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, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḳuras̲h̲i al-S̲h̲ād̲h̲ilī al-Marrākus̲h̲ī , a cobbler of Marrakesh to whom thaumaturgic gifts were attributed and who died in an odour of sanctity in 1204/1789. His tomb, situated in his own residence at Bāb Aylān, has been continuously visited because of its reputation of curing the sick. Although he had not received a very advanced education, Ibn ʿAzzūz nevertheless succeeded in leaving behind an abundant body of works, dealing mainly with mysticism a…

(a.) “knowledge”, the opposite of d̲j̲ahl “ignorance”, is connected, on the one hand, with ḥilm [ q.v.], and on the other hand with a number of terms a more precise definition of which will be found in the relevant articles: maʿrifa , fiḳh , ḥikma , s̲h̲uʿūr ; the most frequent correlative of ʿilm is however maʿrifa. The verb ʿalima is used in the Ḳurʾān both in the perfect and in the imperfect, and also in the imperative, with the meaning of “to know”, but in the imperative and in the perfect it seems often to mean basically “to learn” (without effort, the fifth form taʿallama …

, a cape in eastern Saudi Arabia on the Persian Gulf, in lat. 26° 40ʹ N., 50° 13ʹ E., north of al-Ḳaṭīf [ q.v.]. The word tannūr occurs in Kurʾān, XI, 42, and XXIII, 27, in the story of Noah, meaning “oven”. It also indicates any place from which water pours forth (Lane, Lexicon , s.v.). In July 1933 King ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz gave the concession for drilling oil in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia to the Standard Oil Company of California. The first consignment of Saudi oil was sent away from Raʾs Tannūra in 1939. Its refinery is connected by a pipeline with the Dammām field, about 60 km/37 miles away. (Ed.) Bibl…

, (i) name of a Kurdish tiibe, who from ancient times have inhabited the practically inaccessible mountain districts south and east of Lake Van, a region called after them Hakkāriyya by Arab geographers and historians [see kurds ], and hence (2) the name of the extreme south-east vilâyet of the modern Turkish republic (modern name: Hakkâri), population (1960) 67,766 (the most sparsely populated area of Turkey, with a density of only 7 persons per sq. km.); the chief town is Čölemerik [ q.v.]. Named by Yāḳūt ( Muʿd̲j̲am , s.v.) as a town, district and some vill…

, Abū ʿAlī ʿĪsā b. Isḥāḳ b. Zurʿa , Jacobite Christian philosopher, apologist and translator, born at Bag̲h̲dād in D̲h̲u ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a 331/August 943, d. on 6 S̲h̲aʿbān 398/16 April 1008 (the respective dates of 371/981 and 448/1056 given by Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa should not be accepted, since Ibn Zurʿa is mentioned by Ibn al-Nadīm (circa 377/987), and Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa himself speaks of his relations with Yaḥyā b. ʿAdī, d. 364/975). He studied literature, physics, mathematics and then philosophy under the direction of Yaḥyā b. ʿAdī [ q.v.]; he seems also to have studied medicine, since…

b. Yaʿḳūb b. Abkār , an Armenian of Beirut, better known by the name abkaryus (d. 1885). Becoming devoted to the study of Arabic literature, he endeavoured to provide his readers with anthologies based upon works still unpublished and thereby rendered great service to orientalism in the 19th century. His best known work is the Nihāyat al-arab fī ak̲h̲bār al-ʿArab (Marseilies 1852; revised ed. under the title Tazyīn Nihāyat al-arab , Beirut 1867). In Beirut he also edited (1864, 1881) the Dīwān of ʿAntara ( Munyat al-nafs fī as̲h̲ʿār ʿAntar ʿAbs ), and published in the same town Rawḍat al-ada…

, Abu ’l-Saʿādāt Hibat Allāh b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. Ḥamza , a descendant of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (he is thus called al-S̲h̲arīf al-Ḥasanī al-ʿAlawī), was a grammarian and poet of Bag̲h̲dād, born in Ramaḍān 450/November 1058. After making the traditional studies under the direction of numerous teachers (see how, at the end of his Nuzha , Ibn al-Anbārī [ q.v.], who was his pupil, traced back his grammatical knowledge to ʿAlī through an unbroken line of teachers), he taught grammar for 70 years. At the same time he was nāʾib of the naḳīb [ q.v.] of the Ṭālibīs in al-Kark̲h̲, where he lived. He d…

