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Fund̲j̲

(1,359 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
Origins: The Fund̲j̲ appear in the early 10th/16th century as a nomadic cattle-herding people, gradually extending their range down the Blue Nile from Lūl (or Lūlū), an unidentified district, to Sinnār. The foundation of Sinnār, subsequently the dynastic capital, is ascribed to ʿAmāra Dūnḳas in 910/1504-5. Hypotheses of remoter Fund̲j̲ origins among the Shilluk, in Abyssinia, or among the Bulala, are unsubstantiated, while the Sudanese tradition of their Umayyad descent is a typical device for the legitimation of a parvenu Muslim dynasty. Fund̲j̲ kings to the establishment of…

Darb al-Arbaʿīn

(367 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, one of the principal routes linking bilād al-Sūdān with the north, obtained its name from the forty days’ travelling-time required to traverse it. W. G. Browne, the only European to have gone the whole way (in 1793) took 58 days from Asyūṭ to “Sweini” (al-Suwayna) near the southern terminus. Muḥammad ʿUmar al-Tūnusī in 1803 covered the same distance in 60 days. Starting from Asyūṭ, the route ran to the K̲h̲ārd̲j̲a oasis, an outpost of Ottoman Egypt. Thence it proceded across the …

Fallāta

(279 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, although strictly signifying the Fulānī [ q.v.], is used in the Nilotic Sudan generally for Muslim immigrants from the western Bilād al-Sūdān , and in particular for those from northern Nigeria. The term has largely superseded the older Takārīr or Takārna (which had a similarly loose application), presumably after the Fulānī conquests under ʿUt̲h̲mān dan Fodio. The Takārīr/Fallāta immigrants are primarily pilgrims en route to Mecca: their first appearance in the Nilotic Sudan can hardly have been before the establishment of ¶ Muslim sultanates in Dār Fūr [ q.v.] and Waddāī during …

al-Mustanṣir

(638 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(II) bi’llāh , Abu ’l-Ḳāsim Aḥmad b. al-Ẓāhir Muḥammad, the first ʿAbbāsid “shadow” caliph in Cairo. When the Mongols captured Bag̲h̲dād (656/1258), he and a number of other ʿAbbāsids were released from confinement, and he took refuge among the Arab tribesmen of ʿIrāḳ. A group of Arabs brought him to Cairo, where he was given a ceremonious welcome by the sultan, al-Ẓāhir Baybars, on 9 Rad̲j̲ab 659/9 June 1261. Four days later, his genealogy was formally attested by the chief judge, who performed the bayʿa to him followed by the sultan, the dignitaries and …

al-Fās̲h̲ir

(420 words)

Author(s): Capot-Rey, R. | Holt, P.M.
( El Fasher ), the capital of Dār Fūr [ q.v.], formerly a sultanate, now a province of the Republic of the Sudan. The term fās̲h̲ir , meaning a royal residence, more precisely signified an open space, serving for public audience by a sultan, or as a market-place, and was also used in Sinnār under the Fund̲j̲ [ q.v.], and in Waddāī, where war a appears as a synonym (see J. L. Burckhardt, Travels in Nubia , London 1819, 486). The fās̲h̲ir of the Fūrāwī sultan was established in 1206/1791-2 at Wādī Tandaltī, on a sandy ridge, overlooking a seasonal lake. Around this royal resid…

al-Mustaʿīn

(491 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(II) bi’llāh , Abu ’l-Faḍl al-ʿAbbās, tenth ʿAbbāsid “shadow’’ caliph in Egypt, son of al-Mutawakkil (I) Muḥammad by a Turkish concubine, Bay K̲h̲ātūn. He succeeded his father on 1 S̲h̲aʿbān 808/22 January 1406. Accompanying the sultan al-Nāṣir Farad̲j̲ [ q.v.] on his expedition against the rebel amīr s, S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ al-Maḥmūdī (governor of Aleppo) and Nawrūz al-Ḥāfiẓī (governor of Tripoli), he fell into their hands when the sultan was defeated at al-Lad̲j̲d̲j̲ūn on 13 Muḥarram 815/25 April 1412. There was virtual anarchy…

Bed̲j̲a

(1,327 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(usual Ar. form, Bud̲j̲a), nomadic tribes, living between the Nile and Red Sea, from the Ḳina-Ḳuṣayr route to the angle formed by the ʿAṭbarā and the hills of the Eritrean-Sudanese frontier. The principal modern tribes are the ʿAbābda [ q.v.], Bis̲h̲ārīn [ q.v.], Ummarār, Hadanduwa and Banī ʿĀmir. The ʿAbābda now speak Arabic; the others (except the Tigre-speaking sections of B. ʿĀmir) speak tu-Beḍawiye, a Hamitic language. The Bed̲j̲a subsist mainly on their herds of camels, cattle, sheep and goats. Since grazing is sparse, they move u…

Berber

(748 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(Barbar):(1) Tribal territory. The name originally signified the territory of the Mīrafāb (Mayrafāb), an Arabic-speaking tribe claiming kinship with the Ḏj̲aʿliyīn. It extended on both banks of the Nile from the Fifth Cataract (lat. 18° 23′ N.) to the river ʿAṭbarā. The Mīrafāb included both riverain cultivators and semi-nomads. The ruler ( makk ) was a vassal of the Fund̲j̲ sultan of Sinnār. On the death of a makk, the sultan nominated his successor from the ruling family of Timsāḥ. He also levied, at intervals of four or five years, a tribute of gold, horses a…

