ERA DATES MAJOR EVENTS COMMENTS

Stone Age ~8000 BCE Archeological evidence for the first urbanization in a town
later known as Ariha (Jericho)
3200-2000 The first tribes who inhabited the area were the Canaanites
BCE (the land of Canaan). They were Arabic nomadic tribes who
migrated from Yemen. The Jebusites lived in Ursalem
Late Bronze (Jerusalem), and the Amorites and Phoenicians in the
Age mountains.

A group of people from the island of Crete and other areas in

the Mediterranean, named the Pelest, migrated to the coastal
areas and settled in that area which, with time became known
as land of Philistines.
Middle 2000 – 1550 Ibraheem (AS) migrated from Ur and settled in this holy and This is the first time that the land witnesses the
Bronze Age BCE blessed land. There, Ismaeel, Is’haq and later his son Ya’kub call for Tawheed according to the Islamic faith and
were all born. This happened while the Hyksos dynasty was creed. Ibraheem was a Muslim, not a Jew nor a
governing this area, and later also ruled Egypt. Christian. If the land of Canaan was promised to
Ibraheem and his descendants, then that will
Most likely, Adam first built Al-Kaa’ba, then after 40 years, he include all the Muslims who follow his tradition.
built Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa. Ibraheem and Ismaeel rebuilt Al-
Kaa’ba, and Ya’kub rebuilt Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa.

Ya’kub (aka Israeel), his 10 sons, and their families (~72) later
moved to live with Yusuf and Benyamin in Egypt. These
families formed the 12 tribes of Beny Israeel. They prospered
under the ruling of the Hyksos until the Pharaohs (starting
with Ahmose) returned to rule Egypt in 1550 BCE.
Israeel and his family leave Phalastine voluntarily
(due to the famine) but don’t return back when
the famine ended.

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Early Bronze 1550-1250 Pharaohs and the Egyptians tortured and enslaved the
Age BCE children of Israeel until the prophethood of Mussa (AS). Only
3-4 people of the Egyptians believed in Musa and his message.
Also, not all Beny Israeel believed and followed Musa, this is
despite the numerous (nine) miracles Mussa showed them.
Mussa and the believers of his people (around 10000) ended
up fleeing Egypt and were saved from Pharaoh (Ramses II) and
his army by another great miracle, the splitting of the sea.
Mussa (AS)
1250 BCE Mussa migrated with Beny Israeel towards the Holy land. They The people who lived in Philistine were
refused to enter it (despite being guaranteed victory over the Canaanites (regular people, not GIANTS).
Canaanites) and God punished them by making them wander
for 40 years in the wilderness (in Sinai). Harun, then Mussa
died during this time (1200 BCE)
Yusha’a (AS) 1190 BCE Under the leadership of Yusha’ Bn Nun (Joshua) they entered
Jericho (even during and after this miraculous victory, they
disobeyed God while entering the city)
These 300 years of slavery had a very negative
impact on the psyche/morale and behavior of
Beny Israeel including paganism (asking Musa to
make them a god, worshipping the golden calf),
cowardness, lying, betrayal, being humiliated and
subjugated...
The Jews REFUSED to enter Phalastine
Musa received the “tablets” (Torah) during this
time
This happened on a Friday and God stopped the
sun so that they can end the battle before sunset
(the beginning of Sabbath)

Within 150 years after the death of Yusha’, the Jews started
deviating and went astray from the teachings of Musa (despite
the presence of many consecutive prophets) until the
Canaanites were able to take over the land again and take
from them the Tabut (the Ark that contains the Tablets, the
clothes of Harun, the staff and clothes of Musa).

