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One of the five districts of Bilad ash-Sham during the period of the Arab Caliphates From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jund al-Urdunn (Arabic: جُـنْـد الْأُرْدُنّ, translation: "The military district of Jordan") was one of the five districts of Bilad al-Sham (Islamic Syria) during the early Islamic period. It was established under the Rashidun and its capital was Tiberias throughout its rule by the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates. It encompassed southern Mount Lebanon, the Galilee, the southern Hauran, the Golan Heights, and most of the eastern Jordan Valley (especially in the north).[1]
Jund al-Urdunn | |||||||||||
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Province of the Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid Caliphates | |||||||||||
630s–late 11th century | |||||||||||
![]() Arab Syria (Bilad al-Sham) and its provinces under the Abbasid Caliphate in the 9th century | |||||||||||
Capital | Tiberias | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
• Established | 630s | ||||||||||
late 11th century | |||||||||||
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Today part of | Israel West Bank Jordan Lebanon |
The 10th-century geographer Ibn al-Faqih held that besides its capital at Tiberias, the Urdunn's chief districts (qura) were Samaria (al-Samira in Arabic), i.e. Nablus, Beisan, Qadas, Pella (Fahl in Arabic), Jerash, Acre (Akka in Arabic), and Tyre (Sur in Arabic).[2] The geographer al-Muqaddasi (d. 985) notes that the principal towns of the district were its capital Tiberias, Qadas, Tyre, Acre, Faradiyya, Kabul, Beisan, Lajjun and Adhri'at.[3] The 13th-century geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi counted the quras of Urdunn as Tiberias, Beisan, Acre, Beit Ras, Jadar (Jaydur, area adjacent to the east of the Golan Heights), Tyre and Saffuriya.[4]
The geographers Ibn Hawqal (d. c. 978) and Estakhri (d. 957) noted the Ghawr (Jordan Valley) district, the low-lying area along the Jordan River between Lake Tiberias to the Dead Sea, with its capital at Jericho (Ariha in Arabic), was administratively subordinate to Urdunn.[5] The geographer al-Ya'qubi (d. 892) held that the Ghawr was subordinate to Jund Dimashq.[2]
The Galilee was referred to as "Jabal al-Jalil" by the 9th century Arab geographer Ya'qubi (d. 891), who noted that its residents were Banu Amilah Arabs.[6] Michael Ehrlich asserts that while the majority of people in the Western Galilee and Lower Galilee probably embraced Islam during the early Islamic period, the Islamization process in the Eastern Galilee took a little longer and lasted until the Mamluk period.[7]