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Bas̲h̲s̲h̲ār al-S̲h̲aʿīrī

(317 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, S̲h̲īʿite heretic, flourished in the second century A.H. He lived in Kūfa and earned his living by selling barley ( s̲h̲aʿīr ), whence his name. According to the Minhād̲j̲ and the Muntahā , he was sometimes mistakenly referred to as al-As̲h̲ʿarī, instead of the correct al-S̲h̲aʿīrī. According to traditions related by al-Kas̲h̲s̲h̲ī, he was repudiated and disowned by the Imām D̲j̲aʿfar al-Ṣādiḳ ( Rid̲j̲āl 252-4; cf. 197, where ʿAbū Bas̲h̲s̲h̲ār al-As̲h̲ʿarīʾ is denounced as a liar, together with such notorious heretics as al-Mug̲h̲īra …

Bahāʾī Meḥmed Efendi

(573 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Ottoman jurist and theologian. Born in Istanbul in 1004/1595-6, he was the son of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Efendi, a Ḳāḍīʿasker of Rumelia, and the grandson of the historian Saʿd al-Dīn. Entering upon the cursus honorum of the religious institution, he became mudarris and molla and was appointed ḳāḍī first in Salonica and then, in 1043/1633-4, in Aleppo. A heavy smoker, he was reported by the Beylerbey Aḥmed Pas̲h̲a, with whom he was on bad ternis, and in 1044/1634-5 was dismissed and exiied to Cyprus as a punishment for w…

ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Zand̲j̲ī

(468 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, known as ṣāḥib al-zand̲j̲ , was the leader of the Zand̲j̲ [ q.v.], the rebel negro slaves who for fifteen years (255-270/868-83) terrorised southern ʿIrāḳ and the adjoining territories. He was born in Warzanīn, a village near Rayy, and is said by some authorities to have been of Arab origin, being descended from ʿAbd al-Ḳays on his father’s side and from Asad on his mother’s. His name is generally given as ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥīm. According to Ibn al-Ḏj̲awzī ( al-Muntaẓam , Hyderabad 1357, v, 2, 69) his real name was ¶ Bihbūd̲h̲. Al-Bīrūnī ( Chronology , 332;…

Baraḳ Baba

(476 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, a Turkish dervish who acquired some celebrity in the time of the Il-Ḵh̲āns. He is said to have been a disciple of the famous Sarǐ Saltuk [ q.v.], and is mentioned in connexion with the Bābāʾī, Bektās̲h̲ī, and Mewlewī movements. His followers were called Baraḳīs; his Ḵh̲alīfa was Ḥayrān Emird̲j̲i. A story preserved by Yazǐd̲j̲ǐog̲h̲lu ʿAlī makes him a Sald̲j̲ūḳ prince, converted to Christianity by the Greek patriarch and then reconverted to Islam by Sarǐ Saltuk, who transmitted his supernatural powers to him and gave h…

Bāb-i Serʿaskeri

(312 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
or serʿasker kapi̊si̊ , the name of the War Department in the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century. After the destruction of the Janissaries in 1241/1826, the Ag̲h̲a of the Janissaries was replaced by a new commanding officer, the Serʿasker [ q.v.]. The title was an old one, given to army commanders in former times. As applied by Maḥmūd II, it came to connote an officer who combined the functions of commander in-chief and minister of war, with special responsibility for the new style army. In addition, he inherited from the Ag̲h̲a of…

Aḥmed Ḥilmī

(386 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
Efendi , 19th century Turkish translator. Born in Üsküdar, he was trained in the language chamber [see terd̲j̲üme odasi̊ ] of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and subsequently held a number of official appointments. He is mentioned as having been Ottoman Consul in Tabrīz and a member of the Embassy in Tehrān, and in 1876 was elected a deputy in the first Ottoman parliament. He died in 1878 of typhus, contracted while caring for refugees from the Russo-Turkish war, and was buried at the Karacaahmet cemetery in Üsküdar. Aḥmed Ḥilmī played a pioneer role as a tra…

Ḥasan Fehmī

(1,110 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
efendi, known as Aḳs̲h̲ehirli, an Ottoman S̲h̲eyk̲h̲ al-Islām. The son of ʿOt̲h̲mān Efendi of Ilgin, he was born in 1210/1795-6, and held various appointments in the teaching branch of the ʿIlmiyye [ q.v.] profession. In 1275/1858-9, on the death of Yaḥyā Efendi [ q.v.], he was appointed to the office of Ders Wekīli , with the duty of teaching and preaching on behalf of the S̲h̲eyk̲h̲ al-Islām. Ḏj̲ewdet, who had reason to be hostile to Ḥasan Fehmī, indicates that the appointment was made for want of any one better, and says that he was known among the students as kad̲h̲ūbī —the liar ( Tezâkir 13-…

