Daraa

This article is about the city in Syria. For the river in Morocco, see Draa River. For other uses, see Dara (disambiguation).
Daraa
درعا
Daraa
Coordinates: 32°37′N 36°6′E / 32.617°N 36.100°E
Country  Syria
Governorate Daraa Governorate
District Daraa District
Nahiya Daraa
Government
 • Governor Mohammad Khaled al-Hannus[1]
Elevation 435 m (1,427 ft)
Population (2004 census)[2]
 • City 97,969
 • Metro 146,481
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 • Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Area code(s) 15

Daraa (Arabic: درعا‎, Levantine Arabic: [ˈdarʕa]), also Darʿā, Dara’a, Deraa, Dera, and Derʿā ("fortress", compare Dura-Europos), is a city in southwestern Syria, just north of the border with Jordan. It is the capital of Daraa Governorate, historically part of the ancient Hauran region. The city is located about 90 kilometres (56 mi) south of Damascus on the Damascus-Amman highway, and is used as a stopping station for travelers. Nearby localities include Umm al-Mayazen and Nasib to the southeast, al-Naimeh to the east, Othman to the north, al-Yadudah to the northwest and Ramtha, Jordan to the southwest.

According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Daraa had a population of 97,969 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of a nahiyah ("sub-district") which contains eight localities with a collective population of 146,481 in 2004.[2] Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims.[3]

History

Daraa is an ancient city dating back to the Canaanites. It was mentioned in Egyptian hieroglyphic tablets at the time of the Pharaoh Thutmose III between 1490 and 1436 BC. It was known in those days as the city of Atharaa. It was later mentioned in the Old Testament as "Edre'i,"[4] the capital of Bashan where Moses defeated the city's king, Og.[5]

Classical era

In the Greek of the Seleucid Empire, of which it was part, and in the Roman Empire into which it was incorporated by Trajan in 106, the city was known as Adraa (Ἀδράα),[6] the name used on its coinage.[7][8] It was incorporated into the province of Arabia Petraea.[9] By the 3rd-century, it gained the status of a polis (self-governed city). Roman historian Eusebius called Adraa a famous city (polis) of Arabia.[10][5] The area east of Adraa was a centre of the Ebionites.[11][12] Adraa itself was a Christian bishopric. Arabio, the first of whose bishops whose name is now known, participated in the Council of Seleucia of 359. Uranius was at the First Council of Constantinople in 381; Proclus at the anti-Eutyches synod of Constantinople in 448 and the Council of Chalcedon in 451; and Dorimenius at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553.[13][14] No longer a residential bishopric, Adraa is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[15] It was also a centre of monastic and missionary activity in the Syrian Desert. In 614, a Sassanid Persian army sacked Adraa, but spared the inhabitants.[9]

Some of the Jews whom Mohammed drove from Medina settled in Adraa, which in Arabic was called Adra'at.[16] Situated between the major Jewish centres of Palestine and Babylonia, it had a large Jewish population by the early 7th century and served as a place of Jewish learning. Its residents lit an annual bonfire on Rosh Hashannah in a signal to Babylonia's Jewish communities that the religious new year began.[9]

Muhammad's era

According to Ibn Hisham and al-Waqidi, 9th-century biographers of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the Banu Nadir and Banu Qaynuqa tribes immigrated to Adhri'at following their expulsion from Medina. Historian Moshe Sharon dismisses that asserion however, citing the absence of their claims in any Jewish sources and the earlier Muslim reports.[9]

According to Islamic tradition, the Invasion of Banu Qaynuqa,[17] also known as the expedition against Banu Qaynuqa,[18] occurred in 624 AD. The Banu Qaynuqa were a Jewish tribe expelled by the Islamic prophet Muhammad for allegedly breaking the treaty known as the Constitution of Medina[19][20]:209 by pinning the clothes of a Muslim woman, which lead to her being stripped naked. A Muslim killed a Jew in retaliation, and the Jews in turn killed the Muslim man. This escalated to a chain of revenge killings, and enmity grew between Muslims and the Banu Qaynuqa, leading to the siege of their fortress.[19][21][22]:122 The tribe eventually surrendered to Muhammad, who initially wanted to kill the members of Banu Qaynuqa but ultimately yielded to Abdullah ibn Ubayy's insistence and agreed to expel the Qaynuqa.[23]

