Encyclopaedia Islamica
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Subject: Middle East And Islamic Studies
Edited by: Farhad Daftary and Wilferd Madelung
Encyclopaedia Islamica Online is based on the abridged and edited translation of the Persian Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Buzurg-i Islāmī, one of the most comprehensive sources on Islam and the Muslim world. A unique feature of the Encyclopaedia Islamica Online lies in the attention given to Shiʿi Islam and its rich and diverse heritage. In addition to providing entries on important themes, subjects and personages in Islam generally, Encyclopaedia Islamica Online offers the Western reader an opportunity to appreciate the various dimensions of Shiʿi Islam, the Persian contribution to Islamic civilization, and the spiritual dimensions of the Islamic tradition.
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Encyclopaedia Islamica Online is based on the abridged and edited translation of the Persian Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Buzurg-i Islāmī, one of the most comprehensive sources on Islam and the Muslim world. A unique feature of the Encyclopaedia Islamica Online lies in the attention given to Shiʿi Islam and its rich and diverse heritage. In addition to providing entries on important themes, subjects and personages in Islam generally, Encyclopaedia Islamica Online offers the Western reader an opportunity to appreciate the various dimensions of Shiʿi Islam, the Persian contribution to Islamic civilization, and the spiritual dimensions of the Islamic tradition.
Subscriptions: see Brill.com
Cairo
(21,592 words)
Ayyūbid CairoAfter Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Ayyūbī (Saladin) was appointed as vizier to the caliph al-ʿĀḍid (r. 555–567/1160–1171) on 25 Jumādā II 564/26 March 1169 (al-Maqrīzī,
Ittiʿāẓ, 3/308), the crushing of a palace plot and of a rebellion by 50,000 caliphal troops led to the burning of the Manṣūriyya quarter south of the city. As the caliph al-ʿĀḍid’s support collapsed, he was imprisoned in his quarters, and on the second Friday of Muḥarram 567/September 1171, his name was removed from the sermon, and prayers were said ins…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Calendar
(22,170 words)
In its wider connotation, in addition to providing a clear system of ‘dividing time into successive periods’,
taqwīm refers to important events that mark the basis of keeping count of the years, which in English is expressed by the term ‘era’. In early texts up until the 12th/16th century, however, the word
taʾrīkh (in the sense of calendar) was used to denote this connotation such as in ‘
tārīkh-i Yazdgirdī’ (Yazdgirdī calendar),
tārīkh-i Malikī (Malikī calendar) and others (see al-Farghānī, 6–7; al-Battānī, 100–105; al-Bīrūnī,
al-Āthār, 13 ff., idem,
Taḥqīq, 203 ff.; Gardīzī, 44…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Caliphate
(35,778 words)
Analysis of the Term 1. The Concept of
khalīfa A. In the Qurʾān B. In Early Exegesis C. In the Abrahamic Religions D. In
ḥadīth Literature 2.
Khalīfat Allāh in Islamic Culture A. In Early Exegesis and
ḥadīth Literature A.1 Divine
ḥujjas A.2 Saints and the Righteous Individuals (
awliyāʾ wa sulahaʾ) B. In the Rational Sciences B.1 In
kalām B.2 In Philosophy B.3 In Theoretical
ʿirfān 3. The Concept of
khalīfat rasūl Allāh in Islamic Culture and Thought A.
Khalīfat rasūl Allāh in
ḥadīth Literature A.1 The Imams as the
khulafāʾ of the Prophet A.2 The Early
khulafāʾ as the
khulafāʾ of the Prophet A.3 …
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Calligraphy
(34,211 words)
1. Calligraphy in the Arab WorldThrough the spread of the Arab people a new language and alphabet found their way to a large area of the world, from Spain to Turkistan, along with a new religious dispensation. This article considers the art of handwriting, as distinct from details of the history of Arabic writing systems. The Arabic letters readily lend themselves to a wide variety of expressive forms, not only in manuscripts and other written documents but also in architectural and other inscription…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Carpets and Carpet-Making
(22,100 words)
Types of Hand-Woven Carpets Knotted Carpets
Qālī Kilims Zīlū
Carpet-Weaving before Islam Non-Textile Specimens and Documents The Earliest Known Carpet-Weaving The Pazyryk Carpet: Significance Sāsānid Carpets The Bahāristān Carpet Kilims and
Zīlū
Carpet-Weaving during the Islamic Period up to the 9th/15th Century The Early Islamic Centuries The Mid-Islamic Centuries Early- and Middle-Islamic Written Sources
The Golden Age of Carpet-Weaving The Ardabīl Carpets The Salting Carpet Carpets in Persian Miniature Paintings Centres of Persian Carpet Production The Global Rise…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Categories
(12,364 words)
The issue of categories has been the subject of some debate among Muslim philosophers regarding such matters as whether Aristotle himself authored the book, what precisely the categories are, the exact number of categories, and whether the
Categories should be classified as a work of logic (
manṭiq) or metaphysics, or indeed as a bridge between the two disciplines.Logic and MetaphysicsAristotle’s
Categories represents an attempt to systematically address the basic philosophical issues from a new perspective. As such, it provoked a discussion that lasted t…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17
Causality
(10,746 words)
al-Ghazālī’s Criticism of CausalityAbū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī’s approach to the problem is often described as ‘theistic occasionalism’ (Fakhry, 96). In Maqāla 17 of his refutation of Peripatetic (in particular, Avicennan) philosophy, the famous
Tahāfut al-falāsifa, he attempted to question the existence of any causal nexus between two events or two things other than God by employing the so-called ‘custom’ (
ʿāda) theory. The theory, which partly goes back to Aristotle (Aristotle,
Rhetorics, I.2.1370a, 8–9: cf. Wolfson, 548), may have been introduced into
kalām by al-Ashʿarī, in or…
Source:
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Date:
2021-06-17