Sunni Muslims

Islam reached Syria with the Arab conquest of the 630s; Bosra was the first Byzantine city the Arabs entered, in 634. Under the Umayyads (661-750) Damascus was the capital of the caliphate, and al-Walid I built the Great Mosque on the site of the cathedral of St John the Baptist.

Sources and details

The tomb of the Shafi'i jurist al-Nawawi at Nawa and the madrasas of Ayyubid and Mamluk Damascus and Aleppo reflect this scholarly tradition. Sufism forms part of this heritage: the tomb of the Andalusian Sufi master Ibn Arabi (d. 1240) at al-Salihiyya, the Ottoman Sulaymaniyya Takiyya with its hospice, and shrines such as that of Ibrahim ibn Adham at Jableh.

The U.S. government estimated in its 2023 report that Sunni Muslims make up about 74 percent of the population; this is an estimate made during large-scale displacement. Several Sunni heritage sites were damaged during the war, among them the Great Mosque of Aleppo, whose 1090 minaret collapsed in April 2013.

Sites connected with this community 16

• Great Mosque of Aleppo (Umayyad Mosque of Aleppo)Aleppo, Aleppo · Islamic heritage

  Aleppo's Umayyad-founded great mosque; its Seljuk minaret collapsed in 2013.

• Khanqah al-FarafiraAleppo · Islamic heritage

  Sufi heritage: khanqah (Sufi convent) in Aleppo recorded as Sunni in the atlas data.

• Mosque and shrine of Nabi Huri (Cyrrhus)Cyrrhus (Nabi Huri), Afrin region, Aleppo · Islamic heritage

  Sufi heritage: shrine of Nabi Huri at ancient Cyrrhus.

• Mausoleum of SaladinDamascus (beside the Umayyad Mosque), Damascus · Islamic heritage

  Tomb of the Sunni Ayyubid sultan Saladin (1196).

• Mosque and tomb of Muhyiddin Ibn ArabiDamascus (al-Salihiyya, Mount Qasiyun), Damascus · Islamic heritage

  Sufi heritage: mosque around the tomb of Ibn Arabi at al-Salihiyya.

• Mujammaʻ al-Shaykh Aḥmad KaftārūDamascus · Islamic heritage

  Modern Sunni religious complex in Damascus named after Shaykh Ahmad Kaftaru.

• Tekkiye Mosque / Sulaymaniyya TakiyyaDamascus, Damascus · Islamic heritage

  Sufi heritage: Ottoman mosque and hospice (tekke) by Mimar Sinan.

• Tomb attributed to Bilal ibn Rabah (Bab al-Saghir Cemetery)Damascus, Bab al-Saghir cemetery, Damascus · Islamic heritage

  Tomb attributed by tradition to the Companion Bilal ibn Rabah.

• Umayyad MosqueDamascus, Damascus · Islamic heritage

  Great congregational mosque built by al-Walid I in 706-715 on the site of the cathedral of St John.

• Al-Omari Mosque (Bosra)Bosra, Daraa · Islamic heritage

  Mosque of Omar at Bosra, among the oldest surviving mosques, in the first Byzantine city entered by the Arabs (634).

• Tomb of Imam al-NawawiNawa, Daraa · Islamic heritage

  Tomb of the Shafi'i jurist al-Nawawi (d. 1277), demolished in January 2015.

• Great Mosque of HamaHama, Hama · Islamic heritage

  Congregational mosque of Hama (8th c.).

• Khalid ibn al-Walid MosqueHoms, Homs · Islamic heritage

  Mausoleum mosque of the Companion Khalid ibn al-Walid in Homs.

• Tomb of Caliph Umar ibn Abd al-AzizDeir Sharqi (near Maarat al-Numan), Idlib · Islamic heritage

  Mausoleum venerated as the tomb of the Umayyad caliph Umar II.

• Mosque of Sultan Ibrahim ibn AdhamJableh, Latakia · Islamic heritage

  Sufi heritage: shrine-mosque of the ascetic Ibrahim ibn Adham at Jableh.

• Great Mosque of RaqqaRaqqa, Raqqa · Islamic heritage

  Abbasid congregational mosque of al-Rafiqa, built to a planned layout.

Sources (7)

1. U.S. Department of State, 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Syria 2024
2. Minority Rights Group International, Syria (country page)
3. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Ancient City of Bosra
4. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Ancient City of Aleppo
5. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ayyubid dynasty
6. Wikipedia, Raqqa (secondary pointer)
7. Wikipedia, Umayyad Caliphate (secondary pointer)