Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition

(a.) (singular -a, pl. -at, naʿāʾim ) collective noun designating the ostrich ( Struthio camelus ) without any distinction of sex. The only representative of the family of struthionids, of the sub-class of ratities or runners, the ostrich, sometimes called “ostrich-camel” (Greek στρουθο-κάμηλος, Persian us̲h̲turmurg̲h̲ “camel-bird”, Turkish devekus̲h̲u “camel-bird”), at present lives only in equatorial and southern Africa, although some were still alive in the deserts of Syria, ʿIrāḳ and Arabia until the first quarter o…

, ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad al-S̲h̲āfiʿī , Egyptian jurist and grammarian. He was born and lived most of his life in Banhā, and died in 1859 in Cairo, aged about seventy. He was the author of two treatises on ʿilm al-ʿarabiyya , and bayān , and a number of commentaries: (1) on Ibn His̲h̲ām’s Ḳaṭr al-nadā on grammar; (2) on the S̲h̲arḥ al-k̲h̲aṭīb al-S̲h̲irbīnī , al-Iḳnāʿ fī ḥall alfāẓ Abī S̲h̲ud̲j̲āʿ on fīḳh , Būlāḳ 1289/1872; (3) on al-Suyūṭī’s Tafsīr al-Ḏj̲alālayn , entitled Ḳurrat al-ʿayn wa-nuzhat al-fuʾād ; (4) on the S̲h̲arḥ al-S̲h̲abs̲h̲īrī li’l-arbaʿīn of al-Nawawī, entitled ʿArūs al-a…

or Nabīṭ (coll.), Nabaṭī (sing.), Anbāṭ (pl.), the name given by the Arabs to the Nabataeans , amongst whom they distinguished the Nabaṭ al-Sham (i.e. of Syria), installed at Petra towards the end of the Hellenistic imperial era and at the beginning of the Roman one, and the Nabaṭ al-ʿIrāḳ (i.e. of ʿIrāḳ). [The Editors of the EI have decided to retain unchanged the following two articles, despite the inevitable overlappings in their present forms.] 1. The Nabaṭ al-S̲h̲ām. The Arabic term, occuring in Aramaic inscriptions, nbṭ / nbṭw , appears very often in the …

(a.), plants. Mediaeval Islamic interest in plants may roughly be divided into four categories: (a) philological-literary; (b) practical; (c) theoretical-philosophical; and (d) general. (a) Philological-literary. Bedouin knowledge of desert life included that of desert vegetation, and this found its way into Bedouin poetry. The nasīb and raḥīl parts of the ḳaṣīda contain numerous references to plants, shrubs and trees (e.g. the mention of ayhuḳān (wild rocket) and tamarisk in Labīd’s Muʿallaḳa ). A certain amount of botanical lore is also foun…

[see nabaṭ ]

(a.), the name given to the popular vernacular poetry of Arabia. Opinions differ regarding its origin and nomenclature. One view is that it is the direct descendant of Classical Arabic but termed Nabaṭī to indicate that it does not conform strictly to the rules of literary Arabic. Another view, one hardly to be taken seriously, holds that Nabaṭī poetry is older than Classical Arabic, was colloquial in origin, and flourished under the dynasty of al-Anbāṭ, i.e., the Nabataeans, who ruled in Petra until 105 A.D. and who were said to be originally nomads from the Mecca area [see nabaṭ. 1]. Whatev…

, the name of a tribe in ʿUmān, whose tribes are divided into independent fak̲h̲ūd̲h̲ (sing. fak̲h̲d̲h̲ ), with leaders generally denominated s̲h̲ayk̲h̲ , each one considering himself independent of the others, and acknowledging no superior. S.B. Miles reported in 1881 that 400 “Beni Nebhán”, a Ḳaḥṭānī (G̲h̲afīrī) tribe, dwelt at Semáil ( sic for Samāʿīl), on the coast in 23′ 18° N., 58′ 58° E. They appear to have been of minor importance. J.R.L. Carter gives a genealogy of Nabāhina s̲h̲ayk̲h̲s of the Banū Riyān, exclusively from traditional oral sources, who used the title malik …

