Nawa, Daraa

Nawa (Arabic: نَوَىٰ, romanized: Nawā) is a city in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Daraa Governorate. It has an altitude of 563 meters (1,847 ft). According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Nawa had a population of 47,066 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of a nahiyah ("subdistrict") consisting of six localities with a combined population of 57,404 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims. In antiquity, Nawa had a significant Jewish population and also served as ecclesiastical seat, home to at least two 5th-century bishops. Under early Muslim rule Nawa was the principal city of the Hauran region and was widely associated with the prophet Job. The city declined at least by the 13th century. Under Mamluk rule it was the administrative center of the Jaydur district (the northwestern Hauran plain), a position it continued to under the Ottomans. Nawa remained a relatively large Muslim village throughout Ottoman rule, often second in size to Daraa. It was further characterized by its extensive basaltic ruins, many reused in the village's modern dwellings.