, word derived from the Latin veredus/ Greek beredos (of uncertain origin, perhaps Assyrian) “post horse”, usually applied to the official service of the Post and Intelligence in the Islamic states, and likewise to the mount, courier and post “stage”. The institution of the state postal service was known to the Byzantine and Sāsānid Empires, from which it would appear the first Caliphs only required to borrow it, its foreign origin being confirmed by a partly Persian terminology. The barīd operated from the Umayyad period and ʿAbd al-Malik is consider…

(a.), two terms of mediaeval Islamic finance and land tenure. The first denotes special items consisting of immoveable property selected from booty by the leader [see fayʾ and g̲h̲anīma ], while the second is the term for land which the Imām selects from the conquered territories for the treasury with the consent of those who had a share in the booty (al-Māwardī, al-Aḥkām al-sulṭāniyya , Cairo 1966, 192). In pre-Islamic Arabia the leader was also entitled to one-fourth ( rubʿ ) or onefifth ( k̲h̲ums ) of the booty in addition to the ṣafī . The custom of k̲h̲ums was upheld by the prophet and …

(Turkish “warm lake”), the most important mountain lake in Turkistan and one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world, situated in between 42° 11′ and 42° 59′ N. Lat. and between 76° 15′ and 78° 30′ warm sea; the lake never freeze E. Long., 1605 m. (5,116 feet) above sea level; the length of the lake is about 115 miles, the breadth up to 37 miles, the depth up …

(a.), verbal noun of the form III verb bālag̲h̲a ( fī ), with the two related meanings of “to do the utmost [in s.th.]” and “to overdo [s.th.]”), technical term in (a) grammar (“intensiveness”) and (b) literary theory (“emphasis” and, more particularly, “hyperbole”). (a) In grammar. Already in Sībawayh, the term mubālag̲h̲a is used to denote the intensive meaning of a number of morphemes and syntagmas (see G. Troupeau, Lexique-index du Kitāb de Sībawayhi , Paris 1976, 41). Most consistently it is henceforth applied to the intensive participles of the forms faʿūl , faʿʿāl …

in fiḳh . For Muslims residing in the Dār al-Ḥarb , emigration to the Dār al-Islām ( hid̲j̲rd ) is a recommendable act. If they cannot perform their religious duties in freedom, emigration becomes obligatory. These prescriptions are founded on Ḳurʾān, IV, 97-100 and some traditions, like Muḥammad’s saying: “I have nothing to do with Muslims residing amongst the polytheists” (Abū Dāwūd, d̲j̲ihād, 95; Nasāʾī, ḳasāma , 27). The Mālikīs hold that emigration is always obligatory and that the tradition: “No emigration after the Conquest [of Mecca]” (Buk̲h̲ārī, d̲j̲ihād, 1, 27, īmān , 41, ṣayd …

(a.), a financial term referring to a negotiable instrument in the form of a written bill of credit which is similar to the modern drawing of a cheque. The suftad̲j̲a , like the ḥawāla [ q.v.] and the ṣakk , was used in mediaeval Islam to facilitate the speedy transfer of money over distances or to expedite the exploitation of assignments of taxation, in an age when movements of actual cash were hazardous. For the general use of such financial instruments in mediaeval Islam, see R. Grasshoff, Die Suftaǧa und Ḥawāla der Arabe ), Göttingen 1899, and WJ. Fischel, Jews in the economic and politic…

or Sonḳor , the name of a district and of a present-day small town in western Persia (town: lat. 34° 45′ N., long 47° 39′ E.). It lies in the Zagros Mountains between modern Kangāwar [see kinkiwar ] and Sanandad̲j̲ [ q.v.] or Sinna, within the modern province of Kirmāns̲h̲āh. In mediaeval Islamic times, it lay on the road between Dīnawar [ q.v.] and Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān, and must correspond approximately to the first marḥala on the stretch from Dīnawar to Sīsar, the name of which is read al-D̲j̲ārbā (al-Muḳaddasī, 382), K̲h̲arbārd̲j̲ān (Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih, 119; Ḳudāma, 212), etc. which was 7 f…