Baḳḳāra

(480 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
Arabic-speaking nomads of the Sūdān, occupying territories from Lake Chad to the White Nile between 9° and 13° N. Their livelihood is the herding of cattle ( baḳar ), whence their name. The dry season is spent in the southern river-lands. With the rains, they move northwards to the seasonal grasslands. Grain sown on this journey is harvested on the return. Baḳḳāra origins are obscure; the genealogies reflect existing groupings rather than give evidence of descent. They are probably connected with the …

Kasala

(1,517 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(variant, Kasalā; conventional spelling, Kassala), a town and province in the east of the republic of the Sudan, extending from the frontier of Egypt to that of, Ethiopia. Geographically, the province contains five distinct types of country. (1) A rough triangle in the south, bounded by the railway, the river Rahad and the Ethiopian frontier, where al-Ḳallābāt (Gallabat) is the principal town, is a westward extension of the central clay plains of the Sudan. (2) North of This is the Buṭāna, a pla…

K̲h̲alīfa

(19,029 words)

Author(s): Sourdel, D. | Lambton, A.K.S. | Jong, F. de | Holt, P.M.
(i) The history of the institution of the caliphate A study of the caliphate, its institution and subsequent developments, has never been attempted in its entirety until the present. The principal reason is that it has not seemed possible to conduct such a survey independently of historical studies relating to different reigns, which are still in most cases insufficient, or even non-existent, whereas studies of doctrine, while more advanced, have not been developed to the same extent with regard to the v…

Ḳerrī

(622 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(conventional spelling, Gerri), a site on the east bank of the main Nile in the Sudan, lying at the southern end of the Sabalūḳa gorge, about 44 miles north of the confluence of the Blue and White Niles. At the convergence of the route along the Nile and one across the Bayūḍa desert crossing the Nile at this point, Ḳerrī was a settlement of political importance from the 10th/16th to the 12th/18th century as the seat of the ʿAbdallābī s̲h̲ayk̲h̲s , who levied tribute on the nomads during their annual migration-cycle, and, as the principal vassals of the Fund̲j̲ [ q.v.] of Sinnār, were regarded …

Ghuzz

(4,934 words)

Author(s): Cahen, Cl. | Deverdun, G. | Holt, P.M.
, form generally used by Arabic authors for the name of the Turkish Og̲h̲uz people. The origin of the Og̲h̲uz, which for long was obscure because of the diversity of the transcriptions of the names of peoples in the Chinese, Arabic, Byzantine and other sources, seems to have been clarified by J. Hamilton, Toguz Oghuz et On-Uyghur , in JA, ccl/1 (1962), 23-64. At the beginning of the 7th century A.D. there was formed, among the eastern Turkish T’ie-lo tribes, a confederation of Nine Clans = Toḳuz Og̲h̲uz (a form known to the Arabic authors), who revolted…

Bis̲h̲ārīn

(263 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, A nomadic Bed̲j̲a [ q.v.] tribe, now occupying two areas: (a) the ʿAtbāy, or western slopes of the Red Sea Hills, between approximately 23° and 19° N; (b) the banks of the ʿAṭbarā and adjoining lands between about 17° and 16° N. The tribe is divided into two main clans: (a) Umm ʿAlī, in the north-eastern ʿAtbāy; (b) Umm Nād̲j̲ī, in the south-western ʿAtbāy and on the ʿAṭbarā. Tribal genealogies indicate a connection with the Arab Awlād Kāhil (Kawāhla), who, in the 14th century, lived near ʿAyd̲h̲āb…

Barābra

(473 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(for Barābira; sing. Barbarī): Nubianspeaking Muslims inhabiting the Nile Banks between the First and Third Cataracts. The tenu includes the Kunūz, Sukkūt and Maḥas. The name Barābra is not commonly used by these peoples of themselves, and is stated by Lane (i, 177, col. 3) to be a late and modern application of the term used by earlier writers for the Berbers of the Mag̲h̲rib. The Danāḳla [ q.v.], who live above the Third Cataract, are linguistically and physically allied to the Kunūz but do not regard themselves as Barābra. The territory now inhabited by the B…

al-Fayyūm

(620 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, a geographical region of Egypt, which today, as usually in the past, forms an administrative province. The Fayyūm, which derives its name from the Coptic, Phiom (“the Sea”), is a roughly triangular depression, about 35 miles from north to south, and about 49 miles from east to west. It is in Middle Egypt, lying in the Libyan Desert, east of the Nile valley. The cliffs separating it from the river valley are breached at one point, thereby admitting a stream which branches off from the Nile near Asy…

Dongola

(514 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(Arabic, Dunḳula, Dunḳulā; obsolete forms, Dumḳula, Damḳala), the name of two towns in Nubia; more generally, the riverain territory dependent on these towns. All lie within the present Republic of the Sudan. The arabized Nubians of Dongola are called Danāḳla, a regional, not a tribal, designation. (1) Old Dongola (Dunḳula al-ʿad̲j̲ūz), on the right bank of the Nile, is on the site of a pre-Islamic town, the capital of the Christian kingdom of al-Maḳurra. It was besieged by an army under ʿAbd Allāh b. Saʿd b. Abī Sarḥ [ q.v.] in 31/652, but the Muslims withdrew after concluding a convention ( b…

