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Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire (/ækəˈmɛnɪˌdi/; Old Persian: Parsā, name of ruling dynasty: Haxāmanišiya) (c. 550–330 BCE), sometimes known as First Persian Empire, was an Iranian empire in Southwest Asia, founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation. It expanded to eventually rule over significant portions of the ancient world which at around 500 BCE stretched from the Indus Valley in the east, to Thrace and Macedon on the northeastern border of Greece making it the biggest empire the world had yet seen. The Achaemenid Empire would eventually control Egypt as well. It was ruled by a series of monarchs who unified its disparate tribes and nationalities by constructing a complex network of roads.
Calling themselves the Parsa after their original Aryan tribal name Parsua, Persians settled in a land which they named Parsua, bounded on the west by the Tigris River and on the south by the Persian Gulf. This became their heartland for the duration of the Achaemenid Empire. It was from this region that eventually Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II of Persia) would advance to defeat the Median, the Lydian, and the Babylonian Empires, opening the way for subsequent conquests into Egypt and Asia minor.
wn.com/Achaemenid_Empire -
Akkadian Empire
Coordinates: 33°6′N 44°6′E / 33.1°N 44.1°E / 33.1; 44.1
The Akkadian Empire (Akkadian URUAkkad KI, Hittite KUR A.GA.DÈ.KI "land of Akkad"; Biblical Hebrew אַכַּד Akkad) was an empire centered in the city of Akkad (Sumerian: Agade) and its surrounding region in Mesopotamia.
During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism.Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC (the exact dating being a matter of debate).
The Akkadian Empire reached its political peak between the 24th and 22nd centuries BC, following the conquests of its founder Sargon of Akkad (2334–2279 BC). Under Sargon and his successors, Akkadian language was briefly imposed on neighboring conquered states such as Elam. Akkad is sometimes regarded as the first empire in history, though there are earlier Sumerian claimants.[citation needed]
The precise archaeological site of the city of Akkad has not yet been found.[citation needed] The form Agade appears in Sumerian, for example in the Sumerian King List; the later Assyro-Babylonian form Akkadû ("of or belonging to Akkad") was likely derived from this. The etymology and meaning of Akkad (written a.ga.dèKI or URIKI) are unknown. Centuries later, the neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus mentioned in his archaeological records that Ishtar's worship in Agade was later superseded by that of the goddess Anunit, whose shrine was at Sippar—suggesting proximity of Sippar and Agade. Despite numerous searches, the city has never been found. One theory holds that Agade was situated opposite Sippar on the left bank of the Euphrates, and was perhaps the oldest part of the city of Sippar. Another theory is that the ruins of Akkad are to be found beneath modern Baghdad. Reputedly it was destroyed by invading Gutians with the fall of the Akkadian Empire.
wn.com/Akkadian_Empire -
Al Andalus
Al-Andalus (Arabic: الأندلس, trans. al-ʼAndalus; Spanish: Al-Ándalus; Portuguese: Al-Andalus; Catalan: Al-Àndalus), also known as Moorish Iberia, was a medieval Muslim state in parts of what are today Spain, Portugal, and France. The name more generally describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims (given the generic name of Moors), at various times between 711 and 1492 CE, though the boundaries changed constantly in wars with Christian kingdoms.
Following the Muslim conquest of Hispania, Al-Andalus was divided into five administrative units, corresponding roughly to modern Andalusia, Galicia and Portugal, Castile and León, Aragon and Catalonia, and Septimania. As a political domain, it successively constituted a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, initiated by the Caliph Al-Walid I (711–750); the Emirate of Córdoba (c. 750–929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031); and the Caliphate of Córdoba's taifa (successor) kingdoms. Rule under these kingdoms saw a rise in cultural exchange and cooperation between Muslims and Christians. Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, al-Andalus was a beacon of learning, and the city of Córdoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres in both the Mediterranean Basin and the Islamic world.
wn.com/Al_Andalus -
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus (Arabic: الأندلس, trans. al-ʼAndalus; Spanish: Al-Ándalus; Portuguese: Al-Andalus; Catalan: Al-Àndalus), also known as Moorish Iberia, was a medieval Muslim state in parts of what are today Spain, Portugal, and France. The name more generally describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims (given the generic name of Moors), at various times between 711 and 1492 CE, though the boundaries changed constantly in wars with Christian kingdoms.
Following the Muslim conquest of Hispania, Al-Andalus was divided into five administrative units, corresponding roughly to modern Andalusia, Galicia and Portugal, Castile and León, Aragon and Catalonia, and Septimania. As a political domain, it successively constituted a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, initiated by the Caliph Al-Walid I (711–750); the Emirate of Córdoba (c. 750–929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031); and the Caliphate of Córdoba's taifa (successor) kingdoms. Rule under these kingdoms saw a rise in cultural exchange and cooperation between Muslims and Christians. Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, al-Andalus was a beacon of learning, and the city of Córdoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres in both the Mediterranean Basin and the Islamic world.
wn.com/Al-Andalus -
Alexandria
Alexandria (Arabic: الإسكندرية Al Iskandariyya, Coptic: Ⲣⲁⲕⲟⲧⲉ Rakotə, Greek: Αλεξάνδρεια Alexándria, Koine Greek: Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ κατ' Αἴγυπτον IPA: [ɑlɛˈksɑndɾiɑ e kɑt ˈɛʝypton] "Alexandria in Egypt", Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه [eskendeˈrejːæ]) is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about 32 km (20 mi) along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving approximately 80% of Egypt's imports and exports. Alexandria is also an important tourist resort. It is home to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (the new Library of Alexandria). It is an important industrial centre because of its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez.
Alexandria was founded around a small pharaonic town c. 331 BC by Alexander the Great. It remained Egypt's capital for nearly a thousand years, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD 641, when a new capital was founded at Fustat (Fustat was later absorbed into Cairo). Alexandria was known because of its Lighthouse of Alexandria (Pharos), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; its library (the largest library in the ancient world); and the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages. Ongoing maritime archaeology in the harbor of Alexandria, which began in 1994, is revealing details of Alexandria both before the arrival of Alexander, when a city named Rhacotis existed there, and during the Ptolemaic dynasty.
wn.com/Alexandria -
Anatolia
Coordinates: 39°N 32°E / 39°N 32°E / 39; 32
Anatolia (from Greek Ἀνατολή Anatolē — "east" or "(sun)rise"; also Asia Minor, from Greek: Μικρὰ Ἀσία Mikrá Asía "small Asia"; in modern Turkish: Anadolu) is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Iskenderun and the Black Sea, approximately corresponding to the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. However, since Anatolia is now often considered to be synonymous with Asian Turkey, its eastern and southeastern borders are widely taken to be the Turkish borders with the neighboring countries, which are Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria, in clockwise direction.
wn.com/Anatolia -
Asalouyeh
Asaluyeh (Persian: عسلويه, also Romanized as ‘Asalūyeh and Asalu, and sometimes prefixed by bandar, meaning port) is a city in and the capital of Asaluyeh District, in Kangan County, Bushehr Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 4,746, in 875 families.
Located on the shore of the Persian Gulf some 270 km SE of the provincial capital of Bushehr, it is best known as the site for the land based facilities of the huge PSEEZ (Pars Special Energy Economic Zone) project. The town itself is of minor significance, although it is common practice to refer to PSEEZ (established 1998) and Asaluyeh town collectively as Asaluyeh.
Asaluyeh was chosen as the site of the PSEEZ facilities due to it being the closest land point to the largest natural gas field in the world, the South Pars / North Dome Gas-Condensate field. In addition, an existing airport and direct access to international waters via a deep water port were already present.
The PSEEZ (Pars Special Energy/Economic Zone) as it is known has been allocated 100 square kilometres of land at Asaluyeh for the various complexes and facilities. The site is a collection of different plants and refineries (known as "phases") and is administered by the PSEEZ agency onsite.
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Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts (also Assembly of Experts of the Leadership) of Iran (Persian: مجلس خبرگان رهبری, Majles-e Khobregan or Majles-e Khebregan-e Rahbari), also translated as Council of Experts, is a deliberative body of 86 Mujtahids (Islamic scholars) that is charged with electing and removing the Supreme Leader of Iran and supervising his activities. Members of the assembly are elected from list of candidates by direct public vote to eight-year terms. Current laws require the assembly to meet for at least two days, twice annually. The current chairman of the Assembly is Mahdavi Kani, who was elected in March 2011.
According to the Iranian Constitution, the assembly is in charge of supervising, dismissing and electing the Supreme Leader. In the event of his death, resignation or dismissal, the Experts shall take steps within the shortest possible time to appoint a new Leader. "Whenever the Leader becomes incapable of fulfilling his constitutional duties, or loses one of the qualifications mentioned in the Constitution, or it becomes known that he did not possess some of the qualifications initially, he will be dismissed." The assembly has never dismissed a sitting Supreme Leader, and as all of their meetings and notes are strictly confidential, the assembly has never been known to challenge or otherwise publicly oversee any of the Supreme Leader's decisions.
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Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (German: Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling Kaisertum Österreich) was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire as a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. The Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867 to 1918) was itself dissolved by the victors at the end of World War I and broken into separate new states.
The term "Austrian Empire" is also used for the Habsburg possessions before 1804, which had no official collective name, although Austria is more frequent; the term of Austria-Hungary has also been used.[citation needed]
The Austrian Empire was founded by the Habsburg monarch Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (who became Emperor Francis I of Austria), as a state comprising his personal lands within and outside of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
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Baghdad
Baghdad (Arabic: بغداد, Baġdād, IPA: [bæɣˈdæːd]) is the capital of Republic of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Province. The population of Baghdad as of 2011 is approximately 7,216,040, making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab World (after Cairo, Egypt), and the second largest city in Western Asia (after Tehran, Iran).
Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic World. This in addition to housing several key academic institutions (e.g. House of Wisdom) garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning". Throughout the High Middle Ages, Baghdad was considered to be the largest city in the world with an estimated population of 1,200,000 people. The city was largely destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues and multiple successive empires. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state (formerly the British Mandate of Mesopotamia) in 1938, Baghdad gradually regained some of its former prominence as a significant center of Arabic culture.
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Balochistan (Iran)
Sistan and Baluchestan Province (Persian: استان سيستان و بلوچستان, Ostān-e Sīstān-o Balūchestān ) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southeast of the country, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan and its capital is Zahedan.
The province is the largest in Iran, with an area of 181,785 km² and a population of 2.4 million. The counties of the province are Chabahar, Qasar-qand, Dalgan, Hirmand, Iranshahr, Khash, Konarak, Nikshahr, Saravan, Sarbaz, Soran, Zabol, Zaboli, Zahedan and Zehak.
The population comprises Sunni Muslim Baluchis and Shi'a Persian Sistanis.
The province comprises two sections, Sistan in the north and Baluchestan in the south. The combined Sistan and Baluchestan province today accounts for one of the driest regions of Iran with a slight increase in rainfall from east to west, and an obvious rise in humidity in the coastal regions. The province is subject to seasonal winds from different directions, the most important of which are the 120-day wind of Sistan known as Levar, the Qousse wind, the seventh (Gav-kosh) wind, the Nambi or south wind, the Hooshak wind, the humid and seasonal winds of the Indian Ocean, the North or (Gurich) wind and the western (Gard) wind.
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Bastak
Bastak (Persian: بستك; also known as Lastak) is a city in and the capital of Bastak County, Hormozgan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 8,376, in 1,765 families.
Bastak has a road connecting it to the Bandar Lengeh area and its inhabitants speak Bastaki, a dialect of Persian.
The history of Bastak can be traced back to the Safavids era. When the Safavids under Ismail I decided to convert everyone residing in current day Iran from Sunni to Shiite Islam in 1501, they started arranged attacks and massacres against the Sunni Persians who refused to convert. As a result, many Sunni Persians left their hometowns for the Zagros Mountains. After the Battle of Chaldiran where the Safavids lost to the Ottoman the Sunni Persians descended from the mountains to begin a new life in the land they named "Bastak", meaning barrier or backstop signifying barrier from Shiite Safavids' attacks and influences.
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Battle of Talas
The Battle of Talas (or Battle of Artlakh) (怛罗斯会战) (معركة نهر طلاس) in 751 AD was an especially notable conflict between the Arab Abbasid Caliphate and the Chinese Tang Dynasty, then under Emperor Xuanzong (together with various other peoples and nations associated with the geographical territory involved) for control not only of the Syr Darya region, but also a strategic area of Central Asia. The Battle of Talas marked the end of the Tang Dynasty's western expansion of their territory, this representing the furthest point of territorial expansion to the west by the Tang, or any prior or subsequent Chinese dynasties. Leading up to this battlefield showdown, the Tang army had proceeded further and further westward, in a series of military events during the course of which various cities and states were conquered or overthrown. Meanwhile, a new power had arisen in the region. Beginning with a revolt against the Umayyad Caliphate, largely centered in Khurasan, not too far from Talas, the rising Abbasid Caliphate decisively defeated the rival Umayyad Caliphate, in the Battle of the Zab, in 750, which thus freed up their armies for other purposes, one of which would be challenge the Tang expansion into the region. In July, 751, both the Tang troops and the Abbasid troops met in the valley of the Talas River, where the Tang forces were defeated. The Battle of Talas is important because of the resulting changes in the political fortunes of the rival sides, and in the region generally, not to mention the economic importance of control over this strategic region along the Silk Road. There is also a tradition that Chinese prisoners captured as the result of the battle allowed for the transference of paper-making technology to the Middle East and eventually Europe.
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British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1922 the British Empire held sway over about 458 million people, one-fifth of the world's population at the time, and covered more than 33,700,000 km2 (13,012,000 sq mi), almost a quarter of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its political, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was often said that "the sun never sets on the British Empire" because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories.
During the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France and the Netherlands began to establish colonies and trade networks of their own in the Americas and Asia. A series of wars in the 17th and 18th centuries with the Netherlands and France left England (and then, following union between England and Scotland in 1707, Great Britain) the dominant colonial power in North America and India. The loss of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after a war of independence deprived Britain of some of its oldest and most populous colonies.
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Cairo
Cairo (
/ˈkaɪroʊ/ KYE-roh; Arabic: القاهرة al-Qāhira, literally "The Vanquisher" or "The Conqueror"), is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Located near the Nile Delta, it was founded in the year 969 A.D. making it 1,043 years old. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life. Cairo was founded by the Fatimid dynasty in the 10th century AD.; but the land composing the present-day city was the site of national capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo. Cairo is also associated with Ancient Egypt due to its proximity to the ancient cities of Memphis, Giza and Fustat which are nearby to the Great Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza.
Egyptians today often refer to Cairo as Maṣr (Arabic: مصر), the Arabic pronunciation of the name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the city's continued role in Egyptian influence. Cairo has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab World, as well as the world's second-oldest institution of higher learning, al-Azhar University. Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city, and the Arab League has had its headquarters in Cairo for most of its existence.
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Catalonia
Catalonia (English /kætəˈloʊniə/, /kætəˈloʊnjə/; Catalan: Catalunya [kətəˈɫuɲə] or [kataˈluɲa]; Spanish: Cataluña [kataˈluɲa]; Occitan: Catalonha [kataˈluɲɔ]) is an autonomous region of Spain in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula, with the official status of a "nationality". Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona which is the second largest Spanish city by population after Madrid. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,535,251. Its borders essentially reflect those of the former Principality of Catalonia. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the east (580 km coastline). The official languages are Catalan, Spanish and Aranese (Occitan).
The name Catalunya (Catalonia) began to be used in the late 11th century in reference to the group of counties that comprised the Marca Hispanica. The origin of the term is subject to diverse interpretations. A theory suggests that Catalunya derives from the term "Land of Castles", having evolved from the term castlà, the ruler of a castle (see castellan). This theory therefore suggests that the names Castile and Catalonia have the same etymology.
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Central Bank of Iran
The Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran (CBI) (Persian: بانک مرکزی جمهوری اسلامی ايران, Bank Markazi Jomhouri Islami Iran) is the central bank of Iran. It is entirely government owned. Among its major purposes are: maintenance of the value of the national currency, balance of payments as well as facilitating trade transactions and contributing to the economic advancement of the country.
The Central bank is in charge of laying and implementing monetary and credit policies of the country. Laying exchange policies and determining exchange rates are among the functions of Bank Markazi. The importation of goods, issuance of documentary credits and registration of orders for documentary bills of exchange for imports are also done in accordance with the policies of the Central Bank. It is a member central bank of the Asian Clearing Union.
During the Achaemenid era, trade boomed and subsequently banking operation expanded to an extent that Iranians managed to learn the banking method from the people of Babylon.
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Constantinople
Constantinople (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις, Konstantinoúpolis; Latin: Constantinopolis; Ottoman Turkish: قسطنطینیه, Qostantiniyye; and modern Turkish: İstanbul) was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Latin and the Ottoman Empires. It was founded in AD 330, at ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine I, after whom it was named. The city was the largest and wealthiest European city of the Middle Ages, and shared the glories of the Byzantine Empire, which was eventually reduced to the city and its environs.
Although besieged on numerous occasions by various peoples, it was taken only in 1204 by the army of the Fourth Crusade, in 1261 by Michael VIII, and in 1453 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. An inner wall was erected by Constantine I, and the city was surrounded by a triple wall of fortifications, begun during the 5th century by Theodosius II. The city was built on seven hills as well as on the Bosporus, and thus presented an impregnable fortress enclosing magnificent palaces, domes and towers. The Church of Hagia Sophia, the sacred palace of the emperors, the hippodrome, and the Golden Gate were among the largest of the many churches, public edifices, and monuments lining the arcaded avenues and squares.
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Córdoba, Spain
Córdoba (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkorðoβa]), also called Cordova in English, is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. An Iberian and Roman city in ancient times, in the Middle Ages it became the capital of an Islamic caliphate.
The old town contains numerous architectural reminders of when Corduba was the capital of Hispania Ulterior during the Roman Republic and capital of Hispania Baetica during the Roman Empire; and when Qurṭuba (قرطبة) was the capital of the Islamic Caliphate of Córdoba, including most of the Iberian Peninsula.
It has been estimated that in the 10th century and beginning of the 11th century, Córdoba was the most populous city in the world, and during these centuries became the intellectual center of Europe. Today it is a moderately-sized modern city; its population in 2011 was 330,033.
The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC.[citation needed] In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy. The first historical mention of a settlement dates, however, to the Carthaginian expansion across the Guadalquivir, when the general Hamilcar Barca renamed it Kartuba, from Kart-Juba, meaning "the City of Juba", the latter being a Numidian commander who had died in a battle nearby. Córdoba was conquered by the Romans in 206 BC. In 169 the Roman consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus founded a Latin colony alongside the pre-existing Iberian settlement. Between 143 and 141 BC the town was besieged by Viriatus. A Roman Forum is known to have existed in the city in 113 BC.
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Damascus
Damascus (Arabic: دِمَشق / ALA-LC: Dimashq; commonly known in Syria as al-Sham (Arabic: الشام / al-Shām), and as the City of Jasmine (Arabic: مدينة الياسمين / Madīnat al-Yāsmīn), is the capital and the second largest city of Syria. Both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural and religious center of the Levant. The city has an estimated population of 1,711,000 (2009 est.).
Located in southwestern Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area of 2.6 million people (2004). Geographically embedded on the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range 80 kilometres (50 mi) inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau 680 metres (2,230 ft) above sea-level, Damascus experiences a semi-arid climate due to the rain shadow effect. The Barada River flows through Damascus.
First settled in the 2nd millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. After the victory of the Abbasid dynasty, the seat of Islamic power was moved to Baghdad. Damascus saw a political decline throughout the Abbasid era, only to regain significant importance in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. During Ottoman rule, the city decayed completely while maintaining a certain cultural prestige. Today, it is the seat of the central government and all of the government ministries. Damascus was chosen as the 2008 Arab Capital of Culture.
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Elam
Elam was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq. The modern name Elam is a transcription from Biblical Hebrew, corresponding to the Sumerian elam(a), the Akkadian elamtu, and the Elamite haltamti. Elamite states were among the leading political forces of the ancient near east. In classical literature, Elam was more often referred to as Susiana, a name derived from its capital, Susa.
Situated just to the east of Mesopotamia, Elam was part of the early urbanization during the Chalcolithic period (Copper Age). The emergence of written records from around 3000 BC also parallels Mesopotamian history where writing was used slightly earlier. In the Old Elamite period (Middle Bronze Age), Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a crucial role in the Gutian Empire, especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it, when the Elamite language remained among those in official use. Elamite is generally treated as an isolate language.
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Empire of Brazil
The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom Pedro I and his son Dom Pedro II, both members of the House of Braganza—a branch of the Capetian dynasty. A colony of the Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil became the seat of the Portuguese colonial Empire in 1808, when the Portuguese Prince regent, later King Dom João VI (John VI), fled from Napoleon I's invasion of Portugal and established himself and his government in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. João VI later returned to Portugal, leaving his eldest son and heir, Pedro, to rule Brazil as regent.
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Genoa
Genoa
/ˈdʒɛnoʊ.ə/ (Italian: Genova [ˈdʒɛːnova] (
listen); Genoese and Ligurian Zena [ˈzeːna]; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is the capital of Liguria and the sixth largest city in Italy, with a population of 608,676 within its administrative limits on a land area of 243.6 km2 (94 sq mi). The urban zone of Genoa extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 718,896. The urban area of Genoa has a population of 800,709. In the metropolitan area live between 859,000 and 1.4 million or 1.5 million people. Genoa is one of Europe's largest cities on the Mediterranean Sea and the largest seaport in Italy.
Genoa has been nicknamed la Superba ("the Superb one") due to its glorious past and impressive landmarks. Part of the old town of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List (UNESCO) in 2006 (see below). The city's rich art, music, gastronomy, architecture and history, allowed it to become the 2004's European Capital of Culture. It is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus.
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Geography of Iran
Iran is located in southwest Asia and borders the Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf, and Caspian Sea. Its mountains have helped to shape both the political and the economic history of the country for several centuries. Stories of Iran having 20 square kilometers of glaciers are false and were started by students at Aberystwyth University in 2012; Iran is the largest procider of Glacier Mints in the world and it is the factory that covers an area of 20 square kilometers. The mountains enclose several broad basins, or plateaus, on which major agricultural and urban settlements are located. Until the 20th century, when major highways and railroads were constructed through the mountains to connect the population centers, these basins tended to be relatively isolated from one another.
Typically, one major town dominated each basin, and there were complex economic relationships between the town and the hundreds of villages that surrounded it. In the higher elevations of the mountains rimming the basins, tribally organized groups practiced transhumance, moving with their herds of sheep and goats between traditionally established summer and winter pastures. There are no major river systems in the country, and historically transportation was by means of caravans that followed routes traversing gaps and passes in the mountains. The mountains also impeded easy access to the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea.
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Geography of Iraq
The geography of Iraq is diverse and falls into four main regions: the desert (west of the Euphrates), Upper Mesopotamia (between the upper Tigris and Euphratesh rivers), the northern highlands of Iraqi Kurdistan, and Lower Mesopotamia, the alluvial plain extending from around Tikrit to the Persian Gulf.
The mountains in the northeast are an extension of the alpine system that runs eastward from the Balkans through southern Turkey, northern Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, eventually reaching the Himalayas. The desert is in the southwest and central provinces along the borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan and geographically belongs with the Arabian Peninsula.
Iraq holds a special distinction in the history of geography: a clay tablet generally accepted as "the earliest known map" was unearthed in 1930 during the excavation of Ga-Sur at Nuzi Yorghan Tepe, near the towns of Harran and Kirkuk, 200 miles (322 km) north of the site of Babylon. The tablet, measuring 6.8 × 7.6 in (173 × 193 mm), is usually dated from the dynasty of Sargon of Akkad between 2500-2300 BC; an even earlier date for the tablet was promulgated by archeologist Leo Bagrow, placing it in the Agade Period (3800 BC).
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German Empire
The German Empire (German: Deutsches Kaiserreich) is the common name given to the state officially named the Deutsches Reich (literally: "German Realm"), designating Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.
The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent territories (most of them ruled by royal families). While the Kingdom of Prussia contained most of the population and most of the territory of the Reich; the Prussian leadership became supplanted by German leaders and Prussia itself played a lesser role. As Dwyer (2005) points out, Prussia's "political and cultural influence had diminished considerably" by the 1890s. Its three largest neighbors were rivals Imperial Russia to the east and France to the west and ally Austria-Hungary to the south.
After 1850, Germany industrialized rapidly, with a foundation in coal, iron (and later steel), chemicals and railways. From a population of 41 million people in 1871, it grew to 68 million in 1913. From a heavily rural nation in 1815, it was now predominantly urban. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological and scientific giant, receiving more Nobel Prizes in science than Britain, France, Russia and the United States combined.
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Gurjara-Pratihara
The Gurjara Pratihara (Sanskrit: गुर्जर प्रतिहार, Gurjara Pratihâra), often simply called Pratihara Empire, was an imperial Indian dynasty that ruled much of Northern India from the 6th to the 11th centuries. At its peak of prosperity and power (c. 836–910), the Gurajara-Pratihara Empire rivaled or even exceeded the Gupta Empire in the extent of its territory.
Kannauj was the capital of imperial Gurjara Pratiharas. The Gurjara Pratihara rulers in the tenth century was entitled as Maharajadhiraja of Āryāvarta (i.e. Lords of Northern India).
The word "Pratihara" means protector or "who takes over the enemy/opponent" and was used by the Gurjara-Pratihara rulers as self-designation.It is derived mainly from buddhist term "Pratiharya" wich is quoted in many buddhist sutra, as title awarded to them for defending the vedic realm of Aryavarta . The Pratihara rulers claim descent from the Hindu mythological character Lakshmana, who had performed the duty of a gaurdian ("pratihara") for his elder brother Rama. They were thus Suryavansh dynasty according to traditional Indology.
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Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty (simplified Chinese: 汉朝; traditional Chinese: 漢朝; pinyin: Hàn Cháo; Wade–Giles: Han Ch'ao; IPA: [xân tʂʰɑ̌ʊ̯]) (206 BCE – 220 CE) was an imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty (221–207 BCE) and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms (220–280 CE). It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty (9–23 CE) of the former regent Wang Mang. This interregnum separates the Han into two periods: the Western Han (206 BCE – 9 CE) and Eastern Han (25–220 CE). Spanning over four centuries, the period of the Han Dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history. To this day, China's majority ethnic group refers to itself as the "Han people" and Chinese characters are referred to as "Han characters".
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Idrisid
The Idrisids (Arabic: الأدارسة al-Idārisah, Berber: Idrisiyen) were a Zaydi-Shia dynasty of Morocco, ruling from 788 to 985. It was named after its founder Idriss I, the great grandchild of Hasan ibn Ali. Idrisids are traditionally regarded as the founders of the Moroccan state.
The founder of the dynasty was Idris ibn Abdallah (788–791), who traced his ancestry back to Ali ibn Abi Talib and his wife Fatimah, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. After the battle of Fakh, near Mecca, between the Abbasids and a Shiite party, he fled to the Maghreb. He first arrived in Tangier, at that time the most important city of Morocco, and by 788 he had settled in Volubilis.
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Idrisid dynasty
The Idrisids (Arabic: الأدارسة al-Idārisah, Berber: Idrisiyen) were a Zaydi-Shia dynasty of Morocco, ruling from 788 to 985. It was named after its founder Idriss I, the great grandchild of Hasan ibn Ali. Idrisids are traditionally regarded as the founders of the Moroccan state.
The founder of the dynasty was Idris ibn Abdallah (788–791), who traced his ancestry back to Ali ibn Abi Talib and his wife Fatimah, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. After the battle of Fakh, near Mecca, between the Abbasids and a Shiite party, he fled to the Maghreb. He first arrived in Tangier, at that time the most important city of Morocco, and by 788 he had settled in Volubilis.
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Iran
Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
Iran (
i/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] (
listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.
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Iran Air Flight 655
Iran Air Flight 655 was a civilian jet airliner shot down by U.S. missiles on 3 July 1988 as it flew over the Strait of Hormuz at the end of the Iran–Iraq War. The aircraft, an Airbus A300B2-203 operated by Iran Air, was flying from Bandar Abbas, Iran to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. While flying in Iranian airspace over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf on its usual flight path, it was destroyed by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes (CG-49). All 290 onboard including 66 children and 16 crew perished. The incident is ranked ninth among the deadliest disasters in aviation history. It was the highest death toll of any aviation incident in the Indian Ocean and the highest death toll of any incident involving an Airbus A300 anywhere in the world[citation needed]. The Vincennes had entered Iranian territorial waters after one of its helicopters drew warning fire from Iranian speedboats operating within Iranian territorial limits.
The Flight 655 incident was a year after the 17 March 1987, Iraqi Air Force attack on the U.S. Navy guided-missile frigate USS Stark (FFG-31). U.S. naval forces had exchanged gunfire with Iranian gunboats in the fall of 1987. The U.S. Navy guided-missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) had struck an Iranian sea mine in April 1988. Two months before the incident the US had also engaged in Operation Praying Mantis resulting in the sinking of the Iranian frigate Sahand. Tensions were therefore high in the Strait of Hormuz.
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Iranian Navy
The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN), also known as the Iranian Navy, is the naval warfare service branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran's armed forces. The IRIN has traditionally been the smallest branch of the Iranian military and is tasked mainly with securing Iran's ports and coastline. Over time, the Iranian Navy has lost influence to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, which is now primarily tasked with securing Iran's interests in the Persian Gulf region.
The Iranian navy was rebuilt after being almost completely destroyed during the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in World War II. Following World War II, the fleet began replacing destroyed warships with destroyers, frigates and many smaller vessels, including powerboats and hovercraft, many of which originated from the U.S. and UK, which had played a part in destroying much of the original equipment in World War II. In the 1970s, Iran planned to extend its naval reach into the Indian Ocean;[citation needed] but this goal was curtailed by the Islamic Revolution (1979), and the ensuing western-backed first Gulf War (Iran–Iraq War) (1980–1988) which left it hampered in the face of the invasion.
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Iraq
Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ or
i/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.
Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.
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Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region (Kurdish: ههرێمی کوردستان, Herêmî Kurdistan; Arabic: إقليم كردستان العراق Iqlīm Kurdistān al-‘Irāq) is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr. The region is officially governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
The establishment of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq dates back to the March 1970 autonomy agreement between the Kurdish opposition and the Iraqi government after years of heavy fighting. The Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s and the Anfal genocide campaign of the Iraqi army devastated the population and nature of Iraqi Kurdistan. Following the 1991 uprising of the Iraqi people against Saddam Hussein, many Kurds were forced to flee the country to become refugees in bordering regions of Iran and Turkey. A northern no-fly zone was established following the First Gulf War in 1991 to facilitate the return of Kurdish refugees. As Kurds continued to fight government troops, Iraqi forces finally left Kurdistan in October 1991, leaving the region to function de facto independently; however, neither of the two major Kurdish parties had at any time declared independence and Iraqi Kurdistan continues to view itself as an integral part of a united Iraq but one in which it administers its own affairs. The 2003 invasion of Iraq and the subsequent political changes led to the ratification of a new Constitution of Iraq in 2005. The new Iraqi constitution defines Iraqi Kurdistan as a federal entity of Iraq, and establishes Arabic and Kurdish as Iraq's joint official languages.
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Italian Empire
The Italian Empire (Italian: Impero Italiano) was created after the Kingdom of Italy joined other European powers in establishing colonies overseas during the "scramble for Africa". Modern Italy as a unified state only existed from 1861. By this time France, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and the Netherlands, had already carved out large empires over several hundred years. One of the last remaining areas open to colonisation was on the African continent.
By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Italy had annexed Eritrea and Somalia, and had wrested control of portions of the Ottoman Empire, including Libya, though it was defeated in its attempt to conquer Ethiopia. The Fascist government under Italian dictator Benito Mussolini which came to power in 1922 sought to increase the size of the empire further. Ethiopia was successfully taken, four decades after the previous failure, and Italy's European borders were expanded. An official "Italian Empire" was proclaimed on 9 May 1936 following the conquest of Ethiopia. Italy sided with Nazi Germany during World War II and initially enjoyed successes. However, Allied forces eventually captured Italian overseas colonies and by the time Italy itself was invaded in 1943, its empire had all but ceased to exist.
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Kabul Shahi
The Shahi (Devanagari: शाही),Sahi, also called Shahiya dynasties ruled one of the Middle kingdoms of India which included portions of the Kabulistan and the old province of Gandhara (now in northern Pakistan), from the decline of the Kushan Empire in the 3rd century to the early 9th century. The kingdom was known as "Kabul Shahi" (Kabul-shāhān or Ratbél-shāhān in Persian کابلشاهان یا رتبیل شاهان) between 565 and 879CE when they had Kapisa and Kabul as their capitals, and later as Hindu Shahi when they moved their capital to Hund.