, known as S̲h̲ehbenderzāde, a Turkish journalist who first achieved prominence after the revolution of 1908, when he returned to ¶ Istanbul from exile in Fezzan, and started a periodical called Ittiḥād-i Islām . He also contributed to Iḳdām , Taṣwīr-i Efkār , and, later, the weekly Ḥikmet [see d̲j̲arīda , iii], and wrote a considerable number of books, some of which were published. These include a history of Islam and books on the Sanūsī order and on Ibrahim Güls̲h̲anī [ qq.v.]. He died in 1913. (Ed.) Bibliography Babinger, 397 ʿOt̲h̲mānli̊ müʾellifleri, ii, 156-7.

, the name by which the Arab historians designated the town of Narbonne. Reached by the early Muslim expeditions, it was taken in 96/715 under ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Mūsā b. Nuṣayr, was probably then lost or abandoned, and was retaken in 100/719 by al-Samḥ b. Mālik al-Ḵh̲awlānī. In 116/734, two years after the battle of Poitiers [see balāṭ al-s̲h̲uhadāʾ], the Duke of Provence concluded a treaty with the governor of Narbonne, Yūsuf b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, whereby the latter was allowed to occupy a certain number of places in the valley of the Rhône, in order to pr…

or k̲h̲atmiyya , the dervish order or ṭarīḳa founded by Muḥammad ʿUt̲h̲mān al-Mīrg̲h̲anī, more commonly called the K̲h̲atmiyya from its founder’s claim that it is the seal ( k̲h̲atm ) of all ṭarīḳas . The nisba of the founder does not appear in such works as al-Samʿānī’s K. al-Ansāb or al-Suyūṭī’s Lubb al-albāb , but may be derived from the place-name Marg̲h̲an in Ghūr, for family traditions attest to a long residence in Central Asia. The prefixed A- is a Western form due to a supposed derivation from al-amīr al-g̲h̲anī . Towards the end of the 18th century, the family, after a short …

, Abū ʿUmar ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿĀmir al-Yaḥṣubī , “reader” of the Ḳurʾān whose ḳirāʾa [ q.v.] is counted among the seven canonical “readings”. Of south Arabian origin, he belonged to the first class of the Tābiʿūn [ q.v.], his guarantors being ʿUt̲h̲mān b. ʿAffān, Abu ’l-Dardāʾ [ q.v.] and other less famous Companions. He settled in Damascus, where he was appointed ḳāḍī , by al-Walīd b. ʿAbd al-Malik and chief of police by Yazīd b. al-Walīd and Ibrāhīm b. al-Walīd; his “reading” was adopted by the inhabitants of Damascus. He died in 118/736…

(a), major, of full age; bulūg̲h̲ , puberty, majority; opp. ṣag̲h̲īr , minor, ṣabī , boy, ¶ ṣug̲h̲r , minority. Majority in Islamic law is, generally speaking, determined by physical maturity in either sex (the S̲h̲āfiʿīs explicitly lay down a minimum limit of nine years); should physical maturity not manifest itself, majority is presumed at a certain age: fifteen years according to the Ḥanafīs, S̲h̲āfiʿīs and Ḥanbalīs, eighteen years according to the Mālikīs (various other opinions are ascr…

(a.), term employed in al-Andalus to denote a fortified enclosure, a bastion constructed on the coast to deter enemy attacks from the sea. This term sometimes served as a substitute for ribāṭ [ q.v.], a term which no longer extended to the concentration point occupied by combatants in a holy war, but was almost reduced to the sense of d̲j̲ihād [ q.v.] or even replaced g̲h̲āra “sudden attack, raid”. In a rābiṭa , “volunteers, who were periodically relieved, maintained a vigilant watch, while practising spiritual exercises and striving to lead an…

Meḥmed (?-1271/1855), Ottoman Grand Vizier, educated in the Palace and raised to the post of head Čuk̲h̲adār on the accession of Ṣelīm III [ q.v.] in 1203/1789. He entered the service of Küčüḳ Ḥūseyn Pas̲h̲a, a protagonist of military and naval reform, who became Admiral ( Ḳapudan-i deryā ) in 1206/1792. In 1215/1801 K̲h̲osrew sailed with the fleet to Egypt, where he commanded a force of 6,000 and co-operated with the British in the recapture of Ras̲h̲īd and the defeat of French forces. In recognition of his services he was soon afterwards appointed wālī of Egypt. In Egypt he attempted to …

