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Absorption of Islamic Christians under Mu’awiyah


TBD

As for Jerusalem's being an Arab capital - the closest it ever came to that status was during the caliphate of of Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwan (685-705). During his reign, while the anti-caliph Abdullah Ibn Zubayr briefly controlled Mecca, Ibn Marwan forbade Moslem pilgrims to go to Mecca, declared the Rock of the Foundation to have been Mohammed's takeoff point on his flight to Heaven, built the Dome of the Rock over it, and made Jerusalem his seat till Ibn Zubayr was defeated in 692 (I)

In Sebeos Chapter 30, It is interesting to note that the word Hagarene and Ishmaelite are used in the same chapter and may not refer to the exactly same group of people. Also there is a connection drawn between the Ishmaelite usurpation of the "Temple on the Holy of Holies" (Dome of the Rock) and Jewish rebels plans to exact revenge on the Christians. This would lead one to think that it was the Christians, not the Muslims, who frustrated the Jewish design. Further evidence that the Dome of the Rock is a shrine built by Muslims for Christians is the wording of the inscriptions on the Dome of the Rock which although prefaced with "to the People of the Book" deal almost exclusive with doctrinal issues that would concern Christians. Even more interesting is the wording of the "incident of the pigs" that follows. If read carefully, it seems to indicate that the incident happened in a common house of prayer that was used by both Jews and Muslims –the Al-Aqsa mosque. This is supported by archaeological research6 which seems to 6 Temple Mount Excavations, B. Mazar, indicate the small Jewish community located outside the southern end of the Temple Mount had direct access to the Al-Aqsa mosque. A synagogue was found in the south western corner of the residential complex that had the unusual characteristic being oriented towards Mecca – not the Temple Mount.

An interesting midrash sheds light on these years:

Israel (=Yaakov ='Kab Ahbar?) will say to the king of the Arabs ('Umar?), "Take silver and gold and leave the Temple." The king of the Arabs will say, "You have nothing to do with this Temple. However, if you want, choose a sacrifice as you did in the past, and we will also offer a sacrifice, and with the one whose sacrifice is accepted, we will all become one people."
The Jewish people will offer theirs, but it will not be accepted because the Satan will lay charges against them before The Holy One, Blessed is He. The descendents of Keder will offer theirs, and it will be accepted...
At that time, the Arabs will say to Israel, "Come and believe in our faith," but Israel will answer, "We will kill or be killed, but we will not deny our belief!" At that time, swords will be drawn, bows will be strung and arrows will be sent, and many will fall.[1]

The acquisition of large numbers of Christian subjects (and converts) made the privileged position of the Islamic Jews and their leaders untenable, resulting in a conflict over the construction of Temple and the deposition of the reigning militant Exilarch in favor of academic Bostanoi (coincident with many royal privileges on the new Exilarch and the Rabbinic academies). During the ensuing civil war the Islamic Jews backed the loosing side.

Jewish nationalism, more than Jewish messianism, drove Judeo-Islamic politics. It led the Jews in search of a leader, and led an Exilarch to overreach his power and seek confrontation with the Christians. The increasing numbers of Christian converts to Islam led to the reduction of both the power and privileges of the Exilarchate. Caliph 'Umar is seen in this context as simply trying to keep war from breaking out, trying to prevent another catastrophe similar to what lead to the sack of Jerusalem in 614 and the turn of the war against the Persians. For this reason both Caliph 'Umar and later Caliph 'Ali supported a double strategy of distancing the militant extremists and heaping great honors on the non-militant Rabbinical academies, declaring Rabbinic Judaism the only authorized form of Judaism within the growing Islamic empire, leaving the dethroned Islamic Jewish leaders like Abu-Issa and Yugdan to fade into mysticism.

References

  1. Sefer Eliyahu, Pirkei Moshiach, p. 236