Mawākib

(830 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
6. In the Mamlūk Sultanate In the early Mamlūk sultanate, mawkib designates specifically the royal ride which formed an item in the sultan’s installation ceremonies. The term is explicitly used by Ibn Tag̲h̲rībirdī ( Nud̲j̲ūm , vii, 41) on the accession of al-Manṣūr ʿAlī b. Aybak: “He rode on Thursday, 2 Rabīʿ II [655/19 April 1257] with the insignia of the sultanate from the Citadel to Ḳubbat al-Naṣr in an awe-inspiring procession ( mawkib hāʾil ). Then he returned and entered Cairo by Bāb al-Naṣr. The amīr s dismounted and marched before him…. Then al-Manṣū…

Girgā

(238 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, (Ḏj̲ird̲j̲ā; an obsolete form Dad̲j̲ird̲j̲ā is also found), a town and province of Upper Egypt. The name is said to be derived from a monastery of St. George (V. Denon, tr. A. Aikin, Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt , London 1803, ii, 25). The town originated in the late 8th/14th century ¶ as the tribal centre of Hawwāra [ q.v.], who dominated Upper Egypt for the following two centuries. About 983/1576, the power of this tribe was broken, and Girgā. became the seat of the governor of Upper Egypt, who was also kās̲h̲if of the Girgā district. The governors, who are variously referred to as ḥākim al-Ṣ…

Ibrāhīm Pas̲h̲a

(1,638 words)

Author(s): Kahle, P. | Holt, P.M.
, the eldest son of Muḥammad ʿAlī [ q.v.], general, and viceroy of Egypt. He is often described as Muḥammad ʿAlī’s “adopted” son. Amīna, a relative of his foster-father, the governor ( čorbad̲j̲i̊ ) of Kavalla in Macedonia, was certainly a divorced woman when Muḥammad ʿAlī married her in 1787, and it cannot be denied that Muḥammad ʿAlī had a certain preference for his son Ṭūsūn, who died on 28 September 1816; there was certainly also a rivalry between Ibrāhīm and Ṭūsūn. The year of his birth is decisive, h…

Miṣr

(46,751 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A.J. | Bosworth, C.E. | Becker, C.H. | Christides, V. | Kennedy, H. | Et al.
, Egypt A. The eponym of Egypt B. The early Islamic settlements developing out of the armed camps and the metropolises of the conquered provinces C. The land of Egypt: the name in early Islamic times 1. Miṣr as the capital of Egypt: the name in early Islamic times 2. The historical development of the capital of Egypt i. The first three centuries, [see al-fusṭāṭ ] ii. The Nile banks, the island of Rawḍa and the adjacent settlement of D̲j̲īza (Gīza) iii. The Fāṭimid city, Miṣr al-Ḳāhira, and the development of Cairo till the end of the 18t…

al-G̲h̲azālī

(360 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, Ḏj̲ānbirdī , governor of Damascus under Selīm I. Originally a mamlūk of Ḳāʾit Bāy (873/1468-901/1495), he took his nisba from the Egyptian village of Minyat G̲h̲azāl (S̲h̲arḳiyya), where he was s̲h̲ādd (superintendent). He obtained promotion, ultimately becoming nāʾib (governor) of Ḥamā (917/1511). After the battle of Mard̲j̲ Dābiḳ (24 Rad̲j̲ab 922/23 August 1516), he was nominated governor of Damascus, first by fugitive amīrs in that city, then in Cairo, whither he had fled, by Ṭūmān Bāy. He commanded an expedition against the Ottom…

Mans̲h̲ūrāt

(240 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(a.), the term for the letters, responsa and edicts of Muḥammad (Aḥmad) b. ʿAbd Allāh (d. 1885), the Sudanese Mahdī [see al-mahdiyya ]. These individual documents were transcribed by his followers in numerous manuscript collections, three of which are described in P.M. Holt, Three Mahdist letter- books , in BSOAS, xviii [1956], 227-38. An authorised text was lithographed in Omdurman (Umm Durmān) during the Mahdiyya in four volumes: the first consists of general and doctrinal pieces, including Muḥammad Aḥmad’s justification of his claim to be the Mahdī; the second ( al-ind̲h̲ārāt

Hawwāra

(5,385 words)

Author(s): Lewicki, T. | Holt, P.M.
(also Huwwāra; now Howwāra or Hewwāra), name of a Berber people. Disregarding the legends which give them a Yemenī origin, we must remember that ancient Arabic authors do not agree about their place in the Berber family. The Muslim geographer al-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī (340/951) regards them as members of the Butr branch of the Berbers, whereas most Berber and Arabic genealogists, whose ¶ opinions are given in the History of the Berbers of Ibn K̲h̲aldūn (8th/14th century), regard them as a tribe forming part of the al-Barānis branch, believing them to be…

Maṭbaʿa

(420 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
6. Early Arabic Presses in The Netherlands and England The principal centre of Arabic printing in Protestant Europe was originally Leiden, where the scholar-printer Franciscus Raphelengius cut an Arabic fount and printed specimens in his Specimen characterum Arabicorum officinae Plantinianae Raphelengii (1595). The characters were modelled on the Medicean fount but were of inferior elegance. After being used for the posthumous ¶ printing of his Arabic-Latin lexicon (1613) and other works, the Raphelengian equipment was bought by the pioneer English Arabis…