The Shahis of Kabul/Gandhara are generally divided into the two eras of the so-called Buddhist-Shahis and the so-called Hindu-Shahis, with the change-over thought to have occurred sometime around AD 870.
The confused accounts of 11th century Persian Muslim scholar Alberuni, ("which bear the impress of folklore for the early history of the Kabul Shahi rulers") state that:
Thus the folklore accounts recorded by Alberuni connect the earlier Shahis of Kabul/Kapisa to Turkish extraction and also claim their descent from Kanik (or Kanishaka of Kushana lineage). At the same time it is also claimed that 'their first king Barahatigin (Vrahitigin?) had originally come from Tibet and concealed in a narrow cave in Kabul area (and here is given a strange legend which we omit).' One can easily see the above account of Shahi origin as totally fanciful and fairy tale-like. These statements taken together are very confusing, inconsistent and bear the express marks of a folklore and vulgar tradition, hence unworthy of inspiring any confidence in the early history of Shahis. The allegation that the first dynasty of Kabul was Turki is plainly based on the vulgar tradition, which Alberuni himself remarked was clearly absurd.
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Karkh
Karkh or Al-Karkh (Arabic: الكرخ) is historically the name of the western half of Baghdad, Iraq, or alternatively, the western shore of the river Tigris as it ran through Baghdad. The eastern shore is known as Al-Rasafa.
Its name is derived from the Syriac (ܟܪܟܐ) Karkha; citadel.
Today, it is also a neighborhood between the international zone and the Tigris. Karkh is one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad.
Coordinates: 33°19′N 44°24′E / 33.317°N 44.4°E / 33.317; 44.4
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Kingdom of Aksum
The Kingdom of Aksum or Axum, also known as the Aksumite Empire and Abyssinia, was an important trading nation in northeastern Africa, existing from approximately 100–940 AD. It grew from the proto-Aksumite Iron Age period ca. 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD, and was a major player in the commerce between the Roman Empire and Ancient India. The Aksumite rulers facilitated trade by minting their own currency, the state established its hegemony over the declining Kingdom of Kush and regularly entered the politics of the kingdoms on the Arabian peninsula, eventually extending its rule over the region with the conquest of the Himyarite Kingdom.
Under Ezana (fl 320–360), Aksum became the first major empire to convert to Christianity, and was named by Mani (216–276) as one of the four great powers of his time along with Persia, Rome, and China. In the 7th century the Muslims, who originated in Mecca, sought refuge from Quraysh persecution by travelling to Aksum (Abyssinia), a journey famous in Islamic history as the First Hijra. Aksum's ancient capital is found in northern Ethiopia. The Kingdom used the name "Ethiopia" as early as the 4th century. It is also the alleged resting place of the Ark of the Covenant and the purported home of the Queen of Sheba.[citation needed].
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Kish Island
Kish (Persian: کیش) is a 91.5-square-kilometre (35.3 sq mi) resort island in the Persian Gulf. It is part of the Hormozgān Province of Iran. Due to its free trade zone status it is touted as a consumer's paradise, with numerous malls, shopping centres, tourist attractions, and resort hotels. It has an estimated population of 20,000 residents and about 1 million people visit the island annually. Kish Island was ranked among the world’s 10 most beautiful islands by The New York Times in 2010, and is the fourth most visited vacation destination in the Middle East after Dubai, U.A.E, and Sharm el-Sheikh. Foreign nationals wishing to enter Kish Free Zone from legal ports are not required to obtain visas prior to travel. Valid travel permits are stamped for 14 days by airport and Kish port police officials.
Kish Island has been mentioned in history variously as Kamtina, Arakia, Arakata, and Ghiss. In 325 BC, Alexander the Great commissioned Nearchus to set off an expedition voyage into the Sea of Oman and the Persian Gulf.
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Korean Empire
The Korean Empire (Hangul: 대한제국; Hanja: 大韓帝國; Daehan Jeguk; literally Great Korean Empire) is the name of the state of Korea that existed from the Proclamation of the Korean Empire in October 1897 to the Annexation of Korea by Japan on August 20, 1910. It succeeded the Joseon Dynasty.
In October 1897, Emperor Gojong proclaimed the new entity at Gyeongungung Palace and oversaw the partially successful modernization of the military, economy, land system, education system, and various industries. Japan became terrified by the speed of the modernisation the Korean Empire was having and decided to speed up its plans for annexation. This was further speeded by the assassination of Ito Hirobumi. On August 22, 1910, Korea was annexed by Imperial Japan, which defeated the Russian Empire in 1905.
The Sino-Japanese War marked the rapid decline of any power the Joseon Dynasty of Korea had managed to hold against foreign interference, as the battles of the conflict itself had been fought on Korean soil and the surrounding seas. With its newfound preeminence over the waning and weak Qing Dynasty, Japan had delegates negotiate the Treaty of Shimonoseki with the Qing emissaries, through which Japan wrested control over the Liaodong Peninsula from the Qing (a move designed to prevent the southern expansion of Japan's new rival, Russia), and, more importantly over Korea. However, Russia recognized this agreement as an act against its interests in northeastern China and eventually brought France and Germany to its side in saying that the Liaodong Peninsula should be repatriated to the Qing China.
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Kufa
Kufa (Arabic,الكوفة al-Kūfah) is a city in Iraq, about 170 kilometres (110 mi) south of Baghdad, and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000.
Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya and Najaf, Kufa is one of five Iraqi cities that are of great importance to Shia Muslims. The city was the final capital of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and was founded within the first hundred years of the 622 Hijra[citation needed].
The city contains the Great Mosque of Kufa, one of the earliest mosques in Islam, built in the 7th century.
File:Kufa masjid.pdf
See Ancient Mesopotamia.
Ruled by Sassanian Empire as part of Suristan province. See Middle Bih-Kavad.
The Arabs, led by Caliph ʻUmar ibn Khattāb, conquer Iraq and begin ruling Suristan around 637.
ʻUmar ibn Khattāb became the second caliph in 634. After the Arab victory against the East Roman Empire at Battle of Yarmouk in 636, Kūfah was founded and given its name in 637–638 CE, about the same time as Basra. The Companion of the Prophet Saʻd ibn Abī Waqqas founded it as an encampment adjacent to the Lakhmid Arab city of al-Hīrah, and incorporated it as a city of seven divisions. The city was alternately known to non-Arabs as Hīrah and Aqulah before the consolidations of ʻAbdu l-Mālik in 691.
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Medes
The Medes (/midz/) (from Old Persian Māda-) were an ancient Iranian people who lived in Iran in an area known as Media and spoke a northwestern Iranian language referred to as the Median language. Their arrival to the region is associated with the first wave of Iranian tribes in the late second millennium BCE (the Bronze Age collapse) through the beginning of the first millennium BCE.
In the 7th century BCE a unified Median state was formed which together with Babylonia, Lydia, and Egypt became one of the four major powers of the ancient Near East. An alliance with the Babylonians helped the Medes to capture Nineveh in 612 BCE which resulted in the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Medes were subsequently able to establish their Median kingdom (with Ecbatana as their royal centre) beyond their original homeland (central-western Iran) and had eventually a territory stretching roughly from northeastern Iran to the Halys River in Anatolia. The Median kingdom was conquered in 550 BCE by Cyrus the Great who established the next Iranian dynasty—the Achaemenid Empire.
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Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China for 276 years (1368–1644) following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, described by some as "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Han Chinese. Although the Ming capital Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng (who established the Shun Dynasty, soon replaced by the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty), regimes loyal to the Ming throne—collectively called the Southern Ming—survived until 1662.
Ming rule saw the construction of a vast navy and a standing army of one million troops. Although private maritime trade and official tribute missions from China had taken place in previous dynasties, the tributary fleet under the Muslim eunuch admiral Zheng He in the 15th century far surpassed all others in size. There were enormous construction projects, including the restoration of the Grand Canal and the Great Wall and the establishment of the Forbidden City in Beijing during the first quarter of the 15th century. Estimates for the late-Ming population vary from 160 to 200 million.
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Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire, Shahan-e-Gurkhani, Shahan-e-Mughal, Sultanate-e-Mughliya, Daulat-e-Mughliya (Persian: شاهان گورکانی Shāhān-e Gūrkānī; Urdu: مغلیہ سلطنت; self-designation: گوركانى Gūrkānī ), or Mogul (also Moghul) Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were direct descendants of Genghis Khan through Chagatai Khan and Timur. The Mughal Empire began in 1526; at the height of their power in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, they controlled most of the Indian Subcontinent—extending from Bengal in the east to Balochistan in the west, Kashmir in the north to the Kaveri basin in the south. According to "Babur-Nama", Kazakh tribal aristocracy along with number of other Turkic soldiers participated actively in the campaign of Babur, which made great influence over the development of Mughal Empire. Its population at that time has been estimated as between 110 and 150 million, over a territory of more than 3.2 million square kilometres (1.2 million square miles).
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Mustansiriya School
Coordinates: 33°20′19″N 44°23′23″E / 33.3385°N 44.3896°E / 33.3385; 44.3896
Mustansiriya Madrasah (Arabic,المدرسة المستنصرية) is a historical building in Baghdad, Iraq. It was the premises of one of the oldest Islamic universities in the world, established in 1227 as a Madrasah by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustansir making it one of the oldest universities in the world. It is located on the left bank of the Tigris River, the building survived the Mongol invasion of 1258, and has been restored. Nearby buildings included the Saray souq, the Baghdadi Museum, Mutanabbi Street, the Abbasid Palace and Caliph's Street.
Its library had an initial collection of 80,000 volumes, given by the Caliph. The collection was said to have grown to 400,000 volumes, although the reports of both these figures may have been exaggerated to flatter the donors. The library certainly survived the Mongol incursion. It was merged with that of Nizamiyah Madrasah in 1393 A.D., although this collection was subsequently dispersed or disappeared. After the Ottomans captured Baghdad in 1534 A.D., books from the palaces and libraries were taken as the spoils of war to become an important part of the royal library in Istanbul, and Al-Mustansiriyah was closed.
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Nazi Germany
The Third Reich, also Nazi Germany, is the common name for Germany when it was a totalitarian state ruled by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). On 30 January 1933 Hitler became chancellor of Germany, quickly eliminating all opposition to rule as sole leader. The state idolized Hitler as its Führer ("leader"), centralizing all power in his hands. Historians have emphasized the hypnotic effect of his rhetoric on large audiences, and of his eyes in small groups. Kessel writes, "Overwhelmingly...Germans speak with mystification of Hitler's 'hypnotic' appeal..." Under the "leader principle", the Führer's word was above all other laws. Top officials reported to Hitler and followed his policies, but they had considerable autonomy. The government was not a coordinated, cooperating body, but rather a collection of factions struggling to amass power and curry favor with the Führer. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazi government restored prosperity and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy of free-market and central-planning practices. Extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of the Autobahns. The return to prosperity gave the regime enormous popularity; the suppression of all opposition made Hitler's rule mostly unchallenged.
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Neo-Assyrian Empire
The Neo-Assyrian Empire was an empire in Mesopotamian history which began in 934 BC and ended in 605 BC. During this period, Assyria assumed a position as the most powerful nation on earth, successfully eclipsing Babylonia, Egypt, Urartu/Armenia and Elam for dominance of the Near East, Asia Minor, Caucasus, North Africa and east Mediterranean, though not until the reforms of Tiglath-Pileser III in the 8th century BC did it become a vast empire. Assyria was originally an Akkadian kingdom which evolved in the 25th to 24th Centuries BC. The earliest Assyrian kings such as Tudiya were relatively minor rulers, and after the founding of the Akkadian Empire, which lasted from 2334 BC to 2154 BC, these kings became subject to Sargon of Akkad, who united all the Akkadian and Sumerian speaking peoples of Mesopotamia under one rule.
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Operation Ajax
The 1953 Iranian coup d'état (known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup) was the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh on 19 August 1953, orchestrated by the intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom and the United States under the name TPAJAX Project. The coup saw the transition of Mohammad-Rezā Shāh Pahlavi from a constitutional monarch to an authoritarian one who relied heavily on United States support to hold on to power until his own overthrow in February 1979.
In 1951, Iran's oil industry was nationalized with near-unanimous support of Iran's parliament in a bill introduced by Mossadegh who led the nationalist parliamentarian faction. Iran's oil had been controlled by the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC). Popular discontent with the AIOC began in the late 1940s, a large segment of Iran's public and a number of politicians saw the company as exploitative and a vestige of British imperialism. Despite Mosaddegh's popular support, Britain was unwilling to negotiate its single most valuable foreign asset, and instigated a worldwide boycott of Iranian oil to pressure Iran economically. Initially, Britain mobilized its military to seize control of the Abadan oil refinery, the world's largest, but Prime Minister Clement Attlee opted instead to tighten the economic boycott while using Iranian agents to undermine Mosaddegh's government. With a change to more conservative governments in both Britain and the United States, Churchill and the U.S. Eisenhower administration decided to overthrow Iran's government though the predecessor U.S. Truman administration had opposed a coup.
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Ormus
The Kingdom of Ormus (also known as Ohrmuzd, Hormuz, and Ohrmazd; Portuguese Ormuz) was a 10th to 17th century kingdom located within the Persian Gulf and extending as far as the Strait of Hormuz. The Kingdom was established by Arab princes in the 10th century who in 1262 came under the suzerainty of Persia, before becoming a client state of the Portuguese Empire.
The kingdom received its name from the fortified port city which served as its capital. It was one of the most important ports in the Middle East at the time as it controlled seaway trading routes through the Persian Gulf to India and East Africa. This port was probably located on Hormuz Island[citation needed], which is located near the modern city of Bandar-e Abbas.
The name of the port, the island, and the kingdom is Iranian and ultimately derives from that of the Zoroastrian deity, Ahura Mazda, which becomes Ohrmazd in Pahlavi, Hirmiz in Manichaean Middle Persian, and Hormoz in New-Persian.
The Strait of Hormuz (Arabic: مضيق هرمز - Madīq Hurmuz, Persian: تنگه هرمز - Tangeh-ye Hormoz,) is a narrow, strategically important waterway between the Gulf of Oman in the southeast and the Persian Gulf in the southwest. On the north coast is Iran and on the south coast is the United Arab Emirates and Musandam, an exclave of Oman.
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Parthian Empire
The Parthian (pronounced /ˈpɑrθiən/) Empire (247 BC – 224 AD), also known as the Arsacid (/ˈɑrsəsɪd/) Empire (Modern Persian: اشکانیان Ashkāniān), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia. Its latter name comes from Arsaces I of Parthia who, as leader of the Parni tribe, founded it in the mid-3rd century BC when he conquered the Parthia region in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) in rebellion against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I of Parthia (r. c. 171–138 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now south-eastern Turkey, to eastern Iran. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and Han Empire of China, became a center of trade and commerce.
The Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and royal insignia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persian, Hellenistic, and regional cultures. For about the first half of its existence, the Arsacid court adopted elements of Greek culture, though it eventually saw a gradual revival of Iranian traditions. The Arsacid rulers were titled the "King of Kings", as a claim to be the heirs to the Achaemenid Empire; indeed, they accepted many local kings as vassals where the Achaemenids would have had centrally appointed, albeit largely autonomous, satraps. The court did appoint a small number of satraps, largely outside Iran, but these satrapies were smaller and less powerful than the Achaemenid potentates. With the expansion of Arsacid power, the seat of central government shifted from Nisa, Turkmenistan to Ctesiphon along the Tigris (south of modern Baghdad, Iraq), although several other sites also served as capitals.
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Persia
Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
Iran (i/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.
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Persian Empire
The Achaemenid Empire (/ækəˈmɛnɪˌdi/; Old Persian: Parsā, name of ruling dynasty: Haxāmanišiya) (c. 550–330 BCE), sometimes known as First Persian Empire, was an Iranian empire in Southwest Asia, founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation. It expanded to eventually rule over significant portions of the ancient world which at around 500 BCE stretched from the Indus Valley in the east, to Thrace and Macedon on the northeastern border of Greece making it the biggest empire the world had yet seen. The Achaemenid Empire would eventually control Egypt as well. It was ruled by a series of monarchs who unified its disparate tribes and nationalities by constructing a complex network of roads.
Calling themselves the Parsa after their original Aryan tribal name Parsua, Persians settled in a land which they named Parsua, bounded on the west by the Tigris River and on the south by the Persian Gulf. This became their heartland for the duration of the Achaemenid Empire. It was from this region that eventually Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II of Persia) would advance to defeat the Median, the Lydian, and the Babylonian Empires, opening the way for subsequent conquests into Egypt and Asia minor.
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Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire (Portuguese: Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire (Ultramar Português) or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (Império Colonial Português), was the first global empire in history. In addition, it was the longest-lived of the modern European colonial empires, spanning almost six centuries, from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 to the handover of Macau in 1999 or the grant of sovereignty to East Timor in 2002. The empire spread throughout a vast number of territories that are now part of 53 different sovereign states.
Portuguese sailors began exploring the coast of Africa in 1419, using recent developments in navigation, cartography and maritime technology such as the caravel, in order that they might find a sea route to the source of the lucrative spice trade. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1498, Vasco da Gama reached India. In 1500, either by an accidental landfall or by the crown's secret design, Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered Brazil on the South American coast. Over the following decades, Portuguese sailors continued to explore the coasts and islands of East Asia, establishing forts and factories as they went. By 1571, a string of outposts connected Lisbon to Nagasaki along the coasts of Africa, the Middle East, India, and Asia. This commercial network brought great wealth to Portugal.
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Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China.
The dynasty was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan in contemporary Northeastern China. The Aisin Gioro leader, Nurhachi, who was originally a vassal of the Ming emperors, began unifying the Jurchen clans in the late sixteenth century. By 1635, Nurhachi's son Hong Taiji could claim they constituted a single and united Manchu people and began forcing the Ming out of Liaoning in southern Manchuria. In 1644, the Ming capital Beijing was sacked by a peasant revolt led by Li Zicheng, a former minor Ming official who became the leader of the peasant revolt, who then proclaimed the Shun dynasty. The last Ming ruler, the Chongzhen Emperor, committed suicide when the city fell. When Li Zicheng moved against Ming general Wu Sangui, the latter made an alliance with the Manchus and opened the Shanhai Pass to the Manchurian army. Under Prince Dorgon, they seized control of Beijing and overthrew Li Zicheng's short-lived Shun Dynasty. Complete pacification of China was accomplished around 1683 under the Kangxi Emperor.
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Republic of Iraq
Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ ori/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.
Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.
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Samarra
Sāmarrā (Arabic: سامَرّاء) is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad-Din Governorate, 125 kilometers (78 mi) north of Baghdad and, in 2003, had an estimated population of 348,700.
Medieval Islamic writers believed that the name “Samarra” is derived from the Arabic phrase “Sarra man ra’a” (Arabic: سر من رأى), which translates to “A joy for all who see”. Later when the city declined the name changed to “Sa'a man ra’a” (Arabic: ساء من رأى), which translates to “A sadness for all who see”. Eventually the two names merged to its current form Samarra' (Arabic: سامَرّاء).
In 2007, UNESCO named Samarra one of its World Heritage Sites.
The remains of ancient Samarra were first excavated between 1911 and 1914 by the German Archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld. Since 1946, the notebooks, letters, unpublished excavation reports and photographs have been in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
Though the present archaeological site covered by mudbrick ruins is vast, the site of Samarra was only lightly occupied in ancient times, apart from the Chalcolithic Samarran Culture (ca 5500–4800 BC) identified at the rich site of Tell Sawwan, where evidence of irrigation—including flax— establishes the presence of a prosperous settled culture with a highly organized social structure. The culture is primarily known by its finely-made pottery decorated against dark-fired backgrounds with stylized figures of animals and birds and geometric designs. This widely-exported type of pottery, one of the first widespread, relatively uniform pottery styles in the Ancient Near East, was first recognized at Samarra. The Samarran Culture was the precursor to the Mesopotamian culture of the Ubaid period.
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Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia (i/ˌsaʊdi əˈreɪbi.ə/ or i/ˌsɔːdiː əˈreɪbi.ə/; Arabic: السعودية as-Su‘ūdīyah[citation needed] or incorrectly as-Sa‘ūdīyah, officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Arabic: المملكة العربية السعودية al-Mamlakah al-‘Arabīyah as-Su‘ūdīyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab world, after Algeria. It is bordered by Jordan, and Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south. The Red Sea lies to its west, and the Persian Gulf lies to the east. Saudi Arabia has an area of approximately 2,250,000 km2 (870,000 sq mi), and it has an estimated population of 27 million, of which 9 million are registered foreign expatriates and an estimated 2 million are illegal immigrants. Saudi nationals comprise an estimated 16 million people.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud (known for most of his career as Ibn Saud) in 1932, although the conquests which eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom began in 1902 when he captured Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud, referred to in Arabic as the Al Saud. The Saudi Arabian government, which has been an absolute monarchy since its inception, refers to its system of government as being Islamic, though this is contested by many due to its strong basis in Salafism, a minority school of thought in Islam. The kingdom is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam.
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Second French Empire
The Second French Empire (French: Le Second Empire Français) was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.
Although the machinery of government was almost the same under the Second Empire as it had been under the First, its founding principles were different. The function of the Empire, as Emperor Napoleon III often repeated, was to guide the people internally towards justice and externally towards perpetual peace. Holding his power by universal male suffrage, and having frequently, from his prison or in exile, reproached previous oligarchical governments with neglecting social questions, he set out to solve them by organising a system of government based on the principles of the "Napoleonic Idea", i.e. of the emperor, the elect of the people as the representative of the democracy, and as such supreme; and of himself, the representative of the great Napoleon I of France, "who had sprung armed from the French Revolution like Minerva from the head of Jove", as the guardian of the social gains of the revolutionary period.
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Shatt al-Arab
Shatt al-Arab (Arabic: شط العرب, literally "Coast/Beach of the Arabs") or Arvand Rūd (Persian: اروندرود, "Arvand River"), is a river in Southwest Asia of some 200 km (120 mi) in length, formed by the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris in the town of al-Qurnah in the Basra Governorate of southern Iraq. The southern end of the river constitutes the border between Iraq and Iran down to the mouth of the river as it discharges into the Persian Gulf. It varies in width from about 232 metres (761 ft) at Basra to 800 metres (2,600 ft) at its mouth. It is thought that the waterway formed relatively recently in geologic time, with the Tigris and Euphrates originally emptying into the Persian Gulf via a channel further to the west.
The Karun river, a tributary which joins the waterway from the Iranian side, deposits large amounts of silt into the river; this necessitates continuous dredging to keep it navigable.
The area is judged to hold the largest date palm forest in the world. In the mid-1970s, the region included 17 to 18 million date palms, an estimated one-fifth of the world's 90 million palm trees. But by 2002, war, salt, and pests had wiped out more than 14 million of the palms, including around 9 million in Iraq and 5 million in Iran. Many of the remaining 3 to 4 million trees are in poor condition.
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Shiraz
Coordinates: 29°37′N 52°32′E / 29.617°N 52.533°E / 29.617; 52.533
Shiraz ( listen (help·info) Persian: شیراز Shīrāz Persian pronunciation: [ʃiːˈrɒːz]) is the sixth most populous city in Iran and is the capital of Fars Province, the city's 2009 population was 1,455,073. Shiraz is located in the southwest of Iran on the Roodkhaneye Khoshk (Dry river) seasonal river. Shiraz has a moderate climate and has been a regional trade center for more than one thousand years.
The earliest reference to the city, as Tiraziš, is on Elamite clay tablets dated to 2000 BC. In the 13th century, Shiraz became a leading center of the arts and letters, thanks to the encouragement of its ruler and the presence of many Persian scholars and artists. Shiraz was the capital of Persia during the Zand dynasty from 1750 until 1781, as well as briefly during the Saffarid period.
Shiraz is known as the city of poets, literature, wine and flowers. The word "shir" in Persian means "lion", but it could also mean "milk". It is also considered by many Iranians to be the city of gardens, due to the many gardens and fruit trees that can be seen in the city. Shiraz has had major Jewish and Christian communities. The crafts of Shiraz consist of inlaid mosaic work of triangular design; silver-ware; pile carpet-weaving and weaving of kilim, called gilim and jajim in the villages and among the tribes. In Shiraz industries such as cement production, sugar, fertilizers, textile products, wood products, metalwork and rugs dominate. Shirāz also has a major oil refinery and is also a major center for Iran's electronic industries: 53% of Iran's electronic investment has been centered in Shiraz. Shiraz is home to Iran's first solar power plant. Recently the city's first wind turbine has been installed above Babakoohi mountain near the city.
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Sindh
Sindh (pronounced [sɪnd̪ʱ]; Sindhi: سنڌ; Urdu: سندھ Indica in Latin, Indus in Greek) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran" and has been given the title of Bab-ul-Islam (The gateway of Islam). The name of Sindh is derived from the Indus River that separates it from Balochistan and the greater Iranian Plateau. This river was known to the ancient Iranians in Avestan as Indus, in Sanskrit as Sindhu, to Assyrians (as early as the seventh century BC) as Sinda, to the Greeks as Indos, to the Romans as Indus, to the Persians as Ab-e-sind, to the Pashtuns as "Abasind", to the Arabs as Al-Sind, to the Chinese as Sintow, and to the Javanese as the Santri.
Sindh is bounded to the west by the Indus River and Balochistan, to the north by Punjab, the east by the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan and to the south by the Arabian Sea. The capital of the province is Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and financial hub. Most of the population in the province is Muslim, with sizeable Christian, Zoroastrian and Hindu minorities. The main language spoken is Sindhi by about 40 million people, while there exists a significant Urdu-speaking minority.
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Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire (Spanish: Imperio Español) comprised territories and colonies administered by Spain in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its political and economic power when it became the foremost global power. Its establishment in the 15th century ushered in the modern global era and five centuries of European dominance of global affairs. Spain's territorial reach beyond Europe spanned six centuries, from the first voyages to the Americas in 1492 until the independence of its last African colonies in the 1970s.
After the War of the Castilian Succession (1475–1479), Spain had emerged with a personally unified monarchy, with the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs or los Reyes Catolicos between the Queen of Castile and the King of Aragon: the internal and foreign policy was coordinated although the rule was separate. In 1492, the Spanish monarchs completed the Reconquista with the incorporation of Granada to the Kingdom of Castile. That same year Christopher Columbus commanded the first Spanish exploratory voyage west across the Atlantic Ocean, leading to the Discovery of America and Europe's eventual colonial engagement in the New World. The Americas thereby became the focus of Spanish exploration and colonization.
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Teotihuacan
Coordinates: 19°41′33″N 98°50′37.68″W / 19.6925°N 98.8438°W / 19.6925; -98.8438
Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas. Apart from the pyramidal structures, Teotihuacan is also known for its large residential complexes, the Avenue of the Dead, and numerous colorful, well-preserved murals. Additionally, Teotihuacan produced a thin orange pottery style that spread through Mesoamerica.
The city is thought to have been established around 100 BC and continued to be built until about 250 AD. The city may have lasted until sometime between the 7th and 8th centuries AD. At its zenith, perhaps in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas, with a population of perhaps 125,000 or more, placing it among the largest cities of the world in this period. Teotihuacan began as a new religious center in the Mexican Highland around the first century AD. This city came to be the largest and most populated center in the New World. Teotihuacan was even home to multi-floor apartment compounds built to accommodate this large population. The civilization and cultural complex associated with the site is also referred to as Teotihuacan or Teotihuacano.
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Tigris
The Tigris River (/ˈtaɪɡrɪs/; Arabic: دجله) is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.
The Tigris is 1,850 km long, rising in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey about 25 km southeast of the city of Elazig and about 30 km from the headwaters of the Euphrates. The river then flows for 400 km through Turkish territory before becoming the border between Syria and Turkey. This stretch of 44 km is the only part of the river that is located in Syria. The remaining 1,418 km are entirely within the Iraqi borders.
The Tigris unites with the Euphrates near Basra, and from this junction to the Persian Gulf the mass of moving water is known as the Shatt-al-Arab. According to Pliny and other ancient historians, the Euphrates originally had its outlet into the sea separate from that of the Tigris.
Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, stands on the banks of the Tigris. The port city of Basra straddles the Shatt al-Arab. In ancient times, many of the great cities of Mesopotamia stood on or near the Tigris, drawing water from it to irrigate the civilization of the Sumerians. Notable Tigris-side cities included Nineveh, Ctesiphon, and Seleucia, while the city of Lagash was irrigated by the Tigris via a canal dug around 2400 BC.
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Tigris River
The Tigris River (/ˈtaɪɡrɪs/; Arabic: دجله) is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.
The Tigris is 1,850 km long, rising in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey about 25 km southeast of the city of Elazig and about 30 km from the headwaters of the Euphrates. The river then flows for 400 km through Turkish territory before becoming the border between Syria and Turkey. This stretch of 44 km is the only part of the river that is located in Syria. The remaining 1,418 km are entirely within the Iraqi borders.
The Tigris unites with the Euphrates near Basra, and from this junction to the Persian Gulf the mass of moving water is known as the Shatt-al-Arab. According to Pliny and other ancient historians, the Euphrates originally had its outlet into the sea separate from that of the Tigris.
Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, stands on the banks of the Tigris. The port city of Basra straddles the Shatt al-Arab. In ancient times, many of the great cities of Mesopotamia stood on or near the Tigris, drawing water from it to irrigate the civilization of the Sumerians. Notable Tigris-side cities included Nineveh, Ctesiphon, and Seleucia, while the city of Lagash was irrigated by the Tigris via a canal dug around 2400 BC.
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Umm Qasr
Umm Qasr (Arabic: أم قصر, also transliterated as : Um-qasir, Um-qasser), is a port city in southern Iraq. It stands on the canalised Khawr az-Zubayr, part of the Khawr Abd Allah estuary which leads to the Persian Gulf. It is separated from the border of Kuwait by a small inlet. A bridge across the waterway linked the port with Kuwait prior to the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
Umm Qasr was originally a small fishing town, but was used as a military port on several occasions before advancing trades and jobs by building a deep-water port on the coast. It was said to have been the site of Alexander the Great's landing in Mesopotamia in 325 BC. During the Second World War a temporary port was established there by the Allies to unload supplies to dispatch to the Soviet Union. It fell back into obscurity after the war, but the government of King Faisal II sought to establish a permanent port there in the 1950s.
After the Iraqi Revolution of 1958, a naval base was established at Umm Qasr. The port was subsequently founded in 1961 by the Iraqi ruler General Abdul-Karim Qassem. It was intended to serve as Iraq's only "deep water" port, reducing the country's dependence on the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway that marks the border with Iran. The port facilities were built by a consortium of companies from West Germany, Sweden and Lebanon, with a railway line connecting it to Basra and Baghdad. The port opened for business in July 1967.
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Venice
Venice (Italian: Venezia [veˈnɛttsja] ( listen), Venetian: Venexia [veˈnɛsja]; (Latin: Venetia) is a city in northeast Italy sited on a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by bridges. It is located in the marshy Venetian Lagoon which stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Venice is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. The city in its entirety is listed as World Heritage Site, along with its lagoon.
Venice is the capital of the Veneto region. In 2009, there were 270,098 people residing in Venice's comune (the population estimate of 272,000 inhabitants includes the population of the whole Comune of Venezia; around 60,000 in the historic city of Venice (Centro storico); 176,000 in Terraferma (the Mainland), mostly in the large frazioni of Mestre and Marghera; 31,000 live on other islands in the lagoon). Together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) (population 1,600,000).
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Warsangali Sultanate
The Warsangali Sultanate (Somali: Saldanadda Warsangeli, Arabic: سلطنة الورسنجلي) was a Somali imperial ruling house centered in northeastern and in some parts of southeastern Somalia. It was one of the largest sultanates ever established in the territory, and, at the height of its power, included the Sanaag region and parts of the northeastern Bari region of the country, an area historically known as Maakhir or the Maakhir Coast. The Sultanate was founded in the late 13th century in northern Somalia by a group of Somalis from the Warsangali branch of the Darod clan, and was ruled by the descendants of the Gerad Dhidhin. In the late 19th century, the influential Sultan Mohamoud Ali Shire governed the Sultanate, assuming control during some of its most turbulent years. The Akil Dhahar ruled south of Sanaag and some portions of the Bari region. In 1884, the United Kingdom established the protectorate of British Somaliland through various treaties with the northern Somali sultanates, including the Warsangali Sultanate.
