Salamiyah سلمية | |
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 View of Salamiyah | |
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| Coordinates:35°0′42″N37°3′9″E / 35.01167°N 37.05250°E /35.01167; 37.05250 | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Hama |
| District | Salamiyah |
| Subdistrict | Salamiyah |
| Control | Syrian transitional government[1] |
| Settled | 3500 BCE |
| Elevation | 475 m (1,558 ft) |
| Population (2004 census) | |
• Total | 66,724 |
| • Ethnicities | Arab |
| • Religions | Ismailis andAlawites |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Area code | 33 |
Salamiyah (Arabic:سلمية,romanized: Salamiyya; also transliteratedSalamiyya,Salamieh orSalamya) is a city in centralSyria, administratively part of theHama Governorate. It is located 33 kilometres (21 miles) southeast ofHama, 45 kilometres (28 miles) northeast of Homs. Its inhabitants are predominantlyIsmaili.
The city is nicknamed the "mother of Cairo" because it was the birthplace of the secondFatimid caliphal-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, whose dynasty would eventually establish the city ofCairo, and the early headquarters of his fatherAbdullah al-Mahdi Billah who founded theFatimid Caliphate. The city is an important center of theShi'iteNizari Isma'ili andTaiyabi Isma'iliIslamic schools ofIsmailism and also the birthplace of influential poetMuhammad al-Maghut. The population of the city is 66,724 (2004 census).[2]
Salamiyah lies in a fertile plain on the edge of theSyrian steppe,[3] 40 kilometers (25 mi) southeast ofHama and 51 kilometers (32 mi) northeast ofHoms.[4] It is close to theal-A'la plateau to its north and has an average elevation of 1,500 feet (460 m) above sea level.[3]
During theByzantine period, the city was a flourishing town calledSalaminias orSalamias.[3] It was well-integrated with the road networks connecting the villages betweenEmesa (Homs),Chalcis (Qinnasrin) andResafa. Several Byzantine-era ruins attest to its regional importance, though the historian Elizabeth Kay Fowden asserts "little evidence remains to help reknit the town's history".[5] Its bishop Julian attended the consecration of PatriarchSeverus of Antioch in 512,[5] indicating the town was abishopric by that time.[6] One of the few dated inscriptions commemorates the construction of a church dedicated toTheotokos in 604.[5] An undated inscription credits the locals' patronage of the town's fortifications and honorsSt. Sergius, a popular saint amongst the Christian inhabitants of theSyrian steppe.[7]
Salamiyah was conquered by the Muslim Arabs in 636, during theMuslim conquest of Syria, and became part ofJund Hims (the military district of Homs) through the early Muslim period (7th–11th centuries). Not long after the rise of theAbbasid Caliphate in 750, Salamiya was settled by theAbbasid dynastSalih ibn Ali and his descendants. Salih was made governor ofSyria and theJazira in 758 and thereafter began the reconstruction of Salamiyah. His sonAbdallah undertook significant reconstruction efforts there and built the irrigation networks of the town and the surrounding villages. Caliphal-Mahdi, Abdallah's cousin and brother-in-law, stayed in Salamiyah and admired his house there on his way toJerusalem in 779–780 and appointed him governor of the Jazira. Abdallah's son Muhammad controlled the town in the early 9th century and made it a thriving commercial center. Two Abbasid inscriptions have been found in the town: a mosque foundation inscription likely dated to 767 and another mosque inscription likely dated to 893; otherwise no Abbasid remains in Salamiyah are extant.[3]
Around the early 9th century, Salamiyah became home to the great-grandson ofJa'far al-Sadiq, Abdallah, who concealed his identity and pretended to be a regular member and merchant of theBanu Hashim (the clan to which both the Abbasids andAlids belonged). He was allowed to stay in the town by Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Salih, the Abbasid governor, and built a palace there, which continued to be used by his descendants and successors as the leaders of theIsma'ili Shiada'wa. The Isma'ili leaderAbdallah al-Mahdi Billah was born in Salamiyah in 873 or 874 and instituted reforms to theda'wa, leading to a break withHamdan Qarmat, who thereafter headed the breakawayQarmatian Isma'ili faction inIraq andBahrayn. The Qarmatian leaderZakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh led theQarmatian revolts in Iraq and Syria (902–907). The Qarmatians razed Salamiyah in 903, massacring its inhabitants, though Abdallah al-Mahdi had left the city the year before and went on to establish theFatimid Caliphate. The Abbasids suppressed the Qarmatian revolt near Salamiyah in late 903.[8]
Throughout the 10th century, Salamiyah was likely an abode for the nomadic Arab tribes of theSyrian Desert.[8] It was captured by the Fatimid generalAli ibn Ja'far ibn Fallah in 1009. Ali ibn Ja'far was the original builder of the mausoleum in Salamiyah dedicated to Abdallah (the descendant of Ja'far al-Sadiq).[9] In 1083 or 1084 the place was taken over by the Arab brigandKhalaf ibn Mula'ib, who had already been in possession of Homs and recognized Fatimid suzerainty.[8] An inscription dating to 1088 on the door beam of the former mausoleum credits Khalaf for rebuilding it.[9]
