Salamiyah

Salamieh (or Salamiyah) سلمية
View of Salamieh
Nickname:  The mother of Cairo
Salamieh (or Salamiyah) Location in Syria
Coordinates: 35°0′42.48″N 37°3′9″E / 35.0118000°N 37.05250°E / 35.0118000; 37.05250
Country	Syria
Governorate	Hama
District	Salamiyah
Subdistrict	Salamiyah
Control	Syrian Opposition[1]
Settled	3500 BCE
Elevation	475 m (1,558 ft)
Population  (2004 census)
• Total	66,724
• Ethnicities	Arab
• Religions	Ismailis and Alawites
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Area code	33

Salamiyah or Salamieh (Arabic: سلمية, romanized: Salamieh) is a city and district in western Syria, in the Hama Governorate. It is located 33 kilometres (21 miles) southeast of Hama, 45 kilometres (28 miles) northeast of Homs. The city is nicknamed the "mother of Cairo" because it was the birthplace of the second Fatimid caliph al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, whose dynasty would eventually establish the city of Cairo, and the early headquarters of his father Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah who founded the Fatimid Caliphate. The city is an important center of the Shi'ite Nizari Isma'ili and Taiyabi Isma'ili Islamic schools and also the birthplace of influential poet Muhammad al-Maghut. The population of the city is 66,724 (2004 census).^[2]

During the Byzantine period, the city was a flourishing town called Salaminias or Salamias.^[3] It was well-integrated with the road networks connecting the villages between Emesa (Homs), Chalcis (Qinnasrin) and Resafa. Several Byzantine-era ruins attest to its regional importance, though the historian Elizabeth Kay Fowden asserts "little evidence remains to help reknit the town's history".^[4] Its bishop Julian attended the consecration of Patriarch Severus of Antioch in 512,^[4] indicating the town was a bishopric by that time.^[5] One of the few dated inscriptions commemorates the construction of a church dedicated to Theotokos in 604.^[4] An undated inscription credits the locals' patronage of the town's fortifications and honors St. Sergius, a popular saint amongst the Christian inhabitants of the Syrian steppe.^[6]

Salamiyah was conquered by the Muslim Arabs in 636, during the Muslim conquest of Syria, and became part of Jund Hims (the military district of Homs) through the early Muslim period (7th–11th centuries). Not long after the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750, Salamiya was settled by the Abbasid dynast Salih ibn Ali and his descendants. Salih was made governor of Syria and the Jazira in 758 and thereafter began the reconstruction of Salamiyah. His son Abdallah undertook significant reconstruction efforts there and built the irrigation networks of the town and the surrounding villages. Caliph al-Mahdi, Abdallah's cousin and brother-in-law, stayed in Salamiyah and admired his house there on his way to Jerusalem in 779–780 and appointed him governor of the Jazira. Abdallah's son Muhammad controlled the town in the early 9th century and made it a thriving commercial center. Two Abbasid inscriptions have been found in the town: a mosque foundation inscription likely dated to 767 and another mosque inscription likely dated to 893; otherwise no Abbasid remains in Salamiyah are extant.^[3]

Around the early 9th century, Salamiyah became home to the great-grandson of Ja'far al-Sadiq, Abdallah, who concealed his identity and pretended to be a regular member and merchant of the Banu Hashim (the clan to which both the Abbasids and Alids belonged). He was allowed to stay in the town by Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Salih, the Abbasid governor, and built a palace there, which continued to be used by his descendants and successors as the leaders of the Isma'ili Shia da'wa. The Isma'ili leader Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah was born in Salamiyah in 873 or 874 and instituted reforms to the da'wa, leading to a break with Hamdan Qarmat, who thereafter headed the breakaway Qarmatian Isma'ili faction in Iraq and Bahrayn. The Qarmatian leader Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh led the Qarmatian revolts in Iraq and Syria (902–907). The Qarmatians razed Salamiyah in 903, massacring its inhabitants, though Abdallah al-Mahdi had left the city the year before and went on to establish the Fatimid Caliphate. The Abbasids suppressed the Qarmatian revolt near Salamiyah in late 903.^[7]