, Yūsuf , an important, highly renowned Ottoman poet of the second half of the 11th/17th and beginning of the 12th/18th centuries. He came from Urfa (Ruhā, hence Ruhāʾī); on the members of his family cf. M. Diriöz, Nâbî’nin âilesine dâir yeni bilgiler , in Türk Kültürü , xiv, 167 (1976), 668-73. From mentions in his writings, we know that he was born in 1052/1642-3 and that he moved to Istanbul in his early twenties, i.e., during the reign of sultan Meḥemmed IV (1058-99/1648-87). In Istanbul he enjoyed the patronage of Muṣāḥib Muṣṭafā Pas̲h̲a (cf. Sid̲j̲ill-i ʿOt̲h̲mānī …

(a.), a comprehensive designation for intoxicating drinks, several kinds of which were produced in early Arabia, such as mizr (from barley), bitʿ (from honey: al-Buk̲h̲ārī, Mag̲h̲āzī , bāb 60, As̲h̲riba , bāb 4; Adab , bāb 80) or from spelt (Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, iv, 402), faḍīk̲h̲ (from different kinds of dates (al-Buk̲h̲ārī, As̲h̲riba, bāb 3, 21). These ingredients were steeped in water until they were fermented, and the result of this procedure was a slightly intoxicating drink. There were also combinations of raisins, dates and honey to be found. Nabīd̲h̲ was so…

[see d̲j̲ird̲j̲īs ].

, Ziyād b. Muʿāwiya (var. ʿAmr) b. Ḍabāb b. D̲j̲ābir (var. D̲j̲anāb) b. Yarbūʿ b. Salāma of the Banū Murra (G̲h̲aṭafān), one of the most renowned poets of the D̲j̲āhiliyya . With Imruʾ al-Ḳays and Zuhayr [ q.vv.] he eclipsed the earlier poets (Ibn Sallām, Ṭabaḳāt , ed. S̲h̲ākir, i, 50, 56-9; Abu ’l-Baḳāʾ Hibat Allāh al-Ḥillī, al-Manāḳib al-mazyadiyya , Amman 1984, i, 172). The traditions relating to al-Nābig̲h̲a are concerned with a brief period of his life, confined to the years 570-600, and show the poet being received by the G̲h̲assānid tribal chieftains …

, Ḳays b. ʿAbd Allāh, according to Ibn al-Kalbī, Ḥibbān (var. Ḥassān) b. Ḳays b. ʿAbd Allāh, according to al-Ḳahd̲h̲amī, of the Banū D̲j̲aʿda (ʿĀmir b. Ṣaʿṣaʿa), poet of the muk̲h̲aḍramūn [ q.v.] and a Companion famed for his longevity, to which he owes the honour of being included among the muʿammarūn [ q.v.] by Abū Ḥātim al-Sid̲j̲istānī. The biographical details concern the Islamic period only, and nothing or virtually nothing is known of his origins (the sole vestige, Dīwān, ed. Maria Nallino, no. IX, vv. 8-16). In 9/630, he took part in the wafd or deputation of…

, (a.), a term of Classical Arabic which means in particular “rising generation”, but one which today has acquired the pejorative sense of “bad lot, rogue” which the plural nawābit and the expression nābitat s̲h̲arr previously possessed. These meanings were noted by the mediaeval lexicographers, but one finds in Ibn al-Nadīm a section ( Fihrist , ed. Cairo, 255-7, ed. Tad̲j̲addud, 229-31) devoted to the mutakallimū ’l-mud̲j̲bira [see d̲j̲abriyya ] and to the nābitat al-ḥas̲h̲wiyya , amongst whom the main exponent was allegedly Ibn Kullāb [ q.v. in Suppl.], whilst al-Zamak̲h̲s̲h̲a…

[see nīnawā ].

[see nawwāb ].

