Sahwat al-Khudr

This village is probably the center of Biblical "Kedar," a regional nation of nomadic shepherd-people who inhabited the general area.{{cite web |title=Kedar |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/kedar |website=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=3 January 2021}} 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 visited, so she says, on an historically unrecorded journey.{{cite book |last1=Emmerich |first1=Bl. Anne Catherine |title=The Life of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ |date=1914 |location=Vol. 3, §4, Chapter 4, "Jesus in Cedar" |url=http://tandfspi.org/ACE_vol_03/ACE_3_0491_out.html |access-date=3 January 2021}}

Sahwat al-Khudr receives its name from an ancient Byzantine church dedicated to Saint George, who is identified with "al-Khudr" by Muslims. An inscription on a monument in the church dates back to 306 CE.Porter, 1868, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/ahandbookfortra13firgoog#page/n222/mode/1up 488]-9

In 1596 it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers under the name of Sahut al-Qamh, located in the Nahiya 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.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 210

In 1838 Eli Smith noted that the place was located South of Juneineh and that it was in ruins.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/160/mode/1up 160]

Sahwat al-Khudr had been abandoned for a time, but was settled by Druze between 1857 and 1860 at the encouragement of Ismail al-Atrash, a prominent Druze sheikh (chieftain) in the Hauran.Firro, 1992, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=usEUXYnYWxAC&pg=PA189 189] 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. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-r9CAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA412 412]

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. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lE3htgEACAAJ&q=sahwet 515] The mosque's prayer room contained a column with Nabataean inscriptions. The people of the village slaughtered sheep outside of the mosque annually.

Nearby localities include Salah to the northeast, Miyamas to the north, Hubran to the northwest, Salkhad to the southwest and Orman to the south.

{{reflist|25em}}

{{ref begin}}

• {{cite book|first1=Robert|last1=Boulanger|title=The Middle East, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lE3htgEACAAJ&q=sahwet |year=1966}}
• {{cite book|first=Kais|last=Firro|title=A History of the Druzes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=usEUXYnYWxAC |volume=1|publisher=BRILL|year=1992|isbn=9004094377}}
• {{cite book

| last1 = Hütteroth |first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth

| last2 = Abdulfattah|first2=K. |author-link2=Kamal Abdulfattah

| title = Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ

| year = 1977

| publisher = Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft

|isbn= 3-920405-41-2}}

• {{cite book|first=J.L.|last=Porter|authorlink=Josias Leslie Porter|title=A Handbook for Travellers in Syria and Palestine|volume=2|url=https://archive.org/details/ahandbookfortra13firgoog |publisher=Murray|year=1868}}
• {{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|authorlink1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|authorlink2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=http://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838| location=Boston|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|volume=3}}
• {{cite book|last1=Socin|first1=A.|authorlink1=Albert Socin|editor1-last=Baedeker|editor1-first=K.|editor-link1=Karl Baedeker|title=Palestine and Syria: Handbook for Travellers|date=1876|publisher=Karl Baedeker|page=412|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-r9CAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA412}}

{{refend}}

• [https://www.google.com/maps/@32.6016199,36.6995286,15z Map of the town], Google Maps

{{Al-Suwayda Governorate|suwayda}}

Category:Archaeological sites in as-Suwayda Governorate

Category:19th-century establishments in the Ottoman Empire

Category:Druze communities in Syria

Category:Populated places in as-Suwayda District