Shekaru da dama Aylah, wato birnin tashar jiragen ruwa na yanzu a Jordan da ake kira al-ʿAqabah a bakin Tekun Jan Teku, na cikin lardin gudanarwa na Musulunci na Jund Filastin, wanda gwamnoninsa (walis) ne ke da alhakin kula da tsaron ayarin mahajjatan Musulmi daga Makka ta Aylah da al-Ramla zuwa Dimashƙu da kuma bayanta. Shaidun tsabar kuɗi da rubuce-rubucen dutse na zamanin Umayyawa sun nuna cewa Aylah birni ne na farko na Musulunci a lardin Jund Filastin. Asalin birnin Roman da Bizantiyawa ne mai suna Aelas, kuma yanzu kufan Aylah suna cikin birnin tashar jiragen ruwa na yanzu na al-ʿAqabah (Ramadan 2010b). ‘Aylah a Filastin’ (‘Aelas a Bizantiyan Palaestina’) ita ma ce dalilin da ya sa, a cikin shirin sauya sunayen wurare na mazauna Isra'ila bayan 1948, aka sanya wa sabuwar mazauna Isra'ilar da ke kusa suna Eilat.

For several centuries Aylah, the present-day Jordanian port city of al-ʿAqabah on the Red Sea, was part of the Islamic administrative province of Jund Filastin, whose governors (walis) were also in charge of looking after the safety of the caravans of Muslim pilgrims from Mecca through Aylah and al-Ramla to Damascus and beyond. Umayyad numismatic and epigraphic evidence shows that Aylah was an early Islamic town in the province of Jund Filastin. Originally a Roman and Byzantine town called Aelas, now the ruins of Aylah lie within the present-day port city of al-ʿAqabah (Ramadan 2010b). ‘Aylah in Filastin’ (‘Aelas in Byzantine Palaestina’) was also the reason, within the Israeli settler toponymic project post-1948, for calling the nearby new Israeli settlement Eilat.

Aylah ta Kudu, wadda ake kira ‘Aelas’ a zamanin Byzantine a Palaestina, ta koma ‘Aylah’ a cikin Jund Filastin na Musulunci, ya kamata a bambance ta sosai da ‘Ilya-Filastin’ ta arewa (Urushalima) a karkashin Musulunci (Aelia Capitolina a zamanin Romawa da Byzantine). Aylah (Aelas) birni ne mai bunkasa a tashar jiragen ruwa ta Palasdinu a karkashin Byzantine da Musulmai, kuma yana tsakiyar cinikin kayan yaji tsakanin Indiya da Kudancin Larabawa. Bayan fitowar Musulunci, Aylah-Filastin, wadda take a wuri mai muhimmanci a kan Tekun Jar – wadda masana labarin kasa na Turai na zamani suka sani da Mare Mecca, ko Tekun Makka, da Sinus Arabicus, ko Mashigin Larabawa – ta zama babbar tashar kasuwanci kuma ta amfana sosai daga ayarin Musulmai masu aikin hajji zuwa da dawowa daga Makka (Lev 2006: 591), da kuma hada yankin al-Sham da Jazirar Larabawa da Tekun Indiya. A bayyane yake cewa an buga tsabar kudin Umayyad na ‘Aylah a Filastin’ a Iliya-Filastin don amfani a garin Tekun Jar da bayansa (Ramadan 2010a, 2010b), kuma masanin labarin kasa na Palasdinu na karni na 10, al-Maqdisi, bayan ya ziyarci Aylah-Filastin, ya kwatanta ta da cewa “tashar jiragen ruwa ta Palasdinu a Tekun China” (Ramadan 2010a, 2010b). Hadewar rubuce-rubucen Larabci, shaidun tsabar kudi da rubuce-rubuce na Umayyad, da majiyoyin Byzantine, na ba mu kyakkyawan ra'ayi game da yadda babbar lardin Larabawa na Jund Filastin ya fito daga hadewar lardunan Palaestina Prima da Palaestina Tertia. A wannan batu, ya kamata a lura cewa masanin tarihin Palasdinu Prokopios na Caesarea Maritima ya riga ya rubuta a shekara ta 560 AD:

Southern ‘Aelas’ in Byzantine Palaestina, which became ‘Aylah’ in Islamic Jund Filastin, should be clearly distinguished from the northern ‘Ilya-Filastin’ (Jerusalem) under Islam (Aelia Capitolina under the Romans and Byzantine). Aylah (Aelas) was a vibrant Palestinian port town under both the Byzantines and Muslims and at the centre of the Indian and South Arabian spice trade. Rising to prominence after the Islamic conquests, Aylah-Filastin, located strategically on the Red Sea – also known to medieval European geographers as Mare Mecca, or the Sea of Mecca, and Sinus Arabicus, or the Gulf of Arabia – developed into a major trading port town and benefited hugely from the annual caravans of Muslim pilgrims to and from Mecca (Lev 2006: 591) and from the linking of the al-Sham region with the Arabian Peninsula and Indian Ocean. Apparently, Umayyad ‘Aylah in Filastin’ coins were also minted in Iliya-Filastin for the use in the Red Sea town and beyond (Ramadan 2010a, 2010b) and 10th century Palestinian geographer al- Maqdisi, after visiting Aylah-Filastin, described it as ‘a port of Palestine on China Sea’ (Ramadan 2010a, 2010b). The combination of Arabic written sources, Umayyad numismatic and epigraphic evidence and Byzantine sources gives us a good idea about the way the large Arab province of Jund Filastin emerged out of the combination of two provinces of Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Tertia. In this regard, it is worth noting that Palestinian historian Prokopios of Caesarea Maritima had already written in 560 AD:

Iyakokin Falasdinu sun miƙa zuwa gabas har zuwa teku da ake kira Jan Teku. Yanzu wannan teku, tun daga Indiya, yana ƙarewa a wannan wuri a yankin Romawa. Akwai wani birni mai suna Aelas [wanda yanzu ake kira ‘Aqabah] a bakin teku, inda teku ke ƙarewa, kamar yadda na faɗa, ya zama kogi mai kunkuntar sosai. Idan mutum ya yi tafiya cikin teku daga can, tsaunukan Masar suna a hannun dama, suna miƙewa zuwa kudu; a ɗayan gefen kuma wata ƙasa da mutane suka bari tana miƙewa zuwa arewa har zuwa nisa maras iyaka; kuma ƙasar a bangarorin biyu tana iya gani yayin da mutum ke tafiya cikin teku har zuwa tsibirin da ake kira Iotabe, nesa da birnin Aelas ba ƙasa da stades dubu ɗaya ba.

The boundaries of Palestine extend toward the east to the sea which is called the Red Sea. Now this sea, beginning at India, comes to an end at this point in the Roman domain. And there is a city called Aelas [modern-day ‘Aqabah] on its shore, where the sea comes to an end, as I have said, and becomes a very narrow gulf. And as one sails into the sea from there, the Egyptian mountains lie on the right, extending toward the south; on the other side a country deserted by men extends northward to an indefinite distance; and the land on both sides is visible as one sails in as far as the island called Iotabe, not less than one thousand stades distant from the city of Aelas.

(Prokopios 2005)

(Prokopios 2005)

Aylah-Filastin a ƙarƙashin Musulunci yana ba mu wata alama game da girma da arzikin lardin Jund Filastin, wanda ya miƙe daga filin Marj Ibn ‘Amer mai albarka a arewa – wata rumbun hatsi mai wadata a Falasɗinu kuma yankin da a lokacin ake ɗaukarsa a matsayin ɓangaren ƙasar Galili ta ƙasa – zuwa al-‘Arish a Sinai da kuma garin kasuwanci na Aylah-Filastin a bakin Tekun Maliya. A zahiri, lardin Jund Filastin ya ƙunshi yawancin Palaestina Prima da Palaestina Tertia (Avni 2014: 27). Jund al-Urdun ( جند الأردن ), ‘Lardin Soja/Gudanarwa na Jordan’, wanda ya maye gurbin Palaestina Secunda (Blankinship 1994: 84; Avni 2014: 27), an kafa shi da babban birninsa a birnin Falasɗinu na Tabariyyah (Tiberias). An kafa birnin a Roman Falasɗinu kuma an san shi da sunansa na Girka, Τιβεριάς, kuma ya kasance babban birnin yankin Galili a zamanin Ísa, kuma zai ci gaba da kasancewa babbar cibiyar kasuwanci, masana'antar siliki da harkokin nishaɗi ta Falasɗinu tsawon ƙarnuka masu yawa.

