Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition

b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Fahmī , Abu ’l Ḥārit̲h̲ , traditionist and juris-consult, belonging to the class of the great tābiʿūn . He was born and died in Egypt (Ḳarḳas̲h̲anda, S̲h̲aʿbān 94/May 713—Miṣr, 14 S̲h̲aʿbān 175/16 December 791. At the cemetery in Cairo, may be seen the tomb of “El Imam El Leis”). This “scholar of Egypt” (of Persian origin) is ranked unanimously among the leading authorities ( fuḳahāʾ al-amṣār ) on questions of religious knowledge in the early years of the Islamic empire, these being: Abū Ḥanīfa, Sufyān al-T̲h̲awrī and Ib…

, a people of South Caucasian stock (Iberic, “Georgian”) now dwelling in the southeastern corner of the shores of the Black Sea, in the region called in Ottoman times Lazistān. 1. History and geography. The ancient history of the Laz is complicated by the uncertainty which reigns in the ethnical nomenclature of the Caucasus generally; the same names in the course of centuries are applied to different units (or groups). The fact that the name Phasis was applied to the Rion, to the Čorok̲h̲ (the ancient Akampsis), and even to the sources of the Araxes, also creates difficulties. The earliest G…

, the name in the Gospels of (1) the poor man who finds compensation in Abraham’s bosom for the misery of this world (Luke, xvi, 19-31); and (2) the dead man whom Jesus raises to life (John, xi). The Ḳurʾān mentions neither the one nor the other, but among the miracles with which it credits Jesus is included the raising from the dead (III, 43/49). Muslim legend with its fondness for the miracle of resurrection is fond of telling of the dead whom Jesus revives, but rarely mentions Lazarus. Al-Ṭabarī in his Taʾrīk̲h̲ talks of these miracles in general. According to …

[see lubnān ]

, the name generally used in Indonesia for the ʿĪd al-Fiṭr [ q.v.], originally means “end” or “close”, in this case specifically the end of the fast (Indonesian puasa ). Combining it with the Javanese word garĕbĕg (“procession”), people in Java also use the term garĕbĕg puasa, the court festival at the end of the fast. Ignoring the original meaning of the word lĕbaran , the expression lĕbaran haji is sometimes used for the ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā [ q.v.], the “major festival’ according to Islamic law. Just as in other Islamic countries, the festival after the month of fasting is also celebr…

, an Arabie term used in the Berber-speaking regions of central and southern Morocco (a different term is used in a similar way in Berberophone regions of northern Morocco, and the term ṣoff appears to be its equivalent in Kabylia) to denote a kind of political alliance or party. The term or the notion acquires its importance, however, from its prominence in the literature on the social and political organisation of the Berbers, notably in the work of R. Montagne, who extended it to the totality of North African, and eventually also to Middle …

Grk. Leukosia, the town of Nicosia in Cyprus [see ḳubrus ]. The town was under joint Arab-Byzantine rule from 688 A.D. to 965 when Nicephorus Phocas seized it (R. J. H. Jenkins, Cyprus between Byzantium and Islam, A.D. 688-965, in Studies presented to D. M. Robinson..., St. Louis 1953, ii, 1006-14). The Venetians occupied it in 1489, the Ottomans in 1571, the British in 1878, annexing it in 1914. The town was sacked by Mamlūk forces of Sultan Barsbay in 1426. The Ottomans captured the town after a fifty-day siege in 1570, after much suffer…

[see mīrāt̲h̲ ]

[see ḥikāya , ḳiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ , ḳiṣṣa ]

[see tas̲h̲rīʿ ]

( or ), the ancient Ottoman Turkish term for the Poles and Poland (from Lęch , Polish tribal name later extended to comprise all the nation, with the original nasal ę ousted by e, as in Byz. Λεχοι “the Poles” and Λεχία “Poland”. In Turkish, Poland was also called Leh wilāyeti ( memleketi ), the Poles Lehlü and the Polish language léhd̲j̲e . From the 12th/18th century, the Turks also called the country Lehistān (Pers. Lahistān , from which is derived Pers. ahl-i Lahistān “Poles” and zabān-i Lahistānī “the Polish language”). In the hithert…

[see al-kāf ].

[see limnǐ ]

, the name by which the author of the Descrittione dell’ Africa is generally known, who was in fact originally called al-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad al-Wazzān al-Zayyātī (or al-Fāsī). He was born in Granada between 894 and 901/1489 and 1495 into a family which had to emigrate to Morocco after that city’s fall [see g̲h̲arnāṭa ], and was brought up in Fās, where he received a good education and very soon entered the service of the administration there. Whilst still a student, he was employed for two years in the mental hospital, which he describes in detail ( Description , tr. Epaulard, i, 188 [see bīmāristān…

[see liyūn ]

[see aynabak̲h̲ti̊ ]

[see d̲j̲ud̲h̲ām, in Suppl.]

[see lārida ]

(Ottoman , from the Albanian, Italian Alessio), a minor port, military stronghold and administrative centre in northern Albania, 30 km. to the south of Shkodër/Scutari, which was part of the Ottoman empire between 1478 and 1912. Les̲h̲, the classical Lissus, is one of the oldest urban centres of the country. It is built on the banks of the river Drin not far from its estuary, and is overlooked by two isolated hills, each carrying the ruins of ancient fortifications. This setting largely determined the history…

[see barīd , ḥarf , risāla ]