Damascus

One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth. Al-Farabi died here. Al-Ghazali spent years teaching and wandering in this city during his Sufi period.

Damascus claims to be among the oldest cities anyone has lived in without interruption, watered by the Barada where it comes down out of the mountains. It was the Umayyad capital, and its great mosque stands on ground that held a temple and then a church. Al-Ghazali came here during the crisis that ended his career in Baghdad, living in retreat and, by his own account, sitting in seclusion in the minaret. Ibn Arabi spent his last years in the city and is buried on the slope of Mount Qasiyun.