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(a.), litt. batteur de tambour, possesseur d’un tambour, tambourinaire gagnant sa vie en jouant différentes sortes de tambours [voir Ṭabl]. Les joueurs de tambour ( ṭabbālūn) en tant que groupe apparaissent dans les récits historiques d’époque ʿabbāside. Al-Iṣfahānī note que le peuple a coutume de chanter sur fond de tambour. Les joueurs de tambour se produisaient à l’occasion de célébrations ou de festivités diverses. Les naissances donnaient l’occasion aux gens riches de festoyer avec leurs amis et de nourrir les pauv…

(a.), littéralement «producteur ou vendeur de feuilles, waraḳ», désigne dans l’Islam médiéval le copiste de manuscrits, le vendeur de papier, et aussi le libraire. D’après al-Samʿānī, Ansāb, éd. Ḥaydarābād, XIII, 300, le terme s’appliquait spécifiquement aux copistes de recueils de maṣāḥif et de ḥadīth. Les matériaux les plus anciens qui aient été employés ont dû être le parchemin et le papyrus [voir Ḳirṭās et Raḳḳ], largement remplacés, progressivement, par le papier, dont la production à Bag̲h̲dād commença à la fin du IIe/VIIIe siècle et au début du IIIe/IXe siècle [voir Kāg̲h̲ad].…

, Iskāfī (a., pl. asākifa ), “shoemaker”, the tradesman who in pre-modern Islamic times produced ordinary shoes ( k̲h̲uff , pl. k̲h̲ifāf ), nailed boots used by the common people ( lālaka , pl. lawālik ) and also s̲h̲amus̲h̲kāt (sing. s̲h̲amus̲h̲k ), a type of boots of Coptic Arab origin (cf. al-Subkī, Ṭabaḳāt al-s̲h̲āfiʿiyya , Cairo 1966, 360). The shoemakers’ use of leather gave rise ¶ to a proverbial expression bayt al-iskāf “the shoemaker’s house” which looked like a “house of hides” because of the pieces of leather everywhere. Like other …

1. In the central Islamic lands and North Africa. Add to the articles mentioned there the following article. In the caliphal lands. The emergence of Islam is known to have coincided with the disappearance of wheeled carts or wagons [see ʿad̲j̲ala ] in many parts of the Middle East, although the extinction of such transport cannot be conclusively proved. In fact, wheeled vehicles were in existence in the Middle East for many centuries after the rise of Islam, although they were rarely used. The wheel was replaced by the camel in the Middle East during the era of the caliphates. Camels [see ibil …

(a.), pl. ṣāg̲h̲a and ṣawwāg̲h̲ūn , goldsmith, denotes a group of skilled craftsmen in Islamic society. In the early centuries of Islam, according to al-D̲j̲āḥiẓ and al-K̲h̲uzāʿī, the goldsmiths were mainly artisans of Jewish and Christian faith, but some Arab writers also recognised the existence of Muslim goldsmiths. The earliest recorded goldsmiths known to Islamic history, according to Kattānī, belonged to the Jewish tribe of Banū Ḳaynuḳāʿ [ q.v.] of Medina during the Prophet’s time. Their skill was highly rated in society, yet the mediaeval Arabs thought th…

(a.), the seller of snow or ice ( t̲h̲ald̲j̲ ) in the mediaeval caliphate (the nisba al-T̲h̲ald̲j̲ī, known for a certain number of traditionists, relates to the Banū T̲h̲ald̲j̲, a branch of Kināna; see Ibn al-Kalbī-Caskel, Ğamharat an-nasab , i, Table 280, ii, 553; al-Samʿānī, Ansāb , ed. Ḥaydarābād, iii, 144-5; for traditionists with the nisba of al-T̲h̲allād̲j̲, see ibid., iii, 156-8). T̲h̲ald̲j̲ is mentioned in ḥadīt̲h̲ , there being attributed to the Prophet the sayings Allāhumma barrid ḳalbī bi ’l-t̲h̲ald̲j̲ . “O Lord, cool my heart with snow!” and Allāhumma ag̲h̲sil k̲h̲aṭāyāya…