Muḥammad Abu ’l-D̲h̲ahab

(557 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, a Mamlūk bey of the Ḳāzdug̲h̲liyya [ q.v.] group. ¶ He had entered the household of Buluṭ Ḳāpān ʿAlī Bey al-Kabīr [ q.v.] by 1174/1760-1, and quickly became his treasurer ( k̲h̲āzindār ). In 1178/1764-5, after returning from Pilgrimage with his master (when he was emancipated), he was elevated to the beylicate, and obtained his nickname from scattering a largesse of gold coins on his appointment. His subsequent career falls into two periods: (1) Until 1185/1771 he was ʿAlī Bey’s principal lieutenant, and…

S̲h̲āfiʿ b. ʿAlī

(314 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
al-ʿAsḳalānī , Nāṣir al-Dīn, historian of Mamlūk Egypt (born D̲h̲u ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a 649/February-March 1252, died 24 S̲h̲aʿbān 730/12 June 1330). The son of a sister of the chancery clerk Ibn ʿAbd al-Ẓāhir [ q.v.], he served as clerk first Baraka K̲h̲ān b. Baybars, then Ḳalāwūn [ q.v.]. His official career ended when he was blinded by an arrow at the battle of Ḥimṣ (680/1281) [ q.v.], although he claimed to have ¶ played a significant part in the abrogation of the truce with the Latin kingdom (689/1290). He spent his long retirement as a littérateur and bibliophile. …

Omdurman

(836 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
( umm durmān ), a t own on the west bank of the Nile at the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (lat. 15°38′ N., long. 32°30′ E.), now linked with Khartoum ( al-k̲h̲urṭūm [ q.v.]) and Khartoum North as the principal conurbation of the Republic of the Sudan. The etymology of the name is unknown, although several fanciful explanations have been given. Omdurman is first mentioned as the village of a holy man, Ḥamad b. Muḥammad al-Mas̲h̲yak̲h̲ī, known as Wad (i.e. Walad) Umm Maryūm (1055-1142/1645-6 to 1729-30) (see Ibn Ḍayf Allāh, Kitāb al-Ṭabaḳāt , ed. Yūsuf Faḍl Ḥasan, 2Khartoum 1974, 174-82…

Awlād al-Balad

(304 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
was the term used during the Sudanese Mahdiyya (1881-98) to designate persons originating from the northern riverain tribes, of which the Danāḳla group and Ḏj̲aʿliyyīn were the most important. Many awlād al-balad were domiciled, temporarily or permanently, away from their tribal centres by the main Nile. The Danāḳla were boatbuilders and sailors, especially on the White Nile, while both they and the Ḏj̲aʿliyyīn played an important rôle as merchants and slavetraders in Kurdufān, the Baḥr al-G̲h̲azāl and Dār Fūr. The Mahdī Muḥammad Aḥmad found much support among the awlād al-balad, pa…

Ḳāsimiyya

(526 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, a neo-Mamlūk household and faction in Ottoman Egypt in the 11th/17th and 12th/18th centuries. The eponym, Ḳāsim Bey the Defterdār, is an obscure figure, who apparently flourished in the early 11th/17th century, although an origin-legend given by al-D̲j̲abartī places him in the reign of Sultan Selīm I .The household, in which there appears to have been originally a Bosniak element, emerged as an effective force in politics about the middle of the 11th/17th century, its power ¶ resting on accumulated wealth and an alliance with the older indigenous faction of Ḥarām, just…

Lād̲j̲īn

(725 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
( Lāčīn ), al-Malik al-Manṣūr Ḥusām al-Dīn , alias S̲h̲uḳayr or al-As̲h̲ḳar , Turkish Mamlūk sultan. Originally a mamlūk of al-Malik al-Manṣūr ʿAlī b. Aybak, Lād̲j̲īn was purchased after his master’s deposition in 658/1259 by the future sultan Ḳalāwūn [ q.v.], on whose accession he was raised to the amirate, and sent to Damascus as governor of the citadel (D̲h̲u ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a 678/April 1280). His appointment alarmed the provincial governor, Sunḳur al-As̲h̲ḳar, who proclaimed himself sultan. The revolt was suppressed by an expeditiona…

Baḥr al-G̲h̲azāl

(1,201 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(1) A tributary of the Baḥr al-Ḏj̲abal (upper White Nile) forming an outlet-channel for an extensive swampy area. The swamps are fed by numerous rivers (e.g. Tond̲j̲, Ḏj̲ūr) originating in the Nile-Congo divide, and by the Baḥr al-ʿArab which forms the southern limit of Baḳḳāra [ q.v.] nomadism. The Baḥr al-G̲h̲azāl channel extends 144 miles from Mas̲h̲raʿ al-Rīk (the name is variously spelt and derived) to its confluence with the Baḥr al-D̲j̲abal at Lake No, which it enters from the west at lat. 9° 29′ N. (2) The region formed by the basin of the streams which ultimately supply …

Abu ’l-D̲h̲ahab

(471 words)

Author(s): Holt, P. M.
, kunya of muḥammad bey , a grandee of Ottoman Egypt. Acquired as a mamlūk by Bulūṭ ḳapān ʿAlī Bey [ q.v.] (the date, 1175, given in D̲j̲abartī, ʿAd̲j̲āʾib , i, 417, is obviously incorrect), he became the chief officer in his master’s household as k̲h̲āzindār in 1174/1760. When in 1178/1764-5 he was raised to the beylicate, he obtained his kunya by distributing a largesse of gold. In 1184/1770 he commanded the expeditionary force sent by ʿAlī Bey to install a Hās̲h̲imite protégé in Mecca. As commander of the force sent by ʿAlī Bey in 1185/1771 to co-oper…

