French victory
124-556: Majdal Shams ( Arabic : مجدل شمس ; Hebrew : מַגְ'דַל שַׁמְס ) is a predominantly Druze town in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights , located in the southern foothills of Mount Hermon . It is known as the informal "capital" of the region. Majdal Shams played a significant role in the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925–1927 that was led by Druze leader Sultan Al-Atrash , who is commemorated by several monuments in
248-474: A Mediterranean climate ( Csa/Csb ), with an average annual precipitation of 817 millimetres (32.2 in). Summers are warm and dry and winters are chilly and wetter, with the possibility of snowfall . According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , Majdal Shams's population was 11,458 in 2022, the vast majority of them Druze. The population growth rate is 2.5%. The ratio between men and women
372-693: A Syrian Army capable of establishing security and stability and preserving the state entity to be declared. He asked the British to arm this army, but they refused. In late 1918 Prince Faisal was invited to participate in the Paris Peace Conference that was held after the First World War in Versailles . He made calls on both the French and British governments who, while collaborating behind his back in amending
496-800: A laissez passer by the Israeli authorities. As Israel does not recognize their Syrian citizenship, they are defined in Israeli records as "residents of the Golan Heights." Residents of Majdal Shams are not drafted by the Israel Defense Forces , but as of 2024 there are individual cases of residents serving in the army. As permanent residents, Majdal Shams inhabitants are free to work and study in Israel and are entitled to state services such as HMO ( Kupat Holim ) health insurance. They are also free to move at will and live anywhere they choose in Israel. The town
620-473: A 19-week general strike in protest. Although Israeli troops blockaded the town and offered residents to accept citizen identification cards, the protesters succeeded in convincing the state to classify members of the community as non-citizens. Residents retained the right to apply for Israeli citizenship individually. Many of the Druze who had received I.D. cards denied having voluntarily applied for them, alleging that
744-562: A collection of related dialects that constitute the precursor of Arabic, first emerged during the Iron Age . Previously, the earliest attestation of Old Arabic was thought to be a single 1st century CE inscription in Sabaic script at Qaryat al-Faw , in southern present-day Saudi Arabia. However, this inscription does not participate in several of the key innovations of the Arabic language group, such as
868-435: A corpus of poetic texts, in addition to Qur'an usage and Bedouin informants whom he considered to be reliable speakers of the ʿarabiyya . Arabic spread with the spread of Islam . Following the early Muslim conquests , Arabic gained vocabulary from Middle Persian and Turkish . In the early Abbasid period , many Classical Greek terms entered Arabic through translations carried out at Baghdad's House of Wisdom . By
992-582: A dessert featuring kadaif noodles, cheese, sugar syrup, and pistachios. Abu Salah is an influential family in Majdal Shams. This surname is also spelled as Abu Salach or Abu Saleh. [REDACTED] Media related to Majdal Shams at Wikimedia Commons Arabic language Arabic (endonym: اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ , romanized : al-ʿarabiyyah , pronounced [al ʕaraˈbijːa] , or عَرَبِيّ , ʿarabīy , pronounced [ˈʕarabiː] or [ʕaraˈbij] )
1116-1077: A dialect of Arabic and written in the Latin alphabet . The Balkan languages, including Albanian, Greek , Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian , have also acquired many words of Arabic origin, mainly through direct contact with Ottoman Turkish . Arabic has influenced languages across the globe throughout its history, especially languages where Islam is the predominant religion and in countries that were conquered by Muslims. The most markedly influenced languages are Persian , Turkish , Hindustani ( Hindi and Urdu ), Kashmiri , Kurdish , Bosnian , Kazakh , Bengali , Malay ( Indonesian and Malaysian ), Maldivian , Pashto , Punjabi , Albanian , Armenian , Azerbaijani , Sicilian, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian, Tagalog , Sindhi , Odia , Hebrew and African languages such as Hausa , Amharic , Tigrinya , Somali , Tamazight , and Swahili . Conversely, Arabic has borrowed some words (mostly nouns) from other languages, including its sister-language Aramaic, Persian, Greek, and Latin and to
1240-483: A lesser extent and more recently from Turkish, English, French, and Italian. Arabic is spoken by as many as 380 million speakers, both native and non-native, in the Arab world, making it the fifth most spoken language in the world, and the fourth most used language on the internet in terms of users. It also serves as the liturgical language of more than 2 billion Muslims . In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Arabic
1364-677: A millennium before the modern period . Early lexicographers ( لُغَوِيُّون lughawiyyūn ) sought to explain words in the Quran that were unfamiliar or had a particular contextual meaning, and to identify words of non-Arabic origin that appear in the Quran. They gathered shawāhid ( شَوَاهِد 'instances of attested usage') from poetry and the speech of the Arabs—particularly the Bedouin ʾaʿrāb [ ar ] ( أَعْراب ) who were perceived to speak
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#17328445338781488-634: A preliminary step towards the final departure of the French from Syria in 1946. The First World War led to the collapse or dissolution of the Russian , the Austro-Hungarian , German , and Ottoman empires, the latter of which Syria had been part of for centuries. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire encouraged the United Kingdom and France to share its legacy by creating a new colonial concept known as
1612-576: A result, many European languages have borrowed words from it. Arabic influence, mainly in vocabulary, is seen in European languages (mainly Spanish and to a lesser extent Portuguese , Catalan , and Sicilian ) owing to the proximity of Europe and the long-lasting Arabic cultural and linguistic presence, mainly in Southern Iberia, during the Al-Andalus era. Maltese is a Semitic language developed from
1736-518: A school and church in the town. The mission school operated until 1885, when it was closed by Turkish authorities. Majdal Shams also attracted foreign geologists such as William Libbey because of the town's proximity to an exposed strata of Jurassic period fossils. Fossils excavated at Majdal Shams were acquired by the American University of Beirut and Harvard University. Some travelers wrote vivid descriptions of Majdal Shams. Herbert Rix visited
1860-462: A script derived from ASA attest to a language known as Hasaitic . On the northwestern frontier of Arabia, various languages known to scholars as Thamudic B , Thamudic D, Safaitic , and Hismaic are attested. The last two share important isoglosses with later forms of Arabic, leading scholars to theorize that Safaitic and Hismaic are early forms of Arabic and that they should be considered Old Arabic . Linguists generally believe that "Old Arabic",
