Khitat al-Sham

Khitat al-Sham (The Topography and History of Greater Syria) is a six-part historical, topographical, and cultural survey of Bilad al-Sham (Greater Syria) written by the Syrian scholar and president of the Arab Scientific Academy in Damascus, Muhammad Kurd Ali (1372 AH / 1953 CE) Majallat al-Muqtabas+1. It is regarded as one of the most comprehensive modern reference works on the region's history, institutions, and civilization Majallat al-Muqtabas+1.

Composition and Sources

The author prepared the work over the course of twenty-five years Majallat al-Muqtabas. In compiling its material, Kurd Ali surveyed manuscript and printed collections in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, and French, conducting research in both public and private libraries across Damascus, Egypt, Medina, Istanbul, Rome, Paris, London, Oxford, Cambridge, Leiden, Berlin, Munich, and the El Escorial Majallat al-Muqtabas. Kurd Ali dedicated the book to the Egyptian scholar Ahmad Taymur, acknowledging his encouragement during its preparation Majallat al-Muqtabas+1.

Structure and Contents

The work is organized into six parts, which were published bound in three large volumes Majallat al-Muqtabas:

• Part One: Opens with the geographical definitions, borders, topography, climate, waters, and cities of Syria, followed by an ethnographic study of its populations with a focus on the Arabs Majallat al-Muqtabas. It then surveys the ancient and historical languages of Syria—including Aramaic, Syriac, Hebrew, Phoenician, and Arabic—and presents the historical narrative from the pre-Islamic Persian and Roman eras through the early Islamic conquests up to 18 AH, continuing through the Umayyad, Abbasid, Tulunid, Fatimid, and Seljuk periods to the eve of the Crusades Majallat al-Muqtabas.
• Part Two: Details the Zengid/Nurid period, the campaigns of Nur al-Din and Saladin, the Ayyubid and Mamluk dynasties, the Mongol invasions, Timur's entry into Damascus, and the transition to the Ottoman era Majallat al-Muqtabas.
• Part Three: Chronicles the Ottoman era up to the deposition of Sultan Abd al-Hamid II and the Ottoman constitution; the origins of early Zionist activity; Syria's experience in World War I, including the executions carried out by Jamal Pasha; military campaigns in Palestine and the fall of Jerusalem; the Allied occupation and the rule of King Faysal; the implementation of the Sykes–Picot agreement; and the establishment of the French and British Mandates over Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Transjordan Majallat al-Muqtabas.
• Part Four: Devoted to intellectual and economic history. It examines scholarship, literature, universities, libraries, the press, and publishing up to the end of the fourteenth century AH; the fine arts, including music, singing, engraving, architecture, and theater; Syrian agriculture, land irrigation, and forestry; urban crafts and manufacturing (such as textiles, sericulture, glassmaking, and ceramics); and ancient and modern commerce, customs, and monetary circulation Majallat al-Muqtabas+1.
• Part Five: Analyzes military forces across different eras, the naval fleet, public finance, kharaj taxation, religious endowments (awqaf), municipal administrations, market inspection (hisbah), roads, and ports, alongside detailed surveys of architectural monuments such as the Umayyad Mosque, the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, citadels, bridges, and regional residential architecture Majallat al-Muqtabas.
• Part Six: Documents religious and social institutions across Syrian history, surveying churches, synagogues, mosques, madrasas, hospitals (bimaristans), museums, and libraries, along with the religious sects, denominations, and traditional customs of the region Majallat al-Muqtabas.

Publication and Reception

The first edition of the work was printed in Damascus at al-Matba'a al-Haditha between 1343 and 1347 AH (1925–1928 CE) Majallat al-Muqtabas+2. Contemporary reviewers lauded its breadth; the Iraqi linguist Anastas al-Karmali reviewed the first volume upon its release in the journal Lughat al-Arab, characterizing the book as a monumental reference and a vast reservoir of knowledge concerning Syria's past, present, and future Majallat Lughat al-Arab a…. Later scholars have described it as one of the most significant works compiled on the history of Greater Syria after the classical history of Ibn Asakir Majallat al-Muqtabas.