Murdok

Murdok (Arabic: مردك) is a village situated in the Shahba District of Suwayda Governorate, in southern Syria. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Murdok had a population of 2,891 in the 2004 census.^[1] Its inhabitants are predominantly Druze.^[2]

Murdok مردك
Village
Murdok
Coordinates: 32°49′37″N 36°35′58″E
PAL	300/249
Country	Syria
Governorate	Suwayda
District	Shahba
Subdistrict	Shahba
Population  (2004 census)[1]
• Total	2,891
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

History

In 1596 the village appeared in the Ottoman tax registers named Mardak, part of the nahiya (Subdistrict) of Bani Nasiyya in the Hauran Sanjak. It had a Muslim population consisting of 23 households and 4 bachelors; a total of 27 taxable units. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 20% on agricultural products, including wheat (4500 a.), barley (900 a.), summer crops (600 a.), goats and beehives (250 a.), in addition to "occasional revenues" (150 a.); a total of 6,300 akçe.^[3]

In 1838, Eli Smith noted that inhabitants of Murduk were predominantly Druse and Christians.^[4]

Religious buildings

• Al-Mahdi (Druze Shrine)

See also

• Druze in Syria