I’ve heard the topic of whether Abu thar as was present in Jabal Amel in lebanon is complicated. Ayatollah sadiq shirazi has mentioned that he did in fact go in one of his lectures, many other scholars mentioned it as well. I’ve also heard that we don’t have textual evidence that he was in Jabal Amel specifically. Historically it goes back to when uthman sent Abu thar to Sham. I’ve also heard that he was in fact in saida and الصرفند because at that time these cities were thriving due to iron mines, while jabal Amel wasn’t. So can we find evidence that he was in saida? I’ve consulted this book التاسيس لتاريخ الشيعة في لبنان و سورية للشيخ جعفر المهاجر I can send a pdf if you want but anyway he has a chapter that says “ أبو ذر في جبل عامل تاريخ ام أسطورة”
And he goes over several points and the possibility of Abu dhar being in jabal Amel but end it by saying that it’s most likely a myth. Then how come so many of our scholars mention that he was in fact in jabal amel?

by

The term Jabal Amel جبل عامل refers to the entire southern region of Lebanon, which would include Saida. Historically when they said Jabal Amel, they mean west of Damascus. There are historical reports that Abu Dhar was exiled from Damascus for spreading the truth, so he went west into Lebanon and started to preach to tribes in the mountainous areas of Lebanon and all the way to west. It doesn’t mean there must have been big cities there. There were small villages and he would visit them. So once we take this into account—that Jabal Amel refers to all of Lebanon (mainly the southern part)—it is correct to say that he indeed spent time there. It’s definitely not a myth. The word Lebanon is not mentioned in any of the early sources because that area was called شام Chaam. So I am not aware of any sources that specific mentioned “South Lebanon.” The term Lebanon became used later in history.

Here are the words of some historians with the references. You can see that they have described Jabal Amel as a very vast area that even includes northern Palestine:

قال القلقشندي:«من الأماكن المشهورة في الشام جبل عامل، وهو ممتد بين شرقي ساحل بحر الروم (المتوسط) وجنوبيه حتى يقرب من صور وعليه شقيف أرنون».وهذا مما يدل على أن جبل عامل كان في الماضي أرحب مساحة مما هو عليه اليوم.

المصدر: القلقشندي – صبح الأعشى – جزء 4- صفحة 86

أما محمد كرد علي فيقول بخصوص حدود جبل عامل: «جبل عامل واقع بين صفد جنوبا ونهر الأولي شمالا وغور الحولة وما حاذاه إلى أرض البقاع شرقا والبحر المتوسط غربا».

المصدر: كرد علي – خطط الشام – الجزء 6 – صفحة 247

ويقول المؤرّخ الشيخ علي الزين:«وديار عاملة مجاورة للأردن وجبلها مشرف على عكا ويطل على الأردن ويمتد بعنقه نحو بحيرة طبريا».

المصدر: علي الزين – مع التاريخ العاملي – مطبعة العرفان – طبع عام 1954 – صفحة 36

أما ياقوت الحموي فيوسّع حدود الجبل ويقول:«صفد مدينة في جبال عاملة المطلّة على حمص بالشام وهي من جبال لبنان».

المصدر: ياقوت الحموي – معجم البلدان – جزء 3 – صفحة 412