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[English edition] العراق دولة ذات سيادة، دينها الإسلام. يتكلّم أغلب سكّانها العربيّة، وتقع في أقصى الشّرق من الهلال الخصيب. 1. الجغرافيا من المفارقة أن يستمدّ العراق تميّزه في تركيبته الجغرافيّة من كونه يشكّل جزءًا من كتلة جغرافيّة واسعة. فهو يستمدّ، من ناحية أولى، خصائصه الجغرافيّة العامّة ومناخه من هضبة بادية الشّام (الصّحراء العربيّة السّوريّة) التي يقع على طول سفحها الجنوبيّ الغربيّ، ومن جهة أخرى يشترك في الاتّجاه والتّضاريس مع سلاسل الجبال المنفرجة في آسيا الغربية التي تتقاسم، على طول تخومها الشّماليّة الشّرقيّ…

( kerk̲h̲a ), a river in Luristān and K̲h̲ūzistān, whose source lies in the region of Nihāwand. Its upper and middle course is strictly a tributary of the mountain system of the Zagros, where the valleys run in the same direction as the chains, the watercourses passing at times from one to the other by short transverse gorges. From which results the uncertainty over nomenclature, the rivers changing name with the divided regions that they traverse. The Kark̲h̲a is made up of the union in the region of Nihāwand of a certain number of watercourses: Čas̲h̲m-i Kāẓim, Sura K…

, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Kalbī , Arab writer, born in 721/1321 at Granada of a literary family. His father, Abu ’l-Ḳāsim Muḥammad b. Aḥmad, was known particularly as a poet and as a faḳīh ; born in 693/1294, he was one of the teachers of Lisān al-Dīn Ibn al-K̲h̲aṭīb and died at the battle of Rio Salado in 741/1340 (cf. al-Maḳḳarī, Nafḥ al-ṭīb , ed. M. M. ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd, Cairo 1367-9, 10 vols., viii, 28-31; Brockelmann, II, 342, S II, 377; ʿU. R. Kaḥḥāla, Muʿd̲j̲am al-muʾallifīn , Damascus 1376-81/1957-61, 15 vols., ix, 11). His three sons,…

al-Isrāʾīlī al-Ṭurṭūs̲h̲ī , Spanish Jewish traveller, born in Tortosa, to judge by his nisba , is known for having made, circa 354/965, a long journey in western, central and eastern Europe. It is not clear why he made this tour: it has been suggested that he was trading in horses or in slaves, and it is not impossible that he was on an official intelligence mission for the Umayyad caliphate of Spain, he being chosen for this in view of the help which he could expect to receive from the Jewish colonies in Europe. Similarly, all that is known of the route of the jour…

, Abu ’l-Ḳāsim b. ʿAlī al-Naṣībī , ¶ Arab geographer of the second half of the 4th/10th century, one of the best exponents, with his contemporary al-Muḳaddasī [ q.v.], of geography based on travel and direct observation ( ʿiyān ). Ibn Ḥawḳal was born in Naṣībīn (Nisibis) in Upper Mesopotamia (al-Ḏj̲azīra). He probably spent his early years in this region before beginning, on 7 Ramaḍān 331/15 May 943, an impressive series of journeys, the course of which it is possible to trace, at least in outline, by means of th…

1. General. Originally the essential part of a country or a town, its heart, and later (a) fortified castle, residence of an authority in the centre of a country or a town; and (b) principal town, chief town. In the first sense the word occurs especially in the Muslim West, where it designates, outside the towns, the residence of an important personage (particularly in the Atlas) or a garrison billeted in a fortress and, within the towns, the citadel seat of government; in the latter sense it corresponds to the ḳalʿa of the East. A particularly interesting development of the word, always…

(a.), which may be considered ( LA, s.v.) either as maṣdar or ism al-makān of the root m-l-k “to hold, possess”, denotes in its first sense absolute power over things and especially over beings: to begin with, that of God over creation as a whole, and then, that of any individual, in certain circumstances. In a second sense, the word is applied to the place either in origin or by application, of the power under consideration: in the first case, it can refer e.g. to an all-powerful minister (Dozy, Supplément, s.v.); in another case, it can denote the spatial entity under the control …