D̲h̲u ’l-Faḳāriyya

(627 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, (alternatively Faḳāriyya , Zulfaḳāriyya ); a Mamlūk household and political faction in Egypt during the 17th and 18th centuries. (1) Origin and first ascendancy. The eponymous founder of the household, D̲h̲u ’l-Faḳār Bey, is a shadowy figure, who seems to have flourished in the first third of the 17th century, but is not mentioned by contemporary chroniclers. The account (in Ḏj̲abartī, ʿAd̲j̲āʾib al-Āt̲h̲ār , i, 21-3) which makes D̲h̲u ’l-Faḳār and the rival eponym, Ḳāsim, contemporaries of sultan Selīm I is legendary. The political importance of the Faḳāriyya began with the amīr al-…

K̲h̲āʾir Beg

(581 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(K̲h̲āyir or K̲h̲ayr Bey), the last Mamlūk governor of Aleppo, subsequently first Ottoman viceroy of Egypt. He was the son of Malbāy b. ʿAbd Allāh al-D̲j̲arkasī ( sic), a Muslim Abaza trader in Circassian mamlūk s. He was born at Samsun (on the Black Sea coast within the Ottoman Empire), and his father presented him, although not a slave, with his four brothers to the Mamlūk Sultan al-As̲h̲raf Ḳāʾit Bāy [ q.v.]. He was enrolled in the Royal Mamlūks, and was formally “emancipated” by the grant of a steed and uniform. He became an amīr of Ten in 901/1495-6, and subsequently an amīr ṭablk̲h̲āna

Ḳāzdug̲h̲liyya

(1,465 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, the third of the great neo-Mamlūk households of Ottoman Egypt. The Ḳāzdug̲h̲liyya differed from the D̲h̲u’l-Faḳāriyya and the Ḳāsimiyya [ qq.v.] in that it was founded and maintained in its first decades by officers of the Seven Corps of the Ottoman garrison, not by beys. Its eponym, Muṣṭafā al-Ḳāzdug̲h̲lī, is described by D̲j̲abartī as being Rūmī by origin, i.e., he was Rūm ūs̲h̲āg̲h̲i̊ , hence free-born and not a mamlūk (cf. Stanford J. Shaw (ed.), Ottoman Egypt in the eighteenth century: The Niẓâmnâme-i Mıṣır of Cezzâr Aḥmed Pasha , Cambridge, Mass. 1962; …

Bāzinḳir

(617 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(commonly bazinger , bazingir , basinger , besinger ), slave-troops, equipped with firearms; a term current in the (Egyptian) Sudan during the late Khedivial and Mahdist periods. Etymology: The derivation is obscure. Sir Reginald Wingate’s assertion ( Mahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan , London 1891; 28, n. 1) that it was the name of a tribe may be rejected: it does not appear to come from any southern Sudanese language. Professor E. E. Evans-Pritchard’s statement (“A history of the kingdom of Gbudwe”, Zaire , Oct. 1956, no. 8; 488, n. 36) that it derives from a Nubian (?Dunḳulāwī) word, bezingr…

al-Muʾayyad S̲h̲ayk̲h̲

(754 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
( al-Malik ), Circassian Mamlūk sultan. He was brought to Egypt by the k̲h̲wād̲j̲ā Maḥmūd S̲h̲āh (732/1380-1), and bought by al-Ẓahir Barḳūḳ [ q.v.] whence his nisbas of al-Maḥmūdī al-Ẓāhirī. He was then about 12 or possibly (following Ibn Tag̲h̲rībirdī) some 10 years older, and was in due course emancipated and promoted in the sultan’s entourage. In 802/1400 he was appointed governor of ¶ Tripoli by al-Nāṣir Farad̲j̲ [ q.v.], and spent the next 12 years in Syria, holding various appointments. He was deeply involved in the factional politics in which the Ẓāhiriyy…

al-K̲h̲urṭūm

(340 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
( Khartum , Khartoum ), a city at the confluence of the Blue and White Niles, now the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan. The name is said to be derived from the resemblance of the site to an elephant’s trunk. At the time of the Turco-Egyptian invasion (1821), Khartum was a small village, the residence of a holy man. It was chosen as the military and administrative headquarters of the conquered territories by the governor, ʿUt̲h̲mān Bey D̲j̲arkas, in 1824. With the…

Mamlūks

(8,817 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, the Mamlūk sultanate, i.e. the régime established and maintained by (emancipated) mamlūks [see preceding article] in Egypt from 648/1250 to 922/1517, and in Syria from 658/1260 to 922/1516; and with the role of their successors, the neo-Mamlūks, in Ottoman Egypt. It surveys (i) political history, and (ii) institutional history. On military history, see the relevant sections by D. Ayalon of the articles baḥriyya (i.e. navy), bārūd , ḥarb , ḥiṣār ; on the bureaucracy, see dīwān , ii. Egypt (H. L. Gottschalk). (i) Political History (a) Origins of the Mamlūk sultanate The Mamlūk sultanat…