Throughout the 10th century, Salamiyah was likely an abode for the nomadic Arab tribes of the Syrian Desert.^[7] It was captured by the Fatimid general Ja'far ibn Fallah in 1009. Ja'far was the likely original builder of mausoleum there dedicated to Abdallah (the descendant of Ja'far al-Sadiq).^[8] In 1083 or 1084 the place was taken over by the Arab brigand Khalaf ibn Mula'ib, who had already been in possession of Homs and recognized Fatimid suzerainty.^[7] An inscription dating to 1088 on the door beam of the former mausoleum credits Khalaf for rebuilding it.^[8]

In 1092 Khalaf lost his territories, including Salamiyah, to Tutush, the brother of the Seljuk sultan Malikshah, and after Tutush's death in 1095, to his son Ridwan. The town, which during this period was unfortified, remained administratively attached to Homs and was on several occasions used as a marshaling point by Muslim armies campaigning against the Crusader states and Byzantine Empire. The Seljuk atabeg and founder of the Zengid dynasty, Imad al-Din Zengi, mobilized his troops in Salamiyah for his campaign against the Byzantines at Shaizar in 1137–1138.^[7]

The founder and first sultan of the Ayyubid dynasty, Saladin, took over Homs, Hama and Salamiyah from the Zengid emir Fakhr al-Din Za'afarani in 1174–1175. Homs and Salamiyah were granted his cousin Muhammad ibn Shirkuh and remained in the latter's family until the death of its last Ayyubid emir al-Ashraf Musa in 1163. Thereafter, it was incorporated into the Mamluk empire which had conquered much of Ayyubid Syria in 1260. The Ayyubids of the Shirkuh line rebuilt the fortress of Shmemis on a nearby hilltop in the Jabal al-A'la area in 1229. The Mamluk army was defeated by the Mongols led by Ghazan at Salamiyah in 1299, which paved the way for the shortlived Mongol occupation of Damascus.^[7]

Salamiyah's importance continued to decline under early Ottoman rule, which began in 1517. Administratively, it was the center of a sanjak (district) in the Tripoli Eyalet.^[9] It was a large ruin which, in the 16th–18th centuries, served as a stronghold for the Al Hayar (or Abu Risha) emirs of the Mawali tribe, who were recognized by the Ottoman authorities as the commanders of the Bedouin of the Syrian steppe.^[10][9]

It was expanded when permission by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II through a firman in July 1849 gave permission for the emigration of Isma'ilis led by Isma'il bin Muhammad, the Isma'ili amir of Qadmus in northern Syria. Isma'ilis from Qadmus and Masyaf among other smaller towns and villages emigrated to the newly rebuilt city which was first occupied by only sixteen families and by 1861, Salamieh became an agricultural village. The final major Isma'ili immigration to Salamieh occurred in 1919.

Salamieh is currently the largest population center of Isma'ili Muslims in the Arab world. The remains of Prince Aly Khan, the father of the current Nizari Isma'ili Imam Aga Khan IV, are buried in the city. The headquarters of the Isma'ili Shia Higher Council of Syria are in the city, as are dozens of Jama'at Khana. During the mid-twentieth century, Salamieh saw a growth of religious diversity with the building of the first Sunni mosque, and now the city is home to almost a dozen Sunni mosques and a Ja'fari Shia mosque in the city's Qadmusite Quarter which is home to most of the city's Ithna Ashari Shia which migrated to the city after ethnic and religious clashes in their hometown of Qadmus in the early twentieth century. Currently, a little more than half of the city's residents are Isma'ili.^[11]

In 1934, Muhammad al-Maghut, the poet credit for being the father of free verse Arab poetry, was born in Salamieh. In 1991, visitors from the Dawoodi Bohra sect of Isma'ili Shia Islam in Yemen built the Mosque of Imam Isma'il adjacent to the grave of the Isma'ili Imam Isma'il. The mosque was built by order of their leader the Da'i al-Mutlaq Mohammed Burhanuddin according to an inscription on the mosque's wall. Although currently used for worship by Sunni Muslims, the mosque and mausoleum are visited in religious pilgrimages by Dawoodi Bohra worldwide.

