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ʿAskarī

(560 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
; from ʿaskar , soldier; in Ottoman technical usage a member of the ruling military caste, as distinct from the reʿāyā —the subject population of peasants and townspeople ( reʿāyā sometimes means the subjects generally, sometimes only the peasants). The term ‘askarī denoted caste rather than function; it included retired or unemployed ʿaskarīs, the wives and children of ʿaskarīs, manumitted slaves of the Sultan and of the ʿaskarīs, and also the families of the holders of religious public offices in attendance ( mulāzemet ) on the Sultan. The Ottoman ʿaskarī class comprised both th…

Başvekalet Arşivi

(1,652 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, formerly also başbakanlik arşivi , the Archives of the Prime Minister’s office, the name now given to the central state archives of Turkey and of the Ottoman Empire. The formation of the Ottoman archives begins with the rise of the Ottoman state, but the present collection, though containing a number of individual documents and registers from earlier times, dates substantially from after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The archives became really full from about the middle of the 16th century, and continue to the end of the Empire. The organisation of the Ottoman reco…

Efendi

(995 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, an Ottoman title of Greek origin, from αὐθέντης, Lord, Master, (cf. authentic), probably via a Byzantine colloquial vocative form, afendi (G. Meyer, Türkische Studien , i, in SBAk . Wien (1893), 37; K. Foy in MSOS, i/2 (1898), 44 n. 3; Psichari, 408). The term was already in use in Turkish Anatolia in the 13th and 14th centuries. Eflākī indicates that the daughter of Ḏj̲alāl al-Dīn Rūmī was known as Efendipoulo—the master’s daughter (Cl. Huart, Les saints des derviches tourneurs , Paris 1922, ii, 429; on the later Karaite family name Afendopoulo or Efendipoulo see Z. Ankori, Karaites in Byza…

K̲h̲ādim al-Ḥaramayn

(960 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
(a.), “servant of the two holy places” (sc. Mecca and Medina), a title used by a number of Muslim monarchs. Adopted by the Ottoman Sultan Selīm I after the conquest of Egypt in 922/1517 and used by some of his successors, it was regarded in late Ottoman times as a Caliphal title, and was said to have been taken over by Selīm from the last ʿAbbāsid caliph in Cairo. This does not correspond with the evidence, and appears to be part of the mythology of the Ottoman caliphate. As far as can be ascert…

al-Abnāʾ

(423 words)

Author(s): Zetterstéen, K.V. | Lewis, B.
, "the sons", a denomination applied to the following: (I) The descendants of Saʿd b. Zayd Manāt b. Tamīm, with the exception of his two sons Kaʿb and ʿAmr. This tribe inhabited the sandy desert of al-Dahnāʾ. (Cf. F. Wüstenfeld, Register zu den geneal. Tabellen der arab. Stämme ). (II) The descendants born in Yaman of the Persian immigrants. For the circumstances of the Persian intervention in Yaman under Ḵh̲usraw Anūs̲h̲irwān (531-79) and the reign of Sayf b. Ḏh̲ī Yazan, as told by the Arabic authors, cf. sayf b. d̲h̲ī yazan. After the withdr…

Ḏj̲arīda

(16,453 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B. | Pellat, Ch. | Ed. | P. M. Holt | K. Hitti, Philip | Et al.
, literally “leaf”, which has become the usual term in modern Arabic for a newspaper, its adoption being attributed to Fāris al-S̲h̲idyāḳ [ q.v.]. Its synonym ṣaḥīfa is less used in the sing., but the plural ṣuḥuf is more common than d̲j̲arāʾid . Some interest in the European press was shown by the Ottomans as early as the 18th century and, it would seem, excerpts from European newspapers were translated for the information of the dīwān (Prussian despatch from Constantinople, of 1780, cited by J. W. Zinkeisen, Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches , vi, Gotha 1859, …

Berātli̊

(308 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, i.e., holder of a berāt, a name given in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to certain non-Muslim subjects of the Ottoman Empire, who held berāts conferring upon them important commercial and fiscal privileges. These berāts were distributed by the European diplomatic missions, in abusive extension of their rights under the capitulations. Originally intended for locally recruited consular officers and agents, they were sold or granted to growing numbers of local merchants, who were thus able to acquire a privileged and protect…

