Recently I was talking to a Jewish friend about which religion has more claim to Palestine. He was claiming that Jews do, since Jews come from Judea (an area in Palestine) and it was called this for a long time. I told him that there is proof that it was called Palestine for many thousands of years and there is much proof.
But there is no mention of the name "Palestine" in the Qur'an. So I was wondering:
What is the proper name for Palestine, in the Muslim tradition?
As the other respondents have mentioned, the land of Palestine is not mentioned by this name in the Qur'an. At the time of the Roman Empire it formed the “Provincia Palaestina”. In early Islamic times it was called Jund Filasṭīn, that is “the (army) encampment of Palestine”, but soon it became part of the province of Shām (Greater Syria), and it remained thus until the First World War (with a brief interruption as the Crusader “Kingdom of Jerusalem”). After the First World War it became the British-ruled “Palestine Mandate”, reviving the name used in Roman Empire. The modern Palestinian movement has retained this name from the time of the British Protectorate.
The city of Jerusalem (not Palestine as a whole) is called Bayt al-Maqdis (House of the Sanctuary) in Classical Arabic. The shorter form al-Quds is modern.
The Quran never mentions Palestine. The Quran calls it the Holy Land when speaking about the Jews:
يَا قَوْمِ ادْخُلُوا الْأَرْضَ الْمُقَدَّسَةَ الَّتِي كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَلَا تَرْتَدُّوا عَلَىٰ أَدْبَارِكُمْ فَتَنقَلِبُوا خَاسِرِينَ
Oh my people! Enter the holy land which Allah has written to you, and do not turn back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin.
The Arabic word of Palestine comes from the Biblical word Philistines, which originates from the Hebrew term Pelistim.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philistines
Arabs have always called that land in that area Alquds Jerusalem in respect of the Masjid Alaqsa. It wasn't until 80's that it was officially called Palestine by the PLO.
It is true that the precise word of the Palestine has not come in the holy Quran as you mentioned. Also it is considered as a famous issue that the current Israel country has not an old historical record (in the current place as much as I know), and such claiming from them are solely to justify..., meanwhile that place was famous as Palestine and Shaamaat since many years ago as well. But you ought to pay heed to some issues such as:
Masjid al Aqsa has applied in the holy Quran as a Mosque which can be related to the Palestine or Kan'aan as a related Palestine name.
«سُبْحَانَ الَّذِی أَسْرَى بِعَبْدِهِ لَیْلاً مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الأَقْصَى الَّذِی بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِیَهُ مِنْ آیَاتِنَا إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِیعُ البَصِیرُ
The first verse of Surah al-Isra
Some interpreters (Mufasers) term the following verses as the related verses to the Palestine as well
وَأَوْرَثْنَا الْقَوْمَ الَّذِينَ كَانُوا يُسْتَضْعَفُونَ مَشَارِقَ الْأَرْضِ وَمَغَارِبَهَا الَّتِي بَارَكْنَا فِيهَا ۖ وَتَمَّتْ كَلِمَتُ رَبِّكَ الْحُسْنَىٰ عَلَىٰ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ بِمَا صَبَرُوا ۖ وَدَمَّرْنَا مَا كَانَ يَصْنَعُ فِرْعَوْنُ وَقَوْمُهُ وَمَا كَانُوا يَعْرِشُونَ ﴿١٣٧
And We caused the people who had been oppressed to inherit the eastern regions of the land and the western ones, which We had blessed. And the good word of your Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel because of what they had patiently endured. And We destroyed [all] that Pharaoh and his people were producing and what they had been building. (137) / Surah Al-A’raaf:137
And
يَا قَوْمِ ادْخُلُوا الْأَرْضَ الْمُقَدَّسَةَ الَّتِي كَتَبَ اللَّـهُ لَكُمْ وَلَا تَرْتَدُّوا عَلَىٰ أَدْبَارِكُمْ فَتَنقَلِبُوا خَاسِرِينَ ﴿٢١
O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you and do not turn back [from fighting in Allah 's cause] and [thus] become losers." (21)
Surah Al-Maedah:21
As a last significant point which you should pay heed to, is that absence of a matter's name in the holy Quran is not counted as a negative matter in order to denying the matter, Since as you possibly are aware, there are many significant points which are not mentioned in the Quran such as the number of prayers' Rek'ahs and so forth, then in case you couldn't prove the above-mentioned matter by the Quran, then you can prove it by referring to historical reasons as well. Although the above-mentioned verses could be constructive and helpful. (God willing)
References:
You all agree that during Roman Empire it was called Palestine. Now even after that it was called Palestine.Up until 1940s it was called Palestine.
Britain brought a lot of immigrants to Palestine in a few decades. These immigrants were less than 30 % of population but they were given over 50 % of land in 1947 to call Israel. It was Britain's way of getting the jews out of UK.
palestine is not in religious books, it is in historical book, herodotus describes Palestine in greek as Palaistine as part of Syria, it extends from phoenicia to Egypt, after him aristotle said in Palaistine there is a salted lake(the dead sea), and many historians and geographers told about Palaistine like Strabo, Phylo of Alexandria, Pliny the elder, Ovidius even Flavius Joseph, all of them before, Roman empire created the subprovince in the Syria jurisdiction.
Palestine was the Roman Empires name for Judea as of 135AD. It has absolutely nothing to do with Arabs or Muslims. The Koran mentions it as 'the Holy Land'.