From 2012 to 2017, with the development of frontlines in Syrian Civil War, the city grew in its strategic importance. With Al-Rastan becoming a pocket outside government control along the Homs-Hama Motorway, and the developments in Idlib governorate resulting in the government also losing control of large segments of the main Hama-Aleppo Highway, the Homs-Salamieh, Hama-Salamieh, and Salamieh-Ithriya-Aleppo roads became major lines connecting these government-held areas. This importance was why the town was the target of occasional ISIL or rebel mortar attacks. Also, some of the town's citizens have participated in protests during the Civil War.^[12] The importance of Salamieh diminished following the Syrian Army's securing of the Homs-Hama Motorway on February 1, 2018, during the Northwestern Syria campaign.

Tomb, Imam Abadullah, Salamia

Mosque Imam Abadullah, Salamia, Syria, renovated by Dawoodi Bohra

The residence history of Salamieh is as follows:^[13]

"The Ismaili dais in search of a new residence for their Imam came to Salamia and inspected the town and approached the owner, Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Saleh, who had transformed the town into a flourishing commercial centre. They told him that there was a Hashimite merchant from Basra who was desirous of settling in the town. He readily accepted and pointed out to them a site along the main street in the market, where existed a house belonging to a certain Abu Farha. The Ismaili dais bought it for their Imam and informed him about it. Wafi Ahmad arrived to his new residence as an ordinary merchant. He soon pulled down the old building and had new ones built in its place; and also built a new wall around it. He also built a tunnel inside his house, leading to the desert, whose length was about 12 miles (19 kilometres). Money and treasures were carried on camels to the door of that tunnel at night. The door opened and the camels entered with their loads inside the house."

The photo placed here shows the mausoleum of the Imam. Near his qabr mubarak ("blessed grave"), the tunnel opening still exists.

The city is an agricultural center, with a largely agriculture based economy. Mate is extremely popular in Salamieh and a drink of major cultural importance in social gatherings.

• A hammam of unique architecture, likely dating from the Ayyubid era, sits in the town center, near a large underground Byzantine cistern which is said to lead all the way to Shmemis castle. There also exists one wall from an ancient Byzantine citadel.
• The castle, of Roman-Greek origins.
• Walls, rebuilt by Zengi
• Mosque of al-Imam Isma'il, which originated as an Ancient Greek temple of Zeus, and was turned into a church in Byzantine times.
• Remains of Roman canals, used for agriculture

Salamieh has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk).

• Douwes, Dick (2000). The Ottomans in Syria: A History of Justice and Oppression. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1860640311.
• Fowden, Elizabeth Kay (1999). The Barbarian Plain: Saint Sergius Between Rome and Iran. Berkely and Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-21685-3.
• Honigmann, Ernest (1947). "The Patriarchate of Antioch: A Revision of Le Quien and the Notitia Antiochena". Traditio. 5: 135–161.
• Kramers, J. H. & Daftary, Farhad (1995). "Salamiyya". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W. P. & Lecomte, G. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume VIII: Ned–Sam. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 921–923. ISBN 978-90-04-09834-3.
• Le Strange, G. (1890). Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
• Sharon, M. (2007). Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, Addendum. BRILL. ISBN 978-9004157804. p. 158
• Winter, Stefan (2019). "Alep et l'émirat du désert (çöl beyligi) au XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle". In Winter, Stefan; Ade, Mafalda (eds.). Aleppo and its Hinterland in the Ottoman Period / Alep et sa province à l'époque ottomane. Brill. pp. 86–108. ISBN 978-90-04-37902-2.

Media related to Salamiyah at Wikimedia Commons

• Google Satellite Image
• Ministry of Tourism
• https://web.archive.org/web/20070818010209/http://salamieh.reefnet.gov.sy/
• http://www.salamieh.com