S̲h̲aʿbān

(913 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, the name of two Mamlūk sultans. 1. al-Malik al-Kāmil , (son of al-Nāṣir Muḥammad b. Ḳalāwūn [ q.v.]), who succeeded his full brother, al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl, on the latter’s death on 4 Rabīʿ II 746/4 August 1345. His accession was brought about by a faction headed by his stepfather, Arg̲h̲ūn al-ʿAlāʾī, who had been in effect regent for Ismāʿīl. A rival faction led by the vicegerent of Egypt, Almalik, supporting his half-brother Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī, rapidly lost power, and Arg̲h̲ūn became the dominant magnate throughout the reign. His sound pol…

Miẓalla

(4,558 words)

Author(s): Bosworth, C.E. | Holt, P.M. | Chalmeta, P. | Andrews, P.A. | Burton-Page, J.
(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…

al-Nāṣir

(2,746 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, the regnal title of five Mamlūk sultans: 1. al-Nāṣir Muḥammad b. Ḳalāwūn, regn . 693/1293-4, 698-708/1299-1309, 709-41/1310-41. 2. al-Nāṣir Aḥmad b. al-Nāṣir Muḥammad, regn. 742-3/1342. 3. al-Nāṣir Ḥasan b. al-Nāṣir Muḥammad, regn. 748-52/1347-51, 755-62/1354-61. 4. al-Nāṣir Farad̲j̲ b. Barḳūḳ, regn. 801-8/1399-1405, 808-15/1405-12. See farad̲j̲ . 5. al-Nāṣir Muḥammad b. Ḳāʾitbāy, regn. 901-4/1496-8. 1. al-Nāṣir Muḥammad b. Ḳalāwūn (684-741/1285-1341). His mother, As̲h̲lūn K̲h̲ātūn, was the daughter of a Mongol notable, S̲h̲aktāy, who migrated from …

K̲h̲us̲h̲ḳadam

(873 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Abū Saʿīd Sayf al-Dīn al-Nāṣirī al-Muʾayyadī , Mamluk sultan of the Burd̲j̲īs (regn. 19 Ramaḍān 865-10 Rabīʿ I 872/22 June 1461 9 October 1467). By origin a Rūmī (i.e. perhaps a Greek, but the term had a wide range of meanings), he was born ca. 815/1413. Brought as a boy to Egypt by the slave-merchant K̲h̲wād̲j̲ā Nāṣir al-Dīn, he was purchased by the sultan al-Muʾayyad S̲h̲ayk̲h̲, whence his two nisba s. He rose through the grades of promotion of the Royal Mamlūks as k̲h̲āṣṣakī , sāḳī and amīr , finally succeeding al-Muʾayyad Aḥmad b. Īnāl as atābak al-ʿasākir

al-Mahdiyya

(5,885 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, a movement in the Egyptian Sudan, launched in 1881 by Muḥammad Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh (Muḥammad al-Mahdī) for the reform of Islam. It had from the outset a political and revolutionary character, being directed against the Turco-Egyptian régime ( al-Turkiyya ), which it overthrew, establishing a territorial state. Under the Mahdī’s successsor, the K̲h̲alīfa ʿAbd Allāh [see ʿabd Allāh b. Muḥammad al-Taʿāʾis̲h̲ī , and K̲h̲alīfa. iv], this developed essentially into a traditional Islamic monarchy until its existence was ¶ terminated by the Anglo-Egyptian reconquest (1896-8). 1. Mahdis…

Fāzūg̲h̲lī

(201 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, a region of the upper Blue Nile, within the modern Republic of the Sudan, and near to the Ethiopian border. Its historical importance is solely due to the presence of alluvial gold. The ruler ( makk ) of Fāzūg̲h̲lī was a vassal of the Fund̲j̲ [ q.v.] sultan of Sinnār, and wore the horned cap ( taḳiyya umm ḳarnayn ) as his insignia of office. This usage long survived the downfall of the Fund̲j̲ sultanate (see A. W. M. Disney, The coronation of the Fung king of Fazoghli , in Sudan Notes and Records , xxvi/1, Khartoum 1945, 37-42, describing the investiture of a makk in 1944). In 1237/1821-22 Fāzūg̲…

al-Damurdās̲h̲ī

(215 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
Aḥmad , Egyptian historian of the 12th/18th century. Nothing is known of his life beyond the fact that he held the post of katk̲h̲udā of the ʿAzabān regiment in Cairo, but he may have been a relative of the rūznāmed̲j̲i Ḥasan Efendi al-Damurdās̲h̲ī, who flourished in the early 11th/17th century, and about whose doings he is well informed). His chronicle, al-Durra al-muṣāna fī ak̲h̲bār al-kināna , covers the period 1099-1169/1688-1755. It reveals unfamiliarity with Arabic, and the sense is sometimes garbled or obscure. Nevertheless it is …

Dār Fūr

(4,079 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
, “the land of the Fūr”, a province of the Republic of the Sudan, formerly a Muslim sultanate. Geography and inhabitants. Dār Fūr was one of the chain of Muslim states composing bilād al-Sūdān . Its eastern neighbour was Kordofān, from which it was separated by a tract of sand-hills. To the west lay Waddāī. The Libyan desert formed a natural boundary on the north, while the marshes of the Baḥr al-G̲h̲azāl [ q.v.] marked the southern limits. Dār Fūr comprises three main zones: a northern zone, the steppe fringe of the Sahara, providing grazing for camel-owning tribes …

