The 6th International conference on the history of Bilad al-Sham

The sixth international conference on the History of Bilad al-Sham was held on November 10-12 in Damascus. It was held in co-operation between the University of Damascus and University of Jordan.

The conference's three session tackled eight main themes on: " Arabic sources and references;" Political powers; Population of Bilad al-Sham, Economic life; social life; administration and its institutions; cultural life and Architecture and Arts.

Since 1974, the Committee for the history of Bilad al-Sham has organized international conferences with subjects related to the History of Bilad al-Sham during different ages and period., and the recent conference's scientific committee is composed of Dr. Abdul Aziz al-Douri; Dr. Adnan al-Bakhit; Dr. Khariah Kasmieh; Dr. Suheil Zakkar; Dr. Faisal Abdullah; Dr. Mehmet Yuva and Dr. Hussein Omran.

In his presentation to the conference under the title " the role of the Ghazali, Ibn Arabi and Ibn Ð Taymia in sufisism, Prof. Suleiman Derin said that Bilad al-Sham has been one of the centers of civilization throughout human history. He added that with Damascus's location between the desert and the mountains, its fertile soil and abundant water, it has been able to support human habitation on a scale which from the dawn of time was caused it to be regarded as a metropolis. From the respective of the history of religion, Bilad al-Sham is not only important for its prophets but also for its saints, Prof.. Derin said. He continued that Bilad al-Sham hosted both the Sufi minded people as well as the opponents of Sufi thought. It serves as a sanctuary for the Sufis who played a great role in the shaping of Sufi philosophy. The great Sufi poet Jalaladdin Rumi therefore, rightly called Damascus as " Dimishq Ishq, " the Damascus of Love."

Prof. Derin added that Ibn Arabi, one of the leading Sufis of the 13th century, chose Damascus as his final abode after long periods of travel in the Islamic world encompassing present day Turkey, Baghdad, Hijaz, and Damascus from 1226 until his death in 1240 Ibn Arabi lived in Damascus where he enjoyed the protection of the local Ayyubids. He made friends with some influential religious officials in Damascus, who proudly counted themselves among his disciples.

In Damascus Ibn Arabi wrote his controversial masterpiece titled " Fusus al Hikam" ( The Bezels of Wisdom). He also completed a final recension of his magnum opus, " al-Futuhat al- Makkiyya" ( the Mecca Openings ). Through these works he started the controversy between the Sufis and the theologians, which even today continues to be a substantial problem.

Prof. Derin also said that Bilad al-Sham also attracted one of the most important opponents to Sufism in history, Ibn Taymiyya ( d. 1328). He is also the prototype of the opposition to Sufism. Born at Harran on 22 January 1263, Ibn Taymiyya was forces to leave his native towns in 1269 with the approach of the Mongols and he took refuge in Damascus. It was in Damascus, where his father was the director of the Sukkariyya, that he was educated. Through the examples of these three historical figures, each playing a major role, in the future of Sufi thought, there can be seen that al-Sham was a ship of tranquility for peace seeking scholars and Sufi alike. It has witnessed the controversies of the Sufis and the problems of their opponents but we can firm, as Prof. Derin said, that the authorities of al-Sham during this period seem to have favored the Sufis over their opponents. Ibn Arabi received great support from the rulers of the time whereas Ibn Taymiyya was repeatedly imprisoned.

In his presentation, Donald Whitecomb of the University of Chicago said that archaeological contribution to the history of Bilad al-Sham has suffered from misunderstanding of the nature of modern archaeological discipline and failure to clearly apply its methodologies. He said that one reason for this situation is a inattention to the distinction between history and archaeology.

Prof. Whitcomb said that during the last decade, considerable progress has been made in Islamic archaeology, enough to warrant a review of its progress and potential. He said that his presentation focuses on northern Syria in the Middle of the Islamic period. The Middle Islamic period in Bilad al-Sham may be divided into two archaeological phases: a, the Hamadanid- Seljuq period of transitions from early Islamic foundations, and b, the Ayyubid Mamluk period of prosperous consolidation of Middle Islamic culture. These phase, he said, may be contrasted as examples of broad chronological views well suited to archaeological contributions..

He went on saying that advances in the study of ceramics are moving this field beyond its " philological" preliminary stages towards cultural interpretations, i.e., " historical narratives." This, he explained the study of pottery is not an end to itself but an evidential tool for generating interpretations of economic and social history. It is often seen as corroboration for interpretations based on textual sources but more often provides narratives unavailable to the documentary historian.