Search

, large alluvial plain of northern Syria, situated N-E of Antioch and framed in the tectonic depression which separates the Elma Dag̲h̲, or Amanus, from the Kurd Dag̲h̲, and which stretches as far as the lower spurs of the Taurus. With a mean elevation of 260 ft. above sea level, it is largely covered by a lake fringed with marshes, called Buḥayrat Anṭākiyya (“the lake of Antioch”) or Buḥayrat Yag̲h̲rā, and in Turkish Aḳ Deniz; fed from the north by the ʿAfrīn [ q.v.] and the Ḳara Su, streams which are violent when in spate, the lake discharges its waters in the direction of t…

, an ancient fortress in Arabia Petraea situated on the Roman road leading from Buṣrā to the Red Sea, about one mile north ot Ad̲h̲ruḥ [ q.v.]. Like Ad̲h̲ruḥ, it submitted to Muḥammad, in 9/631, on condition of payment of tribute. The distance between Ad̲h̲ruḥ and al-D̲j̲arbāʾ, estimated at “three days’ journey”, has been mentioned frequently in the ḥadīt̲h̲ as an indication of the size of the basin ( ḥawḍ [ q.v.]) where the Prophet will stand on the day of Judgment. The expression “between Ad̲h̲ruḥ and al-D̲j̲arbāʾ“ has thus become proverbial to denote a considerable distance. The place ca…

, an Iranian religious agitator who, in the later period of Umayyad rule —about 129/747—set himself up as a new prophet at Ḵh̲awāf in the district of Nīs̲h̲āpūr. He gathered about him a large following and was put to death with his disciples on the orders of Abū Muslim in 131/749. Before this he is believed to have lived in China for seven years and on his return, to have revealed himself to certain people as resurrected and descended from heaven. Legend also has it that he pretended to be dead …

, 19th ʿAbbāsid Caliph, who reigned from 320/932 to 322/934 in succession to his brother al-Muḳtadir [ q.v.]. He had previously been temporarily chosen as caliph after the abortive palace revolution in Muḥarram 317/March 929. Al-Muḳtadir’s death followed after the sortie he made at the head of his troops against the amīr Muʾnis [ q.v.] in 320/932. When the dignitaries came to nominate a new caliph, Muʾnis’s judgement in favour of Aḥmad, the son of al-Muḳtadir, was ignored and Muḥammad, son of al-Muʿtaḍid, was proclaimed on 27 Shawwāl 320/31 October…

, a district in southern Syria bounded on the west by the Jordan, on the north by the spurs of Hermon, on the east by the Nahr al-ʿAllān and on the south by the Yarmūk. The northern part lies at a certain altitude and presents the appearance of a wild, hilly region, covered with blocks of lava and oak forests which were once magnificent but are now extremely impoverished. The southern part is fairly low-lying and differs but little from the plain of Ḥawrān, with a soil of volcanic detritus, more even and of greater fertility. The territory of Ḏj̲awlān corresponds with the ancient Gaulaniti…

, ʿIzz al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Ḥalabī , Syrian author of topographical and historical works, born in 613/1217 in Aleppo, died in Cairo in 684/1285. A famous secretary of the chancellery and a skilful administrator, he was employed by the ruler of Aleppo, al-Malik al-Nāṣir, who sent him in 640/1242-3 on a mission to inspect the finances in Ḥarrān. Later, when the Mongols were approaching, in 657/1259, he was instructed to accompany the ruler’s family from Damascus to…

, vizier to the ʿAbbāsid caliphs al-Ras̲h̲īd and al-Amīn, was the son of al-Manṣūr’s chamberlain al-Rabīʿ b. Yūnus [ q.v.]. Born in 138/757-8, he very soon won the esteem of Hārūn al-Ras̲h̲īd, who in 173/789-90 placed him in charge of the Expenditure Office and then in 179/795-6 made him chamberlain. After the disgrace of the Barāmika [ q.v.] in 187/803, he succeeded Yaḥyā as vizier, though without being granted such wide powers; his part was confined to keeping check on public expenditure and in presenting letters and petitions ( ʿarḍ ), while another secretary…

, a word of Syriac origin denoting the Christian monasteries which continued to function after the Arab conquest of the Middle East. If we are to believe the lists drawn up by Arab writers, they were very numerous, particularly in ʿIrāḳ (along the Tigris and Euphrates valleys), Upper Mesopotamia, Syria (Stylite sanctuaries in the vicinity of the “dead cities”), Palestine and Egypt (along the whole length of the Nile valley). They were often named after a patron saint (Dayr Mār Yuḥannā near Takrī…

, ʿAbbāsid prince, born end of 162/July 779, d. in Ramaḍān 224/July 839. The son of the caliph al-Mahdī [ q.v.] and of a concubine of Daylamī origin named S̲h̲ikla, he was in Bag̲h̲dād at the time when the caliph al-Maʾmūn [ q.v.], who was then living at Marw, nominated as his successor ʿAlī al-Riḍā. The inhabitants of Bag̲h̲dād and the ʿAbbāsid aristocracy, in revolt against this decision which seemed to them to be contrary to the legitimist principle established by the first caliphs of the dynasty, then rejected the authority of al-Ma…

, mediaeval ruined town of Upper Mesopotamia (within the borders of modern Turkey), situated 20 km. south-west of Mārdīn on a tributary of the K̲h̲ābūr, the site of which is today marked by the Kurdish village of Koč Ḥiṣār, the Kosar of the western chroniclers. A fortress of former times, generally identified with the Adenystrai of Dio Cassius, Dunaysir is not noted as an important place in the early years of Islam, and was subsequently never a fortress. Not until the 4th/10th century does its name appear, in a ms. of Ibn Ḥawḳ…

