(a.), substantive with a generic sense (unit, samaka , pl. asmāk , sumūk , simāk ), denoting fish in general, whether of fresh water or of the sea (P. samak , māhī , Tkish. balik , Tamahaḳḳ emen , pl. imenān , asūlmei , pl. isūlmeien ). The term samak, which does not figure in the Ḳurʾān, is, in the work of Arab authors, often replaced by one of its two synonyms, ḥūt and nūn (pl. nīnān , anwān ) from the Akkadian nūnu . However, ḥūt (pl. aḥwāt , ḥītān , in dialect, ḥiyūta ) is applied primarily to very large fishes and to cetaceans. 1. Ichthyonomy. It would be impossible here to list all the species w…

, a district in K̲h̲urāsān, original Persian form Tōs (also thus in the later 8th century Armenian geography, see Markwart-Messina, A catalogue of the provincial capitals of Ērānshahr , Rome 1931, 11, 47), which played a notable part in the medieval Islamic period of Persia’s Islamic history. ¶ 1. History. In early Islamic times, Ṭūs was the name of a district containing several towns. The town of Nawḳān flourished down to the end of the 3rd/9th century. The form Nawḳān < Nōḳan is confirmed by the present name of the Mas̲h̲had quarter Nawg̲h̲ān (where the diphthong aw corresponds to the old wāw…

, Spanish Córdoba , French Cordoue , English, Italian and German Cordova ( Kordova ), Latin Corduba , a town of southern Spain situated at 370 feet above sea-level on the right (north) bank of the central course of the Guadalquivir (from the Arabic al-Wādī al-Kabīr “the great river”), the ancient Baetis, with 1,234,000 inhabitants, is at the present day the capital of the province of the same name which lies on both sides of the river in the heart of Andalusia. The southern and smaller half of the province, practically the famous La Campiña [see ḳanbāniya ], rising in …

(a.), lit. “an instrument or apparatus for providing shade, ẓill ,” apparently synonymous with the s̲h̲amsa , s̲h̲amsiyya , lit. “an instrument or apparatus for providing shelter from the sun”, probably therefore referring to the sunshade or parasol born on ceremonial occasions and processions [see mawākib ] over early Islamic rulers. 1. In the ʿAbbāsid and Fāṭimid caliphates. The historical sources provide a few references on practice in the ʿAbbāsid caliphate. Thus the official Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Malik al-Zayyāt [see ibn al-zayyāt ] was responsible in al-Muʿtaṣim’s time fo…

, in Ar. also Tūnus , Tūnas , sc. Tunis, the capital of modern Tunisia. Like ancient Carthage, it is situated at the base of a large gulf, sheltered from northerly and north-westerly winds, at the junction of the western and the eastern Mediterranean. Like the capital of Punic and of Roman Africa, it was located at the intersection of natural routes serving the diverse regions of the country. But although the location of Tunis is often confused with that of Carthage, the two citie…

(also al-Askandariyya), the principal seaport of Egypt, in Ptolemaic times the second city of the world. One of the few important seaports on the African shore of the Mediterranean, Alexandria enjoys a particularly important position. With a population of about 1,576,234 (in 1960), the city lies at the Western angle of the Delta in latitude 30°11′N. and longitude 29°51′E. It was founded in 332 B.C. by Alexander the Great. When it came into Arab hands, though its glory had diminished, it was still a great and splendid city. When Alexandria was surrended to the Arabs in 21/642 a cons…

, a city in central ʿIrāḳ during the mediaeval period, the existence of which is attested from the later years of the 1st century/closing years of the 7th century or opening years of the 8th century, until the beginning of the 12th century/turn of the 17th-18th centuries (according to M. D̲j̲awād, K̲h̲arāb Wāṣit , in Lug̲h̲at al-ʿArab , x (1931), 617 until ca. 1107/1695-6). From its foundation by the Umayyad governor of ʿIrāḳ, al-Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ad̲j̲ (75-95/694-713 [ q.v.]), the city was the administrative and political capital of that province under the first Marwānids (65-…