, “clime, climate”, or, more generally, “region”. The Lisān al-ʿArab (root ḳlm ) discusses whether the word is Arabic or foreign. Ibn Durayd, whom it quotes, rightly inclines to the second hypothesis; iḳlīm comes in fact from the Greek klima , literally: “inclination” and more precisely that of the earth from the Equator towards the pole, whence: region of the terrestrial sphere, and finally region in general. The Lisān seems to adhere to the strict definition: it states that “ iḳlīm is one of the seven climates ( aḳālīm ) which are the different divisions of the earth”. Inherited from Greek…

(a.), the East, linked with and opposed to the West (Mag̲h̲rib [ q.v.]), either in general or from the strictly geographical point of view; for the Arab world, the Mag̲h̲rib embraces all the lands to the west of Egypt, and the Mas̲h̲riḳ all those to the east. Nevertheless, the parallelism is not absolute; whilst the term Mag̲h̲rib is particularly applied either to the grouping North-Africa-Tripolitania or to North Africa properly so-called or to its most western part, Morocco (Mag̲h̲rib, al-Mag̲h̲rib al-Aḳṣā [ q.v.]), the word Mas̲h̲riḳ seems to cover the Orient in general, w…

(sometimes Baṭūṭa ), S̲h̲ams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Yūsuf al-Lawātī al-Ṭand̲j̲ī , Moorish traveller born at Tangier on 17 Rad̲j̲ab 703/25 February 1304, died in Morocco in 770/1368-9 or 779/1377, after many lengthy journeys which make him one of the world’s most famous travellers ( d̲j̲awwāla ) and authors of travel-books ( riḥla ). The chronology of his journeys may, in spite of some uncertainties of detail, be set out as follows: (1) Departure from Tangiers 2 Rad̲j̲ab 725/13 June 1325; Nor…

, in Muslim cosmology, the name of the mountain range surrounding the terrestrial world. There is little doubt that this conception is borrowed from Iranian traditions. These make the Alburz [ q.v.] the mythical mountain at the edge of the world, and the home of the gods. All the other mountains in the world have come from the Alburz by underground ramifications. This mountain (the high mountain: Hara-berezayti) surrounds all the world, but also a lake with the name of Wurukas̲h̲a; however, according to the Bundahis̲h̲n , this lake itself, although confined …

abū isḥāḳ : ibrāhīm b. muḥammad al-fārisī al-kark̲h̲ī . one of the first and most important representatives of the new trends adopted by Arabo-Muslim geography in the 4th/10th century. His biography is unknown, or almost so. If the various forms of his nisba are to be believed, he was a native of Fārs and, more precisely, of Iṣṭak̲h̲r. Following Yāḳūt, orientalism has infact accepted the nisba al-Iṣṭak̲h̲rī. but others, in particular Ibn Ḥawḳal, his direct continuator, designate him by the nisba al-Fārisī. Al-Muḳaddasī, who does the same, also adds the nisba al-…

, S̲h̲ams al-Dīn abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Abī Bakr al-Bannāʾ al-S̲h̲āmī. also known by the name al-Bas̲h̲s̲h̲ārī (Yāḳūt designates him as such, Udabāʾ , passim ) is the best representative of Arabic geography in the second half of the 4th/10th century. His life, which is not well known, is only available to us through his own work. Very much attached to the Palestine of his birth and to the town whose name he bears (Muḳaddasī or Maḳdisī, from Jerusalem, al-Bayt al-Muḳaddas or Bayt al-Maḳdis), he probably belonged to a middle-cl…

, a sovereign State, of the Muslim religion, for the most part Arabic-speaking, situated at the eastern end of the Fertile Crescent. i.—Geography The structure of ʿIrāḳ paradoxically derives its originality from the fact that it forms part of a large geographical block of territory. From the Arabo-Syrian desert tableland which it faces along its south-western flank, it takes its general aspect and its climate. All along its frontiers on the North-East, on the other hand, it shares the orientation and ¶ relief of the folded mountain-chains of western Asia, which give it its t…