, derived from ad̲j̲r (remuneration), synonymous terms meaning a contract to hire. There are also used, but less frequently, the terms istiʾd̲j̲ār and kirāʾ . The hirer is called, in the hire of things, muʾd̲j̲ir or ād̲j̲ir or mukārī ; in the hire of services, ad̲j̲īr ; the person hiring is, in all cases, called mustaʾd̲j̲ir ; the thing or service hired, maʾd̲j̲ūr , or, rarely, muʾd̲j̲ar , mustaʾd̲j̲ar . The remuneration is uniformly called ud̲j̲ra or ad̲j̲r; if it is fixed in the contract, it is ad̲j̲r musamma n; if it has to be determined by the judge, ad̲j̲r al-mit̲h̲l . Īd̲j̲ār or id̲j̲āra …

, the name given by the Arab authors to a locality situated, on the borders of Anatolia and Syria, in the upper valley of the Nahr Karzīn, at the foot of the Anti-Taurus (Kurd Dag̲h̲), north-west of ʿAynṭāb. It was the ancient Doliche, famous for the cult of a Semitic divinity who in the Graeco-Roman period received the name of Zeus Dolichenos. Being at the intersection of the routes from Germanicia, Nicopolis and Zeugma, it had been conquered by ʿIyāḍ b. G̲h̲ānim and became one of the fortresse…

(a.), a legal term meaning the option or right of withdrawal, i.e. the right for the parties involved to terminate the legal act unilaterally. This option is always included in the legal act, and in this case, the act does not irrevocably bind its authors. The word k̲h̲iyār implies a choice on the part of the holder of the right of option, who may either confirm the act or render it void; the legal act containing an option is not void in origin, but its validity is nevertheless precarious and subject to confirmation. Th…

(a.), which may be considered ( LA, s.v.) either as maṣdar or ism al-makān of the root m-l-k “to hold, possess”, denotes in its first sense absolute power over things and especially over beings: to begin with, that of God over creation as a whole, and then, that of any individual, in certain circumstances. In a second sense, the word is applied to the place either in origin or by application, of the power under consideration: in the first case, it can refer e.g. to an all-powerful minister (Dozy, Supplément, s.v.); in another case, it can denote the spatial entity under the control …

, “the Media of Basra”, the district of Nihāwand [ q.v.], the taxes of which contributed to the support of the military population at al-Baṣra after the Muslim conquest of al-D̲j̲abal. Although Sayf ascribes this arrangement to the time of ʿUmar I (13-23/634-44), according to al-Balād̲h̲urī, al-Dīnawar and Nihāwand were occupied by Baṣran and Kūfan forces respectively after the battle of Nihāwand in 21/642. By the caliphate of Muʿāwiya (41-60/661-80), the Muslim population at al-Kūfa had increased and required an increase ¶ in revenues for their support, so al-Dīnawar was re…

, Abu ’l-Ḥasan b. ʿAmmār al-ʿAbdari al-Saraḳusṭī (d. 524/1129 or 535/1140), Andalusian traditionist. Of unknown date of birth, his nisba indicates that he probably was born in Saragossa. The biographical works do not record any data about his life in al-Andalus. If he did live in Saragossa, he may have left it when the Almoravids captured the town in 503/1110, in which case he must have belonged to those who did not welcome the new lords of the Peninsula. Otherwise, he may have left the town …

