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[English edition] الشّام هو المنطقة التي تسمّى «سوريا» في العصر الحديث، وكلمة «الشّام» تعني في الأصل الاشتقاقيّ «المنطقة اليسرى»؛ لأنّ المتكلّم في الجزيرة العربيّة الغربيّة أو الوسطى، كان يُعتبَر في الاستعمال العربيّ القديم مواجها للشّمس المشرقة، فتكون منطقة سوريا إلى شماله، واليمن (اليد اليمنى) وشبه الجزيرة إلى يمينه (انظر: المسعودي، مروج الذّهب، ج3، 140–141، الفقرة 992؛ والمقدّسي، في مقتطفات مترجمة إلى اللّغة الفرنسيّة في: A. Miquel, La meilleure répartition pour la connaissance des provinces, Damascus 1963, 155–6، بما في كليهما وفي مصادر أخرى من تفاسير خياليّة). و…

[English edition] أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطّبريّ عالم موسوعي، جمعت معارفه بين العلم بالسّنن والعلم بالأحكام، لكنّه اشتهر أكثر بكونه عالما متميّزا في التاريخ وأيّام الناس، ومفسّرا للقرآن خلال القرون الثلاثة أو الأربعة الأولى للإسلام. ولد في شتاء سنة 224–5/839 بآمل، وتُوُفِّي ببغداد سنة 310هـ/923م. 1. حياته تجدر الإشارة بدءا إلى أنّ أعمال الطبري عندما وصلتنا لم توفّر إلا نزرا قليلاً من المعلومات حول سيرة الرجل وإن كانت كثيراً ما وجّهتنا نحو أساتذته وشيوخه وساعدتنا على تقييم شخصيّته ومواقفه العلمية. [ويُذكر] أنّ كثيراً من الأشخاص الذين ع…

[English edition] مكّة (ويقال لها بالإنڤليزية «Mecca» في المعهود المتعارف، وبالفرنسيّة «La Mecque»)، هي أقدس مدينة في الإسلام، فيها ولد النبيّ محمد وعاش 50 عاما تقريباً، وفيها توجد الكعبة [انظر ه]. 1. عصرا ما قبل الإسلام وصدر الإسلام 1.1 الوصف الجغرافي تقع مكة في الحجاز على بعد نحو 72 كم، باتجاه الداخل من ميناء جدة [انظره] على البحر الأحمر، في خطّ العرض 21 ° 27 ‹شمالا وخطّ الطول 39 ° 49 ‹شرقا. وهي الآن عاصمة المناطق الإداريّة لمكة في المملكة العربيّة السعودية، ويتراوح عدد سكانها العادي بين 200.000 و300.000 نسمة ويمكن أن يزيد هذا العدد تقريباً بمليون ونصف أو مليونين أثناء موسم الحج السنويّ. وتقع مك…

[English edition] ينتمي السلاجقة إلى سلالة تركيّة في إسلام العصر الوسيط، حكمت بطريقة مباشرة أو عن طريق أمراء تابعين لها وهي في أوج قوّتها خلال القرنين الخامس والسادس هجريّا / الحادي عشر والثاني عشر ميلاديّاـ مناطق واسعة من آسيا الغربيّة في بلدان ما وراء النهر وفي فرغانة وسماريش وخوارزم شرقاً إلى الأناضول وسوريا والحجاز من جهة الغرب. ومن صميم ما سُمّيَ امبراطوريّة السلاجقة العُظمى، حافظت السلالات التابعة لعائلة السلاجقة على مناطق مثل كرمان(إلى نهاية القرن السادس الهجري / الثّاني عشر الميلادي) وسوري…

[English edition] هو الكنية ثمّ تغيّر معناه في الإسلام فأصبح يشير إلى اللقب التّشريفي (جمعه ألقاب) ولمزيد من المعلومات حول أصل الكلمة، انظر لـ.كايتاني (L. Caetani)وج. غبرييالي (G. Gabriele) Onomasticon arabicum. i. Fonte-introduzione, Rome 1915, 144–5 ولمزيد المعلومات حول مكانتها في نمط تكوين الأسماء الإسلامية انظر ism. ويبدو أنّ اللقب كان في البداية كنية أواسما مستعارًا يعبّر عن انطباع وإعجاب وقد يكون وصفيّا بحتا، أو محايدا أومشينا أو مجازيّا. وفي هاته الحال غالباً ما كان يسمّى نبزا وجمعها أنباز، قارن مع البيضاوي حول سورة الحجرات الآية 11 «إنّ النبز مختصّ بلقب السوء عُرْ…

, term which may be translated approximately as chamberlain, used in Muslim countries for the person responsible for guarding the door of access to the ruler, so that only approved visitors may approach him. The term quickly became a title corresponding to a position in the court and to an office the exact nature of which varied considerably in different regions and in different periods. Basically the Master of Ceremonies, the ḥād̲j̲ib often appears as being in fact a superintendent of the Palace, a chief of the guard or a righter of wrongs, s…

