The Development of al-Muhāǧirīn Quarter

Many are under the impression that al-Muhāǧirīn Quarter began as a shelter to refugees from the island of Crete in the last decade of the 19th century; this is neither precise nor quite accurate.

As could be seen in the attached map, the first refugees from Rumelia were settled in a small group of dwellings in 1895-1896. The second wave came from Crete in 1900. The areas occupied by these two communities were located 500 meters west of the ancient aṣ-Ṣāliḥīyyā Quarter. They were rather limited in extension and uncultivated since their inhabitants had to carry water from the Yazīd Canal, situated 30 meters below their modest homes.

The real beginning of the al-Muhāǧirīn neighborhood was after 1905 and specifically after harnessing the necessary water and constructing a large water tank between 1903 and 1908. This made practicable dividing the space into spacious lots occupied with elegant houses favored with a superb view of the city. The inauguration of the tramway line between al-Marǧā Square and al-Muhāǧirīn was to play a vital role in the expansion of the urban tissue thus created.

Seen on the left of the plan is the location of Nāẓim Pāšā's villa, and near its center is that of the famous Maṣṭabā, or platform, where Kaiser Wilhelm II contemplated Damascus during his visit of 1898. 

Jean-Luc Arnaud. Damas Urbanisme et Architecture 1860-1925. Sindbad 2006.

Transferring the Administrative and Governmental Center of Late Ottoman Damascus

For centuries, the administrative and commercial activities in Damascus had been concentrated inside the walls of the Old City in the western neighborhood and, for the most part, around the ʾUmayyād Mosque. This rule remained in effect until the mid-19th century, when several factors combined to reorient the city from south (pilgrimage to Mecca) to west (Beirut) and from long-distance and land-bound to regional and sea-bound commerce. The opening of the Damascus-Beirut road in 1863 was a first step in this direction, a trend that accelerated under the energetic governorship of Madḥat Pāšā. Numerous vital projects were achieved in four decades (1880-1920) some of the most important were:

1. The Muzayrīb Railroad, starting from the Barāmkā Station in 1894.

2. The Ḥamīdīyyā Casern (adjacent to Barāmkā Station). It took over some of the functions previously reserved for the Citadel, the latter having lost its military importance and its surrounding ditch filled to allow for the expansion of Sūq al-Ḥamīdīyyā and the creation of Sūq al-H̱uǧā. The casern buildings were subsequently converted to a different use, namely to house Damascus University and its Law School. 

3. The buildings of the Municipality, Post & Telegraph, and Hall of Justice at the Marjā Square that had replaced Sūq Sārūǧā as a hub for transportation.

4. The Ḥiǧāz Railway Station.

5. The New Sarāy on the right bank of the Barada River.

Between its caserns and depots, the army occupied a vast area of about 46,000 square meters; the tram and railway stations filled an additional 57,000 square meters. 

Jean-Luc Arnaud. Damas Urbanisme et Architecture 1860-1925. Sindbad 2006. 

Elaboration of a Transportation Network in Late Ottoman Damascus

With the inauguration of the Damascus-Beirut Road in 1863, carriages and stagecoaches started to replace beasts of burden. Several similar projects followed with the purpose of facilitating regional commerce. Some of the most important are Suq as-Sinānīyyā, west of intra-muro Damascus towards al-Mīdān and Hauran in the south; al-Qaṣṣāʿ Avenue in the north, all the way to the road to Aleppo; and an-Naṣr (Victory) Boulevard, west of Suq al-Ḥamīdīyyā. The banks of the Barada River were paved, and the tramway began with the lines of Mīdān and aṣ-Ṣāliḥīyyā Avenue, effective 1906. As for the street network inside the walls of the old city, the following were enlarged and improved: Via Recta (Suq Madḥat Pāšā was inaugurated in 1879), Suq al-Buzūrīyyā (1879), the eastern part of Suq al-Ḥamīdīyyā (1883-1884), Suq al-ʾArwām southwest of Suq al-Ḥamīdīyyā (1894), Suq al-ʿAṣrūnīyyā (1885-1886), and many more.

