RelatedBishop Vives urges to learn from the Christians in Jordan

A key date in the history of modern Jordan is August 20, 636, which marks the Islamic conquest of Syria and Palestine (with Transjordan), when the forces of Caliph Omar (one of the Rashidan caliphs, the first successors of Muhammad) defeated the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Yarmouk, right in present-day Jordan.

Later, the region became an integral part of the nascent Islamic empire, particularly the Umayyad caliphate, with its capital at Damascus. The Umayyads built numerous castles, palaces and military posts in the desert, such as Qusayr Amra and Qasr Al-Jaranah.

From 750 AD, it was the turn of the Abbasids, the dynasty that ruled the Islamic empire and the new capital, Baghdad. During this period, Jordan was part of the large province of Syria, called Bilàd al-Sham.

The Crusades and the Ottoman Empire

Like its neighbors Palestine and Syria, Jordan was also affected by the Crusades and was the scene of numerous battles. Famous is the castle of al-Karak (on the ruins of the ancient Moabite capital), built by the Crusaders to control trade routes in the newly conquered territories, but which soon fell into the hands of Saladin, the famous Islamic leader and founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, when he reconquered the region at the end of the 13th century.

The Ayyubids were succeeded, from 1260, by the Mamluks (a military dynasty of servile origin, the term mamluk, in Arabic, means "possessed", "slave"), who defeated the Mongols, restoring a certain economic and political stability to the region.

Like many of the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, Jordan was annexed to the Ottoman Empire in 1516. During the Ottoman period, which lasted more than four hundred years, the entire area of Palestine, Syria and Jordan, as well as others, suffered a great economic decline, becoming largely rural and overdue.

The Arab Revolt and Lawrence of Arabia

Jordan followed the fate of neighboring Palestine even before (Hussein-McMahon and Sikes-Picot Agreements), during and after the World War Iwhen it was the scene of the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule (1914-1916). At this juncture a British army officer, archaeologist and writer, Thomas Edward Lawrence, who became famous as Lawrence of Arabia, especially distinguished himself.

Lawrence played an important role as a liaison between Arab rebel forces and the British army against the Ottoman Empire, personally coordinating and directing guerrilla operations that contributed to the defeat of the Ottomans in the region. He talked about it in his famous book "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom", but the story is also known to us from the movie "Lawrence of Arabia".

Thanks to the support of the British and the sheikh of Mecca, the Hashemite sherif (from the Arabic sharìf, nobleman) Hussein ibn 'Ali (founder of the dynasty to which the current royal family of Jordan belongs, a dynasty that ruled first in the region around Mecca, Hijaz, and then in Iraq and Transjordan, and whose origins go back to Hashim ibn ῾Abd Manaf, Muhammad's great-grandfather), the Arab forces contributed to the final fall of the Ottoman Empire and to the creation of new borders and states in the Middle East, obviously according to the plans of the Western powers, especially Great Britain, which, with the San Remo Conference and the Treaty of Sèvres (both 1920) was assigned (what a coincidence!) the Mandate over Palestine and Transjordan. And in 1921 Emir Abdallah I, son of Sherif Hussein, was appointed to rule the new Emirate of Transjordan, under British supervision (Mandate).

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

In 1946, Transjordan finally gained formal independence from the British Mandate and officially became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, with Abdullah I as monarch. Since its birth, the Kingdom of Jordan has been involved in several regional conflicts, including the First Arab-Israeli War of 1948-1949, which led to the country's annexation of the West Bank and the West Bank. East Jerusalem (Jordan did not relinquish sovereignty over these territories until 1988, in favor of a future Palestinian state).

In 1952, Hussein ascended the throne and ruled the country for almost fifty years, until his death in 1999.

During his reign, Hussein had to face a thousand external and internal difficulties: the Cold War, with Jordan always on the side of the United States and Great Britain, the Arab-Israeli conflicts (in particular the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973) and a thousand economic and social problems, especially that stemming from an ever-increasing influx of Palestinian refugees, whose paramilitary organizations, mainly the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), came over the years to build a veritable state within the state, undermining the authority of the Jordanian government and monarchy and involving the country, reluctantly, in conflicts with its powerful Israeli neighbor.

