Kekalahan tentera Salib Latin pada abad ke-12 membawa kepada pemulihan pemerintahan Islam di Palestin dan sekali lagi penyusunan semula negara tersebut. Keadaan ini berlangsung selama tujuh abad dan terdiri daripada tiga zaman yang berbeza: zaman Ayyubiyah (1187‒1260), Mamluk (1260‒1517) dan Uthmaniyah (1517‒1917). Penyusunan semula ekonomi dan politik Palestin ke arah Eropah di bawah pemerintahan Dhaher al-ʿUmar pada abad ke-18, serta semasa pembaharuan Uthmaniyah pada separuh kedua abad ke-19, semuanya menyumbang kepada membawa Palestin memasuki era moden.

The defeat of the Latin Crusaders in the 12th century brought about the re-establishment of Muslim rule in Palestine and once again the reorientation of the country. This lasted for seven centuries and consisted of three distinct periods: the Ayyubid (1187‒1260), Mamluk (1260‒1517) and Ottoman (1517‒1917) eras. The economic and political reorientation of Palestine towards Europe under the rule of Dhaher al-ʿUmar in the 18th century, as well as during the Ottoman reforms of the second half of the 19th century, all contributed to bringing Palestine into the modern era.

Reorientasi geo-politik dan strategik Palestin pada tempoh selepas Perang Salib, yang menjauhkannya dari kawasan pesisir Mediterranean serta kedudukan strategiknya di bawah kerajaan Ayyubid dan Mamluk di antara wilayah al-Sham dan Mesir, memberi kesan yang berkekalan terhadap sejarah, budaya dan seninya, serta identitinya sebagai sebuah entiti geo-politik. Dalam geografi Islam zaman pertengahan, wilayah al-Sham merangkumi wilayah Syria masa kini, Filastin (termasuk Israel), Jordan moden, Lubnan dan selatan Turki. Antara dua negara masa kini, Mesir dan Syria, hubungan sejarah Palestin dengan wilayah al-Sham adalah yang paling kekal dari segi sejarah dan paling berakar dalam ingatan sosial Palestin moden.

The geo-political and strategic reorientation of Palestine in the post-Crusader period away from the Mediterranean coastal region and its strategic location under both the Ayyubids and Mamluks between the al-Sham region and Egypt had a lasting impact on its history, culture and arts as well as identity as a geo-political polity. In medieval Muslim geography, the al-Sham region consisted of the territories of present-day Syria, Filastin (Israel included), modern Jordan, Lebanon and south Turkey. Of the two present-day countries of Egypt and Syria, Palestine’s close historic links with the al-Sham region were the most enduring historically and most rooted in modern Palestinian social memory.

Tempoh Ayyubid yang penting di Palestin bermula dengan kemenangan gemilang Salahuddin ke atas tentera Frank dalam Pertempuran Hittin pada tahun 1187, satu titik perubahan dalam sejarah Palestin. Salahuddin pernah menjadi wazir kepada kerajaan Fatimid (Syiah) di Mesir sebelum beliau menamatkan pemerintahan Fatimid di negara itu. Tidak lama selepas itu, kubu Tentera Salib di Acre telah ditawan oleh Salahuddin, dan pada tahun yang sama tentera Ayyubid turut menawan Nazareth, Saffuriyah, Haifa, Arsuf, Caesarea, Sabastiyah (Sebastia), Jaffa, al-Ramla, Gaza, Beit Jibrin, ‘Asqalan dan Baitulmaqdis. Sebahagian besar Kerajaan Latin Baitulmaqdis jatuh ke tangan Ayyubid pada tahun 1187 atau sejurus selepasnya.

The important Ayyubid period in Palestine began with Salah al-Din’s spectacular victory over the Frankish at the Battle of Hittin in 1187, a turning point in the history of Palestine. Salah al-Din had been the vizier of the (Shiite) Fatimid state in Egypt before he brought an end to Fatimid rule in the country. Shortly afterwards the Crusader stronghold of Acre was captured by Salah al-Din and in the same year the Ayyubid forces took Nazareth, Saffuriyah, Haifa, Arsuf, Caesarea, Sabastiyah (Sebastia), Jaffa, al-Ramla, Gaza, Beit Jibrin, ‘Asqalan and Jerusalem. Most of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem fell to the Ayyubids in or shortly after 1187.

Namun, Tentera Salib terus menimbulkan ancaman besar apabila mereka merebut semula kawalan ke atas sebahagian pesisir pantai Palestin pada tahun 1190-an, dan kantung Frank di bandar pesisir Acre bertahan sehingga tahun 1291.

