Yalda (, also spelled Yelda) is a town in southern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, administratively part of the

Rif Dimashq Governorate Rif Dimashq Governorate (, Literal translation, lit. "Damascus Countryside Governorate" or "Damascus Suburb") is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the southwestern part of the country. ...

, located on the southern outskirts of

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

to the west of the

Yarmouk Camp Yarmouk (, , ) is a district of the city of Damascus, populated by Palestinians. It is located from the center of Damascus and within municipal boundaries; this was not the case when it was established in 1957. It contains hospitals and school ...

. Nearby localities include

al-Hajar al-Aswad Al-Hajar al-Aswad () is a Syrian city just south of the centre of Damascus in the Darayya District of the Rif Dimashq Governorate. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Al-Hajar al-Aswad had a population of 84,948 in the ...

Jaramana Jaramana () is a city in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate in the Ghouta plain. Its location, 3 kilometers southeast of the Syrian capital, makes it a bustling town in the greater Damascus metropolitan area, wit ...

Sayyidah Zaynab Sayyidah Zaynab (; meaning "Lady Zaynab"), commonly known as Sitt Zaynab (), is a town in the Rif Dimashq Governorate of Syria, south of Damascus, the national capital. With a population of 136,427 (2004 census), it is the 10th most populous ci ...

, al-Sabinah and

Babbila Babbila (, also spelled Bebbila) is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, located on the southern outskirts of Damascus to the east of the Yarmouk Camp. Nearby localities include al-Hajar al-Aswad, Jarama ...

. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Yalda had a population of 28,384 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Rif Dimashq Governorate. The town is also in the Babbila ''

nahiyah A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...

'' consisting of 13 towns and villages with a combined population of 341,625. It is a predominantly

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...

, the majority of whom are

Sufis Sufism ( or ) is a mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic purification, spirituality, ritualism, and asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are referred to as "Sufis" (from , ), and ...

History

The town has ancient ruins including foundations of hewn stone and

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, ...

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

. Yalda was visited by Syrian geographer

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...

in the early 13th century, during

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...

rule. He noted that it was "a village lying some 3 miles from

. The final ''n'' is sometimes left out, and the name pronounced Yalda."le Strange, 1890, p
552
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References

Bibliography

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External links

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{{Rif Dimashq Governorate, markaz Populated places in Markaz Rif Dimashq District