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Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty (Chinese: 元朝, p Yuán Cháo; Mongolian: Их Юань улс) was the branch of Mongol Borjigin dynasty established by Kublai Khan. Although the Mongols had ruled northern China for decades, it was not until 1271 that Kublai Khan officially proclaimed the dynasty in the traditional Chinese style. His realm – the Great Yuan Empire (t 大元帝國, s 大元帝国, p Dà Yuán Dìguó) – was by this point isolated from the other khanates and controlled only most of present-day China and its surrounding areas including modern Mongolia. It was the first non-Han dynasty to rule all of China and lasted until 1368, after which its remnants in Mongolia were known as the Northern Yuan.
The Yuan is considered both a successor to the Mongol Empire and as an imperial Chinese dynasty. In official Chinese histories, the Yuan Dynasty bore the Mandate of Heaven, following the Song Dynasty and preceding the Ming Dynasty. Although the dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, he placed his grandfather Genghis Khan on the imperial records as the official founder of the dynasty as Taizu.
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Zagros Mountains
The Zagros Mountains (Arabic: جبال زغروس, Aramaic: ܛܘܪ ܙܪܓܣ, Kurdish: زنجیرهچیاکانی زاگرۆس, Lurish: کو یه لی زاگروس, Persian: رشته كوه زاگرس) are the largest mountain range in Iran and Iraq. With a total length of 1,500 km (932 mi), from northwestern Iran, and roughly correlating with Iran's western border, the Zagros range spans the whole length of the western and southwestern Iranian plateau and ends at the Strait of Hormuz. The highest points in the Zagros Mountains are Zard Kuh-bakhtiari and Dena. The Hazaran massif in the Kerman province of Iran forms an eastern outlier of the range, the Jebal Barez reaching into Sistan.
The Zagros fold and thrust belt was formed by collision of two tectonic plates — the Eurasian and Arabian Plates. Recent GPS measurements in Iran have shown that this collision is still active and the resulting deformation is distributed non-uniformly in the country, mainly taken up in the major mountain belts like Alborz and Zagros. A relatively dense GPS network which covered the Zagros in the Iranian part also proves a high rate of deformation within the Zagros. The GPS results show that the current rate of shortening in SE Zagros is ~10 mm/yr and ~5mm/yr in the NW Zagros. The NS strike-slip Kazerun fault divides the Zagros into two distinct zones of deformation. The GPS results also show different shortening directions along the belt, i.e. normal shortening in the South-East and oblique shortening in the NW Zagros.
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Abd ar-Rahman I
Abd al-Rahman I, or, his full name by patronymic record, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya ibn Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (731-788) (Arabic: عبد الرحمن الداخل) was the founder of the Umayyad Emirate of Córdoba (755), a Muslim dynasty that ruled the greater part of Iberia for nearly three centuries (including the succeeding Caliphate of Córdoba). The Muslims called the regions of Iberia under their dominion al-Andalus. Abd al-Rahman's establishment of a government in al-Andalus represented a branching from the rest of the Islamic Empire, which had been brought under the Abbasid following the overthrow of the Umayyads from Damascus in 750.
He was also known by appellations al-Dakhil ("the Immigrant"), Saqr Quraish ("the Falcon of the Quraysh") and the "Falcon of Andalus". Variations of the spelling of his name include Abd ar-Rahman I, Abdul Rahman I and Abderraman I.
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Abd ar-Rahman III
Abd-ar-Rahman III (Abd al-Rahmān ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Allāh; Arabic: عبد الرحمن الثالث; 11 January 889/91 – 15 October 961) was the Emir and Caliph of Córdoba (912–961) of the Ummayad dynasty in al-Andalus. Called al-Nasir li-Din Allah ("the Defender of God's Faith"), he ascended the throne in his early 20s, and reigned for half a century as the most powerful prince of Iberia. Although people of all creeds enjoyed tolerance and freedom of religion under his rule, he repelled the Fatimids, partly by supporting their enemies in Ifriqiya, and partly by claiming the title Caliph (ruler of the Islamic world) for himself.
Abd ar-Rahman was born in Córdoba, the grandson of Abdullah, seventh independent Umayyad emir of Al-Andalus. His parents were Abdallah's son Muhammad and Muzna (or Muzayna), a Christian concubine. His paternal grandmother was also a Christian, the royal infanta Onneca Fortúnez, daughter of the captive king Fortún Garcés of Pamplona. Abd ar-Rahman was thus nephew in the half-blood of queen Toda of Navarre. He is described as having:
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Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr (Abdullah ibn Abi Quhafa) (Arabic: عبد الله بن أبي قحافة, Transliteration: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Quḥāfah, c. 573 CE - 634 CE) also known as Abū Bakr as-Șiddīq (Arabic: أبو بكر الصديق) was a senior companion (Sahabi) and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632–634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death. As Caliph, Abu Bakr succeeded to the political and administrative functions previously exercised by Muhammad, since the religious function and authority of prophethood ended with Muhammad's death according to Islam. He was called Al-Siddiq (The Truthful) and was known by that title among later generations of Muslims.
As a young man, Abu Bakr became a cloth merchant and he traveled extensively in Arabia and neighboring lands in the Middle East, through which he gained both wealth and experience. He eventually came to be recognized as the chief of his clan. On his return from a business trip to Yemen, he was informed that in his absence Muhammad had openly declared his prophethood. Not long after, Abu Bakr accepted Islam and was the first person outside the family of Muhammad to openly become a Muslim. He was instrumental in the conversion of many people to the Islamic faith and early in 623, Abu Bakr's daughter Aisha was married to Muhammad, strengthening the ties between the two men.
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Abu Nasr Mansur
Abu Nasr Mansur ibn Ali ibn Iraq (Persian: ابو نصر منصور بن علی بن عراق; c. 960 – 1036) was a Persian Muslim mathematician. He is well known for his work with the spherical sine law.
Abu Nasr Mansur was born in Gilan, Persia, to the ruling family of Khwarezm, the "Banu Iraq". He was thus a prince within the political sphere. He was a student of Abu'l-Wafa and a teacher of and also an important colleague of the mathematician, Al-Biruni. Together, they were responsible for great discoveries in mathematics and dedicated many works to one another.
Most of Abu Nasr's work focused on math, but some of his writings were on astronomy. In mathematics, he had many important writings on trigonometry, which were developed from the writings of Ptolemy. He also preserved the writings of Menelaus of Alexandria and reworked many of the Greeks theorems.
He died in the Ghaznavid Empire (modern-day Afghanistan) near the city of Ghazna.
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Abu Tammam
Abu Tammam (Habib ibn Aws Al-Ta'i.) (أبو تمام حبيب بن أوس) (b.788-845) was an Abbasid era Arab poet and Muslim convert born to Christian parents.
Abu Tammam was born in Jasim (Josem), Syria, north-east of the Sea of Tiberias and near Hierapolis Bambyce. He seems to have spent his youth in Homs, though, according to one story, he was employed during his boyhood selling water at a mosque in Cairo. His first appearance as a poet was in Egypt, but as he failed to make a living there he went to Damascus, and then to Mosul. From there he made a visit to the governor of Armenia which was at the time a part of the Arab Islamic empire, where he was well-supported. After 833 he lived mostly in Baghdad, at the court of the caliph Mo'tasim. From Baghdad he visited Khorasan, where he enjoyed the favour of Abdullah ibn Tahir. In approximately 845 he was in Ma'arrat un-Nu'man, where he met the poet al-Buhturi (c. 820–897). He died in Mosul in 845.
Abu Tammam is best known in literature by his 9th century compilation of early poems known as the Hamasah. The Hamasah (Arabic, "exhortation") is one of the greatest anthologies of Arabic literature ever written. Abu Tammam gathered these works together when he was snowbound in Hamadan, where he had access to an excellent library belonging to Abu al-Wafa Ibn Salama. There are ten books of poems in the Hamasah, all classified by subject. Some of them are selections from long poems. This is one of the treasuries of early Arabic poetry, and the poems are of exceptional beauty. A later anthology by the same name was compiled by the poet al-Buhturi, and the term has been used in modern times to mean "heroic epic."
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Ahmad Y Hassan
Ahmad Yousef Al-Hassan (Arabic: أحمد يوسف الحسن) (June 25, 1925 - April 28, 2012 ) was a historian of Arabic and Islamic science and technology , educated in Jerusalem, Cairo and London with a Ph.D. in Mechanical engineering from University College London. He was Dean of Engineering and later President of the University of Aleppo where he founded the Institute for the History of Arabic Science (IHAS) and was its first director. He also served as Minister of Petroleum, Electricity and Mineral Resources of Syria .
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Ak Koyunlu
The Aq Qoyunlu or Ak Koyunlu, also called the White Sheep Turkomans (Persian/Azeri: آق قویونلو), was an SunniOghuz Turkic tribal federation that ruled parts of present-day Eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, northern Iraq, and Iran from 1378 to 1508.
According to chronicles from the Byzantine Empire, the Aq Qoyunlu were present in eastern Anatolia from at least 1340, and most of their leaders, including the dynasty's founder, Uzun Hassan, married Byzantine princesses.
The Aq Qoyunlu Turkomans first acquired land in 1402, when Timur granted them all of Diyarbakır in present-day Turkey. For a long time, the Aq Qoyunlu were unable to expand their territory, as the rival Kara Koyunlu or "Black Sheep Turkomans" kept them at bay. However, this changed with the rule of Uzun Hassan, who defeated the Black Sheep Turkoman leader Jahān Shāh in 1467.
After the defeat of a Ilkhanate leader, Abu Sa'id, Uzun Hassan was able to take Baghdad along with territories around the Persian Gulf. He expanded into Iran as far east as Khorasan. However, around this time, the Ottoman Empire sought to expand eastwards, a serious threat that forced the Aq Qoyunlu into an alliance with the Karamanids of central Anatolia.
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Al-Amin
Muhammad ibn Harun al-Amin (787–813) (Arabic: محمد الأمين بن هارون الرشيد), Abbasid Caliph. He succeeded his father, Harun al-Rashid in 809 and ruled until he was killed in 813.
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari records that Harun al-Rashid several times impressed on his sons they should respect each other and honour the succession as Harun arranged it. In A.H. 186, Harun had al-Amin and al-Ma'mun sign pledges during a pilgrimage to Mecca that both would honour his will. Al-Amin, would receive the Caliphate and al-Ma'mun would become governor of Khurasan in eastern Iran and would furthermore be granted almost complete autonomy. On al-Amin's death, according to Harun's decision, al-Ma'mun would become Caliph.
Al-Ma'mun had distrusted al-Amin before their father's death and convinced Harun to take him with him on Harun's last journey east. Although Harun had instructed the Baghdad commanders of this expedition to remain with al-Ma'mun, after Harun's death they returned to Baghdad. Al-Amin sought to turn al-Ma'mun's financial agent in Rayy against al-Ma'mun and he ordered al-Ma'mun to acknowledge al-Amin's son Musa as heir and return to Baghdad. Al-Ma'mun replaced his agent in Rayy and refused the orders. His mother was Persian and he had strong support in Iran.
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Al-Battani
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Jābir ibn Sinān al-Raqqī al-Ḥarrānī al-Ṣābiʾ al-Battānī (Latinized as Albategnius, Albategni or Albatenius) (c. 858, Harran – 929, Qasr al-Jiss, near Samarra) was a Muslim astronomer, astrologer, and mathematician. He introduced a number of trigonometric relations, and his Kitāb az-Zīj was frequently quoted by many medieval astronomers, including Copernicus.
Little is known about al-Battānī's life beside that he was born in Harran near Urfa, in Upper Mesopotamia, which is now in Turkey, and his father was a famous maker of scientific instruments. His epithet aṣ-Ṣabi’ suggests that among his ancestry were members of the Sabian sect; however, his full name indicates that he was Muslim. Some western historians state that he is of noble origin, like an Arab prince, but traditional Arabic biographers make no mention of this. He lived and worked in ar-Raqqah, a city in north central Syria.
One of al-Battānī's best-known achievements in astronomy was the determination of the solar year as being 365 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes and 24 seconds.
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Al-Biruni
Abū al-Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Bīrūnī (born 5 September 973 in Kath, Khwarezm, died in the year 13 December 1048 in Ghazni), known as Alberonius in Latin and Al-Biruni in English, was a Persian-ChorasmianMuslim scholar and polymath of the 11th century.
Al-Biruni is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era and was well versed in physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural sciences, and also distinguished himself as a historian, chronologist and linguist. He was conversant in Chorasmian, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit and Turkic, and also knew Greek, Hebrew and Syriac. He spent a large part of his life in Ghazni in modern-day Afghanistan, capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty which ruled eastern Iranian lands and the northwestern Indian subcontinent. In 1017 he traveled to the Indian subcontinent and became the most important interpreter of Indian science to the Islamic world. He is given the titles the "founder of Indology" and the "first anthropologist". He was an impartial writer on custom and creeds of various nations, and was given the title al-Ustdadh ("The Master") for his remarkable description of early 11th-century India. He also made contributions to Earth sciences, and is regarded as the "father of geodesy" for his important contributions to that field, along with his significant contributions to geography.
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Al-Hadi
Abu Abdullah Musa ibn Mahdi al-Hadi (Arabic: أبو محمد موسى بن المهدي الهادي) (born: 147 AH; died: 170 AH)(born: 764; died: 786 AD) was the fourth Abbasid caliph who succeeded his father Al-Mahdi and ruled from 169 AH (785 AD) until his death in 170 AH (786 AD).
Al-Hadi was the eldest son of Al-Mahdi and Al-Khayzuran and like his father he was very open to the people of his empire and allowed citizens to visit him in the palace at Baghdad to address him. As such, he was considered an "enlightened ruler", and continued the progressive moves of his Abbasid predecessors.
His short rule was wreaked with numerous military conflicts. The revolt of Husayn ibn Ali ibn Hasan broke out when Husayn declared himself caliph in Medina. Al-Hadi crushed the rebellion and killed Husayn and many of his followers, but Idris bin Abdallah, a cousin of Husayn, escaped and aided by Wadih, Egyptian postal manager, reached Morocco where he founded the Idrisi state[citation needed]. Al-Hadi also crushed a Kharijite rebellion as well as faced a Byzantine invasion. However, the Byzantines were turned back, and the Abbasid armies actually seized some territory from them[citation needed].
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Al-Kindi
Abu Yusuf Yaʻqūb ibn Isḥāq al-Sabbah al-Kindī (Arabic: ابو يوسف يعقوب بن اسحاق الصبّاح الكندي, Latin: Alkindus) (c. 801–873 CE), known as "the Philosopher of the Arabs", was a Muslim Arab philosopher, mathematician, physician, and musician. Al-Kindi was the first of the Muslim peripatetic philosophers, and is unanimously hailed as the "father of Islamic or Arabic philosophy" for his synthesis, adaptation and promotion of Greek and Hellenistic philosophy in the Muslim world.
Al-Kindi was a descendant of the Kinda tribe. He was born and educated in Kufa, before going to pursue further studies in Baghdad. Al-Kindi became a prominent figure in the House of Wisdom, and a number of Abbasid Caliphs appointed him to oversee the translation of Greek scientific and philosophical texts into the Arabic language. This contact with "the philosophy of the ancients" (as Greek philosophy was often referred to by Muslim scholars) had a profound effect on his intellectual development, and lead him to write hundreds of original treatises of his own on a range of subjects ranging from metaphysics, ethics, logic and psychology, to medicine, pharmacology,mathematics, astronomy, astrology and optics, and further afield to more practical topics like perfumes, swords, jewels, glass, dyes, zoology, tides, mirrors, meteorology and earthquakes.
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Al-Ma'mun
Abū Jaʿfar Abdullāh al-Māʾmūn ibn Harūn (also spelled Almamon, Al-Maymun and el-Mâmoûn, Arabic ابوجعفر عبدالله المأمون) (September 13, 786 – August 9, 833) (المأمون) was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 813 until his death in 833. He succeeded his brother al-Amin.
Al-Ma'mun was born on September 13, 786 CE to the Abbasid emperor Harun and a Persian woman called Marajil.
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Al-Mahdi
Muhammad ibn Mansur al-Mahdi (Arabic: محمد بن منصورالمهدى ) (born: 126 or 127 AH; died: 169 AH) (born: 744 or 745 AD; died: 785 AD), was the third Abbasid Caliph who reigned from 158 AH to 169 AH (775 - 785). He succeeded his father, al-Mansur.
Al-Mahdi, whose name means "Rightly-guided" or "Redeemer", was proclaimed caliph when his father was on his deathbed. His peaceful reign continued the policies of his predecessors.
Rapprochement with the Shi'ite Muslims in the Caliphate occurred under al-Mahdi's reign. The powerful Barmakid family, which had advised the Caliphs since the days of al-'Abbas as viziers, gained even greater powers under al-Mahdi's rule, and worked closely with the caliph to ensure the prosperity of the Abbasid state.
Al-Mahdi reigned for ten years. He imprisoned his most trusted vizier Yaqub bin Dawud and held him captive in a dungeon until he died. In the year 167 AH/ 783 AD, al-Mahdi instituted an official inquisition to execute the alleged Zindiq (heretics). in the official inquisition. He was fond of music and erotic poetry and during his caliphate the musicians and erotic poets were patronized and he universilized music and erotic poetry in his dominion. In the year 161 AH, he subdued the rebellion of Abdullah bin Marwan bin Muhammad the Umayyad remnant in Syria. In 160 AH he put down the insurrection of Yusuf bin Ibrahim in Khurasan. In the same year al-Mahdi deposed Isa bin Musa as his successor and appointed Musa Hadi in his place and took allegiance for him from the nobles. Al-Mahdi was poisoned by one of his concubines in the year 169 AH/ 785 AD).
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Al-Mansur
Al-Mansur or Abu Ja'far Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Mansur (95 AH – 158 AH (714 AD – 775 AD);Arabic: أبو جعفر عبدالله بن محمد المنصور) was the second Abbasid Caliph from 136 AH to 158 AH (754 AD – 775 AD).
Al-Mansur was born at the home of the 'Abbasid family after their emigration from the Hejaz in 95 AH (714 AD). "His father, Muhammad, was reputedly a great-grandson of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, the youngest uncle of Mohammad; his mother, as described in the 14th century Moorish historian Ali Ibn-Abd Allah's Rawd al-Qirtas was a "Berber woman given to his father." He reigned from Dhu al-Hijjah 136 AH until Dhu al-Hijjah 158 AH (754 AD – 775 AD). In 762 he founded as new imperial residence and palace city Madinat as-Salam(the city of peace), which became the core of the Imperial capital Baghdad.
Al-Mansur was concerned with the solidity of his regime after the death of his brother, Abu'l `Abbas, who later become known as-Saffah (the blood spreader = bloody). In 755 he arranged the assassination of Abu Muslim. Abu Muslim was a loyal freed man from the eastern Iranian province of Khorasan who had led the Abbasid forces to victory over the Umayyads during the Third Islamic Civil War in 749-750. At the time of al-Mansur he was the subordinate, but undisputed ruler of Iran and Transoxiana. The assassination seems to have been made to preclude a power struggle in the empire. Though some findings suggest the Abu Muslim became incredulous and paranoid, thus assassination was necessary and arranged[citation needed].
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Al-Mu'tasim
Abu Ishaq 'Abbas al-Mu'tasim ibn Harun (Arabic: أبو إسحاق عباس المعتصم بن هارون ʾAbū ʾIsḥāq al-Muʿtaṣim ibn Hārūn) (794 – January 5, 842) was an Abbasid caliph (833–842). He succeeded his half-brother al-Ma'mun. In Arabian communities, al-Mu'tasim is an example of the magnanimity, because of the famous incident "Wa Mu'tasimah" (وا معتصماه).
Abu Ishaq was born to a Turkic slave mother,his father was then caliph Harun al-Rashid. Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari records that Abu Ishaq led the pilgrimage in A.H. 200 (815-816) and in 201. Al-Tabari mentions that in 202 Abu Ishaq commanded a force sent against some Kharijite rebels. One of the happenings on this campaign was that one day in combat one of the Turkish military clients ghilman there advanced in between a Kharijite lancer and the future caliph. The Turk shouted, "Recognize me!" (In Persian "Ashinas ma-ra.") To express his appreciation, Abu Ishaq on that same day granted this man the name Ashinas and he became known as Abu Ja'far Ashinas. Abu Ishaq defeated these Kharijites.
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Al-Mu'tazz
Al-Mu'tazz (Arabic: المعتز) (died 869) was the title of the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 866 to 869. Placed upon the throne by the Turks, he proved but too apt a pupil of his Turkish masters.He became the caliph at 19 he was the youngest Abbasaid Caliph to assume power. He was surrounded by parties each jealous of the other. At Samarra, the Turks were having problems with the "Westerns" (Berbers and Moors); while the Arabs and Persians at Baghdad, who had supported al-Musta'in, regarded both with equal hatred. Al-Mu'tazz was thus surrounded by people who were ready for plot or treachery whether against each other or against al-Mu'tazz:—a poor justification, however, for the course of betrayal and bloodshed which he, not less than they, pursued.
First he put to death the former Caliph al-Musta'in. Then his own brother Al-Mu'eiyyad, being next heir to the throne, was also cruelly put to death. Also another brother, Abu Ahmed, who had bravely led the troops in the late struggle on his side, was thrown into prison. The Turks attempted his release, but al-Mu'tazz, the more alarmed, resolved on his death. He was smothered in a downy robe (or, as others say, frozen in a bed of ice); and the body was then exposed before the Court, as if, being without mark of violence, he had died a natural death.
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Al-Muqtadir
Al-Muqtadir (Arabic: المقتدر ) (born 895 AD (282 AH), died 932 AD (320 AH)) was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 908 AD to 932 AD (295 AH - 320 AH).
After the previous Caliph, al-Muktafi, was confined for several months to his sick-bed, intrigue was made for some time as to his successor. The choice was between al-Muktafi's minor brother whom the Caliph himself favored, and a descendant of al-Mu'tazz who was only thirteen at the time. The Vazir, hoping for more power, chose the minor. The boy assumed the title of al-Muqtadir, Mighty by the help of the Lord, a sad misnomer; for even in manhood he was but a weak hedonist in the hands of women of the Court, and of their favorites. His twenty-five years reign is the constant record of his thirteen Vazirs, one rising on the fall, or on the assassination, of another.
The stand made during the last three reigns to stay downward progress at last came to an end. From now on, the Abbasid continued its decline. At the same time many names famous in the world of literature and science fall under this and the following reigns. Among the best known are: Ishaq ibn Hunain (d. 911) (son of Hunain ibn Ishaq), the physician and translator of Greek philosophical works into Arabic; ibn Fadlan, the explorer; al Battani (d. 923), astronomer; Tabari (d. 923), historian and theologian; al-Razi (d. 930), philosopher who made fundamental and lasting contributions to the fields of medicine, chemistry; al-Farabi (d. 950), chemist and philosopher; Abu Nasr Mansur (d. 1036), mathematician; Alhazen (d. 1040), mathematician; al-Biruni (d. 1048), mathematician, astronomer, physicist; Omar Khayyám (d. 1123), poet, mathematician, and astronomer;Mansur Al-Hallaj a mystic, writer and teacher of Sufism most famous for his apparent, but disputed, self-proclaimed divinity, his poetry and for his execution for heresy by Caliph Al-Muqtadir.
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Al-Musta'in (Cairo)
Al-Musta'in Billah (Arabic: المستعين بالله) (c. 1390 / February or March 1430) was the tenth Abbasid "shadow" caliph of Cairo, reigning under the tutelage of the Mamluk sultans from 1406 to 1414. He was the only Cairo-based Abbasid caliph to hold political power as Sultan of Egypt, albeit for only six months in 1412. All the other Cairene Abbasid caliphs who preceded or succeeded him were spiritual heads lacking any temporal power.
Al-Musta'in was the son of al-Mutawakkil I by a Turkish concubine named Bay Khatun. He succeeded his father as caliph on 22 January 1406. At that point in time, the role of the Abbasid caliphs had been reduced to legitimizing the rule of the Burji Mamluk sultans through the issuance of certificates of investiture. Al-Musta'in accompanied Sultan Faraj on his campaign in the Levant against the rebel amirs (governors) of Aleppo and Tripoli. Faraj's defeat at Lajjun on 25 April 1412 resulted in anarchy. Al-Musta'in was captured by the rebels, who competed against each other for the sultanate. Unable to choose a candidate from among themselves, the quarreling Mamluks followed the advice of Faraj's infant son Fath Allah, who had suggested appointing al-Musta'in as sultan.
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Al-Musta'sim
Al-Musta'sim Billah (full name: al-Musta'sim-Billah Abu-Ahmad Abdullah bin al-Mustansir-Billah; Arabic: المستعصم بالله أبو أحمد عبد الله بن المستنصر بالله; 1213 – February 20, 1258) was the last Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad; he ruled from 1242 until his death.
Al-Musta'sim succeeded his father in the late 1242.
He is noted for his opposition to the rise of Shajar al-Durr to the Egyptian throne during the Seventh Crusade. He sent a message from Baghdad to the Mamluks in Egypt that said: "If you do not have men there tell us so we can send you men.". However, Al-Musta'sim had to face the greatest menace against the caliphate since its establishment in 632, the invasion of the Mongol forces that, under Hulagu Khan, had already wiped out any resistance in Transoxiana and Khorasan. In 1255/1256 Hulagu forced the Abbasid to lend their forces for the campaign against Alamut.
In 1258 Hulagu invaded the Abbasid domain, comprising a little more than what is now Iraq and Syria. In an advance on Baghdad, Hulagu Khan had several columns advance simultaneously on the city, and laid siege to it. The Caliph had been deluded by promises from his Vizier that the Mongols could be driven off literally by the women of the city throwing stones at them, and did the worst of all things: nothing. He neither raised an army to defend Baghdad from the largest Mongol army ever assembled – one Mongol in ten had been conscripted into the forces advancing on the Caliphate – nor did he attempt to negotiate with Hulagu. Instead he sent weak threats to the Mongol warlord.
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Al-Mustakfi
Al-Mustakfi (Arabic: المستكفي ) was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 944 to 946. He was installed by Tuzun, a Turkish general who disposed and blinded the previous Caliph al-Muttaqi.
Buwayhid dynasty began threatening the Capital. Tuzun, with the Caliph, marched to Wasit and defeated them. The tribute due from Mosul being withheld, Tuzun also marched against the Hamdanids; but, after friendly relations were reestablished, he returned.
Soon after, Tuzun died, and was succeeded by Abu Ja'far, one of his generals. Baghdad now fell into a fearful state of distress. Supplies, stayed by the enemies all round, no longer reached the markets, and people were reduced to eat dogs, cats and garbage. The mob were driven by starvation to plunder the shops of their remaining stores. Multitudes fled the city for Basra or elsewhere, dying in great numbers from weakness. Abu Ja'far at last, finding himself unable to control affairs, requested the aid of Hamdanid commander Nasir ud-Daula, from Mosul; even offering, if he would come, to vacate in his favor the supreme command. But the Hamdanids were at the moment engaged on one hand with the Russians in Azerbaijan, and on the other with the Ikhshids in Syria.
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Al-Mustarshid
Al-Mustarshid (1092 - 1135) was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 1118 to 1135.
Son of the preceding Caliph, he achieved more independence as a ruler while the Seljuq sultan Mahmud II was engaged in war in the East.
In 1123 an Arab Banu Mazyad general, Dubais, tried to take advantage of the momentary lack of power and, after plundering Bosra, attacked Baghdad together with a young brother of the sultan. He was however crushed by a Seljuq army under Zengi. In 1125 it was the time of al-Mustarshid to rebel. He sent an army to take Wasit but was defeated near Baghdad and imprisoned in his palace (1126).
At the death of sultan Mahmud, a civil war broke out in the Seljuq western territories. Zengi was recalled to the East by certain rebel members, stimulated by the Caliph and Dubais. Zengi was beaten and fled. The Caliph pursued him to Mosul, and besieged him there but without success for three months. It was nonetheless a milestone in the revival of the military power of the caliphate.
Zengi now resumed operations in Syria and in 1134 laid siege to Damascus, but was induced, partly by the bravery of the enemy, partly at the instance of the Caliph, to whom Zengi had made some concession in the public prayers, to relinquish the attempt. Recalled again by troubles in the East, he was unable to do much against the Crusaders till after al-Mustarshid's death.
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Al-Mutanabbi
Abu at-Tayyib Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Mutanabbi (Arabic: أبو الطيب أحمد بن الحسين المتنبّي Abū aṭ-Ṭayyib ʾAḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Mutanabbī) (915 – 23 September 965) was an Arab from the Arabian peninsula but was born within the modern-day boundaries of Iraq, which was then part of the Abbasid caliphate. He is considered as one of the greatest poets in the Arabic language. Much of his poetry revolves around praising the kings he visited during his lifetime. Some consider his 326 poems to be a great representation of his life story. He started writing poetry when he was nine years old. He is well known for his sharp intelligence and wittiness. Al-Mutanabbi had a great pride in himself through his poetry. Among the topics he discussed were courage, the philosophy of life, and the description of battles. Many of his poems were and still are widely spread in today's Arab world and are considered to be proverbial.
His great talent brought him very close to many leaders of his time. He praised those leaders and kings in return for money and gifts. His powerful and honest[citation needed] poetic style earned great popularity in his time.
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Al-Mutawakkil
Al-Mutawakkil ʻAlā Allāh Jaʻfar ibn al-Muʻtasim (Arabic المتوكل على الله جعفر بن المعتصم) (March 821 – December 861) was an Abbasid caliph who reigned in Samarra from 847 until 861. He succeeded his brother al-Wāthiq and is known for putting an end to the Mihna "ordeal", the Inquisition-like attempt by his predecessors to impose a single Mu'tazili version of Islam.
While al-Wathiq was caliph, the vizier, ibn Abd al-Malik, had poorly treated al-Mutawakkil. On September 22, 847, al-Mutawakkil had him arrested. The former vizier's property was plundered and he was tortured in his own iron maiden. He finally died on November 2. The caliph had others who had mistreated him in the previous reign punished.
In A.H. 235 (849) al-Mutawakkil had the prominent military commander Itakh al-Khazari seized in Baghdad. Itakh was imprisoned and died of thirst on December 21. One Mahmud ibn al-Faraj al-Nayshapuri arose claiming to be a prophet. He and some followers were arrested in Baghdad. He was imprisoned, beaten and on June 18, 850 he died.
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Al-Mutawakkil III
Al-Mutawakkil III (Arabic: المتوكل على الله الثالث) (died 1543) was caliph from 1508 to 1516, and again in 1517. He was the last caliph of the later, Egyptian-based period of the Abbasid dynasty. Since the Mongol sack of Baghdad and the execution of Caliph Al-Musta'sim in 1258, the Abbasid caliphs had resided in Cairo, nominal rulers used to legitimize the actual rule of the Mamluk sultans.
Al-Mutawakkil III was deposed briefly in 1516 by his predecessor Al-Mustamsik, but was restored to the caliphate the following year. In 1517, Ottoman sultan Selim I managed to defeat the Mamluk Sultanate, and made Egypt part of the Ottoman Empire. Al-Mutawakkil III was captured together with his family and transported to Constantinople. He formally surrendered the title of caliph as well as its outward emblems—the sword and mantle of Muhammad—to Ottoman sultan Selim I[citation needed].
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Al-Nasir
An-Nasir li-Din Allah (1158–1225) (Arabic: الناصر لدين الله) was the 34th Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 1180 until his death. His laqab literally means The Victor for the Religion of God. He attempted to restore the Caliphate to its ancient dominant role and achieved a surprising amount of success, despite the fact that the caliphate had long been militarily subordinated to other dynasties. He not only held Baghdad (the capital of the Abbasid empire), but extended his dominion into Mesopotamia and Persia.
Besides his occasional conquests, he consistently held Iraq from Tikrit to the Gulf without interruption. His long reign of forty-seven years is chiefly marked by ambitious and corrupt dealings with the Tartar chiefs, and by his hazardous invocation of the Mongols, which so soon brought his own dynasty to an end. But in his day, there was comparative peace at Baghdad; learning flourished; while refuges for the poor, and other works of public interest, were encouraged.
Al-Nasir's reign is unusual for the rise of the futuwwa groups in his reign, connected to Baghdad's long-standing ayyarun. These urban social groups had long existed in Baghdad and elsewhere, and they were often involved in urban conflicts, especially sectarian riots. Al-Nasir made them into an instrument of his government, reorganizing them along Sufi lines and ideology.
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Al-Qa'im (Cairo)
Al-Qa'im of Cairo (Arabic: القائم بأمر الله) was an Abbasid Caliph of Cairo, Egypt for the Mamluk Sultans between 1451 and 1455.
