In the Bible it is called Kir-haresh, Kir-hareseth or Kir of Moab, and is identified as having been subject to the Neo-Assyrian Empire; in the Books of Kings (2 Kings 16:9) and Book of Amos (Amos 1:5, 9:7), it is mentioned as the place where the Arameans went before they settled in the regions in the northern Levant, and to which Tiglath-Pileser III (r. 745–727 BC) sent the prisoners after the conquest of Damascus.

[5][6] Al-Karak fell within the Crusader lordship of Oultrejourdain, the lands east of the River Jordan and the Dead Sea.

Pagan made his headquarters at al-Karak, where he built a castle on a hill called by the Crusaders Petra Deserti - The Stone of the Desert.

It had been threatened by Saladin's armies several times, but finally surrendered in 1188, after the crushing Crusader defeat at the Battle of Hattin and a siege that lasted more than a year.

[9] Yaqut (1179–1229) noted that "Al Karak is a very strongly fortified castle on the borders of Syria, towards Balka province, and in the mountains.

Below Al Karak is a valley, in which is a thermal bath (hammam), and many gardens with excellent fruits, such as apricots, pears, pomegranates, and others.

[11] The castle played an important role as a place of exile and a power base several times during the Mamluk sultanate.

[12] In 1596 Al-Karak appeared in the Ottoman tax registers, situated in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Karak, part of the Sanjak of Ajlun.

[citation needed] The tribe consists of the families: Suheimat, Halasa{Halaseh}, Dmour, Mbaydeen, Adaileh, Soub, and Mdanat and Karakiyeen.

[16] In 1893 the Sublime Porte Abdul Hamid II established the sub-province of Ma'an, with a resident governor (mutasarif) in Al-Karak, under the Wāli of Syria based in Damascus.

[17] One of the first governors, 1895, was Hussein Helmy Bey Effendi (see also Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha), aged 40, formerly the General Secretary at Damascus.

He also established a Military Hospital with a Jewish doctor; enforced the regulation of coinage and weights and measures; introduced a weekly postal service to Jerusalem, Damascus and Ma'an; and set up agricultural projects such as the planting of 5,000 grape vines at Madeba.

The same source notes that the town's Mufti had been educated in Hebron and al Azhar, Cairo, and that there was a newly built mosque.

[21] The Karak revolt erupted on 4 December 1910[22] as the governor of Damascus attempted to apply the same measures of conscription, taxation, and disarmament to the inhabitants of Al-Karak that previously provoked the Hauran Druze Rebellion.

[24] During the Arab Revolt (1916–1918), the Turkish Army abandoned al-Karak after Sherif Abdullah ibn Hamza led a 70 horsemen attack on Mezraa.

This Ottoman naval base was rendered useless, after the destruction of the flotilla used to transport grain across the Dead Sea, on 28 January 1918.

The newly appointed High Commissioner in Jerusalem, Herbert Samuel, sent several officials east of the River Jordan to create a local administration.

In January 1921 Emir Abdullah Hussein began assembling an army in Ma'an and announced his intention to attack the French in Syria.