The Merits of Al-Sham

The land of al-Shām is a geocultural region in the Middle East that is spanned today within several countries, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Northeast Egypt, Southwest Turkey and (arguably) Northwest Saudi Arabia. Its significance and importance throughout history stem from a variety of factors, such as its strategic geography, abundance of resources and significance in several religious traditions, making it the epicenter of many human conflicts across time.

The land of al-Shām is a geocultural region in the Middle East that is spanned today within several countries, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Northeast Egypt, Southwest Turkey and (arguably) Northwest Saudi Arabia. Its significance and importance throughout history stem from a variety of factors, such as its strategic geography, abundance of resources and significance in several religious traditions, making it the epicenter of many human conflicts across time.

In the religion of Islam, the land of al-Shām similarly is of great significance and relevance, containing the third holiest mosque in the faith, al-Masjid al-Aqṣā of Jerusalem. The entire region, alongside a few specific cities within it, were praised and extolled in various authentic prophetic traditions and/or Quranic verses, and the land has thus been a focal point in the collective Muslim memory.

This book seeks to compile authentic Islamic traditions surrounding the land of al-Shām and its numerous merits uttered by the Prophet ﷺ, his companions and their students, the tābiʿīn. Given that this subject is riddled with a plethora of inauthentic traditions and ḥadīths, this book seeks to provide the reader with a reliable compendium of reports that does justice to both the land of al-Shām and ḥadīthist scholarship.