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Under the Rising Crescent: How and When Became the Middle...
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Under the Rising Crescent: How and When Became the Middle East an Islamic Region?

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2025) | Viewed by 1504

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Michael Ehrlich

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
Interests: conversion; Islamization; Islamication; pilgrimage; medieval urbanization and de-urbanization; battlefields' reconstruction; Arab and Muslim communities in Latin America
Dr. Amichay Schwartz

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Interests: medieval studies; Islamization; Crusaders

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

When the Muslims invaded Syria during the 630s and Northern Africa from the 640s onward, these areas included substantial Christian communities as well as other religions. From the Muslim conquest in the 630s onwards, the percentage of Muslims within the general population of these regions increased significantly. 

The Muslims aggressively promoted the conversion of the local population. They offered generous economic stimuli to convertees and fostered the immigration of Muslims to the recently occupied areas. Nevertheless, they tolerated monotheistic religions and enabled their survival under their regime. However, as time passed, an increasing percentage of the newly subjected population converted to Islam. 

The population conversion happened despite the fact that conquered elites, especially city dwellers across the region, considered the Muslim newcomers wild and untamed creatures. In these circumstances, the conversion of the local population was not the conquest's natural outcome. 

Islamication is the adoption of aspects of Islamic civilization by the conquered population.

Contemporary sources barely described Islamization (i.e., conversion to Islam). In normal circumstances, the population converted during a relatively long period and, therefore, chronicles either related isolated contemporary events or described them long after their occurrence. 

The same applies to modern research on this topic. Many studies have dealt with specific events or limited areas, but research that encapsulates Syria, Egypt, and al-Ifriqiyya does not exist.

This Special Issue strives to explore the reasons and mechanisms that led to this unexpected result. 

We propose the following topics, but we shall be delighted to accept other related subjects as well.

  • Change of regional capital cities;
  • The role of Muslim immigrants in the Islamization and Islamication of the local population;
  • Merchants as cultural agents;
  • The impact of the Muslim diet on non-Muslim cuisine;
  • Transformation of pilgrimage destinations;
  • Conversion of churches and synagogues into mosques;
  • The impact of the Muslim clothing code on non-Muslim communities;
  • Between Umayyad and Abbasid conversion policy

The deadline for abstract submissions (up to 250 words) is 31 October 2023.

Prof. Dr. Michael Ehrlich
Dr. Amichay Schwartz
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Islamization
  • Islamication
  • conversion
  • migration
  • Arabization
  • Syria
  • Palestine

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 4099 KiB  
Article
The Abrahamic Stand at Nabī Yaqin: The Conversion Process of Holy Place
by Amichay Schwartz
Religions 2025, 16(6), 791; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16060791 - 18 Jun 2025
Viewed by 521
Abstract
The site of Nabi Yaqin preserves an ancient tradition of Abraham’s prayer over Sodom. The landscape that stretches from the ridge of Nabi Yaqin facing east to the Dead Sea and the Jordan River serves as the backdrop for the formation of this [...] Read more.
The site of Nabi Yaqin preserves an ancient tradition of Abraham’s prayer over Sodom. The landscape that stretches from the ridge of Nabi Yaqin facing east to the Dead Sea and the Jordan River serves as the backdrop for the formation of this tradition. In this paper, we will show that the tradition regarding Abraham’s prayer apparently began during the Byzantine period as indicated by the writings of Egeria and St. Jerome. Although the exact location they identify cannot be determined from the sources, it seems that the region of Bani Na’im and Nabi Yaqin should be regarded as one space connected to the story of the destruction of Sodom. During the Middle Ages under Muslim rule Nabi Yaqin area became associated with Abraham’s prayer and a hollow in the ground at that location was marked as the place of his prayer. At a later stage, towards the end of the 17th century, two footprints were added to that socket. During the 18th and 19th centuries, an additional pair of footprints was added, which marked Lot’s prayer outside the compound. In Bani Na’im the neighboring village the burial place of the prophet Lot was identified. In fact, both sites are extensions of the story of the destruction of Sodom, with the former associated with its beginning and the latter with its end. We proposed that the process leading to these identifications was influenced by a site overlooking Lot’s Sea and Lot’s Cave, and the site itself became the burial place of Lot and the prayer site of Abraham. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Under the Rising Crescent: How and When Became the Middle East an Islamic Region?)
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22 pages, 262 KiB  
Article
Religion and Politics Among the Jewish Leadership of Early Medieval Palestine
by Tal Laufer
Religions 2025, 16(6), 783; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16060783 - 16 Jun 2025
Viewed by 384
Abstract
This article investigates how the Jewish leadership in early medieval Palestine employed religious elements to consolidate its power among Jewish communities across the Muslim world. It suggests that the Palestinian Academy in Jerusalem leveraged its location to enhance its authority. The first section [...] Read more.
This article investigates how the Jewish leadership in early medieval Palestine employed religious elements to consolidate its power among Jewish communities across the Muslim world. It suggests that the Palestinian Academy in Jerusalem leveraged its location to enhance its authority. The first section analyzes the 921/922 calendar dispute between the Palestinian and Babylonian Jewish centers. I argue that this ostensibly religious conflict was fundamentally a political struggle for leadership, demonstrating how religious authority was utilized for political gain. The second section examines the Hoshana Rabbah ceremony on the Mount of Olives, a key event presided over by the Palestinian Academy and its head, the Gaon. Taking place on the final day of Sukkot, this ceremony attracted Jewish pilgrims from across the Muslim world to Jerusalem. This part analyzes how the Palestinian Academy strategically employed this significant religious gathering—acknowledged even by rival Jewish centers—as a political demonstration to assert its leadership over the Jewish world. Furthermore, the analysis delves into the ceremony’s historical origins, the motivations behind its establishment, and its deep connection to Jerusalem. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Under the Rising Crescent: How and When Became the Middle East an Islamic Region?)
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