Ibn al-ʿAdīm

(624 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Kamāl al-Dīn Abu ’l-Ḳāsim ʿUmar b. Aḥmad b. Hibat Allāh , historian of Aleppo, born there in 588/1192, died in Cairo in 660/1262. A wealthy and prominent family of ʿIrāḳī Arab origin, the Banu ’l-ʿAdīm acquired property in and around Aleppo, and a number of them rose to eminence or office under the successive dynasties that ruled in that city. For five generations they held the office of ḳāḍī; the historian’s father was a chief ḳāḍī under Zangid and then Ayyūbid rule. He himself, after studies in Aleppo, Damascus, Jerusalem, Bag̲h̲dād and the Ḥid̲j̲āz, served in Aleppo as a secretary, as a ḳāḍī…

Bard̲j̲awān

(962 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, abu ’l-futūḥ , a slave who was for a while ruler of Egypt during the reign of al-Ḥākim. He was brought up at the court of al-ʿAzīz, where he held the post of intendant ( Ḵh̲iṭaṭ ii, 3; Ibn Tag̲h̲ribirdī, Cairo, iv, 48; Ibn Ḵh̲allikān. ii, 201). He was a eunuch, and was known by the title Ustād̲h̲ [ q.v.]. His ethnie origin is uncertain—Ibn Ḵh̲allikān calls him a negro, Ibn al-Ḳalānisī simply a white ( abyaḍ al-lawn ), al-Maḳrīzī either a Slav or a Sicilian, the readings Saḳlabī and Siḳillī both occurring in the MSS. of the Ḵh̲iṭaṭ (cf. S. de Sacy, Chrestomothie , i, 130). Bard̲j̲awān was appointed g…

Ḥurriyya

(6,429 words)

Author(s): Rosenthal, F. | Lewis, B.
, “freedom,” an abstract formation derived from ḥurr “free” corresponding to Hebrew ḥōr , Aram. ḥēr ( ḥerūt̲ā ), widely used also in Muslim languages other than Arabic. Already in pre-Islamic times, “free” was known not only as a legal term denoting the opposite of “unfree, slave” ( ʿabd [ q.v.]) but also as an Ethical term denoting those “noble” of character and behavior. The legal concept of “freedom” continued to be used as a matter of course by Muslim jurists, who were inclined to give preference to the presumption of a free status for individuals in doubtful cases [see ʿabd …

Ayyūb Ṣabrī Pas̲h̲a

(104 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Ottoman naval officer and author. A graduate of the naval college, he held various appointments, and served for a while in both the Ḥid̲j̲āz and Yemen. He died in Istanbul in 1308/1890. He was the author of a number of historical and descriptive works on Arabia, including an account of Mecca and Medina ( Mirʾāt al-Ḥaramayn , 3 vols., Istanbul 1301-6), and a history of the Wahhābīs ( Taʾrīk̲h̲-i Wahhābiyyān , Istanbul 1296). Besides these he wrote a biography of the Prophet called Maḥmūd al-Siyar (Edirne 1287). (B. Lewis) Bibliography Babinger 372-3 Sid̲j̲ill-i ʿOt̲h̲mānī, i, 451 Ot̲h̲mānl…

Di̇rli̇k

(126 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, a Turkish word meaning living or livelihood. In the Ottoman Empire it was used to denote an income provided by the state, directly or indirectly, for the support of persons in its service. The term is used principally of the military fiefs (see timar), but also applies to pay (see ʿulūfa ), salaries, and grants of various kinds in lieu of pay to officers of the central and provincial governments. It does not normally apply to tax-farms, the basis of which is purchase and not service. (B. Lewis) Bibliography Ḏj̲aʿfer Čelebi, Maḥrūse-i Istanbul fetḥnāmesi, TOEM suppl. 1331, 17 Koçi Bey Risale…

Emīn

(576 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, from Arabic amīn [ q.v.], faithful, trustworthy, an Ottoman administrative title usually translated intendant or commissioner. His function or office was called emānet . The primary meaning of emīn , in Ottoman official usage, was a salaried officer appointed by or in the name of the Sultan, usually by berāt , to administer, supervise or control a department, function or source of revenue. There were thus emīns of various kinds of stores and supplies, of mints, of mines, of customs, customs-houses and other revenues, and of the taḥrīr [ q.v.], the preparation of the registers of la…

Bāb

(439 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, a term applied in early S̲h̲īʿism to the senior authorised disciple of the Imām. The hagiographical Uterature of the Twelver S̲h̲īʿa usually names the bābs of the Imāms. Among the Ismāʿīliyya [ q.v.] bāb was a rank in the hierarchy. The term was already in use in pre-Fāṭimid times, though its significance is uncertain (cf. W. Ivanow, The Alleged Founder of Ismailism , Bombay 1946, 125 n. 2, citing al-Kas̲h̲s̲h̲ī, Rid̲j̲āl , 322; idem, Notes sur l’Ummu ’l-Kitab , in REI, 1932, 455; idem, Studies in early Persian Ismailism 2, Bombay 1955, 19 ff.). Under the Fāṭimids in Egypt the bāb cornes imme…

