Al-Sahwah ( ar, السهوة, also spelled ''el-Sahoa'' or ''Sahweh''); also known as Sahwat al-Qamh or Sehwet el-Kamh is a village in southern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, administratively part of the

Daraa Governorate Daraa Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة درعا / ALA-LC: ') is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the south-west of the country and covers an area of 3,730 km2. It is bordered by Jordan to the south, Qu ...

, located east of

Daraa Daraa ( ar, دَرْعَا, Darʿā, Levantine Arabic: , also Darʿā, Dara’a, Deraa, Dera'a, Dera, Derʿā and Edrei; means "''fortress''", compare Dura-Europos) is a city in southwestern Syria, located about north of the border with Jord ...

. Nearby localities include

al-Jiza Al-Jiza ( ar, الجيزة) is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate, located east of Daraa. Nearby localities include al-Mataaiya to the south, Ghasm to the southeast, al-Sahwah to the northeast, al-Musayfi ...

to the southwest,

Ghasm Ghasm ( ar, غصم, also spelled Ghasam) is a village in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate, located northeast of Daraa and west of Bosra. Other nearby localities include Maaraba to the east, al-Sahwah to the north, a ...

to the south, Maaraba, Daraa to the southeast,

Umm Walad An ''umm walad'' ( ar, أم ولد, , lit=mother of the child) was the title given to a slave-concubine in the Muslim world after she had born her master a child. She could not be sold, and became automatically free on her master's death. The off ...

to the northeast,

al-Musayfirah Al-Musayfirah ( ar, المسيفرة, also spelled Mseifreh or Musayfra) is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate, located east of Daraa and 37 kilometers southeast of Damascus. Nearby localities include Kahil ...

to the north and Kahil to the west. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Sahwah had a population of 3,950 in the 2004 census, making it the least populous locality in the al-Musayfirah ''

nahiyah A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

'' ("subdistrict").General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Daraa Governorate.

History

In 1596 Al-Sahwah appeared in the Ottoman tax registers under the name of ''Sahut al-Qamh'', as being part of the ''

nahiya A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

'' of ''Butayna'' in the Qada Hauran. It had an entirely

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

population consisting of 9 households and 4 bachelors. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on agricultural products, including

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

, summer crops, goats and/or beehives; a total of 3,300 akçe. There are ruins of an ancient tower and a church in al-Sahwah. Although the buildings are of some significance, they do not differ much from the ancient

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

architecture found throughout the Hauran. The village did not have any Christian residents in the 19th century.Schumacher, 1897, p
164
In 1838 the village was classified as a ''khirba'' ("abandoned village") by English biblical scholar Eli Smith.Smith; in Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Second appendix, B, p
151
/ref> In the late 19th-century al-Sahwah had a population of about 350 people living in about 70 households. The village was vulnerable to incursions by

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

raiders, and also had a shortage of water sources. The villagers had to pay a certain sum to the Druze ''

sheikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

s'' ("chiefs"), in order to connect to a water-canal south of the village and fill the village reservoir. If, in the event of a bad harvest, they could not pay this sum, the village would face mass hunger and cattle had to be taken to

Bosra Bosra ( ar, بُصْرَىٰ, Buṣrā), also spelled Bostra, Busrana, Bozrah, Bozra and officially called Busra al-Sham ( ar, بُصْرَىٰ ٱلشَّام, Buṣrā al-Shām), is a town in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Dara ...

for water.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

Map of the town
Google Maps
Bosra-map; 22M
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sahwah Populated places in Daraa District