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, war. i.— Legal Aspect Ḥarb may mean either fighting ( ḳitāl ) in the material sense or a “state of war” between two or more groups; both meanings were implied in the legal order of pre-Islamic Arabia. Owing to lack of organized authority, war became the basis of inter-tribal relationship. Peace reigned only when agreed upon between two or more tribes. Moreover, war fulfilled such purposes as vendetta and retaliation. The desert, adapted to distant raids and without natural frontiers, rendered the Arabs habituated to warfare and fighting became a function of society. Islam, prohibiting …

, Urdū and Hindī word for step-well, of which there are two main types m India, the northern and the western. The northern variety is the simpler, consisting essentially of one broad flight of stone steps running from ground level to below the waterline, the whole width of the site; subsidiary flights may run opposite and at right angles to these below water-level, thus constricting the cistern itself into successively smaller squares, and these may be supplemented by cross-flights reducing the …

(or maḳbura , maḳbira , miḳbara , maḳbar and maḳbur ) (a.), “cemetery”. The word occurs only in the Ḳurʾān in the plural form maḳābir : “Rivalry distracts you, until you visit the cemeteries” (CII, 2). Its synonyms d̲j̲abbāna , madfan and turba do not figure in the Holy Book. 1. In the central Arab lands The Arab authors supply little information of use in ¶ tracing the history of Muslim cemeteries. Works of fiḳh refer only to prohibitions concerning tombs ( ḳabr , pl. ḳubūr [ q.v.]) and the visiting of burial-places ( ziyāra [ q.v.]). At the most, a few occasional references may be gleane…

(a.), lit. “an instrument or apparatus for providing shade, ẓill ,” apparently synonymous with the s̲h̲amsa , s̲h̲amsiyya , lit. “an instrument or apparatus for providing shelter from the sun”, probably therefore referring to the sunshade or parasol born on ceremonial occasions and processions [see mawākib ] over early Islamic rulers. 1. In the ʿAbbāsid and Fāṭimid caliphates. The historical sources provide a few references on practice in the ʿAbbāsid caliphate. Thus the official Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Malik al-Zayyāt [see ibn al-zayyāt ] was responsible in al-Muʿtaṣim’s time fo…

, also Hindūstānī , Hindostāni , is or has been used in India, confusingly, to mean at least three different forms of language, the first two of which are common. i.—As a synonym for Urdū [ q.v.] as spoken in North India; i.e., the Muslim speech of Hindustān as opposed to the Deccan; antonym Dakhnī. ii.—As a name for that speech which is the common denominator of Urdū and Hindī [ q.v.], coloured neither by recondite loanwords from Persian nor by loanwords from Sanskrit: the sort of language in which a Muslim villager might converse with a Hindū villager, and vice versa; in this sense, also the …

, The D̲j̲ayn (Jain) community (followers of Mahāvīra, called the Jina) was much more widely distributed over the Indian sub-continent at the time of the Muslim conquest than in later times, as is shown by the re-utilization of D̲j̲ayn material in early Islamic building. Although they were fairly widespread in the Deccan, their particular stronghold ¶ was peninsular Gud̲j̲arāt. Allusions to the D̲j̲ayns in earlier histories have probably been obscured by their being not distinguished from their Hindū neighbours and described with them as “unbeliever…

(a., sing, mawkib ), processions. 1. Under the ʿAbbāsids and Fāṭimids The basic meaning of procession (mounted or unmounted), cortège, is found in ḥadīt̲h̲ (al-Buk̲h̲ārī. Badʾ al-k̲h̲alḳ , 6; Ibn Ḥanbal, iii, 213; al-Dārimī, 2695). This is the precise sense given in the dictionaries, and that used by the Umayyads, ʿAbbāsids and Fāṭimids, often to describe the cortège of an amīr , wazīr , or other official (see, e.g., al-Ṭabarī, ii, 1731; Hilāl al-Ṣābī, Rusūm dār al-k̲h̲ilāfa , 9-10, 12, 14ff.). By the 4th/10th century, it had acquired the broader meaning of audience as well …

