The village stood on a small hill at the foot of the northern slope of Mt. Shaykh Badr, and overlooked Wadi al-Sarar to the northeast. The Jerusalem−Jaffa highway and railway line passed through the wadi. One of the railway stations was located 0.5 km east of the village. Secondary roads linked Dayr al-Shaykh to nearby villages. It had a rectangular configuration and extended in a north−south direction, with a few of its houses built along the spur that led to the highway. In 1596, Dayr al-Shaykh was a village in the nahiya of Jerusalem (liwa' of Jerusalem) with a population of 113. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, olives, and fruits, as well as on other types of produce and property, such as goats, beehives, and vineyards. 
In the early 1870s Dayr al-Shaykh was reported to have a population of approximately 400, but by 1881 it was deserted. Its inhabitants may have moved away temporarily or perished during a typhus epidemic in 1874. Its two mosques, one with a large dome, stood to the east, and a rock-cut tomb was to the southwest. By the time of the Mandate the village had been repopulated. Most of its residents were Muslim, with 10 Christians among an estimated population of 220 in the mid-1940s. Most of their homes were built of stone. One village landmark was the maqam (shrine) and mosque of al-Shaykh Sultan Badr. The village had a few small shops. A well to the west supplied its drinking water. Its lands were planted in rainfed crops, such as grain, vegetables, and fruit trees. Olive and fruit trees occupied relatively large portions of the lands to the east, west, and north; other parts were used as grazing areas. In 1944/45 a total of 1,025 dunums was allocated to cereals; 291 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Archaeological features included the remnants of walls and columns, foundations, cisterns, burial grounds, and presses.