Black September

Thus, in 1970, especially in the month of September (from which the "Black September" conflict takes its name), King Hussein decided to wipe out the power of the Palestinian organizations in order to regain full control of the territory. The confrontation between the government forces and the Palestinian organizations was very bloody (tens of thousands of people died on both sides) and lasted a whole month. Eventually, the PLO forces were expelled from Jordan and found refuge in Lebanon (where practically the same thing happened, but to a much greater extent).

Black September marked a turning point in Jordanian-Palestinian relations and led to the formation of the terrorist group of the same name, responsible for the bombing and kidnapping of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

In 1994, Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel, with normalization of relations and important benefits for both parties.

Upon Hussein's death, his son Abdallah II, who had always been at odds with his younger brother, Prince Hamzah, ascended to the throne. Despite Hussein's desire for Hamzah to become king after Abdallah, Abdallah deprived his brother of the title of crown prince in 2004, which led to his being accused in 2021 of mobilizing citizens against the state and placed under house arrest.

After securing his release, he was placed under house arrest again in 2022, after Hamzah renounced the title of Jordan's prince and publicly accused the country's institutions of not conforming to his late father's wishes. Nevertheless, Abdallah has striven to modernize the country, promoting economic and social reforms, but Jordan now faces a number of difficulties due to the aftermath of the Arab Springs (2011), with civil wars in Syria and Iraq and the resurgence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as high unemployment and poverty rates and domestic political pressures for further democratization.

Minorities in Jordan

Among the ethnic minorities present in Jordan, we have mentioned in a previous article the armeniapresent with a few thousand (3,000). Another interesting but more numerous community (between 100 and 170 thousand) is that of the Circassians. Originally from the Caucasus, in particular Circassia, today part of Russia, they were forcibly exiled by the Russian Empire in the 19th century, during the Caucasian Wars and the Circassian Genocide (between 800,000 and 1.5 million dead, 90 % of the Circassian people).

The survivors found refuge in the Ottoman Empire, settling in various parts of present-day Jordan, but also in Israel and Syria. The Circassians maintained a strong cultural identity, preserving their language (Circassian, related to Abkhaz) and traditions. Their communities are known for their organization, military prowess (the Jordanian Royal Guard is a Circassian guard) and respect for traditions.

Among the religious minorities, the most important is the Christian minority, which constitutes about 2-3 % of the total population (250,000 believers). Compared to other Arab Islamic countries, Christians in Jordan (as in Lebanon and Israel) enjoy a certain religious freedom and a relatively privileged position in the economic and social fabric of the nation.

Christians in Jordan

The Christian presence in Jordan, as we saw in the previous article, followed immediately after the death of Jesus and has remained constant, despite massive Islamization, up to the present day. The Orthodox Church of Jerusalem is the confession with the largest number of Christian faithful, followed by the Catholic Church (80,000 people, mainly of Melkite and Latin rite, but also Armenian, Maronite and Syriac) and several Protestant churches. Most Christians live in the cities of Amman, Madaba, Karak and Zarqa.

Although the state religion is Islam and the royal family itself claims descent from Muhammad, the Jordanian Constitution guarantees religious freedom and the right to practice one's faith, if it is not contrary to public order and morality. Jordanian Christians have the right to build churches, run schools and other social institutions (considered the best in the country) and are well represented in political, economic and social institutions, occupying reserved seats in parliament and even important positions in the government and the armed forces.

The best-known Christian (Catholic) social and charitable institution in the country is the Our Lady of Peace Center (Olopc), near Amman, which welcomes and cares free of charge for the disabled, refugees and the poor who cannot be cared for by the state. Founded in 2004 for disabled children and youth between the ages of 5 and 14, the center has since distinguished itself by hosting dozens of Syrian and Iraqi refugee families fleeing civil wars in their countries.

Despite the prestige and relative freedom they enjoy in Jordan, local Christians find themselves in an increasingly fragile situation, not least because of the upsurge of conflicts in neighboring nations, which expose them to pressure from the Islamic majority and reprisals, as well as the growing economic and demographic crisis.

RelatedBishop Vives urges to learn from the Christians in Jordan

RelatedBishop Vives urges to learn from the Christians in Jordan

Imagine a desert, that of Wadi Rum, of ochre, amber, saffron and orange colors, whose shades vary according to the season, the weather, the sun's rays and which are especially illuminated at sunset.

Imagine also a short stretch of coastline on the Red Sea, where the water-green sea, under the turquoise blue of the sky, kisses with its waves a rugged and desolate land, jagged and full of bare rock mountains, from which the beaches of Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia can be seen.