Talut and The Jews asked their prophet (Samuel) to appoint a king for
Jalut 1025 BCE them and he informed them that God has chosen Talut (?
Saul). They initially rejected him, then accepted him after
seeing the miracle of angels bringing the Ark back to them.
Talut, with only few of the Jews fought the Canaanites and
were victorious after young Dawud Killed Jalut (Goliath).
The Jews feel entitled to argue with their prophet
and reject God’s decision based on their own
perception (prophethood should come from the
descendent of Levi, and prophethood from Juda,
Talut was from the tribe of Benyamin, and was
not rich)

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Dawud (AS) 1004-963 Dawud (AS) becomes the first King and Prophet for the Jews, For the first time, the Jews are self-governing, and
BCE and established his kingdom in Phalastine (about 20000 Km2, the land is ruled by Islam (under the Judaic law)
which is 74% of the total land)
Suleiman(AS 963-923 Suleiman (AS) inherits from his father the kingship and Suleiman rebuilt Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa (IF he has built
) BCE prophethood and establishes the greatest kingdom ever the “first Temple, no one knows exactly where it
existed. was located)

After the death of Suleiman (AS), his kingdom got divided into
2 parts: Northern part named kingdom of Israel ruled and
inhabited by 10 tribes of Beny Israeel, and the Southern part
named Judea inhabited by the other 2 tribes (Juda and
Benyamin)
Assyrians 740 BCE The Assyrians invade the area and exile ALL Israelites (from the The Jews are exiled from Israel
10 tribes) from the kingdom of Israel (they are now known as
“the lost tribes of Israel). They did not do the same for Judea
Babylonians 732 BCE The Babylonians (Chaldean dynasty) defeat the Assyrians and The Jews consider him as their greatest enemy
take over Iraq and Palestine. The Jews tried to revolt against “destroyer of nations”, but also as God's
them but got defeated and in 587 BCE, and a total of 50,000 of instrument to punish the disobedient.
them were taken as slaves to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar II. During their exile in Babylon, the Jews started
He destroyed the whole city of UrShaleem including “the writing the Torah
temple of Solomon”. The Jews are exiled from Judea
Persians 539 BCE The Persians, led by Cyrus II (Koresh) defeat the Babylonians
(with the help of the Jews) and take over their land, including
Palestine. He allows the Jews to go back to Palestine. Only
42000 agreed and when they returned, they rebuilt their
“second temple”, and ruled a small area (~30 Km2)
GREEK 332-63 BCE The Greek, under the leadership of Alexander the Great
conquer the area (along with Egypt, Iraq and India)
Under the influence of the Greek, Judea was under the ruled
by the Seleucid Empire. Some of the Jews adopted the Greek
way even in their religious tradition and worshipped Zeus and
other Greek idols.
The Another group, under the leadership of Judah Maccabee, his

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Maccabees brothers and followers revolted against the Greek ruler
revolt (Antiochus) and were able to enter Jerusalem and liberate the
second temple in 168 BCE (the Jews commemorate this for 8
days during the Festival of Light or Hanukkah)
ROMAN 63 BCE – The Roman Empire started expanding and invaded Palestine.
EMPIRE 636 CE They abolished the small area ruled by the Jews.
One of the Roman leaders Herod I converted to Judaism and
got appointed by the Romans as “king of Judea/Jews”. In order
to gain favor with the Jews, he renovated and expanded the
building of the temple.

Zakaria (AS) During his reign, Zakaria and his son Yehya were sent as
and Yehya prophets to the Jews. Herod Antipas killed Yehya because he
(AS) did not allow him to marry his niece. He also murdered
Zakaria.
4 BCE In 4 BCE, before the death of Herod, Issa (AS) was
miraculously born by the virgin Mariam. The Jews did not
ISSA (AS) accept this miracle and accused Mariam of committing
fornication. Issa (AS) was sent as another prophet to Beny
Israeel. They also opposed the calling of Issa and did not
accept him as the Messiah. The delivered him to the Roman
ruler (Antipas) and pushed him to crucify him. Allah (SWT)
saved Issa from their plot, and he was elevated/ascended to
the heavens (awaiting his second coming before the end of
time).
Mattew 27:24-25: So when Pilate saw that he
could do nothing, but rather that a riot was
beginning, he took some water and washed his
hands before the crowd, saying “I am innocent of
this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” Then the
people as a whole answered, “his blood be on us
and on our children!” (also Acts 3:12-13)
The conflict between the Jews and Christians
begins by the Jews rejecting Jesus and being
accused of DEICIDE.