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Al-Qa'im (caliph)
Al-Qa'im (Arabic: القائم) (died 1075) was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 1031 to 1075. He was the son of the previous Caliph al-Qadir. During the first half of al-Qa'im's long reign, hardly a day passed in the capital without turmoil. Frequently the city was left without a ruler; the Buwayhid ruler was often forced to flee the capital. Meanwhile the Seljuk dynasty arose.
Toghrül overran Syria and Armenia. He then cast an eye upon Baghdad. It was at a moment when the city was in the last agony of violence and fanaticism. Toghrül, under cover of intended pilgrimage to Mecca, entered Iraq with a heavy force, and assuring the Caliph of pacific views and subservience to his authority, begged permission to visit the Capital. The Turks and Buwayhids were unfavorable, but Toghrül was acknowledged as Sultan by the Caliph in the public prayers. A few days after, Toghrül himself, — having sworn to be true not only to the Caliph, but also to the Buwayhid, Malik Rahim, made his entry into the Capital, where he was well received both by chiefs and people.
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Al-Wathiq
Al-Wathiq ibn Mutasim (Arabic الواثق) (died 847) was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 842 until 847 AD (227–232 AH in the Islamic calendar).
He succeeded his father, al-Mutasim, being hailed caliph on the day his father died, December 26, 841. Al-Wathiq was the son of the Byzantine concubine Qaratis. She accompanied al-Wathiq's brother Jafar ibn al-Mu'tasim (the future caliph al-Mutawakkil) on the pilgrimage in A.H. 227. However, she died on the way on August 16, 842. She was buried in Kufa.
In A.H. 229 (843–844) al-Wathiq, remembering Harun al-Rashid's handling of the powerful Barmakids, arrested some of his prominent officials. These were tortured to encourage them to surrender funds they allegedly misappropriated.
In A.H. 230 (844–845) al-Wathiq sent one of his Turkish generals, Bugha al-Kabir (the Elder), to handle lawlessness in Arabia. A rampant tribe had defeated and killed the forces of Hammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari. Bugha al-Kabir promptly brought order there arresting a good number of miscreants. The next year, when Bugha was quelling disturbances elsewhere in Arabia, these prisoners attempted to escape. They were prevented and killed.
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Alavids
The Alavids or Alavians (سلسله علویان طبرستان in Persian; also Alijds), also known as the Zaydids, were a Zaidi Shia emirate based in Mazandaran (Tabaristan) of Iran. They were descendants of the second Shi'a Imam (Imam Hasan ibn Ali) and brought Islam to the south Caspian Sea region of Iran. Their reign was ended when they were defeated by the Samanid empire in 928 AD. After their defeat some of the soldiers and generals of the Alavids joined the Samanid dynasty. Mardavij the son of Ziar was one of the generals that joined the Samanids. He later founded the Ziyarid dynasty. Ali, Hassan and Ahmad the sons of Buye [bu:je] (that were founders of the Buyid or Buwayhid dynasty) were also among generals of the Alavid dynasty who joined the Samanid army.
Their capital was the city of Amol.
Split of Alavis: Anti-Samanid & Pro-Samanid:
Anti-Samanids:
Pro-Samanids:
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Ali Baba
Ali Baba (Arabic: علي بابا ʿAli Bāba) is a fictional character from medieval Arabic literature. He is described in the adventure tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
This story has been used as a popular pantomime plot such as in the pantomime/musical Chu Chin Chow (1916). Like many other folk tales frequently adapted for children, the original tale is darker and more violent than the more familiar bowdlerised versions. Popular perception of Ali Baba, and the way he is treated in popular media, sometimes implies that he was the leader of the "Forty Thieves": in the story he is actually an "honest man" whom fortune enables to take advantage of the thieves' robberies.
Some critics believe that this story was added to One Thousand and One Nights by one of its European translators, Antoine Galland, an 18th-century French orientalist who may have heard it in oral form from a Middle Eastern story-teller from Aleppo, in modern day Syria. In any case, the first known text of the story is Galland's French version. Richard F. Burton, however, claimed it to be part of the original One Thousand and One Nights.
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Ali ibn Abi Talib
Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (Arabic: علي بن أﺑﻲ طالب, Transliteration: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, [ʕaliː ibn ʔæbiː t̪ˤɑːlib]; 13thRajab, 24 BH–21stRamaḍān, 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661). The son of Abu Talib, Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of Islamic prophet Muhammad, ruling over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam.Sunnis consider Ali the fourth and final of the Rashidun (rightly guided Caliphs), while Shias regard Ali as the first Imam and consider him and his descendants the rightful successors to Muhammad, all of which are members of the Ahl al-Bayt, the household of Muhammad. This disagreement split the Ummah (Muslim community) into the Sunni and Shia branches.
Muslim sources, especially Shia ones, state that since Muhammad's time, Ali was the only person born in the Kaaba sanctuary in Mecca, the holiest place in Islam. His father was Abu Talib and his mother was Fatima bint Asad, but he was raised in the household of Muhammad, who himself was raised by Abu Talib, Muhammad's uncle, and Ali's father. When Muhammad reported receiving a divine revelation, Ali was the first male to accept his message, dedicating his life to the cause of Islam.
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Almohad
The Almohad Dynasty (Berber: Imweḥḥden, from Arabic الموحدون al-Muwaḥḥidun, "the monotheists" or "the Unitarians"), was a MoroccanBerber-Muslim dynasty founded in the 12th century that established a Berber state in Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains in roughly 1120.
The movement was started by Ibn Tumart in the Masmuda tribe, followed by Abd al-Mu'min al-Gumi between 1130 and his death in 1163, the Almohads defeated the ruling Almoravids, extending their power over all of the Maghreb. Al-Andalus, Moorish Iberia (modern Portugal and southern Spain) under the Almoravid dynasty, followed the fate of Africa.
The Almohad dominance of Iberia continued until 1212, when Muhammad III, "al-Nasir" (1199–1214) was defeated at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra Morena by an alliance of the Christian princes of Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Portugal. Nearly all of the Moorish dominions in Iberia were lost soon after, with the great Moorish cities of Córdoba and Seville falling to the Christians in 1236 and 1248 respectively.
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Almohad Caliphate
The Almohad Dynasty (Berber: Imweḥḥden, from Arabic الموحدون al-Muwaḥḥidun, "the monotheists" or "the Unitarians"), was a MoroccanBerber-Muslim dynasty founded in the 12th century that established a Berber state in Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains in roughly 1120.
The movement was started by Ibn Tumart in the Masmuda tribe, followed by Abd al-Mu'min al-Gumi between 1130 and his death in 1163, the Almohads defeated the ruling Almoravids, extending their power over all of the Maghreb. Al-Andalus, Moorish Iberia (modern Portugal and southern Spain) under the Almoravid dynasty, followed the fate of Africa.
The Almohad dominance of Iberia continued until 1212, when Muhammad III, "al-Nasir" (1199–1214) was defeated at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra Morena by an alliance of the Christian princes of Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Portugal. Nearly all of the Moorish dominions in Iberia were lost soon after, with the great Moorish cities of Córdoba and Seville falling to the Christians in 1236 and 1248 respectively.
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Almohad dynasty
The Almohad Dynasty (Berber: Imweḥḥden, from Arabic الموحدون al-Muwaḥḥidun, "the monotheists" or "the Unitarians"), was a MoroccanBerber-Muslim dynasty founded in the 12th century that established a Berber state in Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains in roughly 1120.
The movement was started by Ibn Tumart in the Masmuda tribe, followed by Abd al-Mu'min al-Gumi between 1130 and his death in 1163, the Almohads defeated the ruling Almoravids, extending their power over all of the Maghreb. Al-Andalus, Moorish Iberia (modern Portugal and southern Spain) under the Almoravid dynasty, followed the fate of Africa.
The Almohad dominance of Iberia continued until 1212, when Muhammad III, "al-Nasir" (1199–1214) was defeated at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra Morena by an alliance of the Christian princes of Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Portugal. Nearly all of the Moorish dominions in Iberia were lost soon after, with the great Moorish cities of Córdoba and Seville falling to the Christians in 1236 and 1248 respectively.
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Almoravid
The Almoravids (Berber: ⵉⵎⵕⴰⴱⴹⴻⵏ Imṛabḍen, Arabic: المرابطون Al-Murābiṭūn) were a Berber dynasty of Morocco, who formed an empire in the 11th-century that stretched over the western Maghreb and Al-Andalus. Their capital was Marrakesh, a city which they founded in 1062 CE. The dynasty originated amongst the Lamtuna and the Gudala, which were nomadic Berber tribes of the Sahara traversing the territory between southern Morocco, the Niger river and the Senegal river.
The Almoravids were crucial in avoiding a precipitated fall of Al-Andalus to the Iberian Christian kingdoms, when they decisively beat a coalition of the Castilian and Aragonese armies at the Battle of Sagrajas. This enabled them to control an empire that stretched 3,000 kilometers north to south. However, the rule of the dynasty was relatively short-lived and the Almoravids fell - at the height of their power - when they failed to quell the Masmuda-led rebellion initiated by Ibn Tumart. As a result, their last king Ishaq ibn Ali was killed in Marrakesh in April 1147 CE by the Almohads who replaced them as a ruling dynasty both in Morocco and Al-Andalus.
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Almoravid dynasty
The Almoravids (Berber: ⵉⵎⵕⴰⴱⴹⴻⵏ Imṛabḍen, Arabic: المرابطون Al-Murābiṭūn) were a Berber dynasty of Morocco, who formed an empire in the 11th-century that stretched over the western Maghreb and Al-Andalus. Their capital was Marrakesh, a city which they founded in 1062 CE. The dynasty originated amongst the Lamtuna and the Gudala, which were nomadic Berber tribes of the Sahara traversing the territory between southern Morocco, the Niger river and the Senegal river.
The Almoravids were crucial in avoiding a precipitated fall of Al-Andalus to the Iberian Christian kingdoms, when they decisively beat a coalition of the Castilian and Aragonese armies at the Battle of Sagrajas. This enabled them to control an empire that stretched 3,000 kilometers north to south. However, the rule of the dynasty was relatively short-lived and the Almoravids fell - at the height of their power - when they failed to quell the Masmuda-led rebellion initiated by Ibn Tumart. As a result, their last king Ishaq ibn Ali was killed in Marrakesh in April 1147 CE by the Almohads who replaced them as a ruling dynasty both in Morocco and Al-Andalus.
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Alp Arslan
Alp Arslan (Persian: آلپ ارسلان ālp arslān; Arabic: الب ارسلان alb arslān or آلب آرسلان ālb ārslān; 1029 – 15 December 1072) was the third sultan of the Seljuq dynasty and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponymous founder of the dynasty. His real name was Muhammad bin Da'ud Chaghri, and for his military prowess, personal valour, and fighting skills he obtained the surname آلپ ارسلان Alp Arslan, which means "Heroic Lion" in Turkic.
He succeeded his father Çağrı Bey as governor of Khorasan in 1059. When his uncle Tughril died he was succeeded by Suleiman, Alp Arslan's brother. Alp Arslan and his uncle Kutalmish both contested this succession. Alp Arslan defeated Kutalmish for the throne and succeeded on 27 April 1064 as sultan of Great Seljuq, and thus became sole monarch of Persia from the river Oxus to the Tigris.
In consolidating his empire and subduing contending factions he was ably assisted by Nizam ul-Mulk, his vizier, and one of the most eminent statesmen in early Muslim history. With peace and security established in his dominions, he convoked an assembly of the states and declared his son Malik Shah I his heir and successor. With the hope of capturing Caesarea Mazaca, the capital of Cappadocia, he placed himself at the head of the Turkish cavalry, crossed the Euphrates and entered and invaded the city. He then marched into Armenia and Georgia, which he conquered in 1064.
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An Lushan
An Lushan (simplified Chinese: 安禄山; traditional Chinese: 安祿山; pinyin: Ān Lùshān, a transcription of the common Sogdian name Rokhshan meaning "the Bright") (ca. 703?– 29 January 757) was a general who rebelled against the Tang Dynasty in China. His name was also transcribed into Chinese as Āluòshān (阿犖山) or Gáluòshān (軋犖山), and he was posthumously named Prince La of Yan (燕剌王) by his deputy Shi Siming.
An Lushan was of Sogdian and Tujue origin, at least by adoption. He rose to prominence defending the northeastern border from the Khitan and other northern threats. He was summoned to Chang'an, the Tang capital, several times and managed to get the favor of Chancellor Li Linfu and Emperor Xuanzong. This allowed An Lushan to amass significant military power in northeast China. After the death of Li Linfu, his opposition with rival generals (Geshu Han) and Yang Guozhong created military tension within the Empire. The promotion of Yang Guozhong to Chancellor precipitated the catastrophic An Lushan Rebellion, which lasted from 755 to 763. Viewed as paranoid and dangerous, he was assassinated in 757 by his own son, An Qingxu, plunging his Yan dynasty into a turmoil that eventually led to its final collapse in 763.
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An-Nasir
An-Nasir li-Din Allah (1158–1225) (Arabic: الناصر لدين الله) was the 34th Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 1180 until his death. His laqab literally means The Victor for the Religion of God. He attempted to restore the Caliphate to its ancient dominant role and achieved a surprising amount of success, despite the fact that the caliphate had long been militarily subordinated to other dynasties. He not only held Baghdad (the capital of the Abbasid empire), but extended his dominion into Mesopotamia and Persia.
Besides his occasional conquests, he consistently held Iraq from Tikrit to the Gulf without interruption. His long reign of forty-seven years is chiefly marked by ambitious and corrupt dealings with the Tartar chiefs, and by his hazardous invocation of the Mongols, which so soon brought his own dynasty to an end. But in his day, there was comparative peace at Baghdad; learning flourished; while refuges for the poor, and other works of public interest, were encouraged.
Al-Nasir's reign is unusual for the rise of the futuwwa groups in his reign, connected to Baghdad's long-standing ayyarun. These urban social groups had long existed in Baghdad and elsewhere, and they were often involved in urban conflicts, especially sectarian riots. Al-Nasir made them into an instrument of his government, reorganizing them along Sufi lines and ideology.
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Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs (Arabic: عرب, ʿarab), are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing an important part of Arab identity.
The word "Arab" has had several different, but overlapping, meanings over the centuries (and sometimes even today). In addition to including all Arabized people of the world (with language tending to be the acid test), it has also at times been used exclusively for bedouin (Arab nomads [although a related word, "`a-RAB," with the Arabic letter "alif" in the second syllable, once was sometimes used when this specific meaning was intended] and their now almost entirely settled descendants). It is sometimes used that way colloquially even today in some places. Townspeople once were sometimes called "sons of the Arabs." As in the case of other ethnicities or nations, people identify themselves (or are identified by others) as "Arabs" to varying degrees. This may not be one's primary identity (it tends to compete with country, religion, sect, etc.), and whether it is emphasized may depend upon one's audience.
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Aristotle
Aristotle (Ancient Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality, aesthetics, logic, science, politics, and metaphysics.
Aristotle's views on the physical sciences profoundly shaped medieval scholarship, and their influence extended well into the Renaissance, although they were ultimately replaced by Newtonian physics. In the zoological sciences, some of his observations were confirmed to be accurate only in the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. In metaphysics, Aristotelianism had a profound influence on philosophical and theological thinking in the Islamic and Jewish traditions in the Middle Ages, and it continues to influence Christian theology, especially the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. His ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotle's philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues (Cicero described his literary style as "a river of gold"), it is thought that the majority of his writings are now lost and only about one-third of the original works have survived.
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Armenians in Iran
Iranian-Armenians (Armenian: Իրանահայ Iranahye), sometimes called Persian-Armenians (Պարսկահայ Parskahye), are Iranian citizens of Armenian or both Iranian and Armenian origin. Their number is about 3,000,000. They mostly live in Tehran and Jolfa district, Isfahan. The Iranian-Armenians were very influential and active in the modernization of Iran during the 19th and 20th centuries. After the Iranian Revolution, many Armenians immigrated to Armenian diasporic communities in North America and Western Europe.Today the Armenians are Iran's largest Christian religious minority. Despite their cultural Armenian identity in Iran, no sizeable numbers of Iranian-Armenians hold Armenian citizenship.
Since Antiquity there has always been much interaction between Ancient Armenia and Persia (Iran).
On the Behistun inscription of 515 BC, Darius the Great indirectly confirmed that Urartu and Armenia are synonymous when describing his conquests. Armenia became a satrap of the Persian Empire for a long period of time. Regardless, relations between Armenians and Persians were cordial.
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Aryan
Aryan /ˈɛərjən/ is an English language loanword derived from the Sanskrit ārya ('Noble'). In present-day academia, the terms "Indo-Iranian" and "Indo-European" have, according to many, made most uses of the term 'Aryan' minimal, and 'Aryan' is now mostly limited to its appearance in the term "Indo-Aryan" to represent (speakers of) North, West and Central Indian languages.
Western notions of an "Aryan race" rose to prominence in late-19th and early-20th century racialist thought, an idea most notably embraced by Nazi ideology (see master race). The Nazis believed that the "Nordic peoples" (who were also referred to as the "Germanic peoples") represent an ideal and "pure race" that was the purest representation of the original racial stock of those who were then called the Proto-Aryans. The Nazis declared that the Nordics were the true Aryans because they claimed that they were more "pure" (less racially mixed with non-native Indo-European peoples) than other people of what were then called the Aryan peoples (now generally called the Indo-European peoples).
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As-Saffah
Abu al-`Abbās `Abdu'llāh ibn Muhammad as-Saffāh, or Abul `Abbas al-Saffah (Arabic: أبو العباس عبد الله بن محمد السفاح, As-Saffah السفّاح literally means The Shedder of Blood), (born 721 C.E - died 754 C.E) was the first Abbasid caliph (750 - 754).
As-Saffah was the head of one branch of the Banu Hashim, who traced their lineage to Hashim, a great-grandfather of Muhammad, via al-Abbas, an uncle of the prophet. The Banu Hashim had great support from the camp of Ali, the fourth caliph, who had died in 661. As narrated in many Hadith (both Sunni and Shia traditions), they believed that in end times another great leader or mahdi would appear in the family to which Prophet Muhammad and Ali belonged, who would liberate Islam. The half-hearted policies of the late Umayyads to tolerate non-Arab Muslims and Shi'as had failed to quell unrest among these minorities.
This unrest led to revolt during the reign of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in Kufa, a prominent city in southern Iraq. Shi'ites revolted in 736 and held the city until 740, led by Zayd ibn Ali, a grandson of Husayn and another member of the Banu Hashim. Zayd's rebellion failed, and was put down by Umayyad armies in 740. The revolt in Kufa indicated both the strength of the Umayyads and the growing unrest in the Muslim world.
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Assyrian people
The Assyrian people, most commonly known as Assyrians and other later names, such as: Chaldeans, Syrians, Syriacs (see names of Syriac Christians), are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia. They are Eastern Aramaic speaking Semites who trace their ancestry back to the Sumero-Akkadian civilisation that emerged in Mesopotamia circa 4000- 3500 BC, and in particular to the northern region of the Akkadian lands, which would become known as Assyria by the 24th Century BC. The Assyrian nation existed as an independent state, and often a powerful empire, from the 24th century BC until the end of the 7th century BC.
Today that ancient territory is part of several nations; Assyria remained a Geo-political entity after its fall, and was ruled as an occupied province under the rule of various empires from the late 7th century BC until the mid 7th century AD when it was dissolved, and the Assyrian people have gradually become a minority in their homelands since that time. They are indigenous to, and have traditionally lived all over what is now Iraq, north east Syria, north west Iran, and Southeastern Turkey. They are predominantly Christian.
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Averroes
ʾAbū l-Walīd Muḥammad bin ʾAḥmad bin Rušd (Arabic: أبو الوليد محمد بن احمد بن رشد), better known just as Ibn Rushd (Arabic: ابن رشد), and in European literature as Averroes ( /əˈvɛroʊ.iːz/; April 14, 1126 – December 10, 1198), was an Andalusian Muslim polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy, geography, mathematics, physics and celestial mechanics. He was born in Córdoba, Al Andalus, modern-day Spain, and died in Marrakesh, Morocco. His school of philosophy is known as Averroism.
Ibn Rushd was a defender of Aristotelian philosophy against claims from the influential Islamic theologian Ghazali who attacked philosophy so it would not become an affront to the teachings of Islam.
Averroes' name is also seen as Averroës, Averroès or Averrhoës, indicating that the "o" and the "e" form separate syllables. Averroes is a Latinisation of a Hebrew transcription of the Arab name Ibn Rushd.
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Avicenna
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā (Persian پورسينا Pur Sina [ˈpuːr ˈsiːnɑː] "son of Sina"; c. 980, Afshana near Bukhara– 1037, Hamadan, Iran), commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persianpolymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 of his surviving treatises concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine.
His most famous works are The Book of Healing, a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and The Canon of Medicine, which was a standard medical text at many medieval universities. The Canon of Medicine was used as a text-book in the universities of Montpellier and Leuven as late as 1650. Ibn Sīnā's Canon of Medicine provides a complete system of medicine according to the principles of Galen (and Hippocrates).
His corpus also includes writing on philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics, as well as poetry. He is regarded as the most famous and influential polymath of the Islamic Golden Age.
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Avicennism
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā (Persian پورسينا Pur Sina [ˈpuːr ˈsiːnɑː] "son of Sina"; c. 980, Afshana near Bukhara– 1037, Hamadan, Iran), commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persianpolymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 of his surviving treatises concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine.
His most famous works are The Book of Healing, a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and The Canon of Medicine, which was a standard medical text at many medieval universities. The Canon of Medicine was used as a text-book in the universities of Montpellier and Leuven as late as 1650. Ibn Sīnā's Canon of Medicine provides a complete system of medicine according to the principles of Galen (and Hippocrates).
His corpus also includes writing on philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics, as well as poetry. He is regarded as the most famous and influential polymath of the Islamic Golden Age.
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Ayyubid dynasty
The Ayyubid dynasty (Arabic: الأيوبيون) was a Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origin, founded by Saladin and centered in Egypt. The dynasty ruled much of the Middle East during the 12th and 13th centuries CE. The Ayyubid family, under the brothers Ayyub and Shirkuh, originally served as soldiers for the Zengids until they supplanted them under Saladin, Ayyub's son. In 1174, Saladin proclaimed himself Sultan following the death of Nur al-Din. The Ayyubids spent the next decade launching conquests throughout the region and by 1183, the territories under their control included Egypt, Syria, northern Mesopotamia, Hejaz, Yemen, and the North African coast up to the borders of modern-day Tunisia. Most of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and beyond Jordan River fell to Saladin after his victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. However, the Crusaders regained control of Palestine's coastline in the 1190s.
After the death of Saladin, his sons contested control over the sultanate, but Saladin's brother al-Adil eventually established himself as Sultan in 1200. In the 1230s, the Ayyubid rulers of Syria attempted to assert their independence from Egypt and remained divided until Egyptian Sultan as-Salih Ayyub restored Ayyubid unity by taking over most of Syria, excluding Aleppo, by 1247. By then, local Muslim dynasties had driven out the Ayyubids from Yemen, the Hejaz, and parts of Mesopotamia. After repelling a Crusader invasion of the Nile Delta, as-Salih Ayyub's Mamluk generals overthrew al-Mu'azzam Turanshah who succeeded Ayyub as Sultan after his death in 1250. This effectively ended Ayyubid power in Egypt and a number of attempts by the rulers of Syria, led by an-Nasir Yusuf of Aleppo, to recover it failed. In 1260, the Mongols sacked Aleppo and wrested control of what remained of the Ayyubid territories soon after. The Mamluks, who forced out the Mongols after the destruction of the Ayyubid dynasty, maintained the Ayyubid principality of Hama until deposing its last ruler in 1341.
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Barmakids
The Barmakids (Persian: برمکیان Barmakīyān; Arabic: البرامكة - al-Barāmikah, also called Barmecides) were a noble Persian family from Balkh that came to great political power under the Abbasid caliphs. Khalid, the son of Barmak became the Prime Minister or Wazir of Al Saffah, the first Caliph of the Abbasid dynasty. His son Yahya aided Harun Al-Rashid in capturing the throne and rose to power as the most powerful man in the Empire. The Barmakids were remarkable for their majesty, splendor and hospitality. They are mentioned in some stories of the Arabian Nights.
The family has its origin in a line of Pramukhs (hereditary Buddhist) priests from Balkh. Traditionally, Islamic historians considered the Barmakids to be Zoroastrian priests before converting to Islam. They converted during the invasion of the Buddhist and Zoroastrian city of Balkh. They were highly educated and respected intelligentsia in Central Asia and the Levant. In Baghdad, the Barmakid court became a centre of patronage for the Ulema, poets, scholars alike.[citation needed]
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Berber people
Berbers (Berber: ⵉⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⴻⵏ Imazighen / Imaziɣen) are the indigenous ethnic group of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch of the Afro-Asiatic linguistic family. Today, varieties of Maghrebi colloquial Arabic are spoken by a large portion of Berbers besides the Berber language itself. Foreign languages like French are used by the educated in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Spanish is also known by some Berbers in Morocco and in the annexed Western Sahara and Italian in Libya. This presence of European languages was due to Europe's occupation and colonization of the Berber world. Today, most Berber-speaking people live in Morocco and Algeria, smaller Berber-speaking populations are scattered throughout Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Mali and Niger, as well as various diasporas living in Europe.
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Carolingian Empire
Carolingian Empire (800–888) is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the Early Middle Ages. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany, and its beginning date is based on the crowning of Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, and ends with the death of Charles the Fat. Depending on one's perspective, this Empire can be seen as the later history of the Frankish Realm or the early history of France and of the Holy Roman Empire.
The term refers to the coronation of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III in 800. Because Charles and his ancestors had been rulers of the Frankish realm earlier (his grandfather Charles Martel had essentially founded the empire during his lifetime), the coronation did not actually constitute a new empire. Most historians prefer to use the term "Frankish Kingdoms" or "Frankish Realm" to refer to the area covering parts of today's Germany and France from the 5th to the 9th century.
Though Charles Martel chose not to take the title King, as his son Pepin III the Short would, or Emperor, as his grandson Charlemagne would be titled, he was absolute ruler of virtually all of today's continental Western Europe north of the Pyrenees. Only the remaining Saxon realms, which he partly conquered, Lombardy, and the Marca Hispanica north of the Pyrenees were significant additions to the Frankish realms after his death.
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Chagatai Khanate
The Chagatai Khanate (Mongolian: Tsagadai Khan Uls/Цагадайн улс) was a Turko-Mongolkhanate that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan, second son of Genghis Khan, and his descendents and successors. Initially it was considered a part of the Mongol Empire, but it later became fully independent.
At its height in the late 13th century, the Khanate extended from the Amu Darya south of the Aral Sea to the Altai Mountains in the border of modern-day Mongolia and China.
The khanate lasted in one form or another from 1220s until the late 17th century, although the western half of the khanate was lost to Tamerlane in the 1360s. The eastern half remained under Chagatai khans who were, at times, allied or at war with Timur's successors. Finally, in the 17th century, the remaining Chagatai domains fell under the theocratic regime of Apaq Khoja and his descendants, the Khojijans, who ruled East Turkestan under Dzungar and Manchu overlordships consecutively.
Genghis Khan's empire was inherited by his third son, Ögedei, the designated Great Khan who personally controlled the lands east of Lake Balkash as far as Mongolia. Tolui, the youngest, the keeper of the hearth, was accorded the northern Mongolian homeland. Chagatai, the second son, received Transoxania, between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers in modern Uzbekistan, and the area around Kashgar. He made his capital at Almalik near what is now Kulja in northwestern China. Apart from problems of lineage and inheritance, the Mongol Empire was endangered by the great cultural and ethnic divide between the Mongols themselves and their mostly Islamic Turkic subjects.
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Demographics of Iran
Iran's population increased dramatically during the later half of the 20th century, reaching about 75 million by 2011. In recent years, however, Iran's birth rate has dropped significantly. Studies project that Iran's rate of population growth will continue to slow until it stabilizes above 100 million by 2050. In 2009, the number of households stood at 15.3 million (4.8 person/household). According to the central bank of Iran in 2012, in 22.5 per cent of Iranian families, all family members were unemployed. Families earn some 11.4 million rials (around $930) per month on the average (2012).
According to the OECD/World Bank statistics population growth in Iran from 1990 to 2008 was 17.6 million and 32 %. The literacy rate was 80% in 2007.
While nearly 100% of Iran's population is fluent in modern Persian, approximately 75-80% of Iran's peoples exclusively speak Iranian languages (the most common language known as Persian - or "Farsi" as it is known in the Persian language). The major groups in this category include Persians, Kurds, Gilakis, Mazandaranis, Lurs, and Baluchis. Turkic speakers, such as the Azeri, Turkmen, and the Qashqai peoples, comprise a substantial minority. The remainder are primarily Semitics such as Arabs and Assyrians or other Indo-Europeans such as Pashtuns and Armenians. There are also small communities of Brahui in southeastern Iran. The Georgian language is spoken only by those Iranian Georgians that live in Fereydan and Fereydunshahr. All other communities of Iranian Georgians in Iran have already lost their language.
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Diophantus
Diophantus of Alexandria (Ancient Greek: Διόφαντος ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς. b. between A.D. 200 and 214, d. between 284 and 298 at age 84), sometimes called "the father of algebra", was an Alexandrian Greek mathematician and the author of a series of books called Arithmetica. These texts deal with solving algebraic equations, many of which are now lost. In studying Arithmetica, Pierre de Fermat concluded that a certain equation considered by Diophantus had no solutions, and noted without elaboration that he had found "a truly marvelous proof of this proposition," now referred to as Fermat's Last Theorem. This led to tremendous advances in number theory, and the study of Diophantine equations ("Diophantine geometry") and of Diophantine approximations remain important areas of mathematical research. Diophantus was the first Greek mathematician who recognized fractions as numbers; thus he allowed positive rational numbers for the coefficients and solutions. In modern use, Diophantine equations are usually algebraic equations with integer coefficients, for which integer solutions are sought. Diophantus also made advances in mathematical notation.
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Euclid
Euclid ( /ˈjuːklɪd/ EWK-lid; Ancient Greek: Εὐκλείδης Eukleidēs), fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "Father of Geometry". He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I (323–283 BC). His Elements is one of the most influential works in the history of mathematics, serving as the main textbook for teaching mathematics (especially geometry) from the time of its publication until the late 19th or early 20th century. In the Elements, Euclid deduced the principles of what is now called Euclidean geometry from a small set of axioms. Euclid also wrote works on perspective, conic sections, spherical geometry, number theory and rigor.
"Euclid" is the anglicized version of the Greek name Εὐκλείδης, meaning "Good Glory".
Little is known about Euclid's life, as there are only a handful of references to him. The date and place of Euclid's birth and the date and circumstances of his death are unknown, and only roughly estimated in proximity to contemporary figures mentioned in references. No likeness or description of Euclid's physical appearance made during his lifetime survived antiquity. Therefore, Euclid's depiction in works of art is the product of the artist's imagination.
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Ghurid Dynasty
The Ghurids or Ghorids (Persian: سلسله غوریان; self-designation: Shansabānī) were a medieval Muslim dynasty of Iranian origin that ruled during the 12th and 13th centuries in Khorasan. At its zenith, their empire, centred at Ghōr (now a province in Afghanistan), stretched over an area that included the whole of modern Afghanistan, the eastern parts of Iran, Pakistan and the northern section of the India, as far as Delhi. The Ghurids were succeeded in Persia by the Khwārazm-Shāh dynasty and in North India by the Mamluk dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.
In the 19th century, some European scholars, such as Mountstuart Elphinstone, favoured the idea that the Ghurid dynasty was Pashtun, but this is generally rejected by modern scholarship, and, as explained by Morgenstierne in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, is for "various reasons very improbable". Instead, the consensus in modern scholarship (incl. Morgenstierne, Bosworth, Dupree, Gibb, Ghirshman, Longworth Dames and others) holds that the dynasty was most likely of Tajik origin.Bosworth further points out that the actual name of the Ghurid family, Āl-e Šansab (Persianized: Šansabānī), is the Arabic pronunciation of the originally Middle Persian name Wišnasp, perhaps hinting at a (Sassanian) Persian origin.
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Great Seljuq Empire
The Great Seljuq Empire (Turkish: Büyük Selçuklu Devleti, Persian: دولت سلجوقیان) was a medieval Persianate,Turko-PersianSunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuq Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf. From their homelands near the Aral sea, the Seljuqs advanced first into Khorasan and then into mainland Persia before eventually conquering eastern Anatolia.
