Murdok

Murdok مردك
Village
Murdok
Coordinates: 32°49′37″N 36°35′58″E / 32.82694°N 36.59944°E / 32.82694; 36.59944
PAL	300/249
Country	Syria
Governorate	Suwayda
District	Shahba
Subdistrict	Shahba
Population  (2004 census)[1]
• Total	2,891
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Murdok (Arabic: مردك) is a village situated in the Shahba District of Suwayda Governorate, in southern Syria. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Murdok had a population of 2,891 in the 2004 census.^[1] Its inhabitants are predominantly Druze.^[2]

History

In 1596 the village appeared in the Ottoman tax registers named Mardak, part of the nahiya (Subdistrict) of Bani Nasiyya in the Hauran Sanjak. It had a Muslim population consisting of 23 households and 4 bachelors; a total of 27 taxable units. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 20% on agricultural products, including wheat (4500 a.), barley (900 a.), summer crops (600 a.), goats and beehives (250 a.), in addition to "occasional revenues" (150 a.); a total of 6,300 akçe.^[3]

In 1838, Eli Smith noted that inhabitants of Murduk were predominantly Druse and Christians.^[4]

Religious buildings

• Al-Mahdi (Druze Shrine)

See also

• Druze in Syria

References

1. General Census of Population and Housing 2004 Archived 2013-01-12 at archive.today. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Al-Suwayda Governorate. (in Arabic)
2. "Druze communities in the Middle East". British Druze Society. Archived from the original on September 11, 2011.
3. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 218
4. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Second appendix, B, p. 157

Bibliography

• Hütteroth, W.-D.; Abdulfattah, K. (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. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
• Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.