Editing History of the ancient Levant (section)

==Muslim conquest and period==
Eastern Roman control over the Levant lasted until 636 when [[Arabs|Arab]] armies [[Muslim conquest of the Levant|conquered the Levant]], after which it became a part of the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] and was known as [[Bilad al-Sham|Bilād ash-Shām]].

Under the [[Umayyad dynasty|Umayyads]], the capital was moved to [[Damascus]]. However, the Levant did not experience wide-scale Arabian tribal settlement unlike in [[Lower Mesopotamia|Iraq]], where the focus of Arabian tribal migration was. Archaeological and historical evidence strongly suggest there was smooth population continuity and no large-scale abandonment of major sites and regions of the Levant after the Muslim conquest.<ref name="Kaegi"/><ref name="Burke">{{Cite journal |last= Burke |first= Aaron A. |title= The Archaeology of the Levant in North America: The Transformation of Biblical and Syro-Palestinian Archaeology |website= www.academia.edu |url= https://www.academia.edu/363228 |access-date= 2016-01-12}}</ref><ref name="Sauer">{{cite journal|title=Syro-Palestinian Archeology, History, and Biblical Studies|author=James A. Sauer|journal=The Biblical Archaeologist|volume= 45| date=Autumn 1982|pages=201–209|issue=4|doi=10.2307/3209764|jstor=3209764|s2cid=165611233}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Azdī |first1=Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd Allāh |editor1-last=Hassanein |editor1-first=Hamada |editor2-last=Scheiner |editor2-first=Jens J. |title=The Early Muslim Conquest of Syria: An English Translation of Al-Azdī's Futūḥ Al-Shām |date=23 September 2019 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781000690583 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0uxDwAAQBAJ}}</ref> Moreover, in contrast to [[Iran]], [[Iraq]] and [[North Africa]], where Muslim soldiers established separate [[amsar|garrison cities]] (''amsar''), Muslim troops in the Levant settled alongside locals in pre-existing cities such as [[Damascus]], [[Homs]], [[Jerusalem]] and [[Tiberias]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Donner |first1=Fred M. |author-link=Fred M. Donner |title=The Early Islamic Conquests |year=2014 |orig-year=1981 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=978-0-691-05327-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l5__AwAAQBAJ }}</ref> The Umayyads also relied on the native Syrian Arab tribes for their military, who oversaw a recruitment policy that resulted in considerable numbers of tribesmen and frontier peasants filling the ranks of the regular and auxiliary forces.<ref name="Jandora1">{{cite journal |last1=Jandora |first1=John W. |title=Developments in Islamic Warfare: The Early Conquests |journal=Studia Islamica |date=1986 |issue=64 |pages=101–113 |doi=10.2307/1596048 |jstor=1596048}}</ref> These were Arab tribes who inhabited the Levant before Islam, and included tribes such as [[Lakhmid kingdom|Lakhm]], [[Banu Judham|Judham]], [[Ghassanids|Ghassan]], [[Banu Amilah|Amilah]], [[Banu al-Qayn|Balqayn]], [[Salihids|Salih]] and [[Tanukhids|Tanukh]].<ref name="Jandora1"/> When the [[Abbasid dynasty|Abbasids]] moved the capital to [[Baghdad]] in 750, this exposed the Muslim Arabs to the challenge of the strong and well-articulated identity of [[Iran]], whereas in Damascus, they had only to contend with the numerous parochial and fractured identities of the Levant.<ref name="Hoyland">{{cite book|last1=Hoyland|first1=Robert G.|title=Arabia and the Arabs|date=2001|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-203-76392-0}}</ref>

Abbasid focus on Iraq and Iran neglected the Levant, which in turn experienced a period of frequent uprisings and revolts. Syria became fertile grounds for anti-Abbasid sentiments, in various contrasting pro-Umayyad and pro-Shiite forms. In 841, [[al-Mubarqa]] ('the Veiled One') lead a rebellion against the Abbasids in Palestine, declaring himself the Umayyad [[Sufyani]].<ref name="State University of New York Press">{{cite book |last1=Cobb |first1=Paul M. |title=White Banners: Contention in 'Abbasid Syria, 750-880 |date=2001 |publisher=State University of New York Press |location=Albany |isbn=0-7914-4879-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2C6KIBw4F9YC}}</ref> In 912, a revolt against the Abbasids arose in the [[Damascus]] region, this time by an [[Alid]] descendant of tenth Shiite Imam [[Ali al-Hadi]].<ref name="State University of New York Press"/> The growing [[Isma'ilism|Isma'ili]] ''dawah'' moved to the town of [[Salamiyah]] as its headquarters in 765, binding missionaries over to [[Iraq]], [[Khuzestan]], [[Yemen]], [[Egypt]] and [[Maghreb]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Daftary |first1=Farhad |title=The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781139465786}}</ref> From Salamiyah, Isma'ili Imam [[Abd Allah al-Mahdi Billah]] moved to [[Sijilmasa]] in [[Morocco]] in 904, where his missionaries were active in proselytizing Berber tribes, eventually establishing the [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid empire]] by 909.<ref>{{cite book | last = Brett | first = Michael | title = The Rise of the Fatimids: The World of the Mediterranean and the Middle East in the Fourth Century of the Hijra, Tenth Century CE | series = The Medieval Mediterranean | volume = 30 | publisher = Brill | location = Leiden | year = 2001 | isbn = 90-04-11741-5 | url = {{Google Books|BqCdfhW3nVwC|plainurl=y}} }}</ref><ref>{{EI3 | last = Walker | first = Paul E. | authorlink = | title = Abū ʿAbdallāh al-Shīʿī | year = 2008 | doi = 10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_SIM_0282}}</ref>