Kwa karne kadhaa Aylah, mji wa bandari wa leo wa al-ʿAqabah nchini Yordani kwenye Bahari Nyekundu, ulikuwa sehemu ya mkoa wa kiutawala wa Kiislamu wa Jund Filastin, ambao magavana wake (walis) pia walikuwa na jukumu la kulinda usalama wa misafara ya mahujaji Waislamu kutoka Makka kupitia Aylah na al-Ramla hadi Dameski na kwingineko. Ushahidi wa sarafu na maandishi ya enzi ya Umayyad unaonyesha kwamba Aylah ulikuwa mji wa mapema wa Kiislamu katika mkoa wa Jund Filastin. Awali ulikuwa mji wa Kirumi na Kibyzantini uliitwa Aelas, na sasa magofu ya Aylah yako ndani ya mji wa bandari wa leo wa al-ʿAqabah (Ramadan 2010b). ‘Aylah in Filastin’ (‘Aelas in Byzantine Palaestina’) pia ndiyo sababu, ndani ya mradi wa majina ya maeneo wa walowezi wa Kiisraeli baada ya mwaka 1948, makazi mapya ya Kiisraeli yaliyo karibu nayo yaliitwa 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 ya Kusini, iliyojulikana kama ‘Aelas’ katika Palaestina ya Kibyzantini, na baadaye kuwa ‘Aylah’ katika Jund Filastin ya Kiislamu, inapaswa kutofautishwa wazi na ‘Ilya-Filastin’ ya kaskazini (Yerusalemu) chini ya Uislamu (Aelia Capitolina chini ya Warumi na Wabyzantini). Aylah (Aelas) ilikuwa mji wa bandari wenye uhai wa Kipalestina chini ya Wabyzantini na Waislamu, na ulikuwa katikati ya biashara ya viungo kati ya India na Arabia ya Kusini. Ikipata umaarufu baada ya ushindi wa Kiislamu, Aylah-Filastin, iliyokuwa kimkakati kwenye Bahari Nyekundu – inayojulikana pia kwa wanajiografia wa Ulaya wa zama za kati kama Mare Mecca, au Bahari ya Makka, na Sinus Arabicus, au Ghuba ya Arabia – ilikua mji mkubwa wa biashara ya bandari na ilinufaika sana kutokana na misafara ya kila mwaka ya mahujaji Waislamu kwenda na kutoka Makka (Lev 2006: 591), pamoja na kuunganishwa kwa eneo la al-Sham na Peninsula ya Arabia na Bahari ya Hindi. Inasemekana kwamba sarafu za ‘Aylah katika Filastin’ za Kiumayyad pia zilitengenezwa Iliya-Filastin kwa matumizi katika mji huo wa Bahari Nyekundu na kwingineko (Ramadan 2010a, 2010b), na mwanajiografia wa Kipalestina wa karne ya 10 al-Maqdisi, baada ya kutembelea Aylah-Filastin, aliielezea kama ‘bandari ya Palestina kwenye Bahari ya China’ (Ramadan 2010a, 2010b). Mchanganyiko wa vyanzo vya maandishi vya Kiarabu, ushahidi wa sarafu na maandishi wa Kiumayyad, na vyanzo vya Kibyzantini unatupa picha nzuri ya jinsi jimbo kubwa la Kiarabu la Jund Filastin lilivyojitokeza kutokana na muunganiko wa majimbo mawili ya Palaestina Prima na Palaestina Tertia. Katika hili, inafaa kutambua kwamba mwanahistoria wa Kipalestina Prokopios wa Kaisaria Maritima alikwisha kuandika mwaka 560 BK:

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:

Mipaka ya Palestina inaenea upande wa mashariki hadi baharini ambayo inaitwa Bahari Nyekundu. Sasa bahari hii, ikianzia India, inaishia mahali hapa katika himaya ya Warumi. Na kuna mji unaoitwa Aelas [Aqabah ya leo] kwenye pwani yake, mahali ambapo bahari inaishia, kama nilivyosema, na kuwa ghuba nyembamba sana. Na mtu anapopanda meli kuingia baharini kutoka hapo, milima ya Misri inabaki upande wa kulia, ikienea kuelekea kusini; upande wa pili nchi iliyoachwa na watu inaenea kuelekea kaskazini hadi umbali usiojulikana; na ardhi pande zote mbili inaonekana mtu anapoingia meli hadi kisiwa kiitwacho Iotabe, kilicho umbali usiopungua stadia elfu moja kutoka mji wa Aelas.