1984-465: A single language, despite mutual incomprehensibility among differing spoken versions. From a linguistic standpoint, it is often said that the various spoken varieties of Arabic differ among each other collectively about as much as the Romance languages . This is an apt comparison in a number of ways. The period of divergence from a single spoken form is similar—perhaps 1500 years for Arabic, 2000 years for
2108-503: A type of Arabic. Cypriot Arabic is recognized as a minority language in Cyprus. The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia , which is the normal use of two separate varieties of the same language, usually in different social situations. Tawleed is the process of giving a new shade of meaning to an old classical word. For example, al-hatif lexicographically means
2232-499: A variety of regional vernacular Arabic dialects , which are not necessarily mutually intelligible. Classical Arabic is the language found in the Quran , used from the period of Pre-Islamic Arabia to that of the Abbasid Caliphate . Classical Arabic is prescriptive, according to the syntactic and grammatical norms laid down by classical grammarians (such as Sibawayh ) and the vocabulary defined in classical dictionaries (such as
2356-470: A wider audience." In the wake of the industrial revolution and European hegemony and colonialism , pioneering Arabic presses, such as the Amiri Press established by Muhammad Ali (1819), dramatically changed the diffusion and consumption of Arabic literature and publications. Rifa'a al-Tahtawi proposed the establishment of Madrasat al-Alsun in 1836 and led a translation campaign that highlighted
2480-475: Is 951 women for every 1,000 men. Most of the town's residents are Druze, but a few Christians remain of a much larger community that left the town in the 1940s and 1950s. The inhabitants of Majdal Shams are considered Syrian citizens by the Syrian authorities. Since 1981 they have also been considered permanent residents of Israel. While they are entitled to full Israeli citizenship , as of 2011 only 10 percent of
2604-727: Is a Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world . The ISO assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic , including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic , which is derived from Classical Arabic . This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā ( اَلعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ "the eloquent Arabic") or simply al-fuṣḥā ( اَلْفُصْحَىٰ ). Arabic
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#17328445338782728-585: Is a minimum level of comprehension between all Arabic dialects, this level can increase or decrease based on geographic proximity: for example, Levantine and Gulf speakers understand each other much better than they do speakers from the Maghreb. The issue of diglossia between spoken and written language is a complicating factor: A single written form, differing sharply from any of the spoken varieties learned natively, unites several sometimes divergent spoken forms. For political reasons, Arabs mostly assert that they all speak
2852-542: Is a sister language rather than their direct ancestor. Arabia had a wide variety of Semitic languages in antiquity. The term "Arab" was initially used to describe those living in the Arabian Peninsula , as perceived by geographers from ancient Greece . In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside the Ancient South Arabian family (e.g. Southern Thamudic) were spoken. It
2976-460: Is another major source of income. Tourists often visit the village to experience its unique cultural and gastronomic offerings. The scenic landscape, characterized by rows of apple and cherry trees interspersed with vegetable plots, provides a picturesque backdrop for agritourism . Visitors can explore the orchards, participate in fruit picking, and enjoy the local produce. The town is home to several non-governmental organizations, including Golan for
3100-469: Is believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages (non-Central Semitic languages) were spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hejaz , Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages. In Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested. In eastern Arabia, inscriptions in
3224-408: Is credited with establishing the rules of Arabic prosody . Al-Jahiz (776–868) proposed to Al-Akhfash al-Akbar an overhaul of the grammar of Arabic, but it would not come to pass for two centuries. The standardization of Arabic reached completion around the end of the 8th century. The first comprehensive description of the ʿarabiyya "Arabic", Sībawayhi's al - Kitāb , is based first of all upon
3348-468: Is credited with standardizing Arabic grammar , or an-naḥw ( النَّحو "the way" ), and pioneering a system of diacritics to differentiate consonants ( نقط الإعجام nuqaṭu‿l-i'jām "pointing for non-Arabs") and indicate vocalization ( التشكيل at-tashkīl ). Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (718–786) compiled the first Arabic dictionary, Kitāb al-'Ayn ( كتاب العين "The Book of the Letter ع "), and
3472-566: Is not present in the spoken varieties, but deletes Classical words that sound obsolete in MSA. In addition, MSA has borrowed or coined many terms for concepts that did not exist in Quranic times, and MSA continues to evolve. Some words have been borrowed from other languages—notice that transliteration mainly indicates spelling and not real pronunciation (e.g., فِلْم film 'film' or ديمقراطية dīmuqrāṭiyyah 'democracy'). The current preference
3596-836: Is official in Mali and recognized as a minority language in Morocco, while the Senegalese government adopted the Latin script to write it. Maltese is official in (predominantly Catholic ) Malta and written with the Latin script . Linguists agree that it is a variety of spoken Arabic, descended from Siculo-Arabic , though it has experienced extensive changes as a result of sustained and intensive contact with Italo-Romance varieties, and more recently also with English. Due to "a mix of social, cultural, historical, political, and indeed linguistic factors", many Maltese people today consider their language Semitic but not
3720-414: Is surrounded by apple and cherry orchards. Villagers sold their apples to Syria despite the closed border. However, the Syrian civil war has halted this trade, forcing local growers to sell their apples in Israel, where they struggle to compete with market prices. As a result, some farmers have diversified their crops, planting vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplants, okra, and black-eyed peas. Local tourism
3844-559: Is the third most widespread official language after English and French, one of six official languages of the United Nations , and the liturgical language of Islam . Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the world and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, governments and the media. During the Middle Ages , Arabic was a major vehicle of culture and learning, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy. As
