Rakham
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Rakham ( ) is a village in the Hauran plain of southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Rakham had a population of 547 in the 2004 census. It is located 40 km northeast of Daraa. Populated periodically since the 1st millennium BC, its inhabitants are predominantly Christian, with a Sunni Muslim minority. Not to be mistaken for: Zawyet umm el-Rakham in Egypt, the Jabal ar Rukham mountain in Oman and the UAE, or the Ar Rukham plain in Kuwait - after which are named the nearby Sha'ib (wadi) and Dulay (hill).
Rakham ( ) is a village in the Hauran plain of southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Rakham had a population of 547 in the 2004 census. It is located 40 km northeast of Daraa. Populated periodically since the 1st millennium BC, its inhabitants are predominantly Christian, with a Sunni Muslim minority. Not to be mistaken for: Zawyet umm el-Rakham in Egypt, the Jabal ar Rukham mountain in Oman and the UAE, or the Ar Rukham plain in Kuwait - after which are named the nearby Sha'ib (wadi) and Dulay (hill).
Ottoman era
In 1596, it appeared under the name Raham in Ottoman tax registers as a village in the Nahiya of Bani Malik al-Asraf in the Hawran Qada. It had a population of 20 households and 10 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on agricultural products, including wheat (3000 a.), barley (1800 a.), summer crops (1250 a.), goats or beehives (250 a.), in addition to "occasional revenues" (200 a,); a total of 6,500 akçe. The journal of Edward Robinson and Eli Smith - who travelled the southern Levant in the 1830's visiting places such as Mount Sinai, Tyre, Jerusalem, Ajloun, and Gaza - mentions Rakham as an abandoned village "khirba" in the Nukrah (Batanaea) region of Hauran, marking it south of the major town of Sheikh Meskin.
Buildings
St. George Greek Orthodox Church (This is the older of the two churches, hosting annual celebrations on the Feast of St. George (May 6). This holiday features hymns, prayers, and sheep being butchered on the entrance of the Byzantine section for the distribution of the meat to the poor) Saints Peter and Paul Melkite Greek Catholic Church Village Mosque Primary School
See also
Christians in Syria Hauran
References
Bibliography
External links
El Karak-map; 21M
Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1376587348 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.