Deir al-Bukht


Deir al-Bukht is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the al-Sanamayn District of the Daraa Governorate located north of Daraa. It is situated about 63 kilometers south of the capital Damascus. Nearby localities include al-Sanamayn to the south, Kafr Shams to the southwest, Deir al-Adas to the west, Ghabaghib to the northeast, Muthabin to the east and Jabab to the southeast. In the 2004 census by the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Deir al-Bukht had a population of 5,381.

History

The name "Deir al-Bukht" is Arabic for "Convent of the Bactrian Camel." According to early 13th-century Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi, Deir al-Bukht had previously been known as "Deir Mikhail", a monastery dedicated to Saint Michael. It received its current name as a result of early 8th-century Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik's habit of having a Bactrian camel saddled at the monastery.
A member of the Abbasid family, Ali ibn Abdullah ibn Abbas, maintained a garden at Deir al-Bukht for recreation during the reign of Abd al-Malik's successor, al-Walid. Ali was accused of killing his adopted brother Salit in Deir al-Bukht, but Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik and Ubaydallah ibn Ziyad interjected on Ali's behalf, persuading al-Walid to spare his life. Ali was imprisoned instead.
In 1596 Dayr al-Buht appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as part of the nahiya of Bani Kilab in Hauran Sanjak. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 15 households and 6 bachelors. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 20% on wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives; a total of 5,770 akçe. Half of the revenue went to a waqf.
In the 19th-century Biblical scholar Eli Smith noted that Deir al-Bukht was a Muslim village.
During the French Mandate period, Deir al-Bukht was the center of the 'Al al-Zubi clan which controlled a total of 16 villages in the Hauran, including Khirbet Ghazaleh and al-Musayfirah, and provided the local religious leadership of the Qadiriyya, Sufi Muslim order dating back to the 12th-century. The head of the clan was Muflih al-Zubi who served as a deputy of the French Mandate authorities.