Conceived by Jamal Jammal and Ibrahim Akar

Geography and status

Jwayya is nestled peacefully in the heartland of Lebanon’s southern hills. This picturesque town spreads over several hills, towering above the plains and valleys of Jabal Aamil. Its highest elevation point is at 374 meters above sea level.

When Jwayya is mentioned in Lebanon, the first thought that comes to the Lebanese mind is “Town of Millionaires”. Though many people throughout Lebanon have never visited the town, the reputation of the rich expatriates of Jwayya is well known. Jwayya is not only a town of millionaires but boasts many elite and educated citizens. Approximately 1,000 or more have graduated from both Lebanese and Overseas Universities. The town has many Professionals such as: Doctors, Engineers, Pharmacists, Microbiologists, Attorneys, Computer Scientists, Journalists, and University Professors. To have one in approximately fifteen to forty citizens, university graduates, is quite an impressive and unique statistic. Unfortunately, like the rest of Lebanon, work was not available to most of these people. Thus, they were forced to either migrate or to work in the commerce and industrial fields.

During the summer of 1983 my Professor in the U.S.A approached me with an article from the Los Angeles Times (one of the largest daily U.S newspapers). The headlines read, “Jwayya, a Town of 1,000 Millionaires”. The article was referring to Jwayya’s economical might. Jokingly, my Professor said to me, “You are in the wrong business son, you should go into Business, because studying Engineering is not that profitable”. I laughed and said to him, “Before becoming a town of millionaires, Jwayya was first an educational town”. I briefly told him about the famous school: “The Madrassa Alkhatouniya”.

Town of Immigrants

Imam Ali Bin Abitalib (A.S) once said: “Wealth converts a strange land into homeland, and poverty turns a native place into a strange land; with this golden advice my countrymen crossed thousands of miles to pursue a better and a more prosperous life in their newly adopted countries”.

My people are generous, hospitable followers of Abu thar, the companion of our beloved Prophet Mohammed and his Ahl Albeit (A.S). I would like to say, they are those who migrated with nothing but courage in their hearts and strength in their arms yet who returned with wealth in their hands and a wreath of glory upon their heads. They were victorious wherever they went, loved and respected wherever they settled.

History of Jwayya

Historically Jwayya goes back to the Paleolitique: “Stone Age” era. These prints are shown in the valley of caves in the northwestern portion of the town. The caves are yet to be studied anthropologically, but from preliminary analysis they are similar in characteristics to the Paleolitique caves near the coastal city of Adloon. A vast amount of archeological evidence is scattered throughout the northwestern hills and town of Jwayya.

Cannanites, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, & Islamic cultures have left behind their monuments. Many multicultural buildings still exist in and around the town. Artifacts made of clay and glass were found scattered throughout the town. A place called “Tarettna” has the evidence of Stone Age burial caves, and rock wells. Unfortunately, many of these sites were robbed and partially destroyed by illiterate humans throughout time. Elders tell us also about the Garrisons of Saffita, Shathai in Sehayle, the grave of the Camel, Mantura, Bsusaay, & Taritna.

The ancient Phoenician City of Tyr and Jwayya crossed referenced when that city collided with Alexander the Great. The Greek historians: Arian and Quintus Curtius Rufus (1st century AD) mentioned the southward march of conquest against the waning Persian Empire. Alexander received envoys from Tyr with courtesy, (Rufus, History, 4.2.2), but in 332 B.C when they refused to allow him to enter their city (ostensibly in order to worship their chief deity, Hercules) he became angry (Rufus, 4.2.3-5; Arian, 2.15.6-7; 2.16.7.). Confident of their security in their island fortress and bolstered by promises of support from Carthage, the Tyrians decided to fight, murdering a party of heralds sent by Alexander with terms of peace (Rufus, 4.2.6-7, 10-12, 15).

