Damascus (Dimashq) was occupied by the Ottoman sultan Selim (Selīm) I (r. 918-26/1512-20) on 1 Ramaḍān 922/28 September 1516. Selim had already defeated the army of the Mamlūk sultan at Marj Dābiq, north of Aleppo, on 25 Rajab 922/24 August 1516, and then occupied Aleppo, where he was declared Khādim al-Ḥaramayn al-Sharīfayn (Servitor of the Two Holy Sanctuaries), in the khuṭba (sermon) during the Friday prayer. The Damascenes, as well as the rest of the Syrians, did not oppose the