Dīwān-i Humāyūn

(2,300 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, the name given to the Ottoman imperial council, until the mid 11th/17th century the central organ of the government of the Empire. Evidence on the dīwān under the early Sultans is scanty. According to ʿĀs̲h̲iḳpas̲h̲azāde (ch. 31; ed. N. Atsız, Osmanlı tarihlerı , Istanbul 1949, 118; German trans. R. Kreutel, Vom Hirtenzeit zur hohen Pforte , Graz 1959, 66), the practice of wearing a twisted turban ( burma dülbend ) when attending the dīwān was introduced during the reign of Ork̲h̲ān. Probably a kind of public audience is meant. The Egyptian physician S̲h̲ams al-Dīn …

Ashām

(501 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
(Turkish eshām ), plural of Arabic sahm (Turkish sehim), share. In Turkey the word was used to designate certain treasury issues, variously described as bonds, assignats, and annuities. The es̲h̲ām are called annuities by Hammer ( Leibrenten ) and also in the Ottoman budget of 1862-3, where they are mentioned as rentes viagčres . The description is not strictly accurate, as although the eshām reverted to the state on the death of the holder, they could be sold, the state claiming a duty ¶ of one year’s income on each such transfer. According to Muṣṭafā Nūrī Pasha, the eshām

Ḥas̲h̲īs̲h̲iyya

(1,058 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, a name given in mediaeval times to the followers in Syria of the Nizārī branch of the Ismāʿīlī sect. The name was carried from Syria to Europe by the Crusaders, and occurs in a variety of forms in the Western literature of the Crusades, as well as in Greek and Hebrew texts. In the form ‘assassin’ it eventually found its way into French and English usage, with corresponding forms in Italian, Spanish and other languages. Af first the word seems to have been used in the sense of devotee ¶ or zealot, thus corresponding to fidāʿī [ q.v.]. As early as the 12th century Provençal poets compare the…

Aḥmad Midḥat

(940 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Ottoman Turkish writer, was born in Istanbul in 1260/1844, the son of a poor draper called Sulaymān Ag̲h̲a and a Circassian ¶ mother. He lost his father in early childhood, and was for a while apprenticed to a shopkeeper. When he was 10 years old the family moved to Vidin, where his half-brother Ḥāfiẓ Ag̲h̲a was the mudïr of a kaḍā . Ḥāfiẓ, however, fell into disgrace, and in 1859 Aḥmed returned to Istanbul, where he began his schooling. In 1277/1861 Ḥāfiẓ Ag̲h̲a, having won the favour of Midḥat Pas̲h̲a, was reinstated and given an …

Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲

(8,598 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A.J. | Wensinck,A.J. | Jomier,J. | Lewis,B.
(a.), pilgrimage to Mecca, ʿArafāt and Minā, the fifth of the five “pillars” ( arkān ) of Islam. It is also called the Great Pilgrimage in contrast to the ʿumra [ q.v.] or Little Pilgrimage. Its annual observance has had, and continues to have, a profound influence on the Muslim world. Those not taking part follow the pilgrims in thought; the religious teachers, and nowadays the press, radio and television help them in this by providing doctrine and news bulletins. For the Muslim community itself this event is the occasion fo…

ʿAbbāsids

(8,421 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
( Banu ’l-ʿAbbās ), the dynasty of the Caliphs from 132/750 to 656/1258. The dynasty takes its name from its ancestor, al-ʿAbbās b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib b. Hās̲h̲im, the uncle of the Prophet. The story of the origins and nature of the movement that overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and established the ʿAbbāsid dynasty in its place was for long known only in the much-revised version put about when the dynasty had already attained power, and, with it, respectability. A more critical version was proposed by G. van Vloten ( De opkomst der Abbasiden in Chorasan , Leiden 1890, and Recherches

Daryā-Begi

(237 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Deryā-beyi , sea-lord, a title given in the Ottoman Empire to certain officers of the fleet. In the 9th/15th century the term deryā-beyi or deñiz-beyi is sometimes used of the commandant of Gallipoli [see gelibolu ], who had the rank of Sand̲j̲aḳ-beyi, and was the naval commander-inchief until the emergence of the Kapudan Pas̲h̲a [ q.v.]. In the 10th/16th century the Kapudan Pas̲h̲a became, as well as an admiral, the governor of an eyālet , which consisted of a group of ports and islands [see d̲j̲azā’ir-i baḥr-i safīd ]. This province, like others, was divide…