Jean-Luc Arnaud. Damas Urbanisme et Architecture 1860-1925. Sindbad 2006. 

Damascus Circa 1860

A map of Damascus was included in an archeological guide of the Orient by A. Chauvet & E Isambert published in 1882. It was based on the work of  Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey completed about 1860. The level of precision is astonishing and would not be surpassed until the second or even third decade of the 20th century. This comprehensive map includes the suburb of aṣ-Ṣāliḥīyyā—still separated from the Old City—and that of al-Mīdān in its entirety. The work therefore went beyond what would be encountered in traditional touristic guides and was of a more scholarly nature. It should be kept in mind that until the first half of the 19th century, maps of Damascus were largely confined to the city intra-muro and its immediate suburbs, and for obvious reasons: those who designed them were exclusively European travellers, scholars, and missionaries interested first and foremost with pre-Islamic landmarks, Roman and—particularly—Christian; the bulk of those monuments were located inside the city wall.

Jean-Luc Arnaud. Damas Urbanisme et Architecture 1860-1925. Sindbad 2006. 

The Commercial Reorientation of Late Ottoman Damascus

In the mid-18th century, Damascus formed a hub that connected north to south, Constantinople to Mecca, and east to west, India and the Far East through Baghdad all the way to Cairo. For several months every year, pilgrimage constituted the backbone of the city's economy as somewhere between 20,000 and 60,000 human beings passed through Damascus on the way to or back from the holy cities of Hijaz. The Ḥaǧǧ was therefore a unique opportunity for commerce and business above and beyond its religious symbolism.

That was to gradually but inexorably change over the next 100 years or so. The process started with the treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774, signed between Russia and the Ottoman Empire after a series of defeats suffered by the latter; it reached a climax with the inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869. This treaty, in addition to forcing Constantinople to cede territories to the victorious Russians, stipulated opening the Black Sea to Moscow's ships and commerce. It was therefore a matter of time before newer, faster, and cheaper sea routes replaced the age-old land caravans that had passed through Damascus from time immemorial. So drastic those changes proved to be that by the late 1870s the number of pilgrims departing Damascus towards Mecca had dropped to somewhere between 1000 and 2000 persons. 

Damascus had to accommodate herself to the changing international situation. Starting in the second half of the 19th century, attention was turned toward improving land transportation in order to enhance the city's regional status. A stagecoach route was constructed between Damascus and Beirut in 1863, and eventually a railroad linked the two cities in 1895. This interval witnessed the rising importance of a rapidly expanding Beirut as Damascus' harbor on the Mediterranean Sea, whereas the Syrian capital remained the last station for European goods before the desert. 

Still, the pilgrimage retained its value as a religious symbol of immense importance to the Sublime Porte, as evidenced by the great Hijaz Railroad project. The changes did, however, result in a major reorientation of Damascus from south (Mecca) to west (Beirut). We can still identify the numerous administrative, touristic, and municipal edifices erected west of the Old City as a testimony to this crucial development.

Map credit: Arnaud.

References
Jean-Luc Arnaud. Damas Urbanisme et Architecture 1860-1925. Sindbad 2006. 
Dorothée Sack. Damaskus. Entwicklung und Struktur einer orientalisch-islamischen Stadt. von Zabern, Mainz 1989.
Stefan Weber. Reshaping Damascus: Social Change and Patterns of Architecture in Late Ottoman Times      
Stefan Weber. Ottoman Modernity and Urban Transformation 1808-1918. Proceedings of the Danish Institute in Damascus V 2009. 

