as‑Suyūṭī based his entire account on the Damascene historian Ibn ʿAsākir, who wrote that an earthquake struck Damascus at dawn on Thursday, 24 November 847 CE (11 Rabiʿ II A.H. 233). A quarter of the Great Umayyad Mosque was torn open, its great stone blocks were thrown down, and the minaret collapsed. Bridges and houses also fell, and the earthquake affected al-Ghuṭah, Darayyah, al-Mazza, Bayt Lihyah and others. The tremor was also felt in Antioch.