ABSTRACT
Damascus Capital of modern Syria and major Middle Eastern city from early mediaeval times onwards. It is called in Arabic Dimashq. Under the caliph Mu'āwiya (q.v.) Damascus became the capital of the Arab empire and it flourished under the Umayyads (q.v.) until finally replaced as the Arabs' capital by 'Abbāsid Baghdād (q.v.). Despite this, Damascus was always an important city through Islamic history and was recognized as such by succeeding dynasties like the Ayyūbids (q.v.) and the Mamlūks (q.v.). Like Cairo (q.v.) Damascus is filled with historic mosques and other Islamic monuments. Perhaps the most famous and magnificent of these is the Great Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, built by the Umayyad caliph Walīd I early in the 1st/ 8th century. (See 'Abbāsids )
Daqyā'īl Name of little-known angel responsible in one account for the guardians of Hell. (See 'Izrā'īl; al-Nār; al-Zabāniyya.) 66