The Seljuq empire was founded by Tughril Beg in 1037 after the efforts by the founder of the Seljuq dynasty, Seljuq Beg, back in the first quarter of the eleventh century. Seljuq Beg's father was in a higher position in the Oghuz Yabgu State, and gave his name both to the state and the dynasty. The Seljuqs united the fractured political scene of the Eastern Islamic world and played a key role in the first and second crusades. Highly Persianized in culture and language, the Seljuqs also played an important role in the development of the Turko-Persian tradition, even exporting Persian culture to Anatolia. The Seljuqs conquest gave impetus to the progressive Turkicization of parts of Anatolia, Iran and the Caucasus.
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Hamilton Gibb
Sir Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb (2 January 1895 – 22 October 1971), also commonly referred to as "H. A. R. Gibb", was a Scottish historian on Orientalism.
Gibb was born on Wednesday, 2 January 1895, in Alexandria, Egypt, to Alexander Crawford Gibb (son of John Gibb of Gladstone, Renfrenshire, Scotland) and Jane Ann Gardner (of Greenock, Scotland). Alexander Crawford died in 1897, following which Gardner took up a teaching position in Alexandria. Hamilton returned to Scotland for his formal education at the age of five: first, four years of private tuition, after which he started at the Royal High School, Edinburgh in 1904, staying until 1912. His education was focused on classics, though it included French, German, and the physical sciences. In 1912, Hamilton matriculated at Edinburgh University, joining the new honors program in Semitic languages (Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic). Hamilton's mother died in 1913 as he was studying in his second year at the university.
During World War I Gibb broke off his studies at the University of Edinburgh to serve for the British Royal Regiment of Artillery in France (from February 1917) and for several months in Italy as a commissioned officer. (He was commissioned at the age of 19.)
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Harun al-Rashid
Hārūn al-Rashīd (Arabic: هارون الرشيد; properly pronounced Hārūn ar-Rashīd; English: Aaron the Upright, Aaron the Just, or Aaron the Rightly Guided) (17 March 763 or February 766 – 24 March 809) was the fifth Arab Abbasid Caliph that encompassed modern Iraq. His birth date remains a point of discussion, though, as various sources give the dates from 763 to 766).
He ruled from 786 to 809, and his time was marked by scientific, cultural and religious prosperity. Art and music Hamd o Na'at also flourished significantly during his reign. He established the legendary library Bayt al-Hikma ("House of Wisdom").[citation needed]
Since Harun was intellectually, politically and militarily resourceful, his life and the court over which he held sway have been the subject of many tales: some are factual but most are believed to be fictitious. An example of what is known to be factual is the story of the clock that was among various presents that Harun had sent to Charlemagne. The presents were carried by the returning Frankish mission that came to offer Harun friendship in 799. Charlemagne and his retinue deemed the clock to be a conjuration for the sounds it emanated and the tricks it displayed every time an hour ticked.[citation needed] Among what is known to be fictional is The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, which contains many stories that are fantasized by Harun's magnificent court and even Harun al-Rashid himself.[citation needed]
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Hashimites
Hashemite is the Latinate version of the Arabic: هاشمي, transliteration: Hāšimī, and traditionally refers to those belonging to the Banu Hashim, or "clan of Hashim", a clan within the larger Quraish tribe. It also refers to an Arab dynasty whose original strength stemmed from the network of tribal alliances and blood loyalties in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia, along the Red Sea.
The Hashemites trace their ancestry from Hashim ibn Abd al-Manaf (died c. 510 AD), the great-grandfather of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, although the definition today mainly refers to the descendants of the prophet's daughter, Fatimah. The early history of the Hashemites saw them in a continuous struggle against the Umayyads for control over who would be the caliph or successor to Muhammad. The Umayyads were of the same tribe as the Hashemites, but a different clan. After the overthrow of the Umayyads, the Abbasids would present themselves as representatives of the Hashemites, as they claimed descent from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, an uncle of Muhammad. Muhammad's father had died before he was born, and his mother died while he was a child[citation needed], so Muhammad was raised by his uncle Abu Talib, chief of the Hashemites.
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Hephthalites
The Hephthalites (also spelled Ephthalites) were a Central Asian nomadic confederation of the AD 5th–6th centuries whose precise origins and composition remain obscure. According to Chinese chronicles, they were originally a tribe living to the north of the Great Wall and were known as Hoa or Hoa-tun. Elsewhere they were called White Huns, known to the Greeks as Hephthalite and the Indians as the Sveta Huns/Turushkas. It is likely that they spoke an East Iranian language.
Although the Hephtalite empire was known in China as Yanda (嚈噠), Chinese chroniclers recognized this designated the leaders of the empire. The same sources document that the main tribe called themselves Uar (滑). The modern Chinese variation Yanda has been given various Latinised renderings such as "Yeda", although the more archaic Korean pronunciation "Yeoptal" 엽달 is more compatible with the Greek Hephthal and is certainly a more archaic form.
According to B.A. Litvinsky, the names of the Hephtalite rulers used in the Shahnameh are Iranian. According to Xavier Tremblay, one of the Hephthalite rulers was named Khingila, which has the same root as the Sogdian word xnγr and the Wakhi word xiŋgār, meaning "sword". The name Mihirakula is thought to be derived from Mithra-kula which is Iranian for "Relier upon Mithra", and Toramāna is also considered to have an Iranian origin. Accordingly, in Sanskrit, "Mihirakula" would mean from the "Kul (family or race) of Mihir (Mithra or Sun)". Janos Harmatta gives the translation "Mithra's Begotten" and also supports the Iranian theory.
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History of Germany
The concept of Germany as a distinct region in central Europe can be traced to Roman commander Julius Caesar, who referred to the unconquered area east of the Rhine as Germania, thus distinguishing it from Gaul (France), which he had conquered. The victory of the Germanic tribes in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (AD 9) prevented annexation by the Roman Empire. Following the fall of the Roman Empire, the Franks conquered the other West Germanic tribes. When the Frankish Empire was divided among Charlemagne's heirs in 843, the eastern part became East Francia. In 962, Otto I became the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the medieval German state.
In the High Middle Ages, the dukes and princes of the empire gained power at the expense of the emperors. Martin Luther led the Protestant Reformation against the Catholic Church after 1517, as the northern states became Protestant, while the southern states remained Catholic. They clashed in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which was ruinous to the twenty million civilians. 1648 marked the effective end of the Holy Roman Empire and the beginning of the modern nation-state system, with Germany divided into numerous independent states, such as Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony.
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Hulagu Khan
Hulagu Khan, also known as Hülegü, Hulegu (Mongolian: Hülegü Khaan, "Warrior"; Mongolian Cyrillic: Хүлэг хаан; Turkish: Hülâgü Han; Chagatai/Urdu: ہلاکو Hulaku; Persian/Arabic: هولاكو خان; Chinese: 旭烈兀; c. 1217 – 8 February 1265), was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of Southwest Asia. Son of Tolui and the Kerait princess Sorghaghtani Beki, he was a grandson of Genghis Khan, and the brother of Arik Boke, Möngke Khan and Kublai Khan. Hulagu's army greatly expanded the southwestern portion of the Mongol Empire, founding the Ilkhanate of Persia, a precursor to the eventual Safavid dynasty, and then the modern state of Iran. Under Hulagu's leadership, the Mongols destroyed the greatest center of Islamic power, Baghdad, and also weakened Damascus, causing a shift of Islamic influence to the Mamluks in Cairo. During Hulagu's reign historians began writing in Persian instead of Arabic[citation needed].
Hulagu was born to Tolui, one of Genghis Khan's sons, and Sorghaghtani Beki, an influential Kerait princess. Sorghaghtani successfully navigated Mongol politics, arranging for all of her sons to become Mongol leaders. She was a Nestorian Christian, and Hulagu was friendly to Christianity. Hulagu's favorite wife, Dokuz Khatun, was also a Christian, as was his closest friend and general, Kitbuqa. It is recorded however that he was a Buddhist as he neared his death, against the will of Dokuz Khatun.
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Hunnic Empire
The Hunnic empire was formed under the reign of Attila, centered in present-day Hungary; its territory included parts of Germany, the Balkans, and Ukraine. It bordered the Eastern Roman Empire to the southeast and the Western Roman Empire to the west and southwest; its other boundaries are uncertain. The empire dissolved after Attila's death in 453 as a result of struggles over succession and leadership, finally disappearing around 469.
The origins of the Huns that swept through Europe during the 4th Century remain unclear; they may have been connected with the Xiongnu and the later Northern Xiongnu, defeated and dispersed by China some three centuries before. However, most mainstream historians consider them as a group of nomadic tribes from Central Asia with mixed origin.[citation needed] There was a Hunnic language, and Gothic seems also to have been used as a lingua franca.
European accounts first mention the Huns in the lands north-west of the Caspian Sea about 370, when they conquered a tribe of Alans to their west. Pushing further westward, the Huns subjugated many Ostrogoths. In 395, a Hun raid across the Caucasus mountains devastated Armenia, then captured Erzurum, besieged Edessa and Antioch, and even reached Tyre.
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Ibn al-Haytham
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham (Arabic: أبو علي، الحسن بن الحسن بن الهيثم, Latinized: Alhacen or (deprecated)Alhazen) (965 in Basra – c. 1040 in Cairo) was a Muslimscientist and polymath described in various sources as either Arab or Persian. Alhazen made significant contributions to the principles of optics, as well as to physics, astronomy, mathematics, ophthalmology, philosophy, visual perception, and to the scientific method. He also wrote insightful commentaries on works by Aristotle, Ptolemy, and the Greek mathematician Euclid.
He is frequently referred to as Ibn al-Haytham, and sometimes as al-Basri (Arabic: البصري), after his birthplace in the city of Basra. He was also nicknamed Ptolemaeus Secundus ("Ptolemy the Second") or simply "The Physicist" in medieval Europe.
Born circa 965, in Basra, present-day Iraq, he lived mainly in Cairo, Egypt, dying there at age 74. Over-confident about practical application of his mathematical knowledge, he assumed that he could regulate the floods of the Nile. After being ordered by Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the sixth ruler of the Fatimid caliphate, to carry out this operation, he quickly perceived the impossibility of what he was attempting to do, and retired from engineering. Fearing for his life, he feigned madness and was placed under house arrest, during and after which he devoted himself to his scientific work until his death.
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Ibn Sina
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā (Persian پورسينا Pur Sina [ˈpuːr ˈsiːnɑː] "son of Sina"; c. 980, Afshana near Bukhara– 1037, Hamadan, Iran), commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persianpolymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 of his surviving treatises concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine.
His most famous works are The Book of Healing, a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and The Canon of Medicine, which was a standard medical text at many medieval universities. The Canon of Medicine was used as a text-book in the universities of Montpellier and Leuven as late as 1650. Ibn Sīnā's Canon of Medicine provides a complete system of medicine according to the principles of Galen (and Hippocrates).
His corpus also includes writing on philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics, as well as poetry. He is regarded as the most famous and influential polymath of the Islamic Golden Age.
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Inca Empire
The Inca Empire, or Inka Empire (Quechua: Tawantinsuyu), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century.
From 1438 to 1533, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean mountain ranges, including, besides Peru, large parts of modern Ecuador, western and south central Bolivia, northwest Argentina, north and central Chile, and southern Colombia into a state comparable to the historical empires of Eurasia.
The official language of the empire was Quechua, although hundreds of local languages and dialects of Quechua were spoken. The Inca referred to their empire as Tawantinsuyu which can be translated as The Four Regions or The Four United Provinces.
There were many local forms of worship, most of them concerning local sacred "Huacas", but the Inca leadership encouraged the worship of Inti—the sun god—and imposed its sovereignty above other cults such as that of Pachamama. The Incas considered their King, the Sapa Inca, to be the "child of the sun."
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Ira Lapidus
Ira M. Lapidus is an Emeritus Professor of History, Islamic Social History at The University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of A History of Islamic Societies, and Contemporary Islamic Movements in Historical Perspective, among other works.
Lapidus was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He was born to immigrant parents, who instilled a sense of the value of education in him and his brother. He attended Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, where a history teacher helped him prepare for admissions tests and suggested he pursue Asian history studies.
Lapidus went on to college and graduate school at Harvard. As an undergraduate at Harvard, he took a course in Middle Eastern history taught by Sir Hamilton Gibb. He enjoyed the class and liked the instructor, who encouraged him to pursue social sciences in addition to history. Lapidus continued taking classes in Middle Eastern history, and upon graduation entered a career in academia.
His personal interests include travel and photography.
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Iranian Languages
The Iranian languages (also called Iranic languages) form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn are a subgroup of the Indo-European language family. The speakers of Iranian languages are known as Iranian peoples.
The Iranian languages are considered in three stages of Old (until 400 BCE), Middle (400 BCE – 900 CE), and New (since 900 CE). From the Old Iranian languages the better understood and recorded ones are Old Persian (a language of Achaemenid Iran) and Avestan (the language of Zarathushtra). Middle Iranian languages included Middle Persian (a language of Sassanid Iran) and Parthian (a language of Arsacid Iran). There are many Iranian languages, the largest amongst them are Persian, Pashto, Kurdish, and Balochi.
Today, there are an estimated 150–200 million native speakers of Iranian languages. The Ethnologue lists 87 Iranian languages.Persian has about 65 million native speakers, Pashto about 50 million, Kurdish about 18 million, Balochi about 7 million, and Lurish about 2.3 million.
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Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples (Iranic peoples) are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group that comprise the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of the Indo-European-speaking peoples. Their historical areas of settlement were on the Iranian plateau, and comprised most of Iran and certain areas of Central Asia such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and most of Afghanistan, some parts of western Pakistan, northern Iraq and eastern Turkey, and scattered parts of the Caucasus Mountains. Their current distribution spreads across the Iranian plateau, and stretches from Pakistan's Indus River in the east to eastern Turkey in the west, and from Central Asia and the Caucasus in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south – a region that is sometimes called the Iranian cultural continent, or Greater Persia by scholars, and represents the extent of the Iranian languages and influence of the Persian People, through the geopolitical reach of the Persian empire.
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Iraqi people
The Iraqi people (Arabic: العراقيون ʿIrāqīyūn, Kurdish: گهلی عیراق Îraqîyan, Aramaic: ܥܡܐ ܥܝܪܩܝܐ ʿIrāqāyā) or Mesopotamian people (Arabic: شعب بلاد ما بين النهرين) are the native inhabitants of the country of Iraq, (also known as Mesopotamia), and their related diaspora. From late Assyrian and Babylonian times until the early Islamic era, the Iraqi people spoke Aramaic but also witnessed a minority Arab presence.
Arabic had been a minority language in Iraq since the 8th century BC, it was spoken in Hatra in the 1st and 2nd centuries, and by Iraqi Christians in Al-Hirah from the 3rd century, and from the 8th century following the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia it became the common language of Iraqi Muslims, due to Arabic being the language of the Qur'an and the Caliphate. This change was facilitated by the fact that Arabic being a Semitic language, shared a close resemblance to Iraq's traditional languages of Akkadian and Aramaic. Some of Iraq's Christians and Mandaeans retained dialects of Aramaic, since it remained the liturgical language of their faiths. Kurdish-speaking Iraqis live in the mountainous Zagros region of northeast Iraq to the east of the upper Tigris. The Kurds and Arabs of Mesopotamia have interacted and intermarried for well over a millennium. Modern genetic studies indicate that Iraqi Arabs and Kurds are very closely related. Arabic and Kurdish are Iraq's national languages.
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Iraqi Turkmen
The Iraqi Turkmens (also spelled Turcomans, Turkomens, and Iraqi Turkmans), Iraqi Turks, or Turks of Iraq (Turkish: Irak Türkmenleri/Irak Türkleri) are the third largest ethnic group in Iraq who are the ethnic kin of the Turks. They mainly reside in northern Iraq and share close cultural and linguistic ties with Turkey.
The Iraqi Turkmen are the descendants of various waves of Turkic migration to Mesopotamia dating from the 7th century until Ottoman rule. The first wave of migration dates back to the 7th century when some 1,000 Turkmen soldiers were recruited in the Muslim armies of Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad; however, most of today's descendants of these first migrants have been assimilated into the local Arab population. The second wave of migrants were the Turks of the Great Seljuq Empire; finally, the third wave, and largest number of Turkmen migrants into Iraq arose during the Ottoman Empire. With the conquest of Iraq by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1534, followed by Sultan Murad IV's capture of Baghdad in 1638, a large influx of Turks settled down in the region. Thus, most of today's Iraqi Turkmen are the descendants of the Ottoman soldiers, traders and civil servants who were brought into Iraq during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
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Ismail Samani
Isma'il ibn Ahmad (ابو ابراهیم اسماعیل بن احمد, Abu Ibrahim Ismail ibn Ahmad, d. November 907) also referred to as, "Amir Adil" (the Just Commander) was the Persian Samanid amir of Transoxiana (892-907) and Khorasan (900-907). His reign saw the emergence of the Samanids as a powerful force. He was the son of Ahmad ibn Asad and a descendant of Saman Khuda, the founder of the Samanid dynasty who renounced Zoroastrianism and embraced Islam. Ismail is considered the father of the Tajik nation.[citation needed]
Gaining approval of the local population, Ismail was described as good natured devout Muslim, relying exclusively on Allah in accordance with the Islamic principle of tawheed. During his brother Nasr's reign, Isma'il was sent to take control of Bukhara, which had been devastated by looting on the part of forces from Khwarazm. The citizens of the city welcomed Isma'il, seeing him as someone who could bring stability.
Soon afterwards, a disagreement over where tax money should be distributed caused a falling out between Nasr and Isma'il. A struggle ensued, in which Isma'il proved victorious. Although he took effective control of the state, he did not formally overthrow his brother, instead remaining in Bukhara. He did so because Nasr had been the one whom the Caliph had given the formal investiture of Transoxiana to; in the caliph's eyes, Nasr was the only legitimimate ruler of the region. Furthermore, the Saffarids of Sistan had claims on Transoxiana; the overthrow of Nasr would have given the Saffarids a pretext for invading. Isma'il therefore continued to formally recognize Nasr as ruler until the latter's death in August 892, at which point he officially took power.
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Jafar Sadiq
Quotations related to Jafar Us-Sadiq at Wikiquote
Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad al-Sādiq (Arabic: جعفر بن محمد الصادق) (702–765 C.E. or 17th Rabī‘ al-Awwal 83 AH – 25th Shawwāl 148 AH) was a descendant of Muhammad and a prominent Muslim jurist. He is revered as an Imam by the adherents of Shi'a Islam and as a renowned Islamic scholar and personality by Sunni Muslims. The Shi'a Muslims consider him to be the sixth Imam or leader and spiritual successor to Muhammad. The internal dispute over who was to succeed Ja'far as Imam led to schism within Shi'a Islam. Al-Sadiq was celebrated among his brothers and peers and stood out among them for his great personal merits. He is highly respected by both Sunni and Shi'a Muslims for his great Islamic scholarship, pious character, and academic contributions.
Although he is perhaps most famous as the founder of Shi'a Islamic fiqh, known as Ja'fari jurisprudence, he had many other accomplishments. He was the teacher of many subsequent Muslim scholars such as the founders of both Sunni and Shi'a Islamic schools of jurisprudence. As well as being considered an Imam of the Shi'a, he is revered by the Naqshbandi Sunni Sufi chain. He was a polymath: an astronomer, alchemist, Imam, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, writer, philosopher, physician, physicist and scientist.[citation needed] He was also the teacher of the famous chemist, Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber), and of Abū Ḥanīfa, the founder of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence.
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Jābir ibn Hayyān
Abu Mūsā Jābir ibn Hayyān (al-Azdi / al-Kufi / al-Tusi / al-Sufi), often known simply as Geber, (Persian: جابر بن حیان)(Arabic: جابر بن حیان) (born c. 721 in Tus, Persia; died c. 815 in Kufa, Iraq) was a prominent polymath: a chemist and alchemist, astronomer and astrologer, engineer, geographer, philosopher, physicist, and pharmacist and physician. Born and educated in Tus, he later traveled to Kufa. Jābir is held to have been the first practical alchemist.
As early as the tenth century, the identity and exact corpus of works of Jābir was in dispute in Islamic circles. His name was Latinized as "Geber" in the Christian West and in 13th century Europe an anonymous writer, usually referred to as Pseudo-Geber, produced alchemical and metallurgical writings under the pen-name Geber.
In 987 Ibn al-Nadim compiled the Kitab al-Fihrist which mentions Jabir as a spiritual leader and as a companion to Jafar as-Sadiq (he is not listed among the students of Jafar as-Sadiq but many of the writings of the Jabirian corpus are dedicated to Jafar as-Sadiq). In another reference al-Nadim reports that a group of philosophers claimed Jabir was one of their own members. Another group, reported by al-Nadim, says only The Large Book of Mercy is genuine and that the rest are pseudographical. Their assertions are rejected by al-Nadim. Joining al-Nadim in asserting a real Jabir; Ibn-Wahshiyya ("Jaber ibn Hayyn al-Sufi ...book on poison is a great work..") Rejecting a real Jabir; (the philosopher c.970) Abu Sulayman al-Mantiqi claims the real author is one al-Hasan ibn al-Nakad al-Mawili. 14th century critic of Arabic literature, Jamal al-Din ibn Nubata al-Misri declares all the writings attributed to Jabir doubtful.
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Kara Koyunlu
The Kara Koyunlu or Qara Qoyunlu, also called the Black Sheep Turkomans (Persian/Azeri: قرا قویونلو), were a Shi'iteOghuz Turkic tribal federation that ruled over the territory comprising the present-day Armenia (1406), Azerbaijan, north-western Iran, eastern Turkey and Iraq from about 1375 to 1468.
The Kara Koyunlu Turkomans at one point established their capital in Herat in eastern Persia, and were vassals of the Jalayirid dynasty in Baghdad and Tabriz from about 1375, when the leader of their leading tribe, ruled over Mosul. However, they rebelled against the Jalayirids, and secured their independence from the dynasty with the conquest of Tabriz by Qara Yusuf. In 1400, the armies of Tamerlane defeated the Kara Koyunlu, and Qara Yusuf fled to Egypt seeking refuge with the Mamluks. He gathered an army and by 1406 had taken back Tabriz. In 1410, the Kara Koyunlu captured Baghdad. The installation of a subsidiary Black Sheep Turkomans line there hastened the downfall of the Jalayirids whom they had once served. Despite internal fighting amongst Kara Yusuf's descendants after his death in 1420, and the increasing threat of the Timurids, the Black Sheep Turkomans maintained a strong grip over the areas they controlled.
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Kingdom of Iraq
The Kingdom of Iraq (Arabic: المملكة العراقية al-Mamlakah al-'Irāqiyyah) was officially declared as an independent state in 1932, granting full sovereign rights to Hashemites and ending the British Mandate regime.
Although the League of Nations mandate was awarded to Britain in 1920, the 1920 Iraqi revolt resulted in the scrapping of the original mandate plan in favor of British administered semi-independent kingdom, under the Hashemite allies of Britain. The kingdom of Iraq was granted full independence in 1932, following the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty (1930).
The kingdom ended in 1958, when the monarchy was over thrown in a military coup, led by Abd al-Karim Qasim.
Mandatory Mesopotamia was created under the League of Nations Class A mandate under Article 22 and entrusted to Britain, when the Ottoman Empire was divided in August 1920 by the Treaty of Sèvres, following World War I. This award was prepared on April 25, 1920, at the San Remo conference in Italy. France controlled the Mandates of Syria and Lebanon. Faisal ibn Husayn, who had been proclaimed King of Syria by a Syrian National Congress in Damascus in March 1920, was ejected by the French in July of the same year. Faisal was then granted the territory of Iraq, to rule it as a kingdom, with the British RAF retaining certain military control, though de facto, the territory remained under British Mandate until 1932.
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L. Sprague de Camp
Lyon Sprague de Camp (November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, non-fiction and biography. In a writing career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and notable works of non-fiction, including biographies of other important fantasy authors. He "was widely regarded as an imaginative and innovative writer and was an important figure in the heyday of science fiction, from the late 1930's through the late 1940's."
De Camp was born in New York City, one of three sons of Lyon de Camp and Emma Beatrice Sprague. His maternal grandfather was the accountant, banker, pioneering Volapükist and Civil War veteran Charles Ezra Sprague. De Camp once noted that he rarely used pen-names, "partly because my own true name sounds more like a pseudonym than most pseudonyms do."
An aeronautical engineer by profession, De Camp earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1930, and his Master of Science degree in Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology in 1933. De Camp was also a surveyor and an expert in patents.
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Layla and Majnun
Layla and Majnun, also known as The Madman and Layla – in Arabic مجنون ليلى (Majnun and Layla) or قيس وليلى (Qays and Layla), in Persian: لیلی و مجنون (Leyli o Majnun), Leyli və Məcnun in Azeri, Leyla ile Mecnun in Turkish, لیلا مجنو (lailā majanū) in Urdu and Hindi – is a classical Persian story, popularized by Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi's masterpiece, Layli o Majnun. It is based on the real story of a young man called Qays ibn al-Mulawwah from Najd (the central region of modern-day Saudi Arabia) during the Umayyad era in the 7th century when Arabs defeated the Byzantines and Persians, and Syria and Iraq were conquered. In one version, he spent his youth together with Layla, tending their flocks. In another version, upon seeing Layla he fell passionately in love with her. In both versions, however, he went mad when her father prevented him from marrying her; for that reason he came to be called Majnun (Arabic: مجنون) meaning "madman."
Qays was a Bedouin poet. He fell in love with Layla bint Mahdi ibn Sa’d (better known as Layla Al-Aamiriya) from the same tribe. He soon began composing poems about his love for her, mentioning her name often. His unself-conscious efforts to woo the girl caused some locals to call him Majnun (madman). When he asked for her hand in marriage, her father refused as it would be a scandal for Layla to marry someone considered mentally unbalanced. Soon after, Layla was married to another man.
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Malikshah
Jalāl al-Dawlah Malik-shāh (Persian: ملكشاه, Modern Turkish: Melikşah, or simply Malik Shāh) was born in 1055 and succeeded his father, Alp Arslan, as the Seljuq Sultan in 1072, and reigned until his death in 1092.
Following his father's assassination, Malik was challenged in battle by his uncle, Kavurt. In January 1074, their armies met near Hamadan, Kawurd's troops consisting of the traditional Turkmen elements from Alp Arslan's army, while Malik's consisted of ghulams and contingents of Kurdish and Arab troops. Due to Turkmen defections to Malik's army, Kawurd was defeated and, despite Malik's consideration for mercy, later poisoned, presumably on the orders of vizier Nizam al-Mulk.
Although Malikshah was the nominal head of the Seljuq state, his famous vizir Nizam al-Mulk held near absolute power during his reign. Under Nizam's guidance the Seljuq armies contained the Ghaznavids in Khorasan, rolled back the Fatimids in Syria, defeated the Seljuq pretenders to the throne, reduced Georgia to a tributary state, compelled the submission of regional governors, and kept the Abassid Caliphs in a position of impotence. Alp Arslan's victory at Manzikert in 1071 was followed up by a Turkish invasion of Anatolia. This invasion was the work of independent Turkmen armies, such as that of Atsiz ibn Uvaq, and not of the Seljuk army. As a result, the Sultanate of Rum, as the new state was called, did not acknowledge the authority of the House of Seljuq.
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Mandaeans
Mandaeism or Mandaeanism (Modern Mandaic: Mandaʻiūtā (מנדעיותא); Arabic: مندائية Mandāʼīyah/Mandāʾiyyah; Persian: مندائیان Mandâ'iyân) is a gnostic religion[citation needed] (Aramaic manda means "knowledge", as does Greek gnosis) with a strongly dualistic worldview.
Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enosh, Noah, Shem, Aram and especially John the Baptist, but reject Jesus of Nazareth and are hostile to Christianity. They are sometimes identified with mentions in the Quran of the Sabian religion, particularly in an Arabian context, but the Sabian religious community is extinct today.
According to most scholars, Mandaeans migrated from the Southern Levant to Mesopotamia in the first centuries CE and are certainly of pre-Arab and pre-Islamic origin. They are Semites and speak a dialect of Eastern Aramaic known as Mandaic. They may well be related to the "Nabateans of Iraq" who were pagan, Aramaic speaking indigenous pre-Arab and pre-Islamic inhabitants of southern Iraq.
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Mandaeism
Mandaeism or Mandaeanism (Modern Mandaic: Mandaʻiūtā (מנדעיותא); Arabic: مندائية Mandāʼīyah/Mandāʾiyyah; Persian: مندائیان Mandâ'iyân) is a gnostic religion[citation needed] (Aramaic manda means "knowledge", as does Greek gnosis) with a strongly dualistic worldview.
Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enosh, Noah, Shem, Aram and especially John the Baptist, but reject Jesus of Nazareth and are hostile to Christianity. They are sometimes identified with mentions in the Quran of the Sabian religion, particularly in an Arabian context, but the Sabian religious community is extinct today.
According to most scholars, Mandaeans migrated from the Southern Levant to Mesopotamia in the first centuries CE and are certainly of pre-Arab and pre-Islamic origin. They are Semites and speak a dialect of Eastern Aramaic known as Mandaic. They may well be related to the "Nabateans of Iraq" who were pagan, Aramaic speaking indigenous pre-Arab and pre-Islamic inhabitants of southern Iraq.
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Marinid dynasty
The Marinid dynasty or Benemerine dynasty (Arabic: مرينيون Marīniyūn or بنو مرين Banū Marīn) was a Zenata Berber dynasty of Morocco. The Marinid dynasty overtook the Almohads controlling Morocco in 1244. They controlled most of the Maghreb from the mid-14th century to the 15th century and supported the Kingdom of Granada in Al-Andalus in the 13th and 14th centuries. The last Marinid fortress in the Iberian Peninsula fell to Castile in 1344.[citation needed] They were replaced in turn by the Wattasids in 1465.
They were the founders of Fes Jdid and built the most important monuments in Fes.
The Marinids were a nomadic Zenata Berber tribe from the area between Tlemcen and Tahert. They advanced through the Moulouya basin east of Morocco. As early as 1145, the Marinids engaged in several battles with the Almohads, the ruling dynasty at the time, who regularly defeated them until 1169. In that year, the Marinids began a dedicated pursuit to take Morocco from the Almohads. Following their expulsion from the south, the Marinids moved northwards under the command of Abu Yahya ibn Abd al-Haqq and took Fes in 1244, making it their capital. This date marks the beginning of the Marinid dynasty.
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Maxfield Parrish
Maxfield Parrish (July 25, 1870 – March 30, 1966) was an American painter and illustrator active in the first half of the twentieth century. He is known for his distinctive saturated hues and idealized neo-classical imagery.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was the son of painter and etcher Stephen Parrish. He began drawing for his own amusement as a child. His given name was Frederick Parrish but he later adopted the maiden name of his paternal grandmother, Maxfield, as his middle name, and later as his professional name. His father was an engraver and landscape artist, and young Parrish's parents encouraged his talent. He attended Haverford College, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and Drexel Institute of Art. He entered into an artistic career that lasted for more than half a century, and which helped shape the Golden Age of illustration and the future of American visual arts.
He lived in Philadelphia until the age of 28, and the rest of his entire adult life at his New Hampshire home/studio at The Oaks with his wife, Lydia, who died in 1953, and his mistress and model, Sue Lewin, who survived his death in 1966 at age 95. He was by all accounts a charming and intelligent man whose writings add a great deal to the text in Ludwig's biography of him.
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Medes
The Medes (/midz/) (from Old Persian Māda-) were an ancient Iranian people who lived in Iran in an area known as Media and spoke a northwestern Iranian language referred to as the Median language. Their arrival to the region is associated with the first wave of Iranian tribes in the late second millennium BCE (the Bronze Age collapse) through the beginning of the first millennium BCE.
In the 7th century BCE a unified Median state was formed which together with Babylonia, Lydia, and Egypt became one of the four major powers of the ancient Near East. An alliance with the Babylonians helped the Medes to capture Nineveh in 612 BCE which resulted in the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Medes were subsequently able to establish their Median kingdom (with Ecbatana as their royal centre) beyond their original homeland (central-western Iran) and had eventually a territory stretching roughly from northeastern Iran to the Halys River in Anatolia. The Median kingdom was conquered in 550 BCE by Cyrus the Great who established the next Iranian dynasty—the Achaemenid Empire.