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3968-584: Is the variety used in most current, printed Arabic publications, spoken by some of the Arabic media across North Africa and the Middle East, and understood by most educated Arabic speakers. "Literary Arabic" and "Standard Arabic" ( فُصْحَى fuṣḥá ) are less strictly defined terms that may refer to Modern Standard Arabic or Classical Arabic. Some of the differences between Classical Arabic (CA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) are as follows: MSA uses much Classical vocabulary (e.g., dhahaba 'to go') that
4092-413: Is to avoid direct borrowings, preferring to either use loan translations (e.g., فرع farʻ 'branch', also used for the branch of a company or organization; جناح janāḥ 'wing', is also used for the wing of an airplane, building, air force, etc.), or to coin new words using forms within existing roots ( استماتة istimātah ' apoptosis ', using the root موت m/w/t 'death' put into
4216-516: Is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the industrial and post-industrial era , especially in modern times. Due to its grounding in Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic is removed over a millennium from everyday speech, which is construed as a multitude of dialects of this language. These dialects and Modern Standard Arabic are described by some scholars as not mutually comprehensible. The former are usually acquired in families, while
4340-445: The Lisān al-ʻArab ). Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) largely follows the grammatical standards of Classical Arabic and uses much of the same vocabulary. However, it has discarded some grammatical constructions and vocabulary that no longer have any counterpart in the spoken varieties and has adopted certain new constructions and vocabulary from the spoken varieties. Much of the new vocabulary
4464-743: The Beqaa Valley in response to statements by the Maronite Patriarch Elias Peter Hoayek and the Board of Directors of Mount Lebanon, opposing the independence of Lebanon. On 5 July 1920, Faisal dispatched his advisor Nuri al-Said to meet with the French General, Henri Gouraud, in Beirut. Nuri al-Said returned to Damascus on 14 July 1920 with a document known as the Gouraud ultimatum and Faisal
4588-637: The Mediterranean Coast and al-Majdal on the Sea of Galilee . According to one version, Majdal Shams was established in 1595 by Druze warlord Fakhr-al-Din II , in order to strengthen Druze presence in the Hermon mount. Another version says that the Druze families began to settle on the southern slopes of Mount Hermon in the early 18th century. By the late 19th century, Majdal Shams was an important regional center and home of
4712-636: The Revolt of 1925 , was a general uprising across the State of Syria and Greater Lebanon during the period of 1925 to 1927. The leading rebel forces initially comprised fighters of the Jabal Druze State in southern Syria , and were later joined by Sunni , Druze and Shiite and factions all over Syria. The common goal was to end French occupation in the newly mandated regions, which passed from Turkish to French administration following World War I. The revolt
4836-804: The Sharif of Mecca in the Hejaz , and as a result of the negotiations between the two parties, The British Empire presented a written commitment, includes the recognition of the independence of the Arabs and support them, and in exchange for this initial promise, Hussein bin Ali is committed to launching a call for the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans. On 6 May 1916, Djemal Pasha executed fourteen Syrian notables in Beirut and Damascus , which
4960-644: The Syrian National Congress , That was considered as a parliament of the Levant and was composed of 85 members, but France prevented some deputies from coming to Damascus. The conference opened with the presence of 69 deputies and among the most prominent of its member: Hashim al-Atassi was elected president of the Syrian National Congress, and Mar'i Pasha al-Mallah and Yusuf al-Hakim were vice-presidents. The Syrian National Congress decided to reject
5084-561: The Xth form , or جامعة jāmiʻah 'university', based on جمع jamaʻa 'to gather, unite'; جمهورية jumhūriyyah 'republic', based on جمهور jumhūr 'multitude'). An earlier tendency was to redefine an older word although this has fallen into disuse (e.g., هاتف hātif 'telephone' < 'invisible caller (in Sufism)'; جريدة jarīdah 'newspaper' < 'palm-leaf stalk'). Colloquial or dialectal Arabic refers to
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5208-584: The mandate . The main idea is that the former geographic possessions of the collapsed states that disappeared at the end of the First World War would be placed under the supervision of the League of Nations ; in practice this applied to Germany's colonies in Africa and those regions of Ottoman Empire not retained by Turkey. Based on this, France took over Syria and Lebanon , while the United Kingdom took Iraq and Mandatory Palestine , and these countries are placed under
5332-494: The northern Hejaz . These features are evidence of common descent from a hypothetical ancestor , Proto-Arabic . The following features of Proto-Arabic can be reconstructed with confidence: On the other hand, several Arabic varieties are closer to other Semitic languages and maintain features not found in Classical Arabic, indicating that these varieties cannot have developed from Classical Arabic. Thus, Arabic vernaculars do not descend from Classical Arabic: Classical Arabic
5456-419: The "learned" tradition (Classical Arabic). This variety and both its classicizing and "lay" iterations have been termed Middle Arabic in the past, but they are thought to continue an Old Higazi register. It is clear that the orthography of the Quran was not developed for the standardized form of Classical Arabic; rather, it shows the attempt on the part of writers to record an archaic form of Old Higazi. In
5580-836: The "purest," most eloquent form of Arabic—initiating a process of jamʿu‿l-luɣah ( جمع اللغة 'compiling the language') which took place over the 8th and early 9th centuries. Kitāb al-'Ayn ( c. 8th century ), attributed to Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi , is considered the first lexicon to include all Arabic roots ; it sought to exhaust all possible root permutations —later called taqālīb ( تقاليب ) — calling those that are actually used mustaʿmal ( مستعمَل ) and those that are not used muhmal ( مُهمَل ). Lisān al-ʿArab (1290) by Ibn Manzur gives 9,273 roots, while Tāj al-ʿArūs (1774) by Murtada az-Zabidi gives 11,978 roots. Great Syrian Revolt [REDACTED] France Syrian rebels The Great Syrian Revolt ( Arabic : الثورة السورية الكبرى ), also known as
5704-454: The 11th and 12th centuries in al-Andalus , the zajal and muwashah poetry forms developed in the dialectical Arabic of Cordoba and the Maghreb. The Nahda was a cultural and especially literary renaissance of the 19th century in which writers sought "to fuse Arabic and European forms of expression." According to James L. Gelvin , " Nahda writers attempted to simplify the Arabic language and script so that it might be accessible to