, Iranian dynasty, for the most part mythical, which owes its name to the title of kavi (see Gr. I. Ph., ii, index s.v.) > Pahlavi kay (pl. kayān , or in Arabic, akyān ) born by several persons cited, with some variants, in both the religious and the national tradition. A. Christensen has devoted to the dynasty a monograph, Les Kayanides , Copenhagen 1931, to which reference should be made for all the problems raised in regard to ancient Iran. The main source for all the Islamic historians and writers concerned with the dynasty is the Kitāb Siyar mulūk al-ʿAd̲j̲am , the Ar…

, Abu ’l-Faḍl D̲j̲aʿfar b. Maḥmūd , official in the ʿAbbāsid administration and the first vizier of al-Muʿtazz (251/866); he held this post for only a short time, but the Caliph was obliged to give in to Turkish pressure and reinstate him in 255/869. He kept the post at the beginning of al-Muhtadī’s caliphate but real power was in the hands of Ṣāʿid b. Mak̲h̲lad [ q.v.]. Though al-Ḥuṣrī ( Zahr , 873) lets it be understood that al-Iskāfī was friendly with al-Muʿ-tazz before the latter acceded to the caliphate, G̲h̲ars al-Niʿma ( Hafawāt , 273) maintains that he was i…

, Abū Yūsuf Yaʿḳūb b. Isḥāḳ , a celebrated Arabic philologian and lexicographer, came from a family who were natives of Dawraḳ, in K̲h̲ūzistān, but apparently he was born in Bag̲h̲dād in about 186/802. His father, nicknamed al-Sikkit (the Taciturn), is reputed to have been an expert in poetry and lexicography; it was he who started his son’s education, which was later continued under the direction of Abū ʿAmr al-S̲h̲aybānī, al-Farrāʾ, Ibn al-Aʿrābī and other famous teachers; like…

al-ḥalabī , Arab physician who came originally from Aleppo, and was possibly related to the family of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa [ q.v.]. The biographical details concerning him are fairly sparse, but it is known that he wrote, probably between 654 and 674/1256-75, a work on ophthalmology called al-Kāfī fi ’l-kuḥl (or fi ’l-ṭibb ). In this he gives a concise sketch of the history of ophthalmology among the Arabs and deals with the anatomy, physiology and hygiene of the eyes, citing the medicaments used for treating eye disorders, and d…

( Nefza ), the name of a Berber tribe (ethnic: Nafzī) belonging to the group which the mediaeval genealogists and historians mention under the name of Butr [ q.v.]. It had spread out over a large part of Barbary, between Ifrīḳiya [ q.v.] and Fās, passing through the region of Constantine, Oran, Tlemcen and the Rīf. In contemporary Tunisia, to the east of the massif of Kroumirie [see k̲h̲umayr ], there extends the country of the Nafzas, a fertile region fringed with woodlands abounding in game. Near the D̲j̲abal al-Abyaḍ, at ca 150 km/96 miles to the west of Tunis by road and 140 km/90…

, nubāta b. ʿabd allāh , minor poet of the ʿAbbāsid period, originally from Dīnawar. His talent was only moderate, and it was ʿAllawayh/ʿAllūya who rescued him from oblivion, since this singer, the poet’s friend, introduced him to the great men of the age and, above all, set some of his verses to music, so that they enjoyed a great success. His career seems to have been quite a lengthy one. He is found, first of all, satirising as early as 153/770 two of al-Manṣūr’s mawālī , Ṣāʿid and Maṭar (al-D̲j̲ahs̲h̲iyārī, Wuzarāʾ , 124), and then frequenting Abū Dulaf al-ʿId̲j̲lī [see al-ḳāsim b. ʿīsā …

al-Asadī (after 55-141/675-758), early Medinan scholar and historian, especially interested in the Prophet’s expeditions or mag̲h̲āzī [ q.v.]. A mawlā of al-Zubayr b. al-ʿAwwām’s and a pupil of al-Zuhrī [ q.vv.], he taught in the Prophet’s mosque in Medina, showing in his work the characteristic, increasing emphasis of the Medinan school on isnāds and also displaying a concern in giving dates for the events which he describes. His Kitāb al-Mag̲h̲āzī , transmitted by his nephew Ismāʿīl b. Ibrāhīm b. ʿUḳba, has not survived as a complete work, …

, the designation given to the colleges of Sunnī instruction founded in ʿIrāḳ, al-D̲j̲azīra and Persia by the great Sald̲j̲ūḳ vizier Niẓām al-Mulk [ q-v.]. See for these, madrasa, I. 4, and niẓām al-mulk . (Ed.)

