Ubin (; also transliterated ''Aubin''), also called Ma'ab (), is a village in northwestern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, administratively part of the

Safita District Safita District () is a Districts of Syria, district of the Tartus Governorate in northwestern Syria. Administrative centre is the city of Safita. At the 2004 census, the district had a population of 129,632. Sub-districts The district of Safita ...

of the

Tartous Governorate Tartus Governorate, also transliterated as Tartous Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ṭarṭūs''), is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in western Syria, bordering Latakia Governorate to the north, Homs and Hama Governor ...

. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Ubin had a population of 2,349 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Tartus Governorate. Its inhabitants are

Alawites Alawites () are an Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate Ali ...

History

Ubin was recorded as an

Alawite Alawites () are an Arabs, Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate A ...

village in Ottoman tax records in 1519 and 1547. It became the headquarters village of the Barakat (originally called the Malikh), a prominent Alawite family. The earliest known mention of them was in 1711, when the

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

monk Elia Giacinto di Santa Maria visited the region and noted he was welcomed by Muhammad Barakat, the

sheikh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

of Ubin. Members of the family, Hasan ibn Muhammad Barakat and Musa Barakat were listed in Ottoman court records from 1740 as the underwriters of the Alawite Shamsin family's ''

iltizam An iltizam () was a form of tax farm that appeared in the 15th century in the Ottoman Empire. The system began under Mehmed the Conqueror and was abolished during the Tanzimat reforms in 1856. Iltizams were sold off by the government to wealthy n ...

'' (

tax farm Farming or tax-farming is a technique of financial management in which the management of a variable revenue stream is assigned by contract, legal contract to a third party and the holder of the revenue stream receives fixed periodic rents from t ...

) of

Safita Safita ( '; , ''Sōpūte'') is a city in the Tartus Governorate, western Syria, located to the southeast of Tartus and to the northwest of Krak des Chevaliers. It is situated on the tops of three hills and the valleys between them, in the Syrian ...

, which included Ubin. Hasan is listed as the ''multazim'' (tax farmer) of Ubin in 1750. Hasan's son was recorded as its ''multazim'' in 1776 and 1778.

References

Sources

* {{Tartus Governorate, safita Populated places in Safita District Alawite communities in Syria