Jabiyah

Jabiyah
Arabic: الجابية
	Shown within Syria
Alternative name	Tell Jabiyah
Location	Syria
Region	Daraa Governorate
Coordinates	32°55′8″N 35°59′48″E / 32.91889°N 35.99667°E
Type	Tell

Jabiyah (

Umayyad caliphs as a retreat. Its significance declined when Caliph Sulayman made Dabiq

the Muslims' main military camp in Syria.

Etymology

Jabiyah has a "curious etymology", according to historian

Irfan Shahid.^[1] The name may be related to the Arabic word for "reservoir" or a Syriac word for "the Chosen".^[1]

History

Ghassanid period

Jabiyah was first mentioned in circa 520 CE in a Syriac letter of Bishop

Pope Damian of Alexandria, that wanted to settle their religious disputes.^[2]^[3] The groups failed to reach an agreement, but the meeting of rival Monophysite factions in Jabiyah indicates its importance as a Monophysite center.^[2]

Jabiyah functioned as the capital of the Ghassanids.

Lakhmid-led raids against Byzantine Syria and in the Persian invasion of Syria

.

Rashidun period

During the

ṣaḥāba (companions of Muhammad) to determine the affairs of Syria.^[5] This included the distribution of war spoils, organization of the military administration of Syria and determination of the soldiers' wages. That same year, Umar made a speech, frequently mentioned in Muslim tradition, called khuṭbat al-Jābiya; before a large gathering of generals and ṣaḥāba, Umar decreed the establishment of the dīwān (administrative endowments).^[5] Initially, it was decided that the local Arab tribes of Syria would be excluded from the dīwān, but they were ultimately incorporated under pressure of their opposition.^[5]

Jabiyah served as the initial administrative center of Jund Dimashq (military district of Damascus).^[5] During the plague of Imwas, which killed numerous Muslim troops, Jabiyah was used as a refuge for ill soldiers to recuperate due to its favorable climatic conditions.^[5] As a result, it became the site where soldiers' pay was distributed.^[5] A large mosque with minbar (pulpit) was built in the town, which was a privilege putting Jabiyah on par with provincial capitals of the Caliphate.^[5] Between 639/40 and 660, Jabiyah served as the capital of Islamic Syria in its entirety under the governorship of Mu'awiya I.^[4]

Umayyad period

After the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate by Mu'awiya I in 661, Jabiyah would become a city that all Umayyad caliphs would pass through during their reigns.^[5] With the death of Mu'awiya II in 684 and Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr's growing control over the Caliphate, the local Arab tribes of Syria convened at Jabiyah to maintain Umayyad rule.^[5] The summit was presided over by Ibn Bahdal, the chieftain of the Banu Kalb and cousin of Caliph Yazid I (r. 680–683).^[5] The summit was not attended by the Qaysi tribes or the governor of Jund Dimashq, al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri, all of whom supported or sympathized with Ibn al-Zubayr.^[5] Though Ibn Bahdal lobbied for Mu'awiya II's half-brothers to accede, the other Arab chieftains dismissed this suggestion due to the half-brothers' youth and inexperience.^[5] A chieftain of the Banu Judham, Rawh ibn Zinba', backed Marwan I for the caliphal throne, and the other chieftains followed suit.^[5] An agreement was finally reached whereby Marwan would become caliph, followed by Khalid ibn Yazid, then Amr ibn Sa'id al-Ashdaq.^[5] "In this way the unity of the Umayyad party was restored, and al-Jabiya became the cradle of the Marwanid dynasty", according to historian Henri Lammens.^[5]

Marwan later changed the succession order agreed to at Jabiyah by designating his own son

Arab–Byzantine frontier.^[5] Nonetheless, Jabiyah remained the center of a district within Jund Dimashq.^[5] Its significance waned further with the rise of the Iraq-based Abbasid Caliphate in 750.^[5]