, Manōhargárh , a fortress on a lofty rock, some 2,500 feet/770 m. high, in lat. 16° N. and long. 74° 1′ E., in the Western Ghats range of peninsular India. Formerly in the southernmost part of the British Indian province of Bombay, it is now just within the southwestern corner of the Maharashtra state of the Indian Union. (Ed.) Bibliography Imperial gazetteer of India 2, xvii, 200.

, ‘the Arab country’, a term much in use until recently to denote the Persian province of Ḵh̲ūzistān; the latter name was revived during the reign of Riḍā S̲h̲āh Pahlawī. Fur further particulars see k̲h̲ūzistān . Following Persian usage, ʿArabistān denotes occasionally the Arabian peninsula. In Ottoman administrative documents from the 16th century it is occasionally applied to the Arabic-speaking provinces of the Empire, more especially to Syria. (Ed.)

Meḥmed Ḏj̲elāl bey (1254-1300/1838-82), Turkish writer and poet, and elder brother of Red̲j̲āʾī-zāde Maḥmūd Ekrem Bey [see ekrem bey ]. He had a moderately successful administrative career, entering the Translation Office ( Terd̲j̲üme Odasi̊ ) of the Sublime Porte in 1270/1853-4, being appointed in 1279/1862-3 chief clerk to the embassy in St. Petersburg, becoming assistant secretary ( mektūbī muʿāwini ) under Aḥmed D̲j̲ewdet Pas̲h̲a [ q.v.] in 1282-1865-6, when the latter became wālī of Aleppo, and finally chief secretary of the provinces of K…

(also kanbāniya , with kanfāniya once attested in the Calendrier de Cordoue ), from Spanish campaña , in general denotes in Spanish Arabic usage, the countryside, but in particular the Campiña, sc. the vast, gently-undulating plain which forms the southern part of the kūra of Cordova; al-Idrīsī, Description de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne , ed. and tr. Dozy-De Goeje, 174, 209, makes it an iḳlim whose capital was Cordova and its main towns al-Zahrāʾ, Ecija, Baena, Cabra and Lucena. After leaving the capital, the approach to it was first thr…

(a.), noun of unity ḳaṣaba , any plant with a long and hollow stem like the reed ( Arundo donax ), to which the term is especially applied (see Muk̲h̲aṣṣaṣ , xi, 46). The bamboo is called k̲h̲ayzurān , but ḳaṣab is a component of certain expressions denoting in particular the sugar cane ( ḳaṣab al-sukkar, etc.) [see following article] and the sweet flag (or fragrant rush, ḳaṣab al-d̲h̲arīra ; see H. P. J. Renaud and G. S. Colin, Tuḥfat al-aḥbāb , Paris 1934, 152; M. Levey, The medical formulary . . . of al-Kindī , Madison-London 1966, 316), or even the papyrus reed ( ḳaṣab al-bardī or just al-bardī …

Čīn Ḳilič K̲h̲ān , Ḳamar al-dīn , founder of the Indian Muslim state of Ḥaydarābād in the early 12th/18th century and a dominant figure in the military affairs of the decaying Mug̲h̲al empire from his appointment as governor of the Deccan by the Emperor Farruk̲h̲-siyar [ q.v.] till his death in 1161/1748. In the early years of his governorship he was the deadly foe of his rivals for influence in the empire, the Bārha Sayyids [ q.v. in Suppl.], and after his victory over them at S̲h̲akarkheldā in 1137/1724, virtually independent ruler in Ḥaydarābād with the additional ti…

