalid moved south to Damascus, however passed around it and headed to Bosra, where he defeated the Ghassanid army, and eventually the city surrendered in 634.

He then defeated the Byzantines at the battle of Ajnadyan, and decided to capture Damascus. He conquered the city after 30 days of siege.

Controlling central Syria, the Muslim army advanced and went deeper into Palestine and captured Nablus, Amawas, Gaza and Yubna in order to complete the conquest of all Palestine.

Caliph Omar ordered the army to capture all the cities of the Mediterranean coast, Akka,Tyre, Sidon, Arqa, Jabail and Beirut rapidly fell under the Muslim forces.

By 635, Palestine, Jordan and southern Syria with the exception of Jerusalem and Caesarea (Quisaryah) were in Muslim hands. Quisaryah shortly was lifted but resumed after the Battle of Yarmouk until it fell in 640.

The historic Battle of Yarmouk sealed the fate of Byzantines. The magnitude of the defeat was so intense that the Byzantines took years to recover from it. It left the whole of the Byzantine Empire vulnerable to the Muslim invaders.

Muslims then decided to conquer Jerusalem, and the city rulers agreed to surrender only to Caliph Omar bin Al Khattab in person, who came to take the keys of the city.

Muslim army headed then to Aleppo and Antioch isolating the city from Anatolia. Antioch surrendered quickly, and the army moved to capture Lazkia, Jabla, Homs, Tartus and the coastal areas west of Lebanon hills.

Constantine III decided to recapture the Levant and a large force was sent to re-conquer Syria.

The governor of Syria Muawiya Bin Abi Sufian, sent a navy fleet to capture Cyprus, Crete and Rhodes, then launched raids into Western Anatolia, thwarting the Byzantines from making any further attempts to recapture Syria.

Syria was divided by the Muslims into four districts: 1- Jund Dimashq Al Sham(Damascus). 2- Jund Hims (Homs). 3- Jund Al Urdun (Jordan) and Jund Filastin (Palestine). A fifth district was later added to Palestine; Jund Qinnasrin.

In Arabic, the area approximating the Byzantine Diocese of Palaestina I in the south (roughly Judea, Philistia, and southern Jordan) was called Jund Filastin (meaning "the military district of Palestine", as a tax administrative area), and the Diocese of Palaestina II in the north (roughly Samaria, Galilee, Golan, and northern Jordan) Jund AL-Urdunn. Land of Canaan

Muslims kept tolerance towards other religions (People of the Book), who had been previously persecuted under Byzantine rule.

Omar declined a request made by the Christian Patriarch to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on the grounds that if he did, his followers will wish later to turn the building into a mosque.

Instead he went to Temple Mount, site of both Solomon's and Herod's temples, which remained in ruins since the destruction of the temple by the Romans six centuries earlier. Omar built a mosque (AL Aqsa) on Temple Mount where he believed that his father in law Muhammad ascended one night to Heaven after he arrived from Makkah in a miraculous trip that took seconds.

The site also has the Dome of Rock (Qubbat AL Sakhra), which is believed that it covers the place from which Muhammad ascended.

In year 639 the Muslim army under Amr Bin Al A'as invaded Egypt.

The Constantinople's Catholic authorities there had persecuted, flogged, tortured and executed Monophysite Christians (They believe that Christ has one nature – A divine human), who so the Arabs as liberators. So did Egypt's peasants who were oppressed by Greek Landlords.

In year 642 Alexandria fell under the Muslim army, and the Byzantines fled Egypt. Muslims assured the Monophysite Christians that they will enjoy religious liberty.

In 646 Muslims conquered all Egypt and turned it to a colony. They put local administration and tax collecting into local hands and allowed the Egyptians to take control over their agricultural lands.

Muslims considered themselves the natural successors of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and all the other Prophets, and this is why Palestine was and still is of extreme significance.

The Jews and most of the Christians, especially the Monophysites, welcomed the Muslim invasion after they had been severely oppressed in the aftermath of the wars with Persia.

Jews especially enjoyed more freedom under Muslim rule than anywhere else in the world. They were granted in Palestine considerable autonomy to make and enforce their own religious, judicial and social rules. Many Christians and Jews held important posts under various Muslim Caliphs.

Muslims removed the restrictions that Romans and Byzantines had placed on the right of Jews to visit and inhabit Jerusalem.

To be continued….

Sami Cherkaoui

www.samicherkaouiarabicblog.blogspot.com