Qarfa

History

Inside a private house in Qarfa a Greek inscription dedicating a church to Saint Bacchus was discovered. The inscription was dated to 589-590 CE and written on a stone lintel decorated with a cross.

Ottoman era

In 1596, Qarfa appeared in Ottoman tax registers as a village in the Nahiya of Bani Malik al-Asraf in the Hawran Qada. It had a population of 42 households and 15 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, and goats or beehives, a total of 6,451 akçe. 5/24 of the revenue went to a Waqf

In 1838, it was noted as a Sunni Muslim village (Kurfa) in the Nukrah district, east of ash-Shaykh Miskin.

Modern era

On 13 August 1962 a tribal feud in Qarfa between the al-Makayed and al-Manasser clans resulted in five people being wounded. The fighting was a result of old rivalries. Security forces arrested several people from the town and the wounded were evacuated to the hospital.

Civil War

Main article: Syrian civil war

During the ongoing civil war, which began in 2011, opposition rebels from the Free Syrian Army attacked a petrol station in Qarfa, resulting in the death of a relative of high-ranking government official Rustum Ghazaleh in early January 2013.

Religious buildings

• The Old Mosque
• Sayyida Aisha Mosque (formerly known as the Islamic Unity Mosque)
• Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf Mosque (formerly known as the Bassel al-Assad Mosque)

Notable people

• Rustum Ghazaleh (1953–2015), Head of Syrian Political Security Directorate

References

Bibliography

• {{cite book
• {{cite book

References

2. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160305082831/http://cbssyr.sy/new%20web%20site/General_census/census_2004/NH/TAB12-16-2004.htm General Census of Population and Housing 2004] {{webarchive. link. (2013-01-12 . [[Central Bureau of Statistics (Syria)). Syria Central Bureau of Statistics]] (CBS). Daraa Governorate. {{in lang. ar
3. Chaniotis, 2003, p. 521.
4. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 212
5. [[Eli Smith. Smith]]; in Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Second appendix, B, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/152/mode/1up 152]
6. [https://books.google.com/books?id=F9QMAQAAMAAJ&q=Karfa+Hauran Mideast Mirror]. '''14'''. ''Arab News Agency''. (1962). Page 20.
7. [http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/01/05/258666.html FSA kills relative of Syrian security chief in Deraa]. ''[[Al Arabiya]]''. 2013-01-05.