أبو خليل، الأسد، ومزايدات اليسار على اليسار

لكلّ حكومةٍ مناصروها وخصومهُا ولا تخرج الحكومة السوريّة عن هذه القاعدة. موقف المعارضة السورية ومَن ورائها مِن حكومة الأسد معروفٌ ولا نيّة لي في التعليق عليهِ.  أقتصِرُ هنا على التطرّق لوجهة نظر بعض المفكّرين العرب أو من أصولٍ عربيّة ممنّ لا أشك في نزاهتهِم ولا التزامِهِم بما يعتقدونَه حقّاً و عدلاً.

علّ الدكتور أسعد أبو خليل، صاحب مدوّنة "وكالة أنباء العربي الغاضب" (مواليد لبنان عاش معظم حياتِهِ في الولايات المتّحدة الأمريكيّة)، أفضل من يمثّل هذه المدرسة. لا أخفي أننّي أتابع كِتاباتِهِ بشكلٍ شيه يومي وكنت ولا زلتُ معجباً بسعةِ عِلْمِهِ وّحدةِ ذِهْنِهِ والحضور الدائم لقريحَتِهِ. أُضيف أنّ الدكتور أبو خليل كما يعرّف نَفْسَهُ شيوعي ملتزم ولا ديني يكره الطائفيّة بكلِّ أشكالِها ويزدري الأنظمة العربيّة الرجعيّة وما يسمّى في أيّامِنا بالثورة السوريّة. أخيراً وليس آخراً الرجل مناصر متحمّس للقضيّة الفلسطينيّة وعدوٌّ لدودٌ لإسرائيل والصهيونيّة. 

قامت إسرائيل قبل يومين بإغتيال سمير القنطار في جَرَمانا وسارع الدكتور أبو خليل مشكوراً بكتابة ونشر مرثاة مؤثّرة عن الفقيد لخّص فيها خصوصاً تاريخَ كفاحِهِ ضدّ الصهاينة. يمكن الإطلاع على النصّ الكامل بالعربيّة على صفحة أبو خليل والإنجليزيّة على مدوّنتِهِ. 

لم يقتصر الدكتور أبو خليل على إدانةِ عدوان إسرائيل ونفاق عرب الخليج وأزلامِهِم، بل جَنَحَ كعادَتِهِ إلى مهاجمة الحكومة السوريّة واتّهامها بالتقصير في حماية القنطار وأمثالهِ من الأبطال، وأنّ الشغل الشاغل لهذه الحكومة وهمُّها الوحيد، حماية رجال النظام القَتَلة الفاسدين، وأنّ مقاومتها لإسرائيل تتلخّص "بالاحتفاظ بحقّها في الردّ في المكان والزمان المناسِبَين".  

ليس عندي ذرّةٌ من الشكّ أنّ أبو خليل مخلصٌ حَسَن النيّة، تشهدُ على التزامِهِ سنواتٌ طويلةٌ كتب فيها وحاضَرَ وتحدّثَ ودافع عمّا يعتبرهُ قضايا عادلة. أضِف إلى ذلك أنّ الحكومة السوريّة ليست قطعاً بالمنزّهة لا بل هي بعيدةٌ عن الكمال وتحتضِنُ إلى اليوم أشخاصاً فاسدين في أرفع المستويات، علاوةً على تقصيرها الفاضح على عدّة أصعدة أذكُرُ منها على سبيل المثال وليس الحصر: فشلها في حماية البيئة والبنية التحتيّة، فصل الدين عن الدولة، احتواء التزايد السكّاني، الحفاظ على استبباب النظام، والعدل بين المواطنين... لا يبرّر هذه العيوب القول أنّها موجودةٌ في معظم دول الشرق الأوسط بل والعالم أجمع بدرجاتٍ متفاوتة. 