(a.), lit. drummer; owner of a drum; a drumming expert who earned his livelihood by playing various kinds of drums [see ṭabl ]. The drummers ( ṭabbālūn ) as a group emerge in Arabic historical writings of the ʿAbbāsid period. Al-Iṣfahānī noted that people used to sing with drumbeats. Drummers performed in various celebrations and festivities. Birthdays were celebrated by the wealthy who feasted with friends and fed the poor amidst ¶ musical entertainment. In one particular instance, the drummers beat drums and musicians played clarions ( būḳāt ) while celebrat…

(a.), lit. water-carrier, was a term denoting manual workers who carried water in a leather-bottle ( ḳirba ) or jar ( kūz ) on their shoulders or on a mule (and even on a camel in rare circumstances) in pre-modern towns and large villages as well as pilgrimage centres throughout the Middle East and North Africa. A leather bottle during the early Islamic period reportedly cost a modest sum of about 3 dirhams. The necessity for supplying drinking water to the thirsty and the poor members of the community was regarded, according to a tradition ( ḥadīt̲h̲ ), as a work of excellent charity ( ṣadaḳa …

(a.) “weaver, textile worker”, synonymous with ḥāʾik , and including sedentary weavers of the towns and villages and also those of the pastoralists and Bedouins. These were usually freemen, but sometimes slaves. Nassād̲j̲ was a less derogatory term than ḥāʾik but on the whole the status of the weaver was low in Islamic society, an attitude crystallised in a saying attributed to ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālīb, “Walking with a weaver ( nassād̲j̲ ) on the road increases a man’s livelihood; talking to him is inauspicious, and visiting his workshop stupefies a person” (al-Rāg̲h̲ib al-Iṣfahānī, Muḥāḍarāt a…

(a.), lamp (synonyms miṣbāḥ , ḳindīl , etc., from Pers. čirāg̲h̲ via Syriac s̲h̲rāgā or s̲h̲rāg̲h̲ā ). In the Ḳurʾān, the word sirād̲j̲ occurs four times, and miṣbāḥ three times, in the sense of lamp or beacon. In LXXI, 15/16, the sun is characterised as a sirād̲j̲, and XXXIII, 45/46, the Prophet is called a “shining lamp”, sirād̲j̲ munīr . The most famous reference is, however, in the “light verse”, XXIV, 35, where God’s light is compared with a niche in which is a lamp [see nūr . 2.]. Later in Islam, Ibn ʿArabī [ q.v.] interpreted the allegory of the Ḳurʾānic “fourfold light”, expressed by mis̲h̲k…

(a.), lit. dyer, is a technical term which was applied to a group of skilled craftsmen in Islamic Middle East and North Africa. In a polemical ¶ writing, the Arab writer al-Ḏj̲āḥiẓ argued that the dyers, tanners, cuppers, etc. were exclusively Jewish in the early Islamic period, but historians like al-Ḵh̲aṭīb al-Bag̲h̲dādī and other writers have indicated names of Muslims bearing the name al-Ṣabbāg̲h̲ which may indicate the involvement of Muslims in the dyer’s profession at least during later Islamic centuries. A stateme…

5. In mediaeval ʿIrāḳ. Before the Arab conquest of ʿIrāḳ there were markets frequented by Arabs in ancient cities, such as al-Ḥīra and al-Madāʾin [ q.vv.]. There was also a so-called “sūḳ Bag̲h̲dād” on the west bank of the Tigris, where a monthly market was held during the Sāsānid period. The latter was raided by Arab troops as early as the caliphate of Abū Bakr (Le Strange, Baghdad , 12, 101). Following the Arab conquest of ʿIrāḳ, the founders of the garrison towns of Baṣra and Ḳūfa designated an open space close to the mosque for use as a market. ¶ In this they were emulating the Prophet Muḥ…

(a.), two antithetical terms which, as here, and also in the plural al-k̲h̲āwaṣṣ wa’l-ʿawāmm , denote in a general way the élite and commonalty, the notables and the plebs, or the aristocracy and the masses. It is, however, extremely difficult to be more precise about these two elements of the population. Despite the equalitarianism preached by Islam, the existence of social classes within the community is indisputable, and it is certain that the use of these two general terms, by both a…

