In the mid-17th-century most members of the Zaydan family, with the exception of the children and the elderly, were killed in a massacre by Tulkarm's inhabitants during Friday prayers. This was in reaction to the perceived indignation they had collectively experienced when the Zaydan forced all of Tulkarm's residents, including several new brides, to harvest and process the village's grains for taxation purposes. Consequently, political power in Tulkarm passed to the Badran clan, while the Fuqaha family took control of administering the "waqf" lands, firmly placing them as the village's religious leaders. The Fuqaha had derived much of their authority from their classification as "ashraf" and their association with the Sufi Rifa'iyya "zawiya" of the village. The western neighborhood was mostly emptied of Zaydan members and would serve as the main area of settlement for newcomers.