Bāb-i Mas̲h̲īk̲h̲at

(418 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, (also s̲h̲ayk̲h̲ al-islām kapi̊si̊ , bāb-i fetwā and fetwāk̲h̲āne ), a name which became common in the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century for the office or department of the S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ al-Islām [ q.v.], the Chief Muftī of Istanbul. Until 1241/1826 the Chief Muftīs had functioned and issued their rulings from their own residences or, if these were too distant, from rented quarters. In that year, after the destruction of the Janissaries, Sulṭān Maḥmūd II gave the former ¶ residence of the Ag̲h̲a of the Janissaries, near the Süleymāniyye Mosque, to the Chief Muftī, who …

Bas̲h̲s̲h̲ār al-S̲h̲aʿīrī

(317 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, S̲h̲īʿite heretic, flourished in the second century A.H. He lived in Kūfa and earned his living by selling barley ( s̲h̲aʿīr ), whence his name. According to the Minhād̲j̲ and the Muntahā , he was sometimes mistakenly referred to as al-As̲h̲ʿarī, instead of the correct al-S̲h̲aʿīrī. According to traditions related by al-Kas̲h̲s̲h̲ī, he was repudiated and disowned by the Imām D̲j̲aʿfar al-Ṣādiḳ ( Rid̲j̲āl 252-4; cf. 197, where ʿAbū Bas̲h̲s̲h̲ār al-As̲h̲ʿarīʾ is denounced as a liar, together with such notorious heretics as al-Mug̲h̲īra …

Bahāʾī Meḥmed Efendi

(573 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Ottoman jurist and theologian. Born in Istanbul in 1004/1595-6, he was the son of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Efendi, a Ḳāḍīʿasker of Rumelia, and the grandson of the historian Saʿd al-Dīn. Entering upon the cursus honorum of the religious institution, he became mudarris and molla and was appointed ḳāḍī first in Salonica and then, in 1043/1633-4, in Aleppo. A heavy smoker, he was reported by the Beylerbey Aḥmed Pas̲h̲a, with whom he was on bad ternis, and in 1044/1634-5 was dismissed and exiied to Cyprus as a punishment for w…

ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Zand̲j̲ī

(468 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, known as ṣāḥib al-zand̲j̲ , was the leader of the Zand̲j̲ [ q.v.], the rebel negro slaves who for fifteen years (255-270/868-83) terrorised southern ʿIrāḳ and the adjoining territories. He was born in Warzanīn, a village near Rayy, and is said by some authorities to have been of Arab origin, being descended from ʿAbd al-Ḳays on his father’s side and from Asad on his mother’s. His name is generally given as ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥīm. According to Ibn al-Ḏj̲awzī ( al-Muntaẓam , Hyderabad 1357, v, 2, 69) his real name was ¶ Bihbūd̲h̲. Al-Bīrūnī ( Chronology , 332;…

Baraḳ Baba

(476 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, a Turkish dervish who acquired some celebrity in the time of the Il-Ḵh̲āns. He is said to have been a disciple of the famous Sarǐ Saltuk [ q.v.], and is mentioned in connexion with the Bābāʾī, Bektās̲h̲ī, and Mewlewī movements. His followers were called Baraḳīs; his Ḵh̲alīfa was Ḥayrān Emird̲j̲i. A story preserved by Yazǐd̲j̲ǐog̲h̲lu ʿAlī makes him a Sald̲j̲ūḳ prince, converted to Christianity by the Greek patriarch and then reconverted to Islam by Sarǐ Saltuk, who transmitted his supernatural powers to him and gave h…

Bāb-i Serʿaskeri

(312 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
or serʿasker kapi̊si̊ , the name of the War Department in the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century. After the destruction of the Janissaries in 1241/1826, the Ag̲h̲a of the Janissaries was replaced by a new commanding officer, the Serʿasker [ q.v.]. The title was an old one, given to army commanders in former times. As applied by Maḥmūd II, it came to connote an officer who combined the functions of commander in-chief and minister of war, with special responsibility for the new style army. In addition, he inherited from the Ag̲h̲a of…

