Siege of Jerusalem ( 637 ) The Siege of Jerusalem was part of a military conflict which took place in the year 637 between the Byzantine Empire and the Rashidun Caliphate . It began when the Rashidun army , under the command of Abu Ubaidah , besieged Jerusalem in November 636 . After six months , the Patriarch Sophronius agreed to surrender , on condition that he submit only to the Rashidun caliph . In April 637 , Caliph Umar traveled to Jerusalem in person to receive the submission of the city . The Muslim conquest of the city solidified the Arab control over Palestine , control which would not again be threatened until the First Crusade in the late 11th century . Thus , it came to be regarded as a holy site by Islam , as well as by Christianity and Judaism . This stabilized control of " Palestina Prima " . In 613 , the Jewish revolt against the Byzantine Heraclius culminated with the conquest of Jerusalem in 614 by Persian and Jewish forces and establishment of Jewish autonomy . The revolt ended with the departure of the Persians and an eventual massacre of the Jews in 629 by the Byzantines ending 15 years of Jewish autonomy . Following the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem , Jews were once again allowed to live and practice their religion with more freedom in Jerusalem , 8 years after their massacre by the Byzantines and nearly 500 years after their expulsion from Judea by the Roman Empire although the ensuing Pact of Umar , traditionally attributed to then Caliph Umar ibn al - Khattab , implemented a series of restrictive measures on residents living under the occupation of the Rashidun Caliphate , greatly limiting Non - Muslim autonomy . Prelude . Jerusalem was an important city of the Byzantine province of " Palestina Prima " . Just 23 years prior to the Muslim conquest , in 614 , it fell to an invading Sassanid army under Shahrbaraz during the last of the Byzantine - Sassanid Wars . The Persians looted the city , and are said to have massacred its 90 , 000 Christian inhabitants . As part of the looting , the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was destroyed and the True Cross captured and taken to Ctesiphon as a battle - captured holy relic . The Cross was later returned to Jerusalem by Emperor Heraclius after his final victory against the Persians in 628 . It was believed that the Jews , who were persecuted in their Roman - controlled homeland , had aided the Persians . After the death of Muhammad in 632 , Muslim leadership passed to Caliph Abu Bakr following a series of campaigns known as the Ridda Wars . Once Abu Bakr ' s sovereignty over Arabia had been secured , he initiated a war of conquest in the east by invading Iraq , then a province of the Sassanid Persian Empire ; while on the western front , his armies invaded the Byzantine Empire . In 634 , Abu Bakr died and was succeeded by Umar , who continued his own war of conquest . In May 636 , Emperor Heraclius launched a major expedition to regain the lost territory , but his army was defeated decisively at the Battle of Yarmouk in August 636 . Thereafter , Abu Ubaidah , the Muslim commander - in - chief of the Rashidun army in Syria , held a council of war in early October 636 to discuss future plans . Opinions of objectives varied between the coastal city of Caesarea and Jerusalem . Abu Ubaidah could see the importance of both these cities , which had resisted all Muslim attempts at capture . Unable to decide on the matter , he wrote to Caliph Umar for instructions . In his reply , the caliph ordered them to capture the latter . Accordingly , Abu Ubaidah marched towards Jerusalem from Jabiya , with Khalid ibn Walid and his mobile guard leading the advance . The Muslims arrived at Jerusalem around early November , and the Byzantine garrison withdrew into the fortified city . Siege . Jerusalem had been well - fortified after Heraclius recaptured it from the Persians . After the Byzantine defeat at Yarmouk , the Patriarch of Jerusalem Sophronius repaired its defenses . The Muslims had so far not attempted any siege of the city . However , since 634 , Saracen forces had the potential to threaten all routes to the city . Although it was not encircled , it had been in a state of siege since the Muslims captured the neighboring forts of Pella and Bosra . After the Battle of Yarmouk , the city was severed from the rest of Syria , and was presumably being prepared for a siege that seemed inevitable . When the Muslim army reached Jericho , Sophronius collected all the holy relics including the True Cross , and secretly