قدسيّة مدينة عَسقلان في أدب فضائل الشام (فلسطين / سوريا) "روايات منذ بداية الإسلام وروايات متأخرة" نظرة في بعض مصادر ومخطوطات الفترة المملوكية والفترة العثمانية

Abstract

Arabic literature about the virtues of the holy land (Sham: Palestine and Syria in the general sense or Damascus in the narrow sense) is considered a type of religious,  local or historical literary genre in the Medieval and Ottoman periods. This study deals with the sanctity of the town of Askalan  according to different manuscripts in various countries, and other sources which were dedicated to the virtues of Sham. Those manuscripts have included some religious stories with old Islamic roots, and other stories with a local tendency which contradict the acceptable Islamic terms, or even more modern stories. It seems as if we are facing a more folkloric literary phenomenon which is at loggerheads with the stories.

Although more and more Muslims started visiting holy places in this and other towns, some scholars of the Hanbilite school of law like Ibin Taymiyah and others opposed such visits. They perceived a danger of turning those towns into places of worship to seek “purity”. The purpose of this study is to examine the reflection of the “golden age” on the town, meaning the Mameluke and Ottoman periods, within specific groups, in order to look into the political, religious, and strategic aspects of Islam