Beit Lif () is a municipality in the

Bint Jbeil District The Bint Jbeil District (, ') is a district in the Nabatiyeh Governorate of Lebanon. The capital of the district is Bint Jbeil. Municipalities The following 36 municipalities are all located in the Bint Jbeil District: * Ain Ebel * Aitaroun * A ...

in southern

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Etymology

According to

E. H. Palmer Edward Henry Palmer (7 August 184010 August 1882), known as E. H. Palmer, was an England, English oriental studies, orientalist and explorer. Biography Youth and education Palmer was born in Green Street, Cambridge, the son of a private scho ...

, the name means "the house of lif" (palm-fibre).

History

In 1852, Edward Robinson noted that the year before, a quantity of gold coin were found at Beit Lif, which was taken to

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

and given to the

Pasha Pasha (; ; ) was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitary, dignitaries, and others. ''Pasha'' was also one of the highest titles in the 20th-century Kingdom of ...

. He further noted that the people were planting

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

and tobacco. In 1875,

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...

found here a village with 80

Metuali Lebanese Shia Muslims (), communally and historically known as ''matāwila'' (, plural of ''mutawālin''; pronounced as ''metouéle'' in Lebanese Arabic), are Lebanese people who are adherents of Shia Islam in Lebanon, which plays a major role ...

inhabitants. In 1881, the PEF's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described it as: "A village, built of stone, containing about 150 Moslems .situated on a hill-top, with a few olives and arable land. Two

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

s and a birket near supply the water." On 23 November 1997 a

South Lebanon Army The South Lebanon Army or South Lebanese Army (SLA; , ), also known as the Lahad Army () or as the De Facto Forces (DFF), was a Christianity in Lebanon, Christian-dominated militia in Lebanon. It was founded by Lebanese military officer Saad H ...

compound on the edge of the village came under artillery fire. Eight civilians were killed. Amal was believed to be responsible for the shelling.

Demographics

In 2014

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

made up 99.80% of registered voters in Beit Lif. 97.74% of the voters were

Shiite Muslims Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood to ...

. https://lub-anan.com/المحافظات/النبطية/بنت-جبيل/بيت-ليف/المذاهب/

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Beit Lif
Localiban *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 4
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Bint Jbeil District Populated places in the Israeli security zone 1985–2000 Populated places in Bint Jbeil District Shia Muslim communities in Lebanon