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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…

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

Tunali̊ Ḥilmī

(226 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Turkish writer and politician. Born in Eskid̲j̲uma in 1863, he became involved in illegal political activities while still a medical student. After serving a brief term of imprisonment, he fled to Europe in 1895, and joined the Young Turk group in Geneva, where in 1896 he founded, with others, the Ottoman Revolutionary Party ( ʿOt̲h̲mānli̊ Ik̲h̲tilāl Fi̊rḳasi̊ ); he was particularly effective as a writer and propagandist with a simple and direct popular appeal. In 1900, together with ʿAbd Allāh D̲j̲ewdet and Isḥāḳ Sükūtī [ qq.v.], he made his peace with the Sultan and was appoi…

Daftardār

(728 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, in Turkish defterdār , keeper of the daftar [ q.v.], an Ottoman term for the chief finance officer, corresponding to the Mustawfī [ q.v.] in the eastern Islamic world. According to Ḳalḳas̲h̲andī ( Ṣubḥ , iii, 485, 494, 525, 526), the title Ṣāḥib al-Daftar already existed in the Fāṭimid administration, for the official in charge of the Daftar al-Mad̲j̲lis , that is, of accounts and audits. The title Daftark̲h̲ w ānDaftar -reader—appears in the time of Saladin (B. Lewis, Three Biographies from Kamāl ad-Dīn , in Fuad Köprülü Armağanı , Istanbul 1953, 343), and r…

Duyūn-i ʿUmūmiyye

(706 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, the Ottoman public debt, more particularly the debt administration set up in 1881. The Ottoman government had made its first attempts to raise money by internal loans in ¶ the late 18th and early 19th centuries (see ashām and ḳāʾime ). The needs and opportunities of the Crimean War brought a new type of loan, floated on the money markets of Europe. The first such foreign loan was raised in London in 1854, the second in the following year. They were for £ 3,000,000 at 6% and £ 5,000,000 at 4% respectively. Betwee…

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…

Baladiyya

(9,924 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B. | Hill, R.L. | Samaran, Ch. | Adam, A. | Lambton, A.K.S. | Et al.
, municipality, the term used in Turkish ( belediye ), Arabic, and other Islamic languages, to denote modern municipal institutions of European type, as against earlier Islamic forms of urban organisation [see madīna ]. The term, like so many modern Islamic neologisms and the innovations they express, first appeared in Turkey, where Western-style municipal institutions and services were introduced as part of the general reform programme of the Tanẓīmāt [ q.v.]. (1) turkey. The first approaches towards modern municipal administration seems to have been made by Sultan …

ʿAlids

(1,706 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, descendants of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, who had eighteen sons (according to most works on ʿAlid genealogy, but fourteen according to another version given by al-Ṭabarī and eleven according to al-Masʿūdī), and seventeen daughters. His sons were as follows: By Fāṭima; al-Ḥasan, al-Ḥusayn, and al-Muḥsin (or Muḥassin). The third does not appear in all sources. By Ḵh̲awla; Muḥammad, known as Ibn al-Ḥanafiyya. By Umm al-Banīn; ʿAbbās the elder, ʿAbd Allāh, ʿUt̲h̲mān the elder, Ḏj̲aʿfar the elder. By al-Ṣaḥbāʾ, called Umm Ḥabīb; ʿUmar. By Laylā bint Masʿūd; Abū Bakr ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ʿUbayd Allāh. B…

Bazīg̲h̲ b. Mūsā

(189 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, called al-ḥāʾik , S̲h̲īʿite heretic. A disciple of Abu ’l-Ḵh̲aṭṭāb [ q.v.], he was, like his master, denounced by the Imām Ḏj̲aʿfar al-Ṣādiḳ as a heretic and was even, according to Nawbak̲h̲tī, disowned by Abu ’l-Ḵh̲aṭṭāb himself. Kas̲h̲s̲h̲ī reports a tradition that when Ḏj̲aʿfar al-Ṣādiḳ was told that Bazīg̲h̲ had been killed, he expressed satisfaction. This would place Bazīg̲h̲’s death before that of D̲j̲aʿfar in 148/765. Like many of the early extremist S̲h̲īʿites, Bazīg̲h̲ was an artisan—a weaver of …