After the ascension of Issa (AS), the Jews and the Romans kept
on persecuting the early Christians. Among them was Saul The Jews are persecuting the Christians.
who, after a special vision/encounter with Jesus, accepted
Christianity, changed his name to Paul and roamed many cities
preaching and calling to his doctrine, that includes the promise
of salvation by accepting that Jesus was the son of God, sent
to die for the sins of humanity, the need to proselytize the

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 gentiles and abandon the laws of the Torah, among others..

Destruction Meanwhile, the Jews in Palestine were getting more organized

of 70 CE and powerful, so in 70 CE, Titus decided to invade Jerusalem
Jerusalem, and he destroyed the whole city, including the “second
the temple temple” (except for a portion of the western wall!) and exiled
and exile of most of the Jews and sold them as slaves in Rome.
the Jews
In 130 CE, another revolt was about to happen, so the roman
130 CE emperor destroyed the city again, renamed Urshalim as Aelia The Jews are exiled from Jerusalem.
and the land became known as Syria Palaestina, and built a
temple for Jupiter instead of the Temple. No Jew was allowed
to enter the city. The remainder of the Jews flew to other
areas.

Constantine 312 CE The Roman emperor Constantine converts to Christianity and

converts to makes it the official religion of the Roman Empire (while
Christianity embedding many of the pagan tradition into this new religion).
He presided over the Nicaea Council in 325 who declared that
Jesus is the son of God and that he has a divine nature. In later
councils, they also agreed on which books to include in the
“New Testament”.

Christianity started spreading and was accepted among those The Christians are persecuting the Jews
living in Palestine. Constantine’s mother visited the area and
built the Church of Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the Church on
Nativity in Beyt Lahm (Bethlehem), and other churches. He
also established a great city in Anatolia named after him
“Constantinople”.

In 395, the roman empire got divided into 2 parts, Western

(capital Rome, and Eastern (capital Constantinople), in 476, the
Eastern part took over the western part, and was known as the

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 Byzantine Empire.
The ISLAMIC 570 Mohammad (PBUH) is born in Makkah. From the very
ERA beginning of his prophethood, that started at age 40, he was
connected to Phalastine. This was clearly manifested by the
order to turn to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa during prayer (this
remained the case for 15 years of his prophethood); and his
actual visit to this place during his miraculous night journey Al-
Isra’a, and leading the prayer with ALL the prophets and
messengers there. This indicated that Islam is taking over and
abrogating all other religions, while preserving the honor and
the blessings of Al-Aqsa and its surroundings.
Facing Al-Aqsa as the first Qibla was “strange”
because Al-Kaabah is more honored, it was
actually present there, and Al-Aqsa was not used
as a Masjid and was not well known by the Arabs
at that time. But this is to demonstrate that 1) the
religion brought by Muhammad (PBUH) was a
continuation of a series of prophetic tradition that
started with Adam, and Al Quds was the center
for most of these messengers; and 2) to elevate
the rank and honor of this blessed and holy place
until the day of judgement.
The event of Al-Isra’ also confirmed the above.

In 614, the Persians invaded Palestine and defeated the The Jews help the Persians to kill the Christians.
Romans. They got help from the Jews. Many (60,000)
Christians were killed, and many churches were destroyed.
Within less than 10 years, the Romans were able to take back
the land and defeated the Persians and persecuted the Jews,
again. This was described and predicted in the Quran (sura Ar-
Roum)

Right before his death, the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was

preparing an army, under the leadership of Ussama Bn Zayd to
fight the Romans.
Abu Bakr 632-634 After the death of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Abu Bakr sent
the army of Ussama Bn Zayd, and spent about a year fighting
the apostates, then sent an army under the leadership of
Khaled Ibn Al-Waleed to fight the Persians.