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Mongols
Mongols (Mongolian: Монголчууд (help·info)), Mongolchuud) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. Owing to wars and migrations, Mongols are also found in some Central Asian states such as Kazakhstan. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia (a smaller number of Mongols can also be found in Xinjiang in northwest China). The Buryat branch of the Mongol ethnic group can be found in the autonomous republic of Buryatia, Russia. Ethnic Mongols are bound together by a common language and culture. They speak languages belonging to the Mongolic languages. The contiguous territories inhabited by ethnic Mongols is also known as Greater Mongolia[disambiguation needed 
]. There are approximately 10 million ethnic Mongols in total.
A definition includes the Mongols proper, who can be approximately divided into the eastern Mongols (the Khalkha Mongols, the Inner Mongolians, the Buryats), and the Oirats. In a wider sense, the Mongol people includes all people who speak a Mongolic language, such as the Kalmyks of eastern Europe.
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Muhammad
Muhammad (c. 26 April 570 – 8 June 632; also transliterated as Mohammad, Mohammed, or Muhammed; Arabic: محمد), full name: Muhammad Ibn `Abd Allāh Ibn `Abd al-Muttalib (Arabic: محمد بن عبدالله بن عبد المطلب ) was a leader from Mecca who unified the tribes of Arabia into a single religious polity under Islam. He is believed by Muslims and Bahá'ís to be a messenger and prophet of God. Muslims believe that Islam was not his own invention but was revealed by God, and most consider him to be the last prophet of God Muslims thus consider him the restorer of an uncorrupted original monotheistic faith (islām) of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets.
Born in 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, he was orphaned at an early age and brought up under the care of his uncle Abu Talib. He later worked mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, and was first married by age 25. Being in the habit of periodically retreating to a cave in the surrounding mountains for several nights of meditation and prayer, he later reported that it was there, at age 40, that he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (lit. islām) is the only way (dīn) acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as other Islamic prophets.
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Nasir al-Din al-Tusi
Khawaja Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan Ṭūsī (Persian: محمد بن محمد بن الحسن طوسی) (born 18 February 1201 in Ṭūs, Khorasan – died on 26 June 1274 in al-Kāżimiyyah district of metropolitan Baghdad), better known as Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (Persian: نصیر الدین طوسی; or simply Tusi in the West), was a Persianpolymath and prolific writer: an astronomer, biologist, chemist, mathematician, philosopher, physician, physicist, scientist, theologian and Marja Taqleed. He was of the Ismaili-, and subsequently Twelver Shī‘ah Islamic belief. The Muslim scholar Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) considered Tusi to be the greatest of the later Persian scholars.
Nasir al-Din Tusi was born in the city of Tus in medieval Khorasan (now in north-eastern Iran) in the year 1201 and began his studies at an early age. In Hamadan and Tus he studied the Qur'an, Hadith, Shi'a jurisprudence, logic, philosophy, mathematics, medicine and astronomy.
He was apparently born into a Shī‘ah family and lost his father at a young age. Fulfilling the wish of his father, the young Muhammad took learning and scholarship very seriously and travelled far and wide to attend the lectures of renowned scholars and acquire the knowledge which guides people to the happiness of the next world. At a young age he moved to Nishapur to study philosophy under Farid al-Din Damad and mathematics under Muhammad Hasib. He met also Farid al-Din al-'Attar, the legendary Sufi master who was later killed by Mongol invaders and attended the lectures of Qutb al-Din al-Misri.
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Nizam al-Mulk
Abu Ali al-Hasan al-Tusi Nizam al-Mulk (1018–1092), better known as Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk Tusi (Persian: خواجه نظامالملک طوسی - Khwāğa Nizāmu l'Mulk al-Ṭusī) was a Persian scholar and vizier of the Seljuq Empire. He was also for a short time the sole ruler of the Seljuq Empire.
"Nizam al-Mulk" was an honorific which he assumed after achieving prominence. It translates into English as: "good order of the kingdom."
Born in Tus in Persia (modern Iran), and initially serving the Ghaznavid sultans, Nizam al-Mulk became chief administrator of the entire Khorasan province by 1059 C.E.
From 1063, he served the Seljuqs as vizier and remained in that position throughout the reigns of Alp Arslan (1063–1072) and Malik Shah I (1072–1092). He left a great impact on organization of the Seljuq governmental bodies and hence the title Nizam al-Mulk which translates as "the order of state". He was pivotal figure who bridged the political gap between both the Abbasids and the Seljuqs against their various rivals such as the Fatimids and the Buyids.
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Oghuz Turks
The Turkomen also known as Oghuz Turks (a linguistic term designating the Western Turkic or Oghuz languages from the Oghur languages) were a historical Turkic tribal confederation in Central Asia during the early medieval Turkic expansion. The name Oghuz is just the Common Turkic word for "tribe". They are referred to as "Western Turks" because they moved west from other Turkic peoples after the Göktürk empire collapsed, and because the majority of the areas in which they inhabit today (except Turkmenistan and the Turkmen Sahra) are west of the Caspian Sea, while those referred to as "Eastern Turks" live east of the Caspian Sea. The founders of the Ottoman Empire were also Oghuz Turks.
In the 9th century, the Oghuz Turks from the Aral steppes drove the Pecheneg Turks, of the Emba region and the Ural River, toward the west. In the 10th century they inhabited the steppe of the rivers Sari-su, Turgai, and Emba to the north of Lake Balkhash of modern day Kazakhstan. A clan of this nation, the Seljuks, embraced Islam and in the 11th century entered Persia, where they founded the Great Seljuk Empire. Similarly, in the 11th century a Tengriist Oghuz clan—referred to as Uzes or Torks in the Russian chronicles—overthrew Pecheneg supremacy in the Russian steppe. Harried by another Turkic horde, the Kipchaks—a branch of the Kimaks of the middle Irtysh or of the Ob—these Oghuz penetrated as far as the lower Danube, crossed it and invaded the Balkans, where they were either crushed or struck down by an outbreak of plague, causing the survivors either to flee or to join the Byzantine imperial forces as mercenaries (1065).
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Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire or Turkish Empire or Sublime Ottoman State or sometimes also referred to as Turkey (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه Devlet-i ʿAliyye-yi ʿOsmâniyye (also عثمانلى دولتى Osmanlı Devleti),Modern Turkish: Osmanlı Devleti or Osmanlı İmparatorluğu) was a Turkish empire which lasted from 27 July 1299 to 1 November 1922, when the Sultanate was abolished.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history; such that the Ottoman State, its politics, conflicts, and cultural heritage in a vast geography provide one of the longest continuous narratives. During the 16th and 17th centuries, in particular at the height of its power under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the empire was one of the most powerful states in the world – a multinational, multilingual empire that stretched from the southern borders of the Holy Roman Empire to the outskirts of Vienna, Royal Hungary (modern Slovakia) and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the north to Yemen and Eritrea in the south; from Algeria in the west to Azerbaijan in the east; controlling much of southeast Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. At the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries.
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Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians. The synonymous usage of Iranian and Persian has persisted over the centuries although some modern Western sources use Iranic/Iranian as a wider term that includes the term Persian as well as related Iranian languages and ethnic groups. However, these terms have been used both synonymously as well as in a complementary fashion since ancient times; as the Ancient Iranian peoples such as the Old Persians, Medes, Bactrians, Parthians and Avesta peoples considered themselves to be part of the greater Iranian ethnic stock.
The term Persian translates to "from or of Persis" which is a region north of the Persian Gulf located in Pars, Iran. It was from this region that Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid empire, united all other Iranian empires (such as the Medes and the Elamites), and expanded the Persian cultural and social influences by incorporating the Babylonian empire, and the Lydian empire. Although not the first Iranian empire, the Achaemenid empire is the first Persian empire well recognized by Greek and Persian historians for its massive cultural, military and social influences going as far as Athens, Egypt, and Libya.
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Persian peoples
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians. The synonymous usage of Iranian and Persian has persisted over the centuries although some modern Western sources use Iranic/Iranian as a wider term that includes the term Persian as well as related Iranian languages and ethnic groups. However, these terms have been used both synonymously as well as in a complementary fashion since ancient times; as the Ancient Iranian peoples such as the Old Persians, Medes, Bactrians, Parthians and Avesta peoples considered themselves to be part of the greater Iranian ethnic stock.
The term Persian translates to "from or of Persis" which is a region north of the Persian Gulf located in Pars, Iran. It was from this region that Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid empire, united all other Iranian empires (such as the Medes and the Elamites), and expanded the Persian cultural and social influences by incorporating the Babylonian empire, and the Lydian empire. Although not the first Iranian empire, the Achaemenid empire is the first Persian empire well recognized by Greek and Persian historians for its massive cultural, military and social influences going as far as Athens, Egypt, and Libya.
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President of Iran
The President of Iran is the highest popularly elected official in, and the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran; although subordinate to the Supreme Leader of Iran, who functions as the country's head of state. According to the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran the president is responsible for the "functions of the executive", such as signing treaties, agreements etc. with other countries and international organizations; the national planning and budget and state employment affairs; appointing ministers, governors, and ambassadors subject to the approval of the parliament.
Unlike some other countries, for example the United States, in Iran the office of president does not bestow full control over foreign policy, the armed forces, or the nuclear policy of the Iranian state, which are ultimately under the control of the Supreme Leader.
The President of Iran is elected for a four-year term by the direct vote of the people and may not serve for more than two consecutive terms.
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Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy ( /ˈtɒləmi/; Greek: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος, Klaudios Ptolemaios; Latin: Claudius Ptolemaeus; c. AD 90 – c. AD 168), was a Greek-Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the Thebaid. This theory, proposed by Theodore Meliteniotes, could be correct, but it is late (ca. 1360) and unsupported. There is no reason to suppose that he ever lived anywhere else than Alexandria, where he died around AD 168.
Ptolemy was the author of several scientific treatises, at least three of which were of continuing importance to later Islamic and European science. The first is the astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest (in Greek, Ἡ Μεγάλη Σύνταξις, "The Great Treatise", originally Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις, "Mathematical Treatise"). The second is the Geography, which is a thorough discussion of the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise known sometimes in Greek as the Apotelesmatika (Ἀποτελεσματικά), more commonly in Greek as the Tetrabiblos (Τετράβιβλος "Four books"), and in Latin as the Quadripartitum (or four books) in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day.
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Rashidun
The Rightly Guided Caliphs or The Righteous Caliphs (الخلفاء الراشدون al-Khulafā’u r-Rāshidūn) is a term used in Sunni Islam to refer to the first four Caliphs who established the Rashidun Caliphate. The concept of "Rightly Guided Caliphs" originated with the Abbasid Dynasty. It is a reference to the Sunni tradition, "Hold firmly to my example (sunnah) and that of the Rightly Guided Caliphs" (Ibn Majah, Abu Dawood).
The first four Caliphs who ruled after the death of Muhammad are often quoted as the Khulafah Rashidun.
The Rashidun were either elected by a council (see The election of Uthman and Islamic democracy) or chosen based on the wishes of their predecessor. In the order of succession, the rashidun were:
Hasan ibn Ali was appointed as Caliph in 661 following the death of Ali and is also regarded as a righteous ruler by Sunni Muslims, although he was recognized by only half of the Islamic state and his rule was challenged and eventually ended by the Governor of Syria, Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan.
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Rashidun Caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate (Arabic: الخلافة الراشدية al-khilāfat ar-Rāshidīyah), (c. 632-661) comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death in 632 (Year 10 A.H. in the Islamic calendar). At its height, the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant, Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and Central Asia in the east. At its greatest extent it was one of the largest empires in history. It is also known as the Patriarchal Caliphate.
After Muhammad's death in 632, the Medinan Ansar debated which of them should succeed him in running the affairs of the Muslims while Muhammad's household was busy with his burial. Umar (a Quraish) and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah pledged their loyalty to Abu Bakr, with the Ansar and the Quraish soon following suit. Abu Bakr thus became the first Khalifa Rasul Allah (Successor of the Messenger of God), and embarked on campaigns to propagate Islam. First, though, he would have to subdue the Arabian tribes which had gone back on their oaths of allegiance to Islam and the Islamic community. As a Khalifa or Caliph he was not a monarch and never claimed such a title nor did his three successors do so.
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Robert Briffault
Robert Stephen Briffault (1876 – 11 December 1948) was trained as a surgeon, but found fame as a social anthropologist and in later life as a novelist.
According to one source, Briffault was born in Nice, France. According to others he was born in London, though he spent time in France and elsewhere in Europe following his diplomat father. After the death of his father, Briffault and his Scottish-born mother emigrated to New Zealand.
His first wife (m 1896) was Anna Clarke with whom he had three children. After her death he married Herma Hoyt (1898-1981), an American writer and translator.
Briffault received his MB, ChB from the University of Dunedin in New Zealand and commenced medical practice. After service on the Western Front during World War I (where he was awarded the Military Cross, he settled in England where he turned to the study of sociology and anthropology. He also lived for some time in the USA, and later Paris.
Briffault debated marriage with Bronisław Malinowski in the 1930s and corresponded with Bertrand Russell.
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Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (Arabic: صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي Ṣaddām Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Maǧīd al-Tikrītī; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and later, the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organisation Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region, which espoused ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup, later referred to as the 17 July Revolution, that brought the party to long-term power of Iraq.
As vice president under the ailing General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, and at a time when many groups were considered capable of overthrowing the government, Saddam created security forces through which he tightly controlled conflict between the government and the armed forces. In the early 1970s, Saddam nationalized oil and other industries. The state-owned banks were put under his control, leaving the system eventually insolvent mostly due to the Iran–Iraq War, the Gulf War, and UN sanctions. Through the 1970s, Saddam cemented his authority over the apparatuses of government as oil money helped Iraq's economy to grow at a rapid pace. Positions of power in the country were filled with Sunnis, a minority that made up only a fifth of the population.
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Saljuqs
The House of Seljuq (Persian: سلجوقيان Saljūqīyān; Turkish Selçuklular) also Seljuq Turks, were a Turco-PersianSunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic origin that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries. They established an empire, the Great Seljuq Empire, which at its height stretched from Anatolia through Persia and which was the target of the First Crusade. The dynasty had its origins in the Turcoman tribal confederations of Central Asia.
Prior to the ninth century, hordes of Turks had crossed the Volga River into the Black Sea steppes. Originally, the House of Seljuq was a branch of the Qinik (Kınık) Oghuz Turks who in the 9th century lived on the periphery of the Muslim world, north of the Caspian and Aral seas in their Yabghu Khaganate of the Oghuz confederacy, in the Kazakh Steppe of Turkestan. In the 10th century the Seljuqs migrated from their ancestral homelands into mainland Persia, in the province of Khurasan, where they mixed with the local population and adopted the Persian culture and language in the following decades.
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Selim I
Selim I, Yavuz Sultân Selim Khan, Hâdim-ül Haramain-ish Sharifain (Servant of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina) (Ottoman Turkish: سليم اوّل, Modern Turkish: I.Selim), nicknamed Yavuz "the Stern" or "the Steadfast", but often rendered in English as "the Grim" (October 10, 1465/1466/1470 – September 22, 1520), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. His reign is notable for the enormous expansion of the Empire, particularly his conquest between 1516-1517 of the entire Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, which included all of Sham, Hejaz, and Egypt itself. With the heart of the Arab World now under their control, the Ottomans became the dominant power in the region, and in the Islamic world. Upon conquering Egypt, Selim took the title of Caliph of Islam, being the first Ottoman sultan to do so. He was also granted the title of "Khâdim ül Haramain ish Sharifain" (Servant of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina), by the Sharif of Mecca in 1517.
Selim's reign represented a sudden change in the expansion policy of the empire, which was working mostly against the West and the Beyliks before his reign. On the eve of his death in 1520, the Ottoman Empire spanned almost 1 billion acres (trebling during Selim's reign).
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Seljuks
The Great Seljuq Empire (Turkish: Büyük Selçuklu Devleti, Persian: دولت سلجوقیان) was a medieval Persianate,Turko-PersianSunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuq Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf. From their homelands near the Aral sea, the Seljuqs advanced first into Khorasan and then into mainland Persia before eventually conquering eastern Anatolia.
The Seljuq empire was founded by Tughril Beg in 1037 after the efforts by the founder of the Seljuq dynasty, Seljuq Beg, back in the first quarter of the eleventh century. Seljuq Beg's father was in a higher position in the Oghuz Yabgu State, and gave his name both to the state and the dynasty. The Seljuqs united the fractured political scene of the Eastern Islamic world and played a key role in the first and second crusades. Highly Persianized in culture and language, the Seljuqs also played an important role in the development of the Turko-Persian tradition, even exporting Persian culture to Anatolia. The Seljuqs conquest gave impetus to the progressive Turkicization of parts of Anatolia, Iran and the Caucasus.
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Somali people
Somalis (Somali: Soomaaliyeed, Arabic: الصوماليون) are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Ethnic Somalis number around 15-17 million and are principally concentrated in Somalia (more than 10 million), Ethiopia (4.6 million), Yemen (a little under 1 million), Kenya (900,000), Djibouti (464,600), and an unknown but large number live in parts of the Middle East, North America and Europe.
Samaale, the oldest common ancestor of several Somali clans, is generally regarded as the source of the ethnonym Somali. The name "Somali" is, in turn, held to be derived from the words soo and maal, which together mean "go and milk" — a reference to the ubiquitous pastoralism of the Somali people. Another plausible etymology proposes that the term Somali is derived from the Arabic for "wealthy" (dhawamaal), again referring to Somali riches in livestock.
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Tajik people
Tajik (Persian: تاجيک, Tājīk; Tajik: Тоҷик) is a general designation for a wide range of Persian-speaking people of Iranic origin, with traditional homelands in present-day Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. There are also smaller communities living in Iran and Pakistan; consisting mainly of refugees from Afghanistan and immigrants from Tajikistan.
In terms of language, culture, and history the Tajiks are closely related to the Persians of Iran.
As a self-designation, the term Tajik, which earlier on had been more or less pejorative, has become acceptable only during the last several decades, particularly as a result of Soviet administration in Central Asia. Alternative names for the Tajiks are Fārsī (Persian), Fārsīwān (Persian-speaker), and Dīhgān (cf. Tajik: Деҳқон, Dehqon, literally "farmer or settled villager", in a wider sense "settled" in contrast to "nomadic").
The Tajiks of China, although known by the name Tajik, speak Eastern Iranian languages and are distinct from Persian Tajiks.
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Teotihuacan
Coordinates: 19°41′33″N 98°50′37.68″W / 19.6925°N 98.8438°W / 19.6925; -98.8438
Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas. Apart from the pyramidal structures, Teotihuacan is also known for its large residential complexes, the Avenue of the Dead, and numerous colorful, well-preserved murals. Additionally, Teotihuacan produced a thin orange pottery style that spread through Mesoamerica.
The city is thought to have been established around 100 BC and continued to be built until about 250 AD. The city may have lasted until sometime between the 7th and 8th centuries AD. At its zenith, perhaps in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas, with a population of perhaps 125,000 or more, placing it among the largest cities of the world in this period. Teotihuacan began as a new religious center in the Mexican Highland around the first century AD. This city came to be the largest and most populated center in the New World. Teotihuacan was even home to multi-floor apartment compounds built to accommodate this large population. The civilization and cultural complex associated with the site is also referred to as Teotihuacan or Teotihuacano.
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Turkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty-five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.
Turkic languages are spoken as a native language by some 165 to 200 million people; and the total number of Turkic speakers is over 300 million, including speakers of a second language. The Turkic language with the greatest number of speakers is Turkish proper, or Anatolian [and Balkan] Turkish, the speakers of which account for about 40% of all Turkic speakers.
Characteristic features of Turkish, such as vowel harmony, agglutination, and lack of grammatical gender, are universal within the Turkic family. There is also a high degree of mutual intelligibility between the various Oghuz languages, which include Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Qashqai, Gagauz, Balkan Gagauz Turkish and Oghuz influenced Crimean Tatar.
The characteristic features of the Turkic languages are vowel harmony, extensive agglutination by means of suffixes and other affixes, and lack of noun classes or grammatical gender. Subject–object–verb word order is universal within the family. All of these distinguishing characteristics are shared with the Mongolic, Tungusic, and Korean language families, as well as (with the exception of vowel harmony) with Japonic, which are considered by some linguists to be genetically linked with the Turkic languages in an Altaic language family.
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Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are a collection of ethnic groups that live in northern, central and western Asia, northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds. The term Turkic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people including existing societies such as the Turkish, Azerbaijani, Chuvashes, Kazakhs, Tatars, Kyrgyzs, Turkmens, Uyghurs, Uzbeks, Bashkirs, Qashqai, Gagauzs, Yakuts, Crimean Karaites, Krymchaks, Karakalpaks, Karachays, Nogais and as well as past civilizations such as the Göktürks, Kumans, Kipchaks, Avars, Bulgars, Turgeshes, Khazars, Seljuk Turks, Ottoman Turks, Mamluks, Timurids and possibly Huns and the Xiongnu.
The distribution of people of Turkic cultural background ranges from Siberia, across Central Asia, to Eastern Europe. As of 2011[update] the largest groups of Turkic people live throughout Central Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan, in addition to Turkey and Iran. Additionally, Turkic people are found within Crimea, East Turkistan region of western China, northern Iraq, Pakistan, Israel, Russia, Afghanistan, and the Balkans: Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania, and former Yugoslavia. A small number of Turkic people also live in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Small numbers inhabit eastern Poland and the south-eastern part of Finland. There are also considerable populations of Turkic people (originating mostly from Turkey) in Germany, United States, and Australia, largely because of migrations during the 20th century.
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Umar
Umar (Arabic: عمر ابن الخطاب, Transliteration: `Umar ibn Al-Khattāb, Umar Son of Al-Khittab, c. 586–590 CE– 7 November 644), also known as Omar, Farooq the Great was the most powerful of the four Rashidun Caliphs and one of the most powerful and influential Muslim rulers in history. He was a sahabi (companion) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He succeeded Caliph Abu Bakr (632–634) as the second Caliph of Rashidun Caliphate on 23 August 634. He was an expert jurist and is best known for his justice, that earned him the title Al-Farooq (The one who distinguishes between right and wrong). Under Umar the Islamic empire expanded at an unprecedented rate ruling the whole Sassanid Persian Empire and more than two thirds of the Eastern Roman Empire. His brilliantly coordinated multi-prong attacks against the Sassanid Persian Empire resulted in the conquest of the Persian empire in less than two years. His legislative abilities and firm political and administrative control over a rapidly expanding empire marked his reputation as a great political and military leader. It was Umar, who for the first time in 500 years since their expulsion from the Holy Land, allowed Jews to practice their religion freely and live inside Jerusalem.[citation needed]
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Umar II
Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (c. 682 - February, 720) (Arabic: عمر بن عبد العزيز) was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 717 to 720. He was also a cousin of the former caliph, being the son of Abd al-Malik's younger brother, Abd al-Aziz. He was also a great-grandson of the companion of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, Umar bin Al-Khattab.
Umar was born around 682. Some traditions state that he was born in Medina while others claim that he was born in Egypt.
According to a Sunni Muslim tradition, Umar's lineage to Umar ibn al-Khattab stems from a famous event during the second Caliph's rule. During one of his frequent disguised journeys to survey the condition of his people, Umar overheard a milkmaid refusing to obey her mother's orders to sell adulterated milk. The mother reportedly told her daughter to add water to the milk as Caliph Umar is not there looking at them. The girl shot back that though Caliph Umar is not looking at them, Allah is always watching over everyone. He sent an officer to purchase milk from the girl the next day and learned that she had kept her resolve; the milk was unadulterated. Umar summoned the girl and her mother to his court and told them what he had heard. As a reward, he offered to marry the girl to his son Asim. She accepted, and from this union was born a girl named Layla that would in due course become the mother of Umar ibn Abdulaziz.
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Umayya ibn Abd Shams
The clan of Banu Umayyad as well as the dynasty that ruled the Umayyad Caliphate are named after Umayya ibn Abd Shams.
Umayya was the son of Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf, and the father of Harb ibn Umayya and Abu al-'As. According to the Shia view, Umayya was the adopted son of Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf.
His sons were
wn.com/Umayya_ibn_Abd_Shams -
Uqaylid Dynasty
The 'Uqailid or 'Uqaylid Dynasty was a Shi'a Arab dynasty with several lines that ruled in various parts of Al-Jazira, northern Syria and Iraq in the late tenth and eleventh centuries. The main line, centered in Mosul, ruled from 990 to 1096.
The 'Uqailids were descended from the Banu Uqayl and were Shi'a.[citation needed] They first came to power in Diyarbakr when they were granted land there by the Buwayhids, who hoped that they would serve as a buffer against the Kurdish rebel Badh. Soon afterwards the 'Uqailids forged an alliance with the Hamdanids, who had been expelled from Mosul by the Buwayhids in 979. Together the two of them moved against the Buyids and Mosul was occupied in 989. The 'Uqailid leader, Muhammad b. Musayyib, then fought against Badh, which eventually resulted in the death of the Kurdish rebel. Following this, Muhammad turned against the Hamdanids and defeating them as well. He also forced the Buwayhid governor of Mosul to grant him half of his dependencies.
Muhammad b. Musayyib died in 996. He was succeeded by his brother Muqallad, who in that same year marched on Mosul, forcing its Buwayhid governor to flee. From there the 'Uqailids advanced into Iraq; they succeeded in overrunning much of the country and even raiding Baghdad. Eventually the Buwayhid amir Baha' al-Daula came to terms with Muqallad, whereby the Uqailid was invested by the caliph with the rule of Mosul, Kufa and Jami'yan. He was also given the title of "Husam al-Daula." The treaty made Muqallad nominally subservient to the Buwayhids but in effect he was independent, refusing to pay the tribute that he owed.
wn.com/Uqaylid_Dynasty -
Uthman ibn Affan
Uthman ibn Affan (Arabic: عثمان بن عفان, strict transliteration: ʻUthmān ibn ʻAffān) (c. 579 – 17 July 656) was one of the companions of Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He played a major role in early Islamic history as the third of the Sunni Rashidun or Rightly Guided Caliphs.
Uthman was born into the Umayyad clan of Mecca, a powerful family of the Quraish tribe. He was a companion of Muhammad who assumed the role of leader (caliph) of the Muslim Empire at the age of 65 following Umar ibn al-Khattab. Under his leadership, the empire expanded into Fars in 650 (present-day Iran), some areas of Khorasan (present-day Afghanistan) in 651 and the conquest of Armenia was begun in the 640s. Some of Uthman's notable achievements were the economic reforms he introduced, and the compilation of the Qur'an into the unified, authoritative text that is known today.
Uthman was born in Ta’if, which is situated on a hill, and the presumption is that he was born during the summer months, since wealthy Meccans usually spent the hot summers in the cooler climate of Ta’if. He was born into the wealthy Umayyad (Banu Umayya) clan of the Quraysh tribe of Mecca, seven years after Muhammad. Uthman's father, Affan, died young while travelling abroad but left a large inheritance to Uthman. Uthman followed the same profession as his father, and his business flourished, making him one of the richest men among the Qurayshi tribe.
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16. The Early Middle Ages, 284--1000: The Splendor of the Abbasid Period
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 44:11
- Updated: 17 Sep 2012
The Early Middle Ages, 284--1000 (HIST 210) In this lecture, Professor Freedman discusses the Abbasid dynasty, which ruled the Islamic Caliphate beginning in 750. The Abbasids moved the capitol of the Caliphate to the newly-built city of Baghdad and created a state characterized by a strong administration and well-organized tax system. The state sponsored a cultural flowering, based in part on the translation of classical Greek and Roman texts. Professor Freedman ends the lecture by focusing on developments in mathematics and astronomy. 00:00 - Chapter 1. The Rise of the Abbasids 15:47 - Chapter 2. Cultural Flowering 28:28 - Chapter 3. Assimilation of conquered peoples and ideas 40:00 - Chapter 4. Mathematics Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: oyc.yale.edu This course was recorded in Fall 2011.
http://wn.com/16_The_Early_Middle_Ages,_284--1000_The_Splendor_of_the_Abbasid_Period
The Early Middle Ages, 284--1000 (HIST 210) In this lecture, Professor Freedman discusses the Abbasid dynasty, which ruled the Islamic Caliphate beginning in 750. The Abbasids moved the capitol of the Caliphate to the newly-built city of Baghdad and created a state characterized by a strong administration and well-organized tax system. The state sponsored a cultural flowering, based in part on the translation of classical Greek and Roman texts. Professor Freedman ends the lecture by focusing on developments in mathematics and astronomy. 00:00 - Chapter 1. The Rise of the Abbasids 15:47 - Chapter 2. Cultural Flowering 28:28 - Chapter 3. Assimilation of conquered peoples and ideas 40:00 - Chapter 4. Mathematics Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: oyc.yale.edu This course was recorded in Fall 2011.
Abbasid Dynasty
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:47
- Updated: 29 Jul 2012
History Class
http://wn.com/Abbasid_Dynasty
History Class
- published: 01 Dec 2010
- views: 4859
- author: LabiiSa17
Ross's History Project: The Abbasids
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:13
- Updated: 25 Nov 2012
history project video
http://wn.com/Ross's_History_Project_The_Abbasids
history project video
- published: 08 May 2008
- views: 1118
- author: Rossgood
The Golden Age of the Abbasid Caliphate
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 41:38
- Updated: 28 Sep 2012
Discussion on the Abbasid Caliphs, dynastic rulers of the Islamic world from the mid eighth to the tenth century
http://wn.com/The_Golden_Age_of_the_Abbasid_Caliphate
Discussion on the Abbasid Caliphs, dynastic rulers of the Islamic world from the mid eighth to the tenth century
- published: 26 Jul 2012
- views: 489
- author: TurnedTurk
Rise of Civilisation 3/5 the Abbasid Calliphate
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:27
- Updated: 24 May 2012
This is the 3rd video in my 5 part series about the psychological and cultural factors that cause civilisations of succeed and fail. Part 1 of the Series: www.youtube.com Part 2 of the Series: www.youtube.com I have copyrighted many of the images in this video to prevent my artwork from being used without my permission. If you wish to incorporate similar images into videos of your own please contact me and I will provide images you can use (If I like you). Also I have no objection to people displaying clips of my video in a response, or a discussion of it. You also have my permission to down load and re-upload the video as long as it is not altered. This video addresses a controversial topic, and I suspect many people will give it low ratings simply because they dislike the evidence and message of the video. I believe that videos should be rated according to their merit, not the popularity of the views they express, and so I am disabling the ratings for this video.
http://wn.com/Rise_of_Civilisation_3_5_the_Abbasid_Calliphate
This is the 3rd video in my 5 part series about the psychological and cultural factors that cause civilisations of succeed and fail. Part 1 of the Series: www.youtube.com Part 2 of the Series: www.youtube.com I have copyrighted many of the images in this video to prevent my artwork from being used without my permission. If you wish to incorporate similar images into videos of your own please contact me and I will provide images you can use (If I like you). Also I have no objection to people displaying clips of my video in a response, or a discussion of it. You also have my permission to down load and re-upload the video as long as it is not altered. This video addresses a controversial topic, and I suspect many people will give it low ratings simply because they dislike the evidence and message of the video. I believe that videos should be rated according to their merit, not the popularity of the views they express, and so I am disabling the ratings for this video.
- published: 29 Mar 2009
- views: 5881
- author: FluffyDarkPrincess
The Abbasid Dynasty
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:01
- Updated: 07 Sep 2012
Abbasids
http://wn.com/The_Abbasid_Dynasty
Abbasids
- published: 07 Dec 2011
- views: 880
- author: kennedysocialstudies
AP World History - What is the Abbasid Caliphate?
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:27
- Updated: 01 Dec 2012
Get the App! Go to bit.ly The Abbasid Caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids (Arabic: العبّاسيّون / ISO 233: al-'abbāsīyūn), was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate from all but the al-Andalus region. The Abbasid caliphate was founded by the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's youngest uncle, 'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, in Harran in 750 CE and shifted its capital in 762 to Baghdad. It flourished for two centuries, but slowly went into decline with the rise to power of the Turkish army it had created, the Mamluks. Within 150 years of gaining control of Persia, the caliphs were forced to cede power to local dynastic emirs who only nominally acknowledged their authority. The caliphate also lost the Western provinces of al-Andalus, Maghreb and Ifriqiya to an Umayyad prince, the Aghlabids and the Fatimid Caliphate, respectively.
http://wn.com/AP_World_History_What_is_the_Abbasid_Caliphate?
Get the App! Go to bit.ly The Abbasid Caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids (Arabic: العبّاسيّون / ISO 233: al-'abbāsīyūn), was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate from all but the al-Andalus region. The Abbasid caliphate was founded by the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's youngest uncle, 'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, in Harran in 750 CE and shifted its capital in 762 to Baghdad. It flourished for two centuries, but slowly went into decline with the rise to power of the Turkish army it had created, the Mamluks. Within 150 years of gaining control of Persia, the caliphs were forced to cede power to local dynastic emirs who only nominally acknowledged their authority. The caliphate also lost the Western provinces of al-Andalus, Maghreb and Ifriqiya to an Umayyad prince, the Aghlabids and the Fatimid Caliphate, respectively.
