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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…

Ẓulm

(2,783 words)

Author(s): Badry, Roswitha | Lewis, B.
(a., verbal noun of form I), basically meaning, according to the authoritative lexicologists, “putting a thing in a place not its own” (Lane, LA, TA), i.e. displacement. In the moral sphere, it denotes acting in such a way as to transgress the proper limit and encroach upon the right of some other person. In common usage, ẓulm has come to signify wrongdoing, evil, injustice, oppression and tyranny, particularly by persons who have power and authority. Frequently it is therefore used as the antonym to ʿadl [ q.v.], inṣāf [ q.v.] and ḳisṭ and (sometimes by expressi…

Dindān

(476 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, the laḳab of Abū D̲j̲aʿfar Aḥmad b. Ḥusayn, a S̲h̲īʿī traditionist of the 3rd/9th century. His father was a reliable authority who related traditions of the Imāms ʿAlī al-Riḍā, Muḥammad al-D̲j̲awād, and ʿAlī al-Hādī; originally from Kūfa, he lived for a while in Ahwāz, where Dindān was born. Dindān also related traditions on the authority of his father’s masters, but was regarded as a g̲h̲ālī , extremist, and his reliability as a relator was impugned. He wrote several books, among them Kitāb al-iḥtid̲j̲ād̲j̲ , K. al-anbiyāʾ , K. al-mat̲h̲ālib , and K. al-muk̲h̲taṣar fi ’l-daʿwāt

Bahd̲j̲at Muṣṭafā Efendi

(388 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Ottoman scholar and physician, grandson of the Grand Vezir Ḵh̲ayrullah Efendi and son of Ḵh̲wād̲j̲a Meḥmed Emīn S̲h̲ukūhī. Born in 1188/1774, he entered upon the ladder of the religious institution, becoming a mudarris in 1206/1791-2. Specialising in medicine, he rose rapidly, and in 1218/1803 became chief physician to the Sultan (Ḥekīmbas̲h̲ǐ or, more formally, Reʾīs-i Eṭibbā-i Sulṭānī ). In 1222/1807 he was dismissed from this office, but was reappointed in 1232/1817. In 1237/1821 he was disgraced and banished, but was reinsta…

Ḍābiṭ

(270 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, in Turkish zabit , an Ottoman term for certain functionaries and officers, later specialized to describe officers in the armed forces. In earlier Ottoman usage Ḍābiṭ seems to indicate a person in charge or in control of a matter or of ( ? the revenues of) a place ( e.g. Ewḳāf ḍābiṭi , Wilāyet ḍābiṭi etc.; examples, some with place-names, in Halit Ongan, Ankara’nın I Numaralı Şer’iye Sicili , Ankara 1958, index, and L. Fekete, Die Siyāqat-Schrift , i, Budapest 1955, 493 ff.; cf. the Persian usage in the sense of collector — Minorsky, Tad̲h̲kirat al-Mulūk , index). The…

Hās̲h̲imiyya

(797 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, a term commonly applied in the 2nd-3rd/8th-9th centuries to members of the ʿAbbāsid house and occasionally to their followers and supporters. From early ʿAbbāsid times it was understood to denote the descendants of Hās̲h̲im b. ʿAbd Manāf [ q.v.], the common ancestor of the Prophet, ʿAlī, and al-ʿAbbās; its use by the ʿAbbāsids was thus interpreted as expressing a claim to the Caliphate based on kinship with the Prophet in the male line. Van Vloten, followed by other scholars, showed that the name had in fact a different origin. Fro…

ʿAzīz Miṣr

(262 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, the mighty one of Egypt. In the Kurʾān (xii, 30, 51) the title al-ʿAzīz is given to the unnamed Egyptian who buys Yūsuf. In later legend and commentary he is called Kiṭfīr [ q.v.], from the Biblical Potiphar. The title al-ʿAzīz seems to connote the office of chief minister under Pharoah, as the same title is applied to Yūsuf himself when he reaches that position (Kurʾān, xii, 78, 88). In some of the Arabic dictionaries the term is defined as meaning the ruler of Egypt (Miṣr) and Alexandria (Lane, s.v.). In Ottoman texts the epithet ʿAzīz Miṣr is sometimes applied to the Mamlūk sultans of Egypt ( e.g…

Bayt al-Māl

(8,636 words)

