Early Muslim geographers' descriptions The 10th-century
Jerusalemite geographer
al-Muqaddasi describes 'Jabal Amila' as "a mountainous district" overlooking the Mediterranean sea and connected to
Mount Lebanon. It contained "many fine villages" and springs. Its fields were rain-dependent, and grapes, olives, and other fruits were grown there. It was the source of the highest-quality honey in
Syria, along with that of Jerusalem. Jabal Amila, and the district of Jabal Jarash to the southeast, on the other side of the
Jordan River, were the largest sources of revenue for
Tiberias, the capital of
Jund al-Urdunn (the Jordan [River] District). He mentions that another highland region, between
Tyre,
Sidon and
Qadas, was known as 'Jabal Siddiqa' after a holy person's tomb in the district that was visited annually by throngs of local pilgrims and Muslim officials. Qadas is also mentioned by him as belonging to Jabal Amila. The
Damascene geographer
al-Dimashqi described Jabal Amila in 1300 as a district in the
Safad Province characterized by its abundant vineyards and olive,
carob and
terebinth groves, and populated by
Twelver Shia Muslims. He also notes the neighboring highland districts of
Jabal Jaba,
Jabal Jazin and
Jabal Tibnin whose inhabitants were also Twelver Shia and whose lands contained considerable springs, vineyards, and fruit groves. The ruler of
Hama and scholar
Abu'l-Fida (d. 1341) noted that Jabal Amila "runs down the coast as far south as
Tyre and was home to the
Shaqif Arnun fortress (Beaufort Castle).
Modern definition According to the historian Tamara Chalabi, defining Jabal Amil is "difficult" as the region was not generally recognized as a distinct geographic or political entity. Rather, its identity, and by extension its definition, is derived from its largely Twelver Shia Muslim inhabitants, who historically referred to themselves as 'Amilis'. The scholar
Marilyn Booth calls it "a terrain of identity, its 'boundaries' somewhat indefinite". In the definition generally accepted by its Twelver Shia community, the Jabal Amil is roughly and bound by the
Awali River north of Sidon, which separates it from the
Chouf highlands of
Mount Lebanon, and the
Wadi al-Qarn in modern Israel to the south. In this definition, the region is bound in the west by the
Mediterranean Sea and in the east by the valley regions of
Wadi al-Taym, the
Beqaa, and the
Hula. The
Litani River cuts the region into northern and southern parts. The southern part is additionally known as
Bilad Bishara. According to the scholar
Chibli Mallat, while the traditional definition of Jabal Amil includes the cities of Sidon and Jezzine, other, more limited definitions exclude them, defining them as separate areas. The traditional definition also includes parts of modern Israel, including the former villages of
al-Bassa and
al-Khalisa, and the villages of
Tarbikha, Qadas,
Hunin,
al-Nabi Yusha', and
Saliha, whose inhabitants had been Twelver Shia before their depopulation in the
1948 Palestine war. In the definition of Lebanon specialist Elisabeth Picard, the northern boundary of Jabal Amil is formed by the
Zahrani River, south of Sidon. The historian
William Harris defines it as the hills south of the Litani, which "grade into the
Upper Galilee". According to
Stefan Winter, Jabal Amil is traditionally defined as the predominantly Twelver Shia-populated, highland region southeast of Sidon. A prominent native scholar of Jabal Amil, Suleiman Dahir, defined it in 1930 as a much larger area, encompassing Jezzine in the Chouf,
Baalbek in the northern Beqaa, and the Hula. ==History==