, a town in central Palestine, the name of which is derived from that of Flavia Neapolis built in honour of Vespasian. Its Old Testament predecessor was Shechem, which however lay more to the east on the site of the present village of Balāṭa (the name is explained by S. Klein, in ZDPV, xxxv, 38-9; cf. R. Hartmann, in ibid., xxxiii, 175-6, as “platanus”, from the evidence of the pilgrim of Bordeaux and the Midras̲h̲ Gen. rb ., c. 81, § 3). According to Eusebius, the place where the old town stood was pointed out in a suburb of Neapolis. The correctne…

[see ʿabd al-g̲h̲anī b. ismāʿīl ].

(a., pl. nud̲h̲ur , Ḳurʾān, LIII, 57), from form IV of n-d̲h̲-r , with the meaning of warner; sometimes also as a verbal noun, e.g. LXVII, 17. The plural nud̲h̲ur is also found in the sense of an infinitive, e.g. LXXVII, 6. The term occurs frequently in the Sacred Book, where it is even said to be synonymous with rasūl ; its opposite is bas̲h̲īr , mubas̲h̲s̲h̲ir . Nad̲h̲īr as well as bas̲h̲īr are applied to the prophets, the former when they are represented as warners, the latter as announcers of good tidings (cf. XVII, 106; XXV, 58; XXXIII, 44; XLVIII, 8; mubas̲h̲s̲h̲iran wa-nad̲h̲īran …

(Mawlwi/Deputy) (1836-1912), Urdu prose writer, is often described as “the first real novelist” in the language. But this description presupposes that by “novels” we mean fiction dealing with contemporary social themes, more or less following Western models (for fiction prior to Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad, and that on other themes, see Ḳiṣṣa 5. In Urdu. The same article provides information on five of Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad’s novels). He was born in a village of Bid̲j̲nawr district, not far from Dihlī, of an impoverished and improvident father, who also tried to prevent him fro…

(a.), vow. This procedure was taken over into Islam from the pre-Islamic Arabs and underwent modification by the new religion. The idea of dedication is associated with the root n-d̲h̲-r which is also found in South Arabian, Hebrew and Aramaic and to some extent in Assyrian. An animal could be the object of dedication among the Arabs. For example, they dedicated by nad̲h̲r certain of their sheep etc., for the ʿatīra feast in Rad̲j̲ab ( Lisān al-ʿArab and al-D̲j̲awhari. s.v.); the dedication, which was expressed in solemn formulae, signified that th…

, Ḳāḍī , Kazi Nazrul Islam, (1899-1976), revolutionary Bengali poet, and the greatest Muslim contributor to modern Bengali literature. He was born on 24 May 1899 to Ḳāḍī Faḳīr Aḥmad and Zāhida K̲h̲ātūn of Čurūliyā, a village in the district of Burdwān in what is now the Indian province of West Bengal, to which his ancestors had moved from Pat́nā in the reign of the Mug̲h̲al emperor S̲h̲āh ʿAlam. As the title of Ḳāḍī denotes, his ancestors were judges in the Muslim administration. His father, a lover of Persian and Bengali poetry, died while Nad̲h̲r al-Islām was only …

b. Dīn Muḥammad b. D̲j̲ānī Muḥammad b. Yār Muḥammad, the fifth great k̲h̲ān of Mā warāʾ ’l-nahr and Balk̲h̲ [ q.vv.] of the Tuḳāy-Tīmūrid (D̲j̲ānid [ q.v.], As̲h̲tark̲h̲ānid) family of the D̲j̲ūčid line of Čingiz K̲h̲ān. Nad̲h̲r Muḥammad was born in 1000/1591-2, probably at K̲h̲argird in eastern K̲h̲urāsān to a descendant of Čingīz K̲h̲an and the daughter of a Riḍawī s̲h̲ayk̲h̲ from Mas̲h̲had. He was given an appanage at Balk̲h̲ ca. 1015/1606-7 during the k̲h̲ānate of his uncle Walī Muḥammad. For thirty-five years, until S̲h̲aʿbān 1051/November 1641 when he succee…

[see ibn al-nadīm ].

