Jund al-Urdunn


Jund al-Urdunn was one of the five districts of Bilad al-Sham 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.

Subdistricts and major towns

The 10th-century geographer Ibn al-Faqih held that besides its capital at Tiberias, the Urdunn's chief districts were Samaria, i.e. Nablus, Beisan, Qadas, Pella, Jerash, Acre, and Tyre. The geographer al-Muqaddasi notes that the principal towns of the district were its capital Tiberias, Qadas, Tyre, Acre, Faradiyya, Kabul, Beisan, Lajjun and Adhri'at. The 13th-century geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi counted the quras of Urdunn as Tiberias, Beisan, Acre, Beit Ras, Jadar, Tyre and Saffuriya.
The geographers Ibn Hawqal and Estakhri noted the Ghawr district, the low-lying area along the Jordan River between Lake Tiberias to the Dead Sea, with its capital at Jericho, was administratively subordinate to Urdunn. The geographer al-Ya'qubi held that the Ghawr was subordinate to Jund Dimashq.

Population

Galilee

The Galilee was referred to as "Jabal al-Jalil" by the 9th century Arab geographer Ya'qubi, who noted that its residents were Banu Amilah Arabs. 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.

Governors

Rashidun period

Umayyad period

Abbasid period