Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE

The elegy, a poem or song bemoaning and commemorating a dead person, is generally considered to be a widespread genre of traditional Turkic (including Ottoman and Turkish) literature. Among the Turkic peoples, elegies may very broadly be divided into folkloristic and more literary subgenres. As for poetic form, generalizations are difficult due to the long history of the genre and the wide and culturally non-homogeneous geographical area concerned. Quite naturally given the subject, most Turkic elegies are longer than a stanza and comparable in average length to the ghazal (traditi…

The term “element” (Ar. ʿunṣur, pl. ʿanāṣir) is commonly used to refer to the four elements found in nature, according to classical Greek and mediaeval (including Islamic) science—namely, fire, air, water, and earth. An equivalent Arabic term, borrowed from the Greek στοιχεῖον (stoicheion) via Syriac, is usṭuqus (pl. usṭuqusāt). Aristotle credits Empedocles (c. 495–35 B.C.E.) with being the first to formulate the theory of the four elements that underlie all material substances. These elements could be found combined in natural substances (fo…

Elias of Nisibis (b. 364/974–5, d. 438/1046–7) was the most significant theologian writing in Christian Arabic during the fifth/eleventh century. He served as metropolitan archbishop of Nisibis (present-day Nusaybin, Turkey) for the East Syriac (“Nestorian”) Church of the East from 399/1008 to 438/1046. He was born in Shīnāyā (hence his nickname Bar Shīnāyā), near the Tigris, south of the Great Zab River. He was ordained a priest in 384/994 by Yuḥannā b. ʿĪsā (d. 401–2/1011), a bishop who would la…

Elijah, a biblical prophet who is commonly identified with Ilyās and Ilyāsīn, is mentioned three times in the Qurʾan. The Arabic name Ilyās was probably borrowed, via Syriac, from the Greek form (Ἠλίας) of the Hebrew Eliyāhū; a variant form, Ilyāsīn, found only in Q 37:130, is probably best explained as demanded by the rhyme scheme of the passage (Horovitz, 99). Q 6:85 simply lists Ilyās along with Zechariah, John, and Jesus as being among the righteous. Q 37:123–32 tells a more extensive story of Ilyās being sent as a messenger to worshippers of Baʿl (Ba…

Elisha (Ar. al-Yasaʿ) is considered a prophet in Muslim tradition and is mentioned twice in the Qurʾān among the upright and just men, in verses that also mention other prophetic figures. In Q 6:84, David and Solomon, Job and Joseph, and Moses and Aaron are mentioned among the descendants of Isaac and Jacob, and in Q 6:85–6, it is stated that “Zacharias and John, Jesus and Elias, all were upright men, and Ishmael, Elisha, Jonah, and Lot.” In a second passage (Q 38:48), Elisha is mentioned, along…

The terms for elixir in Late Antiquity, Greek ksērion and Syriac ksīrīn, which were the source of Arabic al-iksīr and and then Latin elixir, denoted, in both medicine and alchemy, an agent for the “healing” of bodies. In medicine the term was used also specifically as a collyrium for the eyes; in alchemy it was, in most cases, a mysterious agent believed to make possible the transformation (transmutation) of imperfect bodies, metals in particular, into noble and immutable bodies (transmutation into “gold” and “silver”…

Elvan (Elvān) Çelebi (d. after 760/1358–9), an Ottoman poet, was the son of Âşık Ali (ʿĀşıq ʿAlī) Paşa (d. 13 Safer 733/3 November 1332), author of the Garibname (Gharībnāme). His grandfather was Muhlis (Mukhliṣ) Paşa (d. 672/1273–4), and his great grandfather, Baba İlyas-i Horasani (Bābā İlyās-i Khurāsānī, d. 638/1240). Elvan Çelebi’s exact date and place of birth are unknown, but he was probably born in Kırşehir, located in central Anatolia. Some sources identify him as “Ulvan” (ʿUlvān), but the Arabic epitaph on the tom…

The doctrine of emanation ( fayḍ) plays an important role in Arabic-Islamic philosophy, even though it was rejected, for different reasons, by theologians such as al-Ghazālī (d. 515/1111) and philosophers such as Ibn Rushd (Averroës, d. 595/1198). It is rooted in Greek philosophy and was transmitted to Arabic-speaking scholars during the translation of Greek works, especially those of Neoplatonic phil-osophy. In Greek philosophy, “emanation” is a metaphor, whose philosophical use, although attested i…

Emine Semiye (Emīne Semiyye) (1280/1864–1944), a daughter of Ahmed Cevdet Paşa (Aḥmed Cevdet, politician, jurist, and historian, d. 1312/1895) and one of the pioneers of the Ottoman feminist movement, a writer, journalist, politician, and activist, was born in Istanbul. Like her brother Ali Sedat (ʿAlī Sedād, d. 1318/1900) and her sister Fatma Aliye (Fāṭima ʿAliyye, d. 1936), she studied religion, literature, and philosophy with the most significant teachers of her time. At an advanced age, she t…

Emin Nihad (Emīn Nihād, d. after 1875) was the author of Müsameretname (Müsāmeretnāme, “Book of night entertainment”), a work of seven narratives in Ottoman Turkish published in twelve volumes between 1288/1872 and 1292/1875. Except for a single reference in Yusuf (Yūsuf) Neyyir’s Gülzar-ı hayal (2 vols., 1288/1871–2 and 1292/1875), which indicates that Emin Nihad worked in the Turkish Correspondance Office (Mektubi-i Hariciye Kalemi/ Mektūb-ı Khāriciyye Qalemi) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are no extant sources that document his life. The Müsameretname is a coll…