, Sandān , a port on the western coast of peninsular India, mentioned by the early Islamic geographers (Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih, Ibn Ḥawḳal, the Ḥudūd al-ʿālam ) as a flourishing mercantile town with a mixed population of Hindus and Muslims. It has been identified with the Sanjam of Portuguese maps and the St. John of English ones and as lying south of Daman and north of Thāna, hence in the modern Bombay state of the Indian Union. (Ed.) Bibliography Ḥudūd al-ʿālam, tr. Minorsky, 57, comm. 244-5 S. Maqbul Ahmad, India and the neighbouring territories in the Kitāb Nuzḥat al-Mus̲h̲tāq ... of al-S̲…

b. alp arslān , the Sald̲j̲ūḳ, was sent by Barkiyārūk against Arslan Arg̲h̲ūn, another son of Alp Arslan, who was trying to make himself independent in Ḵh̲urāsān. In the struggle between the two brothers, Būrī-Bars was at first successful, but in the second encounter, in 488/1095, his troops were scattered and he himself was taken prisoner and strangled by his brother’s orders. (Ed.) Bibliography Ibn al-At̲h̲īr, x, 179 Houtsma, Recueil, ii, 257. ¶

, Mīrzā ʿAlī Akbar (b. 1862 in S̲h̲emākha, d. 1911 in Bākū), Azerbaijani satirical poet and journalist. After the First Russian Revolution of 1905, a humorous and satirical literature grew up in Russian Ād̲h̲arbayd̲j̲ān, seen especially in the weekly journal Mollā Naṣreddīn founded at Tiflis in 1906 by Ḏj̲elāl Meḥmed Ḳulī-zāde [see d̲j̲arīda. iv], which attacked the old literary forms, backwardness in education and religious fanaticism, achieving a circulation also in Turkey and Persian Ād̲h̲arbayd̲j̲ān. One of the writers in it was Ṣābir (who als…

, pl. fityān , strictly “young man”, has assumed a certain number of meanings in Arabic [see futuwwa ]: here we confine ourselves to one exclusively Andalusian usage. In Muslim Spain the slaves, whether eunuchs or not, employed in the service of the prince and his household, and then of the ḥād̲j̲ib [ q.v.] at the time when the latter was in practice taking over the reins of power, were in fact called g̲h̲ilmān (sing, g̲h̲ulām [ q.v.]), whilst those who held an elevated rank in the palace hierarchy bore the title fatā , the entire management of the household being …

(a.) “five” still possesses, in several Muslim countries, as amongst peoples of ancient times, a magical value in connection with the use of the fingers of the hand as a defence against the evil eye [see ʿayn ]. An efficacious method of protection against the evil eye, especially in North Africa but also in certain parts of the Near East also, consists essentially in stretching out the right hand, with the fingers spread out, towards the person whose glance can harm, and in pronouncing a formula containing the word k̲h̲amsa , e.g. k̲h̲amsa fī ʿayni-k …

, Mīr Muḥammad Taḳī , of Aḥmadābād in Gud̲j̲arāt (d. 1173/1759-60), author of a collection of tales in 15 volumes entitled Bustān-i K̲h̲ayāl , composed in Persian prose between 1155/1742 ¶ 1742 and 1169/1756, at the request of his patron Nawwāb Ras̲h̲īd K̲h̲ān, or, according to one manuscript, for the two brothers Nawwāb Ras̲h̲īd K̲h̲ān and Nawwāb Muḥammad Isḥāḳ K̲h̲ān, sons of D̲j̲aʿfar ʿAlī K̲h̲ān (Nawwāb of Bengal 1170-4/1757-61 and 1176-8/1763-5); an account of the contents of this work, which is made up partly of histor…

(a., pl. ayyām ), “day” (a Common Semitic word, e.g. Akkad. ūmum , Hebr. yōm , Aram. yawmā , ESA ywm ), denoting the whole 24-hour cycle making up a day, whereas nahār means “the daylight period”, i.e. from sunrise to sunset. See further on this, al-layl wa ’l-nahār . Yawm occurs as an isolated term in various specialised uses, in particular, in pre- and early Islamic times in the meaning of “day of battle”; for this, see ayyām al-ʿarab . The pl. ayyām can also occur, especially in early Arabic poetry, in a similar sense to its apparent antonym layālī …

, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Mad̲j̲īd Ibn ʿAbdūn al-Fihrī , was an Andalusian kātib and poet born in Evora. Early in life his talents attracted the attention of the governor of this city, ʿUmar Ibn al-Afṭas, and he became his secretary when the latter became ruler of Badajoz [see baṭalyaws ] assuming the laḳab al-Mutawakkil, in 471/1078 [see afṭasids ]. After the fall of the dynasty and the capture of Badajoz in 487/1095 by the Almoravid general Sīr b. Abī Bakr, Ibn ʿAbdūn entered the service of the Almoravids and became kātib to Yūsuf b. Tās̲h̲fīn and to his son ʿAlī. He died in Evora in 529/1134. ʿIbn A…

, the branch of the Umayyad dynasty of Arab caliphs in early Islam who formed the first and shorter-lasting line of the dynasty, being predecessors of the Marwānids [ q.v.]. The line took its name from Abū Sufyān b. Ḥarb [ q.v.], whose son Muʿāwiya I became caliph in 41/61, to be followed briefly by his son Yazīd I and the latter’s young son Muʿāwiya II, who died in 64/683. The succession was then taken up by the parallel branch of Marwān b. al-Ḥakam [ q.v.]. For the general history of the Sufyānids, see umayyads and the articles on the individual rulers, and for the post-132/750 eschato…

(a., p.), literally, “the act of Muslim worship performed upside-down”, one of the extreme ascetic practices found among extravagant members of the dervish orders, ¶ such as in mediaeval Muslim India among the Čis̲h̲tiyya [ q.v.], where it formed part of the forty days’ retreat or seclusion ( k̲h̲alwa , arbaʿīniyya , cǐlia ) undertaken to heighten spiritual awareness [see k̲h̲alwa ]. This practice was one of those done in tortured or difficult circumstances, in this case hanging on the end of a rope over the mouth of a well; see čis̲h̲tiyya, at Vol. II, 55b, and hind. v. Islam, at Vol. III,…

, Persian officer who, at the battle of D̲h̲ū Ḳar [ q.v.], was in command of the Persian troops who were driven back by the Bakr b. Wāʾil [ q.v.] and who was killed in the battle. Al-Masʿūdī ( Murūd̲j̲, ii, 228 = ed. Pellat, i, 648) calls him, in error, al-Hurmuzān, but he should not be confused with the Persian general of this name [ q.v.] who was assassinated by ʿUbayd Allāh b. ʿUmar. (Ed.) Bibliography Ṭabarī, i, 1030, 1032, 1034 f. (tr. Nöldeke, Geschichte der Perser, Leiden 1879, 335, 338, 340, 342) Ibn al-Wardī, Taʾrīk̲h̲, Cairo 1285, i, 117 see also the Bibl. of the article d̲h̲ū ḳār.

, the privy purse of the Ottoman Sultans. Under the authority of the privy secretary ( Sirr kātibi ), it provided for the immediate needs and expenses of the sovereign. Its regular revenues consisted of the tribute from Egypt (see irsāliyye ), the income from the imperial domains (see k̲h̲āṣṣ ), and the proceeds from gardens, orchards, forests etc. belonging to or attached to the imperial palaces. Irregular revenues included the fees paid by newly appointed rulers of Moldavia, Wallachia, Transylvania and, for a while, Ragusa, the Sultan’s share…

(a.), the verbal noun from hallala , form II verb, with two differing etymologies and meanings. (1) From hilāl , the new moon, meaning “jubilation or excitement at seeing the new moon” [see hilāl. i; talbiya ]. (2) From the formula la ilāha illā ’llāh , the first and main element of the Islamic profession of faith or s̲h̲ahāda [ q.v.]. The verbal form is here obtained by the so-called procedure of naḥt “cutting out, carving out”. The tahīl then denotes the pronouncing, in a high and intelligible voice, of the formula in question, which implies formal and basic recognition of the divine unity. (Ed.…

(a.), lit. “The act of praising”, a minor genre of mediaeval Arabic literature which consisted of statements praising the virtues of a particular work, some composed after the death of the author of the work in question but probably for the most part composed at the time of the work’s appearance with the aim of giving it a puff and thus advertising it; such statements must have been solicited by the author from obliging friends and colleagues, the more eminent the better. F. Rosenthal (see below) has felicitously compared them to modern ¶ “blurbs” of publishers to…

