Sahwat al-Khudr (; also spelled ''Sahwat al-Khidr'' or ''Sahwet el-Khodar'') is a village in southern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, administratively part of the

al-Suwayda District as-Suwayda District () is a district of the as-Suwayda Governorate in southern Syria. The administrative centre is the city of as-Suwayda Suwayda (), also spelled Sweida, is a mainly Druze city located in southern Syria, close to the border ...

of the

al-Suwayda Governorate As-Suwayda or Al-Suwayda Governorate () is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is the southernmost governorate, covering an area of 5,550 km², and is part of the historic Hawran region. The capita ...

, located south of

al-Suwayda Suwayda (), also spelled Sweida, is a mainly Druze city located in southern Syria, close to the border with Jordan. It is the capital of Suwayda Governorate, one of Syria's 14 governorates, bordering Jordan in the South, Daraa Governorate ...

. In the 2004 census, it had a population of 3,625. The village is named after a Byzantine-era church named dedicated to Saint George (known by local Muslims as "al-Khudr"). It was resettled by

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

in the mid-19th century after a period of abandonment.

History

This village is probably the center of Biblical " Kedar," a regional nation of nomadic shepherd-people who inhabited the general area. The 19th century German visionary Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich mentions "Cedar" as also being a city, presumably this city (as verified by her detailed descriptions), to which

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

visited, so she says, on an historically unrecorded journey. Sahwat al-Khudr receives its name from an ancient

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 ...

church dedicated to

Saint George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

, who is identified with " al-Khudr" by

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 ...

s. An inscription on a monument in the church dates back to 306 CE.Porter, 1868, pp
488
9

Ottoman era

In 1596 it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers under the name of ''Sahut al-Qamh'', located 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 ...

'' of Bani Nasiyya of the Qada of Hawran. The population was 142 households and 54 bachelors, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 40 % on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards, goats and beehives; in addition to occasional revenues and a water mill; a total of 31,300

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

Eli Smith Eli Smith (September 13, 1801 – January 11, 1857) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. Biography Smith was born in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (née Whitney) Smith. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from A ...

noted that the place was located South of ''Juneineh'' and that it was in ruins. Sahwat al-Khudr had been abandoned for a time, but was settled by

between 1857 and 1860 at the encouragement of

Ismail al-Atrash Ismail al-Atrash () (died November 1869) was the preeminent Druze sheikh (chieftain) of Jabal Hauran, a mountainous region southeast of Damascus, in the mid-19th century. His family had moved to the area in the early 19th century. As relative newc ...

, a prominent Druze sheikh (chieftain) in the

Hauran The Hauran (; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, to the northeast by the al-Safa field, to the east and south by the Harrat ...

. In the mid-19th-century, Albert Socin, a European orientalist noted that Sahwat al-Khudr was "a dilapidated town with a castle and a church" surrounded by a forested area. The shrine of al-Khudr in the village was revered by all the religious sects of the vicinity.Socin, 1876, p
412
/ref>

Modern era

In the late 1960s, French geographer Robert Boulanger described Sahwat al-Khudr as "a very picturesque place" with an old mosque that was formerly a pagan temple in Antiquity.Boulanger, 1966, p
515
/ref> The mosque's prayer room contained a column with

Nabataean The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant. Their settlements—most prominently the assumed capital city of Raqmu (present-day Petr ...

inscriptions. The people of the village slaughtered sheep outside of the mosque annually.

Geography

Nearby localities include

Salah ''Salah'' (, also spelled ''salat'') is the practice of formal worship in Islam, consisting of a series of ritual prayers performed at prescribed times daily. These prayers, which consist of units known as ''rak'ah'', include a specific s ...

to the northeast, Miyamas to the north, Hubran to the northwest,

Salkhad Salkhad () is a Syrian city in the As-Suwayda Governorate, southern Syria. It is the capital of Salkhad District, one of the governorate's three districts. It has a population of 15,000 inhabitants. It is located at 1350 metres above sea level ...

to the southwest and Orman to the south.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Map of the town
Google Maps {{Al-Suwayda Governorate, suwayda Archaeological sites in as-Suwayda Governorate 19th-century establishments in the Ottoman Empire Druze communities in Syria Populated places in as-Suwayda District