Syria

Independent from the French mandate in 1946.

☾ The Coming of Islam

The conquest of Shām and the Umayyad capital

Syria entered Islam with the Arab conquest of the 630s and the decisive battle of the Yarmūk (636); Damascus then became the capital of the Umayyad caliphate (661–750) — the first imperial capital of the Muslim world.

☾ Religious Composition

A Sunni majority amid notable religious diversity

Syria is predominantly Sunni Muslim (Ḥanafī and Shāfiʿī), with significant ʿAlawī, Druze, Twelver and Ismāʿīlī Shiʿi, and Christian communities — one of the more religiously diverse societies of the region.

Demographic shares are approximate; Chronicle describes religious composition and does not adjudicate contemporary political conflict.

▤ Scholars & Institutions

Damascus and the Umayyad Mosque

The Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, built in the early 8th century, is among the oldest and grandest mosques in the world, and Damascus and Aleppo were long centres of Islamic scholarship and Sufism.

At a glance