Aḥmed Ḥilmī

(386 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
Efendi , 19th century Turkish translator. Born in Üsküdar, he was trained in the language chamber [see terd̲j̲üme odasi̊ ] of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and subsequently held a number of official appointments. He is mentioned as having been Ottoman Consul in Tabrīz and a member of the Embassy in Tehrān, and in 1876 was elected a deputy in the first Ottoman parliament. He died in 1878 of typhus, contracted while caring for refugees from the Russo-Turkish war, and was buried at the Karacaahmet cemetery in Üsküdar. Aḥmed Ḥilmī played a pioneer role as a tra…

Ḥasan Fehmī

(1,110 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
efendi, known as Aḳs̲h̲ehirli, an Ottoman S̲h̲eyk̲h̲ al-Islām. The son of ʿOt̲h̲mān Efendi of Ilgin, he was born in 1210/1795-6, and held various appointments in the teaching branch of the ʿIlmiyye [ q.v.] profession. In 1275/1858-9, on the death of Yaḥyā Efendi [ q.v.], he was appointed to the office of Ders Wekīli , with the duty of teaching and preaching on behalf of the S̲h̲eyk̲h̲ al-Islām. Ḏj̲ewdet, who had reason to be hostile to Ḥasan Fehmī, indicates that the appointment was made for want of any one better, and says that he was known among the students as kad̲h̲ūbī —the liar ( Tezâkir 13-…

Ibn al-ʿAdīm

(624 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Kamāl al-Dīn Abu ’l-Ḳāsim ʿUmar b. Aḥmad b. Hibat Allāh , historian of Aleppo, born there in 588/1192, died in Cairo in 660/1262. A wealthy and prominent family of ʿIrāḳī Arab origin, the Banu ’l-ʿAdīm acquired property in and around Aleppo, and a number of them rose to eminence or office under the successive dynasties that ruled in that city. For five generations they held the office of ḳāḍī; the historian’s father was a chief ḳāḍī under Zangid and then Ayyūbid rule. He himself, after studies in Aleppo, Damascus, Jerusalem, Bag̲h̲dād and the Ḥid̲j̲āz, served in Aleppo as a secretary, as a ḳāḍī…

Bard̲j̲awān

(962 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, abu ’l-futūḥ , a slave who was for a while ruler of Egypt during the reign of al-Ḥākim. He was brought up at the court of al-ʿAzīz, where he held the post of intendant ( Ḵh̲iṭaṭ ii, 3; Ibn Tag̲h̲ribirdī, Cairo, iv, 48; Ibn Ḵh̲allikān. ii, 201). He was a eunuch, and was known by the title Ustād̲h̲ [ q.v.]. His ethnie origin is uncertain—Ibn Ḵh̲allikān calls him a negro, Ibn al-Ḳalānisī simply a white ( abyaḍ al-lawn ), al-Maḳrīzī either a Slav or a Sicilian, the readings Saḳlabī and Siḳillī both occurring in the MSS. of the Ḵh̲iṭaṭ (cf. S. de Sacy, Chrestomothie , i, 130). Bard̲j̲awān was appointed g…

Ḥurriyya

(6,429 words)

Author(s): Rosenthal, F. | Lewis, B.
, “freedom,” an abstract formation derived from ḥurr “free” corresponding to Hebrew ḥōr , Aram. ḥēr ( ḥerūt̲ā ), widely used also in Muslim languages other than Arabic. Already in pre-Islamic times, “free” was known not only as a legal term denoting the opposite of “unfree, slave” ( ʿabd [ q.v.]) but also as an Ethical term denoting those “noble” of character and behavior. The legal concept of “freedom” continued to be used as a matter of course by Muslim jurists, who were inclined to give preference to the presumption of a free status for individuals in doubtful cases [see ʿabd …

Ayyūb Ṣabrī Pas̲h̲a

(104 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Ottoman naval officer and author. A graduate of the naval college, he held various appointments, and served for a while in both the Ḥid̲j̲āz and Yemen. He died in Istanbul in 1308/1890. He was the author of a number of historical and descriptive works on Arabia, including an account of Mecca and Medina ( Mirʾāt al-Ḥaramayn , 3 vols., Istanbul 1301-6), and a history of the Wahhābīs ( Taʾrīk̲h̲-i Wahhābiyyān , Istanbul 1296). Besides these he wrote a biography of the Prophet called Maḥmūd al-Siyar (Edirne 1287). (B. Lewis) Bibliography Babinger 372-3 Sid̲j̲ill-i ʿOt̲h̲mānī, i, 451 Ot̲h̲mānl…

