Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition

Get access Subject: Middle East And Islamic Studies
Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs

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The Encyclopaedia of Islam (Second Edition) Online sets out the present state of our knowledge of the Islamic World. It is a unique and invaluable reference tool, an essential key to understanding the world of Islam, and the authoritative source not only for the religion, but also for the believers and the countries in which they live. 

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Gaban

(114 words)

, properly Gabnopert (cf. Abu ’l-Farad̲j̲, Chron . Syr ., ed. Bruns, 329 Καπνίσκερτι φρουρίον, Cinnamus, i, 8), an Armenian mountain stronghold on the Tekir-Su, a tributary of the Ḏj̲ayhān, now called Geben and belonging to the ilçe of Enderin in the il of Maraş. Here the kings of Armenia kept their treasures and retired in case of need; the last king Leon VI de Lusignan entrenched himself here in 776/1374, for example, but had to surrender after a siege of nine months to the Mamlūk Sultan al-Malik al-As̲h̲raf S̲h̲aʿbān. Bibliography Ritter, Erdkunde, ix/2, 36, 157 Defrémery, in Documents ar…

Gabès

(5 words)

[see Ḳabis ].

Gabon

(356 words)

Author(s): Cornevin, R.
, one of the few African countries into which Islam was introduced in the colonizer’s baggage-train. It was in 1843 that the first Senegalese soldiers (Wolofs or Tukulors) were stationed with the garrison of Fort d’Aumale and then in the camp on the plateau at Libreville; some of these soldiers, on the completion of their service, chose to settle in Gabon where for the most part they went into trade along the Ogoué, the Ngounié or the Fernan Vaz lagoon. They married Gabon women who remained Christian, and their children generally attended the Catholic school of the St. Mary mission. A garrison…

Gabr

(245 words)

Author(s): Bausani, A.
, term generally used in Persian literature—with rather depreciative implications—to indicate Zoroastrians. Philologists have not yet reached agreement on its etymology. Several suggestions have been made, e.g., (a) from Hebrew ḥab̲h̲er (“companion”) in the sense of Ḳiddūs̲h̲īn 72a; (b) from Aramaeo-Pahlavi gabrā (read mart ), especially in the compounds mōġ-martān (“the Magi”) (written mōġ-gabrā-ān ); (c) from a Persian corruption of Arabic kāfir (“unbeliever”). The first two etymologies are very improbable, so that the derivation from A. kāfir seems the most acceptable…

Gabriel

(5 words)

[see d̲j̲abrāʾīl ].

Gadāʾī Kambō

(710 words)

Author(s): Siddiqui, I. H.
, S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ , Ṣūfī saint of Muslim India. He was the eldest son of S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Ḏj̲amālī Kambō (d. 941/1535), an important Suhrawardī Ṣūfī saint, who enjoyed the status of poet-laureate at Sikandar Lōdī’s court and later served the Mug̲h̲al emperors, Bābur and Humāyūn as their courtier. Having completed the customary education, S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Gadāʾī perfected himself in the exoteric as well as esoteric sciences of the Ṣūfī. His father then made him his k̲h̲alīfa or spiritual successor, with permission to enrol murīds or disciples in the Suhrawardī order. On…

Gafsa

(5 words)

[see Ḳafṣa ].

Gafuri

(7 words)

[see g̲h̲afūrī , mad̲j̲īd ].

Gagauz

(1,472 words)

Author(s): Zajaczkowski, A.
, a small Turkic tribe speaking a Turkic language but Orthodox Christian in religion. At the present time they are settled in the south of the Moldavian S.S.R. (Bessarabia) in the district of Komrat, Čadi̊r-Lunga, Kangaz, Tarakliya, Vulkanešti; in the south of the Ukrainian S.S.R. in the district of Zaporože and Odessa (Izmail) and in the district of Rostov in the Russian S.S.R. There are also small Gagauz settlements in Central Asia—in the districts of Kokpektï, Žarma, Čarskiy, Aksuat and Urdžc…

Gakkhaŕ

(2,355 words)

Author(s): Bazmee Ansari, A.S.
, a war-like Muslim tribe, inhabiting mostly the Hazāra district and parts of the districts of Rāwalpindī, Attock and Ḏj̲ehlam (Jhelum) of West Pakistan and that part of the Indian-held territory of Ḏj̲ammū which lies to the west of the Čināb; it is of indigenous origin. Agriculturists by profession, the Gakkhars are considered socially high and stand apart from the local tribes of Rād̲j̲pūt descent who resent their arrogance and racial pride. Many of the religious and social ceremonies observed…

Galata

(5 words)

[see istanbul ].

Galata-Saray

(5 words)

[see g̲h̲alaṭa-sarāyi̊ ].

Galen

(5 words)

[see d̲j̲ālīnūs ].

Galena

(5 words)

[see al-kuḥl ].

Galicia

(5 words)

[see d̲j̲illīḳiya ].

Galla

(626 words)

Author(s): Trimingham, J.S.
(own name Oromo , ‘the people’). A people widespread in the modern state of Ethiopia, speaking a language belonging to the Eastern (or Low) Kushitic group which includes ʿAfar-Saho and Somali). They irrupted from the region south of the Webi during the first half of the 16th century, almost contemporaneously with the campaigns of Aḥmad Grāñ [ q.v.] and spread fanwise, penetrating deeply into the Abyssinian highlands. For long they were a menace to the existence of the Ethiopian state but were finally subjected by Menelik II between 1872 and 1888. When their expansion began they were a…

Galley

(7 words)

[see safīna , s̲h̲āniya ].

Gallipoli

(5 words)

[see gelibolu ].

Gambia

(419 words)

Author(s): Jones, D. H.
, British Colony and Protectorate, West Africa, 13° 25′ N., 16° W.; 4,000 square miles in extent with a population of about 260,000. It forms a narrow enclave in the surrounding territory of Senegal, occupying both banks of the Gambia river to a distance of 200 miles from the coast and being nowhere more than 39 miles broad. The principal tribal groups are Mandingo, Fula and Wollof. ¶ The country is entirely agricultural, millet and rice providing the staple food of the people. The main economic crop is groundnuts, which accounts for nine-tenths of the revenue i…

Games

(5 words)

[see laʿb ].
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