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 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 geographical ...

, located northeast of

Homs Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...

and southeast of

Hama , timezone = EET , utc_offset = +2 , timezone_DST = EEST , utc_offset_DST = +3 , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , ar ...

, on the eastern bank of the

Orontes River The Orontes (; from Ancient Greek , ) or Asi ( ar, العاصي, , ; tr, Asi) is a river with a length of in Western Asia that begins in Lebanon, flowing northwards through Syria before entering the Mediterranean Sea near Samandağ in Turkey. ...

. Nearby localities include the district center

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 t ...

to the west, Ghor al-Assi to the north (opposite side of the Orontes), Izz al-Din to the west 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 ...

to the south. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Murayj al-Durr had a population of 295 in the 2004 census, making it one of the smallest localities 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. Most of its inhabitants are

Circassians The Circassians (also referred to as Cherkess or Adyghe; Adyghe and Kabardian: Адыгэхэр, romanized: ''Adıgəxər'') are an indigenous Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation native to the historical country-region of Circassia in ...

History

The name of the town translates as "Little Pearl Valley." It was settled by

Turkmens Turkmens ( tk, , , , ; historically "the Turkmen"), sometimes referred to as Turkmen Turks ( tk, , ), are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-weste ...

from the Jaliqliyya tribe in the late 17th century. Prior to the settlement of the Jaliqliyya, the village was likely abandoned as a result of unrest among the rural regional tribes. According to author and expert in Ottoman history, Dick Douwes, Murayj al-Durr was situated "in the highly valued periphery of the

Syrian Desert The Syrian Desert ( ar, بادية الشام ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert and steppe covering of the Middle East, including parts of sou ...

." The founding of the village marked the transition from a nomadic to a sedentary lifestyle for members of the tribe who also settled around a dozen of other villages in the vicinity, including Ghor al-Assi, at that time. Murayj al-Durr's inhabitants relied on agriculture and

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...

for income. They paid a smaller amount of taxes to the state authorities in return for their military service, particularly as a buffer between

Hama , timezone = EET , utc_offset = +2 , timezone_DST = EEST , utc_offset_DST = +3 , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , ar ...

and the

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic 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 and A ...

tribes who dominated the Syrian Desert to the east.Douwes, 2000, pp. 14-15. In 1838 Biblical scholars Edward Robinson and Eli Smith classified the village as

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 ...

.Smith and Robinson, 1841, p. 178. As more villages were founded east of Murayj al-Durr, its inhabitants began to lose their important status in the eyes of the provincial authorities. The village became dependent on the authorities in Hama and Bedouin tribes for protection from attack or plunder. Murayj al-Durr grew increasingly poor during the reign of Faraj Agha, the governor of Hama in the mid-19th century. By then its inhabitants were forced to pay the equivalent of the taxes that villages without special status paid. During the years following Faraj Agha's reign, Murayj al-Durr's Turkmen residents gradually left the village while

from the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

region settled in their place.Douwes, 2000, p. 16. Today most of the village's inhabitants are Circassians from the

Shapsugh The Shapsug ( ady, шапсыгъ , russian: шапсуги, tr, Şapsığlar, ar, الشابسوغ, he, שפסוגים) (also known as the Shapsugh or Shapsogh) are one of the twelve major Circassian tribes. Historically, the Shapsug tribe ...

tribe.Jaimoukha, Amjad
The Circassians of Syria: Opting for the Rightful Cause
''Circassian Voices.'' July 2012.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Murayj Durr 18th-century establishments in the Ottoman Empire Populated places in al-Rastan District Circassian communities in Syria Shapsugs