However, the Crusaders continued to pose a major threat by regaining control of parts of Palestine’s coastline in the 1190s and the Frankish enclave in the coastal city of Acre lasted until 1291.

Dalam tempoh pemerintahan mereka yang agak singkat, iaitu dalam masa kurang daripada satu abad, Dinasti Ayyubid membawa satu zaman yang dinamik dengan perkembangan budaya ilmu yang hebat, iaitu kemajuan sekolah dan kolej, serta perkembangan teknologi yang sangat asli, pelbagai aspek dan menonjol, bukan sahaja di negeri itu tetapi di seluruh rantau (Rosen-Ayalon 1998: 512, 520). Perkembangan dalam sains, kejuruteraan dan perubatan, pendidikan serta seni bina, yang dipelopori di dunia Arab dan Islam, dari Andalus hingga Mesir dan dari Palestin hingga Asia Tengah, kemudiannya sama ada disalin oleh tentera Salib Latin dan diterjemahkan di Eropah, atau mengilhamkan perkembangan lanjut semasa Zaman Renaissance kemudian. Perkembangan yang paling penting ialah penyingkiran penjajahan Eropah dan dominasi Frankish ke atas Baitul Maqdis serta pemulihan pemerintahan Islam di kota suci itu. Orang Islam dan Yahudi di kota itu telah dibunuh atau dihalau oleh tentera Salib Latin, dan tempat-tempat suci Islam di Haram al-Sharif telah dinodai atau diubah menjadi gereja dan pejabat Kristian. Perbezaan antara tingkah laku pemerintah Ayyubid dengan pemerintah Frankish hampir tidak dapat dilebih-lebihkan. Pemulihan semula Baitul Maqdis sebagai kota Islam membolehkan orang Yahudi dan Islam kembali ke kota itu, dan memberi kebenaran kepada orang Kristian untuk menziarahi serta beribadat di tempat-tempat suci mereka. Lebih penting lagi, di bawah pemerintahan Ayyubid, al-Quds secara kekal menggantikan al-Ramla sebagai ibu kota politik, pentadbiran dan budaya Palestin, serta ibu kota agama bagi seluruh negeri Ayyubid. Sebelum ini dalam karya ini, saya telah mengemukakan teori tentang wujudnya ibu kota sekular-pentadbiran berbanding ibu kota agama (‘ibu kota berganda’) yang berkembang di Palestin di bawah pemerintahan Rom, Byzantium dan Arab Islam. Ini digambarkan melalui kes Caesarea-Palaestina berbanding Aelia Capitolina di bawah Rom dan Byzantium, serta al-Ramla berbanding Iliya-al-Quds dalam tiga abad pertama Islam di Palestin.

Within less than a century during their relatively short tenure, the Ayyubids ushered in a dynamic period of great cultural flowering of learning (of schools and colleges) and highly original, multi-faceted and marked technological developments in the country and throughout the region (Rosen-Ayalon 1998: 512, 520); developments in science, engineering and medicine, education and architecture pioneered in the Arab and Muslim world, from the Andalus to Egypt and from Palestine and Central Asia, were later either copied by the Latin Crusaders and translated in Europe or inspired further developments during the later Renaissance. The most crucial development was the removal of the European colonial and Frankish domination of Jerusalem and the restoration of Muslim rule in the holy city. The Muslims and Jews of the city had been slaughtered or driven out by the Latin Crusaders and the Muslim holy places on the Haram al-Sharif had been desecrated or converted into Christian temples and offices. The contrast between the behaviour of the Ayyubid and Frankish rulers can hardly be overstated. The re-establishment of Islamic Jerusalem allowed Jews and Muslims to return to the city and permitted Christian access to and worship at their holy places. Also, crucially, under the Ayyubids al-Quds permanently replaced al-Ramla as the political, administrative and cultural capital of Palestine as well as the religious capital of the whole Ayyubid state. Earlier in this work I suggested the theory of a secular-administrative versus religious capital (‘double capitals’) evolving in Palestine under the Romans, Byzantines and Muslim Arabs. This was illustrated in the cases of Caesarea-Palaestina versus Aelia Capitolina under the Romans and Byzantines and al-Ramla versus Iliya-al-Quds during the first three centuries of Islam in Palestine.

Pemisahan antara ibu kota pentadbiran dan ibu kota agama Palestin ini dihentikan pada zaman Ayyubid. Dinasti Mamluk, Uthmaniyyah dan British mengikuti tradisi Ayyubid. Kedudukan Baitulmaqdis sebagai bandar utama dan ibu kota Palestin kekal selama tujuh abad berikutnya.

