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Bag̲h̲dād is situated on both banks of the Tigris, at 33° 26 18″ Lat. N. and 44° 23 9″ Long. E. respectively. Founded in the 8th century A.D. it continued to be the centre of the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate till its fall, and the cultural metropolis of the Muslim world for centuries. After 1258 it became a provincial centre and remained under the Ottomans the centre of the Bag̲h̲dād wilāyet . In 1921 it became the capital of modern ʿIrāḳ. History . The name Bag̲h̲dād is pre-Islamic, related to previous settlements on the site. Arab authors realise this and as usual look for Persian origins (cf. Maḳdisī, al-B…

, a collection of poetry or prose [see ʿarabiyya ; persian literature ; turkish literature ; urdū literature and s̲h̲iʿr ], a register, or an office. Sources differ about linguistic roots. Some ascribe to it a Persian origin from dev , ‘mad’ or ‘devil’, to describe secretaries. Others consider it Arabic from dawwana , to collect or to register, thus meaning a collection of records or sheets. (See Ḳalḳas̲h̲andī, Ṣubḥ , i, 90; LA, xvii, 23-4; Ṣūlī, Adab al-kuttāb , 187; Māwardī, al-Aḥkām al-sulṭāniyya , 175; D̲j̲ahs̲h̲iyārī, Wuzarāʾ , ¶ 16-17; cf. Balād̲h̲urī, Futūḥ ,…

, name of four places in ʿIrāḳ, viz: 1. a town on the Diyālā N. E. of Bag̲h̲dād, 2. a. village in the district of Nahr al-Malik W. of Bag̲h̲dād, 3. a village near D̲j̲abbul, S. of Bag̲h̲dād, 4. a village in K̲h̲ūzistān (cf. Yāḳūt, ii, 575; …

, a town in ʿIrāḳ 15 parasangs (c. 83 km.) south east of Bag̲h̲dād on the Tigris (Yāḳūt, ii, 676-7. Muḳaddasi, p. 134 gives the distance as two stages, while Ibn Faḍl Allāh al-ʿUmarī, Masālik al-Abṣār , Cairo 1924, i, 263, makes it 12 parasangs or c. 67 km.). The town probably grew around a Christian monastery, and was the centre of an agricultural district ( ṭassūd̲j̲ ) in central Nahrawān. Ibn Rusta (300/912) mentions its Friday mosque and its market, thus indicating some prosperity. Besides, it was a post where tolls on merchandise carried in boats ( maʾāṣir ) were le…

, commander, governor, prince. The term seems to be basically Islamic (Naḳāʾiḍ, 7, 964; Ibn Durayd, Ḏj̲amhara, iii, 437. In the Ḳurʾān, only the expression ulu ’l-amr is found (sūra iv, 59, 83), but amīr occurs often in traditions (cf. Wensinck, Concordance , s.v.). The sources for the early period frequently use the terms ʿāmil [ q.v.] and amīr as synonyms (cf. Hamidullah, Documents, 36, 38 and 39, 83). In the reports on the meeting of the saḳīfa , amīr is used for the head of the Muslim community (Ṭabarī I, 1840, 1841; Ibn Saʿd, II, 3, 126, 129). During the caliphate of …

, a name given to two monasteries in ʿIrāḳ. The first stands in the district ( ṭassūd̲j̲ ) of Maskin, which is watered by the Dud̲j̲ayl canal. This canal flows off from the west bank of the Tigris south of Sāmarrā and takes a southward course on almost the same line as modern Dud̲j̲ayl till it reaches the neighbourhood of Bag̲h̲dād. Maskin is to be located about 9-10 parasangs (50-55 km.) north of Bag̲h̲dād. Its ruins seem to keep their old name and are called K̲h̲arāʾib (ruins of) Maskin; they are by the west bank of the modern Dud̲j̲ay some 3 km. south of Smeika village (see Sousa, Ray y Sāmarrā …

(pl. ʿummāl ), active, agent. As the verbal adjective corresponding to ʿamal (see ʿamal , section 1), ʿāmil denotes the Muslim who performs the works demanded by his faith, and is often used in conjunction with the term ʿālim (pl. ʿulamāʾ , [ q.v.]) as an epithet of pious scholars. As a technical term, ʿāmil denotes (1) the active partner in a society of muḍāraba [ q.v.] or ḳirāḍ ; (2) the government agent or official, particularly the collector of taxes. In this last meaning, it occurs already in Ḳurʾān, ix, 60, though not yet as a technical term. The Prophet appointed representatives among …

, town on the left bank of the Euphrates, 43° 43’ E, 33° 22.5’ N. Arab geographers give the distance from Bag̲h̲dād to al-Anbār on the mail route as twelve (Yāḳūt: ten) farsak̲h̲s (cf. Streck, Babylonien , i, 8); as measured by Musil (p. 248) it is 62 km. = 38 m. Al-Anbār lies on the north-western projection of the Sawād on a cultivable plain near the desert, near the first navigable canal from the Euphrates to the Tigris (the Nahr ʿĪsā), and controlled an important crossing on the Euphrates (cf. Musil, 267-9, 307; Le Strange, in JRAS, 1895, 66). The town is pre-Sāsānid. Maricq identifies i…