5828-432: The 1950s. Majdal Shams played a significant role in the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925–1927. In October 1925, a few months after Syrian Druze had begun fighting French forces in the nearby province of Jabal al-Duruz , a group of the town's Druze residents looted local Christian property. Mandate authorities sent troops to restore order, and community leaders contacted the central command of the revolt for assistance defending
5952-607: The 1960s, there was a public elementary school in Majdal Shams. Residents attended the regional high school and registered marriages at the court in Quneitra . These institutions served to integrate the community into the broader region and state. Since the June 1967 Six-Day War , Majdal Shams has been under Israeli occupation. During the 1967 Six Day War, residents of the nearby towns of 'Ayn Fit , Banias , Jubata ez-Zeit , and Za'ura took shelter in Majdal Shams. After Israeli forces had secured
6076-562: The 4th to the 6th centuries, the Nabataean script evolved into the Arabic script recognizable from the early Islamic era. There are inscriptions in an undotted, 17-letter Arabic script dating to the 6th century CE, found at four locations in Syria ( Zabad , Jebel Usays , Harran , Umm el-Jimal ). The oldest surviving papyrus in Arabic dates to 643 CE, and it uses dots to produce the modern 28-letter Arabic alphabet. The language of that papyrus and of
6200-812: The 8th century, knowledge of Classical Arabic had become an essential prerequisite for rising into the higher classes throughout the Islamic world, both for Muslims and non-Muslims. For example, Maimonides , the Andalusi Jewish philosopher, authored works in Judeo-Arabic —Arabic written in Hebrew script . Ibn Jinni of Mosul , a pioneer in phonology , wrote prolifically in the 10th century on Arabic morphology and phonology in works such as Kitāb Al-Munṣif , Kitāb Al-Muḥtasab , and Kitāb Al-Khaṣāʾiṣ [ ar ] . Ibn Mada' of Cordoba (1116–1196) realized
6324-680: The Allied States of its decision between 13 and 21 May 1920. The voices were rising in Syria for an alliance with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the Turkish War of Independence or the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, and meetings were held. However, these meetings did not lead to a result because Atatürk was using the Syrians to improve the terms of his negotiations with the French and he turned his back to
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#17328445338786448-548: The Arabs are unanimously agreed that Prince Faisal should be a king on the Arab lands without fragmentation." The King–Crane Commission delivered its report to the United States President, Woodrow Wilson on 28 August 1919, who was ill. The report was ignored after Wilson changed his position because of opposition from senior United States politicians in the Senate (Congress), for violating the isolationist policy followed by
6572-560: The Development of the Arab Villages, and Al-Marsad : Arab Human Rights Center in Golan Heights. One kilometer east of the town center is Shouting Hill , where residents used to line up with bullhorns to make small-talk with relatives on the Syrian controlled side before the advent of cellphones. Majdal Shams has a thriving arts scene. Local bands like Toot Ard and Hawa Dafi have toured internationally. Local visual artists are supported by
6696-522: The Faisal Clemenceau agreement, demanding the unity and independence of Syria, accepting the mandate of the United States and Britain and rejecting the French mandate, but that the concept of the mandate is limited on technical assistance only. The relationship between Faisal and French General Henri Gouraud was strained, following Faisal's retreat from his agreement with the French and his bias to
6820-475: The Fateh Mudarris Center for Arts and Culture. Majdal Shams was featured in the award-winning 2004 Israeli film The Syrian Bride . The Golan Heights is known for its Druze cuisine that blends regional ingredients with traditional recipes. Key elements include bulgur and freekeh , produced at Said Ibrahim's mill, and kishk , a fermented milk product made from bulgur and goat milk yogurt used in winter soups. Abu Jabel's factory specializes in knafeh ,
6944-408: The French mandate, General Gouraud resorted to the policy pursued by General Hubert Lyautey in Morocco . It is a policy of isolating cohesive religious and ethnic minorities from the mainstream in the country, under the pretext of defending their rights and equity, and incite the rural and Bedouin against urban. The outbreak of the revolution had many reasons, the most important of which are: In
7068-416: The French mandate, the Emirate of Transjordan and Palestine to the British Mandate for Palestine . Although the Lebanon and Syrian coasts, as well as Palestine, were not under the military rule of the Arab Kingdom of Syria , as the Allied armies had been there since the end of the First World War. The government and the Syrian National Congress rejected the decisions of the San Remo conference and informed
7192-520: The Golan Druze had opted to become Israeli citizens. As of 2011, many residents had kept in contact with their relatives in Syria and travelled there to visit family or study. Damascus University was open to them free of charge. However, the number of Druze who took Israeli citizenship jumped to over 20% by 2018 and kept rising during the Syrian Civil War . Those who apply for Israeli citizenship are entitled to vote, run for Knesset and receive an Israeli passport. For foreign travel, non-citizens are issued
7316-402: The Golan Heights, marriage ages were rising, the divorce rate had significantly increased to 15%, women's status was improving, and the streets displayed a mix of modern influences, including tattooed young men, women with earrings, pubs, and even marijuana use. In Majdal Shams, some residents have even enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces . In March 2024, Abu Saleh was re-elected with 58% of
7440-410: The Hermon side, while Buq'ata and Mas'ade are on the Golan side, which is characterized by black volcanic rock (i.e., basalt ). The name "Majdal Shams" originates from Aramaic , meaning: "tower of sun" in reference (possibly) to the town's elevation. Another hypothesis suggests that the town was originally called Majdal al-Sham (Majdal of Damascus ) to distinguish it from the towns of al-Majdal on
7564-400: The Israeli military had forced them to accept the cards and had forcibly confiscated documents proving Syrian citizenship. During the 1970s, a few residents of Majdal Shams received permission to cross the ceasefire line into Syrian-controlled territory, either to rejoin relatives or attend university in Damascus. During the 1990s, large numbers of residents began to receive permission to cross
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#17328445338787688-412: The Middle East and North Africa have become a badge of sophistication and modernity and ... feigning, or asserting, weakness or lack of facility in Arabic is sometimes paraded as a sign of status, class, and perversely, even education through a mélange of code-switching practises." Arabic has been taught worldwide in many elementary and secondary schools, especially Muslim schools. Universities around
