Islam in Palestine
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Sunni Islam is a major religion in Palestine, being the religion of the majority of the Palestinian population. Muslims comprise 85% of the population of the West Bank, when including Israeli settlers,[1] and 99% of the population of the Gaza Strip.[2]
During the 7th century, the Arab Rashiduns conquered the Levant, succeeded by subsequent Arabic-speaking Muslim dynasties like the Umayyads, Abbasids and the Fatimids.[3] marking the onset of Arabization and Islamization in the region. This process involved both resettlement by nomadic tribes and individual conversions.[4][5] In the case of the Samaritans, there are records of mass conversion due to economic pressure, political instability and religious persecution in the Abbasid period.[6] Sedentarization facilitated a more rapid Islamization compared to the slower pace of individual conversions among the local populace.[4][5][7] Sufi activities[5] and changes in social structures and the weakening of local Christian authorities under Islamic rule[8] also played significant roles.
Some scholars suggest that by the arrival of the Crusaders, Palestine was already overwhelmingly Muslim,[9][10] while others claim that it was only after the Crusades that Christianity lost its majority, and that the process of mass Islamization took place much later, perhaps during the Mamluk period.[6][11]