This separation between administrative and religious capitals of Palestine was discontinued under the Ayyubids. And the Mamluks, Ottomans and British followed the Ayyubid tradition. The status of Jerusalem as the foremost and capital city of Palestine was to last for the next seven centuries.

Selain itu, dinasti Ayyubiyyah membuka era baharu dalam aktiviti intelektual dan kemakmuran ekonomi di Palestin dan di semua negara yang mereka perintah.

The Ayyubids, furthermore, ushered in a new era of intellectual activity and economic prosperity in Palestine and in all the countries they ruled.

Madrasah Islam telah wujud di Baitulmaqdis sejak zaman awal Islam (Gil, M. 1997). Namun, madrasah terawal di Baitulmaqdis selepas zaman Frank telah dibina oleh kerajaan Ayyubiyah (Galor dan Bloedhorn 2013: 216). Madrasah dan naungan yang disediakan oleh kerajaan Ayyubiyah membawa kepada kebangkitan semula aktiviti pendidikan, perdagangan, seni bina dan seni, bukan sahaja di Baitulmaqdis tetapi juga di pusat-pusat bandar lain di Palestin (Hillenbrand dan Auld 2009). Sejumlah besar ribat (rumah penginapan untuk jemaah haji Muslim) telah dibina semasa zaman Ayyubiyah dan Mamluk (Galor dan Bloedhorn 2013: 213). Zaman Kristian Crusader memberi kesan terutamanya kepada pusat-pusat bandar di Palestin; ia "hanyalah satu episod dalam kehidupan sebahagian besar kawasan pedalaman [luar bandar] yang dengan cepat kembali kepada keadaan normal selepas berakhirnya penguasaan Kristian" dan kemunculan kerajaan Ayyubiyah (Rosen-Ayalon 1998: 514). Zaman ini turut ditandai dengan proses Ayyubiyah untuk memperkukuh dominasi Muslim Sunni di bawah pemerintahan mereka, dengan mendirikan banyak madrasah, rumah khanqah sufi (zawiyah), ribat, tandas awam, pasar dan caravanserai (khan) di bandar-bandar utama, terutamanya di Baitulmaqdis.

Islamic madrasahs (schools) had existed in Jerusalem since the early Islamic period (Gil, M. 1997). However, the earliest madrasahs in Jerusalem after the Frankish period were built by the Ayyubids (Galor and Bloedhorn 2013: 216). The madrasahs and patronage provided by the Ayyubids led to resurgence in educational, commercial, architectural and artistic activity not only in Jerusalem but in other urban centres of Palestine (Hillenbrand and Auld 2009). A substantial number of ribats (hospices for Muslim pilgrims) were built during the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods (Galor and Bloedhorn 2013: 213). The Crusader period had affected mainly the urban centres of Palestine; it was ‘merely an episode in the life of much of the [rural] hinterland which quickly returned to normal conditions with the end of Christian domination’ and the advent of the Ayyubids (Rosen- Ayalon 1998: 514). The period was also marked by an Ayyubid process of reinforcing Sunni Muslim domination under their rule by setting up numerous madrasahs, sufi lodges (zawiyas), ribats, public baths, markets and caravanserais (khans) in the main cities, especially in Jerusalem.

Dari masa ke masa, hampir satu perempat daripada semua institusi dan harta komersial di Baitul Maqdis adalah milik wakaf Islam, dan catatan surat ikatan Uthmaniyyah menunjukkan keadaan ini masih nyata pada zaman akhir Uthmaniyyah.2 Monumen-monumen yang masih wujud di Baitul Maqdis dan bahagian-bahagian lain di Palestin menjadi saksi kepada kedinamikan dan kemakmuran zaman Ayyubiyyah di Palestin.

Over time, nearly a quarter of all institutions and commercial properties in Jerusalem belonged to Islamic waqf endowments and Ottoman deed records show this situation was still evident in the late Ottoman period.2 The surviving monuments in Jerusalem and other parts of Palestine bear witness to the dynamism and prosperity of the Ayyubid period in Palestine.

