Izz al-Din ( ar, عز الدين, also spelled 'Az ed-Din) is a village in northern

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

Homs Governorate Homs Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة حمص / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥimṣ'') is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in central Syria. Its area differs in various sources, from to . It is thus geographic ...

, located northeast of

Homs ar, حمصي, Himsi , population_urban = , population_density_urban_km2 = , population_density_urban_sq_mi = , population_blank1_title = Ethnicities , population_blank1 = , population_blank2_t ...

. Nearby localities include Ghor al-Assi,

Murayj al-Durr Murayj al-Durr ( ar, مرج الدر; ady, Хъосай Къуадж pronounced ''Merzhidor'', also spelled Mraij ad-Durr, Murij al-Durr) is a village in northern Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located northeast of Homs a ...

and

al-Rastan Al-Rastan ( ar, الرستن) is the third largest city in the Homs Governorate, located north of its administrative capital Homs and from Hama. Nearby localities include Talbiseh and al-Ghantu to the south, al-Zaafaraniyah and al-Mashrafah ...

to the west, Deir Ful and

al-Zaafaraniyah Al-Zaafaraniyah ( ar, الزعفرانية, also spelled al-Za'afaranah) is a village in the northern Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located north of Homs. Nearby localities include Mashrafah to the southeast, Talbiseh to t ...

to the southwest, al-Mishirfeh and

Ayn al-Niser Ayn al-Niser ( ar, عين النسر, also spelled Ain al-Nisr or Ayni-Nasir) is a town in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located northeast of Homs. Nearby localities include al-Mishirfeh to the west, Ayn al-Danani ...

to the south, Dunaybah to the southeast, Khunayfis to the east,

Salamiyah A full view of Shmemis (spring 1995) Salamieh ( ar, سلمية ') is a city and district in western Syria, in the Hama Governorate. It is located southeast of Hama, northeast of Homs. The city is nicknamed the "mother of Cairo" because it was ...

to the northeast and Taldara to the north. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Izz al-Din had a population of 2,620 in the 2004 census, making it the fifth-largest locality in the al-Rastan ''

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). Homs Governorate. Its inhabitants are predominantly

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...

s from

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arabs, Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert ...

tribes, such as the Nu'aym (Na'im). In 1838 Izz al-Din was classified as a ''khirba'' ("ruined village") by English scholar

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 And ...

. However by December of that year Izz al-Din was one of roughly 20 ruined villages to be repopulated during the brief rule of

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

. The village was founded largely as a result of the Egyptian administration's major initiative to expand agricultural production. Izz al-Din was settled by the Bedouin tribes of the

Mawali Mawlā ( ar, مَوْلَى, plural ''mawālī'' ()), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic prophet ...

, Nu'aym and Uqaydat. Although by the 1840s, when the Egyptians withdrew from the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

, most of the newly founded villages were abandoned, Izz al-Din remained inhabited. Other remaining villages included Salamiyah, Taldara and Taqsis.Douwes, 2000, pp. 208-209.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Homs Governorate, rastan Populated places established in 1838 Populated places in al-Rastan District 1838 establishments in the Ottoman Empire