(a.) “drinking companion” and, by extension, friend, courtier (or confidant) of kings or of wealthy persons; his function is to entertain them, eat and drink in their company, play chess with them, accompany them in hunting and participate in their pastimes and recreations. Lexicography ( LA, xvi, 50 f.; TA, ix, 74; the Concordance of Ancient Arabic Poetry, edited by A. ¶ Arazi, contains more than 90 references to nadīm ) and mediaeval Arabic literature (which includes, among other literary forms, a special branch of anthologies devoted to drinking, feasting and pleasure; see Bibl …

[see nedīm, aḥmed ].

b. Miṣbāḥ al-Ḥasanī , (1843-96), radical Egyptian orator and propagandist, noted for his daring use of the vernacular in print and his caustic journalism, endeavouring inter alia to stem European intervention and limit the power of the Khedives. He was born in Alexandria, and he studied at the mosque of S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Ibrāhīm Pas̲h̲a. Running away from there, he worked as a telegraph officer in Banhā, and then later at the residence of the mother of the Khedive Ismāʿīl in Cairo. While in the capital he followed courses at al…

, Banu ’l- , one of the two main Jewish tribes of Medina, settled in Yat̲h̲rib from Palestine at an unknown date, as a consequence of Roman pressure after the Jewish wars. Al-Yaʿḳūbī (ii, 49) says they were a section of the D̲j̲ud̲h̲ām Arabs, converted to Judaism and first settled on Mount al-Naḍīr, whence their name; according to the Sīra Ḥalabiyya (Cairo, iii, 2) they were a truly Jewish tribe, connected with the Jews of K̲h̲aybar [ q.v.]. This seems the more probable, but a certain admixture of Arab blood is possible; like the other Jews of Medina, they bore Arabic na…

[see naẓīr al-samt ].

(a.) pl. nawādir , literally “rare thing, rarity”, denotes a pleasing anecdote containing wit, humour, jocularity and lively repartee, ( nukta , pl. nukat ; mulḥa , pl. mulaḥ ; fukāha , etc.) of the type which has never ceased to be an integral feature of all social gatherings, whether intimate or official. A taste for this variety of entertainment seems to have developed in the lst/7th century in the Holy Cities of Islam, especially at Medina, where instruction in the art of composing and delivering anecdotes [see al-d̲j̲idd wa ’l-hazl ] began at a very early st…

2. In Swahili literature. The word nādira is not well known in Swahili except in scholarly circles. The Swahili word ngano (common also in other Bantu languages) is in use for all invented tales including fables, as opposed to hadithi , which originally referred to Islamic legends about the Prophet Muḥammad and the characters he used to discuss with the Ṣaḥāba , while seated in the mosque at Medina after prayers. Today, such hadithi contain some of the most fantastic adventure tales, including the exploits of ʿAlī against the d̲j̲inn and s̲h̲ayāṭīn . Next to Arabi…

, ruler of Persia (1147-60/1736-47). Nadr- (or Nādir-)ḳulī Beg was born in Muḥarram 1100/November 1688 into an undistinguished family of the Ḳi̊rḳlu (Ḳi̊rk̲h̲lu) clan of the Afs̲h̲ār Turkoman tribe, at Dastgird in northern Khurasan, during the seasonal migration to winter pastures in Darra Gaz district. As a youth, Nādir joined the retinue of Bābā ʿAlī Beg Kūsa-Aḥmadlū, governor of Abīward, who gave him successively two daughters in marriage (one bore his eldest son Riḍā-ḳulī, a…

, K̲h̲ārid̲j̲ite sub-sect which was especially widespread in Baḥrayn and Yamāma. The name derives from that of its founder Nad̲j̲da b. ʿĀmir al-Ḥanafī al-Ḥarūrī. It is known of him that he rebelled in Yamāma at the time of al-Ḥusayn’s death in battle (61/680) and that in 64/683 he gave military help to ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Zubayr when he was besieged in Mecca by the Syrian army. Once the siege was raised, Nad̲j̲da, in company with other K̲h̲ārid̲j̲ite chiefs, including Nāfiʿ b. al-Azraḳ and ʿAbd Allāh b. Ibāḍ,…

or mas̲h̲had ʿalī , a town and place of pilgrimage in ʿIrāḳ 10 km 6 miles west of al-Kūfa. It lies on the edge of the desert on a flat barren eminence from which the name al-Nad̲j̲af has been transferred to it (A. Musil, The Middle Euphrates , 35), at an altitude of 37 m/120 feet in lat. 31° 59′ N. and long. 44° 20′ E. According to the usual tradition, the Imām al-Muʾminīn ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib [ q.v.] was buried near al-Kūfa, not far from the dam which protected the city from flooding by the Euphrates at the place where the ¶ town of al-Nad̲j̲af later arose (Yāḳūt, Muʿd̲j̲am , iv, 760)…

