Where is Marj Dabiq located?

Marj Dabiq site

Marj Dabiq is located north of the city of Aleppo al-Shahba, in the Azaz region. Dabiq is a historical village about 35 km away from the city center of Aleppo, and it is close to the Turkish border, as it is about 45 km away from it. The Azaz region includes other towns, namely; Suran, Marea, Akhtarin, and Nubl, while Dabiq, in addition to other villages, belong to the district of Akhtarin. The climate of the village is characterized by being warm and moderate, and it is accompanied by rain in the winter, while the temperatures are moderate in the summer. This is because the village is located in a fertile agricultural area that helps to soften the atmosphere.

The village of Dabiq has an important strategic location for several decades, and it was mentioned that the Commander of the Faithful, Suleiman bin Abd al-Malik, appointed his brother Maslama bin Abd al-Malik to the Islamic armies to conquer Constantinople. And Marj Dabiq was the last place that Suleiman bin Abdul Malik set foot on, where he died and was buried there, and the caliph who followed him was appointed there, and he is the just caliph Omar bin Abdul Aziz. This was after their battle under the leadership of Sultan Selim I against the Mamluks led by Qansuh al-Ghuri in 1516 AD.

Battle of Marj Dabiq

Among the most famous battles on the land of Marj Dabiq, the battle that took place between the Ottoman Empire, led by Sultan Selim I, and the Mamluk state, led by Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri, on August 24 of the year 1516 AD, in a village called Dabiq, located in northern Syria, near the Turkish border, where Sultan Selim I wanted to unite the Islamic regions and subjugate them to the Ottoman Empire, after growing fears following the fall of Andalusia at the hands of the Crusaders, and the Portuguese occupation of Yemen and Oman, after they discovered the way to the Cape of Good Hope, and made these countries their bases. With the aim of reaching more gains, they also directed their eyes to Medina; To exhume the grave of the Messenger, peace be upon him, and to bargain Muslims over Jerusalem with the body of the Prophet.

Also, the emergence of the Safavid state, its attack on the Ottomans, its alliance with the Portuguese, the conflicts that occurred between the Ottomans and the Mamluks, the weakness of the Mamluk state in confronting the attacks of the Portuguese on the one hand, and on the other hand the assistance that the Mamluks provided to the Safavids at the expense of the Ottomans, all of these reasons made Sultan Selim Shadid Anger at Sultan Al-Ghouri and his state in Egypt, and as a result, Sultan Qansuh Al-Ghouri tried to resolve the dispute, but Sultan Selim was determined to attack the Mamluks, so he went to the Levant, and succeeded in persuading the governors of the Levant to stand by him in his war.

The battle broke out at Marj Dabiq, near the city of Aleppo. As the Mamluks were able at first to defend their state valiantly, but the dispute that occurred within the Mamluk warring teams, the defection of some of them, and their standing by the Ottomans, led to the defeat of the Mamluks after the spread of the killing of Sultan al-Ghuri, and through this battle, the Ottoman state crawled to complete its conquests in the Levant , until it reached Cairo, and the Ottoman armies entered it in the Battle of Al-Raydaniyah, and thus the end of the Mamluk state in Egypt and the Levant at the hands of Sultan Selim I, who made Egypt one of his Ottoman states.

The religious dimension of Marj Dabiq

Marj Dabiq occupies a place among Muslims, as the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - mentions Dabiq by name, and says that the Muslim army will meet there with the Roman army, so that the battle of the end of time will begin in Dabiq or the depths, and they are two names for two places as mentioned in the book Al-Masabih, and through reflections In the following prophetic hadith, we find that it indicates that after the reconciliation that takes place between the Muslims and the Romans to fight an enemy, the great battle between them takes place, and that is before the conquest of Constantinople, so they ask the Muslims to leave them alone with those who took their offspring captive, but they refuse their request.

Imam Muslim narrated in his Sahih, on the authority of Abu Hurairah, that the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: (لا تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حتى يَنْزِلَ الرُّومُ بِالأَعْمَاقِ أو بِدَابِقٍ، فيَخْرُجُ إِلَيْهِمْ جَيْشٌ من المَدِينَةِ من خِيَارِ أَهْلِ الأرض يَوْمَئِذٍ، فإذا تَصَافُّوا، قالت الرُّومُ: خَلُّوا بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ الَّذِينَ سَبَوْا مِنَّا نُقَاتِلْهُمْ. فيقول الْمُسْلِمُونَ: لا والله، لَا نُخَلِّي بَيْنَكُمْ وَبَيْنَ إِخْوَانِنَا، فَيُقَاتِلُونَهُمْ فَيَنْهَزِمُ ثُلُثٌ لا يَتُوبُ الله عليهم أَبَدًا، وَيُقْتَلُ ثُلُثُهُمْ أَفْضَلُ الشُّهَدَاءِ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ، وَيَفْتَتِحُ الثُّلُثُ، لَا يُفْتَنُونَ أَبَدًا، فَيَفْتَتِحُونَ قُسْطَنْطِينِيَّةَ، فَبَيْنَمَا هُمْ يَقْتَسِمُونَ الْغَنَائِمَ قد عَلَّقُوا سُيُوفَهُمْ بِالزَّيْتُونِ إِذْ صَاحَ فِيهِمْ الشَّيْطَانُ: إِنَّ الْمَسِيحَ قد خَلَفَكُمْ في أَهْلِيكُمْ. فَيَخْرُجُونَ وَذَلِكَ بَاطِلٌ، فإذا جاؤوا The Levant came out, and between them, they prepare for the deadly, they would settle the classes, when the prayers were established, and Issa bin Mary, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, will come down, and the mother of God, for the sake of God. He will be tormented until he perishes, but God will kill him with his own hand, then he will show them his blood in his spear.)