几个世纪以来，阿伊拉（Aylah）——即今天约旦位于红海之滨的港口城市阿盖巴（al-ʿAqabah）——曾隶属于伊斯兰行政省份约德·菲勒斯汀（Jund Filastin）。该省的总督（walis）还负责保障从麦加经阿伊拉、拉姆莱（al-Ramla）前往大马士革及更远地区的穆斯林朝圣商队的安全。倭马亚王朝时期的钱币学和碑铭证据表明，阿伊拉是约德·菲勒斯汀省的一座早期伊斯兰城镇。阿伊拉最初是罗马和拜占庭时期名为艾拉斯（Aelas）的城镇，如今的阿伊拉遗址位于现今港口城市阿盖巴境内（Ramadan 2010b）。“巴勒斯坦的阿伊拉”（“拜占庭巴勒斯坦的艾拉斯”）之名，也是1948年后以色列定居者地名计划将附近新建的以色列定居点命名为埃拉特（Eilat）的原因。

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.

南部的拜占庭时期巴勒斯坦“阿埃拉斯”（Aelas），在伊斯兰时期的吉得·菲拉斯廷（Jund Filastin）中成为“艾拉”（Aylah），应与北部的伊斯兰时期“伊利亚-菲拉斯廷”（耶路撒冷）明确区分开来（耶路撒冷在罗马和拜占庭时期称为埃利亚·卡皮托利纳）。艾拉（阿埃拉斯）在拜占庭和穆斯林统治下都是一座繁荣的巴勒斯坦港口城镇，处于印度和南阿拉伯香料贸易的中心。伊斯兰征服之后，艾拉-菲拉斯廷迅速崛起。它战略性地位于红海之滨，中世纪欧洲地理学家也称之为“麦加之海”（Mare Mecca）或“麦加海”，以及“阿拉伯湾”（Sinus Arabicus）。它发展成为一个主要的贸易港口城镇，并从往返麦加的穆斯林朝觐者年度商队（Lev 2006: 591），以及将沙姆地区与阿拉伯半岛和印度洋连接起来的贸易中获益颇丰。据称，倭马亚时期“菲拉斯廷的艾拉”钱币也在伊利亚-菲拉斯廷铸造，供这座红海城镇及更远地区使用（Ramadan 2010a, 2010b）。10世纪的巴勒斯坦地理学家麦格迪西（al-Maqdisi）在访问艾拉-菲拉斯廷后，将其描述为“巴勒斯坦的一个中国海港口”（Ramadan 2010a, 2010b）。阿拉伯文书面史料、倭马亚时期的钱币学和铭文证据，以及拜占庭史料相结合，使我们能够较好地理解大型阿拉伯行省吉得·菲拉斯廷是如何由巴勒斯坦第一省（Palaestina Prima）和巴勒斯坦第三省（Palaestina Tertia）两个行省合并而形成的。在这方面，值得注意的是，巴勒斯坦历史学家凯撒利亚·马利提马的普罗科皮奥斯（Prokopios）早在公元560年便已写道：

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:

巴勒斯坦的边界向东延伸至一片海，这片海被称为红海。这片海始于印度，在罗马领域内的这个地点终止。海岸上有一座名为埃拉斯的城市（即今日的亚喀巴），正如我所说，海洋在此终止，变成一个非常狭窄的海湾。从那里入海航行时，埃及的山脉位于右侧，向南延伸；另一侧则是一片无人居住的土地，向北延伸至不可确定的远方；而随着航行深入，两岸的陆地都清晰可见，直到一个名为伊奥塔贝的岛屿，它距离埃拉斯城不少于一千斯塔德。

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在伊斯兰时期的情况，让我们得以窥见Jund Filastin省的广阔与富庶。该省北起马尔季·伊本·阿米尔的肥沃平原——那里是巴勒斯坦的富饶粮仓，当时被视为下加利利的一部分——南至西奈的al-‘Arish，西南则到达红海边的贸易城镇Aylah-Filastin。事实上，Jund Filastin省涵盖了大部分的巴勒斯坦第一省（Palaestina Prima）和第三省（Palaestina Tertia）（Avni 2014: 27）。Jund al-Urdun（جند الأردن），即“约旦军政省”，取代了巴勒斯坦第二省（Palaestina Secunda）（Blankinship 1994: 84; Avni 2014: 27），其首府设在巴勒斯坦城市Tabariyyah（提比里亚）。该城始建于罗马时期的巴勒斯坦，以其希腊名字Τιβεριάς而为人所知，在耶稣时代曾是加利利的地区首府，此后数百年间仍是巴勒斯坦重要的贸易中心、丝绸工业中心和休闲之地。

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.

该城市也是阿拉伯犹太教和古希伯来文的宗教学术中心。古希伯来语当时已不再是日常口语，而是作为礼仪语言（lashon hakodesh）存在，在阿拉伯语和伊斯兰教的全球化影响下，它在提比里亚（Tabariyyah）被编纂成文。在伊斯兰统治下，提比里亚作为一座多元文化、享乐与休闲之城的名声日盛——它邻近众多天然温泉和热水浴场——以至于加利利海在阿拉伯语中被称为"提比里亚海"（Bahr Tabariyyah，后称 Buhayrat Tabariyyah）。与巴勒斯坦第二省（Palaestina Secunda）一样，约旦军区（Jund al-Urdun）包括加利利的大部分地区以及外约旦的部分领土。

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.

Jund al-Urdun的总面积约为现代英属巴勒斯坦的三分之一。除了一些细微的调整外，这一行政区划在1099年十字军入侵该地区之前基本保持不变，不过在法蒂玛王朝统治时期，Jund al-Urdun实际上是由驻拉姆拉的巴勒斯坦军事总督（متولي حرب فلسطين）统治的。

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)

当然,中世纪的阿拉伯人熟悉《旧约》和《新约》。但他们选择了这个国家真实的历史和官方行政名称:巴勒斯坦(Filastin),而不是带有意识形态色彩的《旧约》用语"迦南"(Cana'an);他们接纳并珍视巴勒斯坦多元的遗产,以及黎凡特地区共享的遗产。中世纪阿拉伯语中的"Filastin"这一地名,与古法语中的 Philistin 相同,后者源自拉丁语的 Philistina、Philistinus 或 Palaestina,而这些词又来源于罗马行省的名称 Palaestina,该名称基于古老的名字,其记忆保存在《旧约》以及多种古代语言之中,如阿卡德语的 Palashtu 和埃及语的 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.