, Abū Isḥāḳ Muḥammad b. Hārūn al-Ras̲h̲īd , ʿAbbāsid caliph, reigned 218-27/833-42, son of the caliph Hārūn by a slave concubine Mārida. During the reign of his brother and predecessor al-Maʾmūn [ q.v.], al-Muʿtaṣim achieved a reputation as a skilful commander in Anatolia and as governor in Egypt. When al-Maʾmūn died in the Byzantine marches in Rad̲j̲ab 218/August 833, al-Muʿtaṣim was recognised as caliph despite support within the army for his nephew al-ʿAbbās b. al-Maʾmūn (who was, in fact, later to conspire against al-Muʿta…

, the name of two places in India. 1. A port on the southwestern coast of the Kāt́hiāwāŕ peninsula, in lat. 21° 28′ N. and long 70° 14′ E., formerly coming within the native state of D̲j̲unāgaŕh [ q.v.] and with a Muslim local chief there tributary to the Nawwāb of D̲j̲unāgaŕh; the mosque there carries a date 785/1383. Bibliography Imperial gazetteer of India 2, xvii, 180. 2. A town in the former British Indian territory of Rajputana, within the native state of Kotah, in lat. 25° 20′ N. and long. 70° 31′ E. and 44 miles/70 km. to the northeast of Kotah city. He…

(p.), the term applied to the days of abstinence from eating meat introduced by the Mug̲h̲al emperor of India, Akbar (963-1014/1556-1605 [ q.v.]). His chronicler Abu ’l-Faḍl ʿAllāmī [ q.v.] notes in his Āʾīn-i Akbarī (tr. H. Blochmann, i, 51-2, more accurately tr. in Shireen Moosvi, Episodes in the life of Akbar. Contemporary records and reminiscences, New Delhi 1994, 100-1) that Akbar abstained thus on Fridays and Sundays, and then on various other days of the year, including the first day of each solar month and the whole of the first month Farwar…

a settlement of early and mediaeval Islamic times in the Ču [ q.v.] valley of the Semirečye in Turkestan, during the Soviet period forming the city of Frunze (lat. 42° 54′ N., long. 74° 36′ E.). The region of Pis̲h̲pek and nearby Toḳmaḳ is known to have been in mediaeval Islamic times a centre of Nestorian Christianity, and inscribed grave stones, the oldest of which date back to the time of the Ḳara ¶ K̲h̲iṭay [ q.v.] (6th/12th century), have been found there (see W. Barthold, Zur Geschichte des Christentums in Mittel-Asien bis zur mongolische Eroberung , Tübingen and Leipzig 1901, 1-2, 37-8 et …

, the name of a Rād̲j̲pūt tribe of Lower Sind in mediaeval Islamic times. Their origins are shrouded in mystery, but they are first mentioned in Muslim historians’ account of Maḥmūd of G̲h̲azna’s return from his attack on Somnāth in 416/1026 [see sūmanāt ]. For the next three centuries, they were the leading power in Lower Sind, but in the 8th/14th century their domination was challenged by the rival tribe of the Sammās [ q.v.]. Despite attempts by the Tug̲h̲luḳid Sultan of Dihlī, Fīrūz S̲h̲āh (III), to aid the Sumerās, the Sammās finally emerged triumphant over their…

, apparently the grandson of the last Umayyad governor of K̲h̲urāsān Naṣr b. Sayyār [ q.v.] and rebel against the ʿAbbāsid caliphate in the opening years of the 9th century A.D. In 190/806 Rāfiʿ led a rising in Samarḳand which turned into a general rebellion throughout Transoxania against the harsh rule and financial exploitation of the caliphal governor of K̲h̲urāsān. ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā b. Māhān [see ibn māhān ]. As well as receiving support from the local Iranian population, Rāfiʿ secured help ¶ from the Turks of the Inner Asian steppes, the Tog̲h̲uz-Og̲h̲uz [see g̲h̲uzz ] and Ḳarluḳ [ q.v.]. Hār…

, a Balūč tribe of modern Pakistan, living partly in the Indus valley plains of the Dēra G̲h̲āzī Ḵh̲ān District of the Pand̲j̲āb [see dērad̲j̲āt ], and partly in the Mārī and Drāgal hills of the Sulaymān Mountains range and the upland plateaux of S̲h̲am and Paylāwag̲h, extending as far west as the modern Loralai District of northeastern Balūčistān. ¶ The tribe is of mixed origin, some sections being Dōdāīs of mingled Balūč-Sindh Rād̲j̲pūt extraction, whilst others are pure-blooded Balūč of the Rind and Lās̲h̲ārī groups; the chief’s family belongs to one of the Dōdāī sections. In the early …