Jwayya came into the picture since it is located a few kilometers east of Tyr. After a heroic defiance of the fighters of Tyr, and due to the prolonged campaign, Alexander decided one day to go on a hunting trip. The Greek historian Arianus said that he camped near a village named Jwayya, where the locals killed seven of his guards. Both existed before the Greek civilization, hence it is probably true to assume that the incident took place. Jwayya in the Aramic/Syrianic language means, “the pleasant or familiar place to live”. It had several fresh springs at that time, and that was why people settled there. The springs never dried up during the hot Mediterranean summers. One of the wells Ain Aldruze still exists until now. The town’s richness in water is probably why more than 150 families came, settled and established what are now the modern inhabitants of Jwayya.

There is yet another version of the same story mentioned by such historians as Asad Rustom, Fuad Frem Albustani, the “Makrazzi khutat or (tablets)”, which verifies that Alexander had reached Jwayya, and that the name of the town was probably Gilo.

Today the town of Wadi Gilo exists below modern Jwayya. Wadi means “the lowest point of a hill or mountain”. Gilo is an ancient Biblical word that means “the strange place or the other unfamiliar world”. The town was a resting point for travelling caravans, and the proof is in the still existing buildings that used to be a khan, (rest house with an adjacent horse stable). The town also had a sword industry.

Jwayya’s role in the intellectual History of Jabal Ameel.

Jwayya played a significant role in the intellectual history of south Lebanon, during the 17^th, 18th and the 19^th century. It had a famous school (Madrassa) that graduated many theologians, but sadly was burned and destroyed by the infamous Ottoman Wali of Acca Ahmad Aljazzar. The Madrassa Alkhatounia taught many famous scholars according to Sheikh Ibrahim Al Sleiman. In his book; Buldaan Jabal Amil, he named only some of Jwayya’s scholars. They were Sheikh Ali Aljwayyani, Sheikh Ali khatoun, killed by Aljazzar, his son Sheikh Muhammad Ali Khatoun who taught many scholars such as: Sheikh Yussef Khatoun, Sheikh Abdullah Shouman and his brother, nicknamed, Tawous Alhadra. My grand father, Sheikh Yussef Jammal, Alalaamah Sayyed Mustafa Noureddine and his son Alalaamah Sayyed Noureddine and then his grandson (may Allah prolong his life), Sayyed Abdulkarim Noureddine.

Some of Jwayya Scholars were also known in the fields of Literature and Poetry. To name a few: Sheikh Hussein Noureddine, his grandson Sheikh Ali Noureddine, Sheikh Yussef Sleiman, Sheikh Abdullah Sleiman, Sheikh Muhammad Yussef Khatoun, Sheikh Muhammad Ali Amin Khatoun, Sheikh Salim Shouman, Sheikh Badreddine Shuman Sayyed Muhammad Noureddine and Sheikh Tawfiq Sleiman. 

Modern Jwayya

Modern Jwayya was transformed into a cosmopolitan town in the last 20 plus years. It has an abundance of elaborate architectural Mansions, and many high-rise buildings. The town grew vastly in the eighties and nineties. The population statistics range between 15,000 to as high as 40,000, including the expatriates all over the world. However, Jwayya, like the rest of Lebanon faced a horrendous time at the end of the nineteenth century. Numerous catastrophes forced its residents to migrate in order to escape the wrath of war, famine and hunger under a tyrant Ottoman Empire.

Conclusion

We have tried our best to locate references and sources to relay an honest historical fact about this town. It is our hope that the Almighty will guide us into the right path of rebuilding a morally strong, pious, just, and free Jwayya, and Lebanon.

References: Dr. Jaafaar Zuhair Fadlallah, Sheikh Ibrahim Al Sleiman“Buldan Jabal Aameel”,. Anis Freyha: “Dictionary of Lebanese Towns/Villages. Greek historian Arianus, and Quintus Curtius Rufus: “Alexander and Tyr”(1st century AD), Abdul Rida Noureddine”Jwayya byna alhader wa almady”. Takiieddine Almakrazi: “Alkhutat Almakrazia”. Ismael Hakii Beik:”Mabahith Ilmia WA Ijtimayaa”. Asad Rustom, “Fuad Frem Albustani:”History of Lebanon, and Municipality of Jwayya.

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