History of Hebron

d took Jerusalem. The Jews were not permitted to reside in Hebron under Byzantine rule. The sanctuary itself however was spared by the Persians, in deference to the Jews who were numerous in the Sassanid army.

Islamic era

Hebron was one of the last cities of Palestina Prima to fall to the Islamic invasion in the 7th century, possibly the reason why Hebron is not mentioned in any traditions of the Arab conquest. After the fall of the city, Jerusalem's conqueror, Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab permitted the Jews to return and allowed them to construct a small synagogue within the Herodian precinct. When the Rashidun Caliphate established rule over Hebron in 638, they converted the Byzantine church at the site of Abraham's tomb into a mosque. It became an important station on the caravan trading route from Egypt, and also as a way-station for pilgrims making the yearly hajj from Damascus. Trade greatly expanded, in particular with Bedouins in the Negev (al-Naqab) and the population to the east of the Dead Sea (Baḥr Lūṭ). According to Anton Kisa, Jews from Hebron (and Tyre) founded the Venetian glass-industry in the 9th century. Islam did not view the town significant before the 10th-century, it being almost absent in Muslim literature of the period. Jerusalemite geographer al-Muqaddasi, writing in 985 described the town as follows:

'Habra (Hebron) is the village of Abraham al-Khalil (the Friend of God)...Within it is a strong fortress...being of enormous squared stones. In the middle of this stands a dome of stone, built in Islamic times, over the sepulchre of Abraham. The tomb of Isaac lies forward, in the main building of the mosque, the tomb of Jacob to the rear; facing each prophet lies his wife. The enclosure has been converted into a mosque, and built around it are rest houses for the pilgrims, so that they adjoin the main edifice on all