Syria Greater Syria[1] | |
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.jpg) Map ofOttoman Syria in 1851, by Henry Warren | |
| Coordinates:33°N36°E / 33°N 36°E /33; 36 | |
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Syria, (Arabic:ٱلشَّام,romanized: Ash-Shām orShaam) also known asGreater Syria orSyria-Palestine,[3] is ahistorical region located east of theMediterranean Sea inWest Asia, broadly synonymous with theLevant.[4] The region boundaries have changed throughout history. However, in modern times, the term "Syria" alone is used to refer to theSyrian Arab Republic.
The term is originally derived fromAssyria, anancient Semitic-speaking civilization centered in northernMesopotamia, modern-dayIraq.[5][6] During theHellenistic period, the term Syria was applied to the entire Levant asCoele-Syria. UnderRoman rule, the term was used to refer to theprovince of Syria, later divided intoSyria Phoenicia andCoele Syria, and to the province ofSyria Palaestina. Under theByzantines, the provinces ofSyria Prima and Syria Secunda emerged out of Coele Syria. After theMuslim conquest of the Levant, the term was superseded by the Arabic equivalentShām, and under theRashidun,Umayyad,Abbasid, andFatimid caliphates,Bilad al-Sham was the name of a metropolitan province encompassing most of the region. In the 19th century, the name Syria was revived in its modem Arabic form to denote the whole of Bilad al-Sham, either asSuriyah or the modern formSuriyya, which eventually replaced the Arabic name of Bilad al-Sham.[7]
AfterWorld War I, the boundaries of the region were last defined in modern times by the proclamation of and subsequent definition byFrench andBritish mandatory agreement, as laid out in theSykes–Picot Agreement. Following theArab Revolt andFranco-Syrian War, the area was divided and passed to French and BritishLeague of Nations mandates. Subsequently, five states —Greater Lebanon, theState of Damascus, theState of Aleppo, theState of Alawites, and theState of Jabal Druze — were established by the French, while the British controlledMandatory Palestine and theEmirate of Transjordan. The term Syria itself was applied to several mandate states under French rule and the contemporaneous but short-livedArab Kingdom of Syria. The Syrian-mandate states were gradually unified as theState of Syria and finally became theindependent Syrian Republic in 1946. Throughout this period,pan-Syrian nationalists advocated for the creation of a Greater Syria as a step toward achieving a broaderpan-Arab state.[8]
Several sources indicate that the nameSyria itself is derived fromLuwian term "Sura/i", and the derivativeancient Greek name:Σύριοι,Sýrioi, orΣύροι,Sýroi, both of which originally derived from Aššūrāyu (Assyria) in northernMesopotamia, modern-dayIraq and greater Syria[5][6][9][10] ForHerodotus in the 5th century BC, Syria extended as far north as the Halys (the modernKızılırmak River) and as far south as Arabia and Egypt. ForPliny the Elder andPomponius Mela, Syria covered the entireFertile Crescent.
InLate Antiquity, "Syria" meant a region located to the east of theMediterranean Sea, west of theEuphrates River, north of theArabian Desert and south of theTaurus Mountains,[2] thereby including modernSyria,Lebanon,Jordan,Israel,Palestine, and parts of Southern Turkey, namely theHatay Province and the western half of theSoutheastern Anatolia Region. This late definition is equivalent to the region known inClassical Arabic by the nameash-Shām (Arabic:ٱَلشَّام/ʔaʃ-ʃaːm/,[11] which meansthe north [country][11] (from the rootšʔmArabic:شَأْم "left, north")). After theArab conquest of Byzantine Syria in the 7th centuryCE, the nameSyria fell out of primary use in the region itself, being superseded by the Arabic equivalentShām, but survived in its original sense in Byzantine and Western European usage, and in Syriac Christian literature.[7] In the 19th century, the name Syria was revived in its modern Arabic form to denote the whole ofBilad al-Sham, either asSuriyah or the modern formSuriyya, which eventually replaced the Arabic name of Bilad al-Sham.[7] AfterWorld War I, the name Syria was applied to theFrench Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon and the contemporaneous but short-livedArab Kingdom of Syria.
