Islam in Palestine

rdf:langString Islam in Palestine

rdf:langString Islam is a major religion in Palestine, being the religion of the majority of the Palestinian population. Muslims comprise 85% of the population of the West Bank, when including Israeli settlers, and 99% of the population of the Gaza Strip. The largest denomination among Palestinian Muslims are Sunnis, compromising 98-99% of the total Muslim population. Palestine underwent many demographic upheavals throughout history. By the 4th century, the Jews, who had formerly constituted a majority in Palestine, had become a minority. The Jewish population in Jerusalem and its environs in Judea suffered a heavy blow during the Jewish-Roman Wars (66-135 CE) that was never fully recovered. In the following centuries, many Jews emigrated to thriving centers in the diaspora. Others continued living in the region, especially in the Galilee and the coastal plain, and some converted to Christianity. Later, the failure of the Samaritan revolts against the Byzantines (484–573 CE) resulted in the decline of the Samaritan population. The conversion of local populations, along with the immigration of Christians, led to the creation of a Christian majority in Late Roman and Byzantine Palestine. In the 7th century, the Arab Rashiduns conquered the Levant; they were later succeeded by other Arabic-speaking Muslim dynasties, including the Umayyads, Abbasids and the Fatimids. Over time, much of the existing population of Palestine adopted Arab culture and language, and converted to Islam. Although minor in size, the settlement of Arabs is also thought to have played a role in accelerating the Islamization process. Changes in social structure and the weakening of the local Christian authorities caused by the process of deurbanization under Islamic rule are also seen as a major factor. Some scholars suggest that by the arrival of the Crusaders, Palestine was already overwhelmingly Muslim, while others claim that it was only after the Crusades that Christianity lost its majority, and that the process of mass Islamization took place much later, perhaps during the Mamluk period.