Kfar Silwan ( ar, كفر سلوان, also spelled Kfar Selouane, Kfarselwan or Kfar Silwen) is a municipality in the
Baabda District of
Mount Lebanon Governorate french: Gouvernorat du Mont-Liban
, native_name_lang =
, image_map = Administrative divisions of Lebanon 2017-08 (Numbered).png
, map_caption = The governorates of Lebanon, including Mount Lebanon (in pink, label ...
,
Lebanon. It is north of
Beirut. Kfar Silwan has an average elevation of above sea level and a total land area of 1,471
hectares.
It had 2,736 registered voters in 2010. Its inhabitants are predominantly
Maronites and
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 ...
.
History
Kfar Silwan was the ancestral village of the
Abu'l-Lama ''
muqaddams'' (local chiefs), a
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 ...
family affiliated with
Fakhr al-Din II (), which later moved to
Mtain and
Salima and embraced
Maronite Christianity
The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic ''sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. Th ...
. The village later served as the headquarters of the Banu Hatum, a Druze clan. From Kafr Silwan, the Banu Hatum led a peasants' revolt in the early 1790s against the taxation attempts of
Bashir Shihab II, the paramount tax farmer of
Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon ( ar, جَبَل لُبْنَان, ''jabal lubnān'', ; syr, ܛܘܪ ܠܒ݂ܢܢ, ', , ''ṭūr lewnōn'' french: Mont Liban) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It averages above in elevation, with its peak at .
Geography
The Mount Le ...
and its environs, forcing his troops to withdraw from the
Matn
Hadith studies ( ar, علم الحديث ''ʻilm al-ḥadīth'' "science of hadith", also science of hadith, or science of hadith criticism or hadith criticism)
consists of several religious scholarly disciplines used by Muslim scholars in th ...
area. In 1794 the revolt was suppressed by the forces of the
Ottoman governor
Jazzar Pasha
Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar ( ar, أحمد باشا الجزّار; ota, جزّار أحمد پاشا; ca. 1720–30s7 May 1804) was the Acre-based Ottoman governor of Sidon Eyalet from 1776 until his death in 1804 and the simultaneous governor of Da ...
, the village was destroyed and part of its inhabitants, including the Banu Hatum, migrated to the
Hauran
The Hauran ( ar, حَوْرَان, ''Ḥawrān''; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, eastwards by the al-Safa (Syria), al-Safa ...
.
In 1838,
Eli Smith
Eli Smith (born September 13, 1801, in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (Whitney) Smith, and died January 11, 1857, in Beirut, Lebanon) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from Andov ...
noted ''Kefr Selwan'' as a village located in ''Aklim el-Metn; East of
Beirut''.
[Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p]
193
/ref>
See also
* Druze in Lebanon
* Maronite Church in Lebanon
Christianity in Lebanon has a long and continuous history. Biblical Scriptures purport that Peter and Paul evangelized the Phoenicians, whom they affiliated to the ancient patriarchate of Antioch. The spread of Christianity in Lebanon was ...
References
Bibliography
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{{Baabda District
Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon
Druze communities in Lebanon
Populated places in Baabda District