The Muslim conquest of Palestine is difficult to reconstruct, according to the historian Dominique Sourdel.^[2] It is generally agreed that the Qurayshite commander Amr ibn al-As was sent to conquer the area by Caliph Abu Bakr,^[3][4] likely in 633.^[4] Amr traversed the Red Sea coast of the Hejaz (western Arabia), reached the port town of Ayla at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba, then crossed into the Negev Desert or further west into the Sinai Peninsula. He then arrived to the villages of Dathin and Badan near Gaza, where he entered negotiations with the Byzantine garrison commander. The talks collapsed and the Muslims bested the Byzantines in the subsequent clash at Dathin in February or March 634.^[2][3] At this stage of the conquest Amr's troops encamped at Ghamr al-Arabat in the middle of the Araba Valley between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba.^[3] The town of Gaza was left alone, with Amr's primary objective at the time being the subjugation of the Arab tribes in the vicinity.^[5]

After the Muslim armies led by Khalid ibn al-Walid captured Bosra in the Hauran in May 634 they crossed the Jordan River to reinforce Amr as he faced a large Byzantine army. In the ensuing Battle of Ajnadayn, fought at a site 25 kilometers (16 mi) southwest of Jerusalem in July or August, the Muslims under Amr's overall command routed the Byzantines.^[6] In the aftermath of Ajnadayn, Amr captured the towns of Sebastia, Nablus, Lydda, Yibna, Amwas, Bayt Jibrin and Jaffa.^[7] Most of these towns fell after minor resistance, hence the scant information available about them in the sources.^[8]

Following the decisive Muslim victory against the Byzantines at the Battle of Yarmouk (636), fought along the Yarmouk tributary of the Jordan River east of Palestine, Amr besieged Jerusalem, which held out until the arrival of Caliph Umar, to whom Jerusalem's leaders surrendered in 637.^[9] The coastal towns of Gaza, Ascalon and Caesarea had continued to hold out. The commander Alqama ibn Mujazziz may have been sent against Byzantine forces in Gaza several times during and after Ajnadayn.^[10] Amr launched his conquest of Egypt from Jerusalem c. 640.^[11] Caesarea was besieged for a lengthy period and captured most likely by Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan in 639, 640 or 641.^[8] Not long after, Mu'awiya captured Ascalon, completing the conquest of Palestine,^[9] most of which had been undertaken by Amr.^[4]

Filastin became one of the four original junds (military districts) of al-Sham (Islamic Syria) established by Caliph Umar.^[12] In effect, the Muslims maintained the preexisting administrative organization of the Byzantine district of Palaestina Prima.^[9]

Umayyad rule (661–750) was a relatively prosperous period for Filastin and the Umayyad caliphs invested considerably in the district's development.^[13] According to Sourdel, "Palestine was particularly honoured in the Umayyad period".^[9] The first Umayyad caliph, Mu'awiya, who held overall authority over Syria, including Palestine, from the time of Caliph Uthman (r. 644–656), was first recognized as caliph in a ceremony in Jerusalem.^[9]

The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) built and repaired roads connecting the Umayyad capital at Damascus with Palestine and roads connecting Jerusalem to its eastern and western hinterlands, as evidenced by seven milestones found throughout the region,^[14][15] the oldest of which dates to May 692 and the latest to September 704.^[17] The milestones, all containing inscriptions crediting Abd al-Malik for the road works, were found, from north to south, in or near Fiq, Samakh, St. George's Monastery of Wadi Qelt, Khan al-Hathrura, Bab al-Wad and Abu Ghosh. The milestone found in Samakh dates to 692, the two milestones at Fiq both date to 704 and the remaining milestones are undated.^[18] The fragment of an eighth milestone, likely produced soon after Abd al-Malik's death, was found at Ein Hemed, immediately west of Abu Ghosh.^[19] The road project formed part of Abd al-Malik's centralization drive, special attention being paid to Palestine due to its critical position as a transit zone between Syria and Egypt and Jerusalem's religious centrality to the caliph.^[20][21]

In 685/86 or 688, Abd al-Malik began the construction of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Its dedication inscription mentions the year 691/92, which most scholars agree is the completion date of the building.^[23] It is the earliest archaeologically attested religious structure to be built by a Muslim ruler and the building's inscriptions contain the earliest epigraphic proclamations of Islam and of Muhammad.^[25] He is also credited with constructing the adjacent Dome of the Chain, expanding the boundaries of the Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif) to include the Foundation Stone around which the Dome of the Rock was built and building two gates of the Temple Mount (possibly the Mercy Gate and the Prophet's Gate).^[27]

