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{{Short description|Medieval Arabic name for a region/province in western Iran}}
{{Distinguish|Jabal (disambiguation){{!}}Jabal}}
[[File:Lagekarte Dschibal.jpg|thumb|An 1886 map of the 10th-century [[Near East]] showing the province of Jibal]]
'''Jibāl''' ({{langx|ar|جبال}}), also '''al-Jabal''' ({{langx|ar|الجبل}}), was the name given by the [[Arabs]] to a region and province located in western [[Iran]], under the [[Umayyad]] and [[Abbasid]] [[Caliphates]].

Its name means "the Mountains", being the plural of ''jabal'' ("mountain, hill"), highlighting the region's mountainous nature in the [[Zagros]].{{sfn|Lockhart|1965|p=534}}{{sfn|Le Strange|1905|p=185}} Between the 12th and 14th centuries, the name Jibal was progressively abandoned, and it came to be mistakenly referred to as ''ʿIrāq ʿAjamī'' ("[[Persian Iraq]]") to distinguish it from "Arab Iraq" in [[Mesopotamia]].{{sfn|Lockhart|1965|p=534}}{{sfn|Bosworth|1998|p=538}}{{sfn|Le Strange|1905|pp=185–186}} The region never had any precisely defined boundaries, but was held to be bounded by the [[Maranjab Desert]] in the east, by [[Fars province|Fars]] and [[Khuzistan]] in the south, by [[Iraq]] in the south-west and west, by [[Adharbayjan]] in the north-west and by the [[Alborz Mountains]] in the north, making it roughly coterminous with the ancient country of [[Media (region)|Media]].{{sfn|Lockhart|1965|p=534}}{{sfn|Bosworth|1998|p=538}}

Under the [[Abbasid Caliphate]], Jibal formed a separate province, with its capital usually at [[Rey, Iran|Rayy]], until the Abbasids lost control in the early 10th century.{{sfn|Bosworth|1998|p=538}} For most of the 9th century, however, the area was ruled by an [[Anarchy at Samarra|autonomous]] local dynasty, the [[Dulafids]].{{sfn|Bosworth|1998|p=538}}{{sfn|Donner|1995|pp=476–477}} In the late 10th and early 11th century, the larger portion of Jibal became one of the [[Buyid]] emirates, while the south passed to the [[Kakuyids]].{{sfn|Bosworth|1998|p=538}}

The language spoken in Jibal was known as Pahlavi, known as ''Fahla'' or ''Bahla'' in [[Arabic]] records. Although Pahlavi literally means [[Parthia]]n, the name had come to mean "heroic, old, ancient". "Pahlavi" most likely referred to a group of [[Western Iranian languages|northwestern Iranian languages and dialects]], which are still spoken today, such as [[Talysh language|Talysh]], [[Tati language (Iran)|Southern Tati]], or variants of [[Old Azeri|Adhari]].{{sfn|Paul|2000}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{Encyclopaedia Iranica | title = ʿERĀQ-E ʿAJAM(Ī) | volume = 8 | fascicle = 5 | page = 538 | last = Bosworth | first = C. E. | author-link = C. E. Bosworth | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eraq-e-ajami }}
* {{Encyclopaedia Iranica | title = DOLAFIDS | volume = 7 | fascicle = 5 | pages = 476–477 | last = Donner | first = Fred M. | author-link = Fred Donner | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/dolafids }}
* {{Lands of the Eastern Caliphate}}
* {{EI2 | volume = 2 | title = D̲j̲ibāl | first = L. | last = Lockhart | page = 534 | doi =10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_2068 }}
* {{Encyclopædia Iranica Online | title = Persian Language i. Early New Persian | last = Paul | first = Ludwig | url = https://iranicaonline.org/articles/persian-language-1-early-new-persian | year = 2000}}

{{coord missing|Iran}}

[[Category:Jibal| ]]
[[Category:Historical regions of Iran]]
[[Category:Historical geography of Iran]]