In 1092 Khalaf lost his territories, including Salamiyah, toTutush, the brother of theSeljuk sultanMalikshah, and after Tutush's death in 1095, to his sonRidwan. The town, which during this period was unfortified, remained administratively attached to Homs and was on several occasions used as a marshaling point by Muslim armies campaigning against theCrusader states andByzantine Empire. The Seljukatabeg and founder of theZengid dynasty,Imad al-Din Zengi, mobilized his troops in Salamiyah for his campaign against the Byzantines atShaizar in 1137–1138.[8]
The founder and first sultan of theAyyubid dynasty,Saladin, took over Homs, Hama and Salamiyah from the Zengid emir Fakhr al-Din Za'afarani in 1174–1175. Homs and Salamiyah were granted to his cousinMuhammad ibn Shirkuh and remained in the latter's family until the death of its last Ayyubid emiral-Ashraf Musa in 1163. Thereafter, it was incorporated into theMamluk empire which had conquered much of Ayyubid Syria in 1260. The Ayyubids of the Shirkuh line rebuilt the fortress ofShmemis on a nearby hilltop in the al-A'la plateau in 1229. The Mamluk army was defeated by theMongols led byGhazan at Salamiyah in 1299, which paved the way for the short-lived Mongol occupation of Damascus.[8]
Salamiyah's importance continued to decline under earlyOttoman rule, which began in 1517. Administratively, it was the center of asanjak (district) in theTripoli Eyalet.[10] It was a large ruin which, in the 16th–18th centuries, served as a stronghold for theAl Hayar (or Abu Risha) emirs of theMawali tribe, who were recognized by the Ottoman authorities as thecommanders of the Bedouin of theSyrian steppe.[11][10]
In 1625 the Abu Risha emir Mudlij gave refuge to Sulayman Sayfa (of theSayfa family of Tripoli), who had been driven out of hisfortress atSafita by theDruze emirFakhr al-Din Ma'n, and the rebel Aslan ibn Ali Pasha. Upon orders fromHafiz Ahmed Pasha, Mudlij executed both men in Salamiyah.[12] In 1623, the chief of theHarfush emirs ofBaalbek, Yunus al-Harfush, was imprisoned in Salamiyah by a Bedouin ally of Mudlij, Khalil ibn Ajaj, butwas released by the intercession of Fakhr al-Din.[13] By 1636, Salamiyah, along withHaditha andAnah were governed by Tarbush Abu Risha.[14]
The Mawali tribes were driven out of the Syrian steppe in the late 18th century by the invasion of theHassana, a strictly nomadic tribe of theAnaza confederation fromNajd; the Anaza tribes thereafter dominated the steppe. As late as the 1830s, when Syria was underEgyptian administration (1831–1841), Salamiyah and all of its surrounding villages were uninhabited ruins.[15] Toward the end of the Egyptian interregnum, Salamiyah was repopulated as part of a wider government effort to resettle and recultivate the Syrian desert fringe, but was abandoned again soon after Egyptian forces withdrew from the region.[16]
In July 1849, Isma'il ibn Muhammad, the Isma'ili emir ofQadmus in Syria'sJabal Ansariya coastal mountain range, obtained afirman from SultanAbdülmecid I granting him permission to settle Salamiyah and its environs with his followers. This came as part of an agreement ending Isma'il's rebellion in theKhawabi valley at that time.[17] The Isma'ili settlers were initially exempted from taxes and conscription.[18] Many dwelt in the Shmeimis fortress while they developed the new settlement at Salamiyah,[19] which they named Mecidabad (Mejidabad) after the sultan; the original name eventually regained currency.[20]
Thereafter, significant migrations of Isma'ilis from Jabal Ansariya to Salamiyah followed,[21] the new arrivals drawn to the area by higher prospects of prosperity than in the coastal mountains, taxation and conscription exemptions, and the medieval connections with their faith.[22] Under Emir Isma'il's leadership, the community held off the Mawali, whose tribal territory they had encroached upon, and formed a loose alliance with theSba'a, a Bedouin tribe of theAnaza confederation, which aided the Isma'ilis in their occasional conflicts with other Bedouin of the region.[21] By 1861, Salamiyah was recorded as a large village with considerable dwellings inside of its restored fortress. The growing number of Isma'ili emigrants began to branch out to the long-abandoned villages in Salamiyah's orbit and recultivated its fertile lands.[20][21] In settling the surrounding countryside, the Isma'ilis were gradually joined byCircassian refugees, who arrived in Syria in 1878,Alawites, and local semi-nomadic Bedouins,[20] though the lands of Salamiyah and its surroundings largely remained under Isma'ili ownership.[18]
In 1884, under SultanAbdulmejid II, Salamiyah and its environs were made akaza ofHama and its residents were subject to taxation and conscription. Within a few years, a permanent garrison was established there. By the close of the 19th century, Salamiyah, with its 6,000-strong population, was the largest Isma'ili center in the Ottoman Empire, and had a well-developed irrigation network. The community in Salamiyah shifted their religious allegiance to theQasim-Shahi line of imams, by then led by the India-basedAga Khan III, while most of their counterparts in the Jabal Ansariya kept to theMu'min-Shahi line of imams. The Aga Khan invested considerably in Salamiyah, building several schools and an agricultural institution there.[18]