- published: 07 May 2012
- views: 680
- author: MenteonLearning
Ottoman Abbasid Umayyad Empires had flaws but overall good but not Exemplary Like Khulafa e Rashidin
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:35
- Updated: 04 Jul 2012
Ottoman Abbasid Umayyad Empires had imperfections/ flaws but overall good but not as Exemplary Like Khulafa e Rashidin
http://wn.com/Ottoman_Abbasid_Umayyad_Empires_had_flaws_but_overall_good_but_not_Exemplary_Like_Khulafa_e_Rashidin
Ottoman Abbasid Umayyad Empires had imperfections/ flaws but overall good but not as Exemplary Like Khulafa e Rashidin
- published: 02 May 2011
- views: 575
- author: ServingIslam
The Rise Of Knowledge During The Reign Of Abbasid Empire
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:01
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
Muslims conquered various field of knowledge during the Abbasid empire. But now, Muslims have nothing to be proud of anymore. Wake up brothers and sisters! made for UNGS 2040 narrator: muhammad syamantoba
http://wn.com/The_Rise_Of_Knowledge_During_The_Reign_Of_Abbasid_Empire
Muslims conquered various field of knowledge during the Abbasid empire. But now, Muslims have nothing to be proud of anymore. Wake up brothers and sisters! made for UNGS 2040 narrator: muhammad syamantoba
- published: 24 Feb 2009
- views: 5462
- author: rosaofprague
Azan in the Holy Abbasid Shrine - by Sheikh al-Habib
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:29
- Updated: 25 Jun 2012
After escaping from Kuwait when having been miraculously released from the Kuwaiti prison in 2004, His Eminence Sheikh Yasser al-Habib migrated to Iraq and stayed there in a short period. During this period they had the great blessings of visiting the Holy Shrines of the pure Infallibles of Ahlul-Bayt (as). When in prison, Sheikh al-Habib supplicated by asking Hazrat Abal-Fadhl al-Abbas (as) from help in escaping prison, and he gave an oath that if he's released from prison, he would personally give the Azan in the Holy Abbasid Shrine. The very same day he was taken by guards to the prison office, and was released days before the Kuwaiti National Day because of "pardon by the Kuwaiti prince". Later on, the Kuwaiti Intelligence Services discovered this "mistake" in releasing him, and therefore ordered an immediate arrest of Sheikh al-Habib. Fortunately, he managed to escape them, and till this very day, the Kuwaiti Intelligence Services cannot understand why and how this "mistake" of them could ever happen. Finally, that very same year, His Eminence gave the Azan in the Holy Abbasid Shrine.
http://wn.com/Azan_in_the_Holy_Abbasid_Shrine_by_Sheikh_al-Habib
After escaping from Kuwait when having been miraculously released from the Kuwaiti prison in 2004, His Eminence Sheikh Yasser al-Habib migrated to Iraq and stayed there in a short period. During this period they had the great blessings of visiting the Holy Shrines of the pure Infallibles of Ahlul-Bayt (as). When in prison, Sheikh al-Habib supplicated by asking Hazrat Abal-Fadhl al-Abbas (as) from help in escaping prison, and he gave an oath that if he's released from prison, he would personally give the Azan in the Holy Abbasid Shrine. The very same day he was taken by guards to the prison office, and was released days before the Kuwaiti National Day because of "pardon by the Kuwaiti prince". Later on, the Kuwaiti Intelligence Services discovered this "mistake" in releasing him, and therefore ordered an immediate arrest of Sheikh al-Habib. Fortunately, he managed to escape them, and till this very day, the Kuwaiti Intelligence Services cannot understand why and how this "mistake" of them could ever happen. Finally, that very same year, His Eminence gave the Azan in the Holy Abbasid Shrine.
- published: 08 May 2011
- views: 2914
- author: AbuBakrZIndiq
The Histories Part 62: The Abbasid Dynasty
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:52
- Updated: 10 Aug 2012
http://wn.com/The_Histories_Part_62_The_Abbasid_Dynasty
- published: 09 Aug 2012
- views: 254
- author: TristanPEJ
Khawarji Fitna During Umayyad & Abbasids Caliphate - It was banned to take name of Imam Ali(as) 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:19
- Updated: 22 May 2012
Lecture: Imam Hassan Basri RA ka Hadhrat Ali RA sey sima This is one of the historic lectures in Ilm ul Hadith (Science of Hadith) which was outstanding for the last 11 centuries, which is why the science of Sufism could not have been proved with the conditions of Science of Hadith. The Muhadithin could not prove any meeting between Imam Hasan Basri and Imam Ali according to the conditions/requisites of Science of Hadith. In this historic speech during the largest Itikaf of the Muslim world after the Harmain, Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri after his immense research has provided more than 30 Hadith transmitted through the two Imam. He proves that the meeting between the two greatest Imams of the time did take place hence resolved the outstanding issue. Play this lecture here www.islamtune.com
http://wn.com/Khawarji_Fitna_During_Umayyad_Abbasids_Caliphate_It_was_banned_to_take_name_of_Imam_Alias_1
Lecture: Imam Hassan Basri RA ka Hadhrat Ali RA sey sima This is one of the historic lectures in Ilm ul Hadith (Science of Hadith) which was outstanding for the last 11 centuries, which is why the science of Sufism could not have been proved with the conditions of Science of Hadith. The Muhadithin could not prove any meeting between Imam Hasan Basri and Imam Ali according to the conditions/requisites of Science of Hadith. In this historic speech during the largest Itikaf of the Muslim world after the Harmain, Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri after his immense research has provided more than 30 Hadith transmitted through the two Imam. He proves that the meeting between the two greatest Imams of the time did take place hence resolved the outstanding issue. Play this lecture here www.islamtune.com
- published: 14 Dec 2009
- views: 4683
- author: ServingIslam
Ummayad vs Abbasid
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:01
- Updated: 10 Oct 2012
Extra Credit Video for Bennett and Hunter
http://wn.com/Ummayad_vs_Abbasid
Extra Credit Video for Bennett and Hunter
- published: 05 Nov 2010
- views: 2892
- author: rehmert
Khawarji Fitna During Umayyad & Abbasids Caliphate -It was banned to take name of Imam Ali(as)Part2
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:00
- Updated: 18 Nov 2012
This is one of the historic lectures in Ilm ul Hadith (Science of Hadith) which was outstanding for the last 11 centuries, which is why the science of Sufism could not have been proved with the conditions of Science of Hadith. The Muhadithin could not prove any meeting between Imam Hasan Basri and Imam Ali according to the conditions/requisites of Science of Hadith. In this historic speech during the largest Itikaf of the Muslim world after the Harmain, Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri after his immense research has provided more than 30 Hadith transmitted through the two Imam. He proves that the meeting between the two greatest Imams of the time did take place hence resolved the outstanding issue. Play this lecture here www.islamtune.com
http://wn.com/Khawarji_Fitna_During_Umayyad_Abbasids_Caliphate_-It_was_banned_to_take_name_of_Imam_AliasPart2
This is one of the historic lectures in Ilm ul Hadith (Science of Hadith) which was outstanding for the last 11 centuries, which is why the science of Sufism could not have been proved with the conditions of Science of Hadith. The Muhadithin could not prove any meeting between Imam Hasan Basri and Imam Ali according to the conditions/requisites of Science of Hadith. In this historic speech during the largest Itikaf of the Muslim world after the Harmain, Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri after his immense research has provided more than 30 Hadith transmitted through the two Imam. He proves that the meeting between the two greatest Imams of the time did take place hence resolved the outstanding issue. Play this lecture here www.islamtune.com
- published: 14 Dec 2009
- views: 4063
- author: ServingIslam
Persian_Scientists and Philosophers-Abbasid-Era-011810.wmv
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:20
- Updated: 10 May 2011
Jarir Tabari was one of the earliest, most prominent and famous Persian historian and exegete of the Quran, who wrote exclusively in Arabic. Most famous for his Tarikh al-Tabari (History of the Prophets and Kings) and Tafsir al-Tabari. In his volumatic recording of historical events he addresses events from Creation according to the books of profits till end of Sassanid dynasty in Iran and Persian-Arab conflict. With a complex process of Islamic expansion into the Persia. The background has been supported by a wonderful piece of Iranian classical music: Music: Symphony No. 5 Album: Iranian Symphony Composer: Shaheen Farhat Conductor: Feraydoun Nasseri Tehran Symphony Orchestra, Society of Iranian Musicians
http://wn.com/Persian_Scientists_and_Philosophers-Abbasid-Era-011810wmv
Jarir Tabari was one of the earliest, most prominent and famous Persian historian and exegete of the Quran, who wrote exclusively in Arabic. Most famous for his Tarikh al-Tabari (History of the Prophets and Kings) and Tafsir al-Tabari. In his volumatic recording of historical events he addresses events from Creation according to the books of profits till end of Sassanid dynasty in Iran and Persian-Arab conflict. With a complex process of Islamic expansion into the Persia. The background has been supported by a wonderful piece of Iranian classical music: Music: Symphony No. 5 Album: Iranian Symphony Composer: Shaheen Farhat Conductor: Feraydoun Nasseri Tehran Symphony Orchestra, Society of Iranian Musicians
- published: 18 Jan 2010
- views: 879
- author: KARPETPET
Abbasid Caliphate by Atabik
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:59
- Updated: 16 Mar 2012
About Abbasid Caliphate
http://wn.com/Abbasid_Caliphate_by_Atabik
About Abbasid Caliphate
- published: 10 Mar 2012
- views: 43
- author: atabikvilla7
AP World History - What was the Abbasid Caliphate?
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:27
- Updated: 24 May 2012
Get the App! Go to bit.ly Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, al-Abbas, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and ruled an Islamic empire from their capital in Baghdad (founded 762) from 750 to 1258.
http://wn.com/AP_World_History_What_was_the_Abbasid_Caliphate?
Get the App! Go to bit.ly Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, al-Abbas, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and ruled an Islamic empire from their capital in Baghdad (founded 762) from 750 to 1258.
- published: 07 May 2012
- views: 76
- author: MenteonLearning
Inside the Abbasid Empire
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:14
- Updated: 16 Oct 2012
Abbasid empire movie.
http://wn.com/Inside_the_Abbasid_Empire
Abbasid empire movie.
- published: 09 Jan 2012
- views: 233
- author: wexydrummer56
Abbasid Antheme (HQ)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:59
- Updated: 04 Sep 2012
PAkistan itehad abbasia made their anthem which was introduced on 1st oct 2009 in Beach Luxury Hotel. (ABBASI NEWS)
http://wn.com/Abbasid_Antheme_HQ
PAkistan itehad abbasia made their anthem which was introduced on 1st oct 2009 in Beach Luxury Hotel. (ABBASI NEWS)
- published: 08 Nov 2010
- views: 271
- author: ShakeelKalhoro
The abbasid caliphate
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:48
- Updated: 23 Sep 2012
This is a short video about the great Abbasid caliphate. I hope you enjoy and SUBSCRIBE
http://wn.com/The_abbasid_caliphate
This is a short video about the great Abbasid caliphate. I hope you enjoy and SUBSCRIBE
- published: 23 Sep 2012
- views: 104
- author: TheIraqiforce
Beautiful Azan in the Holy Abbasid Shrine - by Sheikh al-Habib.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:29
- Updated: 25 Nov 2012
http://wn.com/Beautiful_Azan_in_the_Holy_Abbasid_Shrine_by_Sheikh_al-Habib
- published: 10 Oct 2012
- views: 93
- author: mssas92196
The Early Abbasid Translations, part 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:04
- Updated: 09 May 2011
"The Early Abbasid Translations of Ancient Science: A Comparative Perspective" Prof. Thomas F. Glick 6 Mar, 2010
http://wn.com/The_Early_Abbasid_Translations,_part_1
"The Early Abbasid Translations of Ancient Science: A Comparative Perspective" Prof. Thomas F. Glick 6 Mar, 2010
- published: 16 Jun 2010
- views: 225
- author: HIST0KSU
TADS - The 2nd Semester part 194 (The Six Pointed Star and the 2nd Abbasid Empire)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:12
- Updated: 11 Nov 2012
This is acontinuation of the original HashemsFilms Series "The Antichrist Dajjal will be a Reptilian Shapeshifter". Join the discussion afterwards at www.hashemstudios-board.com. To watch online for free visit www.HashemStudios.com and to buy a DVD set of the first semester or our other works, please visit www.freewebstore.org Please help translate this series into as many languages as possible and upload it in as many places as you can. Thank you
http://wn.com/TADS_The_2nd_Semester_part_194_The_Six_Pointed_Star_and_the_2nd_Abbasid_Empire
This is acontinuation of the original HashemsFilms Series "The Antichrist Dajjal will be a Reptilian Shapeshifter". Join the discussion afterwards at www.hashemstudios-board.com. To watch online for free visit www.HashemStudios.com and to buy a DVD set of the first semester or our other works, please visit www.freewebstore.org Please help translate this series into as many languages as possible and upload it in as many places as you can. Thank you
- published: 31 Mar 2011
- views: 1911
- author: HashemStudioscom
photo: UN / Shareef Sarhan
02 Dec 2012
Article by WN.com Guest Writer Gilad Atzmon. Israel suffered a humiliating defeat at The UN recently. The nations of the world stood up and said NO to the Jewish state - NO to Israeli occupation, NO to Israeli human rights abuse, NO to Jewish racism. In effect, they stood up and confessed to serious Zio-fatigue ... This is a very good news indeed. But interestingly, this united opposition to Israel is not in response to Israeli strength ... ....(size: 2.6Kb)
photo: USAF / Senior Airman Patrice Clarke
02 Dec 2012
There have been "multiple explosions" near an airfield at a US base in eastern Afghanistan, Nato has said. Afghan intelligence officials told the BBC seven suicide attackers targeted the base in Jalalabad, and witnesses said that gunfire was heard ... Counter claims ... There were no Nato casualties in the attack, officials said ... ....(size: 1.7Kb)
photo: AP / Patrick Semansky
02 Dec 2012
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. Much like the United States, the Vikings were a paradoxical and duplicitous civilization. Not only were they highly skilled shipbuilders and tremendous explorers, not to mention their expertise in the fishing, farming and trading industries, but they helped establish and contribute to the nation-states of France, England, Ireland, Germany, Russia, and Iceland ... This came to mind when Pfc....(size: 5.5Kb)
photo: AP / Anja Niedringhaus
03 Dec 2012
UNITED NATIONS. UN leader Ban Ki-moon warned Sunday that if Israel implemented its latest plan for new settlements it would deal an “almost fatal blow” to any prospects for peace with the Palestinians. Israel’s announcement about the 3,000 Jewish settler homes, whose planned location was not revealed, came in the wake of a historic vote by the United Nations General Assembly to upgrade Palestine’s diplomatic status ... ....(size: 4.2Kb)
photo: AP / Sang Tan, File
03 Dec 2012
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A major U.S. delegation is in Dubai to lead opposition to possible new Internet regulations at a U.N. conference ... and Microsoft Corp. ....(size: 0.9Kb)
WorldNetDaily
02 Dec 2012
This vote was not really any surprise. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, or OIC, rammed it through ... And not once does even one of those Muslim countries ever vote contrary to the Islamic supremacist agenda. Ever. So how did you think the vote was going to go? ... â¦. The OIC is nothing less than a “would-be, universal caliphate.” It might look different from the caliphates of the Ottomans, Fatimids, and Abbasids ... ....(size: 6.9Kb)
Reuters
22 Nov 2012
* Capture further weakens Assad control in the east. * Fighting continues around Damascus. * 15 killed in strike near Aleppo hospital. By Khaled Yacoub Oweis ... But insurgents have often had to retreat quickly after making advances to avoid strikes by the president's air force ... REBEL GAINS ... To the east, clashes were also reported in the Damascus neighbourhood of Jobar, which is adjacent to the main Abbasid Square ... ....(size: 4.6Kb)
The Star
22 Nov 2012
AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels captured an army base in the eastern oil province of Deir al-Zor on Thursday, striking another blow against President Bashar al-Assad's military and further weakening his control in the strategic region bordering Iraq ... REUTERS/Omar Ezzdin/Shaam News Network/Handout ... REBEL GAINS ... To the east, clashes were also reported in the Damascus neighbourhood of Jobar, which is adjacent to the main Abbasid Square ... ....(size: 4.8Kb)
Gadling
20 Nov 2012
The National Museum of Iraq is as battered and defiant as the country it represents. Battered because it has suffered looting and neglect, defiant because its staff fought to protect it. Now they're rebuilding and the museum will soon reopen. I got a sneak peak while visiting Iraq and was overawed. I knew I would be ... My favorite was the writing ... In one room I found a member of the staff restoring an Abbasid sarcophagus made of teak ... ....(size: 4.7Kb)
Canberra Times
16 Nov 2012
Saturday, November 17. Blackout ... THIS preposterous offering, allegedly based on the nautical story cycle of the Abbasid caliphate, would have had Sir Richard Burton in paroxysms of … of what? Fury? Hilarity? We will never know, but we can say with complete assurance that this ludicrous assemblage of groovy haircuts, sexy footwear, deranged plot and atrocious dialogue is bad children's television in exactly the wrong time slot ... ....(size: 8.3Kb)
Gulf News
15 Nov 2012
Few non-specialists appreciate the effort that went into its composition ... Life and times ... The Abbasid governor of Bukhara, Khalid Ibn Ahmad, was not pleased and secured a decree to banish him from the city ... First published in 1924 in French, this key reprint explains a great branch of Muslim religious scholarship and provides a carefully laid-out and accessible look into the evolution of Hadiths from the Umayyad to the Abbasid periods ... ....(size: 28.9Kb)
Deccan Herald
13 Nov 2012
A series of obnoxious edicts from various seats of Islamic learning and devotion in recent years have sought to deny the Muslim women social space that the Indian Constitution guarantees to its citizens regardless of their caste, colour, gender and faith ... Most of these postulates evolved during the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties and were motivated by the contemporary politics rather than having anything to do with Islamic precepts. Â....(size: 5.9Kb)
Gulf News
11 Nov 2012
Sharjah. The ruler of Sharjah has spoken of his determination to reach out to citizens in a lengthy interview in which he detailed his writings and touched on the history of the UAE ... Article continues below ... Related Links. Sharjah Book Fair kids programme a hit. Shaikh Sultan said ... He also threw light on the Abbasid and Umayyad eras and the Mongol Invasion of Baghdad in 1258 when they seized Baghdad and killed the last Abbasid Caliph ... . . ....(size: 25.5Kb)
The Siasat Daily
07 Nov 2012
November 07.. Answer the following questions and post your answers in comments section with your email ID. 1) The Islamic political system makes the ruler and the governmen tresponsible firstly to Allah and then to who?. A.Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). B.Prophet Muhammad the the Judicial Branch of the State. C.The Judicial Branch and the Khalifa. D.the people ... A.8 years. B.9 years. C.9 years & 8 months ... Abbasid....(size: 2.5Kb)
The Siasat Daily
06 Nov 2012
November 06.. Answer the following questions and post your answers in comments section with your email ID. 1. In what year did the Christians take Qurtuba from Muslims?. a. 1236 CE. b. 1258 CE. c. 1492 CE. d. 1187 CE. 2. During which Khilafah was Bayt-ul-Hikmah built?. a. Ummayyad. b. Abbasid. c. Fatimid. d. Ottoman. 3. What is a woman's status in Islam?. a ... b ... c ... d ... 4....(size: 2.4Kb)
Irish Times
01 Nov 2012
MARY RUSSELL. FOR ABUNDANCE, richness and astounding craftsmanship, seek out the Louvre���s newly opened Department of Islamic Art ... From the Syrian town of Ar-Raqqah, where the caliph Harun al-Rashid had his summer palace, there are pillar capitals decorated with the palm leaves so beloved of the Abbasids, who replaced the Umayyad dynasty ... There are also personal touches ... The Arts of Islam exhibition is ongoing. Entry from ���11Email Us.....(size: 3.0Kb)
The Times of India
01 Nov 2012
S Irfan Habib, a historian of science and political history, holds the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad chair at Delhi's National University of Educational Planning and Administration ... What prompted your research on science and Islam? ... I was disturbed about what was happening ... I don't see any conflict ... The Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad set up the Baitul Hikmah or the House of Wisdom, laying the foundations of rational and natural science ... ....(size: 3.6Kb)
noodls
17 Oct 2012
17 October 2012. At Deakin University Dr Ben Isakhan spends much of his time working with two sombre databases ... "It has been meticulously kept and it is amazing that they have been able to keep it going," he said ... "Since then a number of sensitive historic locations have suffered irrevocable damage like Mesopotamian archaeological sites, an Abbasid-era palace and mosque, an Ottoman-era mosque and the Hashemite Parliament House." ... (2012)....(size: 9.1Kb)
- For the Caliphate of Córdoba (Al-Andalus) dynasty see Abbadids; for the southwest Arabia Islamic sect, see Abādites.
| Abbasid Caliphate الخلافة العباسية al-khilāfah al-‘abbāsīyyah |
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| Capital | Kufa (750-762) Baghdad (762-836) Samarra (836-892) Baghdad (892-1258) |
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| Language(s) | Arabic, Aramaic, Armenian, Berber languages, Coptic, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Middle Persian, Oghuz Turkic,[1][2] Kurdish[3] | |||
| Religion | Sunni Islam | |||
| Government | Caliphate | |||
| Amir al-Mu'minin¹ | ||||
| - 721–754 | As-Saffah | |||
| - 786–809 | Harun al-Rashid | |||
| - 1261–1262 | Al-Mustansir | |||
| - 1242–1258 | Al-Musta'sim | |||
| History | ||||
| - Established | 750 | |||
| - Disestablished | 1258 | |||
| Area | 11,100,000 km2 (4,285,734 sq mi) | |||
| Population | ||||
| - est. | 20,000,000 | |||
| Density | 1.8 /km2 (4.7 /sq mi) | |||
| Currency | Abbasid Dinar | |||
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The Abbasid Caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids (Arabic: العبّاسيّون / ISO 233: al-‘abbāsīyūn), was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate from all but the al-Andalus region.
The Abbasid caliphate was founded by the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's youngest uncle, ‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, in Kufa in 750 CE and shifted its capital in 762 to Baghdad. It flourished for two centuries, but slowly went into decline with the rise to power of the Turkish army it had created, the Mamluks. Within 150 years of gaining control of Persia, the caliphs were forced to cede power to local dynastic emirs who only nominally acknowledged their authority. The caliphate also lost the Western provinces of al-Andalus, Maghreb and Ifriqiya to an Umayyad prince, the Aghlabids and the Fatimid Caliphate, respectively.
The Abbasids' rule was briefly ended for three years in 1258, when Hulagu Khan, the Mongol khan, sacked Baghdad, resuming in Mamluk Egypt in 1261, from where they continued to claim authority in religious matters until 1519, when power was formally transferred to the Ottoman Empire and the capital relocated to Constantinople.
Contents |
Rise[link]
The Abbasid caliphs were Arabs descended from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–662), one of the youngest uncles of Muhammad, because of which they considered themselves the true successor of Muhammad as opposed to the Umayyads. The Umayyads were descended from Umayya, and were a clan separate from Muhammad's in the Quraish tribe.
The Abbasids also distinguished themselves from the Umayyads by attacking their moral character and administration in general. According to Ira Lapidus, "The Abbasid revolt was supported largely by Arabs, mainly the aggrieved settlers of Marw with the addition of the Yemeni faction and their Mawali".[4] The Abbasids also appealed to non-Arab Muslims, known as mawali, who remained outside the kinship-based society of the Arabs and were perceived as a lower class within the Umayyad empire. Muhammad ibn 'Ali, a great-grandson of Abbas, began to campaign for the return of power to the family of Muhammad, the Hashimites, in Persia during the reign of Umar II.
During the reign of Marwan II, this opposition culminated in the rebellion of Ibrahim the Imam, the fourth in descent from Abbas. Supported by the province of Khorasan, Iran, he achieved considerable success, but was captured in the year 747 and died in prison; some hold that he was assassinated.[citation needed] The quarrel was taken up by his brother Abdallah, known by the name of Abu al-'Abbas as-Saffah, who defeated the Umayyads in 750 in the Battle of the Zab near the Great Zab and was subsequently proclaimed caliph.
Immediately after their victory, Abu al-'Abbas as-Saffah sent his forces to North Africa and Central Asia, where his forces fought against Tang expansion during the Battle of Talas (the Abbasids were known to their opponents as the: "Black robed Tazi" ("Tazi", Chinese: 大食 is borrowed from Persian.)[citation needed]). Barmakids, who were instrumental in building Baghdad; introduced the world's first recorded paper mill in Baghdad, thus beginning a new era of intellectual rebirth in the Abbasid domain. Within 10 years, the Abbasids built another renowned paper mill in the Umayyad capital of Córdoba in Spain.
Power[link]
The first change the Abbasids made was to move the empire's capital from Damascus, in Syria, to Baghdad in Iraq. This was to both appease as well to be closer to the Persian mawali support base that existed in this region more influenced by Persian history and culture, and part of the Persian mawali demand for less Arab dominance in the empire. Baghdad was established on the Tigris River in 762. A new position, that of the vizier, was also established to delegate central authority, and even greater authority was delegated to local emirs. Eventually, this meant that many Abbasid caliphs were relegated to a more ceremonial role than under the Umayyads, as the viziers began to exert greater influence, and the role of the old Arab aristocracy was slowly replaced by a Persian bureaucracy.[5]
The Abbasids had depended heavily on the support of Persians[citation needed] in their overthrow of the Umayyads. Abu al-'Abbas' successor, Al-Mansur, moved their capital from Damascus to the new city of Baghdad and welcomed non-Arab Muslims to their court. While this helped integrate Arab and Persian cultures, it alienated many of their Arab supporters, particularly the Khorasanian Arabs who had supported them in their battles against the Umayyads.
File:Al-Mu'tamid-coin.jpg
Abbasid coins during Al-Mu'tamid's reign
These fissures in their support led to immediate problems. The Umayyads, while out of power, were not destroyed. The only surviving member of the Umayyad royal family, which had been all but annihilated, ultimately made his way to Spain where he established himself as an independent Emir (Abd ar-Rahman I, 756). In 929, Abd ar-Rahman III assumed the title of Caliph, establishing Al Andalus from Córdoba as a rival to Baghdad as the legitimate capital of the Islamic Empire.
In 756, The Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur sent over 4,000 Arab mercenaries to assist the Chinese Tang dynasty in the An Shi Rebellion against An Lushan. After the war, they remained in China.[6][7][8][9][10] Arab Caliph Harun al-Rashid established an alliance with China.[11] Several embassies from the Abbaside Caliphs to the Chinese Court are recorded in the T'ang Annals, the most important of these being those of (A-bo-lo-ba) Abul Abbas, the founder of the new dynasty, that of (A-p'u-ch'a-fo) Abu Jafar, the builder of Bagdad, of whom more must be said immediately; and that of (A-lun) Harun al-Rashid, best known, perhaps, in modern days through the popular work, Arabian Nights. The Abbasides or " Black Flags," as they were commonly called, are known in Chinese history as the Heh-i Ta-shih, " The Black-robed Arabs."[12][13][14][15][16] Al-Rashid sent embassies to the Chinese Tang dynasty and established good relations with them.[11][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]
Golden Age[link]
Main article: Islamic Golden Age
Further information: Early Islamic philosophy and Inventions in the Muslim world
"In virtually every field of endeavor -in astronomy, alchemy, mathematics, medicine, optics and so forth- Arab scientists were in the forefront of scientific advance."[24]
The Islamic Golden Age was inaugurated by the middle of the 8th century by the ascension of the Abbasid Caliphate and the transfer of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad.[25] The Abbassids were influenced by the Qur'anic injunctions and hadith such as "the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr" stressing the value of knowledge.[25] During this period the Muslim world became an intellectual center for science, philosophy, medicine and education as the Abbasids championed the cause of knowledge and established the House of Wisdom in Baghdad; where both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars sought to translate and gather all the world's knowledge into Arabic.[25] Many classic works of antiquity that would otherwise have been lost were translated into Arabic and Persian and later in turn translated into Turkish, Hebrew and Latin.[25] During this period the Muslim world was a cauldron of cultures which collected, synthesized and significantly advanced the knowledge gained from the ancient Roman, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Egyptian, North African, Greek and Byzantine civilizations.[25]
Science[link]
Main article: Science in the medieval Islamic world
Further information: Alchemy (Islam), Islamic astronomy, Islamic mathematics, Islamic medicine, and Timeline of science and technology in the Islamic world
The reigns of Harun al-Rashid (786–809) and his successors fostered an age of great intellectual achievement. In large part, this was the result of the schismatic forces that had undermined the Umayyad regime, which relied on the assertion of the superiority of Arab culture as part of its claim to legitimacy, and the Abbasids' welcoming of support from non-Arab Muslims. It is well established that the Abbasid caliphs modeled their administration on that of the Sassanids.[26] Harun al-Rashid's son, Al-Ma'mun (whose mother was Persian), is even quoted as saying:
- "The Persians ruled for a thousand years and did not need us Arabs even for a day. We have been ruling them for one or two centuries and cannot do without them for an hour."[27]
A number of medieval thinkers and scientists living under Islamic rule played a role in transmitting Islamic science to the Christian West. They contributed to making Aristotle known in Christian Europe. In addition, the period saw the recovery of much of the Alexandrian mathematical, geometric and astronomical knowledge, such as that of Euclid and Claudius Ptolemy. These recovered mathematical methods were later enhanced and developed by other Islamic scholars, notably by Persian scientists Al-Biruni and Abu Nasr Mansur.
Algebra was significantly developed by Persian scientist Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī during this time in his landmark text, Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala, from which the term algebra is derived. He is thus considered to be the father of algebra by some,[28] although the Greek mathematician Diophantus has also been given this title. The terms algorism and algorithm are derived from the name of al-Khwarizmi, who was also responsible for introducing the Arabic numerals and Hindu-Arabic numeral system beyond the Indian subcontinent.
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) developed an early scientific method in his Book of Optics (1021). The most important development of the scientific method was the use of experiments to distinguish between competing scientific theories set within a generally empirical orientation, which began among Muslim scientists. Ibn al-Haytham's empirical proof of the intromission theory of light (that is, that light rays entered the eyes rather than being emitted by them) was particularly important. Bradley Steffens described Ibn al-Haytham as the "first scientist"[29] for his development of scientific method.[30][31]
Medicine in medieval Islam was an area of science that advanced particularly during the Abbasids' reign. During the ninth century, Baghdad contained over 800 doctors, and great discoveries in the understanding of anatomy and diseases were made. The clinical distinction between measles and smallpox was described during this time. Famous Persian scientist Ibn Sina (known to the West as Avicenna) produced treatises and works that summarized the vast amount of knowledge that scientists had accumulated, and was very influential through his encyclopedias, The Canon of Medicine and The Book of Healing. The work of him and many others directly influenced the research of European scientists during the Renaissance.
Astronomy in medieval Islam was advanced by Al-Battani, who improved the precision of the measurement of the precession of the Earth's axis. The corrections made to the geocentric model by al-Battani[citation needed], Averroes[citation needed], Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Mo'ayyeduddin Urdi and Ibn al-Shatir were later incorporated into the Copernican heliocentric model.[32] The astrolabe, though originally developed by the Greeks, was developed further by Islamic astronomers and engineers, and subsequently brought to medieval Europe.
Muslim alchemists influenced medieval European alchemists, particularly the writings attributed to Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber). A number of chemical processes such as distillation techniques were developed in the Muslim world and then spread to Europe.
Literature[link]
Main articles: Islamic literature, Arabic literature, Arabic epic literature, and Persian literature
The best known fiction from the Islamic world was The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights). The original concept is derived from pre-Islamic Iranian (Persian) prototype with reliance on Indian elements. It also includes stories from the rest of the Middle-Eastern and North African nations. The epic took form in the 10th century and reached its final form by the 14th century; the number and type of tales have varied from one manuscript to another.[33] All Arabian fantasy tales were often called "Arabian Nights" when translated into English, regardless of whether they appeared in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.[33] This epic has been influential in the West since it was translated in the 18th century, first by Antoine Galland.[34] Many imitations were written, especially in France.[35] Various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba.