The Banu Nadir were also expelled during the Invasion of Banu Nadir. Muslim scholars (like Mubarakpuri) claim, the Banu Nadir were attacked because the Angel Gabriel told Muhammad that some of the Banu Nadir wanted to assassinate him.[24] Watt contends it was in response to the tribe’s criticism of Muhammad and doubts they wanted to assassinate Muhammad. He says "it is possible that the allegation was no more than an excuse to justify the attack".[25]

Post Muhammad's era

Early Muslim historian Ahmad al-Baladuri lists Adhri'at as one of the towns that surrendered to the Muslims following the Battle of Tabuk in 630, while Muhammad was alive. Consequently, the inhabitants paid jizya tax.[26] However, Baladhuri's account was believed to have been a mistake. Instead, contemporary sources maintain that Adhri'at was conquered by the Rashidun army during the caliphate of Abu Bakr in 634.[27] Adhri'at's residents reportedly celebrated the arrival of the second caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab when he visited the city, "dancing with swords and sweet basil."[26] Throughout Rashidun and Umayyad rule, the city served as the capital of the al-Bathaniyya subdistrict, part of the larger Jund Dimashq ("military district of Damascus.")[28]

In 906 the population was massacred in a raid by the rebellious Qarmatians.[26] The late 10th-century Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi noted that during the Abbasid period, Adhri'at was a major administrative center on the edge of the desert.[29] He claimed the city was part of the Jund al-Urdunn district and that its territory was "full of villages" and included the region of Jerash to the south of the Yarmouk River.[29][30]

Throughout the Middle Ages, it served as a strategic station on the hajj caravan route between Damascus and Medina and as the gate to central Syria. The Crusaders briefly conquered Adhri'at in the early 12th-century.[31] According to Yaqut al-Hamawi, in the early 13th-century during Ayyubid rule, it was "celebrated for the many learned men who were natives of the place."[29] Later, under the Mamluks and the Ottomans, the city maintained its importance.[31] In 1596 Daraa appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as Madinat Idra'a and was part of the nahiya of Butayna in the Qada of Hauran. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 120 households and 45 bachelors. Taxes were paid on wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives.[32]

Modern era

By the 20th-century Adhri'at gained its modern name "Daraa." Following the Ottomans' construction of the Hejaz Railway, it became a chief junction of the railroad. Today Daraa is the southernmost city of Syria on the border with Jordan and a major midpoint between Damascus and Baghdad.[31]

After the Ba'ath Party gained power following the 1963 coup, the new interior minister Amin al-Hafiz appointed Abd al-Rahman al-Khlayfawi as governor of Daraa until 1965.[33] Daraa had recently, before the Syrian Civil War, suffered from reduced water supply in the region, and been straining under the influx of internal refugees who were forced to leave their northeastern lands, due to a drought exacerbated by the government's lack of provision.[34]

Thousands of people protested in the city as part of the 2011 Syrian protests.[35]

Syrian civil war

See also: Siege of Daraa

The city of Daraa was the starting point of the 2011 uprising against the government led by President Bashar al-Assad. It all started when 15 teenagers from the same family (Al-Abazeed) were arrested in early March 2011 for writing an anti-regime slogan on the wall of their school. After attempts to negotiate the release of the children were rejected by the local government, a few hundred protesters gathered in front of al-Omari Mosque on March 18, 2011 calling for reforms and end of corruption. Soon after the gathering increased in size and it is reported that over 3000 people protested on the first day. According to activists, this protest was faced with Syrian security forces opening fire on the protesters killing 3 people.[36] Protests continued daily and on the 20th of March, 7 police men were killed as well as least 4 protesters. During this time the local courthouse, the Ba'ath party headquarters in the city, and the Syriatel building owned by Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of President Assad, were set on fire. What followed was a government assault on the city as violence continued and intensified all across Syria. The city has witnessed massacres since then, too.[37] A mortar attack on a tent where approximately 100 government supporters and civilians had gathered in the city on May 22, 2014 to discuss the upcoming June 3, 2014 presidential election killed at least 21 and injured scores more. It is not verified who conducted the attack, but Ahmad Masalma, an opposition activist in Daraa, said rebels from the Free Syrian Army umbrella group fired a mortar shell at the tent in a government-held area after repeatedly warning civilians to stay away.[38][39]

