Shin ( ar, شين ''Shîn'') is a town in northwestern
Syria 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 west of
Homs. Nearby localities include
Rabah to the north,
al-Mahfurah
Al-Mahfurah ( ar, محفورة) is a village in northern Syria located northwest of Homs in the Homs Governorate. Nearby towns include Shin to the southwest, Suwayri to the south, Sharqliyya to the northeast, al-Qabu to the north, Fahel to the ...
to the northeast,
Tarin to the east,
Suwayri to the southeast,
Hadidah to the south,
Mizyeneh and
al-Huwash to the southwest and
Muqlus to the northwest.
According to the
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Shin had a population of 13,020 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the Shin ''
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") which consists of 22 localities with a collective population of 27,951 in 2004.
[General Census of Population and Housing 2004](_blank)
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Homs Governorate. The inhabitants of the town are predominantly
Sunnis and
Alawites. Although many had converted to the heterodox Alawite sect of
Sulayman al-Murshid (known as Murshidians) during the
French Mandate period (1920–46), the population readopted the orthodox Alawite faith since then.
Etymology
The name Shin is possibly coming from 2 sources
Syriac language and it means the moon, and
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
language and it means peace
History
The town has been built above an
Arameans Khirbat (Town), and there are
many other old Aramaians ruins
The majority of population used to work in agriculture, planting
Olives, Wheat, Figs and Apples,
References
Populated places in Homs District
Towns in Syria
Alawite communities in Syria
{{HomsSY-geo-stub