Ad-Dara

Ad-Dara (Arabic: الدارة) is a village in southern Syria, administratively part of the Suwayda District of the Suwayda Governorate. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Ad-Dara had a population of 1,243 in the 2004 census.^[1] Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslim Bedouins and Christians.^[2]

Ad-Dara الدارة
Village
Ad-Dara
Coordinates: 32°43′13″N 36°24′11″E
Grid position	281/236 PAL
Country	Syria
Governorate	Suwayda
District	Suwayda
Subdistrict	Suwayda
Population  (2004 census)
• Total	1,243
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Demographics

According to statistics from 1927, ad-Dara had a population consisting of a Christian majority of 293 inhabitants and a Sunni Muslim minority of 34.^[3]

History

In 1596 the village appeared under the name of ad-Dar in the Ottoman tax registers as part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of Bani Nasiyya in the qadaa of Hauran. It had a population of 14 households and 8 bachelors, all Muslim, in all 22 taxable units. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on agricultural products, including wheat (3000 a.), barley (900 a.), summer crops (800 a), goats and beehives (150 a.), in addition to occasional revenues (150 a.); the taxes totalled 5,000 akçe.^[4]

Religious buildings

• St. George Greek Orthodox Church^[5]
• Omar ibn al-Khattab Mosque

See also

• Christians in Syria