Historical Timeline of Israel

beginning with Mohammed

Mohammed was born about AD 570 and died in AD 632. At the time of his death all of Arabia had become Islamic. The incredible speed with which the new religion could have conquered a vast empire, within a century, has always baffeled Western Man. It began 2 years after the death of Mohammed, in AD 634, with the Byzantine Empire: AD 637, Babylonia: AD 642, Egypt: AD 643, Libya: AD650, Persia and by AD 711 the Mohammedans had crushed the Visgoth Kingdom in Spain. In AD 750 they controlled everything from Southern Spain to Persia, including what was called Palestine (Israel).

By the end of the fourth century, following Emperor Constantine's adoption of Christianity (313) and the founding of the Byzantine Empire, the Land of Israel had become a predominantly Christian country. Churches were built on Christian Holy sites in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Galilee and Monasteries were established in many parts of the country. The Jews were deprived of their former relative autonomy, as well as their right to hold public positions and could only enter Jerusalem one day a year. (There are some who say that when Constantine was converted to Christianity, during the war to re-unite the three parts of the Roman empire into one, he took over the church and, in order to get the pagens to convert he brought, not only, their priest into the church but much of their pagen worship. According to some historians, about 300 years later when Mohammed burst upon the scene, both the Christian and Jewish religions had become very corrupted. That may have been where he learned his form of the Laws of God).
The Persion invasion of AD 614 was welcomed and even aided by the Jews, who were inspired by Messianic hopes of deliverance. (Jews still looking) In graditude for their help, they were granted the administration of Jerusalem, an interlude which only lasted about 3 years before the Byzantine Army regained controll of the city and again expelled its Jewish population.
The Arab conquest of the land came 4 years after the death of Mohammed and lasted more than 4 centuries with Caliphs ruling first from Damascus, then from Baghdad and Egypt. The Jewish Community was granted permission to live under "protection", the customary status of non-Muslems under Islamic rule. Increasing social and economic discrimination forced many Jews to leave the country. By the end of the 11th century, the Jewish Community in the land had diminished considerably and has lost most of its organizational and religious cohesiveness.

On the site of the first (Solomon) and second (Ezra and Nehemiah)Jewish Temples the Mosque "Dome of the Rock" was built in AD 691 by Caliph Abd el-Malik and still stands there today. Does that mosque, standing on the site of the former Jewish Holy Place, give the followers of Mohammed the right to claim "The Land of Canaan" as their own? Stay tuned, more later. - William

Much of the above was taken from the "Historical Timeline of Israel" by Contender Ministries.