The Captivity Journey

The Festivals of Sham and the Suffering of the Family of the Prophet (peace be upon them)

The Sham Regions:

The Sham is a name that includes most of the regions that are nowadays part of Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. As the Sham was the first region that the Prophet (P) had thought of to spread the word of monotheism and to invite the people to Islam. The Prophet had prepared many troops and battles for that purpose. During his last days, he prepared an army and appointed Osama Bin Zayd as the army commander and said: "Allah shall curse whoever does not join Osama’s army…" The objective of the Prophet was not to widen his geographical governing area, but that was something that needed to be done to spread monotheism, have people revolve around the banner of Islam, and to guide the people to Allah the Almighty. But things had changed after the death of the Prophet (P), and the measurements were turned upside down. Life had seduced lots of people, where profits, temporal positions, gaining authority and influence became the main objectives to conquer new countries.

Thus, after the Muslims had conquered it (the Sham), Omar appointed Yazeed Bin Abi Soufian as its ruler, after him came his brother Muawiya Bin Abi Soufian. In the year 41 the people of Sham pledged allegiance to him as the new Calif.

He was the founder of the Umayyad Regime that made Damascus the center for the Islamic civilization. It stayed that way till year 132 A.H., and Muawiya appointed Yazeed as his successor by inheritance.