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, a place named after a certain Kurra of the Umayya b. Ḥud̲h̲āfa clan (Hamdānī, Buldān , 182; Yāḳūt, Muʿd̲j̲am , ii, 685, quoting Ibn al-Kalbī) of the Iyād tribe (Balād̲h̲urī, Futūḥ, 283; Bakrī, 592, quoting Ibn S̲h̲abba), and is therefore to be considered as an Iyādī Dayr in origin (Hamdāni, 135, quoting al-Hayt̲h̲am b. ʿAdī; Bakrī, 698, quoting Ibn S̲h̲abba). Al-Iṣfahānī claims that Ḳurra was a Lak̲h̲mī (Bakrī, 592; Yāḳūt, ii, 685) and that the Dayr was established during al-Mund̲h̲ir’s reign (Bakrī, loc. cit.). Dayr Ḳurra was mentioned in early Islamic history as the place th…

, a small town in ʿIrāḳ in a fertile depression on the borders of the desert between Anbār and Kūfa. It is 80 miles west of Karbalāʾ. The Arabic name means fountain of dates. It was probably called so because of an abundance of palm trees (Yāḳūt, iii, 759). According to Ibn al-Kalbī, it was part of the Ḥīrite kingdom of Ḏj̲ud̲h̲ayma al-Abras̲h̲ (al-Ṭabarī, 750; Yāḳūt, ii, 378). There S̲h̲āpūr is said to have married Naḍira, the daughter of the King of Hatra. (Al-Ṭabarī, i, 829; Yāḳūt, ii, 283; al-Hamdānī, al-Buldān , 130). It was probably also a tassūd̲j̲ of the astān of B…

, a place in ʿIrāḳ named after a member of the clan of Umayya b. Ḥud̲h̲āfa of the Iyād tribe (Balād̲h̲urī, Futūḥ , 283; Hamdānī, Buldān , 182; Yāḳūt, ii, 644). It is therefore an Iyādī Dayr (Hamdānī, 135, quoting al-Hayt̲h̲am b. ʿAdī; Bakrī, 69, quoting Ibn S̲h̲abba). Hamdānī’s identification of it with Dayr al-Diamād̲j̲im, loc. cit., is probably an error, since no other source confirms it. Dayr al-Aʿwar was mentioned in the description of the march of the Sāsānian general Rustam from Ctesiphon to Ḳādisiyya following the route Kūt̲h̲ā Burs…

, (“the marshland”), the name applied to a meadowlike depression which is exposed to more or less regular inundation and is therefore swampy. It is particularly applied by the Arab authors of the ʿAbbāsid period to the very extensive swampy area on the lower course of the Euphrates and Tigris between Kūfa and Wāṣiṭ in the north and Baṣra in the south, also frequently called al-Baṭāʾiḥ (plural of al-Baṭīḥa) and occasionally, after the adjoining towns, the Baṭīhat ( Baṭāʾiḥ ) al-Kūfa , al-Wāṣiṭ or al-Baṣra . The existence of considerable swamps in southern Babylonia goes back to hi…

, Arabic historian, d. 147/764 or 153/770. His genealogy and descent are disputed. His father’s name is given as al-Ḥakam b. ʿAwāna b. ʿIyāḍ b. Wizr (Yāḳūt, vi, 93; cf. Ḏj̲amhara (Lévi-Provençal), 428, and Fihrist 134); Abū ʿUbayda, however, asserted that al-Ḥakam’s father was a slave tailor (Yāḳūt, ibid., citing verses by Ḏh̲u ’l-Rumma, for which cf. Ibn Sallām, Ṭabaḳāt al-S̲h̲uʿarāʾ (M. S̲h̲ākir), 482, and Ag̲h̲ānī , xvi, 121). Al-Ḥakam was the lieutenant of Asad al-Ḳasrī in Ḵh̲urāsān in 109/727 (Ṭabarī, ii, 1501; Balād̲h̲urī, Futūḥ , 428) and later gover…

, a place in ʿIrāḳ, near Kūfa. It was originally owned by the Iyād tribe before its migration from ʿIrāḳ (Bakrī, 69, quoting Ibn S̲h̲abba: Hamdānī, Buldan , 135, quoting al-Hayt̲h̲am b. ʿAdī). Various etymological explanations of its origin have been given: Abu ʿUbayda states that its name was derived, from the wooden cups that were made in it ( Naḳāʾiḍ , 412; Ibn Ḳutayba, Maʿārif , 156; Bakrī, Muʿd̲j̲am , 574; Yāḳūt, ii, 112, 652). Other authorities assert that it was named after the buried skulls of the casualties of the battle between Iyād Bahrā (al-S̲h̲arḳī, Futūḥ, 283; Hamdānī, Buldān, 18…

, "one who knows", a term applied to the holders of certain military or civil offices, based on competence in customary matters, ʿurf , as opposed to knowledge of the law, which characterizes the ʿālim . There may have existed in some cases de facto ʿurafāʾ in Arabia already prior to and at the time of Muḥammad (al-S̲h̲āfiʿī, Umm , iv, 81) who is said to have condemned them (Ibn Ḥanbal, iv, 133; Ibn al-At̲h̲īr, Nihāya , iii, 86; al-Sarak̲h̲sī, S̲h̲arḥ al-Siyar al-Kabīr , i, 98; al-Buk̲h̲ārī, al-Taʾrīk̲h̲ al-Kabīr , ii, 341). But such traditions are obviously influenced by later conditions. Duri…

, a place in the vicinity of Kūfa, next to Ḳanāṭir Rās al-D̲j̲ālūt (Ṭabarī, ii, 701), near Ḥammām Aʿyun (Ṭabarī, ii, 703). It was the assembly point of the Kūfan army which was sent by al-Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲ under the command of al-D̲j̲azl against the K̲h̲ārid̲j̲ites (Ṭabarī, ii, 902) ¶ and of Ibn al-As̲h̲ʿat̲h̲ (Ṭabarī, ii, 930). Al-Ḥārit̲h̲ b. Abī Rabīʿa encamped there in his revolt against al-Muk̲h̲tār (Ṭabarī, ii, 759). (Saleh A. El-Ali)

, a place near Kūfa on the way to Surā (Ṭabarī, ii, 644). Al-As̲h̲ʿat̲h̲ chose it as an assembly point for his troops after ʿAlī had sent him to fight the K̲h̲ārid̲j̲ites (Ṭabarī, i, 3422-4). Al-Muk̲h̲tār reached this Dayr in his bidding farewell to Yazīd b. Anas whom he sent to occupy Mosul (Ṭabarī, ii, 644). (Saleh A. El-Ali)

, an Iyādī Dayr (Balād̲h̲urī, Futūḥ , 283) in ʿIrāḳ on the main Ctesiphon-Kūfa route which passes through Kūt̲h̲a—Dayr Kaʿb—Muzāḥimiyya (near Ḳissayn)—Kūfa (Ṭabarī, ii, 60; Iṣfahānī, Maḳātil al-Ṭālibiyyin , 63). The Muslim armies, in their advance on Ctesiphon after their victory in Ḳādisiyya, defeated a Sāsānian detachment under command of Nuk̲h̲ayrid̲j̲an ( Futūḥ, 262). (Saleh A. El-Ali)