Bazi̊rgan

(113 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Bezirgan, Turkish forms of the Persian Bāzargān , a merchant. In Ottoman Turkish usage the term Bāzi̊rgān was applied to Christian and more especially Jewish merchants. Some of these held official appointments in the Ottoman palace or armed forces; such were the Bazi̊rganbas̲h̲i̊ , the chief purveyor of textiles to the Imperial household (D’Ohsson, Tableau général , vii, Paris 1824, 22; Gibb-Bowen, 1/1, 359), and the Od̲j̲aḳ Bāzi̊rgāni̊ , the stewards, usually Greek or Jewish, who handled the pay and supplies of the corps of Janissaries. T…

Bostānzāde

(600 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, the name of a family of Ottoman ʿulemāʾ who achieved some prominence in the 16th and early 17th centuries. The founder of the family was (1) Muṣṭafā Efendi, born in Tire, in the province of Aydi̊n, ¶ in 904/1498-9, and known as Bostān (or Būstān); his father was a merchant called Meḥmed (thus in the text of ʿAṭāʾī and on the tombstone preserved in the Türk-Islam Eserleri Müzesi in Istanbul; the heading Muṣṭafā b. ʿAlī in ʿAṭāʾī is no doubt an error due to confusion with his namesake Muṣṭafā, known as Küçük Bostān; ʿAṭāʾī 132. cf. Hüseyin Gazi Yurdaydin in Bell . xix, 1955…

Ibn al-Dawādārī

(389 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Abū Bakr b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Aybak al-Dawādārī , Egyptian historian. His father, D̲j̲amāl al-Dīn ʿAbd Allāh, was in the service of the Amīr Sayf al-Dīn Balabān al-Rūmī al-Ẓāhirī, the Dawādār of Baybars, whence the by-name Dawādārī. His grandfather, lord of Sark̲h̲ad. was tentatively identified byṢ. Munad̲j̲d̲j̲id as ʿIzz al-Dīn Aybak al-Ustādār al-Muʿaẓẓamī (d. 645/1247-8), the patron of the medical biographer Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa [ q.v.]. The family is described, somewhat improbably, as of Sald̲j̲ūḳid descent. The author’s family lived in Cairo, in the Ḥārat al-Bāṭiliyya. Hi…

ʿAlī al-Riḍā

(833 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Abu ’l-ḥasan b. mūsā b. dj̲aʿfar eighth Imām of the Twelver S̲h̲īʿa, was born in Medina in 148/765 (al-Ṣafadī) or, according to other and probably better informed authorities, in 151/768 or 153/770 (al-Nawbak̲h̲tī, Ibn Ḵh̲allikān. Mīrk̲h̲w ānd). He died in Ṭūs in 203/818; the sources agree on the year, but differ as to the day and month (end of Ṣafar—al-Ṭabarī, al-Ṣafadī; 21 Ramaḍān—al-Ṣafadī; 13 Ḏh̲ū ’l-Ḳaʿda or 5 Ḏh̲ū ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a—Ibn Ḵh̲allikān). His father was the Imām Mūsā al-Kāẓim, his mother a Nubian umm walad whose name is variously given (S̲h̲ahd or Nad̲j̲iyya—al-N…

Bād-i Hawā

(282 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, literally ‘wind of the air’; in Ottoman fiscal usage a general term for irregular and occasional revenues from fines, fees, registration charges, and other casual sources of income. The term does not a appear in the Ḳānūns of the 9th/15th century, but is found in a Ḳānūnnāme of Gelibolu of 925/1519, where mention is made of penalties and fines, bride-tax, fees for the recapture of runaway slaves, ‘and other bād-i hawā’ (Barkan 236). It also appears, in similar terms, in Ḳānūnnāmes of Ankara (929/1522-Barkan 34), Ḥamīd (935/1528-Barkan 33), Aydīn (935/…

Bīrūn

(101 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, in Persian ‘outside’, the name given to the outer departments and services of the Ottoman Imperial Household, in contrast to the inner departments known as the Enderūn [ q.v.]. The Bīrūn was thus the meeting-point of the court and the state, and besides palace functionaries included a number of high officers and dignitaries concerned with the administrative, military, and religious affairs of the Empire. (B. Lewis) Bibliography D’Ohsson, Tableau général de l’Empire Othoman, vii, Paris 1824, 1-33 Ismail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı, Osmanlı Devletinin Saray Teşkilâtı, Ankara 1945, 358 ff. Gib…
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