Islamization of Jerusalem

{{Short description|Religious transformation of Jerusalem to adopt Islamic influences since the 7th century}}

File:Temple mount.JPG with Al-Aqsa in the foreground.]]

The Islamization of Jerusalem refers to the process through which Jerusalem and its Old City acquired an Islamic character and, eventually, a significant Muslim presence. The foundation for Jerusalem's Islamization was laid by the Muslim conquest of the Levant, and began shortly after the city was besieged and captured in 638 CE by the Rashidun Caliphate under Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Rashidun caliph. The second wave of Islamization occurred after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Christian state that was established after the First Crusade, at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. The eventual fall of the Crusader states by 1291 led to a period of almost-uninterrupted Muslim rule that lasted for seven centuries, and a dominant Islamic culture was consolidated in the region during the Ayyubid, Mamluk and early Ottoman periods. Beginning in the late Ottoman era, Jerusalem’s demographics turned increasingly multicultural, and regained a Jewish-majority character during the late-19th and early-20th centuries that had not been seen since the Roman period, which largely ended the Jewish presence in the region.Shlomo Slonim, [https://books.google.com/books?id=AnJIfuDAtp4C&pg=PA13 Jerusalem in America's Foreign Policy, 1947-1997], Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1999 {{isbn|978-9-041-11255-2}} p.13

The remodulation was grounded on a foundational narrative in early Islamic texts, themselves drawing on Persian, Jewish and Christian traditionsKhoury p.57:’Persian, Jewish, and Christian-Byzantine elements were present in Arabia itself prior to the appearance of Islam, and were integrated into Arab history, tradition, and culture to become part of the collective heritage and memories that were recorded in the Islamic historical writings of later years. A particularly rich repertoire of Arab myths and memories, as well as architecture, thus preceded the appearance of the first Islamic monument. that emphasized the city's cosmological significance within God's creation.Zayde Antrim, Routes and Realms: The Power of Place in the Early Islamic World,Oxford University Press, 2012 p.48 At the time of the Muslim conquest of the city, the victors encountered many traditions concerning the Temple Mount: Muslim beliefs regarding David (the miḥrāb Dāwūd in the Quran 38:20–21) and Solomon;{{Cite book|title=A brief guide to the Al-Haram Al-Sharif Jerusalem.|year=1924|isbn=978-0-9710511-7-1|location=[Place of publication not identified]|pages=4|oclc=852805293|quote=Its identity with the site of Solomon’s Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to the universal belief, on which ‘David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings’.}} shared beliefs that from there, on Mount Moriah (the “mountain” that the Temple Mount sits upon), Adam had been born and died;Grabar pp.38-39 shared beliefs that Mount Moriah was also where Abraham almost sacrificed one of his sons; and they absorbed the Christian belief that Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist (in the Quran: 'prophet of the Jewish scholars'), raised on the site a mihrab to Mary, the mother of Jesus.Khoury, p.58 These and other such traditions affected the outlay of Islamic buildings. It has also been argued that the central role that Jerusalem assumed in Islamic belief began with Muhammad's instruction to his followers to observe the qibla by facing the direction of Jerusalem during their daily prostrations in prayer.{{Cite book|last=Hoiberg|first=Dale|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISFBJarYX7YC&pg=PA224|title=Students' Britannica India|date=2000|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-0-85229-760-5|pages=224|language=en}} After 13 years (or 16 months,Yohanan Friedmann (2003). Tolerance and coercion in Islam: interfaith relations in the Muslim tradition. Cambridge University Press. p. 31. depending on the source),{{Cite book|last1=Mayer|first1=Tamar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g74fAGZRFk0C&pg=PA87|title=Jerusalem: Idea and Reality|last2=Mourad|first2=Suleiman Ali|publisher=Routledge|year=2008|isbn=978-0-415-42128-7|pages=87|language=en}} due to both divine guidanceSura 2 (Al-Baqara), ayah 144, Quran 2:144 and practical matters (souring of relationship with the Jews and/or Muhammad’s frustration with the city and its people{{Cite web|url=https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=74&tSoraNo=2&tAyahNo=144&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=2|title=Altafsir.com - The Tafsirs - التفاسير|website=www.altafsir.com|access-date=2020-03-03}}) the direction of prayer was changed to Mecca in present-day Saudi Arabia.Yitzhak Reiter, Marwan Abu Khalaf,[http://www.pij.org/details.php?id=169 'Jerusalem’s Religious Significance,'] at Palestine-Israel Journal, Vol.8, No.1, 2001. The Umayyad construction of the Dome of the Rock was interpreted by later hostile Abbasid historians as an attempt to redirect the Hajj from Mecca to Jerusalem.Nuha N. N. Khoury, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1523172 The Dome of the Rock, the Kaʿba, and Ghumdan: Arab Myths and Umayyad Monuments,] in Muqarnas, Vol. 10, Essays in Honor of Oleg Grabar, Brill (1993), pp. 57-65, p.58. "The Abbasid historian al Ya'qubi (d. 874) accused Abd al-Malik of attempting to divert the pilgrimage from Mecca to Jerusalem, thus characterizing the Umayyad Dome of the Rock as a rival to the Kaaba."