D̲j̲aʿaliyyūn

(976 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(1) A group of tribes in the Republic of the Sudan. The principal tribes of this group, mainly sedentary in their way of life, inhabit the banks of the main Nile from the Dongola [ q.v.] region southwards to the Fifth (Sabalūka) Cataract. Other tribes and clans in Kurdufān (Kordofan) and elsewhere attach themselves to this group. The link among the tribes of the D̲j̲aʿaliyyūn is traditionally expressed in genealogical form: their eponymous founder (rather than ancestor) is said to have been a certain Ibrāhīm known as D̲j̲aʿal ( i.e., “he made”, because he made himself a following fr…

Ṭūmān Bāy

(573 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(al-Malik al-As̲h̲raf Abu ’l-Naṣr min Ḳānṣawh al-Nāṣirī), the last Mamlūk sultan of Egypt, r. 922-3/1516-17. Born ca. 878/1474-5, he was purchased as a mamlūk by his paternal uncle Ḳānṣawh al-G̲h̲awrī [ q.v.], and presented to the reigning sultan, Ḳāʾit Bay [ q.v.], by whose son and successor, al-Nāṣir Muḥammad [ q.v.] he was manumitted. During Ḳānṣawh al-G̲h̲awrī’s sultanate his career prospered. Appointed dawādār kabīr in 913/1507, he became in effect the sultan’s chief minister, acquiring also the great offices of high steward ( ustādār al-ʿāliya ) and kās̲h̲if al-kus̲h̲s̲h̲āf .

Emīn Pas̲h̲a

(891 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(Eduard Carl Oscar Theodor Schnitzer) was born on 28 March 1840 at Oppeln in Prussian Silesia. He graduated in medicine at Berlin in 1864. He entered the Ottoman service as a medical officer in Albania in 1865, and assumed the name of Ḵh̲ayr Allāh; later, in the Sudan, he became known as Meḥmed Emīn (Muḥammad Amīn, not al-A.). He went to Egypt in October 1875, whence he proceeded to khartoum, and (in May 1876) to Lado, the capital of the Equatorial Provinces, where he was appointed medical offic…

Ibrāhīm Bey

(807 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
al-Kabīr al-Muḥammadī (i.e., the mamlūk of Muḥammad Bey Abu ’l-D̲h̲ahab) was raised to the beylicate in 1182/1768-9, and held the appointments of amīr al-ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ in 1186/1772-3 and daftardār in 1187/1773-4. When Abu ’l-D̲h̲ahab went on campaign against S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Ẓāhir al-ʿUmar (Muḥarram 1189/March 1775), he left Ibrāhīm as his deputy in command of Cairo. On his death, the ascendancy in Egypt passed to his retainers (the Muḥammadiyya) headed by Ibrāhīm and Murād Bey, the former becoming s̲h̲ayk̲h̲ al-balad . The characters of the two men were str…

Ḳānṣawh al-G̲h̲awrī

(1,588 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(usually but incorrectly vocalized Ḳānṣūh al-G̲h̲ūrī), the penultimate Mamlūk sultan of Egypt, was of Circassian origin and a mamlūk of Sultan Ḳāʾitbāy. He was trained in the military school ( ṭabaḳa ) named al-G̲h̲awr. whence his nisba . He became governor ( kās̲h̲if ) of Upper Egypt (886/1481-2), was appointed an amīr of Ten (889/1484), and took part in operations against the Ottomans on the Syrian-Cilician frontier, during which time he was governor ( nāʾib ) of Ṭarsūs. In Rabīʿ II 894/March-April 1489 he was appointed grand chamberlain ( ḥād̲j̲ib al-ḥud̲j̲d̲j̲āb

ʿIrāḳ

(21,303 words)

Author(s): Miquel, A. | Brice, W.C. | Sourdel, D. | Aubin, J. | Holt, P.M. | Et al.
, a sovereign State, of the Muslim religion, for the most part Arabic-speaking, situated at the eastern end of the Fertile Crescent. i.—Geography The structure of ʿIrāḳ paradoxically derives its originality from the fact that it forms part of a large geographical block of territory. From the Arabo-Syrian desert tableland which it faces along its south-western flank, it takes its general aspect and its climate. All along its frontiers on the North-East, on the other hand, it shares the orientation and ¶ relief of the folded mountain-chains of western Asia, which give it its t…

Taʾrīkh

(16,887 words)

Author(s): Winter, M. | Kably, M. | Farouk, Ahmed | de La Véronne, Chantal | Teule, H.G.B. | Et al.
II. 1. In the Arab world. (c) The period 1500 to 1800. i. The Ottoman occupation of the central Arab lands The Ottoman Empire, in a few decisive battles, destroyed the Mamlūk Sultanate (1250-1517 [see mamlūks ]), which included Egypt, Syria and parts of Anatolia (with the Ḥid̲j̲āz within its sphere of influence). Egypt, the centre of empires for centuries, and ¶ also Syria became tax-paying Ottoman provinces for the next three, nominally four, centuries. Later in the 16th century, the Yemen, ʿIrāḳ and North Africa (with the exception of Morocco) were also…