, a dynasty of Abyssinian slaves with their capital in Zabīd [ q.v.], reigned 412-553/1022-1158. ¶ The best historical source for an understanding of the dynasty is ʿUmāra (see Kay, in Bibl .), but it should be stressed that ʿUmāra’s account is sometimes confused, frequently anecdotal with interruptions of little or no relevance and lacking in dates. Other published sources which can be used as a control on ʿUmāra’s text are listed below, though many depend ultimately on him, being transmitted in the main through other writers. When the last Ziyādid [ q.v.] had been put to death during…

, loanword from the Ethiopic, used in Arabic to designate the ruler of Ethiopia at the time of the Prophet and in the early period of Islam. In Geʿez, nägâsî , pl. nägäst is the nomen agentis of the verb nägsä “to rule, to become king” (Leslau, Comparative dictionary, 392-3), used both as a proper noun (cf. ḳayṣar ) and as a nomen appellativum, yielding the form in western European languages negus . For the evolution of ancient Semitic g to d̲j̲ , see d̲j̲īm and Nöldeke, Neue Beiträge , 47. Ethiopic ś (known as negus śä i.e. the ś used in the word neguś ), is rendered in Arabic by s̲h̲ ( s̲h̲ayṭān , nad̲j̲ās…

, Ḳays b. ʿAmr al-Ḥārit̲h̲ī, Arab poet of the 1st/7th century, probably called by this epithet because of his dark skin inherited from his Ethiopian mother, d. 49/669. Born in Nad̲j̲rān, he and his clan became converts to Islam at Medina in 10/632. His bellicose nature led him to compose virulent satires against ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Ḥassān b. T̲h̲ābit, who replied with the aid of his father. On the advice of al-Ḥuṭayʾa and Ḥassān [ q.vv.], the caliph ʿUmar had al-Nad̲j̲ās̲h̲ī imprisoned for his invectives against the B. ʿAd̲j̲lān and their poet Ibn Muḳbil [ q.v.]. At the battle of Ṣiffīn, he…

, Mīr ʿAbd al-ʿāl , a Persian poet, born about 1046/1636-7, the son of a Ḥusaynī Sayyid Mīr Muḥammad Muʾmin of Iṣfahān. Little is known of his life. Only this much is certain, that he, like many other Persian poets of this time, worked in the offices of different Persian dignitaries. For example, he was a mustawfī [ q.v.] with the Ṣadr Mirzā Ḥabīb Allāh, later occupied the same office in Astarābād and ended his career in 1126/1714 after being for many years muns̲h̲ī with the Ṣafawid princes S̲h̲āh Sulaymān (1077-1105/1666-94) and S̲h̲āh Sulṭān Ḥusayn (110…

[see ned̲j̲ātī ].

(a. “uplands”), conventionally defined as the plateau region of the Arabian peninsula lying to the east of the Red Sea lowlands (al-Tihāma [ q.v.]) and the mountain barrier running down through the western side of the peninsula (al-Ḥid̲j̲āz [ q.v.]). 1. Geography and habitat. ¶ The exact application of this originally topographical conception is very differently understood, and sometimes it means more generally the elevated country above the coastal plain or the extensive country, the upper part of which is formed by the Tihāma and the Yam…

[see nad̲j̲adāt ].

, al-Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad Abū ʿAbd Allāh , Murd̲j̲iʾī D̲j̲abrī theologian of the period of al-Maʾmūn. Born in the city of Bamm, he apparently grew up there as well, and worked as a weaver at the embroidery house ( dār al-ṭirāz ); according to another version, he worked at a factory which ¶ produced metal weights. The sources are silent with regard to the dates of his birth and death; however, if we accept as true the report that he died of sorrow over his argument with al-Naẓẓām, the Muʿtazilī theologian, it is reasonable to assume that al-Nad̲j̲d̲…

, carpenter [see k̲h̲as̲h̲ab , mas̲h̲rabiyya , etc.].

