Jund Hims

Syria (Bilad al-Sham) and its provinces under the Abbasid Caliphate in the 9th century

Jund Hims^[1] (Arabic: جند حمص‎, "military district of Homs") (or Legion of Emessa^[2]) was one of the four^[3] military districts of the Caliphate province of Syria. Its capital was Homs, from which the district received its name.^[1] Its principal urban centres were Latakia, Tadmur, Jableh, Kafr Tab, Tarsus, Salamiyah, Bulunyas and the Fortress of Khawabi.^[4]

After the Muslim conquest of Syria in the 7th century, the Rashidun caliph Umar divided Greater Syria into four districts, in which Jund Hims became the northernmost district. After the ascent of the Umayyad dynasty, its caliph Muawiyah I separated the northern territories of Jund Hims, establishing Jund Qinnasrin out of them. The southern boundary line of Jund Hims laid immediately to the south of Qarah (Karah), while its northern limit lay beyond the village of al-Karashiyyah. Eastward were the towns of Tadmur and al-Qaryatayn.^[5]

Notes

1. Although the modern district and the city are known in English as "Homs", the military districts of the Caliphate are known by their transliterated names.
2. Kremer, Alfred and Bukhsh, Salahuddin Khuda (1961) Politics in Islam: Von Kremer's Staatsidee des Islams (4th edition) Muhammed Ashraf, Lahore, Pakistan, page 124, OCLC 10521479
3. The other three were Jund Dimashq, Jund al-Urdunn and Jund Filastin. Album, Stephen and Goodwin, Tony (2001) Sylloge of Islamic Coins in the Ashmolean: The Pre-Reform Coinage of the Early Islamic Period Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England, pages 84–85, ISBN 1-85444-173-6
4. al-Muqaddasi quoted in le Strange, 1890, p.39.
5. le Strange, 1890, p.25.

Bibliography

• Le Strange, Guy (1890). Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. OCLC 1004386.