7812-474: The Qur'an is referred to by linguists as "Quranic Arabic", as distinct from its codification soon thereafter into " Classical Arabic ". In late pre-Islamic times, a transdialectal and transcommunal variety of Arabic emerged in the Hejaz , which continued living its parallel life after literary Arabic had been institutionally standardized in the 2nd and 3rd century of the Hijra , most strongly in Judeo-Christian texts, keeping alive ancient features eliminated from
7936-413: The Romance languages. Also, while it is comprehensible to people from the Maghreb , a linguistically innovative variety such as Moroccan Arabic is essentially incomprehensible to Arabs from the Mashriq , much as French is incomprehensible to Spanish or Italian speakers but relatively easily learned by them. This suggests that the spoken varieties may linguistically be considered separate languages. With
8060-403: The Sharifian Army in Damascus. On 18 October, the Ottomans left Tripoli, Lebanon and Homs and on 26 October 1918, the British and Sharifian Army headed north until they met the last Ottoman forces under the command of Turkish commander Mustafa Kemal Atatürk , and a fierce battle happened near to Aleppo in an area later renamed "the English Tomb". On 30 October 1918, the Armistice of Mudros
8184-483: The Sykes–Picot Agreement, assured the prince of their good intentions towards Syria. Faisal proposed at the conference to establish three Arab governments; respectively in Hejaz, Syria and Iraq. However, the United States proposed the mandate system , and sent a referendum committee, the King–Crane Commission , to gauge the political wishes of the people and the French and the British reluctantly agreed. Prince Faisal returned to Syria on 23 April 1919 in preparation for
8308-422: The Syrian Army did not exceeded 3,000 soldiers most of them volunteers. On 24 July 1920, the Battle of Maysalun began, when the French artillery began to overcome the Syrian artillery, French tanks began advancing towards the front line of the defending forces, and then French Senegalese soldiers began attacking the left side of the Syrian Army, which was composed mainly of volunteers, and some traitors attacked
8432-437: The Syrian Army from behind and killed many soldiers and robbed their weapons. Despite all, Yusuf al-Azma was unconcerned and remained steadfast and determined. Yusuf al-Azma had planted land mines on the heads of the valley of Alqarn, a corridor used by the French Army, in the hope that when the tanks attack into, the land mines explode. However, the traitors had already cut off the mines wires, and some of them were caught during
8556-476: The Syrians. He concluded an agreement with France known as the Treaty of Ankara (Franklin-Bouillon Agreement) in 1921, which included a waiver of the French occupation authority from the northern Syrian territories and withdrawal of the French Army , and hand them over to Turkey . The proclamation of the establishment of the Arab Kingdom of Syria had internal implications, reflecting tensions within both Syria and Lebanon. Muslims had attacked Christian villages in
8680-407: The United States since 1833, which requires non-intervention in the affairs of Europe and the non-interference of Europe with the affairs of the United States. Under pressure, Prince Faisal accepted an agreement with France represented by its prime minister Georges Clemenceau , known as the Faisal Clemenceau Agreement. Among the most prominent of its items: In late June 1919, Prince Faisal convened
8804-577: The area, soldiers forced refugees across the ceasefire line into Syrian-controlled territory, but permitted residents of Majdal Shams and a few other communities to remain in their homes. As Israel and Syria fortified the ceasefire line, which ran along the eastern edge of Majdal Shams, the community was isolated from the rest of Syria. Many residents were separated from their relatives living or working in Syrian-controlled territory—as many as 50% from at least one sibling, parent, or child. Majdal Shams retained close ties to Syria. Residents frequently gathered at
8928-478: The border fell back began to disband. The Minister of Defence, Yusuf al-Azma, worked to rally the remains of the Syrian Army, reinforcing it with hundreds of volunteers in opposition to the invading French forces approaching Damascus. Yusuf al-Azma wanted to preserve the prestige and dignity of Syria's military history, was afraid to record in the history books that the Syrian Army stayed away from fighting and that
9052-426: The ceasefire line to conduct religious pilgrimages or attend university. A small number of women also applied to cross the ceasefire line and marry Syrian men. This crossing program was the subject of the film The Syrian Bride . From 2008 to 2017, Dolan Abu Saleh [ he ] was the appointed head of the local council. In the elections of 2018, in which many residents chose not to participate, Abu Sallach
9176-481: The city. Beginning in the 1930s, Majdal Shams became involved in political developments in nearby Mandatory Palestine , and supported the Arab Palestinians during the 1948 Palestine war . Since the 1967 Arab–Israeli War , Majdal Shams along with the broader Golan Heights have been under Israeli occupation , and effectively annexed in 1981, in a move only recognized by the United States. The US recognition
9300-567: The conversion of Semitic mimation to nunation in the singular. It is best reassessed as a separate language on the Central Semitic dialect continuum. It was also thought that Old Arabic coexisted alongside—and then gradually displaced— epigraphic Ancient North Arabian (ANA), which was theorized to have been the regional tongue for many centuries. ANA, despite its name, was considered a very distinct language, and mutually unintelligible, from "Arabic". Scholars named its variant dialects after
9424-580: The delegation of the Syrian Conference met with the King–Crane Commission. It informed them of their request for the independence of Greater Syria and the establishment of a monarchy. After the King–Crane Commission had concluded its work, its recommendations stated that "the Levant rejects foreign control, and it is proposed to impose the mandate system under the tutelage of the League of Nations, as
9548-465: The determination of the spheres of influence of both countries in the event of the partition of the Ottoman Empire. The secret agreement on the subject was called the Sykes–Picot Agreement after the names of the two negotiators, Britain's Mark Sykes and Frenchman, François Georges-Picot . Meanwhile, correspondence had been ongoing since 1915 between Sir Henry McMahon and Hussein bin Ali ,
9672-479: The direct guardianship of these two countries with an official mandate from the League of Nations, with the task of insuring to these new countries the necessary means to enable them to reach a sufficient degree of political awareness and economic development qualifies them for independence and sovereignty. In the implementation of these plans, negotiations were held between France and the United Kingdom in October 1915 on