First Islamization of Jerusalem under the Caliphates

In 638 CE, the Islamic Caliphate extended its dominion to Jerusalem.Jerusalem: Illustrated History Atlas Martin Gilbert, Macmillan Publishing, New York, 1978, p. 7 With the Arab conquest of the region, Jews were allowed back into the city.{{Cite book |title=A History of Palestine, 634–1099 |last=Gil |first= Moshe |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date= February 1997 |isbn=0-521-59984-9 |pages=70–71 }} The majority population of Jerusalem during the time of Arab conquest was Christian.{{cite journal |url= http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/MSR_VI_2002-Luz_pp133-154.pdf |title= Aspects of Islamization of Space and Society in Mamluk Jerusalem and its Hinterland |author= Nimrod Luz |journal= Mamlūk Studies Review |date= 2018 |publisher= Mamluk.uchicago.edu |doi= 10.6082/M1K935NX |access-date= 2015-10-23}} In the aftermath the process of cultural Arabization and Islamization took place, combining immigration to Palestine with the adoption of Arabic language and conversion of a part of the local population to Islam.Lauren S. Bahr; Bernard Johnston (M.A.); Louise A. Bloomfield (1996). Collier's encyclopedia: with bibliography and index. Collier's. p. 328. Retrieved 19 December 2011. According to several Muslim scholars, including Mujir ad-Din, al-Suyuti, and al-Muqaddasi, the mosque was reconstructed and expanded by the caliph Abd al-Malik in 690 along with the Dome of the Rock.le Strange, Guy. (1890). Palestine under the Moslems, pp.80–98. In planning his magnificent project on the Temple Mount, which in effect would turn the entire complex into the Haram al-Sharif ("the Noble Sanctuary"), Abd al-Malik wanted to replace the slipshod structure described by Arculf with a more sheltered structure enclosing the qibla, a necessary element in his grand scheme. The Jewish background in the construction of the Dome of the Rock is commonly accepted by historians. A number of scholars consider the construction of the Dome as the Muslim desire to rebuild Solomon's Temple or Mihrab Dawud. Grabar and Busse claimed that this was the primary Islamic legitimization for the sanctity of the Dome of the Rock, while the al-mi'raj traditions were transferred to the rock only later.Medieval Jerusalem and Islamic Worship: Holy Places, Ceremonies, Pilgrimage By Amikam Elad P:161 An early Islamic tradition from the converted rabbi Ka'ab al-Ahbar states "Ayrusalaim which means Jerusalem and the Rock which means the Temple. I shall send you my servant Abd al-Malik who will build you and adorn you. I shall surely restore you to Bayt Al Maqdis, its first kingdom and I shall crown it with gold, silver and gems. And I shall surely send you my creatures. And I shall surely invest my throne of glory upon the rock, since I am the sovereign God, and David is the king of the Children of Israel."Medieval Jerusalem and Islamic Worship: Holy Places, Ceremonies, Pilgrimage By Amikam Elad P:162-3

