Al Nasraniya ( ar, النصرانية, An Naşrānīyah) is a village in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

, located in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Al-Shahaniya Al Shahaniya ( ar, الشحانية, Ash Shīḩānīyah) is a municipality (3299 km2) in Qatar, with its municipal seat has a city of the same name (39 km2). Formerly in the municipality of Al Rayyan, but now an independent municip ...

. It was demarcated in 1988. It used to be part of the

Al Jemailiya Al Jemailiya ( ar, الجميلية, Al Jumaylīyah) is a town in the municipality of Al-Shahaniya, Qatar. It used to be the seat of Al Jemailiya Municipality before it was incorporated into Al Rayyan Municipality in 2004. In 2014, the town was ...

municipality before the municipality was incorporated into Al Rayyan. In 2014, the settlement was incorporated into the newly-created Al-Shahaniya Municipality.

Etymology

Nasraniya was named after a local well. Because the well was built on rocky, solid ground, locals had to dig deep under the surface for the well to function. Once the well was working, it was a described as a victory, and the locals decided to name the well Nasraniya, meaning ''

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

'', in allusion to the victory of Islam in superseding Christianity as the predominant religion in the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...

History

J.G. Lorimer mentioned Nasraniya in 1908 in his ''

Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The ''Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia'' (nicknamed ''Lorimer'') is a two-volume encyclopedia compiled by John Gordon Lorimer. The ''Gazetteer'' was published in secret by the British government in India in 1908 and 1915 a ...

'', stating that it lies "11 miles south of the foot of Dohat Faishsākh and 16 miles west from the coast" and remarked on the presence of a masonry well, 25 fathoms (150 feet) deep, yielding good water.

Infrastructure

After Qatar started to receive substantial profits from its oil extraction activities in the 1960s and 1970s, it launched many housing projects for its citizens. As part of this initiative, 40 houses were built in Al Nasraniya by 1976. Two government buildings are based in Al Nasraniya. They belong to The Ministry of Municipality and Environment, which has an office in the village. There are no health care facilities.

Gallery

Sketch map of Qatar and Bahrain in 1933 - Al Nasraniya.jpg, Sketch map depicting Al Nasraniya drawn in 1933. Dhukkan Highway, Qatar - panoramio.jpg, View of Al Nasranniya from Dukhan Highway.

References

{{Al-Shahaniya Municipality Populated places in Al-Shahaniya