Al-Sa'an ( ar, السعن, also spelled ''as-Si'in'' and also known as Sa'n al-Shajara) is a

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 ...

n town located in the al-Sa'an Subdistrict in

Salamiyah District Salamiyah ( ar, سلمية ') is a district ( mantiqah) administratively belonging to Hama Governorate, Syria. At the 2004 Census it had a population of 187,123. Its administrative district is the city of Salamiyah. Sub-districts The district of ...

, located in 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 so ...

, 50 kilometers northeast of

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 ...

and northeast of

Hama Hama ( ar, حَمَاة ', ; syr, ܚܡܬ, ħ(ə)mɑθ, lit=fortress; Biblical Hebrew: ''Ḥamāṯ'') is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial ...

. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), al-Sa'an had a population of 3,360 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly

Ismaili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al ...

s. Al-Sa'an was founded in the late 19th century by Ismaili migrants from other parts of northern Syria who chose to settle the place because of worsening economic conditions in the interior parts of Syria, the low taxes that living in the

fringes offered, and the place's proximity to Salamiyah, the center of Ismaili life in Syria. During the Ottoman era, when it was founded, it became the remotest Ismaili village in Syria. At the time, it contained a military post manned by Ottoman troops.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saan Populated places established in the 19th century Populated places in Salamiyah District 19th-century establishments in the Ottoman Empire Ismaili communities in Syria