In 1596, it appeared in Ottoman tax registers as a village named Zawiyat, or alternatively Sayh Mohammad Rifa'i, in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Jabal Sami in the Nablus Sanjak.

[16] On Saturday 9 January 2016 the owner of a local trading company, Said Abu Al-Wafa (35), was shot dead by Israeli soldiers at the Beka'ot roadblock.

[17][18] To the south of Zawiya, there exists a holy site named ash-Sheikh abu-Sha'ir, which contains a heap of stones revered by the local people.

[19] It is said that abu-Sha'ir fought alongside Muslim armies, but upon returning to the village from war one day, he discovered his wife in the hands of another man.

He then proceeded to the site of previous battles and threw the severed body parts into the sky, vowing to live the rest of his life away from women and the troubles of the world, wherever they fell.