At the same time, he recruited 4 armies to invade the Shaam

area (that includes Phalastine). these 4 armies were led by:
Yazeed Ibn Abisufyan, Shurahbeel Ibn Al-Hassanah, Abu
Obeida Ibn Al-Jarrah, and Amr Ibn Al-Aas. The progress of

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 these armies was minimal, so Abu Bakr decided to bring the
army of Khaled Ibn Al-Waleed for their support. The first major
battle the Muslims won against the Romans was in Ajnadeen
in Phalastine (in July 634). Soon after, Abu Bakr passed away
and was succeeded by Omar Ibn Khattab
Omar Ibn Al- 634-644 Omar made Obeida in charge of all the army. They defeated
Khattab the romans in Beessan, then opened Damascus after 4 months
of siege, then Baalbek, then Homs.
Hiraklios decided to prepare a strong army to defeat the
Muslims once and for all, so he recruited a total of 200,000
soldiers, and the Muslim army was only 36000.

The battle On August 12, 636 the famous battle of YARMUK occurred
of Yarmuk under the command of Khaled Ibn Al-Waleed. 130,000 of the
romans got killed and the 3000 of the Muslims were martyred.
This defeat led the Romans to withdraw their forces from As-
Sham.
Abu Obeida then divided his army to enter the rest of the
cities:
Yazeed and his brother Mu’aweyah Ibn Abisufyan for Syria and
Lebanon
Shurahbeel to Jordan
Abu Obeidah and Khaled to Homs
Amr Ibn Aas to Phalastine/Jerusalem

Amr opened many cities in Phalastine and when he went to Al-

Omar Quds he realized that the city is well fortified by a huge army,
receives the so he recalled the 3 armies back for support. Jerusalem was
keys of besieged for 4 months, then the Patriarch Sophronius agreed
Jerusalem to surrender, with the condition that he will submit the keys of
the city to Omar himself. Omar traveled from Medina with his
servant on one camel and in May 637 Jerusalem became
officially under the Islamic governance since then. Omar wrote
a covenant that describes the conditions of surrender and the

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 protection the Christians will receive (including their homes,
wealth, churches and crosses), and the Jews will leave the city The Jews are exiled from Jerusalem
(as requested by the Patriarch himself!). In return they pay
Jezya (tribute), one Dinar for only those who are capable of
fighting (much less than Zakat).
Omar prayed outside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
He cleaned masjid al Al-Aqsa and asked Bilal to make Athan.
In 639, 25000-30000 Muslims died because of the plague of
Amwass pandemic, among them were great Sahaba such as
Abu Obeida, Mu’ath Ibn Jabal and his son Abdul Rahman,
Yazeed, Shurhabeel, and Al-Fadl.

Many of the Sahaba lived in that area. What was also

remarkable was the fact that within a short period of time, the
inhabitants of this land accepted Islam and became Muslims.

Omar appointed Mu’awiyah Ibn Sufyan as the governor for all

the Shaam area.
Othman Ibn 644-655 Othman Kept Mu’awiyah in his position, as he was an excellent
Affan ruler and did not participate in the tribulations that occurred
in Medina and resulted in the killing of Othman
Ali Ibn Abi 656-660 Despite major issues including actual battles between Ali and
Taleb Mu’awiyah, the Shaam area remained well settled and
prosperous. In 660, after the martyrdom of Ali by Al-Khawarij,
his son Al-Hassan gave up the Khilafah to Mu’awiyah
Umayyad 661-750 Mu’awiyah established the capital of the Khilafa in Damascus. Islam spread greatly during this time, including to
dynasty He ruled As Shaam for 40 years. India, and Andalusia
When Abdul Malik Ibn Marwan took over, he built the Dome
of the Rock and renovated the Aqsa mosque. His son Al Walid
finalized the building, also built the great mosque in Damascus
Abbasid 750-1258 The Abbasid revolution overthrew the Umayyads and made
dynasty Baghdad their capital. Phalastine became naturally under their
rule without problem.