The Abbasid Empire rose to power in 750 and took control of the Levant and Iraq. Competition with their predecessors, the Umayyads, was fierce, and one of their main points of contention was regarding control over the city of Jerusalem, considered holy land by both groups of Muslims.[1] the Abbasids moved the capital of Caliphate from Damascus, Syria to Baghdad, Iraq and started a powerful dynasty that lasted until 1258 when the Mamluks gained control .[2]
.Jerusalem, though not the capital city of the empire, was one that was often visited by different Abbasid caliphs.[3] Al-Mansour, the founder of the Abbasid Rule, visited Jerusalem twice and ordered the reconstruction of the Dome of the Rock.[4] Al-Mahdi, the third Abbasid Caliph[5] and Al-Ma’moun, the seventh Abbasid Caliph, also visited it.[6]
The achievements of the Abbasids in Jerusalem
During the Abbasid era, Jerusalem experienced many damaging earthquakes. The mosques and the walls of the city were thus in need of continuous repair—which the Abbasids saw to.
Al-Mansour, the founder of the Abbasid state, ordered the reconstruction of the Dome of the Rock after its collapse due to the earthquake of 748,[7] and the third Abbasid Caliph, Al-Mahdi, ordered the reconstruction of Al-Aqsa mosque in 780 after an earthquake struck in 774 and damaged some of its..[8]
In 831, the Abbasid Caliph Al-Ma’moun ordered the construction of more gates in the walls of the shrine from the eastern and the northern sides. The patriarch in Al- Ma’moun’s time carried out repairs in the holy church of Sepulchre.[9] Al-Mamoun also ordered the minting of a coin that held the name of “Al-Quds” to commemorate the reconstruction of the Dome or the Rock.[10]
In 913, the mother of the Caliph Al-Muqtadir ordered the reconstruction of the Dome of the Rock and the addition of a luxurious wooden porch to each one of the mosque’s doors.[11]
Like the Umayyads before them, the Abbasids took care to sponsor and encourage the flourishing of scientific discovery and invention..[12] Following the rise of Sufism, and the centrality of the city to the movement, many scholars and imams visited Jerusalem..[13]
Split and Disputed Rule
Towards the end of the Abbasid era, the state weakened and lost land to surrounding powers. The first loss for the Abbasid dynasty came at the end of the ninth century at the hands of Turks. Long before that, the Abbasid Caliphs had started relying more on Turkish mercenaries and used them as governors of provinces. In time, the Turks’ power had grown and their influence in the area increased.[14] In 868, the aide to the Governor of Egypt, Ahmad bin Tulun, who came from Turkic origins, broke with the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad and by 877 succeeded in conquering the Levant and adopting Jerusalem as an Egyptian province.[15] In 905, the new Tulunid state came to an end after internal disorders that weakened the state and led to a final defeat in front of the Abbasid army in Egypt; and hence Abbasid control over the area was restored.[16]
After the end Tulunid dynasty in Egypt, Muhammad Bin Tughj, a personal server of the Caliph and then a military assistant appointed by the Abbasids, took over the rule in Egypt. Tughj, or Ikhshid extended his rule to the Levant.[17] Although Jerusalem was not mentioned much in the records of the Ikhshidid dynasty, their ruler in Jerusalem, Mohammed bin Ismail al-Sanhaji, who was appointed by Kafur, the Ikhshidid Caliph in Egypt, is known for his destruction of churches and his persecution of Jerusalem’s Christians.[18]
The Abbasid dynasty suffered from a Fatimid invasion which eventually brought about its downfall in the area. The strong Fatimid dynasty, which started out in Morocco, was able to extend its rule to Palestine and Syria under its Caliph Al-Zahir (976-996) and maintained control over the city for Y years.[19]
[1]Karen Armstrong, Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths (New York: Ballantine Books, 2005), 245
[2]Riad Yassin and Amjad Al-Fa’ouri, the Political and Cultural History of Jerusalem (Jordan: Dar Wael, 2012), 38
[3]Abdul Aziz Duri, “Jerusalem in the Early Islamic Period”, Jerusalem in History (2000): 112
[4]Aref Al-Aref, History of Jerusalem (Jerusalem: Al Andalus Library, 1999 fifth edition), 119-120
[6]Yaseen and Fa’ouri, the Political and Cultural History, 38
[7]Yaseen and Fa’ouri, the Political and Cultural History, 38 and Duri, “Jerusalem in the Early Islamic Period”, 112 and Armstrong, One City, Three Faiths, 253
[8]Yaseen and Fa’ouri, the Political and Cultural History, 38
[9]Duri, “Jerusalem in the Early Islamic Period”, 113
[10]Yaseen and Fa’ouri, the Political and Cultural History, 39
[11]Yaseen and Fa’ouri, the Political and Cultural History, 38 and Duri, “Jerusalem in the Early Islamic Period”, 112-113
[15]Teddy Kollek and Moshe Pearlman, Jerusalem: a History of Forty Centuries (New York: Random House, 1968), 165 and Armstrong, One City, Three Faiths, 254 and Al-Aref, History of Jerusalem, 125
