b. al-Ḥārit̲h̲ b. D̲j̲ābir, Abū ʿUbayd Allāh or Abū G̲h̲azwān al-Māzinī, from the Māzin tribe of Ḳays ʿAylān and a ḥalīf or confederate of the Meccan clans of Nawfal or ʿAbd S̲h̲ams, early convert to Islam and one of the oldest Companions of the Prophet. He was called “the seventh of the Seven”, i.e. of those adopting the new faith. He took part in the two hid̲j̲ras to Ethiopia, the battle of Badr and many of the raids of Muḥammad. During ʿUmar’s caliphate, he was sent from Medina to lead raids into Lower ʿIrāḳ, capturing al-Ubulla [ q.v.], killing the marzbān of Dast May…

, Companion of the Prophet, who conquered Sūḳ al-Ahwāz, took part in the siege of “the House” and became a K̲h̲ārid̲j̲ī. Although there is no source which gives the date of his conversion, it can be deduced that it took place at a fairly early date from the fact that he was among the Muslims who swore obedience to the Prophet “under the tree” (6/628) at al-Ḥudaybiya [ q.v.]. The name of Ḥurḳūṣ is mentioned for the first time in the works of the Arab historians in 17/638: as the Persian general al-Hurmuzān [ q.v.], the defender of al-Ahwāz, was behaving in a threatening ¶ way in spite of a pact whi…

b. ʿAmr b. ʿIlād̲j̲ al-T̲h̲aḳafī (d. 13/634-5), traditionally considered as the oldest known Arab physician. It is nevertheless difficult to pin down his personality. He came originally from al-Ṭāʾif, where he was probably born a few years after the middle of the 6th century A.D., and is said to have been a lute-player (trained in Persia?) before studying medicine at Gondēs̲h̲āpūr [ q.v.] and, adds Ṣāʿid al-Andalusī ( Ṭabaḳāt al-umam , ed. Cheikho, Beirut 1912, 47, tr. Blachère, Paris 1935, 99) with small probability, in the Yemen. He became …

, banū , a clan of the Meccan tribe of Ḳurays̲h̲. The genealogists reckon Nawfal as one of the sons of ʿAbd Manāf, and brother of ʿAbd S̲h̲ams. Hās̲h̲im and al-Muṭṭalib. Nawfal himself is said to have been specially concerned to develop trade with ʿIrāḳ and the Persian empire, and is also reported to have quarrelled with ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib b. Hās̲h̲im (Muḥammad’s grandfather). Some information has been preserved about the mutual relations of the clans of Ḳurays̲h̲. At one period, all the descendants of ʿAbd Manāf together with some other clans formed a group …

, Abu ’l-Mug̲h̲īra, governor of ʿIrāḳ and the eastern provinces of the Umayyad caliphate during the reign of Muʿāwiya b. Abī Sufyān [ q.v.]. Ziyād was born out of wedlock in al-Ṭāʾif, probably some time in the first year of the Hid̲j̲ra , A.D. 622, or in 2/623-4, and died in al-T̲h̲awiyya (or al-T̲h̲uwayya) near al-Kūfa in Ramaḍān 53/673. His name is variously given as Ziyād b. ʿUbayd, Ziyād b. Sumayya, Ziyād b. Abī Sufyān, Ziyād b. Ummihi (Ibn Abi ’l-Ḥadīd, xvi, 179-80) and Ziyād al-amīr (Ibn ʿAsākir, xix, 164-5). A S̲h̲iʿī tradition relates that ʿĀʾis̲h̲a [ q.v.] was accustomed to call hi…

, a town of mediaeval ʿIrāḳ situated in the Euphrates-Tigris delta region at the head of the Persian Gulf and famed as the terminal for commerce from India and further east. It lay to the east of al-Baṣra [ q.v.] on the right bank of the Tigris and on the north side of the large canal called Nahr al-Ubulla, which was the main waterway from al-Baṣra in a southeastern direction to ¶ the Tigris and further to ʿAbbādān and the sea. The length of this canal is generally given as four farsak̲h̲ s or two barīd s (al-Muḳaddasī). Al-Ubulla can be identified with ’Απολόγου ’Εμπόριον, mentioned in the Periplus m…

(a.), maṣdar of form VI of the root n-s-k̲h̲ , a term with both legal and, above all, religious connotations. According to the LʿA , the simple form nasak̲h̲a has two principal meanings: (1) to copy a writing ( iktitābuka kitāban ʿan kitābin ), the original and the copy both being called nusk̲h̲a since each “replaces” the other ( ḳāma maḳāmahu ); and (2) to suppress a thing in order to replace it by another ( ibṭālu ¶ ’l-s̲h̲ayʾ wa-iḳāmatu āk̲h̲ara maḳāmahu , whence the sense of “to abrogate” [see nask̲h̲ ]). Tanāsak̲h̲a thus suggests the notion of things which su…

(in mediaeval Europe: Balsora; in Tavernier: Balsara; orthodox modern European: Basra, Basrah, Bassora), a town of Lower-Mesopotamia, on the S̲h̲aṭṭ al-ʿArab, 279 m. (420 km.) to the south-east of Bag̲h̲dād. In the course of history the site of the town has changed somewhat, and we may distinguish between Old Baṣra, marked today by the village of Zubayr, and New Baṣra, which was founded in the 11th/18th century in the proximity of the ancient al-Ubulla [ q.v.] and which is the starting point of the modern town of Baṣra, for the rapid growth of which the discovery of oi…

5. In mediaeval ʿIrāḳ. Before the Arab conquest of ʿIrāḳ there were markets frequented by Arabs in ancient cities, such as al-Ḥīra and al-Madāʾin [ q.vv.]. There was also a so-called “sūḳ Bag̲h̲dād” on the west bank of the Tigris, where a monthly market was held during the Sāsānid period. The latter was raided by Arab troops as early as the caliphate of Abū Bakr (Le Strange, Baghdad , 12, 101). Following the Arab conquest of ʿIrāḳ, the founders of the garrison towns of Baṣra and Ḳūfa designated an open space close to the mosque for use as a market. ¶ In this they were emulating the Prophet Muḥ…

, the region along the lower Tigris River in southeastern al-ʿIrāḳ. This region is called Μεσήνη by Strabo, Mēs̲h̲an in the Babylonian Talmud, Mays̲h̲an in Syriac. Mēs̲h̲ān in Middle Persian, Mēs̲h̲un in Armenian, Maysān in Arabic, and T’iao-tche (Chaldaea) in the Han sources. The earliest references from the first century A.D. indicate that Μεσήνη was an ethnic toponym, the land of the people called Μεσηνός who lived along the Arabian side of the coast at the head of the Persian Gulf (Μαισανιτη…

(a.), mosque, the noun of place from sad̲j̲ada “to prostrate oneself, hence “place where one prostrates oneself [in worship]”. The modern Western European words (Eng. mosque , Fr. mosquée , Ger. Moschee , Ital. moschea ) come ultimately from the Arabic via Spanish mezquita . I. In the central Islamic lands A. The origins of the mosque up to the Prophet’s death. The word msgdʾ is found in Aramaic as early as the Jewish Elephantine Papyri (5th century B.C.), and appears likewise in Nabataean inscriptions with the meaning “place of worship…