that he said:

“A group of my community will continue to prevail in upholding the truth, unharmed by those who oppose them or abandon them, until the Hour comes.”

The two collections also relate that Mu‘ādh ibn Jabal said:

“They are in al-Shām.”

In al-Bukhārī’s History, he said:

“They are in Damascus.”

It is also narrated:

“They are in the environs of Jerusalem.”

The two Sahīh collections also relate from Ibn ‘Umar that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said that the angels of the Most Merciful shade al-Shām with their outspread wings. The reports supporting this meaning reinforce one another. However, this reply—not an impromptu one—is being given in haste.

The Book, the Sunnah, and what has been narrated from the earlier prophets, peace be upon them, together with what is known through sensory perception, reason, and the spiritual unveilings of those who know Allah, indicate that creation and command began in Mecca, the Mother of Cities. It is thus the mother of creation, and there began Muhammad’s prophetic mission, whose light encompassed the earth. Allah has made it a support for mankind: towards it they pray, to it they make pilgrimage, and through it are sustained whatever benefits Allah wills for their religious and worldly lives.

Thus, in the earliest period, Islam’s prominence was greatest in the Hijāz. The evidence already mentioned indicates that the “dominion of prophethood” is in al-Shām and that the gathering will be there. Creation and command will therefore return to Jerusalem and its environs, and there all creation will be gathered. At the end of time, Islam will be most prominent in al-Shām. Just as Mecca is superior to Jerusalem, the first members of this community are better than its last. And just as, at the end of time, the command returns to