Abd al-Malik appointed his son Sulayman as governor of Palestine and he served through the reign of Abd al-Malik's successor, his other son al-Walid I (r. 705–715).^[29] Sulayman founded the city of Ramla during this period and it became the administrative capital of Palestine until the Crusades, though Jerusalem remained the religious focal point of the region.^[30][31] Al-Walid continued his father's works on the Temple Mount, fouding the al-Aqsa Mosque, and was the likely patron of the unfinished administrative and residential structures located along the southern and eastern walls of the Temple Mount.^[32] While Sulayman also built in Jerusalem, patronizing the construction of a bathhouse, he focused his attention on Ramla, building a palace, the White Mosque, and an acqueduct; from early on, Ramla commercially superseded its twin city of Lydda and developed into a market town for the agricultural output of its countryside and hub for weaving, dyeing, and pottery, and later for religious scholarship.^[34] In Jericho, Sulayman built arches, mills and gardens, but these were destroyed by floods during a later period.^[35] Sulayman succeeded al-Walid I but unlike his predecessors who ruled from Damascus, Sulayman ruled from his seat in Palestine where he had his support base.^[36]

On the other hand, a change in the Syrian policy during the Abbasid period resulted in an overall decline in the region. The Levant was now further from the seat of authority as the capital relocated from Damascus to Baghdad. The new policy preferred Iraq over the Levant due to suspicion of the local Muslim population's loyalty, as they strongly identified with the Abbasid's rivals, the former Umayyad dynasty. Moreover, the Abbasids promoted trade with eastern lands such as Tang China and the Kingdoms of India. This led to neglect, political unrest, and occasionally local rebellions, one of which is the Al-Mubarqa. A process of urban decline is believed to had been accelerated by the 749 earthquake, which increased the number of Jews, Christians, and Samaritans who migrated to diaspora settlements while also leaving behind others who stayed in the devastated towns and impoverished villages until they embraced Islam.^[37]

Two separate gradual demographic processes—cultural Arabization and religious Islamization—were initiated after the Islamic conquest.^[41] It is believed that the settlements of Arabians, both before and after the Muslim conquest contributed at least partially to the pace of Arabization and Islamization.^{[42][43][44][45]} The principal Arabian tribes which inhabited Filastin and formed its army were the Lakhm, Judham, Kinana, Khath'am, Khuza'a, and Azd Sarat.^[46] However, the inhabitants of Palestine did not become predominantly Muslim and Arab in identity until several centuries after the conquest^[38] with full Arabization achieved by the 9th century, and mass-Islamization not until the Mamluk period.^[47]

At the time of the Muslim conquest, Jewish communities were present within the territory of Jund Filastin, concentrated particularly in coastal urban centres such as Caesarea, Gaza, and Ascalon, as well as in Jerusalem; the denser Jewish populations of the Galilee fell primarily within the neighbouring district of Jund al-Urdunn. Like Christians and Samaritans, Jews were accorded dhimmī status under the new Muslim administration, granting communal autonomy in religious and juridical affairs in exchange for the payment of the jizya poll tax and formal political subordination.^{[citation needed]} The Muslim conquest lifted the Byzantine prohibition on Jewish residence in Jerusalem, which had been in force since the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–136 CE. Documentary evidence from the Cairo Geniza, analysed extensively by S. D. Goitein and Moshe Gil, attests to Jewish commercial and communal activity in Ramla and other towns of the district throughout the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid periods, and the Palestinian Gaonate — the principal rabbinic academy of medieval Palestine — was seated in Jerusalem by the mid-tenth century.^[48]

Samaria was one of the first regions in Palestine to undergo a process of mass-conversions prior to the First Crusade. It was predominantly Samaritan and Christian during the Byzantine period, but during the early Islamic period, particularly under Abbasid and Tulunid rule, Samaria was gradually Islamized through the conversions of an indefinite yet large number of Samaritans as a result of religious persecution, high taxation, droughts, and warring, as well as migration by Arabian tribes.^[47] By the end of the 10th century, the rural Samaritan population had "disappeared," and the remaining Samaritans had concentrated in urban areas, with Nablus serving as a major center, but there was also a Samaritan diaspora, establishing communities in Caesarea and Askhelon, and even beyond Palestine in Levantine cities such as Aleppo, Damascus, and Sarepta.^{[49][50][40][51]}