, also called al-Ḥusayniyya , the followers of al-Ḥusayn al-Nad̲j̲d̲j̲ār [ q.v.], an early, specifically Ḥanafī sect of kalām (see W. Madelung, Religious trends in early Islamic Iran , Albany 1988, 29) which flourished during the reign of al-Maʾmūn (198-218/813-33), and whose representatives took part in the controversies throughout the course of the miḥna [ q.v.] or inquisition. But this doctrine, unlike the Muʿtazila, was compelled to ¶ withdraw from Bag̲h̲dād and from the borders of ʿIrāḳ and to move on to the eastern provinces in the wake of the abolition of the miḥna by al-Mutawakk…

, Ibrāhīm (1898-1953), influential Egyptian Romantic poet. He graduated from the Medical School in 1923, going into private practice. He was then employed by Egyptian Railways, and later became Director of the Medical Department of the Ministry of Waḳfs . He associated with and influenced the Romantic poets ʿAlī Maḥmūd Ṭāhā, Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Muʿṭī al-Hams̲h̲arī and Ṣāliḥ D̲j̲awdat, like him all connected with the Apollo magazine, founded ¶ by Aḥmad Zakī Abū S̲h̲ādī [ q.v.] in 1932. An outstanding lyrical poet, much of his work concerns his personal relationships, in p…

(Neguib) [see muḥammad nad̲j̲īb ]

, a town in the western part of the Rohilk̲h̲and region of modern Uttar Pradesh state in India (lat. 29° 37′ N., long. 78° 19′ E.), the centre of a taḥṣīl of the same name in the Bijnor District. The town was founded by the Afg̲h̲ān commander and wazīr of the Mug̲h̲al Emperors, Nad̲j̲īb al-Dawla [ q.v.], who in 1168/1755 built a fort, Patthagaŕh, one mile to the east. Sacked by the Marāt́hās [ q.v.] in 1186/1772, it passed two years later to the Nawwābs of Awadh [ q.v.] (Oudh). Nad̲j̲īb al-Dawla’s greatgrandson Maḥmūd participated in the Great Rebellion of 1857-8, and his palace wa…

(1867-99). Syro-Egyptian journalist, poet, novelist, playwright and prolific translator, born in Beirut. His family moved to Alexandria in 1873. He was a journalist on al-Ahrām for more than ten years, founded the Lisān al-ʿArab and al-Salām newspapers, and edited the Anīs al-D̲j̲alīs magazine. Considered an excellent poet, his youthful dīwān was published as Tad̲h̲kār al-ṣibā and later selections from his poetry and prose appeared. One of the most competent translators of the period, he translated fiction by Alexandre Dumas père , Lamartine and others…

, Afg̲h̲ān commander in northern India during the 18th century, whose power-base was in Rohilkand, where he founded the town of Nad̲j̲ībābād [ q.v.]. Involved in the confused struggles for power in Dihlī during the reigns of the fainéant Mug̲h̲al Emperors Aḥmad S̲h̲āh Bahādur [ q.v.] and ʿAlamgīr II in the 1750s, as opponent of the Nawwāb-wazīr of Awadh (Oudh) [ q.v.] Ṣafdār D̲j̲ang, he worked closely with the Afg̲h̲ān ruler Aḥmad S̲h̲āh Durrānī [ q.v.] and received from him in 1757 the title of amīr al-umarāʾ and custodianship of the Emperor ʿĀlamgīr II. At…

(see nad̲j̲īb al-dawla ).

(1932-78), a leading experimental Egyptian dramatist, director, actor and poet. He studied law at the College of Law and drama in Cairo and Moscow, working for several years in the Arabic section of Radio Moscow. Back in Cairo from 1964 onwards, in a flourishing era of Egyptian theatre, using Brechtian devices, he utilised the Egyptian folk heritage and music, and classical and modern poetry as source material for his colloquial plays, telling the story of the struggle of the ordinary Egyptian p…