9796-516: The eastern edge of the village with bullhorns to shout messages to friends and relatives on the Syrian side of the ceasefire line. Through the 1970s, and often later, many households refused to pay taxes to the State of Israel. In 1981, when the Israeli Knesset formally extended Israeli law to the Golan Heights and attempted to force Israeli citizenship to residents of Majdal Shams, the community staged
9920-577: The emergence of Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include: There are several features which Classical Arabic, the modern Arabic varieties, as well as the Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions share which are unattested in any other Central Semitic language variety, including the Dadanitic and Taymanitic languages of
10044-728: The eve of the conquests: Northern and Central (Al-Jallad 2009). The modern dialects emerged from a new contact situation produced following the conquests. Instead of the emergence of a single or multiple koines, the dialects contain several sedimentary layers of borrowed and areal features, which they absorbed at different points in their linguistic histories. According to Veersteegh and Bickerton, colloquial Arabic dialects arose from pidginized Arabic formed from contact between Arabs and conquered peoples. Pidginization and subsequent creolization among Arabs and arabized peoples could explain relative morphological and phonological simplicity of vernacular Arabic compared to Classical and MSA. In around
10168-593: The fact that they participate in the innovations common to all forms of Arabic. The earliest attestation of continuous Arabic text in an ancestor of the modern Arabic script are three lines of poetry by a man named Garm(')allāhe found in En Avdat, Israel , and dated to around 125 CE. This is followed by the Namara inscription , an epitaph of the Lakhmid king Imru' al-Qays bar 'Amro, dating to 328 CE, found at Namaraa, Syria. From
10292-581: The fall of Jeddah and Taif . Then he went to Aqaba , where the second phase of the revolution officially began in late 1917 supported by the British Army that occupied Jerusalem on 9 September 1917 and before the end of the year all of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was under British rule. In the meantime, the army of Hussein bin Ali was increasing, they were joined by two thousand armed soldiers, led by Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni from Jerusalem. Most of
10416-504: The former Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate , one from Beirut, one from Damascus and Sati' al-Husri from Aleppo and the defence minister from Iraq. Trying to imply that this government represents Greater Syria and was not just a government of local Syria, Prince Faisal appointed Major General Shukri al-Ayyubi military governor of Beirut, Jameel Al-Madfaai governor of Amman, Abdulhamid al-Shalaji as commander of Damascus, and Ali Jawdat al-Ayyubi as governor of Aleppo. Prince Faisal sought to build
10540-501: The fourth most useful language for business, after English, Mandarin Chinese , and French. Arabic is written with the Arabic alphabet , an abjad script that is written from right to left . Arabic is usually classified as a Central Semitic language . Linguists still differ as to the best classification of Semitic language sub-groups. The Semitic languages changed between Proto-Semitic and
10664-408: The idea of resistance. Demobilising the Syrian Army and the withdrawal of soldiers from the village of Majdal Anjar was seen to be in violation of decisions by the Syrian National Congress. Popular consensus was voiced by demonstrations condemning the ultimatum and those who accepted it. French troops led by General Goabiah marched towards Damascus on 24 July 1920, while the Syrian Army stationed on
10788-579: The inclusion of new words into their published standard dictionaries. They also publish old and historical Arabic manuscripts. In 1997, a bureau of Arabization standardization was added to the Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization of the Arab League . These academies and organizations have worked toward the Arabization of the sciences, creating terms in Arabic to describe new concepts, toward
10912-449: The independence of Syria. It was an extension of the Syrian uprisings that had begun when French colonial forces occupied the coastal regions in early 1920, and continued until late June 1927. While the French army and local collaborators achieved military victory, Syrian resistance led to the establishment of a national government of Syria , under which the divided territories were reunited. In addition parliamentary elections were held as
11036-608: The language. Software and books with tapes are an important part of Arabic learning, as many of Arabic learners may live in places where there are no academic or Arabic language school classes available. Radio series of Arabic language classes are also provided from some radio stations. A number of websites on the Internet provide online classes for all levels as a means of distance education; most teach Modern Standard Arabic, but some teach regional varieties from numerous countries. The tradition of Arabic lexicography extended for about
11160-599: The late 6th century AD, a relatively uniform intertribal "poetic koine" distinct from the spoken vernaculars developed based on the Bedouin dialects of Najd , probably in connection with the court of al-Ḥīra . During the first Islamic century, the majority of Arabic poets and Arabic-writing persons spoke Arabic as their mother tongue. Their texts, although mainly preserved in far later manuscripts, contain traces of non-standardized Classical Arabic elements in morphology and syntax. Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali ( c. 603 –689)
11284-420: The latter is taught in formal education settings. However, there have been studies reporting some degree of comprehension of stories told in the standard variety among preschool-aged children. The relation between Modern Standard Arabic and these dialects is sometimes compared to that of Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin vernaculars (which became Romance languages ) in medieval and early modern Europe. MSA
11408-484: The local Ottoman administrator (Mudir). In times of strife, residents of the surrounding villages travelled to Majdal Shams for safety because of the village's elevation and proximity to a major water source at Lake Ram . During the winter of 1895, for example, Druze residents of neighboring communities sheltered in Majdal Shams during a local conflict between irregular Druze and Circassian militias. The Swiss traveler Burckhardt visited Majdal Shams in 1810. He described
11532-883: The many national or regional varieties which constitute the everyday spoken language. Colloquial Arabic has many regional variants; geographically distant varieties usually differ enough to be mutually unintelligible , and some linguists consider them distinct languages. However, research indicates a high degree of mutual intelligibility between closely related Arabic variants for native speakers listening to words, sentences, and texts; and between more distantly related dialects in interactional situations. The varieties are typically unwritten. They are often used in informal spoken media, such as soap operas and talk shows , as well as occasionally in certain forms of written media such as poetry and printed advertising. Hassaniya Arabic , Maltese , and Cypriot Arabic are only varieties of modern Arabic to have acquired official recognition. Hassaniya