Imagine more, the marble columns of ancient Jerash, the salt-white shores of the Dead Sea, the monumental beauty of Petra, set like a pearl in the desert. And the slow flow of the Jordan dividing countries, worlds, cultures and communities struggling to find harmony.

Mountains, borders, languages, cultures, deserts and hills: this is Jordan, a treasure chest in the desert.

The origin of the name

Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a Middle Eastern country. It is bordered to the north by Syria, to the northeast by Iraq, to the east and south by Saudi Arabia, to the southwest by the Red Sea and to the west by Israel and the West Bank. Its capital is Amman, which, with more than 4 million inhabitants, is also its largest city and economic and cultural center.

The name "Jordan" derives precisely from the Jordan River, specifically from the Hebrew term used to designate this river: Yarden(from ירד, yarad, which means "to descend" and reflects the slope of the river from its source on Mount Hermon to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth, at -430 meters above sea level). However, the area corresponding to present-day Jordan was historically known (also in the Bible) as Transjordan, i.e. "beyond the Jordan", "the other side of the Jordan", to indicate the lands located east of the river.

Political system and population

The country's surface area is 89,342 km² (approximately the same as Portugal) and the population is around 11.5 million inhabitants.

Jordan is a constitutional monarchy, with the king endowed with broad executive and legislative powers. The current monarch is King Abdullah II, son of the famous Hussein and one of his wives, in power since 1999. The kingdom is called Hashemite after the dynasty of the royal family, which claims direct descent from Muhammad.

The majority of the Jordanian population is composed of Arabs, with those of Palestinian origin reaching 60 % - 70 % (Queen Rania belongs to this group). On the other hand, between 30 % and 40 % are of Bedouin origin. There are also small communities of Circassians, Chechens and Armenians.

Sunni Islam is the religion of about 97 % of the population, while Christians represent between 2 % and 3 % (mostly Greek Orthodox belonging to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, but also Catholics and Protestants). Druze and Baha'i represent small minorities. However, the country is known for religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence between the different religious communities.

Economy of Jordan

Jordan has one of the most diversified economies in the Middle East, with key sectors such as tourism, the phosphate industry, textiles and pharmaceuticals, and financial services, although it is highly dependent on foreign aid, particularly from the United States and the Gulf countries.

It is also of strategic importance, both for its political stability and the moderate stance of its regime, an important player in the maintenance of peace and security in the region.

Ancient history: from the Ammonites to the Nabataeans

Jordan's ancient history is very rich, due to the many civilizations and cultures that have succeeded one another over the millennia, the region being a crossroads between Asia, Africa and Europe.

Although the earliest evidence of human settlement in the region dates back to the Paleolithic (around 200,000 years ago), it was during the Neolithic (around 8500-4500 BC) that some of the world's first agricultural communities developed here. In the Bronze Age (around 3300-1200 BC), the trade routes linking the eastern Mediterranean with Mesopotamia flourished, and several city-states and small kingdoms flourished there, including one associated with the biblical Sodom (on the Israeli side of the Jordan River).

However, it was in the Iron Age (ca. 1200-539 B.C.) that the famous kingdoms and peoples also mentioned in the Bible emerged, mainly the Ammonites (who lived in the area of Amman, a city named after its capital Rabbath Ammon).

They were a Semitic people who often came into conflict with the Israelites (as well as with other neighboring powers) not only for economic and territorial reasons, but also for religious ones. In fact, the Ammonites, like other Semitic peoples of the region, were polytheistic, "pagan", and paid human sacrifices to their main deity, Milkom, also known as Moloch.

Another people who have become famous, especially because of the account of them in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, are the Moabites. The beautiful "Book of Ruth"tells the story of a Moabite woman, Ruth, widow of an Israelite, who is forced by a famine to return with her mother-in-law Noemi to the birthplace of her late husband's family, Bethlehem of Judea. There, after several hardships, she becomes the wife of Boaz, her husband's closest relative, and bears him a son, Obed, who will be the father of Jesse, in turn the father of King David.

The Moabites, like the Ammonites and other peoples of the area, were also disliked by the Israelites for their religious practices. They lived in the area immediately east of the Dead Sea and their main city was Qir-Moab (today al-Karak).