Di̇rli̇k

(126 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, a Turkish word meaning living or livelihood. In the Ottoman Empire it was used to denote an income provided by the state, directly or indirectly, for the support of persons in its service. The term is used principally of the military fiefs (see timar), but also applies to pay (see ʿulūfa ), salaries, and grants of various kinds in lieu of pay to officers of the central and provincial governments. It does not normally apply to tax-farms, the basis of which is purchase and not service. (B. Lewis) Bibliography Ḏj̲aʿfer Čelebi, Maḥrūse-i Istanbul fetḥnāmesi, TOEM suppl. 1331, 17 Koçi Bey Risale…

Emīn

(576 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, from Arabic amīn [ q.v.], faithful, trustworthy, an Ottoman administrative title usually translated intendant or commissioner. His function or office was called emānet . The primary meaning of emīn , in Ottoman official usage, was a salaried officer appointed by or in the name of the Sultan, usually by berāt , to administer, supervise or control a department, function or source of revenue. There were thus emīns of various kinds of stores and supplies, of mints, of mines, of customs, customs-houses and other revenues, and of the taḥrīr [ q.v.], the preparation of the registers of la…

Bāb

(439 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, a term applied in early S̲h̲īʿism to the senior authorised disciple of the Imām. The hagiographical Uterature of the Twelver S̲h̲īʿa usually names the bābs of the Imāms. Among the Ismāʿīliyya [ q.v.] bāb was a rank in the hierarchy. The term was already in use in pre-Fāṭimid times, though its significance is uncertain (cf. W. Ivanow, The Alleged Founder of Ismailism , Bombay 1946, 125 n. 2, citing al-Kas̲h̲s̲h̲ī, Rid̲j̲āl , 322; idem, Notes sur l’Ummu ’l-Kitab , in REI, 1932, 455; idem, Studies in early Persian Ismailism 2, Bombay 1955, 19 ff.). Under the Fāṭimids in Egypt the bāb cornes imme…

Bazi̊rgan

(113 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Bezirgan, Turkish forms of the Persian Bāzargān , a merchant. In Ottoman Turkish usage the term Bāzi̊rgān was applied to Christian and more especially Jewish merchants. Some of these held official appointments in the Ottoman palace or armed forces; such were the Bazi̊rganbas̲h̲i̊ , the chief purveyor of textiles to the Imperial household (D’Ohsson, Tableau général , vii, Paris 1824, 22; Gibb-Bowen, 1/1, 359), and the Od̲j̲aḳ Bāzi̊rgāni̊ , the stewards, usually Greek or Jewish, who handled the pay and supplies of the corps of Janissaries. T…

Bostānzāde

(600 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, the name of a family of Ottoman ʿulemāʾ who achieved some prominence in the 16th and early 17th centuries. The founder of the family was (1) Muṣṭafā Efendi, born in Tire, in the province of Aydi̊n, ¶ in 904/1498-9, and known as Bostān (or Būstān); his father was a merchant called Meḥmed (thus in the text of ʿAṭāʾī and on the tombstone preserved in the Türk-Islam Eserleri Müzesi in Istanbul; the heading Muṣṭafā b. ʿAlī in ʿAṭāʾī is no doubt an error due to confusion with his namesake Muṣṭafā, known as Küçük Bostān; ʿAṭāʾī 132. cf. Hüseyin Gazi Yurdaydin in Bell . xix, 1955…

Ibn al-Dawādārī

(389 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Abū Bakr b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Aybak al-Dawādārī , Egyptian historian. His father, D̲j̲amāl al-Dīn ʿAbd Allāh, was in the service of the Amīr Sayf al-Dīn Balabān al-Rūmī al-Ẓāhirī, the Dawādār of Baybars, whence the by-name Dawādārī. His grandfather, lord of Sark̲h̲ad. was tentatively identified byṢ. Munad̲j̲d̲j̲id as ʿIzz al-Dīn Aybak al-Ustādār al-Muʿaẓẓamī (d. 645/1247-8), the patron of the medical biographer Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa [ q.v.]. The family is described, somewhat improbably, as of Sald̲j̲ūḳid descent. The author’s family lived in Cairo, in the Ḥārat al-Bāṭiliyya. Hi…