, a province of India on the north-west of its coastline, lying east of the Raṇ of Kaččh [ q.v.] and broadly divided into Mainland Gud̲j̲arāt and Peninsular Gud̲j̲arāt (Kāt́hīāwāŕ, the ancient Sawrās̲h̲t́ra, modern Sōrat̂h). Mainland Gud̲j̲arāt is approximately the area of the plains in the lower reaches of the rivers Sābarmatī, Mahī, Narbadā and Tāptī, bounded north by the Mārwāŕ desert, east by the line of hills running south-east from Ābū to the Vindhyas. It takes its name (Sanskrit Gurjarātra ) from the widespread Gūd̲j̲ar (Skt. Gurjara ) tribe, who, it ha…

, a port of India, with an island fort and two creeks forming a harbour, about 60 miles/90 km. north of Bombay. The large village of Kēlvē on the opposite bank of one creek is now incorporated with it in one municipality named Kēlvē-Māhīm, which distinguishes it from the suburb of Māhīm on Bombay island. The name is also spelt Mahīm and, in Bahmanī records, Mahāʾim. It was known to have been included in the possessions of the Dihlī sultanate in the mid-8th/14th century, from which it passed to the Gud̲j̲arāt sultanate, of which it became the southernmost port …

, the name currently employed in Arabic for the Indian sub-continent. The current names in Persian were Hindūstān, Hindistān, “land of the Hindūs” [ q.v.], whence Ottoman Turkish Hindistān. The present article comprises the following sections: For Anglo-Muhammedan law, see s̲h̲arīʿa ; for political parties, see ḥizb ; for the development of the apparatus of modern government, see ḥukūma ; for the events leading to partition and for the history of Pakistan since independence, see pākistān . (Ed.) i.— The Geography of India according to the mediaeval muslim geographers. (a) The term “ Hin…

, younger son of the governor of Bengal under S̲h̲īr S̲h̲āh, Sulaymān ¶ Kararānī, who later asserted his independence, was raised to the Bengal throne in 980/1572 by the Afg̲h̲ān nobles who had deposed his elder brother Bāyazīd. Intoxicated by a sense of power he defied the Mug̲h̲al emperor Akbar and attacked his outpost at G̲h̲āzipur in 982/1574. Munʿim K̲h̲ān [ q.v.], sent to oppose him, occupied his capital at T́ānd́ā and compelled him to retreat into Uŕisā; he counterattacked at the important battle of Tukarōʾī [ q.v.] (= Mug̲h̲almārī), but when Mug̲h̲al reinforcements arrived…

, ancient fort in India situated in 13° 5′ N., 75° E., in the modern state of Karnāt́aka; together with Rāyčūr [ q.v.], it formed a principal defence of the Rāyčūr dōʾāb , i.e. that between the rivers Kris̲h̲na and Tungabhadra, that continuous bone of contention between the Hindū kingdom of Vid̲j̲ayanagara [ q.v.] and the Deccan sultanates. The date of its foundation is unknown, but it seems to have passed from the possession of the Yādava rulers of Dēwgir [see dawlatābād ] to the Kākatīya kings of Warangal, and from the appearance of the cyclopean mason…

, a former town, now no bigger than a village, 22 miles/32 km. west of Patnā [ q.v.] in Bihār state, India, by the junction of the rivers Sōn and Ganges (it was reported to be at the junction in 1722, 3 miles/5 km. south of it by 1812, 7 miles /10 km. south by 1907); it had therefore some strategic and mercantile advantage, and was one of the earliest and most important sites of Muslim colonisation in this part of India. By Mug̲h̲al times, it had become the chief town of a pargana of some 80,000 bīghas [see misāḥā 2. India] in the ṣūba of Bihār ( Āʾīn-i Akbarī , tr. Jarrett, Calcut…