=Under the Rashidun Caliphate=

The Rashidun caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab signed a treaty with Miaphysite Christian Patriarch Sophronius, assuring him that Jerusalem's Christian holy places and population would be protected under Muslim rule.{{Cite book|title=A History of the Crusades:The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem |last=Runciman |first=Steven |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1951 |pages=Vol.1 pp.3–4 |no-pp=true|isbn=0-521-34770-X}} When led to pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the holiest site for Christians, the caliph Umar declined to pray within the church in order not to establish a precedent that might be exploited later by some Muslims to convert the church into a mosque. He prayed outside the church, where the Mosque of Umar (Omar) stands to this day, opposite the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

However, some of the most prominent Orientalists and historians of Early Islam, such as Heribert Busse, Moshe Sharon and Oleg Grabar, doubt that caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab had ever visited Jerusalem. The earliest Islamic sources attribute conquest of Jerusalem to a commander by the name Khālid b. Thābit al-Fahmi, whereas Umar appears only in sources written some two centuries after Muslim conquest of the city.{{cite journal|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=312513 |last=Havel|first=Boris|publisher=Miscellanea Hadriatica et Mediterranea, University of Zadar|title=Jerusalem in Early Islamic Tradition|journal=Miscellanea Hadriatica et Mediterranea|date=23 December 2018|volume=5|issue=|pages=113–179|doi=10.15291/misc.2748|access-date=2018-12-24|doi-access=free}}

According to the Gaullic bishop Arculf, who lived in Jerusalem from 679 to 688, the Mosque of Umar was a rectangular wooden structure built over ruins which could accommodate 3,000 worshipers.{{cite web |url=http://www.biu.ac.il/js/rennert/history_8.html |last=Shalem |first=Yisrael |publisher=Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies, Bar-Ilan University |title=The Early Arab Period – 638–1099 |access-date=2008-07-20 |archive-date=16 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151216173527/http://www.biu.ac.il/JS/rennert/history_8.html |url-status=dead }}

=Under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate=

The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik commissioned the construction of the Dome of the Rock in the late 7th century.{{Cite book|title=The Holy City: Jerusalem in the Theology of the Old Testament |last=Hoppe |first=Leslie J. |publisher=Michael Glazier Books |date=August 2000 |isbn=0-8146-5081-3 |page=15 }} The 10th century historian al-Muqaddasi writes that Abd al-Malik built the shrine in order to "compete in grandeur" with Jerusalem's monumental churches. Over the next four hundred years Jerusalem's prominence diminished as Arab powers in the region jockeyed for control.{{cite web|url=http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period4-3.htm |last=Zank |first=Michael |publisher=Boston University |title=Abbasid Period and Fatimid Rule (750–1099) |access-date=2007-02-01}}

Jerusalem was called Iliya and later al-Bayt al-Muqaddas which comes from Hebrew Bait ha-Mikdash (בית המקדש). Name Iliya originated from Latin Aelia Capitolina, but Muslims apparently believed that the name was given after the Prophet Elijah.

File:Armenian Mosque.jpg with Islamic minaret, reflecting the multiple eras of the city's history. On the right the Hurva Synagogue.]]