ʿAlī al-Riḍā

(833 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Abu ’l-ḥasan b. mūsā b. dj̲aʿfar eighth Imām of the Twelver S̲h̲īʿa, was born in Medina in 148/765 (al-Ṣafadī) or, according to other and probably better informed authorities, in 151/768 or 153/770 (al-Nawbak̲h̲tī, Ibn Ḵh̲allikān. Mīrk̲h̲w ānd). He died in Ṭūs in 203/818; the sources agree on the year, but differ as to the day and month (end of Ṣafar—al-Ṭabarī, al-Ṣafadī; 21 Ramaḍān—al-Ṣafadī; 13 Ḏh̲ū ’l-Ḳaʿda or 5 Ḏh̲ū ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a—Ibn Ḵh̲allikān). His father was the Imām Mūsā al-Kāẓim, his mother a Nubian umm walad whose name is variously given (S̲h̲ahd or Nad̲j̲iyya—al-N…

Bād-i Hawā

(282 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, literally ‘wind of the air’; in Ottoman fiscal usage a general term for irregular and occasional revenues from fines, fees, registration charges, and other casual sources of income. The term does not a appear in the Ḳānūns of the 9th/15th century, but is found in a Ḳānūnnāme of Gelibolu of 925/1519, where mention is made of penalties and fines, bride-tax, fees for the recapture of runaway slaves, ‘and other bād-i hawā’ (Barkan 236). It also appears, in similar terms, in Ḳānūnnāmes of Ankara (929/1522-Barkan 34), Ḥamīd (935/1528-Barkan 33), Aydīn (935/…

Bīrūn

(101 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, in Persian ‘outside’, the name given to the outer departments and services of the Ottoman Imperial Household, in contrast to the inner departments known as the Enderūn [ q.v.]. The Bīrūn was thus the meeting-point of the court and the state, and besides palace functionaries included a number of high officers and dignitaries concerned with the administrative, military, and religious affairs of the Empire. (B. Lewis) Bibliography D’Ohsson, Tableau général de l’Empire Othoman, vii, Paris 1824, 1-33 Ismail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı, Osmanlı Devletinin Saray Teşkilâtı, Ankara 1945, 358 ff. Gib…

Ẓulm

(2,783 words)

Author(s): Badry, Roswitha | Lewis, B.
(a., verbal noun of form I), basically meaning, according to the authoritative lexicologists, “putting a thing in a place not its own” (Lane, LA, TA), i.e. displacement. In the moral sphere, it denotes acting in such a way as to transgress the proper limit and encroach upon the right of some other person. In common usage, ẓulm has come to signify wrongdoing, evil, injustice, oppression and tyranny, particularly by persons who have power and authority. Frequently it is therefore used as the antonym to ʿadl [ q.v.], inṣāf [ q.v.] and ḳisṭ and (sometimes by expressi…

Dindān

(476 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, the laḳab of Abū D̲j̲aʿfar Aḥmad b. Ḥusayn, a S̲h̲īʿī traditionist of the 3rd/9th century. His father was a reliable authority who related traditions of the Imāms ʿAlī al-Riḍā, Muḥammad al-D̲j̲awād, and ʿAlī al-Hādī; originally from Kūfa, he lived for a while in Ahwāz, where Dindān was born. Dindān also related traditions on the authority of his father’s masters, but was regarded as a g̲h̲ālī , extremist, and his reliability as a relator was impugned. He wrote several books, among them Kitāb al-iḥtid̲j̲ād̲j̲ , K. al-anbiyāʾ , K. al-mat̲h̲ālib , and K. al-muk̲h̲taṣar fi ’l-daʿwāt

Bahd̲j̲at Muṣṭafā Efendi

(388 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Ottoman scholar and physician, grandson of the Grand Vezir Ḵh̲ayrullah Efendi and son of Ḵh̲wād̲j̲a Meḥmed Emīn S̲h̲ukūhī. Born in 1188/1774, he entered upon the ladder of the religious institution, becoming a mudarris in 1206/1791-2. Specialising in medicine, he rose rapidly, and in 1218/1803 became chief physician to the Sultan (Ḥekīmbas̲h̲ǐ or, more formally, Reʾīs-i Eṭibbā-i Sulṭānī ). In 1222/1807 he was dismissed from this office, but was reappointed in 1232/1817. In 1237/1821 he was disgraced and banished, but was reinsta…