In the most common historical sense, 'Syria' refers to the entire northernLevant, includingAlexandretta and the Ancient City ofAntioch or in an extended sense the entire Levant as far south asRoman Egypt, includingMesopotamia. The area of "Greater Syria" (Arabic:سُوْرِيَّة ٱلْكُبْرَىٰ,Sūrīyah al-Kubrā); also called "Natural Syria" (Arabic:سُوْرِيَّة ٱلطَّبِيْعِيَّة,Sūrīyah aṭ-Ṭabīʿīyah) or "Northern Land" (Arabic:بِلَاد ٱلشَّام,Bilād ash-Shām),[1] extends roughly over theBilad al-Sham province of the medieval Arabcaliphates, encompassing theEastern Mediterranean (or Levant) and Western Mesopotamia. TheMuslim conquest of the Levant in the seventh century gave rise to this province, which encompassed much of the region of Syria, and came to largely overlap with this concept. Other sources indicate that the term Greater Syria was coined duringOttoman rule, after 1516, to designate the approximate area included in present-day Israel,Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon.[12]
The uncertainty in the definition of the extent of "Syria" is aggravated by the etymological confusion of the similar-sounding namesSyria andAssyria. The question of the etymological identity of the two names remains open today. Regardless of etymology, both were thought of as interchangeable around the time of Herodotus.[13] However, by the time of theRoman Empire, 'Syria' and 'Assyria' began to refer to two separate entities,Roman Syria andRoman Assyria.
Killebrew and Steiner, treating the Levant as the Syrian region, gave the boundaries of the region as such: theMediterranean Sea to the west, theArabian Desert to the south, Mesopotamia to the east, and theTaurus Mountains ofAnatolia to the north.[4] The Muslim geographerMuhammad al-Idrisi visited the region in 1150 and assigned the northern regions ofBilad al-Sham as the following:
In the Levantine sea are two islands:Rhodes and Cyprus; and in Levantine lands: Antarsus,Laodice,Antioch,Mopsuhestia,Adana,Anazarbus,Tarsus,Circesium, Ḥamrtash,Antalya, al-Batira, al-Mira,Macri, Astroboli; and in the interior lands:Apamea,Salamiya,Qinnasrin, al-Castel,Aleppo,Resafa,Raqqa, Rafeqa, al-Jisr,Manbij,Mar'ash,Saruj,Ḥarran,Edessa,Al-Ḥadath,Samosata,Malatiya, Ḥusn Mansur, Zabatra, Jersoon, al-Leen, al-Bedandour, Cirra and Touleb.
ForPliny the Elder andPomponius Mela, Syria covered the entireFertile Crescent. InLate Antiquity, "Syria" meant a region located to the east of theMediterranean Sea, west of theEuphrates River, north of theArabian Desert, and south of theTaurus Mountains,[2] thereby including modern Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the State of Palestine, and theHatay Province and the western half of theSoutheastern Anatolia Region of southern Turkey. This late definition is equivalent to the region known inClassical Arabic by the nameash-Shām (ٱلشَّام/ʔaʃ-ʃaːm/),[11] which meansthe north [country][11] (from the rootšʔmشَأْم "left, north"). After theIslamic conquest of Byzantine Syria in the seventh century, the nameSyria fell out of primary use in the region itself, being superseded by the Arabic equivalentBilād ash-Shām ("Northern Land'"), but survived in its original sense in Byzantine and Western European usage, and inSyriac Christian literature. In the 19th century, the name Syria was revived in its modern Arabic form to denote the whole of Bilad al-Sham, either asSuriyah or the modern formSuriyya, which eventually replaced the Arabic name of Bilad al-Sham.[7] AfterWorld War I, the name 'Syria' was applied to theFrench Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, and the contemporaneous but short-livedArab Kingdom of Syria.
