Editing Damascus (section)

===Religion===
{{Pie chart
|thumb = right
|caption = Religion in Damascus (2024)
|label1 = [[Sunni Islam]]
|value1 = 78
|color1 = green
|label2 = [[Shia Islam]]
|value2 = 10
|color2 = lightgreen
|label3 = [[Christianity]]
|value3 = 12
|color3 = blue
}}
[[Islam]] is the largest religion. The majority of Muslims are [[Sunni]] while [[Alawites]] and [[Twelver Shi'a]] comprise sizeable minorities. Alawites live primarily in the neighbourhoods of Mezzeh 86 and Sumariyah part of the [[Mezzeh]] district, in addition to the neighbourhood of Eish al-Warwar in the district of [[Barzeh, Syria|Barzeh]]. Twelvers primarily live near the Shia holy sites of [[Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque|Sayyidah Ruqayya]] and [[Sayyidah Zainab Mosque, Damascus|Sayyidah Zaynab]]. It is believed that there are more than 200 mosques in Damascus, the most well-known being the [[Umayyad Mosque]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Flood|first=Finbarr Barry|title=The Great Mosque of Damascus: studies on the makings of an Umayyad visual culture|publisher=BRILL|year=2001|volume=33|page=12|isbn=978-90-04-11638-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r5f8kxIyykQC|access-date=26 November 2009|archive-date=2 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402185803/https://books.google.com/books?id=r5f8kxIyykQC|url-status=live}}</ref>

Christians represent about 10%–15% of the population.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}} Several Eastern Christian rites have their headquarters in Damascus, including the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]], the [[Syriac Catholic Church]], the [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church]], and the [[Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch]]. The Christian districts in the city are [[Bab Tuma]], [[Qassaa]] and Ghassani. Each have many churches, most notably the ancient [[Chapel of Saint Paul]], [[Syriac Catholic Cathedral of Saint Paul|St. Paul Cathedral]], [[Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition|Our Lady of the Dormition Cathedral]], and [[Cathedral of Saint George, Damascus|St Georges Cathedral]] in Bab Tuma. At the suburb of [[Our Lady of Soufanieh|Soufanieh]] a series of [[apparitions of the Virgin Mary]] have reportedly been observed between 1982 and 2004.<ref>Sbalchiero in: Laurentin/ Sbalchiero (2007), p. 1093–1097.</ref> The Patriarchal See of the Syriac Orthodox is based in Damascus, Bab Touma.

A smaller [[Druze]] minority inhabits the city, notably in the mixed Christian-Druze suburbs of [[Tadamon, Syria|Tadamon]],<ref>{{cite news |date=4 January 2013 |title=Syria's Alawites Under Siege |newspaper=Al-Monitor: Independent, Trusted Coverage of the Middle East |url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/01/alawites-syria-siege-sunni-druze.html |url-status=live |access-date=24 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624032029/http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/01/alawites-syria-siege-sunni-druze.html |archive-date=24 June 2016}}</ref> [[Jaramana]],<ref>{{cite web |date=5 March 2015 |title=Despite pressure Druze remain in regime camp |url=http://syriadirect.org/news/jaramana-despite-pressures-druze-remain-in-regime-camp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624213228/http://syriadirect.org/news/jaramana-despite-pressures-druze-remain-in-regime-camp |archive-date=24 June 2016 |access-date=24 May 2016}}</ref> and [[Sahnaya]].

There was a small [[Syrian Jews|Jewish community]] namely in what is called ''[[Jewish Quarter of Damascus|Harat al-Yahud]]'' the Jewish quarter. They are the remnants of an ancient and much larger [[Syrian Jews|Jewish presence in Syria]], dating back at least to Roman times, if not before to the time of King David.<ref>Katz, Ketsi'ah (1981), Masoret ha-lashon ha-'Ibrit shel Yehude Aram-Tsoba (Ḥalab) bi-qri'at ha-Miqra ve-ha-Mishnah (The Hebrew Language Tradition of the Jews of Aleppo in the Reading of the Bible and Mishnah)</ref>

<gallery class="center" caption="Religious sites in Damascus">
File:Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Damascus, Syria.jpg|The [[Cathedral of the Dormition of Our Lady, Damascus|Greek-Melkite Patriarchal Cathedral of the Dormition of Our Lady]]
File:Syriac Catholic Church, Damascus 01.jpg|The [[Syriac Catholic Cathedral of Saint Paul]]
File:Damascus-Bab Kisan.jpg|The [[Chapel of Saint Paul]]
File:Takiyya as-Süleimaniyya Mosque 01.jpg|The [[Sulaymaniyya Takiyya]]
File:Syria, Damascus, The Umayyad Mosque, The Great Mosque of Damascus.jpg|The [[Umayyad Mosque]]
File:Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque 03.jpg|The [[Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque]] 
</gallery>

====Sufism====
[[Sufism]] throughout the second half of the 20th century has been an influential current in the Sunni religious practises, particularly in Damascus. The largest women-only and girls-only Muslim movement in the world happens to be Sufi-oriented and is based in Damascus, led by [[Munira al-Qubaysi]]. Syrian Sufism has its stronghold in urban regions such as Damascus, where it also established political movements such as Zayd, with the help of a series of [[mosque]]s, and clergy such as [[Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi]], [[Sa'id Hawwa]], [[Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghouri]] and [[Muhammad al-Yaqoubi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/syria-sufi-salafi-war-islam.html|title=Syrian Sufis Divided As Salafist Influence Grows|date=3 October 2013|access-date=6 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006185556/http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/syria-sufi-salafi-war-islam.html|archive-date=6 October 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>