, district in Syria with Ad̲h̲riʿat [ q.v.] as capital. It is bounded by the Ḏj̲abal al-Drūz to the east, the Lad̲j̲āʾ plain and the Ḏj̲aydūr to the north, the Ḏj̲awlan to the west, and the hills of al-Ḏj̲umal to the south, where the boundary is a little imprecise. Also called al-Nuḳra, “the hollow”, it corresponds to the ancient Batanaea mentioned together with Trachonites, Auranites and Gaulanites as part of the old kingdom of Bashan and referred to in the Old Testament. The region is fertile, as its name derived from bat̲h̲na (stoneless and even plain) indicat…

, ruined site in Jordan, situated in 30° N′. and about 35° 20′ E., some 50 km. south-east of the town of Maʿān, halfway between there and the gulf of ʿAḳaba. This place, mentioned by the Arab geographers as belonging to the d̲j̲und of Dimas̲h̲ḳ and to the region of al-S̲h̲arāt, is famous in history chiefly as having been used as a residence by the ʿAbbāsid claimants between 68/687-8 and 132/749. It was after the death of ʿAbd Allāh b. al-ʿAbbās at Ṭāʾif in 68/687-8 that his son ʿAlī, who had given his support to th…

, a locality in the ʿAzāz region of northern Syria. It lies on the road from Manbid̲j̲ to Anṭākiya (Ṭabarī, iii, 1103) upstream from Aleppo on the river Nahr Ḳuwayḳ. In Assyrian times its name was Dabigu , to become Dabekôn in Greek. It lies on the edge of the vast plain of Mard̲j̲ Dābiḳ where, under the Umayyads and ʿAbbāsids, troops were stationed prior to being sent on operations against Byzantine territory. The Umayyad caliph Sulaymān b. ʿAbd al-Malik lived in Dābiḳ for some time, and after his death and buri…

, Abuʾl-Ṣaḳr , vizier of the ʿAbbāsid Caliph al-Muʿtamid [ q.v.]. Of Persian or Mesopotamian origin, he was born in 230/844-5 and claimed to belong to the Arab tribe of the S̲h̲aybān. Abu ’l-Ṣaḳr, who had been a secretary and had been in charge of the dīwān of the Royal Domains, appeared on the political scene in 265/878, when the regent al-Muwaffaḳ had him appointed vizier, a post which he had to abandon shortly afterwards only to regain it at the end of the year. But Ismāʿīl played a minor role while the regent had Ṣāʿid b. Mak̲h̲lad [ q.v.] as his personal secretary, and it was only from t…

, a locality in ʿIrāḳ some 90 km. south of Bag̲h̲dād and a mile from the left bank of the Tigris. The name comes from a large monastery still flourishing in ʿAbbāsid times; it consisted of a church, a hundred cells, and extensive olive and palm plantations, all enclosed by thick walls. On the occasion of the feast of the Holy Cross many people flocked to the monastery. It seems that it was abandoned at the time of the Sald̲j̲ūḳid occupation, and geographers of the 7th/13th century record that only the ruins then remained. Dayr Ḳunnā is famous primarily on account of…

, the name of various places in Syria, often confused by writers past and present, which corresponded to the sites of Christian monasteries still flourishing during the first centuries of Islam. Among the monasteries to which the name Simeon, common in Syria, was given, were Dayr Murrān [ q.v.] near Maʿarrat al-Nuʿmān, whose name Dayr Samʿān was also incorrectly applied to the Dayr Murrān at Damascus, and the Byzantine constructions built on hill-tops (called in every case D̲j̲abal Samʿān) in the region of Antioch. The most important of the m…

, wife of the caliph al-Maʾmūn and daughter of the Persian secretary al-Ḥasan b. Sahl [ q.v.]. According to some her real name was Ḵh̲adīd̲j̲a and Būrān simply an appellation. Born in Ṣafar 192/December 807, she was married from the age of ten to the caliph whom her father had faithfully served during the first part of his reign. The wedding celebrations, the splendours of which are described with relish by many authors, did not take place until Ramaḍān 210/December 825-January 826, on al-Ḥasan’s estate at Fam …

, a town in Upper Mesopotamia, situated about 80 km. east-south-east of al-Mawṣil (36° 11′ N., 42° 2′ E.), in the centre of a region known as Adiabene, bounded on the north by the course of the Gṛeat Zāb and on the south by that of the little Zāb. Irbil is a site which has been inhabited since very early times, being referred to in cuneiform inscriptions under the name Arbaīlu; the religious centre of the kingdom of Assyria with a sanctuary of the godd…

b. saʿīd b. ṣūl , secretary of al-Maʾmūn, was of Turkish origin, and was a relative of Ibrāhīm b. al-ʿAbbās al-Ṣūlī [ q.v.]. His father had been secretary of chancellery under al-Manṣūr. He himself served the Barmakides, and was later for many years one of al-Maʾmūn’s chief assistants, in charge of the Chancellery and also of various financial posts which seem to have brought him substantial profits, but he never received the title of wazīr . He accompanied the Caliph to Damascus and on his expedition into Byzantine territory, and died at Adana in…

, Muḥibb al-Dīn Abu ’l-Faḍl Muḥammad , Ḥanafī chief ḳāḍī in Cairo between 866/1463 and 876/1471, died in 890/1485. He belonged to an important family of Aleppo, whose ancestor was a freedman called Maḥmūd al-K̲h̲utluḳī or b. al-K̲h̲utlū who was s̲h̲iḥna of Aleppo in the time of the Ayyūbid ruler al-Malik al-ʿAzīz in about 616/1219. His father was ḳāḍī of Aleppo at the beginning of the 9th/15th century, and is remembered for having founded a waḳf for the benefit of the mosque of the citadel of Aleppo, commemorated by an inscription which still exis…