( k̲h̲aṭṭ al -), the line of equality, of equilibrium, that is to say the equator, which divides the earth into two hemispheres, the northern and the southern, and joins together all those points of the globe where day and night are equal. The particulars relating to the equator and to the division of the earth are furnished by the ṣūrat al-arḍ , which is of Greek, Indian or Persian inspiration, and revised and corrected through the observations of scholars of the time of al-Maʾmūn [cf. d̲j̲ug̲h̲rāfiyā ]. The equator is the largest circle of the earth; as such, it corresponds to th…

, the name of a great number of towns of which Alexander (al-Iskandar) was the founder, real or legendary, or for which he was chosen as eponymous protector when they were built after his death. The relevant ancient texts are listed in the Real-Encyclopädie of Pauly-Wissowa (i, 1377-98 and Suppl., i, 54) and, in less detail, by M. Besnier, Lexique de géographie ancienne , Paris 1914, 32-4. These towns are: 1. Alexandria in Egypt [see following article]. - 2. Alexandria Arion: Harāt (cf. Suhrāb, Kitāb ʿAd̲j̲āʾib al-aḳālīm al-sabʿa , ed. von Mźik, Leipzig 1930, …

(a.), qui peut être considéré ( LA, s.v.) comme maṣdar ou ism al-makān de la racine m.l.k (tenir, posséder), désigne dans un premier sens, le pouvoir absolu sur les choses et surtout les êtres: d’abord, celui de Dieu sur l’ensemble de la création, puis celui d’un souverain sur ses sujets, enfin celui de tout individu, en telle ou telle circonstance. Dans un second sens, le mot s’applique au lieu, d’origine ou d’application, du pouvoir considéré: il référera dans le premier cas, par exemple, à un ministre tout puissant (Dozy, Suppl., s.v.); dans l’autre cas, il désignera l’espace soum…

(Kerk̲h̲a), fleuve du Luristān et du Ḵh̲ūzistān (Sud-ouest de d’Iran), qui prend sa source dans la région de Nihāwand. Son cours supérieur et moyen est étroitement tributaire du système montagneux du Zagros, où les vallées courent dans la même direction que les chaînes, les cours d’eau passant parfois de l’une à l’autre par de courtes gorges transversales: d’où les hésitations de l’onomastique, les rivières changeant de nom à l’occasion des régions compartimentées qu’elles traversent. Le Kark̲h̲a est fait de la réunion, dans la région de Nihāwand, d’un certain nombre …

, Abū l-Ḳāsim Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Naṣībī, écrivain arabe de la deuxième moitié du IVe/Xe s., un des meilleurs représentants, avec son contemporain al-Muḳaddasī [ q.v.], de la géographie fondée sur le voyage et l’observation directe ( ʿiyān). Ibn Ḥawḳal est originaire de Naṣībīn (Nisibis), en Haute-Mésopotamie (al-Ḏj̲azīra). Il a dû passer en cette région son enfance et son adolescence, avant d’entreprendre, le 7 ramaḍān 331/15 mai 943, une impressionnante série de voyages, dont on peut reconstituer, au moins de façon schématique, le…

, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Kalbī, écrivain arabe, né en 721/1321 à Grenade, dans une famille de lettrés. Le père, Abū l-Ḳāsim Muḥammad b. Aḥmad, était connu notamment comme poète et comme faḳīh; né en 693/1294, il fut un des maîtres de Lisān al-dīn Ibn al-Ḵh̲aṭīb et mourut à la bataille du rio Salado en 741/1340 (cf. al-Maḳḳarī, Nafḥ aṭ-ṭīb, éd. M. M. ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd, Caire 1367-9, 10 vol., VIII, 28-31; Brockelmann, II, 342, S II, 377; Kaḥḥāla, Muʿd̲j̲am al-muʾallifīn, IX, 11). Ses trois fils, Aḥmad, Muḥammad et ʿAbd Allāh maintinrent la tradition littérai…