=Under the Fatimid Caliphate=

In 1099, The Fatimid ruler expelled the native Christian population before Jerusalem was conquered by the Crusaders, who massacred most of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants when they took the solidly defended city by assault, after a period of siege; later the Crusaders created the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By early June 1099 Jerusalem’s population had declined from 70,000 to less than 30,000.{{Cite journal|last=Hull |first=Michael D. |date=June 1999 |title=First Crusade: Siege of Jerusalem |journal=Military History |url=http://www.historynet.com/historical_conflicts/3028446.html?page=4&c=y |access-date=2007-05-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930181302/http://www.historynet.com/historical_conflicts/3028446.html?page=4&c=y |archive-date=2007-09-30 }}

Second Islamization of Jerusalem

=Under the Ayyubid dynasty=

In 1187, the city was wrested from the Crusaders by Saladin who permitted Jews and Muslims to return and settle in the city.{{cite web|url=http://www.centuryone.com/hstjrslm.html |publisher=The CenturyOne Foundation |title=Main Events in the History of Jerusalem |access-date=2007-02-02 |year=2003 |work=Jerusalem: The Endless Crusade}} Under the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin, a period of huge investment began in the construction of houses, markets, public baths, and pilgrim hostels as well as the establishment of religious endowments. However, for most of the 13th century, Jerusalem declined to the status of a village due to city's fall of strategic value and Ayyubid internecine struggles.{{Cite book|title=Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3SapTk5iGDkC&q=Cities+of+the+Middle+East|first1=Janet L.|last1=Abu-Lughod|first2=Michael|last2=Dumper|year=2007|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-919-5|page=209|access-date=2009-07-22}}

=Under the Mamluk Sultanate=

In 1244, Jerusalem was sacked by the Khwarezmian Tartars, who decimated the city's Christian population and drove out the Jews.Jerusalem: Illustrated History Atlas Martin Gilbert, Macmillan Publishing, New York, 1978, p.25. The Khwarezmian Tartars were driven out by the Ayyubids in 1247. From 1250 to 1517, Jerusalem was ruled by the Mamluks. During this period of time many clashes occurred between the Mamluks on one side and the crusaders and the Mongols on the other side. The area also suffered from many earthquakes and black plague.

Islamization of Jerusalem under Jordanian rule

File:Tiferesyisrael48.jpg destruction by Jordanian army in 1948 war.]]

Between 1948 and 1967, following the expulsion of the Jewish residents during the war, Jordan undertook the systematic destruction of the Jewish Quarter including many synagogues. Under Jordanian rule of East Jerusalem, all Israelis (irrespective of their religion) were forbidden from entering the Old City and other holy sites.Martin Gilbert, Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century (Pimlico 1996), p254. Between 40,000 and 50,000 tombstones from ancient Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery were smashed, ransacked, and desecrated, or used as building material.Meron Benvenisti, City of Stone: The Hidden History of Jerusalem P: 241{{Cite book |last=Balfour |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Balfour |title=The Walls of Jerusalem: Preserving the Past, Controlling the Future |publisher=Wiley Blackwell |year=2019 |location=Chichester |pages=142 |language=en-GB |quote=Jordan's destructive actions were seen by Israel as a conscious affront to Judaism – tombstones used for latrines, synagogues converted into chicken cops. This was part of a process which has been described as Arabization.}}

East Jerusalem was Islamized during the Jordanian annexation of the West Bank between 1948 and 1967, as Jordan sought to alter landscape of the city to enhance its Muslim character at the expense of its Jewish and Christian ones.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}} Ghada Hashem Talhami states that during its nineteen years of rule, the government of Jordan took actions to accentuate the spiritual Islamic status of Jerusalem.{{cite book|author=Ghada Hashem Talhami|editor=John V. Canfield|title=The Middle East in turmoil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OCZOCtivbKsC&pg=PA169|access-date=3 June 2011|date=February 2002|publisher=Nova Publishers|isbn=978-1-59033-160-6|page=169}} Raphael Israeli, an Israeli historian, argues that the "destruction by the Jordanians of the Jewish Quarter and its many synagogues, including the beautiful ancient synagogue of the Old City known as Khurvat Rabbi Yehuda Hehasid, went a long way to de-Judaize much of the millennia-old Jewish holdings on Jerusalem."{{cite book|author=Raphael Israeli|title=Poison: modern manifestations of a blood libel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i8gdMNJmpvUC&pg=PA219|access-date=3 June 2011|year=2002|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-0208-4|page=219}}

