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The First Muslim Conquest of Jerusalem
The battle that set the stage for centuries of conflict
The ancient city of Jerusalem has been at the center of various conflicts dating back thousands of years. The city is of critical religious importance to Jews, Christians, and Muslims worldwide. The city has routinely changed hands between various powers over the centuries. As the crossroads of empires, Jerusalem has been conquered by the Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, Ottomans, British, and, most recently, has become the focal point for the modern state of Israel.
Today, much of the conflict surrounding Jerusalem stems from the conflict between local Arabs and Jews over ownership of the city and its ultimate fate. But when did Islam conquer the Holy City for the first time? And could they have known that such an action would prime the globe for centuries of bloody conflict over the fate of the city?
By 636 CE, the great Byzantine Empire, weakened by years of war with the Sassanid Persians and exhausted by internal strife, faced a new and formidable threat: the Rashidun Caliphate. The Rashidun Caliphate, the first Muslim caliphate to emerge in the wake of Muhammad’s death, exploded out of the Arabian Peninsula and led a wave of conquests stretching from North Africa all the way to Persia.