Ḍābiṭ

(270 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, in Turkish zabit , an Ottoman term for certain functionaries and officers, later specialized to describe officers in the armed forces. In earlier Ottoman usage Ḍābiṭ seems to indicate a person in charge or in control of a matter or of ( ? the revenues of) a place ( e.g. Ewḳāf ḍābiṭi , Wilāyet ḍābiṭi etc.; examples, some with place-names, in Halit Ongan, Ankara’nın I Numaralı Şer’iye Sicili , Ankara 1958, index, and L. Fekete, Die Siyāqat-Schrift , i, Budapest 1955, 493 ff.; cf. the Persian usage in the sense of collector — Minorsky, Tad̲h̲kirat al-Mulūk , index). The…

Hās̲h̲imiyya

(797 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, a term commonly applied in the 2nd-3rd/8th-9th centuries to members of the ʿAbbāsid house and occasionally to their followers and supporters. From early ʿAbbāsid times it was understood to denote the descendants of Hās̲h̲im b. ʿAbd Manāf [ q.v.], the common ancestor of the Prophet, ʿAlī, and al-ʿAbbās; its use by the ʿAbbāsids was thus interpreted as expressing a claim to the Caliphate based on kinship with the Prophet in the male line. Van Vloten, followed by other scholars, showed that the name had in fact a different origin. Fro…

ʿAzīz Miṣr

(262 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, the mighty one of Egypt. In the Kurʾān (xii, 30, 51) the title al-ʿAzīz is given to the unnamed Egyptian who buys Yūsuf. In later legend and commentary he is called Kiṭfīr [ q.v.], from the Biblical Potiphar. The title al-ʿAzīz seems to connote the office of chief minister under Pharoah, as the same title is applied to Yūsuf himself when he reaches that position (Kurʾān, xii, 78, 88). In some of the Arabic dictionaries the term is defined as meaning the ruler of Egypt (Miṣr) and Alexandria (Lane, s.v.). In Ottoman texts the epithet ʿAzīz Miṣr is sometimes applied to the Mamlūk sultans of Egypt ( e.g…

Mas̲h̲wara

(2,004 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
(a.) or Mas̲h̲ūra , a common term for consultation, in particular by the ruler of his advisers, the latter being various defined. The term sometimes also appears to mean some kind of deliberative gathering or assembly. The practice of consultative decision was known in pre-Islamic Arabia [see mad̲j̲lis , and malaʾ in Suppl). Two passages in the Ḳurʾān (III, 153/159, was̲h̲āwirhum fi ’l-amr and XLII, 36/38, wa-amruhum s̲h̲ūrā baynahum) are commonly cited as imposing a duty of consultation on rulers. The merits of consultation ( mus̲h̲āwara and mas̲h̲wara) and the corresponding defe…

Bilād-i T̲h̲alāt̲h̲a

(144 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, the three towns, a term employed in Ottoman legal and administrative usage for Eyyūb, Galata, and Üsküdar, i.e., the three separate urban areas attached to Istanbul. Each had its own ḳāḍī, independent of the ḳādī of Istanbul, though of lower rank. Every Wednesday the ḳāḍīs of the ‘three towns’ joined the ḳāḍī of Istanbul in attending the Grand Vezir. This judicial autonomy of the three towns goes back to early Ottoman times, probably even to the conquest. The three towns also enjoyed some autonomy in police mat…

Ḍabṭiyya

(178 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, in Turkish zabtiyye , a late Ottoman term for the police and gendarmerie. Police duties, formerly under the control of various janissary officers, were placed under the jurisdiction of the Serʿasker ([ q.v.] see also bāb-i serʿaskerī ) in 1241/ 1826, and in 1262/1846 became a separate administration, the Ḍabṭiyee Mus̲h̲īriyyeti (Ḷutfī iii 27-8). At about the same time a council of police ( med̲j̲lis-i ḍabṭiyye ) was established, which was later abolished and replaced by two quasi-judicial bodies, the dīwān-i ḍabṭiyye and med̲j̲lis-i taḥḳīḳ- After several further changes the mus̲h̲īr…

