Jabal ʿĀmil (or ʿĀmila) is a region of low mountains in Bilād al-Shām (present-day southern Lebanon) where the Twelver Shīʿa developed a tradition of religious learning as early as the eighth/fourteenth century. The term "ʿĀmil" derives from the name of a Syrian tribe, the ʿĀmila, who settled in that area in the early ʿAbbāsid period. Later, the northern part of Jabal ʿĀmil was called Bilād al-Shaqīf or Shaqīf Arnūn, with reference to Qalʿat al-Shaqīf (the Crusaders' castle of Beaufort), whereas the southern part was called