Water was spurted out when he struck with his stick.
Ain Al-Raheb is a small village located on the western side of Wadi al-Nasara mountains, 60km to the west of Hims. Surrounded by a magic picturesque mountains nature. Located in the medium of villages of Marmarita, Zweitina and Jwar AL-Afs. With its height above the sea level and its beautiful location, you can see the entire plain and the west coast of Syria.
Ain Al-Raheb was named with this name because of a narration narrated by by the ancestors more than 500 years ago.
An old monk was carrying a stick that helped him to walk in the valleys or climb to the heights. When he was passing by a valley near the village, he felt thirsty, so he looked for water but he didn’t find it. And after that he prayed to God for water and hit his stick on the land, and behold, the water came from the place where this monk ‘s stick was placed. So, he drank from the water and continued his way, passing this village and told his story to everyone who met him.
One of the elders of the village, a well-known poet in the region called Mr Sulaiman Wassouf “Abu Lutfi” told us about the story of naming the village.
“one of the hermit monks was passing by, and he was thirsty. So he prayed and asked and blew water with his stick from the rock, later the spring was named with his name “Ain Al Raheb” “Spring of the Monk”
People of the village depend mainly on agriculture to earn their living. Most of the village lands are planted with olive trees and evergreen trees, as our beloved poet tells us.
“There was no village, after the spring was found, a person named Saad came and lived near the spring. The brother Saad followed him to live near the spring. They reclaimed the lands near the spring, planted it and benefited from its water for their livestock. Then after they multiplied, they moved to the top of the mountain, and in the last phase about 150 years ago, they moved their residence to the top where the village is located today. It was a farm not a village because it had a small population. Later, two families, Barhoum and Hanna, came to the village from the town, Ayo, near Hama city. After that, the two families – Sabagh and Sabaayni – came from Alshawahid village near Al-Hosn castle, which travelled later to the Caribbean islands.”
In the village, there are two churches, a school, and several shops, most of which are modern as our poet Abu Lutfi tells us.
“The first church was built during the French mandate in 1934, which is the Saint Elias Roman Catholic church. In the sixties of the last century, they started building Roman Orthodox Church, it was inaugurated in 1978.”
About the residents of the village, our dear poet says:
“The number of the residents in the village exceeds 700, most of them are educated. In the village, there are more than 30 doctors, and engineers. Almost there is no house in the village devoid of university graduates. A lot of people immigrated -to Brazil, Argentina and the Caribbean islands- at the beginning of the last century to escape the oppression of the Turkish colonialist. In Trinidad, most of the richest inhabitants of the Island are from Ain Al-Raheb.