Today, thelargest metropolitan areas in the region areAmman,Tel Aviv,Damascus,Beirut,Aleppo andGaza City.
| Rank | City | Country | Metropolitan Population | City Population | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amman | Jordan | 4,642,000 | 4,061,150 |  |
| 2 | Tel Aviv | Israel | 3,954,500 | 438,818 | .jpg) |
| 3 | Damascus | Syria | 2,900,000 | 2,078,000 |  |
| 4 | Beirut | Lebanon | 2,200,000 | 361,366 |  |
| 5 | Aleppo | Syria | 2,098,210 | 2,098,210 |  |
| 6 | Gaza City | Palestine | 2,047,969 | 590,481 |  |
Several sources indicate that the nameSyria itself is derived fromLuwian term "Sura/i", and the derivativeancient Greek name:Σύριοι,Sýrioi, orΣύροι,Sýroi, both of which originally derived from Aššūrāyu (Assyria) in northernMesopotamia, modern-dayIraq[5][6] However, during theSeleucid Empire, this term was also applied toThe Levant, and henceforth the Greeks applied the term without distinction between theAssyrians of Mesopotamia andArameans of the Levant.[5][9][10]
The oldest attestation of the name 'Syria' is from the 8th century BC in a bilingual inscription inHieroglyphic Luwian andPhoenician. In this inscription, the Luwian wordSura/i was translated to Phoenicianʔšr "Assyria."[5] ForHerodotus in the 5th century BC, Syria extended as far north as the Halys (the modernKızılırmak River) and as far south as Arabia and Egypt.
The name 'Syria' derives from theancient Greek name for Assyrians,Greek:ΣύριοιSyrioi, which the Greeks applied without distinction to various Near Eastern peoples living under the rule ofAssyria. Modern scholarship confirms the Greek word traces back to the cognateGreek:Ἀσσυρία,Assyria.[14]
The classical Arabic pronunciation of Syria isSūriya (as opposed to theModern Standard Arabic pronunciationSūrya). That name was not widely used among Muslims before about 1870, but it had been used by Christians earlier. According to theSyriac Orthodox Church, "Syrian" meant "Christian" inearly Christianity.[citation needed] In English, "Syrian" historically meant aSyrian Christian such asEphrem the Syrian. Following the declaration of Syria in 1936, the term "Syrian" came to designate citizens of that state, regardless of ethnicity. The adjective "Syriac" (suryāniسُرْيَانِي) has come into common use since as anethnonym to avoid the ambiguity of "Syrian".
Currently, the Arabic termSūriya usually refers to the modern state of Syria, as opposed to the historical region of Syria.
Before 1918, the term 'Syria' described the geographical region ofBilad Ash-Shām. With the introduction of theMandate System and the emergence of the modern state Syria, the term 'Greater Syria' emerged to distinguish betweenBilad Ash-Shām and Syria.[15]
Greater Syria has been widely known asAsh-Shām. The term etymologically in Arabic means "the left-hand side" or "the north", as someone in the Hejaz facing east, oriented to the sunrise, will find the north to the left. This is contrasted with the name of Yemen (اَلْيَمَنal-Yaman), correspondingly meaning "the right-hand side" or "the south". The variationش ء م (š-ʾ-m), of the more typicalش م ل (š-m-l), is also attested inOld South Arabian,𐩦𐩱𐩣 (s²ʾm), with the same semantic development.[11][16]
The root ofShaam,ش ء م (š-ʾ-m) also has connotations of unluckiness, which is traditionally associated with the left-hand and with the colder north-winds. Again this is in contrast with Yemen, with felicity and success, and the positively-viewed warm-moist southerly wind; a theory for the etymology ofArabia Felix denoting Yemen, by translation of that sense.[citation needed]
The Shaam region is sometimes defined as the area dominated byDamascus, long an important regional center.[citation needed]Ash-Sām on its own can refer to the city of Damascus.[17] Continuing with the similar contrasting theme,Damascus was the commercial destination and representative of the region in the same waySanaa held for the south.
Quran 106:2 alludes to this practice of caravans traveling to Syria in the summer to avoid the colder weather and to likewise sell commodities in Yemen in the winter.[18][19]
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | 4,300,000 | — |
| 164 | 4,800,000 | +11.6% |
| 500 | 4,127,000 | −14.0% |
| 900 | 3,120,000 | −24.4% |
| 1200 | 2,700,000 | −13.5% |
| 1500 | 1,500,000 | −44.4% |
| 1700 | 2,028,000 | +35.2% |
| 1897 | 3,231,874 | +59.4% |
| 1914 | 3,448,356 | +6.7% |
| 1922 | 3,198,951 | −7.2% |
| Source:[20][21][22][23] | ||
In Greater Syria a variety of ethnic and religious groups coexist throughout history, influenced by the regions geographical conditions.[24] The largest religious group in the Levant areMuslims and the largest ethnic group areArabs. Levantines predominantly speakLevantine Arabic, who derive their ancestry from the manyancient Semitic-speaking peoples who inhabited theancient Near East during theBronze andIron Ages.[25] Others such asBedouin Arabs inhabit theSyrian Desert and Naqab, and speak a dialect known asBedouin Arabic that originated inArabian Peninsula. Other minor ethnic groups in the Levant includeCircassians,Chechens,Turks,Turkmens,Assyrians,Kurds,Nawars andArmenians.
