[1] Along with several other sites, Bi'ina was proposed as the location of ancient Beth-Anath mentioned in Egyptian and biblical texts.

Under order of the Ottoman sultan Selim I (r. 1512–1520), a major patron of the Sufis, the Christian inhabitants of Dayr al-Bi'ina were expelled from the village, so that eventually a significant Muslim settlement could be established there under the auspices of Muhammad al-Asad and his followers.

[9] In 1596 Bi'ina was recorded in Ottoman tax registers as belonging to the nahiya (subdistrict) of Acre, part of Safed Sanjak.

[10][11] By the early 18th century the Banu Zaydan (or Zayadina) family held sway in the Shaghur area and their future leader, Zahir al-Umar, played a prominent role defending Bi'ina from a taxation campaign by the Ottoman governor of Sidon at some point between 1713 and 1718.

[12] By 1730, Zahir had gained control of Tiberias as its multazim (tax farmer) and within a few years moved to expand his domains.

[13][14] After Zahir was slain in an imperial Ottoman campaign against him, the new, Acre-based governor of Sidon, Jazzar Pasha, moved to eliminate Zaydani control in the Galilee.

Zahir's son Ali posed the main challenge to Jazzar's rule in the region and controlled several fortified villages in the central and eastern Galilee, including Bi'ina.

Lieutenant Kitchener of the Palestine Exploration Fund described the town under its name El-Baneh, and where he noted a spring and birket (reservoir).