Salamieh is currently the largest population center ofIsmailis in theArab world. The remains of PrinceAly Khan, the father of the current Nizari Isma'ili ImamAga Khan IV, are buried in the city. The headquarters of the Ismaili Higher Council of Syria are in the city, as are dozens ofJama'at Khana. During the mid-twentieth century, Salamieh saw a growth of religious diversity with the building of the first Sunni mosque, and now the city is home to almost a dozen Sunni mosques and aJa'fariShia mosque in the city's Qadmusite Quarter which is home to most of the city'sIthna Ashari Shia which migrated to the city after ethnic and religious clashes in their hometown ofQadmus in the early twentieth century. Currently, a little more than half of the city's residents areIsma'ili.[23]
In 1934,Muhammad al-Maghut, the poet credit for being the father of free verse Arab poetry, was born in Salamieh. In 1991, visitors from theDawoodi Bohra sect of Isma'iliShia Islam in Yemen built the Mosque of Imam Isma'il adjacent to the grave of the Isma'ili Imam Isma'il. The mosque was built by order of their leader theDa'i al-MutlaqMohammed Burhanuddin according to an inscription on the mosque's wall. Although currently used for worship by Sunni Muslims, the mosque and mausoleum are visited in religious pilgrimages by Dawoodi Bohra worldwide.
From 2012 to 2017, with the development of frontlines inSyrian Civil War, the city grew in its strategic importance. WithAl-Rastanbecoming a pocket outside government control along the Homs-Hama Motorway, andthe developments in Idlib governorate resulting in the government also losing control of large segments of the main Hama-Aleppo Highway, theHoms-Salamieh,Hama-Salamieh, and Salamieh-Ithriya-Aleppo roads became major lines connecting these government-held areas. This importance was why the town was the target of occasionalISIL or rebel mortar attacks. Also, some of the town's citizens have participated in protests during the Civil War.[24] The importance of Salamieh diminished following the Syrian Army's securing of the Homs-Hama Motorway on February 1, 2018, during theNorthwestern Syria campaign. During the2024 Syrian opposition offensive, regime forces withdrew from the city, which was subsequently seized byHay'at Tahrir al-Sham militants on 5 December 2024.[25]
The residence history of Salamieh is as follows:[26]
"The Ismaili dais in search of a new residence for their Imam came to Salamia and inspected the town and approached the owner, Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Saleh, who had transformed the town into a flourishing commercial centre. They told him that there was a Hashimite merchant from Basra who was desirous of settling in the town. He readily accepted and pointed out to them a site along the main street in the market, where existed a house belonging to a certain Abu Farha. The Ismaili dais bought it for their Imam and informed him about it. Wafi Ahmad arrived to his new residence as an ordinary merchant. He soon pulled down the old building and had new ones built in its place; and also built a new wall around it. He also built a tunnel inside his house, leading to the desert, whose length was about 12 miles (19 kilometres). Money and treasures were carried on camels to the door of that tunnel at night. The door opened and the camels entered with their loads inside the house."
The photo placed here shows the mausoleum of the Imam. Near hisqabr mubarak ("blessed grave"), the tunnel opening still exists.
The city is an agricultural center, with a largely agriculture based economy.Mate is extremely popular in Salamieh and a drink of major cultural importance in social gatherings.
Salamieh has acold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classificationBSk).
| Climate data for Salamiyah (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 11.8 (53.2) | 13.9 (57.0) | 18.2 (64.8) | 23.6 (74.5) | 29.6 (85.3) | 33.9 (93.0) | 36.4 (97.5) | 36.6 (97.9) | 33.7 (92.7) | 28.4 (83.1) | 20.0 (68.0) | 13.4 (56.1) | 25.0 (77.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 2.2 (36.0) | 3.0 (37.4) | 5.5 (41.9) | 8.8 (47.8) | 13.3 (55.9) | 17.3 (63.1) | 19.9 (67.8) | 20.3 (68.5) | 17.6 (63.7) | 13.2 (55.8) | 6.8 (44.2) | 3.3 (37.9) | 10.9 (51.6) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 59.8 (2.35) | 49.8 (1.96) | 41.5 (1.63) | 20.4 (0.80) | 13.6 (0.54) | 1.7 (0.07) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.3 (0.01) | 3.4 (0.13) | 15.5 (0.61) | 30.3 (1.19) | 49.3 (1.94) | 290.3 (11.43) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1 mm) | 9.7 | 8.1 | 6.4 | 3.8 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 5.0 | 7.5 | 46.2 |
| Source:NOAA[27] | |||||||||||||
Media related toSalamiyah at Wikimedia Commons
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