Tentera Salib terus mengancam Palestin pesisir melalui Laut Mediterranean. Yang penting, keupayaan Tentera Salib untuk menggunakan teknik kepungan dan kaedah sekatan bagi menawan kubu-kubu terkuat Palestin dan Syria "mengesahkan Tentera Salib di mata orang-orang sezaman sebagai pahlawan kepungan yang berjaya dan menggerunkan" (Rogers 2002: 39). Untuk menghalang serangan dari laut dan mencegah kembalinya Tentera Salib serta situasi kepungan, Ayyubid berusaha mengubah arah strategi negara dari kawasan pesisir ke pedalaman Palestin, lalu akibatnya memusnahkan tembok sejumlah bandar pesisir (dan sebahagian besar infrastrukturnya) dari Tyre di utara hingga Gaza di selatan, serta membuang runtuhannya ke dalam air dalam usaha menyekat sebarang kemungkinan pendaratan di pelabuhan-pelabuhan bandar tersebut.

The Crusaders continued to threaten coastal Palestine via the Mediterranean Sea. Crucially, the Crusaders’ abilities to utilise siege techniques and blockade methods to capture Palestine’s and Syria’s greatest fortifications ‘confirmed the crusaders to contemporaries as successful and terrifying siege warriors’ (Rogers 2002: 39). To prevent attacks from the sea and pre-empt the eventual return of the Crusaders and siege situations, the Ayyubids sought to reorient the country strategically from the coastal region to the hinterland of Palestine and consequently destroyed the walls of a number of coastal cities (and much of their infrastructure) from Tyre in the north to Gaza in the south and dumped the rubble in the water in an effort to block any possible landing in the ports of these cities:

Jelas sekali, tujuannya adalah untuk mencegah sebarang pendaratan dari laut.

Obviously, the objective was to prevent any landing from the sea.

Untuk tujuan itu, pelbagai jenis bahan dicampakkan ke dalam air, menghalang laluan ke pelabuhan. Pelabuhan Caesarea masih tersekat oleh puing-puing itu sehingga hari ini. Asqalon [sic] ialah bandar pertama yang menerima nasib ini, dengan perintah pemusnahannya dikeluarkan oleh Salah al-Din sendiri.

To that end, material of every sort was dumped into the water, obstructing access to the ports. The port of Caesarea is blocked by the debris until today. Asqalon [sic] was the first city to suffer this fate, the order for its destruction being given by Salah al-Din himself.

Sisa-sisa dindingnya masih tampak bekas-bekas kerusakan tidak jauh dari tempat asalnya. Dinding-dinding ini, yang menurut semua bukti yang ada dibangun oleh Dinasti Fatimiyah, terus digunakan oleh tentara Salib tetapi kemudian menjadi korban kebijakan penghancuran Dinasti Ayyubiyah. (Mujir al-Din 1973:

The remains of its walls are scarred not far from where they originally stood. These walls, which – according to all existing evidence – were constructed by the Fatimids, had continued to serve the Crusaders but fell victim to the Ayyubid policy of destruction. (Mujir al-Din 1973:

(422; Rosen-Ayalon 1998: 515)

422; Rosen-Ayalon 1998: 515)

Namun, tidak sepenuhnya benar untuk menyatakan bahawa bandar-bandar pesisir Palestin musnah sepenuhnya di tangan Dinasti Ayyubid. Malah, bukti yang ada menyangkal dakwaan tentang wujudnya dasar pemusnahan menyeluruh.

However, it is not entirely true to suggest that Palestine’s coastal cities were completely destroyed by the Ayyubids. In fact, the evidence contradicts this claim about the existence of a wholesale policy of destruction.

Pada awal abad ke-13, semasa pemerintahan Ayyubiyah, ahli biografi dan ahli geografi Arab Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229) – seorang bekas hamba yang sangat berpendidikan, yang berdagang secara meluas dan mengembara secara ekstensif di Palestin, Mesir, Syria, Parsi dan Asia Tengah, dan termasyhur kerana tulisan ensiklopedianya mengenai dunia Islam, yang diterbitkan dalam Kitab Mu’jam al-Buldan (al-Hamawi 1861) – menerangkan wilayah Filastin dan menyenaraikan bandar-bandar pesisir pantai iaitu ‘Asqalan, Gaza, Arsuf dan Caesarea antara bandar-bandar utama Filastin, yang ibu kotanya Jerusalem telah menggantikan al-Ramla. Yaqut menulis:

Writing in the early 13th century during Ayyubid rule the Arab biographer and geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229) – a highly educated former slave who traded widely and travelled extensively in Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Persia and Central Asia and became renowned for his encyclopaedic writings on the Muslim world, published in Kitab Mu’jam al-Buldan (al-Hamawi 1861) – describes the province of Filastin and lists the coastal cities of ‘Asqalan, Gaza, Arsuf and Caesarea among the premier cities of Filastin, whose capital Jerusalem had replaced al-Ramla. Yaqut writes:

