Whilst Bethlehem is often associated with Christianity, it should not be forgotten that this city is a symbol of central importance to Muslims. Bethlehem is famous for being the alleged birth place of one of the greatest and mightiest Messengers of Allāh, ʿĪsā / Jesus (ʿalayhi al-Salām).
In 637, the Muslims under the leadership of the second Rightly Guided Caliph, Omar b. al- Khaṭṭāb (raḍiy Allāhu ʿanhu) entered Bethlehem and Jerusalem. It is said that the Patriarch of Palestine received him warmly and asked Omar to grant security to the people and their churches. ʿOmar visited, both the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and refused to pray in both fearing that he would set precedents for his people.
Omar went and prayed in a location just opposite to where the Church stands today and it is there that today we find the Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem and the Mosque of Omar in Bethlehem which is one side of the Manger Square.
What is interesting about the Mosque of Omar in Bethlehem is that outside the Mosque, there are two giant palm trees that had been planted there in later years as an attempt by the Muslims in seeking to explain the Islamic narrative of the birth of ʿIsa (ʿalayhi al-Salām) to the many visitors to the nearby Church in line with the verse referred to above which recounts how Maryam (ʿalayha al-Salām) grabbed the trunk of a date palm from the pains of childbirth.