The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Empedocles (c. 490–430 B.C.E.) was known in the Muslim world as Anbaduqlīs (his name appears in other variants, including Ambīduqlīs, Ibn Duqlīs, Anfāriqlūs, and even Benīdīdīs). Authentic fragments of Empedocles’ poems were transmitted in Arabic through citations in the works of Aristotle and his commentators. The translations were often very defective, as Arab translators generally felt uneasy with Greek verse. The Arabs had some knowledge of Empedoclean doctrines also through Greek doxographies, such as the Placita philosophorum of Aeti…

Emrullah (Amr Allāh) Efendi (1275/1858–22 Ramazan (Ramaḍān) 1332/14 August 1914) was a prominent Ottoman educationalist and minister of public instruction. He was born to a merchant, Ali (ʿAlī) Efendi, in 1275/1858, in Lüleburgaz (a town in European Turkey, 138 km/86 mi west-northwest of Istanbul). After graduating from the Mekteb-i Mülkiye (School of Civil Service) in 1298/1881, Emrullah Efendi served as maarif müdürü ( maʿārif müdīr, director of education) in Ioannina (1299/1882), Salonica (1301/1884), Aleppo (1304/1887), and Aydın (1308/1891). In 1309/189…

The Encümen-i şuara (Encümen-i şuʿarā), an Ottoman literary group, was formed in Istanbul, in the second half of the nineteenth century, by poets who adhered to classical poetry but also followed new trends in poetry. Encümen-i şuara, or “Assembly of poets,” was not the group’s proper name but frequently used as its designation, especially after the founding of the Turkish Republic. Leskofçalı Galip (Lesqofçalı Ghālib, d. 1284/1867) was considered the leader of the group, which met once a week for…

Arabic-language encyclopaedias are attested in the classical Arabic-Islamic intellectual tradition from its very beginnings. They assume various forms and encompass materials profane and sacred, speculative and traditional, entertaining and edifying. A subset of the broad field of compilatory literature—which includes anthologies, dictionaries, textbooks, manuals, and other types of compendia—encyclopaedic works similarly depend upon the selection, organisation, and transmission of authoritative …

Enderuni Fazıl (Fāḍıl Bey Enderūnī, d. 1224/1809–10) was an Ottoman poet who was born in ʿAkkā (Acre), into an Arab family originally of Medina. His grandfather, Tahir (Ṭāhir) Bey, was governor of both ʿAkkā and Ṣafad. Tahir Bey was able to maintain a semi-independent state in the area, but his domain was subjected to the Porte in 1090/1776–7 by Gazi Hasan (Ghāzī Ḥasan) Paşa (d.1204–1790). Tahir Bey was killed in the conflict with Gazi Hasan Paşa, and his son, Enderuni Fazıl’s father, was slain a…

The Enderun Mektebi (Enderūn Mektebi, Palace School) was established to educate and train capable state governors, clerks, and officers—in other words, the Ottoman ruling elite. In Ottoman Turkish, enderūn means “inside” (from the Persian andarūn), and Enderun Mektebi literally denotes “Internal School.” There are various views about the exact time of its establishment. Some authors assert that it was founded during the reign of Sultan Murad (Murād) II (r. 824–48/1421–44 and 850–5/1446–51), in Edirne. Others claim that it was la…

The Entente Liberale (Turk. Hürriyet ve İtilaf Fırkası/Ott. Ḥürriyet ve İʾtilāf Fırqası, the Freedom and Accord Party) was founded in Istanbul, on 21 November 1911, but the party’s origins go back to the establishment of the Ahrar Fırkası (Aḥrār Fırqası, the Liberal Union), on 14 September 1908. The inspiration behind both parties was Prince Sabahaddin (Prens Ṣabāh al-Dīn, d. 1948), who returned from his Parisian exile on 21 August 1908. However, he refused the leadership, preferring to be the inspiration behind the scene in both parties. The Ahrar Fırkası hoped to become the dom…

Enveri (Enverī, fl. 869/1465) was a ninth/fifteenth century Turkish poet and the author of Düsturname (Düstūrnāme) and Teferrücname (Teferrücnāme), which is now lost. His real name is unknown because it was common for Ottoman poets to use pennames; Enveri, which means “luminous,” was his mahlas ( makhlaṣ, sobriquet). Major Ottoman biographers do not mention Enveri, so it is difficult to sketch his life story based on anything other than the details he presents about himself in Düsturname. Enveri’s first work, Teferrücname, was written between 866/1462 and 869/1465 and is kn…

Enver Paşa (1 Muharrem (Muḥarram) 1299–10 Zilhicce (Dhu l-Ḥijja) 1340/23 November 1881–4 August 1922) was a Young Turk leader and Ottoman minister of war. His full name was İsmail (Ismāʿīl) Enver; however, he gained fame as Enver Bey/Paşa. He was born in Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire. His autobiographies in Turkish and German provide different birth dates (1 Muharrem 1299/23 November 1881 and 25 Muharrem 1300/6 December 1882, respectively), but the former has been more widely accepted. His fathe…