Deved̲j̲̇i̇

(197 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, a Turkish word meaning cameleer, the name given to certain regiments of the corps of janissaries [see yeni čeri ], forming part of the D̲j̲emāʿat , and performing escort duties with the supply columns. They were also called by the Persian term s̲h̲uturbān . The Deved̲j̲is originally formed the first five ortas of the Ḏj̲emaʿat (four according to D’Ohsson), and were later augmented to include many others. They wore heron’s feathers in their crests (see sorguč ); when attending the dīwān they wore velvet trimmed with sable and lynx fur. Deved̲j̲i officers enjoyed high precedence among the or…

Ḏj̲emʿiyyet-i ʿIlmiyye-i ʿOt̲h̲māniyye

(372 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
the Ottoman Scientific Society, was founded in Istanbul in 1861 by Munīf Pas̲h̲a [ q.v.]. Modelled on the Royal Society of England, and perhaps inspired by the reopening of the Institut d’Egypte [ q.v.] in Alexandria in 1859, it consisted of a group of Turkish officials, dignitaries and scholars, some of them educated in Europe. It was the third such learned society to appear in 19th century Turkey, having been preceded by the End̲j̲umen-i Dānis̲h̲ in 1851 (see and̲j̲uman ), and by the ‘learned society of Bes̲h̲iktas̲h̲’ in the time of Maḥmūd II (see D̲j̲ewdet, Taʾrīk̲h̲ 2

Tunali̊ Ḥilmī

(226 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, Turkish writer and politician. Born in Eskid̲j̲uma in 1863, he became involved in illegal political activities while still a medical student. After serving a brief term of imprisonment, he fled to Europe in 1895, and joined the Young Turk group in Geneva, where in 1896 he founded, with others, the Ottoman Revolutionary Party ( ʿOt̲h̲mānli̊ Ik̲h̲tilāl Fi̊rḳasi̊ ); he was particularly effective as a writer and propagandist with a simple and direct popular appeal. In 1900, together with ʿAbd Allāh D̲j̲ewdet and Isḥāḳ Sükūtī [ qq.v.], he made his peace with the Sultan and was appoi…

Daftardār

(728 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, in Turkish defterdār , keeper of the daftar [ q.v.], an Ottoman term for the chief finance officer, corresponding to the Mustawfī [ q.v.] in the eastern Islamic world. According to Ḳalḳas̲h̲andī ( Ṣubḥ , iii, 485, 494, 525, 526), the title Ṣāḥib al-Daftar already existed in the Fāṭimid administration, for the official in charge of the Daftar al-Mad̲j̲lis , that is, of accounts and audits. The title Daftark̲h̲ w ānDaftar -reader—appears in the time of Saladin (B. Lewis, Three Biographies from Kamāl ad-Dīn , in Fuad Köprülü Armağanı , Istanbul 1953, 343), and r…

Duyūn-i ʿUmūmiyye

(706 words)

Author(s): Lewis, B.
, the Ottoman public debt, more particularly the debt administration set up in 1881. The Ottoman government had made its first attempts to raise money by internal loans in ¶ the late 18th and early 19th centuries (see ashām and ḳāʾime ). The needs and opportunities of the Crimean War brought a new type of loan, floated on the money markets of Europe. The first such foreign loan was raised in London in 1854, the second in the following year. They were for £ 3,000,000 at 6% and £ 5,000,000 at 4% respectively. Betwee…

Bayt al-Māl

(8,636 words)

Author(s): Coulson, N.J. | Cahen, Cl. | Lewis, B. | R. le tourneau
, in its concrete meaning “the House of wealth”, but particularly, in an abstract sense, the “fiscus” or “treasury” of the Muslim State. I. The Legal Doctrine. ‘Bilāl and his companions asked ʿUmar b. al-Ḵh̲aṭṭāb to distribute the booty acquired in Iraq and Syria. “Divide the lands among those who conquered them”, they said, “just as the spoils of the army are divided”. But ʿUmar refused their request . . . saying: “Allāh has given a share in these lands to those who shall come after you” ’ ( Kitāb al-Ḵh̲arād̲j̲ , 24. Le Livre de l’Impot Foncier , 37). In this alleged d…
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