Rasoolullah (Sallallahu Alayhi wa Sallam) said: "The heartland of the Abode of Islam is Ash-Shaam" [Haythami]. Bilaad-ush-Shaam or the Levant today includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Cyprus, Turkey and Iraq. Damascus, Syria's capital is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It came under Muslim rule in 636 CE. Damascus was the glory of Umayyad … [Read more...]