Umar
Caliph under whom Arab armies took Palestine and Syria from the Byzantine empire. Later Muslim and Christian historians say that he came in person to receive the surrender of Jerusalem and gave its people a pledge of safety.
Umar ibn al-Khattab led the Muslim community as “Commander of the Faithful”, the title he bears in the document that al-Tabari quotes as his guarantee to the people of Jerusalem (al-Tabari, History I, pp. 2405–2406). The Byzantine chronicler Theophanes, who calls him the leader of the Arabs, says that he took the city by agreement after a two-year siege, entered it in dirty garments of camel hair, and in the same year subjected all Syria (Theophanes, Chronicle AM 6127 (p. 339)).
Theophanes records that he was stabbed to death at prayer by a Persian after ruling for twelve years, in November of the year of the world 6137, which is AD 644 (Theophanes, Chronicle AM 6137 (p. 343)).
In the timeline
- AD 637/638, estimated dateJerusalem Surrenders to the Caliph Umar
Later Christian and Muslim historians tell how Jerusalem, after a siege, was yielded on terms to the caliph Umar; the Christian account names the patriarch Sophronius. One Muslim historian quotes the written guarantee given to its people and churches.