Islam became the predominant religion in the region after theMuslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century.[26][27] The majority of Levantine Muslims areSunni withAlawite andShia (Twelver andNizari Ismaili) minorities. Alawites and Ismaili Shiites mainly inhabitHatay and theSyrian Coastal Mountain Range, while Twelver Shiites are mainly concentrated in parts ofLebanon.
Levantine Christian groups are plenty and includeGreek Orthodox (Antiochian Greek),Syriac Orthodox,Eastern Catholic (Syriac Catholic,Melkite andMaronite),Roman Catholic (Latin),Nestorian, andProtestant.Armenians mostly belong to theArmenian Apostolic Church. There are alsoLevantines or Franco-Levantines who adhere toRoman Catholicism. There are alsoAssyrians belonging to theAssyrian Church of the East and theChaldean Catholic Church.[28]
Other religious groups in the Levant includeJews,Samaritans,Yazidis andDruze.[29]
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Herodotus usesAncient Greek:Συρία to refer to the stretch of land from the Halys river, includingCappadocia (The Histories, I.6) in today's Turkey to the Mount Casius (The Histories II.158), which Herodotus says is located just south of Lake Serbonis (The Histories III.5). According to Herodotus various remarks in different locations, he describes Syria to include the entire stretch of Phoenician coastal line as well as cities such Cadytis (Jerusalem) (The Histories III.159).[13]
In Greek usage,Syria andAssyria were used almost interchangeably, but in theRoman Empire,Syria andAssyria came to be used as distinct geographical terms. "Syria" in the Roman Empire period referred to "those parts of the Empire situated between Asia Minor and Egypt", i.e. the westernLevant, while "Assyria" was part of thePersian Empire, and only very briefly came under Roman control (116–118 AD, marking the historical peak ofRoman expansion).
In the Roman era, the term Syria is used to comprise the entire northern Levant and has an uncertain border to the northeast thatPliny the Elder describes as including, from west to east, theKingdom of Commagene,Sophene, andAdiabene, "formerly known as Assyria".[30]
Various writers used the term to describe the entire Levant region during this period; the New Testament used the name in this sense on numerous occasions.[31]
In 64 BC,Syria became a province of the Roman Empire, following the conquest byPompey. Roman Syria borderedJudea to the south, Anatolian Greek domains to the north, Phoenicia to the West, and was in constant struggle with Parthians to the East. In 135 AD, Syria-Palaestina became to incorporate the entire Levant and Western Mesopotamia. In 193, the province was divided into Syria proper (Coele-Syria) andPhoenice. Sometime between 330 and 350 (likely c. 341), the province ofEuphratensis was created out of the territory of Syria Coele and the former realm of Commagene, withHierapolis as its capital.[32]
After c. 415 Syria Coele was further subdivided into Syria I, with the capital remaining atAntioch, and Syria II or Salutaris, with capital atApamea on theOrontes River. In 528,Justinian I carved out the small coastal provinceTheodorias out of territory from both provinces.[33]
Theregion was annexed to theRashidun Caliphate after the Muslim victory over theByzantine Empire at theBattle of Yarmouk, and became known as the province ofBilad al-Sham. During theUmayyad Caliphate, the Shām was divided into fivejunds or military districts. They wereJund Dimashq (for the area of Damascus),Jund Ḥimṣ (for the area ofHoms),Jund Filasṭīn (for the area ofPalestine) andJund al-Urdunn (for the area of Jordan). LaterJund Qinnasrîn was created out of part of Jund Hims. The city of Damascus was the capital of the Islamic Caliphate, until the rise of theAbbasid Caliphate.[34][35][36]
In the later ages of theOttoman times, it was divided intowilayahs or sub-provinces the borders of which and the choice of cities as seats of government within them varied over time. The vilayets or sub-provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, and Beirut, in addition to the two special districts ofMount Lebanon andJerusalem. Aleppo consisted of northern modern-day Syria plus parts of southern Turkey, Damascus covered southern Syria and modern-day Jordan, Beirut covered Lebanon and the Syrian coast from the port-city ofLatakia southward to theGalilee, while Jerusalem consisted of the land south of the Galilee and west of theJordan River and theWadi Arabah.