11656-476: The military occupation of his capital had happened without resistance. He also wanted to inform the Syrian people that their army carried the banner of resistance against the French occupation from the first moment, and that they would be a beacon for them in their resistance against the military occupation. General Goabiah's forces consisted of the following: The French forces totalled nine thousand soldiers, supported by many aircraft, tanks and machine guns, while
11780-768: The need for a lexical injection in Arabic, to suit concepts of the industrial and post-industrial age (such as sayyārah سَيَّارَة 'automobile' or bākhirah باخِرة 'steamship'). In response, a number of Arabic academies modeled after the Académie française were established with the aim of developing standardized additions to the Arabic lexicon to suit these transformations, first in Damascus (1919), then in Cairo (1932), Baghdad (1948), Rabat (1960), Amman (1977), Khartum [ ar ] (1993), and Tunis (1993). They review language development, monitor new words and approve
11904-424: The one whose sound is heard but whose person remains unseen. Now the term al-hatif is used for a telephone. Therefore, the process of tawleed can express the needs of modern civilization in a manner that would appear to be originally Arabic. In the case of Arabic, educated Arabs of any nationality can be assumed to speak both their school-taught Standard Arabic as well as their native dialects, which depending on
12028-409: The operation, but it was too late. When the tanks approached, Yusuf al-Azma gave the order to detonate the land mines but they did not explode. He examined them and saw that most of them had been disabled. Then he heard an uproar from behind and when he turned, saw many of his armies and volunteers had fled after a bomb fell from one of the aircraft. So he grabbed his rifle and fired at the enemy until he
12152-549: The overhaul of Arabic grammar first proposed by Al-Jahiz 200 years prior. The Maghrebi lexicographer Ibn Manzur compiled Lisān al-ʿArab ( لسان العرب , "Tongue of Arabs"), a major reference dictionary of Arabic, in 1290. Charles Ferguson 's koine theory claims that the modern Arabic dialects collectively descend from a single military koine that sprang up during the Islamic conquests; this view has been challenged in recent times. Ahmad al-Jallad proposes that there were at least two considerably distinct types of Arabic on
12276-527: The people. The Syrian government has requested 30,000 military uniforms to organize the army. On the other hand, the Clemenceau government fell in France and was replaced by the extreme right-wing government of Alexandre Millerand . Later, France disputed the agreement, and In mid-November 1919, British Armed Forces began withdrawing from Syria after a one-year presence. On 8 March 1920, the Syrian National Congress
12400-477: The rebels. The plan did not come to fruition; according to conflicting accounts, the militia never formed, or engaged in only a single symbolic attack on the Syria-Palestine border. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , Abu Salah's son Sultan formed a militia of 300 local men. The militia offered to serve as paid mercenaries for Zionist forces, but later volunteered with Palestinian and Arab forces. Majdal Shams
12524-410: The region may be mutually unintelligible. Some of these dialects can be considered to constitute separate languages which may have "sub-dialects" of their own. When educated Arabs of different dialects engage in conversation (for example, a Moroccan speaking with a Lebanese), many speakers code-switch back and forth between the dialectal and standard varieties of the language, sometimes even within
12648-458: The same sentence. The issue of whether Arabic is one language or many languages is politically charged, in the same way it is for the varieties of Chinese , Hindi and Urdu , Serbian and Croatian , Scots and English, etc. In contrast to speakers of Hindi and Urdu who claim they cannot understand each other even when they can, speakers of the varieties of Arabic will claim they can all understand each other even when they cannot. While there
12772-504: The second Ottoman army , Ma'an was liberated on 23 September 1918, followed by Amman on 25 September and the day before 26 September, the Ottoman governor and his soldiers had left Damascus to announcing the end of Ottoman Syria . The Sharifian Army entered Damascus on 30 September 1918 and on 8 October the British Army entered Beirut and General Edmund Allenby entered Syria and met with
12896-458: The sole example of Medieval linguist Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati – who, while a scholar of the Arabic language, was not ethnically Arab – Medieval scholars of the Arabic language made no efforts at studying comparative linguistics, considering all other languages inferior. In modern times, the educated upper classes in the Arab world have taken a nearly opposite view. Yasir Suleiman wrote in 2011 that "studying and knowing English or French in most of
13020-556: The standardization of these new terms throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and toward the development of Arabic as a world language . This gave rise to what Western scholars call Modern Standard Arabic. From the 1950s, Arabization became a postcolonial nationalist policy in countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Sudan. Arabic usually refers to Standard Arabic, which Western linguists divide into Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic. It could also refer to any of
13144-399: The town against the French. In response, rebel leader Zaid al-Atrash (brother of Sultan al-Atrash ) led a force of 1,000 men to Majdal Shams. Zaid al-Atrash drove French troops from the area and established a rebel garrison in Majdal Shams to guard the road between Damascus and Marjayoun . The garrison housed up to 10,000 rebels until April 1926, when French forces launched a renewed attack on
13268-426: The town around 1907, and commented that "The whole place swarms with children, and many of them are so pretty that the traveller is at first greatly attracted to them." James Kean, who wrote about the town in the 1890s, described Majdal Shams as a "remarkable village" and noted that it was "famous for the manufacture of steel blades." Workshops in Majdal Shams continued to make souvenir daggers for European tourists until
13392-455: The town. During the assault, French soldiers destroyed much of Majdal Shams and killed approximately 80 residents of the town. Beginning in the 1930s, Majdal Shams residents and community leaders became involved in political developments in nearby Mandatory Palestine . During the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine , traditional leader Assad Kanj Abu Salah proposed forming a local militia to assist