(a.), the raised structure or pulpit from which solemn announcements to the Muslim community were made and from which sermons were preached. 1. Early historical evolution and place in the Islamic cult. In contrast to the miḥrāb [ q.v.], the minbar was introduced in the time of the Prophet himself. The word, often pronounced mimbar (cf. Brockelmann, Grundriss , i, 161), comes from the root n-b-r “high”; it could be derived from the Arabic quite easily with the meaning “elevation, stand”, but is more probably a loanword from the Ethiopie (Schwally, in ZDMG, lii [1898], 146-8; Nöldeke, Neue Be…

5th letter of the Arabic alphabet, transcribed d̲j̲ ; numerical value 3, so agreeing, like dāl , with the order of the letters of the Syriac (and Canaanite) alphabet [see abd̲j̲ad ]. It represents a g (occlusive, postpalatal1, voiced) in the ancient Semitic (and in common Semitic). In Arabic, This articulation has evolved: the point of articulation has been carried forward, in an unconditioned way 2, to the middle and prepalatal region, as a consequence of which it readily developed elements of palatalization ( g y and d y) and affrication ( d̲j̲). A simplification of the articulation …

, the mint, was an indispensable institution in the life of mediaeval Middle Eastern society because of the highly developed monetary character of its economy, particularly during the early centuries of Muslim domination. The primary function of the mint was to supply coins for the needs of government and of the general public. At times of monetary reforms the mints served also as a place where obliterated coins could be exchanged for the new issues. The large quantities of precious metals which were stored in the mints helped to make them serve as ancillary treasuries. Soon after their c…

(earlier English spelling, now discarded, “Muttra”), an Indian city lying between Dihlī and Āgrā, of considerable antiquity and of high reputation in India as a place of high religious sanctity for Hindūs and, formerly, for D̲j̲ayns and Buddhists also; it was already a place of some renown when it became the eastern of the two Kus̲h̲āna capitals. It is, surprisingly, not mentioned in the Ḥudūd al-ʿālam , and only incidentally by al-Bīrūnī, although for Ptolemy it had been Μόδουρα τῶν Θηῶν. Its great reputation led to its being plundered b…

, a small town in the former ʿUt̲h̲mānābād district of Ḥaydarābād State, situated in 17°49′N., 76°29′E., now in Mahāras̲h̲t́ra; its fort, standing above the ravine of the Bōrī river, is one of the best fortified strongholds in the Deccan. The name also appears as Naldurg, perhaps the better form ( durg = Skr. durga “ fort “). It does not figure in the Deccan campaign of Muḥammad b. Tug̲h̲luk, and so probably came into Bahmanī possession after the imperial forces had withdrawn, in the late 8th/14th century; its stone fortifications, which appear to be …

, once a powerful town in Uttar Prades̲h̲, northern India, 26 8′ N., 79 45′ E. The old town and fort stand on clay cliffs overlooking the river Ḏj̲amnā [ q.v.]; there is a modern town to the south-east of the old one, which has some commercial importance and where a fine quality paper is still made by hand. The town was traditionally founded by a rād̲j̲ā of Kannawd̲j̲ in the 4th century A.D., and fell into Muslim hands in the first conquest in 593/1196. The high fort, walled on three sides and defended on the fourth by the cliffs and rive…

(a.), transport. 1. In the central Islamic lands and North Africa. See for this ʿaraba ; barīd ; d̲j̲āmūs in Suppl.; faras ; fīl ; ibil ; kārwān ; k̲h̲ān ; mawākib ; milāḥa ; safīna ; tid̲j̲āra . 2. In India. Travel on foot is obviously such an everyday occurrence between village and village that it receives scant mention in the texts; pilgrimages might be made on foot entirely, for pietistic reasons, such as Akbar’s to the tomb of Muʿīn al-Dīn Čis̲h̲tī from Āgrā to Ad̲j̲mēr, but generally foot-journeys are the accompaniment to a baggag…