Although the region's population was dominated bySunni Muslims, it also contained sizable populations ofShi'ite,Alawite andIsmaili Muslims,Syriac Orthodox,Maronite,Greek Orthodox,Roman Catholics andMelkite Christians,Jews andDruze.
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TheOccupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA) was a British, French and Arab military administration over areas of the former Ottoman Empire between 1917 and 1920, during and followingWorld War I. The wave ofArab nationalism evolved towards the creation of the first modern Arab state to come into existence, the HashemiteArab Kingdom of Syria on 8 March 1920. The kingdom claimed the entire region of Syria whilst exercising control over only the inland region known as OETA East. This led to the acceleration of the declaration of the FrenchMandate for Syria and the Lebanon and BritishMandate for Palestine at the 19–26 April 1920San Remo conference, and subsequently theFranco-Syrian War, in July 1920, in which French armiesdefeated the newly proclaimed kingdom andcaptured Damascus, aborting the Arab state.[37]
Thereafter, the French generalHenri Gouraud, in breach of the conditions of the mandate, subdivided theFrench Mandate of Syria into six states. They were the states ofDamascus (1920),Aleppo (1920),Alawite State (1920),Jabal Druze (1921), the autonomousSanjak of Alexandretta (1921) (modern-dayHatay in Turkey), andGreater Lebanon (1920) which later became the modern country of Lebanon.
Although the Mandate System divided Greater Syria into new countries, cultural similarities and economic cooperation and trade remained strong between the countries. The integration into the global economy was an important aspect after the end ofWorld War 1. Politically, besides the increasing importance ofZionism, the region saw growing nationalist movements. These occurred within the new countries as well as on aregional scale.[38]
The boundaries of the region have changed throughout history, and were last defined in modern times by the proclamation of the short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria and subsequent definition by French and British mandatory agreement. The area was passed to French and British Mandates followingWorld War I and divided intoGreater Lebanon, various Syrian-mandate states,Mandatory Palestine and theEmirate of Transjordan. The Syrian-mandate states were gradually unified as theState of Syria and finally became the independent Syria in 1946. Throughout this period,Antoun Saadeh and his party, theSyrian Social Nationalist Party, envisioned "Greater Syria" or "Natural Syria", based on theetymological connection between the name "Syria" and "Assyria", as encompassing theSinai Peninsula, Cyprus, modern Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, theAhvaz region of Iran, and theKilikian region of Turkey.[39][40]
The region has sites that are significant toAbrahamic religions:[1][41][42]
| Place | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Acre | Acre is home to theShrine of Baháʼu'lláh, which is the holiest site for theBaháʼí Faith.[43][44] |  |
| Aleppo | Aleppo is home to aGreat Mosque, which is believed to house the remains ofZechariah,[45] who is revered in bothChristianity[46] andIslam.[47][48] | .jpg) |
| Bethlehem | Bethlehem has sites which are significant forJews,Christians andMuslims. One of these isRachel's Tomb, which is revered by members of all three faiths. Another is theChurch of the Nativity (of Jesus),[49] revered by Christians, and nearby, theMosque of Omar, revered by Muslims.[50] |  |
| Damascus | TheOld City has aGreat Mosque[51][52][53] which is considered to be one of the largest and best preserved mosques from theUmayyad era. It is believed to house the remains of Zechariah's sonJohn the Baptist,[34][54] who is revered inChristianity[46] andIslam, like his father.[48] The city is also home to theSayyidah Zainab Mosque, the shrine ofZaynab bint Ali the grand-daughter of theIslamic prophetMuhammad, andSayyidah Ruqayya Mosque, the shrine ofRuqayya the daughter ofHusayn, both sites holy toShia Muslims.[55] |  |
| Haifa | Haifa is where theShrine of the Báb is located. It is holy to the Baháʼí Faith.[41][56] Nearby isMount Carmel. Being associated with the Biblical figureElijah, it is important to Christians,Druze, Jews and Muslims.[57] | .jpg) |
| Hebron | TheOld City is home to theCave of the Patriarchs, where theBiblical figuresAbraham, his wifeSarah, their sonIsaac, his wifeRebecca, their sonJacob, and his wifeLeah are believed buried, and thus revered by followers of the Abrahamic faiths, including Muslims and Jews.[58][59] | _C.JPG) |