The Edomites (from (Edom), on the other hand, were located in the southern part of present-day Jordan. They had Bosra as their capital (but they also founded Petra) and controlled the main trade routes from the Mediterranean to Arabia.

All these peoples spoke northwestern Semitic languages (such as Hebrew, Phoenician and Aramaic). In fact, their languages constituted a dialectal continuum (Phoenician-Punic and Canaanite-Hebrew), so that, apart from not too significant differences, Hebrews, Moabites, Phoenicians, Edomites and Ammonites could understand each other.

Between 539 (conquest of Cyrus the Great) and 332 BC, the region became part of the Persian Empire, then fell under Hellenistic influence and was disputed between 332 and 63 BC between the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids of Syria, dynasties that divided the domains subjugated by Alexander the Great.

From this period dates the development of a group of ten cities known as the Decapolis. These were politically completely autonomous from each other, but were grouped under one name because of their strong linguistic and cultural affinities, being Greco-Roman (or mixed) and pagan centers in a mainly Semitic area. It included cities such as Damascus, Amman (at that time no longer known as Rabbath Ammon, but as Philistia), Jerash (Jerash), Scythopolis (today Beth-Shean, in Israel, the only city west of the Jordan River), Hippos (Hippus or Sussita), Gadara (Umm Qays). All these cities, except Scythopolis (in Israel) and Damascus (in Syria), were located in the territory of present-day Jordan and, in Roman times (63 BC-324 AD), although annexed to the Empire, continued to enjoy great autonomy and wealth.

Jordan in the Gospels

The Gospels speak much of the territory of the Gadarenes or Gerasenes (in the Decapolis, in fact) and particularly famous is the episode of the miracle performed by Jesus on the other side of the Sea of Galilee in favor of a possessed man, whose release led the spirits that possessed him to a herd of pigs that then jumped into the water from a cliff.

Interesting, in this episode, from a historical point of view, is, first of all, the presence of pigs, which were (and are) considered impure in Israel, but which could be bred, instead, in this pagan area. In addition, topographical indications also made it possible to place the event on the eastern shore of Lake Tiberias, in a settlement known in antiquity as Kursi (city of the territory of the Decapolis), near Hippos-Sussita, due to the cliff of a promontory that rose above the water.

The remains of a Byzantine monastery built in the 6th century on the site of the miracle were also found here and can be visited today. Another place of special value, from the Judeo-Christian point of view, is Mount Nebo, in western Jordan, very close to the border with Israel and the West Bank, where there is a Catholic monastery from which one can contemplate, as Moses traditionally did, the Dead Sea, the Jordan Valley, with the city of Jericho, and the mountains of Judea as far as Jerusalem.

From Hippo, which became a flourishing Christian center shortly after the death of Jesus, it is said that the entire Christian community of Jerusalem, which took refuge here during the years of the destruction of the city and the Temple by the Romans, then spread throughout Transjordan.

The Nabataeans

Another important indigenous population and kingdom were the Nabataeans (the period of the Nabataean kingdom spans from around the 4th century BC to 106 AD, when it was annexed by Trajan, who made it the province of Arabia Petrea).

Unlike other peoples, such as the Moabites or the Ammonites, the Nabataeans already spoke a form of Aramaic (a lingua franca of the time, so it was not a Canaanite language, like Hebrew, Phoenician, Moabite, etc., although related to them) and had developed a variant of the Aramaic alphabet which, according to some scholars, later gave rise to the Arabic alphabet still in use today.

The jewel in the crown of the Nabataeans, already known for their trading skills, was their capital, Petra, world famous for its rock-cut architecture, which became an important center along the caravan route linking Arabia to the Mediterranean. The city, founded by the Edomites (forerunners of the Nabataeans) under the name of Reqem or Raqmu ("the Motley"), after a period of great splendor that lasted well into the Roman and Byzantine eras, was not abandoned until the 8th century AD.C. and, with the exception of a few local Bedouin families, remained unknown to the rest of the world until 1812, when the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt "rediscovered" it during one of his voyages.

With the division of the Roman Empire, Jordan became part of the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire, a period that saw, until the Islamic conquest, a growing influence of Christianity, with the construction of numerous churches and monasteries. Among the most important Byzantine sites in Jordan is Madaba, known for its mosaics, including the Madaba map, a detailed representation of the Holy Land.

RelatedBishop Vives urges to learn from the Christians in Jordan