Dimyāṭ

(398 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
(Damietta), a town of Lower Egypt situated on the eastern arm of the Nile, near its mouth. Dimyāṭ, which was an important town before the Muslim conquest, was captured by a force under al-Miḳdād b. al-Aswad, sent by ʿAmr b. ¶ al-ʿĀṣ. As a Muslim town, it suffered repeated naval raids, at first from the Byzantines and subsequently from the Crusaders. After an attack in D̲h̲u ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a 238/June 853, al-Mutawakkil ordered the construction of a fortress at Dimyāṭ as part of a general plan to fortify the Mediterr…

Kanz, Banu ’l

(297 words)

Author(s): Holt, P.M.
( awlād al-kanz ), a clan descended from Rabīʿa tribesmen who migrated to the region of Aswān in the 3rd/9th century, intermarried with Bed̲j̲a [ q.v.], and ultimately gained control of the gold-mines of al-ʿAllāḳī [ q.v.]. The eponym of the clan, whose personal name was Abu ʾl-Makārim Hibat Allāh, received in 397/1007 from the Fāṭimid caliph al-Ḥākim [ q.v.] the honorific of Kanz al-Dawla for his services in capturing the rebel Abū Rakwa. The title continued to be borne by his successors. As marcher-chiefs of the frontier of Islam ¶ with the Bed̲j̲a and Nubians, the Banu ʾl-Kanz wer…

العراق

(18,269 words)

Author(s): Miquel, A. | Brice, W. C. | Sourdel, Dominique | Aubin, J. | Holt, P. M. | Et al.
[English edition] العراق دولة ذات سيادة، دينها الإسلام. يتكلّم أغلب سكّانها العربيّة، وتقع في أقصى الشّرق من الهلال الخصيب. 1. الجغرافيا من المفارقة أن يستمدّ العراق تميّزه في تركيبته الجغرافيّة من كونه يشكّل جزءًا من كتلة جغرافيّة واسعة. فهو يستمدّ، من ناحية أولى، خصائصه الجغرافيّة العامّة ومناخه من هضبة بادية الشّام (الصّحراء العربيّة السّوريّة) التي يقع على طول سفحها الجنوبيّ الغربيّ، ومن جهة أخرى يشترك في الاتّجاه والتّضاريس مع سلاسل الجبال المنفرجة في آسيا الغربية التي تتقاسم، على طول تخومها الشّماليّة الشّرقيّ…

تاريخ

(13,988 words)

Author(s): Winter, M. | Kably, M. | Teule, H.G.B. | Holt, P.M.
[English edition] في العالم العربي 1. (ج) الفترة من 1500 إلى 1800 1.1 الاحتلال العثماني للأراضي العربية المركزية بعد عدد قليل من المعارك الحاسمة، دمّرت الإمبراطورية العثمانية سلطنة المماليك (1250–1517) [انظر مماليك] التي كانت تشمل مصر وسوريا وأجزاء من الأناضول (مع الحجاز ضمن دائرة نفوذها). وأصبحت مصر، بعد أن كانت مركزاً للإمبراطوريات لعدّة قرون، وكذلك سوريا، من جملة الولايات العثمانية المطالبة بدفع الضرائب ما يزيد على ثلاثة قرون أو أربعة. وفي القرن السادس عشر، تمّ دمج اليمن والعراق وبلدان إفريقيا الشمالية (باستثناء المغرب) في الإمبراطورية العثمانية إدماجًا مركزيّا متفاوت الدرجات. وبا…

خليفة

(13,738 words)

Author(s): Sourdel, D. | Lambton, A. K. S. | de Jong, F. | Holt, P. M.
[English edition] 1. تاريخ مؤسّسة الخلافة لم ترق دراسة الخلافة منذ تأسيسها والتطوّرات اللّاحقة التي مرّت بها إلى درجة الشموليّة إلى يومنا هذا. والسبب الرئيس هو أنهّا تبدو غير ممكنة بمعزل عن الدّراسات التاريخيّة للحكومات المختلفة. وهذا ما لم يتحقّق إذ الدراسات ليست مستوفاة دائماً أو هي غير موجودة تماما. وفي المقابل نجد دراسات عن مختلف العقائد أكثر تطوّرا مع أنّ قيمتها العلميّة اختلفت باختلاف الفترات التاريخيّة. فكانت النتيجة أنّ ما أمكن تحقيقه من محاولات سابقة، ينقصه التعمّق أو هو ذو آفاق تاريخيّة محدودة. وهو ما يضطرّ…

مماليك

(7,918 words)

Author(s): Holt, P. M.
[English edition] دراسة لسلطنة المماليك، أي نظام الحكم الذي أرساه مماليك معتقون، وحافظوا عليه (انظر المقالة السابقة) في مصر من سنة 648 هـ/1250 م إلى سنة 922 هـ/1517 م، وفي سوريّة من سنة 658هـ/1260 م إلى سنة 922هـ/1516 م، والدور الذي قام به خلفاؤهم، المماليك الجدد، في مصر العثمانيّة وفحص لـ: أولاً التّاريخ السياسي وثانيا التّاريخ المؤسّساتي. أمّا في خصوص التّاريخ العسكري فانظر الفصول المتعلقة بهذا الموضوع بقلم د. أيالون (D. Ayalon) في مقالات: «بحرية» و«بارود» و«حرب» و«حصار»، وفي خصوص البيروقراطية، انظر مقال «ديوان»، ثانياً: مصر (هـ.ل. غوتستشولك). (H.L.Gottschalk) 1. أولاً: الت…
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