the Children of Israel were given as their inheritance only the eastern and western parts of al-Shām, after Pharaoh had been drowned in the sea. Allah Most High also says:

“Glory be to Him who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to al-Aqsā Mosque, whose surroundings We have blessed.”

Its surroundings are the land of al-Shām. Allah Most High says in the account of Abraham:

“They plotted against him, but We made them the greatest losers.”

“And We delivered him and Lot to the land which We had blessed for all peoples.”

It is well known that Allah delivered Abraham and Lot from the lands of al-Jazīra and the Euphrates to the land of al-Shām. Allah Most High also says:

“And to Solomon We subjected the wind, blowing forcefully, flowing at his command towards the land which We had blessed.”

It flowed only towards the land of al-Shām, where Solomon’s kingdom lay.

Allah Most High says in the account of Sheba:

“And We placed between them and the towns which We had blessed other towns within sight of one another, and set measured stages of travel between them.”

Both belonged to the ancient settlements between Yemen—the dwelling places of Sheba—and the farthest reaches of al-Shām, as scholars have mentioned.

These, then, are five passages in which Allah mentions the land of al-Shām in connection with Abraham’s migration to it, the Messenger’s night journey to it, the Children of Israel’s relocation to it, Solomon’s kingdom there, and the journeys of the people of Sheba to it. He describes it as “the land which We had blessed.”

It also contains the Mount on which Allah spoke to Moses, and by which Allah swore in Surah al-Tūr (The Mount), and in:

“By the fig and the olive,”

“and by Mount Sinai.”

And in it is