The Abillama trace their lineage to Muqaddam Abi Lamaʿ, who descended from the Banu Fawaris, an Arab tribe that migrated alongside the Tanukh from al-Hirah in modern-day Iraq to the Al-Aʿla Mountain, east of the city of Hama, before eventually settling in Lebanon.
Historical accounts identify the Abillamas as a branch of the Arab Tanukh clan that migrated from al-Hirah in modern-day Iraq to the Al-Aʿla Mountain, east of the city of Hama.
Their arrival in Mount Lebanon is documented by Lebanese historial and priest Antun Daou's who recounts that the Tanukhids migrated in 820 from Al-Aʿla Mountain, driven by the heavy taxation imposed by the Abbasids,[3] and in as a result of an incident involing a tax collector and a local woman.
A man named Naba, outraged by the Abbasid official’s misconduct, killed him in retribution and fled to Lebanon with his family to escape the governor’s punishment.
Historian Tannous Al-Shidyaq corroborates this account, adding that Naba sought refuge in Lebanon, where he founded the village of Kasarnaba, east of Keserwan near Baalbek.
The Maronites settled in Jbeil, Batroun, and northern Lebanon, while the Tanukhids established themselves in Wadi al-Taym and the surrounding mountainous regions.
[5] The aforementioned Banu Fawaris tribe, included muqaddam Abi Al-Lamaʿ of Kfar Silwan, the ancestor of the Lamaʿid lineage.
[6] The first recorded mention of the Abillama family in written historical accounts dates back to the Mamluk period; after the Maronite Patriarch Jeremiah III of Dmalsâ went Rome in 1282 AD, his deputee Bishop Tadros al-Aqouri wrote:[3] The Abi Lamaʿ family, muqaddams of Shahhar, Jurd, and Beqaa, fought in the year 1294 AD alongside the residents of Keserwan against the Damascene army advancing into Keserwan, inflicting upon them a severe defeat at Ain Sannin.
[d][7][3]The Lebanese historian Tannus al-Shidyaq recorded that in 1610, the residences and fields of the Abillama family were decimated and burned: The soldiers roamed across the regions of Jbeil and Keserwan, storming locations where it was believed that the princes were in hiding.
Jumblatt Abd al-Malik was given the same title, and the feudal governance of Keserwan was transferred to the Khazen family, while the Hobeish sheikhs retained their control over the district of Ghazir.
[11][2][3] After the fall of the Shihabi emirate in 1842, the Abillama family played a significant role in shaping Lebanon’s political landscape during the Ottoman era.
When the Ottomans ended Shihabi rule and exiled Emir Bashir Shihab II to Istanbul, they appointed Omar Pasha al-Namsawi as governor of Mount Lebanon.
On 1 January 1843, Emir Haydar Ismail Abillama became the first Kaymakam of the Christian district, leading a turbulent period marked by sectarian strife and foreign interference.
The newly appointed Kaymakam relocated the administrative seat from Bikfaya to his hometown, Broummana, and faced growing opposition from the Lama‘ids, and the sheikhs of Keserwan the Khazin, the Hbeish families.
[15] After the conversion of Abdallah Qayd Bey Abillama to Maronite Christianity, the sons of Prince Nassar Murad Al-Lama’i in Metn followed suit under the influence of Bishop Boulos Karam of Baskinta, then the Lama’id emirs of Qarnayel also converted around 1790 AD.