The Sasanians take control of Palestine and Jerusalem from 614 to 628 CE, but the Byzantines take it back in 628. The Sasanians allow the Jews to come back to Jerusalem, but when the Byzantines retake the city they end up massacring many of the Jews. The Muslim Caliph Umar takes over Jerusalem in 638 CE. At first he does not allow the Jewish population to return, at the request of the Christians, but later he changes his stance and the Jews slowly come back.
The prophet Muhammad was illiterate, and Muslims say that this is proof that what he wrote down was truly the word of God coming out of him. After he died, there was no heir apparent. Caliphs were established to lead the Islamic community. Abu Bakr was his closest friend and was the first Caliph. Umar was the second and then followed by Uthman. After Uthman, islam split into two sects. The supporters of Ali were kinship based and were called shi’ites, while the supporters of Mu’awiya were tradition based and were called sunnis. The Qibla is the direction of prayer and the Mihrab is the niche pointing the direction of prayer. Mecca becomes the most holy of all places for Islam, but Jerusalem is in the top three. The Dome of the Rock is completed in 691 CE.
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