(the contracted form Rāmiz , Rāmuz is found as early as the 4th/10th century), a town and district in K̲h̲ūzistān [ q.v.] in southwestern Persia. Rām-Hurmuz lies about 55 miles southeast of Ahwāz, 65 miles south-south-east of S̲h̲ūs̲h̲tar, and 60 miles north-east of Bihbihān. Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih, 43, reckons it 17 farsak̲h̲ s from Ahwāz to Rām-Hurmuz and 22 farsak̲h̲s from Rām-Hurmuz to Arrad̲j̲ān. Ḳudāma, 194, who gives a more detailed list of stages, counts it 50 farsak̲h̲s from Wāsiṭ to Baṣra, thence 35 farsak̲h̲s to Ahwāz, thence 20 farsak̲h̲s to Rām-Hurmuz, and then 24 farsak̲h̲s …

is an Arabic adjectival noun which denotes the idea of originality. In the active sense it means Creator or Originator, hence its use as an Attribute of God. In the passive sense it means ‘discovered’ or ‘invented’, and from this, it became a name for the innovations of the ʿAbbāsid poets in literary figures, and later for trope in general; ʿilm al-badīʿ was that branch of rhetorical science which dealt with the beautification of literary style. Some ʿAbbāsid poets of the 2nd/8th century, like Bas̲h̲s̲h̲ār, Muslim b. al-Walīd, and al…

(a.), verbal noun of the verb wakala , a technical term of Islamic religion, and more generally, of commercial practice and law. It means to commission, depute or authorise a person to act on behalf of another. It is a term far from easy to encapsulate in one meaning since it carries a variety of legal, and theological concepts. One of the attributes of God, given in the Ḳurʾān and ḥadīt̲h̲ is al-Wakīl , which indicates protection and sustenance, while according to al-Sarak̲h̲sī, the word indicates the entrusting ( ḥifāẓ ) of another person’s property. The concept of wakāla …

(a.) “routes and kingdoms”, name given by R. Blachère ( Extraits des principaux géographes arabes du Moyen Age , Beirut-Algiers 1934, 110-200; 2nd corrected printing by H. Darmaun, Paris 1957) to what he considered as a particular genre of Arabic geographical literature, because several works, which bear the title of Kitāb al-Masālik wa “ l-mamālik , present common characteristics. Nevertheless, not all those which, in his eyes, constitute this genre were given the title which has been retained, and furthermore, the K. al-Masālik wa ’l-mamālik which is per…

, oblation, from the Arabic root h d y which has the meanings “to guide”, “to put on the right path”, “to make a present”. The word is certainly of pre-Islamic origin; it used to denote the sacrificial offerings destined for the lord of the Meccan sanctuary (Ibn Saʿd, Ṭabaḳāt , i, 92). The ritual of the taḳlīd and the is̲h̲ʿār , to which we shall return, suggests that the hady had to be some kind of humped animal, especially selected. It appears that the slaughtered beast was left by the man making the sacrifice for the poor and for animals (Ibn His̲h̲ām, Sīra , i, 146). The …

(a.), lit. “a washer of clothes and also of the dead”, is nearly synonymous with the word ḳaṣṣār (al-Ḵh̲aṭīb, cf. Taʾrik̲h̲ Baghdād , vi, 127). In classical Arabic there are a number of terms for corpse-washer such as g̲h̲assāl al-mawtā , g̲h̲āsil al-mawtā and simple g̲h̲āsil. The modern Arabic term for a washer of clothes is g̲h̲assāl, but the corpse-washer ( g̲h̲āsil) in Syria is also called mug̲h̲assil . The act of washing the corpse, putting a shroud on it, attending the funeral prayers and burying the deceased are some of the obligations on all Muslims, according to the S̲h̲arīʿa …

, name of a part of the frontier zone which extended between the Byzantine Empire and the Empire of the Caliphs in the North and North-East of Syria. The forward strongholds of this zone are called al-T̲h̲ug̲h̲ūr [ q.v.] or frontier. strongholds properly so called, whilst those which were situated further to the rear, are called al-ʿAwāṣim , literally "the protectresses" (sing, al-ʿāṣima ). Following their quick successes in Syria and Mesopotamia, the Arabs for a while made no attempt to extend their conquests and confined themselves to making raids into Byz…