File:Looting the Jewish Quarter.jpg of the Jewish Quarter after its inhabitants' expulsion]]

While Christian holy sites were protected, and Muslim holy sites were maintained and renovated,{{cite book|author=Yitzhak Reiter |author-link= Yitzhak Reiter|title=Jerusalem and its role in Islamic solidarity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=20rYAAAAMAAJ|access-date=May 24, 2011|year=2008|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-230-60782-8|page=136|quote=According to Jordanian government sources, Jordan has spent about a billion dollars since 1954 on al-Aqsa renovations and maintenance.}} Jewish holy sites were damaged and sometimes destroyed.{{cite book |author1=Van der Vyver |first=Johan D. |author-link1=Johan D. van der Vyver |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XSnpr1ndq5kC&pg=PA380 |title=Religious human rights in global perspective: legal perspectives |author2=John Witte |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |year=1996 |isbn=978-90-411-0177-8 |page=380 |access-date=2011-05-24}} According to Raphael Israeli, 58 synagogues were desecrated or demolished in the Old City, resulting in the de-Judaization of Jerusalem.{{cite book|author=Raphael Israeli|title=Jerusalem divided: the armistice regime, 1947-1967|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I09YcIEto08C&pg=PA24|access-date=2 June 2011|date=31 January 2002|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-7146-5266-5|page=24|quote=The destruction by the Jordanians of the Jewish Quarter and its many synagogues, including the beautiful ancient synagogue of the Old City known as Khurvat Rabbi Yehuda Hehasid, went a long way to de-Judaize much of the millennia-old Jewish holdings on Jerusalem.}}"L. Machaud-Emin, Jerusalem 1948–1967 vs. 1967–2007: Comparing the Israeli and Jordanian Record, in GLORIA Center, The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, 2007.“Jerusalem,” Teddy Kollek, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Jul., 1977), pp. 701–716. Oesterreicher, a Christian clergyman and scholar, wrote, “During Jordanian rule, 34 out of the Old City’s 35 synagogues were dynamited.” {{cite book|author=Mark A. Tessler|title=A History of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofisraeli00tess_0|url-access=registration|access-date=May 24, 2011|year=1994|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-20873-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofisraeli00tess_0/page/329 329]}} The Western Wall was transformed into an exclusively Muslim holy site associated with al-Buraq.{{cite book|author=Simone Ricca|title=Reinventing Jerusalem: Israel's reconstruction of the Jewish Quarter after 1967|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cbd1ALFq9hAC&pg=PA14|access-date=3 June 2011|year=2007|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-387-2|page=22}} 38,000 Jewish graves in the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives were systematically destroyed (used as pavement and latrines),{{Cite web|url=https://jr.co.il/articles/politics/the-mount-of-olives-in-jerusalem.txt|title=The Mount of Olives in Jerusalem: Why Continued Israeli Control Is Vital|last=Shragai|first=Nadav|date=July 2009}}{{Cite book|last=Balfour|first=Alan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D7p9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA162 |title=The Walls of Jerusalem: Preserving the Past, Controlling the Future|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2019|isbn=978-1-119-18229-0|pages=162|language=en}} and Jews were not allowed to be buried there. This was all in violation of the Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreement Article VIII - 2 "...; free access to the Holy Places and cultural institutions and use of the cemetery on the Mount of Olives;...."{{cite web| url = http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/mfadocuments/yearbook1/pages/israel-jordan%20armistice%20agreement.aspx| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130605194619/http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/mfadocuments/yearbook1/pages/israel-jordan%20armistice%20agreement.aspx| archive-date = 2013-06-05| title = Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreement}}