sent them to the coast , to be taken to Constantinople . The Muslim troops besieged the city some time in November 636 . Instead of relentless assaults on the city , they decided to press on with the siege until the Byzantines ran short of supplies and a bloodless surrender could be negotiated . Although details of the siege were not recorded , it appeared to be bloodless . The Byzantine garrison could not expect any help from the humbled regime of Heraclius . After a siege of four months , Sophronius offered to surrender the city and pay a jizya ( " tribute " ) , on condition that the caliph came to Jerusalem to sign the pact and accept the surrender . It is said that when Sophronius ' s terms became known to the Muslims , Shurahbil ibn Hassana , one of the Muslim commanders , suggested that instead of waiting for the caliph to come all the way from Madinah , Khalid ibn Walid should be sent forward as the caliph , as he was very similar in appearance to Umar . The subterfuge did not work . Possibly , Khalid was too famous in Syria , or there may have been Christian Arabs in the city who had visited Madinah and had seen both Umar and Khalid , remembering the differences . Consequently , the Patriarch of Jerusalem refused to negotiate . When Khalid reported the failure of this mission , Abu Ubaidah wrote to caliph Umar about the situation , and invited him to come to Jerusalem to accept the surrender of the city . Surrender . In early April 637 , Umar arrived in Palestine and went first to Jabiya , where he was received by Abu Ubaidah , Khalid , and Yazid , who had traveled with an escort to receive him . Amr was left as commander of the besieging Muslim army . Upon Umar ' s arrival in Jerusalem , a pact known as The Umariyya Covenant was composed . It surrendered the city and gave guarantees of civil and religious liberty to Christians in exchange for jizya . It was signed by caliph Umar on behalf of the Muslims , and witnessed by Khalid , Amr , Abdur Rahman bin Awf , and Muawiyah . In late April 637 , Jerusalem was officially surrendered to the caliph . For the first time , after almost 500 years of oppressive Roman rule , Jews were once again allowed to live and worship inside Jerusalem . It has been recorded in the annals of Muslim chronicles , that at the time of the Zuhr prayers , Sophronius invited Umar to pray in the rebuilt Church of the Holy Sepulchre . Umar declined , fearing that accepting the invitation might endanger the church ' s status as a Christian temple , and that Muslims might break the treaty and turn the temple into a mosque . After staying for ten days in Jerusalem , the caliph returned to Medina . Aftermath . Following the Caliph ' s instructions , Yazid proceeded to Caesarea , and once again laid siege to the port city . Amr and Shurahbil marched to complete the occupation of Palestine , a task that was completed by the end of the year . Caesarea , however , could not be taken until 640 , when at last , the garrison surrendered to Muawiyah I , then a governor of Syria . With an army of 17 , 000 men , Abu Ubaidah and Khalid set off from Jerusalem to conquer all of northern Syria . This ended with the conquest of Antioch in late 637 . In 639 , the Muslims invaded and conquered Egypt . During his stay in Jerusalem , Umar was led by Sophronius to various holy sites , including the Temple Mount . Seeing the poor state of where the Temple once stood , Umar ordered the area cleared of refuse and debris before having a wooden mosque built on the site . The earliest account of such a structure is given by the Gallic bishop Arculf , who visited Jerusalem between 679 and 682 , and describes a very primitive house of prayer able to accommodate up to 3 , 000 worshippers , constructed of wooden beams and boards over pre - existing ruins . More than half a century after the capture of Jerusalem , in 691 , the Umayyad caliph Abd al - Malik commissioned the construction of the Dome of the Rock over a large outcropping of bedrock on the Temple Mount . The 10th - century historian al - Muqaddasi wrote that Abd al - Malik built the shrine in order to compete in grandeur with the city ' s Christian churches . Whatever the intention , the impressive splendor and scale of the shrine is seen as having helped significantly in solidifying the attachment of Jerusalem to the early Muslim faith . Over the next 400 years , the city ' s prominence diminished as Saracen powers in the region jockeyed for control . Jerusalem remained under Muslim rule until it was captured by Crusaders in 1099 during the First Crusade .