(a. “place of securing, tying up, i.e. anchorage), a port of the South Arabian coast in Ẓufār [ q.v.] (Dhofar), lying in 17°00′N. and 54°41′E., some 40 miles/70 km east of the modern town of Salāla [ q.v.] in the Sultanate of Oman. Yāḳūṭ, ¶ Buldān , Beirut 1374-6/1955-7, v, 97, describes it as being five farsak̲h̲s from the town of Ẓufār (i.e. the modern al-Balīd) and as the only port of the coast of the region of Ẓufār; it had an independent sulṭān , and its hilly hinterland produced frankincense [see lubān ). In the early 19th century, its ruler was a corsair chi…

, S̲h̲ūs̲h̲tar , Arabie form Tustar , a town of southwestern Persia in the mediaeval Islamic province of Ahwāz [ q.v.] and the modern one ( ustān ) of K̲h̲ūzistān (lat. 32° 03’ N., long. 48° 51’ E.). It stands on a cliff to the west of which runs the river Kārūn [ q.v.], the middle course of which begins a few miles north of the town. This position gives the town considerable commercial and strategic importance and has made possible the construction of various waterworks for which the town has long been famous. The main features of these construct…

, a city in the delta region of the Amū Daryā [ q.v.] or Oxus river of K̲h̲wārazm [ q.v.]which was for some four centuries, from Mongol times onwards, the capital of the province. After the Mongols had totally destroyed the former capital of K̲h̲wārazm, Gurgand̲j̲ [ q.v.] in 618/1221, the conquerors founded a new city on a nearby site, presumably that of “Little Gurgand̲j̲”, three farsak̲h̲ s from the old capital. Under the pax mongolica, Ürgenč speedily became a populous and flourishing commercial centre (see Barthold, Turkestan down to the Mongol invasion , 457; idem, A short history of …

(t.), a word common to all Turkic languages (cf. W. Radloff, Versuch eines Wörterbuches der Türk-Dialecte , St. Petersburg 1888-1911, i/2, cols. 1015-16), found as early as Ork̲h̲on Turkic and meaning “offspring, child”, with a strong implication of “male child”, as opposed to ḳi̊z “girl” [ q.v.] (Sir Gerard Clauson, An etymological dictionary of pre-thirteenth century Turkish, Oxford 1972, 83-4), original plural og̲h̲lan , still thus in Kās̲h̲g̲h̲arī ( Dīwān lug̲h̲āt al-turk , facs. ed. Atalay, iv, Dizini , 425-6; C. Brockelmann, Mitteltürkischer Wortschatz …

, Ṭārom , the name of two places in Persia. 1. The best-known is the mediaeval Islamic district of that name lying along the middle course of the Ḳi̊zi̊l Üzen or Safīd Rūd river [ q.vv.] in the ancient region of Daylam [ q.v.] in northwestern Persia. Adjoining it on the east was the district of K̲h̲alk̲h̲āl [ q.v.]. There are, at the present time, two small towns or villages bearing the name Ṭārum, one of them on the right bank of the Ḳi̊zi̊l Üzen between Wanisarā and Kallad̲j̲. According to Ḥamd Allāh Mustawfī ( Nizhat al-ḳulūb , 65, 217-18, tr. 69-70, 209-10), the district of “the two Ṭārums” ( Ṭāruma…

, ʿAyn Ubāg̲h̲ , the name of a spring or watercourse on the eastern, sc. ʿIrāḳī, fringes of the Syrian Desert which was the scene of a pre-Islamic yawm or battle of the Arabs. The confused Arabic sources take this as being the battle of A. D. 554 in which the Lak̲h̲mid al-Mund̲h̲ir III b. al-Nuʿmān II was killed fighting the G̲h̲assānid al-Ḥārit̲h̲ b. Ḏj̲abala [ q.v.], in fact, the yawm al-Ḥalīma (see e.g. al-Bakrī, Muʿd̲j̲am mā ’staʿd̲j̲ama , i, 95; Yāḳūt, Buldān , ed. Beirut, iv, 175. Cf. A. P. Caussin de Perceval, Essai sur l’histoire des arabes avant l’Islamisme , Pari…

, a district, and in earlier Islamic times a town, in northwestern Ḵh̲urāsān. It lies on the northern edge of the long plain which extends from Bisṭām and S̲h̲āhrūd in the west almost to Nīs̲h̲āpūr in the east and whose central section is drained by the Kāl-i S̲h̲ūr river before it turns southwards into the Das̲h̲t-i Kawīr. In mediaeval Islamic times, the route from Nīs̲h̲āpūr to Gurgān ran across this plain, and the geographers place Isfarāyīn at roughly the midpoint, five stages from Nīs̲h̲āpūr and five from Gurgān. Though allegedly founded by Isfandiyār, little is known of Isfar…