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(a.), pls. busṭ/busuṭ , absiṭa , which implies the general meaning of extensiveness (thus in Ḳurʾān, LXXI, 18), is a generic term for carpet, more specifically, one of fairly large dimensions. Any kind of carpet with a pile is called a ṭinfisa if it is decorated with multicoloured bands, a zarbiyya ( zirbiyya , zurbiyya , pl. zarābī cf. Ḳurʾān, LXXXVIII, 16); if it is decorated with a relief design, a maḥfūra whilst a prayer carpet is called a sad̲j̲d̲j̲āda (modern Turkish seccade ), and the collective sad̲j̲d̲j̲ād is sometimes used as a generic term (on the …

(a.), inscriptions. 1. Islamic epigraphy in general. The study of Arabic inscriptions today constitutes a science full of promise, an auxiliary science to be sure, but a science indispensable to the scholarly exploitation of a whole category of authentic texts capable of throwing light on the civilisation in the context of which they were written. From a very early period, seeing that the first dated Arabic inscription available to us goes back to the year 31/652 and that we are aware of previous inscr…

, a mediaeval town in the Central Mag̲h̲rib, situated in the Maadid mountains, capital of the Banū Ḥammād dynasty [see hammādids ]. It is also known as Ḳalʿat Abī Ṭawīl (al-Bakrī, Istibṣār , etc.). The site of the town, now a mass of ruins, is in the form of a vast amphitheatre opening out onto the plain of the Hodna which it dominates from a height of about 550 m. The average altitude of the old city is 990 m. above sea level. To the north of it rises the massive truncated cone of Taḳarbūst (1418 m.), an…

, a town in Algeria in the Bībān mountains, about 35 km. northwest of Bord̲j̲ Bū ʿArrid̲j̲. Situated at an altitude of about 1050 m., the town stands in a strategic position on a plateau surrounded on three sides by sheer ravines from about 500-600 m. in depth, its only link with the surrounding country being a narrow strip of ground bordered by precipices. The town is divided into four quarters which in the past were frequently in conflict with one another, and one of these is now almost in rui…