Following the Arab Legion's expulsion of the Jewish residents of the Old City in the 1948 War, Jordan allowed Arab Muslim refugees to settle in the then-vacant Jewish Quarter.{{cite book|author1=John M. Oesterreicher|author-link1=John M. Oesterreicher|author2=Anne Sinai|title=Jerusalem|url=https://archive.org/details/jerusalem00oest|url-access=registration|access-date=3 June 2011|year=1974|publisher=John Day|isbn=978-0-381-98266-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/jerusalem00oest/page/26 26]}} Later, after some of these refugees were moved to Shuafat, migrants from Hebron took their place.{{cite book|author=Ghada Hashem Talhami|title=Palestinian refugees: pawns to political actors|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n8LsPA3mTBYC&pg=PA43|access-date=3 June 2011|year=2003|publisher=Nova Publishers|isbn=978-1-59033-649-6|page=43}} Abdullah el Tell, a commander of the Arab Legion, remarked:

For the first time in 1,000 years not a single Jew remains in the Jewish Quarter. Not a single building remains intact. This makes the Jews' return here impossible {{Cite book|last=Zilka|first=Avraham|title=History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=1992|isbn=978-0-292-76541-2|pages=53}}

In his memoirs, Col. Abdullah el Tell outlined the reasons behind his decision to attack the Jewish Quarter:

"The operations of calculated destruction were set in motion. I knew that the Jewish Quarter was densely populated with Jews who caused their fighters a good deal of interference and difficulty... I embarked, therefore, on the shelling of the [Jewish] Quarter with mortars, creating harassment and destruction... Only four days after our entry into Jerusalem the Jewish Quarter had become their graveyard. Death and destruction reigned over it... As the dawn of Friday, May 28, 1948, was about to break, the Jewish Quarter emerged convulsed in a black cloud – a cloud of death and agony."

In 1953, Jordan restricted Christian communities from owning or purchasing land near holy sites, and in 1964, further prohibited churches from buying land in Jerusalem. These were cited, along with new laws impacting Christian educational institutions by the mayor of Jerusalem Teddy Kollek as evidence that Jordan sought to "Islamize" the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.{{cite book|author=Annelies Moors|title=Discourse and Palestine: power, text and context|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FsjgmSPiWvsC&pg=PA57|access-date=May 25, 2011|year=1995|publisher=Het Spinhuis|isbn=978-90-5589-010-1|pages=57–}}

In order to counter the influence of foreign powers, who had run the Christian schools in Jerusalem autonomously since Ottoman times, the Jordanian government legislated in 1955 to bring all schools under government supervision.{{cite book | author = Kimberly Katz | title = Jordanian Jerusalem; Holy Places and National Spaces | publisher = University Press of Florida | year = 2005 | isbn = 0-8130-2844-2| pages = 97–99}} They were allowed to use only approved textbooks and teach in Arabic. Schools were required to close on Arab national holidays and Fridays instead of Sundays. Christian holidays were no longer recognised officially, and observation of Sunday as the Christian Sabbath was restricted to Christian civil servants.{{cite book|author1=Yehuda Zvi Blum|author-link1=Yehuda Zvi Blum|title=For Zion's sake|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tlCHQ6LU988C&pg=PA101|access-date=2 June 2011|date=30 November 1987|publisher=Associated University Presse|isbn=978-0-8453-4809-3|page=101}} Students, whether Muslim or Christian, could study only their own religion. The Jerusalem Post described these measures as "a process of Islamization of the Christian Quarter in the Old City.{{cite news|title=The Churches Anti-Christian Crusade|publisher=Jerusalem Post|date=4 October 1992|id={{ProQuest|321064675}}}}