ما أطلبه فقط هو بعض الواقعيّة والموضوعيّة وتسليط الضوء على بعض النقاط الهامّة لتكتمل الصورة: 

١. سوريّا كانت ولا تزال أضعف من إسرائيل بكثير ولأسبابٍ لا علاقةَ لها ببطولة هذه الأخيرة أو جبن حكومة دمشق لا من قريب ولا من بعيد. كنت ولا زلت أعتقد أنّه لو تخلّى الأسد عن الجولان وطبّع مع تلّ أبيب لما كان هناك "ربيعٌ عربي" في سورّيا والدليل ما حصل أو بالأحرى لم يحصل في الأردنّ. 

٢. نعم! فشلت القيادة السورية في حماية سمير القنطار ولكنّها فشلت أيضاً في حماية آصف شوكت وداود راجحة وحسن تركماني و غيرهم من أعمدة النظام ممّن يعتبرهم الدكتور أبو خليل مافيا من اللصوص و القَتَلة. صحيح أنّ إسرائيل لم تقتل هولاء ولكن يمكن القول أنّ من قتلوهم يلعبون لعبة إسرائيل عمداً أو جهلاً. 

٣. يعيب الدكتور أبو خليل على مناصريّ النظام السوري تهليلَهم للتدخّل الروسي وآمالهم المبالَغ فيها فيما يمكن أن يحقّقه هذا التدخل. كلامٌ جميل، ولكن هل هناك بديلٌ مقنعٌ لروسيا؟ هل يستطيع أي مفكّر شبه موضوعي أن يزعم أن سوريّا تستطيع مجابهة إعلام الغرب وتسليح وتمويل الخليج وجهاديّي العالم الذين يعبرون إليها من تركيّا وغيرِها دونَ مساعدةٍ خارجيّة؟ 

ختاماً لا يوجد معارضة مشروعة عندما يكون الوطن في خطر لا تحت الأنظمة السلطويّة ولا الديمقراطيّة، ناهيك عن معارضة مسلحة مع كامل احترامي لكلّ رأيٍ مخالف من محبّي سوريّا وهم كثيرون، ومع تقديري للدكتور أبو خليل الذي تبقى نقاط التلاقي بينَه وبيني أكثر بكثير من نقاط الخلاف. 

Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1784-1817)

 

A Swiss traveller, orientalist, geographer, and linguist. After studying the Arabic language at the University of Cambridge, he left for the Near East in 1809 to spend some time in Aleppo, where he perfected his Arabic and studied the Qurʾān and Islamic law. He subsequently disguised himself as a Muslim and adopted the name of Šayẖ Ibrāhīm ibn ʿabd Allāh. He proceeded to travel throughout the Levant and Egypt all the way to al-Ḥīǧāz and Mecca. Like most Orientalists, he was mainly interested in pre-Islamic monuments: Pagan as well as Judeo-Christian—for example, the supposed place where the Hebrews crossed the Red Sea, where the Lord fed the Israelites "manna," etc. He was keenly attracted to deserted villages and towns, the location of which he described, and the related monuments he measured with the utmost care, making full use of the simple tools at his disposal. He meticulously copied whatever inscriptions he was able to identify—Greek, Latin, and Arabic—that he jealously guarded in his journal. All this he had to do while taking care not to rouse the Arabs' suspicion. To the nomads, his weird behavior was often interpreted as aiming at locating hidden treasures that he intended to steal later on, or as sorcery and witchcraft. He managed nonetheless to describe extensive landscapes (mountains, valleys, rivers, torrents), fauna, flora, He enumerated the Arab tribes of Syria and its surroundings and described their habits. He had, however, very little to say about the large cities and main urban centers. He was a contemporary of the rising Egyptian power under Muḥammad ʿAlī Pāšā and the early reign of Emir Bašīr aš-Šihābī of Mount Lebanon. He also was an eyewitness to the late expansion of the First Saʿudī-Wahhābī State (1744-1818), shortly before its destruction at the hands of Ibrāhīm Pāšā, Muḥammad ʿAlī's son and lieutenant. He died of dysentery at the young age of 32. His most important discovery was that of the city of Petra in Transjordan.