Ḥātim b. Hart̲h̲ama

(381 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, the son of Hart̲h̲ama b. Aʿyan [ q.v.], held a number of appointments in the service of the Caliphs. In a letter from al-Amīn to Ṣāliḥ, dated S̲h̲awwāl 192/July-August 808, i.e., nearly a year before the death of Hārūn al-Ras̲h̲īd, the heir apparent advises his brother to confirm Ḥātim b. Hart̲h̲ama, like his father a man of proved loyalty, in his post, and to entrust him with the guarding of the Caliphal palaces (Ṭabarī, iii, 769; cf. Gabrieli, Documenti relativi al califfato di al-Amīn in aṭ-Ṭabarī , in Rend. Lin ., Ser. vi, vol. iii (1927), 203). Later, al-A…

Dustūr

(44,385 words)

Author(s): Ed. | Lewis, B. | Khadduri, M. | Lambton, A.K.S. | Caldwell, J.A.M. | Et al.
, in modern Arabic constitution. A word of Persian origin, it seems originally to have meant a person exercising authority, whether religious or political, and was later specialized to designate members of the Zoroastrian priesthood. It occurs in Kalīla wa-Dimna in the sense of “counsellor”, and recurs with the same sense, at a much later date, in the phrase Dustūr-i mükerrem , one of the honorific titles of the Grand Vizier in the Ottoman Empire. More commonly, dustūr was used in the sense of “rule” or “regulation”, and in particular the code of ru…

Biñbas̲h̲i̊

(326 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, ‘head of a thousand’, a Turkish military rank. The word appears at an early date among the Western Turks, and is already used in connexion with the military reorganisation said to have been made by Ork̲h̲ān in 729/1328-9 ( e.g., Saʿd al-Dīn, Tād̲j̲ al-Tawārīk̲h̲ , i, 40— ‘onbas̲h̲i̊s , yüzbas̲h̲i̊s , and biñbas̲h̲i̊s were appointed to them ...’). In the form miñbas̲h̲i̊ the term also occurs among the Eastern Turks, and is used, for example, of a rank in the Ṣafawid forces in Persia (V. Minorsky, Tad̲h̲kirat al-Mulūk , London 1943, 36, 74, 155). The title miñ-begi , wi…

al-ʿAyyās̲h̲ī

(192 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, abu ’l-naṣr muḥammad b. masʿūd b. muḥammad b. ʿayyās̲h̲ , a S̲h̲īʿite writer of the 3rd/9th century. He was a native of Samarḳand, and was said to have been descended from the tribe of Tamīm. Originally a Sunnī, he was converted while still young to S̲h̲īʿism, and studied under the disciples of ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. Faḍḍāl (d. 224/839-al-Ṭūsī 93) and of ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. Ḵh̲ālid al-Ṭayālisī (al-Astarābādī, 211). He spent his patrimony of over 300,000 dīnārs on scholarship and…

Ḥukūma

(18,623 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B. | Ahmad, F. | Lambton, A.K.S. | Vatikiotis, P.J. | Tourneau, R. le | Et al.
, in modern Arabic “government”. Like many political neologisms in Islamic languages, the word seems to have been first used in its modern sense in 19th century Turkey, and to have passed from Turkish into Arabic and other languages. Ḥukūma comes from the Arabic root ḥ.k.m , with the meaning “to judge, adjudicate” (cf. the related meaning, dominant in Hebrew and other Semitic languages, of wisdom. See ḥikma ). In classical usage the verbal noun ḥukūma means the act or office of adjudication, of dispensing justice, whether by a sovereign, a judge, …

ʿAyn Ḏj̲ālūt

(947 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, spring of Goliath, mentioned by the mediaeval geographers as a village between Baysān and Nābulus, in the Ḏj̲und of Filasṭīn. It stood at the head of the Wādī Ḏj̲ālūt, and is said to have owed its name to a tradition that by it David slew Goliath (cf. A. S. Marmardji, Textes géographiques arabes sur la Palestine , Paris 1951, 152; G. Le Strange, Palestine, 384, 461). In the chronicles of the Crusaders the neighbourhood is called Tubania or Tubanie. It first achieves mention in ḎJ̲um. II 578/Sept. 1183, when the armies of Saladin and of the Franks camped th…
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