In general, Christian holy places were treated with respect, although some scholars say they suffered from neglect.Whither Jerusalem?: proposals and positions concerning the future of Jerusalem, Moshe Hirsch, Deborah Housen-Couriel, Ruth Lapidoth, Mekhon Yerushalayim le-ḥeḳer Yiśraʼel, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1995, p. 159. During this period, renovations were made to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was in a state of serious disrepair since the British period due to disagreements between the many Christian groups claiming a stake in it.{{cite book | author = Kimberly Katz | title = Jordanian Jerusalem; Holy Places and National Spaces | publisher = University Press of Florida | year = 2005 | isbn = 0-8130-2844-2| pages = 99–106}} While there was no major interference in the operation and maintenance of Christian holy places, the Jordanian government did not allow Christian institutions to expand.{{cite book|author=Mark A. Tessler|title=A History of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofisraeli00tess_0|url-access=registration|access-date=May 24, 2011|year=1994|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-20873-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofisraeli00tess_0/page/328 328]}} Christian churches were prevented from funding hospitals and other social services in Jerusalem.{{cite book|first=Ira|last=Sharkansky|author-link=Ira Sharkansky|title=Governing Jerusalem: Again on the world's agenda|url=https://archive.org/details/governingjerusal0000shar|url-access=registration|access-date=3 June 2011|year=1996|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=978-0-8143-2592-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/governingjerusal0000shar/page/76 76]}}

In the wake of these restrictions, many Christians left East Jerusalem.

Islamization of the Temple Mount

As the location of the First and Second Temples, the Temple Mount is the central holy site of Judaism. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans and the Jewish inhabitants being expelled or killed.Gideon Avni, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLucAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA131 The Byzantine-Islamic Transition in Palestine: An Archaeological Approach ,] Oxford University Press 2014 {{ISBN|978-0-199-68433-5}} p.132 After the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in 638 CE, Muslims built the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount.{{cite book|author=Raphael Israeli|title=War, peace and terror in the Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I4B11CFdP-oC&pg=PA21|access-date=3 October 2010|year=2003|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-7146-5531-4|page=21|quote=During the process of the Islamization of Jerusalem, a mosque was built on the site...The Islamicized Mount became the destination of Muhammad's isra'...}}

In 682 CE, 50 years after Muhammad’s death, ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr rebelled against the Caliph of Damascus, conquered Mecca and thus, according to Ignaz Goldziher, stopped pilgrims from coming south to the Hajj in Mecca.Goldziher, Ignaz (1971.). Muslim Studies (Muhammedanische Studien), Translated by C. R. Barber and S. M. Stern, Volume Two. Albany: State University of New York Press, p. 44.

=Dome of the Rock=

Monumental constructions made on the Temple Mount, exemplifying what Gideon Avni calls 'an outstanding manifestation of Islamic rule over Jerusalem,'Avni 2014 p.132 climaxed at the end of the seventh century, with the construction of the Dome of the Rock in the early 690s when Abd al-Malik was developing his program of Islamization. It was built over the Foundation Stone, the site of the historic Jewish Temple.{{cite book|author=Matthew Gordon|title=The rise of Islam|url=https://archive.org/details/riseofislam0000gord|url-access=registration|access-date=3 October 2010|year=2005|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-32522-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/riseofislam0000gord/page/44 44]}} The al-Aqsa mosque was built at the southern end of the mount in the 8th-century.

Throughout the entire period of the Muslim conquest until the capture of Jerusalem in 1099, various structures were built on the mount including memorial sites and gates.{{cite book|author1=Mahdī ʻAbd al-Hādī|author2=PASSIA.|title=Documents on Jerusalem|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JT8vAQAAIAAJ|access-date=3 October 2010|year=2007|publisher=PASSIA, Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs|isbn=978-9950-305-19-9|page=247|quote=The Islamization of the Temple Mount culminated at the end of the seventh century, with the establishment of the Dome of the Rock above the Foundation Stone and the construction of the al-Aqsa mosque in the south of the Temple Mount.}}

From the 13th-century onwards, after the Muslims had regained control of the city, building projects in Jerusalem and around the Temple Mount sought to further establish the city’s Islamic character.{{cite book|author=Hava Lazarus-Yafeh|title=Some religious aspects of Islam: a collection of articles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J7k3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA69|access-date=3 October 2010|date=1 December 1981|publisher=Brill Archive|isbn=978-90-04-06329-7|page=69|quote=In the same way, when Jerusalem was taken back under the leadership of Saladin in 1187, and particularly from the 13th-century and on, a great deal of building activity began around the Temple Mount and in the whole city — obviously so as to establish its Islamic character.}}

After the conquest of the city by Saladin, non-Muslims were permitted to set foot on the Temple Mount."Entering the Temple Mount - in Halacha and Jewish History," Gedalia Meyer and Henoch Messner, PDF available at [http://hakirah.org/], VOl 10, Summer 2010, Hakirah.