, a Young Turk leader, was born in 1868, probably of Kurdish extraction. As a student at the Military Médical School in Istanbul, he was in May 1889 one of the original group of founders of the Secret Committee, which eventually developed into the Committee of Union and Progress [see ittiḥād we-teraḳḳī d̲j̲emʿiyeti ]. Later, in 1895, he was exiled to Rhodes but managed to escape and went to Paris, where he associated with the Young Turk émigrés. In 1897, with others, he founded the anti-government journal Osmanli ( ʿUt̲h̲mānli̊ ), which was published in Geneva. …

, a place in Algeria, founded in 296/908 at 8 km/5 miles to the south-west of Ward̲j̲ilān (Ouargla) in the territory of the confederation of ḳṣūr of the Isedrāten, by the last Rustamid Imām, after the destruction of the principality of Tāhart [ q.v.] by the Fāṭimids. Its fame is linked with the history of the Ibāḍī communities of the Mag̲h̲rib. An Ibādī scholar, Abū Yaʿḳūb Yūsuf b. Ibrāhīm al-Sadrātī al-Ward̲j̲ilānī (d. 570/1174-5) compiled there the musnad of al-Rabīʿ b. Ḥabīb, based essentially on the tradition of Abū ʿUbayda (ed. Masḳaṭ 1325/1908 under the title of al-D̲j̲āmiʿ al-ṣaḥīḥ …

(a.), literally “the act of bowing, bending”, a sequence of utterances and actions performed by the Muslim believer as part of the act of worship or ṣalāt , involving utterance of the takbīr and Fātiḥa , then the bending of the body from an upright position ( rukūʿ ) and then two prostrations ( sud̲j̲ūd ). See further ṣalāt . (Ed.)

, Russian form Sadriddin Ayni , one of the leading figures in the 20th century cultural life of Central Asia and in Tad̲j̲ik literature (1878-1954). He began as a representative of the reform movement amongst the Muslims of Imperial Russia, that of the Ḏj̲adīdīds [see d̲j̲adīd ]. A formal education at the traditional madrasa s of Buk̲h̲ārā left him intellectually unsatisfied. In the early part of his career he was a talented poet in both Tad̲j̲ik and Uzbek, but after 1905 he became increasingly involved in the social and educa…

, a branch of the Ṣūfī order of the S̲h̲ād̲h̲iliyya [q. v.], which originated in southern Morocco, at the zāwiya of Tāmgrūt [ q.v.], which had been founded in 983/1575 by a member of a family of marabouts. The order owes its name to the Ibn Nāṣir family [ q.v. in Suppl.], who headed the zāwiya from the time of the s̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Maḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn b. Nāṣir b. ʿAmr b. ʿUt̲h̲mān (1015-85/1603-74), the founder (1070/1660), onwards. It was however his son Aḥmad b. Maḥammad (1057-1129/1647-1717) who was responsible for organising the order. (Ed.) Bibliography To the …

, the name of the crags west of Medina, occasionally mentioned in connection with the mountain T̲h̲abīr ( Sīrat al-Ḥabas̲h̲a , 86). Lying behind Yanbuʿ, between the regions of Madyan [see madyan s̲h̲uʿayb ] and Mecca, they were known to Ptolemy (Sprenger, Die alte Geographie , nos. 28, 30) and are mentioned by Ibn Isḥāḳ ( The life of Muhammad , tr. 413, 542). Al-Hamad̲h̲ānī quotes a tradition, according to which the Prophet said: “May God be satisfied ( raḍiya ) with it (Raḍwā)!” Abū Karib, leader of the Kuraybiyya [ q.v.], a sub-sect of the Kaysāniyya, is said to have believed that M…

, the coming dawn, a Turkish literary group active in the period following the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, and associated with the review T̲h̲erwet-i Fünūn [ q.v.], where its initial manifesto was published. See further turks, ¶ literature, and the articles on the individual authors. (Ed.)

, Fāris (1875?-1962) a Syrian politician, a Christian, who played a very important role over a period of almost half a century. Born in a Lebanese village on the slopes of Mount Hermon, he studied at Ṣaydā then at the school in Beirut which was later to become the American University, while also working as a teacher. When family affairs took him to Damascus in 1899, he took up residence in the Syrian capital, learned Turkish and French and was employed as an interpreter in t…