Jerusalem is one of those unique cities about which hundreds of pages have been written. Numerous scientific works by historians and archaeologists have been dedicated to it, famous travelers and anonymous pilgrims left their notes on the Holy City for posterity. Huge libraries of literature on Jerusalem exist in Arabic and Hebrew.
Jerusalem is the holy centre of Christianity, the main holy city in the Jewish religion, and the most important shrines of Islam. The centuries-old destiny of the Holy City is an attractive spiritual symbol for many generations of believers of the three monotheistic religions.
Many ancient cities – the same age or contemporaries of Jerusalem, capitals of great and powerful empires – have turned into ruins and ashes, and information about them has been preserved only thanks to the efforts of archaeologists and historians. But Jerusalem, after forty sieges, conquests and destructions, has been reborn and restored each time.
The roots of the sacred history of Jerusalem go back to ancient times. Its transformation into the capital of the Kingdom of Israel and the main cult city of the ancient Israelites is known only from the texts of the Old Testament. The establishment of Jerusalem as a holy city of Christianity in the IV century B.C. took place during the period when the city was part of the Roman Empire.
The Arab conquest in the VII century established Islam in Jerusalem, which by the beginning of the XVI century, when Jerusalem had become part of the Ottoman Empire, already defined the face of the city and was the dominant religion in it. With the arrival of Islam in Jerusalem, the coexistence of the three confessional communities in the city was consolidated for many centuries, interrupted only during the Crusader period, when Muslims and Jews were expelled from the city.
Jerusalem called Al-Quds (Arabic for holy) since 798. This happened after Abbasid Caliph Al-Ma’mun visited the city and ordered the renovation of the Dome of the Rock Mosque. The grandiose construction of this Muslim shrine on the Temple Mount began during the Umayyad rule, a century earlier. The Dome of the Rock has survived to this day in all the splendor of its original design.
The Holy City acquired special significance in Islam at the very early stage of its formation. The night journey of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ played an important role in establishing Jerusalem as the third Holy City of Islam after Mecca and Medina. It is narrated in the 17th surah of the Quran, Al-Israh. Miraj, the miraculous journey of the Prophet ﷺ to Al-Quds, is associated with the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine of Muslims after the Al-Haram Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina.
Al-Aqsa reminds us how the traditions of three religions are intricately intertwined in the Holy City. One of the niches in the mosque hall is dedicated to Prophet Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist. There is also a place that Muslims associate with the Annunciation to Virgin Mary. Muslim pilgrims have long descended into the underground part of the mosque to light a lamp at the place where Maryam gave birth to Isa (PBUH) and where his cradle supposedly stood.
With the construction of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa, the tradition of Muslim pilgrimage to Al-Quds became widespread, and gifts and donations from wealthy followers of Islam helped the city grow. It is important to note that the Arab invasion of Palestine was not accompanied by the forced conversion of the local population to Islam. The inhabitants of Jerusalem managed to conclude a treaty with the conquerors that guaranteed their inviolability. The text of the treaty is preserved in extant Arabic sources.
The sad outcome of the Crusaders’ brutal anti-Muslim rule was Muslim hostility towards Christians. Salah al-Din, a Muslim leader of the XII century, entered Jerusalem under the banner of holy war against the foreigners. The Crusaders had desecrated the holy sites in Al-Quds, so Salah al-Din and his companions set out first to cleanse the Temple Mount and restore the Islamic shrines there.
In the XVI century, Al-Quds became part of the Ottoman Empire for the next four centuries. The most favorable period for the city under Turkish rule was the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent – no other Turkish ruler paid so much attention to the city and invested so much in it. Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt the city walls, which have been the hallmark of the Holy City worldwide for the fifth century.
Among Suleiman the Magnificent’s other construction projects in Jerusalem was the development of a site in front of the remains of the masonry wall of the ancient Jewish sanctuary on the Temple Mount, where Jews liked to gather. Jewish legend states that before Suleiman the Magnificent came to Jerusalem, no one knew the site on which the temple stood.
Another legend claims that the Sultan had no intention of favoring Jerusalem at all. On the contrary, he imposed exorbitant taxes on the citizens, but one day Suleiman had a dream that he was attacked by ravenous lions on the banks of the Jordan and torn to pieces. The sultan’s sages interpreted the mysterious vision as a warning against the fulfillment of the planned evil, since Jerusalem had always been the Holy City for the Almighty Allah.
Perhaps this is the secret of Jerusalem’s longevity, its extraordinary resilience in the steepest turns of history - everyone who enters this city experiences its extraordinary aura, despite a series of bloody and destructive wars and conflicts. For centuries, Jews, Christians and Muslims have argued among themselves over who owns Jerusalem.
The dispute is not over today, and there is no end in sight. The intricacies of the contemporary Palestinian-Israeli conflict reflect the struggle between Jews and Arabs over Jerusalem and Palestine over the past hundred years. Even a brief look at the medieval history of coexistence between Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem shows many examples of good neighborliness and mutual understanding.
It is impossible to blame Israel or the Palestinians alone for the continuation of a decades-long conflict. Neither aggression nor terrorism has national or religious affiliation. There were people in both camps who called for seeking cooperation and understanding, but their voices were drowned in waves of nationalist resentment and religious fanaticism.
At the same time, we cannot but recognize that other world powers, in pursuit of their own interests, have for many years added fuel to the flames of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, no matter how much oppression and persecution the successive rulers of Jerusalem have subjected foreigners to, at all times and in all eras, the city’s undying holy halo has again and again called on believers to rebuild destroyed temples and return to ancient traditions.
Through its tragic history and dramatic role in the fate of the three monotheistic religions, Jerusalem has earned a special place in the history of human civilizations. It can rightly be considered the heritage of all humankind. Israelis and Palestinians are destined by providence to be custodians of this great city, to develop and protect it. All immediate political and ideological considerations pale before this historic mission.
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