=Al-Aqsa Mosque (Qibli Mosque)=

It is unknown exactly when the al-Aqsa Mosque was first constructed and who ordered its construction, but it is certain that it was built in the early Umayyad period of rule in Palestine. Architectural historian K. A. C. Creswell, referring to a testimony by Arculf, a Gallic monk, during his pilgrimage to Palestine in 679–82, notes the possibility that the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, Umar ibn al-Khattab, erected a primitive quadrangular building for a capacity of 3,000 worshipers somewhere on the Haram ash-Sharif. However, Arculf visited Palestine during the reign of Mu'awiya I, and it is possible that Mu'awiya ordered the construction, not Umar. This latter claim is explicitly supported by the early Muslim scholar al-Muthahhar bin Tahir.Elad, Amikam. (1995). [https://books.google.com/books?id=CDz_yctbQVgC&pg=PA29&dq=Aqsa+Mosque+construction&sig=ACfU3U18kr7-hEXqRvqOKs-Jg3Pk2_CeBg#PPA29,M1 Medieval Jerusalem and Islamic Worship Holy Places, Ceremonies, Pilgrimage] BRILL, pp.29–43. {{ISBN|90-04-10010-5}}.

=Marwani prayer hall=

Between 1995 and 2001, the Islamic Waqf carried out extensive construction work in order to build the biggest mosque in the region named Marwani prayer hall, with a capacity of 10,000 worshippers in an area of about 5,000 square meters. During unsupervised construction, the Waqf obliterated many of the antiquities at Solomon's Stables section of Temple Mount. The original Herodian structure was converted into a mosque. The structure stones were stripped of its original surface.{{cite web|url=http://www.templemountdestruction.com/Destruction/Destructionofantiquities19952001/tabid/186/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/12/Conversion-of-the-Solomons-Stables-structure-into-a-mosque.aspx|title= Temple Mount Antiquities Rescue Committee - Destruction of antiquities 1995-2001|access-date=October 1, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519222050/http://www.templemountdestruction.com/Destruction/Destructionofantiquities19952001/tabid/186/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/12/Conversion-of-the-Solomons-Stables-structure-into-a-mosque.aspx|archive-date=May 19, 2014}} At eastern Hulda gate, the Waqf destroyed the original Herodian ornamentation and later plastered them and painted them over.{{cite web|url=http://www.templemountdestruction.com/Destruction/Destructionofantiquities19952001/tabid/186/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/14/The-Double-Gate-passageway-western-Hulda-Gate.aspx|title=Temple Mount Antiquities Rescue Committee - Destruction of antiquities 1995-2001|access-date=October 1, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519204550/http://www.templemountdestruction.com/Destruction/Destructionofantiquities19952001/tabid/186/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/14/The-Double-Gate-passageway-western-Hulda-Gate.aspx|archive-date=May 19, 2014}} Tens of truck loads of dirt were dumped into Kidron Walley. Thousands of artifacts from the First Temple period until today{{When|date=December 2012}} were later rescued in the operation named Temple Mount Sifting Project. The findings included some 1000 ancient coins, Israelite bullas with ancient Hebrew inscriptions, 10,000-year-old tools like a blade and scraper, as well as Hasmonean, Ptolemaic and Herodian artifacts, ancient stones with signs of Second Temple destruction and other important artifacts.{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/first-temple-artifacts-found-in-dirt-removed-from-temple-mount-1.202839 |title=First Temple Artifacts Found in Dirt Removed From Temple Mount - Israel News - Haaretz Israeli News Source |publisher=Haaretz.com |date=2006-10-19 |access-date=2015-10-23}}