al-Shaykh Maskin الشيخ مسكين |
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Coordinates: 32°49′42″N 36°9′31.5″E / 32.82833°N 36.15875°E | |
Country | Syria |
Governorate | Daraa Governorate |
District | Izra' District |
Nahiyah | Al-Shaykh Maskin |
Population (2004 census)[1] | |
• Total | 24,057 |
Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
• Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
Al-Shaykh Maskin (Arabic: الشيخ مسكين, also spelled Sheikh Miskin, Sheikh Maskin or Eshmiskin) is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate, located north of Daraa. Nearby localities include Ibta' and Da'el to the south, Khirbet al-Ghazaleh the southeast, Izra' to the northeast, Nawa to the northwest and Sheikh Sa'ad to the west. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) census, al-Shaykh Maskin had a population of 24,057 in 2004.[1] The inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims.[2]
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History
Clermont-Ganneau theorised that the town's name came from "The leper Sheik", that is Biblical Job.[3] Al-Shaykh Maskin has been identified as the ancient Roman-era site of "Neapolis." By the 4th-century, Neapolis had grown to become a city.[4] A church was consecrated there in 517 during Byzantine rule.[5] Contrary to these views, many Biblical authorities claim al-Shaykh Maskin was the site of Maximopolis, a titular see of the Roman province Arabia Petraea.[6]
Ottoman era
The Ottoman Empire annexed the region in 1516. During this period al-Shaykh Maskin was settled by local Bedouin tribesmen and benefited from the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca by supplying pilgrim caravans with camels for transportation.[7] In 1596 al-Shaykh Maskin appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as Samsakin and was part of the nahiya of Bani Malik al-Asraf in the Qada of Hauran. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 56 households and 17 bachelors. Taxes were paid on wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives.[8]
In the 1850s al-Shaykh Maskin contained about 100 houses and all of its inhabitants were Muslims.[9] The town's chief commodity during the 19th-century was grain, which it exported locally. Timber and cloth were the principal imports. Goods traffic was concentrated in the town's railway station which also served all the villages between Sheikh Maskin and the Lejah region. In the It grew considerably between 1891 to 1900.[10] The town hosted the administrative offices of Hauran's local government in the latter half of this century.[11] The population was "exclusively Muslim" according to John Murray.[2]
Its sheikh ("chief") was Ahmed al-Hariri also known as Ahmed al-Turk who served as the Sheikh Mushaikh al-Hauran ("chief of chiefs of the Hauran"). His tribe claimed descent from the family of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and were thus known as sherrifs. In the wake of the 1860 confrontations between the region's Druze and Christians, Sheikh Ahmed al-Turk led a force of 200 tribesmen to Daraa, rescuing the over 500 Christians in that town from an impending attack by the Druze of the Lejah who his forces successfully routed. He subsequently notified all the tribal chieftains of the area to spare the Christians living in the towns under his authority, to which all the tribes conformed.[2]
According to the late 19th-century French journal Bulletin de corresponde hellenique, al-Shaykh Maskin was well known for the extent of its ruins and an inscription bearing the name of a "Bishop Thomas" was discovered there.[6] In 1895 al-Shaykh Maskin became a refuge for the residents of some dozen villages destroyed by Druze fighters in response to an Ottoman decree ordering the conscription of Druze men into the Ottoman army. Ottoman troops mobilized at al-Shaykh Maskin in preparation of the conscription expedition against the Druze which was launched from the town on 15 October.[12] Cuinet wrote in 1896 that al-Shaykh Maskin's population of 800 included 400 Muslims and 400 Greek Orthodox.[13]
References
- ^ a b General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Daraa Governorate. (Arabic)
- ^ a b c Royal Geographical Society, 1862, p. 88.
- ^ Palestine Exploration Fund, 1902, p. 12
- ^ Butcher, 2003, p. 120.
- ^ Walter, 2003, p. 152.
- ^ a b Herbermann, 1922, p. 78.
- ^ Lancaster, p. 37.
- ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 213.
- ^ Porter, 1858, p. 532.
- ^ Palestine Exploration Fund, 1901, p. 361.
- ^ Palestine Exploration Fund, 1901, p. 360.
- ^ Firro, p. 232.
- ^ Vital Cuinet (1896). Syrie, Liban et Palestine. Géographie Administrative, Statistique, Descriptive et Raisonnée. Paris: Ernest Leroux. p. 468.
Bibliography
- Butcher, Kevin (2003). Roman Syria and the Near East. Getty Publications. ISBN 0892367156. http://books.google.com/books?id=YJPn3-rRjC0C&dq=Sheikh+Miskin&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
- Firro, Kais (1992). A History of the Druzes. 1. BRILL. ISBN 9004094377. http://books.google.com/books?id=usEUXYnYWxAC&dq=Sheikh+Maskin&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
- Herbermann, Charles George (1922). The Catholic Encyclopedia;: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church. 1. Appleton. http://books.google.com/books?id=3yEUAAAAYAAJ&dq=Maximopolis+Miskin&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
- Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth and Kamal Abdulfattah (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft.
- Lancaster, William (1999). People, Land and Water in the Arab Middle East: Environments and Landscapes in the Bilâd Ash-Shâm. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9057023229. http://books.google.com/books?id=YJPn3-rRjC0C&dq=Sheikh+Miskin&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
- Palestine Exploration Fund (1901). Quarterly Statement. 33. Committee for the Palestine Exploration Fund. http://archive.org/details/quarterlystateme33pale.
- Palestine Exploration Fund (1902). Quarterly Statement. 34. Committee for the Palestine Exploration Fund. http://archive.org/details/quarterlystateme33pale.
- Royal Geographical Society (1862). The Journal of the Royal Geographic Society of London. 32. J. Murray. http://books.google.com/books?id=Npuay7cDYe4C&dq=Shekhmiskin&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
- Walter, Christopher (2003). The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. ISBN 184014694X. http://books.google.com/books?id=BRju9VQdW3QC&dq=Sheikh+Miskin+Byzantine&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
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