(or maḳbura , maḳbira , miḳbara , maḳbar and maḳbur ) (a.), “cemetery”. The word occurs only in the Ḳurʾān in the plural form maḳābir : “Rivalry distracts you, until you visit the cemeteries” (CII, 2). Its synonyms d̲j̲abbāna , madfan and turba do not figure in the Holy Book. 1. In the central Arab lands The Arab authors supply little information of use in ¶ tracing the history of Muslim cemeteries. Works of fiḳh refer only to prohibitions concerning tombs ( ḳabr , pl. ḳubūr [ q.v.]) and the visiting of burial-places ( ziyāra [ q.v.]). At the most, a few occasional references may be gleane…

, the Arabic name used throughout the whole Muslim world for a tomb surmounted by a dome. Purpose and significance. The term is applied to the thousands of simple local domed tombs of s̲h̲ayk̲h̲s and saints made by the people as well as to great mausoleums. The term ḳubba became established as a pars pro toto abbreviation for the domes of tombs, for which it is exclusively reserved. All the special names for sepulchral buildings, which vary with country and language as well as with the style of building and person interred, come under the generic name of ḳubba. The classical word turba …

(popular pronunciation Merrāks̲h̲ , in French Marrakech, English Marrakesh) a town in Morocco, and one of the residences of the sovereign. The form Marrakech, adopted by the administration of the protectorate, is of recent origin. Down to ¶ about 1890 the town was always known as Morocco. The kingdom of Morocco, distinct in origin from those of Fās and the Sūs, finally gave its name to the whole empire. At one time it only consisted of the country south of the wādī Umm Rabīʿ as far as the range of the Great Atlas. Marrakesh is situated in 31° 37′ 35 ″ N. lat. and 7…

(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…

(a.) “navigation, seamanship; seafaring”. Like its English and French counterparts, navigation , the Arabic term has both a narrower and a broader connotation. The former refers to the mariner’s art of determining the ship’s position, charting her course and assuring that her progress and ultimate arrival is performed efficiently and safely; the latter, to seafaring in general. The term is attested in its faʿʿāl form, mallāḥ , at least since the ʿAbbāsid period (Lane, vii, 2733); it appears to go back to Akkadian and ultimately Sumerian ( Chicago Akkadian dictionary, Letter M …

an Indo-Muslim dynasty which ruled, latterly with decreasing effectiveness, 932-1274/1526-1858. 1. History. This article, like the section on History in hind, iv, above, aims at being no more than a guide to the numerous articles on the history of the Mug̲h̲al dynasty in India to be found elsewhere in the Encyclopaedia , and to relate these to a chronological framework. The Mug̲h̲als were given their first foothold in Indian territory in 800/1398 when Pīr Muḥammad, governor of Kābul and a grandson of Tīmūr, attacked Uččh and Multān, and established a gov…

, a Turkish dynasty of mediaeval Islam which, at the peak of its power during the 5th-6th/11th-12th centuries, ruled over, either directly or through vassal princes, a wide area of Western Asia from Transoxania, Farg̲h̲āna, the Semirečye and K̲h̲wārazm in the east to Anatolia, Syria and the Ḥid̲j̲āz in the west. From the core of what became the Great Sald̲j̲ūḳ empire, subordinate lines of the Sald̲j̲ūḳ family maintained themselves in regions like Kirmān (till towards the end of the 6th/12th century), Syria (till the opening years of…

, the name of a Turkish dynasty, ultimately of Og̲h̲uz origin [see g̲h̲uzz ], whose name appears in European sources as ottomans (Eng.), ottomanes (Fr.), osmanen (Ger.), etc. I. political and dynastic history 1. General survey and chronology of the dynasty The Ottoman empire was the territorially most extensive and most enduring Islamic state since the break-up of the ʿAbbāsid caliphate and the greatest one to be founded by Turkish-speaking peoples. It arose in the Islamic world after the devastations over much of the eastern and central lands of the Dār al-Islām …