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Finally, we must note that not all shaikhs who controlled land in ‘Ajlun derived their status and land from martial qualities. The New Jordans, An important category of shaykhs were those w ho were religious figures. Most of these were sufi leaders, often called fugara (Arabic singular: faqlr, “poor.” The Persian equivalent is dervish). These persons were members of religious brotherhoods associated with the tomb of a saint, called a maqdm or weft, that had acquired control of land surrounding the tomb. The Ottomans sometimes even exempted them from paying taxes in honor of their status, guaranteeing them a profitable return on the lands that they controlled, which they rented out to sharecroppers. The Jarrah family claimed descent from one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad named ‘Amir bin ‘Abdullah al-Jarrah, nicknamed Abu ‘Ubayda. The family tended his tomb at ‘Ammata in the region of the Jordan Valley that came to be known as Ghawr Abl ‘Ubayda. The family claimed the land as waqf and collected both rents and barakat (Arabic, “blessings”) donated to Abu ‘Ubayda’s memory from nearby cultivators and merchants visiting the nearby summer market. Other religious figures included the Qiyam family, who tended the tomb of Ma‘adh bin Jabal; the ‘Umari, or Massadln, family of Kufr Asad, who used their landholdings surrounding the maqdm of ‘Umar al-‘Az!mI to keep the cultivators of the village in “bondage”; the MalkawT family in Malka, a family of respected sufis associated with the tomb of Shaykh ‘Umar. and the Zu'bi family of al-Ramtha, who tended the tomb of Shaykh Rashid Ibrahim Mustafa al-Zu‘bI. http://www.thenewcheapjordans.com