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 chini ya Uislamu inatupa dalili ya ukubwa na utajiri wa mkoa wa Jund Filastin, ambao ulienea kutoka uwanda wenye rutuba wa Marj Ibn ‘Amer upande wa kaskazini – ghala tajiri la nafaka huko Palestina na eneo ambalo wakati huo lilichukuliwa kuwa sehemu ya Galilaya ya chini – hadi al-‘Arish huko Sinai na mji wa biashara wa Aylah-Filastin kwenye Bahari Nyekundu. Kwa kweli, mkoa wa Jund Filastin ulijumuisha sehemu kubwa ya Palaestina Prima na Palaestina Tertia (Avni 2014: 27). Jund al-Urdun ( جند الأردن ), ‘Mkoa wa Kijeshi/Kiutawala wa Yordani’, uliochukua nafasi ya Palaestina Secunda (Blankinship 1994: 84; Avni 2014: 27), uliundwa ukiwa na mji mkuu wake katika mji wa Kipalestina wa Tabariyyah (Tiberias). Mji huu, ulioanzishwa katika Palestina ya Kiroma na kujulikana kwa jina lake la Kigiriki, Τιβεριάς, ulikuwa mji mkuu wa kikanda wa Galilaya wakati wa Yesu na ungeendelea kuwa kitovu muhimu cha Kipalestina cha biashara, tasnia ya hariri na shughuli za burudani kwa karne kadhaa zijazo.

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.

Mji huo pia ulikuwa kituo cha elimu ya kidini kwa Uyahudi wa Kiarabu na Kiebrania cha kale. Kisha, lugha ya Kiebrania, ambayo wakati huo ilikuwa lugha ya ibada (lashon hakodesh) badala ya lugha ya kila siku ya mazungumzo, ilipangwa rasmi huko Tabariyyah chini ya athari kubwa ya lugha ya Kiarabu na Uislamu. Chini ya Uislamu, umaarufu wa Tabariyyah kama mji wenye tamaduni nyingi, wa starehe na burudani – ulioko karibu na chemchemi nyingi za maji moto za asili na mabafu ya joto ya kiafya – ulikuwa mkubwa sana hivi kwamba Bahari ya Galilaya ilijulikana kwa Kiarabu kama 'Bahari ya Tiberias' (Bahr Tabariyyah, baadaye Buhayrat Tabariyyah). Kama Palaestina Secunda, Jund al-Urdun ilijumuisha sehemu kubwa ya Galilaya na baadhi ya maeneo ya 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.

Ukubwa wa jumla wa Jund al-Urdun ulikuwa takriban theluthi moja ya Palestina ya kisasa ya Mandate. Kwa mabadiliko madogo, mgawanyo huu wa kiutawala wa Palestina ulibaki bila mabadiliko makubwa hadi uvamizi wa Wakrusadi katika nchi hiyo mwaka 1099, ingawa chini ya Wafatimid Jund al-Urdun ilitawaliwa kwa vitendo kutoka al-Ramla na Gavana wa Kijeshi wa Palestina (متولي حرب فلسطين).

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)

Bila shaka, Waarabu wa zama za kati walikuwa wakifahamu Agano la Kale na Agano Jipya. Lakini walichagua jina halisi la kihistoria na rasmi la kiutawala la nchi: Palestina (Filastin), badala ya neno la kiitikadi la Agano la Kale, 'Kanaani', na wakakumbatia na kuthamini urithi mbalimbali wa Palestina pamoja na urithi wa pamoja wa Levanti. Jina la kijiografia la Filastin katika Kiarabu cha zama za kati lilikuwa sawa na neno la Kifaransa cha Kale Philistin, ambalo lilitokana na Kilatini Philistina au Philistinus au Palaestina, ambalo nalo lilitokana na jina la Kiroma la mkoa huo, Palaestina, lililotokana na jina la kale ambalo kumbukumbu yake imehifadhiwa katika Agano la Kale na lugha mbalimbali za kale, yaani Akkadi Palashtu na Kimisri 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.