Sahwet al-Khudr

Sahwet al-Khudr
سهوة الخضر
Sahwet al-Khidr, Sahwet al-Khider,
Village
Sahwet al-Khudr is located in Syria
Sahwet al-Khudr
Sahwet al-Khudr
Coordinates: 32°36′8″N 36°42′27″E / 32.60222°N 36.70750°E / 32.60222; 36.70750
Grid position310/224
Country Syria
GovernorateSuwayda
DistrictSuwayda
SubdistrictSuwayda
Population
 (2004 census)
 • Total
3,625
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

Sahwet al-Khudr (Arabic: سهوة الخضر, also spelled Sahwet al-Khidr or Sahwet el-Khodar) is a village in southern Syria, administratively part of the Suwayda District of the Suwayda Governorate, located south of Suwayda. According to the 2004 census, it had a population of 3,625.[1] The village is named after a Byzantine-era church named dedicated to Saint George (known by local Druze as "al-Khudr"). It was resettled by Druze in the mid-19th century after a period of abandonment. Its inhabitants are predominantly Druze.

History

This village is probably the center of Biblical "Kedar," a regional nation of nomadic shepherd-people who inhabited the general area.[2] The 19th century German visionary Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich mentions "Cedar" as also being a city, presumably this city (as verified by her detailed descriptions), to which Jesus visited, so she says, on an historically unrecorded journey.[3]

Sahwet al-Khudr receives its name from an ancient Byzantine church dedicated to Saint George, who is identified with "al-Khudr" by Muslims. An inscription on a monument in the church dates back to 306 CE.[4]

Ottoman era

In 1596 it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers under the name of Sahut al-Qamh, located in the Nahiya of Bani Nasiyya of the Qada of Hawran. The population was 142 households and 54 bachelors, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 40 % on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards, goats and beehives; in addition to occasional revenues and a water mill; a total of 31,300 akçe.[5]

In 1838 Eli Smith noted that the place was located South of Juneineh and that it was in ruins.[6] Sahwet al-Khudr had been abandoned for a time, but was settled by Druze between 1857 and 1860 at the encouragement of Ismail al-Atrash, a prominent Druze sheikh (chieftain) in the Hauran.[7] In the mid-19th-century, Albert Socin, a European orientalist noted that Sahwat al-Khudr was "a dilapidated town with a castle and a church" surrounded by a forested area. The shrine of al-Khudr in the village was revered by all the religious sects of the vicinity.[8]

Modern era

In the late 1960s, French geographer Robert Boulanger described Sahwet al-Khudr as "a very picturesque place" with an old mosque that was formerly a pagan temple in Antiquity.[9] The mosque's prayer room contained a column with Nabataean inscriptions.[9] The people of the village slaughtered sheep outside of the mosque annually.[9]

Geography

Nearby localities include Salah to the northeast, Mayamas to the north, Hibran to the northwest, Salkhad to the southwest and Urman to the south.

Religious buildings

  • Maqam al-Khidr (Druze Shrine)

See also

References

  1. ^ "General Census of Population 2004". Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
  2. ^ "Kedar". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  3. ^ Emmerich, Bl. Anne Catherine (1914). The Life of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Vol. 3, §4, Chapter 4, "Jesus in Cedar". Retrieved 3 January 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ Porter, 1868, pp. 488-9
  5. ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 210
  6. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 160
  7. ^ Firro, 1992, p. 189
  8. ^ Socin, 1876, p. 412
  9. ^ a b c Boulanger, 1966, p. 515

Bibliography

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