Following their conversion to Islam in the 18th century, the inhabitants of Bakh'a underwent a religious transformation, shifting from being exclusively Christian to entirely Muslim.[12][13]
^http://friendsofmaaloula.de/blog/2018/12/06/zerstoertes-bachaa-in-syrien/,"Dear friends of the Aramaean village of Maaloula,
We received a heartbreaking video from Bacha‘a, the Aramaic neighboring village of Maaloula. Rebels attacked Maaloula from there, resulting in the complete destruction of the village. There is no life left, and all surviving residents have fled to relatives and friends in other parts of Syria or to Lebanon."
. Ich kenne das Dorf nicht, doch gehört habe ich davon. Was ist mit Malula?‹ fragte der festgehaltene Derwisch. >Das letzte Dorf der Aramäer< lachte einer der…
. The fact that nearly all Arabic loans in Ma'lula originate from the period before the change from the rural dialect to the city dialect of Damascus shows that the contact between the Aramaeans and the Arabs was intimate…
. …Western Neo-Aramaic (Spitaler 1938; Arnold 1990), which is attested in three villages whose speakers just a few generations ago were still entirely Christian.
. The inhabitants of Bakh'a and Jubb'Adin are Muslims (since the eighteenth century), as is a large portion of the people of Ma'lula, while the rest have remained Christian, mostly of Melkite (Greek Catholic) persuasion. The retention of the "Christian" language after conversion to Islam is noteworthy.