13516-501: The towns where the inscriptions were discovered (Dadanitic, Taymanitic, Hismaic, Safaitic). However, most arguments for a single ANA language or language family were based on the shape of the definite article, a prefixed h-. It has been argued that the h- is an archaism and not a shared innovation, and thus unsuitable for language classification, rendering the hypothesis of an ANA language family untenable. Safaitic and Hismaic, previously considered ANA, should be considered Old Arabic due to
13640-399: The tribesmen from the surrounding areas joined the revolution. The Sharifian Army , was formed under the leadership of Hussein bin Ali and his son Faisal and indirectly commanded by the British officer T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). It headed to Syria and clashed with the Ottoman forces in a decisive battle near Ma'an . The war resulted in almost destruction of the seventh army and
13764-580: The village, which he called Medjel, as situated on a small plain high up in the mountains, with a population of Druzes and four or five Christian families. W. M. Thomson reported that in 1846, the large village "Mejdel es Shems, [was] inhabited by Druses, a fierce, warlike race, sufficiently numerous to keep the Bedawîn Arabs at a respectful distance." In 1870, missionaries associated with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America opened
13888-623: The visit of the King–Crane Commission, and he appointed Awni Abd al-Hadi to membership of the peace conference. A sizeable meeting was held under Mohammad Fawzi Al-Azm at the Arab Club Hall in Damascus. Prince Faisal gave the opening speech in which he explained the purpose and nature of the King–Crane Commission. The King–Crane Commission, which lasted for 42 days, visited 36 Arab cities and listened to 1,520 delegations from different villages all of them demanded independence and unity. On 3 July 1919,
14012-536: The vote. His party won 6 seats in the council. On 27 July 2024, a rocket attack on a soccer field in Majdal Shams killed 12 children and teenagers. Israel, the US, and weapon analysts attributed the attack to Hezbollah . Following this, the Jewish Agency , JFED of North America , and Keren Hayesod announced 600,000 NIS in donations to the town, stating in a letter, "We see the Druze community as family." Majdal Shams has
14136-451: The world have classes that teach Arabic as part of their foreign languages , Middle Eastern studies , and religious studies courses. Arabic language schools exist to assist students to learn Arabic outside the academic world. There are many Arabic language schools in the Arab world and other Muslim countries. Because the Quran is written in Arabic and all Islamic terms are in Arabic, millions of Muslims (both Arab and non-Arab) study
14260-462: Was a response to the repressive policies of the French authorities under the Mandate for Syria and Lebanon , which divided Syria into several occupied territories. The new French administration was perceived as prejudiced against the dominant Arab culture and intent on changing the character of the country. In addition resentment was caused by the refusal of the French authorities to set a timetable for
14384-457: Was concluded and Ottoman forces surrendered and the Ottoman Empire abandoned the Levant , Iraq, Hejaz, 'Asir and Yemen . After the demise of Ottoman rule, Prince Faisal announced the establishment of an Arab government in Damascus and assigned the former Ottoman officer in Damascus, Ali Rikabi (Ali Rida Pasha Rikabi) to form and preside it as a military governor. It included three ministers from
14508-884: Was considered within Syria in the Damascus Charter. With respect for Britain's interests in southern Iraq, a geographical area that begins in Baghdad and ends in the Persian Gulf . On 10 June 1916, the Arab Revolt began in Mecca and in November 1916, Hussein bin Ali declared himself "King of the Arabs," while the superpowers only recognized him as king of the Hejaz. He had 1,500 soldiers and some of armed tribesmen, Hussein bin Ali's army had no guns and Britain provided him with two cannons that accelerated
14632-448: Was elected as mayor with 96% of the vote. His local party won all the seats in the council. Israel appoints the teachers in Majdal Shams, prohibiting pro-Syrian views in schools. Israel also appointed the local council and had imprisoned residents that protested. In the 2010s, Majdal Shams' main street has transformed into a vibrant area with bars, pubs, and hotels. By 2017, it was reported that in Majdal Shams and other Druze villages in
14756-525: Was given four days to accept it. The ultimatum included five points: King Faisal gathered his ministers to discuss the matter. Many of them agreed with Gouraud's terms and accepted the ultimatum. However the Minister of Defence, Yusuf al-Azma, was strongly opposed to accepting the ultimatum, and tried to discourage King Faisal from responding to the French threat to dissolve the Syrian Army. The Syrian government's accepted General Gouraud's ultimatum, abandoning
14880-578: Was held in Damascus under the leadership of Hashim al-Atassi and in the presence of Prince Faisal and members of the government. It lasted for two days with the participation of 120 members and came up with the following decisions: The Allies refused to recognize the new state and decided in April 1920 at the San Remo conference in Italy to divide the country into four areas under which Syria and Lebanon would be subject to
15004-545: Was integrated into economic networks that extended into both other parts of Syria, and Lebanon. The town traded local grapes for olives grown in Fiq , 50 kilometers to the south. Men from Majdal Shams harvested cedar wood in Lebanon, which they manufactured into plows and sold in as-Suwayda . In the 1950s, some local residents travelled to Lebanon to work in construction. Residents of Majdal Shams received access to Syrian state services. By
15128-491: Was killed on Wednesday, 24 July 1920. After France obtained control over the entire Syrian territories they resorted to the fragmentation of Syria into several independent states or entities: The northern Syrian territory was given to Turkey during the Treaty of Ankara on 20 October 1921, and the boundary of the border between the colonial power and Turkey. To tear the national unity of the country and weaken national resistance to
15252-604: Was lobbied by Israeli officials. Majdal Shams is the largest of the four remaining Syrian Druze communities in the Israeli-occupied territories of Golan Heights, the other three being Ein Qiniyye , Mas'ade , and Buq'ata . While the Golan Heights and Mount Hermon are administratively joined, they differ geologically and geographically, with their boundary being marked by the Sa'ar Stream ; Majdal Shams and Ein Qiniyye sit on limestone on
15376-546: Was the catalyst for Hussein bin Ali to start the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. The aim of the revolution, as stated in the Damascus Charter and in the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence , which was based on the Charter, was removing the Ottoman Empire and establishment of an Arab state or union of Arab states including the Arabian Peninsula , Najd , Hejaz in particular and Greater Syria , except Adana , which
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