Filastin ialah wilayah terakhir daripada wilayah-wilayah Al-Sham ke arah Mesir. Ibu kotanya ialah Baitul Maqdis (Jerusalem). Antara bandar-bandar utamanya ialah ‘Askalan, Ar Ramlah, Gazzah, Arsuf, Kaisariyyah [Qaysariah; Caesarea Maritima], Nabulus, Ariha (Jericho), ‘Amman, Yafah [Jaffa] dan Beit Jibrin. (Le Strange 2014: 29)

Filastin is the last of the provinces of [al-Sham] towards Egypt. Its capital is Jerusalem. Of the principal towns are ‘Askalan, Ar Ramlah, Gazzah, Arsuf, Kaisariyyah [Qaysariah; Caesarea Maritima], Nabulus, Ariha (Jericho), ‘Amman, Yafah [Jaffa] and Beit Jibrin. (Le Strange 2014: 29)

Lebih penting lagi, banyak istilah geografi Arab bagi wilayah Palestin sebelum zaman Perang Salib terus digunakan oleh ahli geografi Arab semasa dan selepas zaman Perang Salib. Sebagai contoh, istilah ‘wilayah Filastin’ berulang kali digunakan oleh ahli geografi Arab Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229), yang meletakkan bandar Sabastiyah (Sebastia) di daerah Nablus, dalam wilayah Filastin, yang ibu kotanya ialah Baitulmaqdis (Le Strange 1890: 523; lihat juga 441).

Also, crucially, much of the pre-Crusader Arab geographical terminology of the province of Palestine continued to be used by Arab geographers during and after the Crusader period. For instance, the term ‘the province of Filastin’ was repeatedly used by Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229), who situates the town of the town of Sabastiyah (Sebastia) in the district of Nablus, in the province of Filastin, whose capital is Jerusalem (Le Strange 1890: 523; also see 441).

Namun, peperangan Salib dan keadaan tidak stabil secara menyeluruh di pesisir Palestin membawa kepada kemerosotan beransur-ansur bandar-bandar pesisir dan kebangkitan kawasan pedalaman bandar Palestin. Tempoh ini juga ditandai oleh kemerosotan beransur-ansur bandar al-Ramla, yang telah menjadi ibu kota politik dan pentadbiran wilayah Filastin selama lebih daripada tiga setengah abad; penduduk al-Ramla berkurangan dan ibu kota Jund Filastin itu musnah semasa zaman Fatimiyyah akibat dua gempa bumi besar pada abad ke-11 (Mujir al-Din 1866: 416; Lev 2006: 592). Namun, bandar-bandar pesisir Palestin mengalami kemerosotan yang lebih dramatik. Malah, bandar-bandar pesisir seperti Acre dan Jaffa hanya mula pulih dan mengalami kebangkitan sosio-ekonomi pada pertengahan abad ke-18. Sebaliknya, bandar pedalaman al-Quds/Jerusalem sekali lagi menjadi bandar metropolitan yang paling maju di Palestin di bawah pemerintahan Mamluk sepanjang abad ke-13 hingga ke-15. Pada abad ke-18, perdagangan serantau dan global dalam kapas, gandum dan tekstil menjadikan Acre dan Nablus bandar terbesar dan paling makmur di Palestin, serta antara bandar terbesar di rantau al-Sham (Doumani 1995; Philipp 2001).

However, the Crusader wars and overall insecurities of coastal Palestine brought about the slow decline of the coastal cities and the rise of Palestine’s urban hinterland. This period was also marked by the slow decline of the city of al-Ramla, which had been the political and administrative capital of the province of Filastin for over three and a half centuries; the population of al-Ramla decreased and the capital city of Jund Filastin was devastated during the Fatimid period by two major earthquakes in the 11th century (Mujir al-Din 1866: 416; Lev 2006: 592). But the coastal cities of Palestine experienced a more dramatic decline. In fact, coastal cities such as Acre and Jaffa began to recover and experience a socio-economic revival only in the middle of the 18th century. By contrast, the inland city of al-Quds/Jerusalem became once again the most developed metropolitan city of Palestine under the Mamluks throughout the 13th‒15th centuries. In the 18th century regional and global trade in cotton, wheat and textiles made Acre and Nablus the biggest and most prosperous cities in Palestine and among the largest cities in the al-Sham region (Doumani 1995; Philipp 2001).