| Hittin | Hittin is near what is believed to near theshrine ofShuaib (possiblyJethro). It is holy to Druze and Muslims.[60][61] |  |
| Jericho / An-Nabi Musa | Near the city of Jericho in the West Bank is the shrine ofNabiMusa (literally:Prophet Moses), which is considered by Muslims to be the burial place ofMoses.[42][62][63] |  |
| Jerusalem | TheOld City is home to many sites of seminalreligious importance for the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism,Christianity, andIslam. These sites include theTemple Mount,[64][65]Church of the Holy Sepulchre,[66][67]Al-Aqsa and theWestern Wall.[68] It is regarded as the holiest city in Judaism,[69] and the third-holiest in Sunni Islam.[70] |  |
| Mount Gerizim | InSamaritanism, Mount Gerizim is the holiest site on earth, and the location chosen by God to build a temple. In their tradition, it is the oldest and most central mountain in the world, towering above theGreat Flood and providing the first land forNoah’s disembarkation.[71] In their belief, it is also the location whereAbraham almost sacrificed his son Isaac.[72] |  |
The western coastline and the eastern deserts set the boundaries for the Levant ... The Euphrates and the area around Jebel el-Bishrī mark the eastern boundary of the northern Levant, as does the Syrian Desert beyond the Anti-Lebanon range's eastern hinterland and Mount Hermon. This boundary continues south in the form of the highlands and eastern desert regions of Transjordan.
To theArabs, this same territory, which the Roman Empire considered Arabian, formed part of what they called Bilad al-Sham, which was their own name for Syria. From the classical perspective, however, Syria, including Palestine, formed no more than the western fringes of what was reckoned to be Arabia between the first line of cities and the coast. Since there is no clear dividing line between what is called today theSyrian andArabian deserts, which actually form one stretch of arid tableland, the classical concept of what actually constituted Syria had more to its credit geographically than the vaguer Arab concept of Syria as Bilad al-Sham. Under the Romans, there was actually a province of Syria, with its capital at Antioch, which carried the name of the territory. Otherwise, down the centuries, Syria, like Arabia and Mesopotamia, was no more than a geographic expression. In Islamic times, the Arab geographers used the name arabicized as Suriyah, to denote one special region of Bilad al-Sham, which was the middle section of the valley of the Orontes River, in the vicinity of the towns ofHoms andHama. They also noted that it was an old name for the whole of Bilad al-Sham which had gone out of use. As a geographic expression, however, the name Syria survived in its original classical sense inByzantine and Western European usage, and also in theSyriac literature of some of theEastern Christian churches, from which it occasionally found its way intoChristian Arabic usage. It was only in the nineteenth century that the use of the name was revived in its modern Arabic form, frequently as Suriyya rather than the older Suriyah, to denote the whole of Bilad al-Sham: first of all in the Christian Arabic literature of the period, and under the influence of Western Europe. By the end of that century it had already replaced the name of Bilad al-Sham even inMuslim Arabic usage.
VII.63: The Assyrians went to war with helmets upon their heads made of brass, and plaited in a strange fashion which is not easy to describe. They carried shields, lances, and daggers very like the Egyptian; but in addition they had wooden clubs knotted with iron, and linen corselets. This people, whom the Hellenes call Syrians, are called Assyrians by the barbarians. The Chaldeans served in their ranks, and they had for commander Otaspes, the son of Artachaeus.
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{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Translated and Reprinted{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)To the Jews the Temple Mount is the holiest place on Earth, the place where God manifested himself to King David and where two Jewish temples - Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple – were located.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)The Night Journey made Jerusalem the third holiest city in Islam
The third holiest city of Islam—Jerusalem—is also very much in the center...
Jerusalem has always enjoyed a prominent place in Islam. Jerusalem is often referred to as the third holiest city in Islam...