(A.), lit. sweeper, is a term synonymous with kassāḥ ; other words used in the Arab Orient for the same occupation are sammād and zabbāl , which denote “dung collectors” or scavengers who collected garbage, such as animal dung, to be used as fertiliser. The kannāsūn , the sanitary workers, swept public squares ( riḥāb ) and other places such as prisons ( sud̲j̲ūn ), dungeons ( maṭābiḳ ) and latrines ( kunūf ), and transported garbage in boats or by other means to places outside the cities. The earliest known report in Islamic literature of scave…

(a.) “tailor”, “dressmaker”. In classical Arabic literature, tailors formed a group of skilled artisans who made the clothing for all social classes in the Near East. A maxim attributed to the Prophet runs ʿamal al-abrār min al-rid̲j̲āl al-k̲h̲iyāṭa wa-ʿamal al-abrār min al-nisāʾ al-g̲h̲azal “the occupation of pious men is tailoring, and that of pious women is spinning. Though this saying is of dubious authenticity, it does establish a division of labour between men and women, and it furthermo…

(a.), cook, a professional term, although rarely used as a laḳab in early Islamic times; however, the ṭāhī or s̲h̲āwī “roaster” is mentioned in ancient poetry describing feasts, but these were probably slaves deputed to do the job, and not professionals. The early Arabs’ diet used to include dates, milk, vegetables, mushroom, lentils, onion, honey, coarse bread, and meat of various animals like lamb, goats, camels, rabbits, reptiles, etc. Most of the food they ¶ ate did not require much cooking, hence the profession of cook only appears with the political expansion of…

(a.), literally, “producer or seller of leaves, waraḳ ”, in mediaeval Islam the designation for the copyist of manuscripts, paper seller, and also bookseller. According to al-Samʿānī, Ansāb , ed. Ḥaydarābād, xiii, 300, the term was specifically applied to copyists of maṣāḥif and ḥadīt̲h̲ compilations. The earliest material used must have been parchment and papyrus [see Ḳirṭās and raḳḳ ], gradually replaced largely by paper, whose production in Bag̲h̲dād began in the late 2nd/8th century and early 3rd/9th century [see kāg̲h̲ad ]. From this time onwards, …

(a.), the seller of dates, often found as a nisba of merchants who traded in dates and known also as one for traditionists and holy men, such as Dāwūd b. Ṣāliḥ al-Tammār, ʿAbd al-Malik al-Tammār and ʿAlī b. S̲h̲uʿayb al-Tammār (see al-Samʿānī, Ansāb , ed. Ḥaydarābād, iii, 72-4; Ibn al-At̲h̲īr, al-Lubāb fī tahd̲h̲īb al-ansāb , Cairo 1939, 180-1). The date-palm fulfilled many uses in the Islamic societies of the Arab and Persian lands, not merely with its fruit as food but with its wood, branches and fronds for a variety of uses, from basket-weaving and …

(a.), miller; owner and operator of mills to grind wheat, and other grains to produce flour. There were no millers ( ṭaḥḥān ) and bread-makers or sellers ( k̲h̲abbāz ) in the Islamic society of Medina during the era of the Prophet. Instead, every family used to buy grain, grind and make bread for daily meals (Kattānī, Tarātīb , ii, 108-9). Some wives of the Prophet used to grind grains in hand-mills. A favourite illustration of this practice was the example of the Prophet’s daughter, Fāṭima, who used to grind grain for her own family. In early Islam, some seasonal farm labourers of Baṣra …

(a.), candlemaker (synonymous with s̲h̲amʿī ). The usage of the latter term as a nisba is illustrated by al-Samʿānī citing names of some candlemakers who were also counted among transmitters of Traditions during the 4th/10th and 5th/11th centuries. The early ḥisba manuals did not include a chapter on the candlemakers, who were only briefly cited by Ibn al-Uk̲h̲uwwa (d. 729/1329 [ q.v.]). He noted the dishonest practice of the s̲h̲ammāʿūn , who mixed beeswax with vegetable oil and other substances, thereby lowering the quality of their product. While discussing the s̲h̲ammāʿ …