Kufr Khall, (also written Kufur Khall, Kufr Khal) (), is a town in the north of

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, in the

Jerash Governorate Jerash Governorate () is one of 12 governorates in Jordan. It is located in the northwestern side of the country. The capital of the governorate is the city of Jerash. Jerash Governorate has the smallest area of the 12 governorates of Jordan, ...

. The origin of its name, is from Syriac ''kafr'' meaning the village or the country and from

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

''khall'' that means vinegar, or more generally, grape. So the words Kufr Khall stand for 'the village of grapes'. Effectively, Kufr Khall is still famous for its well-known grape production.

Geography

Kufr Khall is located at the west of the main road connecting

Jerash Jerash (; , , ) is a city in northern Jordan. The city is the administrative center of the Jerash Governorate, and has a population of 50,745 as of 2015. It is located 30.0 miles north of the capital city Amman. The earliest evidence of sett ...

Irbid Irbid (), known in ancient times as Arabella or Arbela (Άρβηλα in Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek), is the capital and largest city of Irbid Governorate. It has the second-largest metropolitan population in Jordan after Amman, with a ...

. The village is built on three main hills; ''Jabal Snad'', ''Jabal Ahed'' and ''al-Jabal al-Gharbi''. Kufr Khall represents an important link between

Ajloun Ajloun (, ''‘Ajlūn''), also spelled Ajlun, is the capital town of the Ajloun Governorate, a hilly town in the north of Jordan, located 76 kilometers (around 47 miles) north west of Amman. It is noted for its impressive ruins of the 12th-centur ...

Mountains and the large flat land of Houran. The total area of the village is estimated 6 km², of which 4 belonging to woodland areas.

History

Kufr Khall as a rural centre

Kufr Khall was no doubt an important rural centre since Roman domination of Jordan, and a complex of several tombs (discovered in 1981) clearly shows the importance of Kufr Khall in the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

age.

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

and

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

presence in Kufr Khall is also witnessed by several ruins. Kufr Khall saw a moment of decline of its splendor in the 17th century; anyway, important documents proof the presence of Kufr Khall as a rural community in the early Ottoman age.

Pre-Islamic era

A number of stone-made instruments were found at one kilometer of distance from the town, and labeled as

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

. There are oral narrations about the presence of an antique Roman church (called the white church) in the past. Mosaics were also found in different locations. The Roman dominion of the zone is visible in three different places: ''al- Deyr'', ''Hattin'' and in Kufr Khall itself.

Islamic era

Kufr Khall was conquered by Islamic Armies commanded by '' Sharhabeel ibn Hasana'' as a direct result of ''

Battle of Fahl The Battle of Fahl (), also known as the Battle of the Marshes () and the Battle of Beisan (), was a major battle in the Muslim conquest of Byzantine Syria fought by the Arab troops of the Rashidun Caliphate and Byzantine forces at or near Pel ...

'' in 635 A.D.

Mameluke Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-sold ...

ceramics were found in several sectors of Kufr Khall, and diverse houses built by

Mamelukes Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

were rebuilt on the rising of the Ottoman dominion of the zone. In 1596 it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers named as '' Kafr Hall'', situated in the ''

nahiya A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, 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 divisi ...

'' (subdistrict) of Bani al-Asar, part of the

Sanjak of Hawran The Hauran Sanjak (, ) was a sanjak of the Ottoman Empire, spanning the southern areas of Ottoman Syria, located in modern-day Syria and Jordan. The city of Daraa was the sanjak's capital. The sanjak had a population of 182,805 in 1914. Subdistr ...

. It had 34 households and 15 bachelors; all

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products; including wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards/fruit trees, goats and bee-hives. The total tax was 11,500

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...

. In 1838 Kufr Khall was noted as a ruin. In 1961 the population of Kufr Khall was 1,159 inhabitants.

Economy

Kufr Khall is famous for its olive oil, and there is a seasonal fair (market) for the trading of this product. Other agricultural products are grapes, figs, apples and pomegranate. Several handcraft, cheese and traditional products are made also.

Social life

Religion

The inhabitants are all

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

Muslims, there are three principal mosques in Kufr Khall, an old, now restored, eastern mosque, a western mosque built in 1984 (al Hajj Abdallah Mosque) and a new mosque named

Abu Bakr Abd Allah ibn Abi Quhafa (23 August 634), better known by his ''Kunya (Arabic), kunya'' Abu Bakr, was a senior Sahaba, companion, the closest friend, and father-in-law of Muhammad. He served as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruli ...

as- Siddiq. Two historical shrines (tombs of '' Awlya''') are located in Kufr Khall.

Traditions

The traditions of Kufr Khall people are similar to the northern Jordanians. Must be mentioned: the ''Sbu'yyeh'' (food offered after a week of the burial to the dead's family), the'' Madaleh'' (welcoming people for three days after funeral and offering them coffee), the ''Khamisyyah'' (religious sacrifice of goats in spring), important religious festivities, such ''

Eid ul-Fitr Eid al-Fitr () is the first of the two main festivals in Islam, the other being Eid al-Adha. It falls on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar. Eid al-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims worldwide because it marks the ...

'', ''

Eid al Adha Eid al-Adha () is the second of the two main festivals in Islam alongside Eid al-Fitr. It falls on the 10th of Dhu al-Hijja, the twelfth and final month of the Islamic calendar. Celebrations and observances are generally carried forward to th ...

(al Eid al Kabir)'' and '' Al-Mawlidu N-Nabawi Sh-Sharif'', have their rituals for the people of Kufr Khall.

Prince Hamzah Natural Reserve

The Prince Hamzah Natural Reserve consists of 40 hectares of natural forests. It is administered and managed by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment in

Jordan University of Science and Technology The Jordan University of Science and Technology ( ''Jami'at Al-Ulum wa Al-Tiknolojia Al-Urdunia''), often abbreviated JUST, is a public university, public technological university located on the outskirts of Irbid, at Ar Ramtha in northern Jor ...

The reserve was opened by

Prince Hamzah bin Al Hussein Hamzah bin Al Hussein (; born 29 March 1980) is the fourth son of King Hussein bin Talal of Jordan overall and the first by his American-born fourth wife, Queen Noor. He was named Crown Prince of Jordan on 7 February 1999, a position he held u ...

on 16 August 2004. It harbors a large number of trees and animals such as the

Palestine Oak ''Quercus coccifera'', the kermes oak or commonly known as Palestine oak, is an oak shrub or tree in section ''Ilex'' of the genus. It has many synonyms, including ''Quercus calliprinos''. It is native to the Mediterranean region and Northern Af ...

Aleppo Pine ''Pinus halepensis'', commonly known as the Aleppo pine, also known as the Jerusalem pine, is a pine native to the Mediterranean region. It was officially named by the botanist Philip Miller in his 1768 book ''The Gardener's Dictionary''; he pro ...

and the Greek Strawberry Tree. It is one of the best natural views around the village and they are a lot of farms around it that belongs to the locals like the one owned by Mousa al Abed which was developed and built in 1980.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Authority control Populated places in Jerash Governorate