Geography

Climate

Climate data for Dara'a
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 13.3
(55.9)		 14.7
(58.5)		 18.0
(64.4)		 23.6
(74.5)		 28.5
(83.3)		 31.3
(88.3)		 32.6
(90.7)		 32.6
(90.7)		 31.3
(88.3)		 27.8
(82)		 21.0
(69.8)		 15.2
(59.4)		 24.2
(75.5)
Average low °C (°F) 3.2
(37.8)		 4.0
(39.2)		 6.0
(42.8)		 9.3
(48.7)		 12.5
(54.5)		 15.8
(60.4)		 18.3
(64.9)		 18.6
(65.5)		 16.5
(61.7)		 12.8
(55)		 7.8
(46)		 4.6
(40.3)		 10.8
(51.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 60.9
(2.398)		 49.4
(1.945)		 42.3
(1.665)		 15.2
(0.598)		 3.4
(0.134)		 1.0
(0.039)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0.4
(0.016)		 9.4
(0.37)		 22.9
(0.902)		 45.9
(1.807)		 250.8
(9.874)
Avg. precipitation days 10 11 7 4 1 0 0 0 0 2 5 8 48
Source: World Meteorological Organization

References

  1. ↑ "Syria protest town 'has new governor'". France 24. 4 April 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Daraa Governorate. (Arabic)
  3. ↑ Sterling, Joe. Daraa: The spark that lit the Syrian flame. CNN. 2012-03-01.
  4. ↑ Deuteronomy 3:1.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Negev, p. 150.
  6. ↑ William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1864): Adraa
  7. ↑ Catalogue of the Greek coins in The British Museum
  8. ↑ Snible: Arabia
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Sharon, 2007, 68.
  10. ↑ Fergus Millar, The Roman Near East, 31 B.C.-A.D. 337 (Harvard University Press 1993 ISBN 978-0-67477886-3), p. 419
  11. ↑ Adolf Harnack, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, Book 4, Chapter 3, section 1
  12. ↑ Albertus Frederik Johannes Klijn, G. J. Reinink, Patristic Evidence for Jewish-Christian Sects (Brill Archive 1973 ISBN 978-9-00403763-2), p. 29
  13. ↑ Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 859-860
  14. ↑ Siméon Vailhé, v. Adraa, in Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques, vol. I, Paris 1909, coll. 592-593
  15. ↑ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 838
  16. ↑ Jewish Encyclopedia: Edrei
  17. ↑ Mubarakpuri, Saifur Rahman Al (2005), Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum, Darussalam Publications, p. 117
  18. ↑ Mubarakpuri, Saifur Rahman Al (2002), When the Moon Split, DarusSalam, p. 159, ISBN 978-9960-897-28-8
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Sirat Rasul Allah [The Life of Muhammad], transl. Guillaume, p. 363 |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  20. ↑ Watt (1956), Muhammad at Medina.
  21. ↑ Mubarakpuri, Saifur Rahman Al (2005), The sealed nectar: biography of the Noble Prophet, Darussalam Publications, p. 284, ISBN 978-9960-899-55-8
  22. ↑ Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book.
  23. ↑ Cook, Michael, Muhammad, p. 21.
  24. ↑ Mubarakpuri, The Sealed Nectar, p. 189. (online)
  25. ↑ Tabari, Al (2008), The foundation of the community, State University of New York Press, p. xxxv, ISBN 978-0887063442, The main underlying reason for the expulsion of the clan of al-Nadir was the same as in the case of Quaynuqa, namely, that Jewish criticisms endangered the ordinary Muslim's belief in Muhammad's prophethood and in the Quran as revelation from God.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 Sharon, 2007, p. 69.
  27. ↑ Houtma, 1993, p. 135.
  28. ↑ le Strange, 1890, p. 34.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 le Strange, 1890, p. 383.
  30. ↑ le Strange, 1890, p. 40.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Sharon, 2007, p. 70.
  32. ↑ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 214.
  33. ↑ Moubayed, p. 275.
  34. ↑ Michael Gunning (26 August 2011). "Background to a Revolution". n+1.
  35. ↑ "Syria to free child prisoners". Al Jazeera. 20 Mar 2011. Retrieved 20 Mar 2011.
  36. ↑ "Middle East unrest: Three killed at protest in Syria". BBC News. 18 March 2011.
  37. ↑ "Killings continue in Syria as UN reaches "massacre" village". Euronews. 9 June 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  38. ↑ http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/5/23/deadly-mortar-attackhitsassadgatheringinsyria.html
  39. ↑ "Pro-Assad rally in Syria attacked, 21 dead". Arab Herald. Retrieved May 23, 2014.

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Coordinates: 32°37′31″N 36°6′22″E / 32.62528°N 36.10611°E