Al-Bab

Al-Bab (Arabic: الباب‎ / ALA-LC: al-Bāb) is a Syrian city administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate. Al-Bab is located northeast of Aleppo and has an area of 30 km². Al-Bab has an altitude of 471 meters. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), it had a population of 63,069 in 2004. Its inhabitants are a mix of Sunni Kurds and Arabs. Until 2013, there was also a shrinking number of Levantine Christians in Al-Bab

Name

Al-Bāb in Arabic means the door. According to Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi in 1226, the name is a shortening of Bāb Bizāʻah (the gate to Bizāʻah). Bizāʻah (also Buzāʻah and Bzāʻā) is a town located about 10 kilometers east of Al-Bāb.

History

Al-Bab was conquered by the Arab army of the Rashidun Caliphate under caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab. It received its name, meaning "the Gate", during Islamic rule as it served as "the gate" between Aleppo and the adjacent town of Buza'ah. The tomb and shrine of Aqil ibn Abi Talib (the brother of Ali) was located in al-Bāb, and until its rule by the Ayyubids in the 13th century, the town was populated mostly by Shias of the Ismaili sect.