Aylah-Filastin under Islam gives us some indication of the vastness and wealth of the province of Jund Filastin which stretched from the fertile plain of Marj Ibn ‘Amer in the north – a rich granary in Palestine and a region which at the time was considered part of lower Galilee – to al-‘Arish in Sinai and to the trading town of Aylah-Filastin on the Red Sea. In fact, the province of Jund Filastin encompassed most of Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Tertia (Avni 2014: 27). Jund al-Urdun ( جند الأردن ), ‘the Military/ Administrative Province of Jordan’, replacing Palaestina Secunda (Blankinship 1994: 84; Avni 2014: 27), was formed with its capital in the Palestinian city of Tabariyyah (Tiberias). Founded in Roman Palestine and known by its Greek name, Τιβεριάς, the city had been the regional capital of Galilee at the time of Jesus and would remain a key Palestinian centre of trade, silk industry and leisure activities for several centuries to come.

Birni kuma ya kasance cibiyar koyar da ilimin addini ga Yahudawan Larabawa da tsohon Ibrananci – wanda a lokacin harshen ibada ne (lashon hakodesh) maimakon harshen magana na yau da kullum – kuma aka tsara shi a hukumance a Tabariyyah a karkashin tasirin duniya na harshen Larabci da Musulunci. A karkashin Musulunci, shahararriyar Tabariyyah a matsayin birni mai al'adu daban-daban, mai jin dadin rayuwa da nishadi – wanda ke kusa da maɓuɓɓugan ruwan zafi na halitta da wuraren wanka na lafiya masu zafi – ta yi girma har tafkin Galili ya zama sananne da harshen Larabci a matsayin 'Tekun Tabariyyah' (Bahr Tabariyyah, daga baya Buhayrat Tabariyyah). Kamar Palaestina Secunda, Jund al-Urdun ya kunshi yawancin Galili da wasu yankuna a Transjordan.

The city was also a seat of religious learning for Arab-Judaism and ancient Hebrew – then a language of liturgy (lashon hakodesh) rather than a day-to day spoken language – was codified in Tabariyyah under the globalising impact of Arabic and Islam. Under Islam the fame of Tabariyyah as a multicultural, hedonistic and leisure city –situated in the proximity of many natural thermal springs and hot health baths – became so great that the Sea of Galilee became known in Arabic as the ‘Sea of Tiberias’ (Bahr Tabariyyah and later Buhayrat Tabariyyah). Like Palaestina Secunda, Jund al-Urdun included most of the Galilee and some territories in Transjordan.

Girman Jund al-Urdun ya kai kusan kashi ɗaya bisa uku na Falasdinu ta zamani ta Mandate. Da ƙananan canje-canje, wannan rabe-raben gudanarwa na Falasdinu ya ci gaba da kasancewa kusan yadda yake har zuwa mamayar ƙasar da Crusaders suka yi a shekara ta 1099, duk da cewa a ƙarƙashin Fatimids, Jund al-Urdun a zahiri Gwamnan Soja na Falasdinu (متولي حرب فلسطين) ne ke mulkinsa daga al-Ramla.

The overall size of Jund al-Urdun was about one-third of modern Mandatory Palestine. With some minor changes this administrative division of Palestine remained largely unchanged until the Crusader invasion of the country in 1099, although under the Fatimids Jund al-Urdun was effectively ruled from al-Ramla by the Military Governor of Palestine .(متولي حرب فلسطين)

Tabbas, larabawan zamanin tsakiya sun saba da Tsohon Alkawari da Sabon Alkawari. Amma sun zaɓi sunan ƙasar na tarihi na gaske kuma na hukuma: Filastin (Filastin), maimakon kalmar akida ta Tsohon Alkawari 'Kan'ana', kuma sun rungumi tare da kiyaye bambancin gādon Filastin da gādon da Ƙasashen Levant suka raba. Sunan wuri na Larabci na zamanin tsakiya na Filastin ya yi daidai da kalmar Tsohon Faransanci Philistin, wadda ta fito daga Latin Philistina ko Philistinus ko Palaestina, wadda kuma ta samo asali daga sunan Romawa na lardin, Palaestina, bisa tsohon sunan da tunaninsa ya kasance a cikin Tsohon Alkawari da wasu tsoffin harsuna, wato Akkadian Palashtu da Masar Parusata.

Of course, the medieval Arabs were familiar with the Old Testament and New Testament. But they opted for the real historical and official administrative name of the country: Palestine (Filastin) rather than for the ideological Old Testament term ‘Cana’an’, and they embraced and cherished the diverse heritage of Palestine and the shared heritage of the Levant. The medieval Arabic toponymy of Filastin was identical to the Old French term Philistin, which came from Latin Philistina or Philistinus or Palaestina which, in turn, derived from the Roman name of the province, Palaestina, based on the ancient name with its memory preserved in the Old Testament and a variety of ancient languages, the Akkadian Palashtu and Egyptian Parusata.