Author(s): Coulson, N.J. | Cahen, Cl. | Lewis, B. | R. le tourneau
, in its concrete meaning “the House of wealth”, but particularly, in an abstract sense, the “fiscus” or “treasury” of the Muslim State. I. The Legal Doctrine. ‘Bilāl and his companions asked ʿUmar b. al-Ḵh̲aṭṭāb to distribute the booty acquired in Iraq and Syria. “Divide the lands among those who conquered them”, they said, “just as the spoils of the army are divided”. But ʿUmar refused their request . . . saying: “Allāh has given a share in these lands to those who shall come after you” ’ ( Kitāb al-Ḵh̲arād̲j̲ , 24. Le Livre de l’Impot Foncier , 37). In this alleged d…

Derebey

(1,591 words)

Author(s): Mordtmann, J.H. | Lewis, B.
, ‘valley lord’, the Turkish name popularly given to certain rulers in Asia Minor who, from the early 12th/18th century, made themselves virtually independent of the Ottoman central government in Istanbul. The Ottoman historians usually call them mutag̲h̲allibe , usurpers, or, when a politer designation was needed, K̲h̲ānedān . great families. The derebeys became in effect vassal princes, ruling over autonomous and hereditary principalities. In time of war they served, with their own contingents, in the Ottoman armies, w…

Mas̲h̲wara

(2,004 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
(a.) or Mas̲h̲ūra , a common term for consultation, in particular by the ruler of his advisers, the latter being various defined. The term sometimes also appears to mean some kind of deliberative gathering or assembly. The practice of consultative decision was known in pre-Islamic Arabia [see mad̲j̲lis , and malaʾ in Suppl). Two passages in the Ḳurʾān (III, 153/159, was̲h̲āwirhum fi ’l-amr and XLII, 36/38, wa-amruhum s̲h̲ūrā baynahum) are commonly cited as imposing a duty of consultation on rulers. The merits of consultation ( mus̲h̲āwara and mas̲h̲wara) and the corresponding defe…

Bilād-i T̲h̲alāt̲h̲a

(144 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, the three towns, a term employed in Ottoman legal and administrative usage for Eyyūb, Galata, and Üsküdar, i.e., the three separate urban areas attached to Istanbul. Each had its own ḳāḍī, independent of the ḳādī of Istanbul, though of lower rank. Every Wednesday the ḳāḍīs of the ‘three towns’ joined the ḳāḍī of Istanbul in attending the Grand Vezir. This judicial autonomy of the three towns goes back to early Ottoman times, probably even to the conquest. The three towns also enjoyed some autonomy in police mat…

Ḍabṭiyya

(178 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, in Turkish zabtiyye , a late Ottoman term for the police and gendarmerie. Police duties, formerly under the control of various janissary officers, were placed under the jurisdiction of the Serʿasker ([ q.v.] see also bāb-i serʿaskerī ) in 1241/ 1826, and in 1262/1846 became a separate administration, the Ḍabṭiyee Mus̲h̲īriyyeti (Ḷutfī iii 27-8). At about the same time a council of police ( med̲j̲lis-i ḍabṭiyye ) was established, which was later abolished and replaced by two quasi-judicial bodies, the dīwān-i ḍabṭiyye and med̲j̲lis-i taḥḳīḳ- After several further changes the mus̲h̲īr…

Deved̲j̲̇i̇

(197 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, a Turkish word meaning cameleer, the name given to certain regiments of the corps of janissaries [see yeni čeri ], forming part of the D̲j̲emāʿat , and performing escort duties with the supply columns. They were also called by the Persian term s̲h̲uturbān . The Deved̲j̲is originally formed the first five ortas of the Ḏj̲emaʿat (four according to D’Ohsson), and were later augmented to include many others. They wore heron’s feathers in their crests (see sorguč ); when attending the dīwān they wore velvet trimmed with sable and lynx fur. Deved̲j̲i officers enjoyed high precedence among the or…

Ḏj̲emʿiyyet-i ʿIlmiyye-i ʿOt̲h̲māniyye

(372 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
the Ottoman Scientific Society, was founded in Istanbul in 1861 by Munīf Pas̲h̲a [ q.v.]. Modelled on the Royal Society of England, and perhaps inspired by the reopening of the Institut d’Egypte [ q.v.] in Alexandria in 1859, it consisted of a group of Turkish officials, dignitaries and scholars, some of them educated in Europe. It was the third such learned society to appear in 19th century Turkey, having been preceded by the End̲j̲umen-i Dānis̲h̲ in 1851 (see and̲j̲uman ), and by the ‘learned society of Bes̲h̲iktas̲h̲’ in the time of Maḥmūd II (see D̲j̲ewdet, Taʾrīk̲h̲ 2
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