A famous example of Persian poetry on romance is Layla and Majnun,[36] dating back to the Umayyad era in the 7th century. It is a tragic story of undying love much like the later Romeo and Juliet.[37][dead link]
Arabic poetry reached its greatest heights in the Abbasid era, especially before the loss of central authority and the rise of the Persianate dynasties. Writers like Abu Tammam and Abu Nuwas were closely connected to the caliphal court in Baghdad during the early 9th century, while others such as al-Mutanabbi received their patronage from regional courts.
Philosophy[link]
Main articles: Islamic philosophy and Early Islamic philosophy
Further information: Logic in Islamic philosophy, Kalam, Avicennism, Averroism, Illuminationist philosophy, and Transcendent Theosophy
One of the common definitions for "Islamic philosophy" is "the style of philosophy produced within the framework of Islamic culture."[38] Islamic philosophy, in this definition is neither necessarily concerned with religious issues, nor is exclusively produced by Muslims.[38] Their works on Aristotle was a key step in the transmission of learning from ancient Greeks to the Islamic world and the West. They often corrected the philosopher, encouraging a lively debate in the spirit of ijtihad. They also wrote influential original philosophical works, and their thinking was incorporated into Christian philosophy during the Middle Ages, notably by Thomas Aquinas.[citation needed]
Three speculative thinkers, al-Kindi, al-Farabi, and Avicenna, combined Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam, and Avicennism was later established as a result. Other influential Muslim philosophers in the Caliphates include al-Jahiz, and Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen).
Technology[link]
Main articles: Inventions in medieval Islam, Muslim Agricultural Revolution, and Timeline of Islamic science and technology
 |
This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article. Consider associating this request with a WikiProject. (April 2011) |
In technology, the Muslim world adopted papermaking from China.[39] The knowledge of gunpowder was also transmitted from China via Islamic countries, where the formulas for pure potassium nitrate and an explosive gunpowder effect were first developed.[40][41]
Advances were made in irrigation and farming, using new technology such as the windmill. Crops such as almonds and citrus fruit were brought to Europe through al-Andalus, and sugar cultivation was gradually adopted by the Europeans. Arab merchants dominated trade in the Indian Ocean until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century. Hormuz was an important center for this trade. There was also a dense network of trade routes in the Mediterranean, along which Muslim countries traded with each other and with European powers such as Venice, Genoa and Catalonia. The Silk Road crossing Central Asia passed through Muslim states between China and Europe.
Muslim engineers in the Islamic world made a number of innovative industrial uses of hydropower, and early industrial uses of tidal power, wind power, and petroleum (notably by distillation into kerosene). The industrial uses of watermills in the Islamic world date back to the 7th century, while horizontal-wheeled and vertical-wheeled water mills were both in widespread use since at least the 9th century. By the time of the Crusades, every province throughout the Islamic world had mills in operation, from al-Andalus and North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia. These mills performed a variety of agricultural and industrial tasks.[39] Muslim engineers also developed machines (such as pumps) incorporating crankshafts, employed gears in mills and water-raising machines, and used dams to provide additional power to watermills and water-raising machines.[42] Such advances made it possible for many industrial tasks that were previously driven by manual labour in ancient times to be mechanized and driven by machinery instead in the medieval Islamic world. It has been argued that the industrial use of waterpower had spread from Islamic to Christian Spain, where fulling mills, paper mills, and forge mills were recorded for the first time in Catalonia.[43]
A number of industries were generated during the Arab Agricultural Revolution, including early industries for textiles, sugar, rope-making, matting, silk, and paper. Latin translations of the 12th century passed on knowledge of chemistry and instrument making in particular.[44] The agricultural and handicraft industries also experienced high levels of growth during this period.[45]
Evolution of Islamic Identity[link]
While the Abbasids originally gained power by exploiting the social inequalities against non-Arabs in the Umayyad Empire, ironically during Abbasid rule the empire rapidly Arabized. As knowledge was shared in the Arabic language throughout the empire, people of different nationalities and religions began to speak Arabic in their everyday lives. Resources from other languages began to be translated into Arabic, and a unique Islamic identity began to form that fused previous cultures with Arab culture, creating a level of civilization and knowledge that was considered a marvel in Europe.[46]
Fracture and Revival of Central Authority[link]
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Causes[link]
- Rift with the Shia
Abbasids found themselves at odds with the Shia Muslims, most of whom had supported their war against the Umayyads, since the Abbasids and the Shias claimed legitimacy by their familial connection to Muhammad. Once in power, the Abbasids embraced Sunni Islam and disavowed any support for Shi'a beliefs. The Abbasids also executed the direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad who were also the Shia Imams, which includes Imam Jafar Sadiq and other respected nobles.[citation needed] Shortly thereafter, Berber Kharijites set up an independent state in North Africa in 801. Within 50 years the Idrisids in the Maghreb and Aghlabids of Ifriqiya and a little later the Tulunids and Ikshidids of Misr were effectively independent in Africa.
- Conflict of Army Generals
The direct reason for the sudden deterioration of the Abbasid authority was: the conflicts which provoked between their Turkic Army generals during the reign of al-Radi, a thing that put the power of the Caliphate into decay, those dynasties that were already de-facto independent now quit paying the Caliphate, even provinces close to Baghdad began to seek local dynastic rule.
Fracture to Autonomous Dynasties[link]
The Abbasid leadership had to work hard in the last half of the eighth century (750–800), under several competent caliphs and their viziers to overcome the political challenges created by the far flung nature of the empire, and the limited communication across it and usher in the administrative changes to keep order.[47] While the Byzantine Empire was fighting Abbasid rule in Syria and Anatolia, military operations during this period were minimal, as the caliphate focused on internal matters as local governors, who, as a matter of procedure, operated mostly independently of central authority. The problem that the caliphs faced was that these governors had begun to exert greater autonomy, using their increasing power to make their positions hereditary.[5]
At the same time, the Abbasids faced challenges closer to home. Former supporters of the Abbasids had broken away to create a separate kingdom around Khorosan in northern Persia. Harun al-Rashid (786–809) turned on the Barmakids, a Persian family that had grown significantly in power within the administration of the state and killed most of the family.[48] During the same period, several factions began either to leave the empire for other lands or to take control of distant parts of the empire away from the Abbasids.
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Even by 820, the Samanids had begun the process of exercising independent authority in Transoxiana and Greater Khorasan, as had the Shia Hamdanids in Northern Syria, and the succeeding Tahirid and Saffarid dynasties of Iran. By the early 10th century, the Abbasids almost lost control of Iraq to various amirs, and the caliph al-Radi was forced to acknowledge their power by creating the position of "Prince of Princes" (amir al-umara). Shortly thereafter, the Persian faction known as the Buwayhids from Daylam swept into power and assumed control over the bureaucracy in Baghdad. According to the history of Miskawayh, they began distributing iqtas (fiefs in the form of tax farms) to their supporters.
Outside Iraq, all the autonomous provinces slowly took on the characteristic of de facto states with hereditary rulers, armies, and revenues and operated under only nominal caliph suzerainty, which may not necessarily be reflected by any contribution to the treasury, such as the Soomro Emirs that had gained control of Sindh and ruled the entire province from their capital of Mansura.[47] Mahmud of Ghazni took the title of sultan, as opposed to the "amir" that had been in more common usage, signifying the Ghaznavid Empire's independence from caliphal authority, despite Mahmud's ostentatious displays of Sunni orthodoxy and ritual submission to the caliph. In the 11th century, the loss of respect for the caliphs continued, as some Islamic rulers no longer mentioned the caliph's name in the Friday khutba, or struck it off their coinage.[47]
The Ismaili Fatimid dynasty of Cairo contested the Abbasids for even the titular authority of the Islamic ummah. They commanded some support in the Shia sections of Baghdad (such as Karkh), although Baghdad was the city most closely connected to the caliphate, even in the Buwayhid and Saljuq eras. The Fatimids' white banners contrasted with Abbasids' black, and the challenge of the Fatimids only ended with their downfall in the 12th century.
- Fractured Entities:
- Idrisid dynasty (780) AD => Almoravid => Almohads
- Tulunids established (868) AD – Restored in 905
- Buyid dynasty (934) AD => Seljuks => Mongol Empire
- Uqaylid Dynasty (990) => Seljuks => Mongol Empire
- Samanids (819) AD => Ghaznavids => Seljuks => Mongol Empire
- Aghlabids (800) => to the Fatimids => Ayyubid dynasty => Mamluks
- Hamdanids (890) AD => to the Fatimids => Ayyubid dynasty => Mamluks
Buayhid and Saljuq Military control (978–1118)[link]
Buayhid
Despite the power of the Buwayhid amirs, the Abbasids retained a highly ritualized court in Baghdad, as described by the Buwayhid bureaucrat Hilal al-Sabi', and they retained a certain influence over Baghdad as well as religious life. As Buwayhid power waned after the death of Baha' al-Daula, the caliphate was able to regain some measure of strength. The caliph al-Qadir, for example, led the ideological struggle against the Shia with writings such as the Baghdad Manifesto. The caliphs kept order in Baghdad itself, attempting to prevent the outbreak of fitna [disambiguation needed ]s in the capital, often contending with the ayyarun.
Seljuq
With the Buwayhid dynasty on the wane, a vacuum was created that was eventually filled by the dynasty of Oghuz Turks known as the Saljuqs. When the amir and former slave Basasiri took up the Shia Fatimid banner in Baghdad in 1058, the caliph al-Qa'im was unable to defeat him without outside help. Toghril Beg, the Saljuq sultan, restored Baghdad to Sunni rule and took Iraq for his dynasty. Once again, the Abbasids were forced to deal with a military power that they could not match, though the Abbasid caliph remained the titular head of the Islamic community. The succeeding sultans Alp Arslan and Malikshah, as well as their vizier Nizam al-Mulk took up residence in Persia, but held power over the Abbasids in Baghdad. When the dynasty began to weaken in the 12th century, the Abbasids gained greater independence once again.
Revival of Military Strength (1118–1258)[link]
While the Caliph al-Mustarshid was the first caliph to build an army capable of meeting a Saljuq army in battle, he was nonetheless defeated in 1135 and assassinated. The Caliph al-Muqtafi was the first Abbasid Caliph to regain the full military independence of the Caliphate, with the help of his vizier Ibn Hubayra. After nearly 250 years of subjection to foreign dynasties, he successfully defended Baghdad against the Saljuqs in the siege of Baghdad (1157), thus securing Iraq for the Abbasids. The reign of al-Nasir (d. 1225) brought the caliphate to power throughout Iraq, based in large part on the Sufi futuwwa organizations that the caliph headed. Al-Mustansir built the Mustansiriya School, in an attempt to eclipse the Saljuq-era Nizamiyya built by Nizam al-Mulk.
Mongol invasion[link]
Hulagu Khan sacked Baghdad on 10 February 1258, causing great loss of life. Muslims feared that a supernatural disaster would strike if the blood of Al-Musta'sim, a direct descendant of Muhammad's uncle[49] and the last reigning Abbasid caliph in Baghdad, was spilled. The Shiites of Persia stated that no such calamity had happened after the deaths of the Shiite Imam (leader) Hussein; nevertheless, as a precaution and in accordance with a Mongol taboo which forbade spilling royal blood, Hulagu had Al-Musta'sim wrapped in a carpet and trampled to death by horses on 20 February 1258. The Caliph's immediate family was also executed, with the lone exceptions of his youngest son who was sent to Mongolia, and a daughter who became a slave in the harem of Hulagu.[50] According to Mongolian historians, the surviving son married and fathered children.[clarification needed]
The Abbasid in Bastak[link]
Later in the 1280s, the surviving son of Al-Musta'sim, moved to Bastak, South Persia, where Bastak and many other small Sunni villages pledged loyalty to the Abbasid. The rulers of Shiraz at the time, the Atabak, gave him protection to pass through their lands as he escaped from the Mongols. Later on the Abbasids took permission from Atabak to establish a state of their own and rule Bastak and the surrounding villages and islands. It was said that a few Hashimites (descendants of Prophet Mohammed) moved to Bastak from Khonj where they had settled after leaving Iraq towards Persia. The Abbasids carried on the expansion of Bastak's rule until it included more than 60 villages and many islands in the Persian Gulf. Many alliances were formed between the Bastaki rulers and the Arab rulers The title Abbasid was changed to Khan (title) (Persian: خان, Arabic: الحاكم), a Persian translation for a sovereign or military ruler, and also has equivalent meanings such as commander or leader. Al Khan are also called Bastakis, from Bastak.
Under the Mamluks[link]
In the 9th century, the Abbasids created an army loyal only to their caliphate, drawn mostly from Arab and Turkish slaves, known as Mamluks, with some Slavs and Berbers participating as well. This force, created in the reign of al-Ma'mun (813–833), and his brother and successor al-Mu'tasim (833–842), prevented the further disintegration of the empire.
The Mamluk army, though often viewed negatively, both helped and hurt the caliphate. Early on, it provided the government with a stable force to address domestic and foreign problems. However, creation of this foreign army and al-Mu'tasim's transfer of the capital from Baghdad to Samarra created a division between the caliphate and the peoples they claimed to rule. In addition, the power of the Mamluks steadily grew until al-Radi (934–941) was constrained to hand over most of the royal functions to Mahommed bin Raik.
The Abbasids continued to maintain the presence of authority, yet it was confined to religious matters in Egypt, under the Mamluks.
End of Dynasty[link]
The dynasty finally ended with Al-Mutawakkil III, who was taken away as a prisoner, by Selim I, to Constantinople where he had a ceremonial role until his death in 1543.
List of Abbasid Caliphs[link]
| Ruler | Reign |
|---|---|
| Caliphs of Baghdad | |
| Abu'l Abbas As-Saffah | 750–754 |
| Al-Mansur | 754–775 |
| Al-Mahdi | 775–785 |
| Al-Hadi | 785–786 |
| Harun al-Rashid | 786–809 |
| Al-Amin | 809–813 |
| Al-Ma'mun | 813–833 |
| Al-Mu'tasim | 833–842 |
| Al-Wathiq | 842–847 |
| Al-Mutawakkil | 847–861 |
| Al-Muntasir | 861–862 |
| Al-Musta'in | 862–866 |
| Al-Mu'tazz | 866–869 |
| Al-Muhtadi | 869–870 |
| Al-Mu'tamid | 870–892 |
| Al-Mu'tadid | 892–902 |
| Al-Muktafi | 902–908 |
| Al-Muqtadir | 908–932 |
| Al-Qahir | 932–934 |
| Ar-Radi | 934–940 |
| Al-Muttaqi | 940–944 |
| Al-Mustakfi | 944–946 |
| Al-Muti | 946–974 |
| At-Ta'i | 974–991 |
| Al-Qadir | 991–1031 |
| Al-Qa'im | 1031–1075 |
| Al-Muqtadi | 1075–1094 |
| Al-Mustazhir | 1094–1118 |
| Al-Mustarshid | 1118–1135 |
| Ar-Rashid | 1135–1136 |
| Al-Muqtafi | 1136–1160 |
| Al-Mustanjid | 1160–1170 |
| Al-Mustadi | 1170–1180 |
| An-Nasir | 1180–1225 |
| Az-Zahir | 1225–1226 |
| Al-Mustansir | 1226–1242 |
| Al-Musta'sim | 1242–1258 |
| Caliphs of Cairo | |
| Al-Mustansir | 1261–1262 |
| Al-Hakim I (Cairo) | 1262–1302 |
| Al-Mustakfi I of Cairo | 1303–1340 |
| Al-Wathiq I | 1340–1341 |
| Al-Hakim II | 1341–1352 |
| Al-Mu'tadid I | 1352–1362 |
| Al-Mutawakkil I | 1362–1383 |
| Al-Wathiq II | 1383–1386 |
| Al-Mu'tasim | 1386–1389 |
| Al-Mutawakkil I (restored) | 1389–1406 |
| Al-Musta'in | 1406–1414 |
| Al-Mu'tadid II | 1414–1441 |
| Al-Mustakfi II | 1441–1451 |
| Al-Qa'im | 1451–1455 |
| Al-Mustanjid | 1455–1479 |
| Al-Mutawakkil II | 1479–1497 |
| Al-Mustamsik | 1497–1508 |
| Al-Mutawakkil III | 1508–1517 |
See also[link]
Notes[link]
- ^ http://www.tarihimiz.net/v3/Haberler/Tarih/Abbasiler-devrinde-turklerin-etkinligi-ve-hizmetleri.html (Turkish) Abbasiler devrinde türklerin etkinliği ve hizmetleri
- ^ http://www.genbilim.com/content/view/4930/190/ (Turkish) Abbasiler
- ^ http://lalishduhok.org/lalish/26/E/L%2026%20E%20_%202.pdf
- ^ Ira Lapidus. A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge University Press. 2002 ISBN 0-521-77056-4 p.54
- ^ a b Applied History Research Group, University of Calgary, "The Islamic World to 1600", Last accessed 30 October 2008
- ^ Oscar Chapuis (1995). A history of Vietnam: from Hong Bang to Tu Duc. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 92. ISBN 0-313-29622-7. http://books.google.com/?id=Jskyi00bspcC&pg=PA92&dq=arab+mercenaries+song+dynasty&q. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- ^ Joseph Mitsuo Kitagawa (2002). The religious traditions of Asia: religion, history, and culture. Routledge. p. 283. ISBN 0-7007-1762-5. http://books.google.com/?id=5LSvkQvvmAMC&pg=PA283&dq=arab+mercenaries+china&q=arab%20mercenaries%20china. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- ^ Bradley Smith, Wango H. C. Weng (1972). China: a history in art. Harper & Row. p. 129. http://books.google.com/?id=8rhPAAAAMAAJ&dq=arab+mercenaries+song+dynasty&q=arab+mercenaries. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- ^ Hugh D. R. Baker (1990). Hong Kong images: people and animals. Hong Kong University Press. p. 53. ISBN 962-209-255-1. http://books.google.com/?id=6SACPP8mZQ8C&pg=PA53&dq=arab+mercenaries+song+dynasty&q. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- ^ Charles Patrick Fitzgerald (1961). China: a short cultural history. Praeger. p. 332. http://books.google.com/?id=CqkeAAAAIAAJ&q=arab+mercenaries+china&dq=arab+mercenaries+china. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- ^ a b Dennis Bloodworth, Ching Ping Bloodworth (2004). The Chinese Machiavelli: 3000 years of Chinese statecraft. Transaction Publishers. p. 214. ISBN 0-7658-0568-5. http://books.google.com/?id=QivwtVwq8ykC&pg=PA214&dq=arab+mercenaries+china&q=arab%20mercenaries%20china. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- ^ Marshall Broomhall (1910). Islam in China: a neglected problem. LONDON 12 PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, E.C.: Morgan & Scott, ltd.. p. 25. http://books.google.com/books?id=ObcNAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA25&dq=Several+embassies+from+the+Abbaside+Caliphs+to+the+Chinese+Court+are+recorded+in+the+T'ang+Annals,+the+most+important+of+these+being+those+of+(A-bo-lo-ba)+Abul+Abbas,+the+founder+of+the+new+dynasty,+that+of+(Ap'u-cKa-fo)+Abu+Giafar&hl=en&ei=TvXmTtW1I8Lo0QGz4rHvCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Several%20embassies%20from%20the%20Abbaside%20Caliphs%20to%20the%20Chinese%20Court%20are%20recorded%20in%20the%20T'ang%20Annals%2C%20the%20most%20important%20of%20these%20being%20those%20of%20(A-bo-lo-ba)%20Abul%20Abbas%2C%20the%20founder%20of%20the%20new%20dynasty%2C%20that%20of%20(Ap'u-cKa-fo)%20Abu%20Giafar&f=false. Retrieved 14 December 2011. "CHAPTER II CHINA AND THE ARABS From the Rise of the Abbaside Caliphate With the rise of the Abbasides we enter upon a somewhat different phase of Moslem history, and approach the period when an important body of Moslem troops entered and settled within the Chinese Empire. While the Abbasides inaugurated that era of literature and science associated with the Court at Bagdad, the hitherto predominant Arab element began to give way to the Turks, who soon became the bodyguard of the Caliphs, " until in the end the Caliphs became the helpless tools of their rude protectors." Several embassies from the Abbaside Caliphs to the Chinese Court are recorded in the T'ang Annals, the most important of these being those of (A-bo-lo-ba) Abul Abbas, the founder of the new dynasty, that of (A-p'u-cKa-fo) Abu Giafar, the builder of Bagdad, of whom more must be said immediately; and that of (A-lun) Harun al Raschid, best known, perhaps, in modern days through the popular work, Arabian Nights.1 The Abbasides or " Black Flags," as they were commonly called, are known in Chinese history as the Heh-i Ta-shih, " The Black-robed Arabs." Five years after the rise of the Abbasides, at a time when Abu Giafar, the second Caliph, was busy plotting the assassination of his great and able rival Abu Muslim, who is regarded as " the leading figure of the age " and the de facto founder of the house of Abbas so far as military prowess is concerned, a terrible rebellion broke out in China. This was in 755 A.d., and the leader was a Turk or Tartar named An Lu-shan. This man, who had gained great favour with the Emperor Hsuan Tsung, and had been placed at the head of a vast army operating against the Turks and Tartars on the north-west frontier, ended in proclaiming his independence and declaring war upon his now aged Imperial patron. The Emperor, driven from his capital, abdicated in favour of his son, Su Tsung (756–763 A.D.), who at once appealed to the Arabs for help. The Caliph Abu Giafar, whose army, we are told by Sir William Muir, " was fitted throughout with improved weapons and armour," responded to this request, and sent a contingent of some 4000 men, who enabled the Emperor, in 757 A.d., to recover his two capitals, Sianfu and Honanfu. These Arab troops, who probably came from some garrison on the frontiers of Turkestan, never returned to their former camp, but remained in China, where they married Chinese wives, and thus became, according to common report, the real nucleus of the naturalised Chinese Mohammedans of to-day. ^ While this story has the support of the official history of the T'ang dynasty, there is, unfortunately, no authorised statement as to how many troops the Caliph really sent.1 The statement, however, is also supported by the Chinese Mohammedan inscriptions and literature. Though the settlement of this large body of Arabs in China may be accepted as probably the largest and most definite event recorded concerning the advent of Islam, it is necessary at the same time not to overlook the facts already stated in the previous chapter, which prove that large numbers of foreigners had entered China prior to this date."
- ^ Frank Brinkley (1902). China: its history, arts and literature, Volume 2. Volumes 9–12 of Trübner's oriental series. BOSTON AND TOKYO: J.B.Millet company. p. 150. http://books.google.com/books?id=XJqCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA150&dq=According+to+Giles,+the+true+stock+of+the+present+Chinese+Mohammedans+was+a+small+army+of+four+thousand+Arabian+soldiers,+who,+being+sent+by+the+Khaleef+Abu+Giafar+in+755+to+aid+in+putting+down+a+rebellion,+were+subsequently+permitted&hl=en&ei=EfbmTq-VKaL50gGHlrHsCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=According%20to%20Giles%2C%20the%20true%20stock%20of%20the%20present%20Chinese%20Mohammedans%20was%20a%20small%20army%20of%20four%20thousand%20Arabian%20soldiers%2C%20who%2C%20being%20sent%20by%20the%20Khaleef%20Abu%20Giafar%20in%20755%20to%20aid%20in%20putting%20down%20a%20rebellion%2C%20were%20subsequently%20permitted&f=false. Retrieved 14 December 2011. "It would seem, however, that trade occupied the attention of the early Mohammedan settlers rather than religious propagan dism; that while they observed the tenets and practised the rites of their faith in China, they did not undertake any strenuous campaign against either Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, or the State creed, and that they constituted a floating rather than a fixed element of the population, coming and going between China and the West by the oversea or the overland routes. According to Giles, the true stock of the present Chinese Mohammedans was a small army of four thousand Arabian soldiers, who, being sent by the Khaleef Abu Giafar in 755 to aid in putting down a rebellion, were subsequently permitted to * * settle in China, where they married native wives. The numbers of this colony received large accessions in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries during the conquests of Genghis, and ultimately the Mohammedans formed an appreciable element of the population, having their own mosques and schools, and observing the rites of their religion, but winning few converts except among the aboriginal tribes, as the Lolos and the Mantsu. Their failure as propagandists is doubtless due to two causes, first, that, according to the inflexible rule of their creed, the Koran might not be translated into Chinese or any other foreign language; secondly and chiefly, that their denunciations of idolatry were as unpalatable to ancestor-worshipping Chinese as were their interdicts against pork and wine. They were never prevented, however, from practising their faith so long as they obeyed the laws of the land, and the numerous mosques that exist throughout China prove what a large measure of liberty these professors of a strange creed enjoyed. One feature of the mosques is noticeable, however: though distinguished by large arches and by Arabic inscriptions, they are generally constructed and arranged so as to bear some resemblance to Buddhist temples, and they have tablets carrying the customary ascription of reverence to the Emperor of China, — facts suggesting that their builders were not entirely free from a sense of the inexpediency of differentiating the evidences of their religion too conspicuously from those of the popular creed. It has been calculated that in the regions north of the Yangtse the followers of Islam aggregate as many as ten millions, and that eighty thousand are to be found in one of the towns of Szchuan. On the other hand, just as it has been shown above that although the Central Government did not in any way interdict or obstruct the tradal operations of foreigners in early times, the local officials sometimes subjected them to extortion and maltreatment of a grievous and even unendurable nature, so it appears that while as a matter of State policy, full tolerance was extended to the Mohammedan creed, its disciples frequently found themselves the victims of such unjust discrimination at the hand of local officialdom that they were driven to seek redress in rebellion. That, however, did not occur until the nineteenth century. There is no evidence that, prior to the time of the Great Manchu Emperor Chienlung (1736–1796), Mohammedanism presented any deterrent aspect to the Chinese. That renowned ruler, whose conquests carried his banners to the Pamirs and the Himalayas, did indeed conceive a strong dread of the potentialities of Islamic fanaticism reinforced by disaffection on the part of the aboriginal tribes among whom the faith had many adherents. He is said to have entertained at one time the terrible project of eliminating this source of danger in Shensi and Kansuh by killing every Mussulman found there, but whether he really contemplated an act so foreign to the general character of his procedure is doubtful. The broad fact is that the Central Government of China has never persecuted Mohammedans or discriminated against them. They are allowed to present themselves at the examinations for civil or military appointments, and the successful candidates obtain office as readily as their Chinese competitors." Original from the University of California
- ^ Frank Brinkley (1904). Japan [and China: China; its history, arts and literature]. Volume 10 of Japan [and China]: Its History, Arts and Literature. LONDON 34 HENRIETTA STREET, W. C. AND EDINBURGH: Jack. p. 150. http://books.google.com/books?id=5ukVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA150&dq=According+to+Giles,+the+true+stock+of+the+present+Chinese+Mohammedans+was+a+small+army+of+four+thousand+Arabian+soldiers,+who,+being+sent+by+the+Khaleef+Abu+Giafar+in+755+to+aid+in+putting+down+a+rebellion,+were+subsequently+permitted&hl=en&ei=HffmTtG4KKTl0QHfoZHfCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=According%20to%20Giles%2C%20the%20true%20stock%20of%20the%20present%20Chinese%20Mohammedans%20was%20a%20small%20army%20of%20four%20thousand%20Arabian%20soldiers%2C%20who%2C%20being%20sent%20by%20the%20Khaleef%20Abu%20Giafar%20in%20755%20to%20aid%20in%20putting%20down%20a%20rebellion%2C%20were%20subsequently%20permitted&f=false. Retrieved 14 December 2011. "It would seem, however, that trade occupied the attention of the early Mohammedan settlers rather than religious propagan dism; that while they observed the tenets and practised the rites of their faith in China, they did not undertake any strenuous campaign against either Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, or the State creed, and that they constituted a floating rather than a fixed element of the population, coming and going between China and the West by the oversea or the overland routes. According to Giles, the true stock of the present Chinese Mohammedans was a small army of four thousand Arabian soldiers, who, being sent by the Khaleef Abu Giafar in 755 to aid in putting down a rebellion, were subsequently permitted to * * settle in China, where they married native wives. The numbers of this colony received large accessions in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries during the conquests of Genghis, and ultimately the Mohammedans formed an appreciable element of the population, having their own mosques and schools, and observing the rites of their religion, but winning few converts except among the aboriginal tribes, as the Lolos and the Mantsu. Their failure as propagandists is doubtless due to two causes, first, that, according to the inflexible rule of their creed, the Koran might not be translated into Chinese or any other foreign language; secondly and chiefly, that their denunciations of idolatry were as unpalatable to ancestor-worshipping Chinese as were their interdicts against pork and wine. They were never prevented, however, from practising their faith so long as they obeyed the laws of the land, and the numerous mosques that exist throughout China prove what a large measure of liberty these professors of a strange creed enjoyed. One feature of the mosques is noticeable, however: though distinguished by large arches and by Arabic inscriptions, they are generally constructed and arranged so as to bear some resemblance to Buddhist temples, and they have tablets carrying the customary ascription of reverence to the Emperor of China, — facts suggesting that their builders were not entirely free from a sense of the inexpediency of differentiating the evidences of their religion too conspicuously from those of the popular creed. It has been calculated that in the regions north of the Yangtse the followers of Islam aggregate as many as ten millions, and that eighty thousand are to be found in one of the towns of Szchuan. On the other hand, just as it has been shown above that although the Central Government did not in any way interdict or obstruct the tradal operations of foreigners in early times, the local officials sometimes subjected them to extortion and maltreatment of a grievous and even unendurable nature, so it appears that while as a matter of State policy, full tolerance was extended to the Mohammedan creed, its disciples frequently found themselves the victims of such unjust discrimination at the hand of local officialdom that they were driven to seek redress in rebellion. That, however, did not occur until the nineteenth century. There is no evidence that, prior to the time of the Great Manchu Emperor Chienlung (1736–1796), Mohammedanism presented any deterrent aspect to the Chinese. That renowned ruler, whose conquests carried his banners to the Pamirs and the Himalayas, did indeed conceive a strong dread of the potentialities of Islamic fanaticism reinforced by disaffection on the part of the aboriginal tribes among whom the faith had many adherents. He is said to have entertained at one time the terrible project of eliminating this source of danger in Shensi and Kansuh by killing every Mussulman found there, but whether he really contemplated an act so foreign to the general character of his procedure is doubtful. The broad fact is that the Central Government of China has never persecuted Mohammedans or discriminated against them. They are allowed to present themselves at the examinations for civil or military appointments, and the successful candidates obtain office as readily as their Chinese competitors." Original from Princeton University
- ^ Arthur Evans Moule (1914). The Chinese people: a handbook on China .... LONDON NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.: Society for promoting Christian knowledge. p. 317. http://books.google.com/books?id=N6dFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA317&dq=These+were+not+preaching+or+proselytising+inroads,+but+commercial+enterprises,+and+in+the+latter+half+of+the+eighth+century+there+were+Moslem+troops+in+Shensi,+3000+men,+under+Abu+Giafar,+coming+to+support+the+dethroned+Emperor+in+ad&hl=en&ei=6ffmTpi8BuTh0QH6_YmJCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=These%20were%20not%20preaching%20or%20proselytising%20inroads%2C%20but%20commercial%20enterprises%2C%20and%20in%20the%20latter%20half%20of%20the%20eighth%20century%20there%20were%20Moslem%20troops%20in%20Shensi%2C%203000%20men%2C%20under%20Abu%20Giafar%2C%20coming%20to%20support%20the%20dethroned%20Emperor%20in%20ad&f=false. Retrieved 14 December 2011. "ough the actual date and circumstances of the introduction of Islam into China cannot be traced with certainty further back than the thirteenth century, yet the existence of settlements of foreign Moslems with their Mosques at Ganfu (Canton) during the T'ang dynasty (a.d. 618—907) is certain, and later they spread to Ch'uan-chou and to Kan-p'u, Hangchow, and perhaps to Ningpo and Shanghai. These were not preaching or proselytising inroads, but commercial enterprises, and in the latter half of the eighth century there were Moslem troops in Shensi, 3,000 men, under Abu Giafar, coming to support the dethroned Emperor in A.d. 756. In the thirteenth century the influence of individual Moslems was immense, especially that of the Seyyid Edjell Shams ed-Din Omar, who served the Mongol Khans till his death in Yunnan A.d. 1279. His family still exists in Yunnan, and has taken a prominent part in Moslem affairs in China. The present Moslem element in China is most numerous in Yunnan and Kansu; and the most learned Moslems reside chiefly in Ssuch'uan, the majority of their books being printed in the capital city, Ch'eng-tu. Kansu is perhaps the most dominantly Mohammedan province in China, and here many different sects are found, and mosques with minarets used by the orthodox muezzin calling to prayer, and in one place veiled women are met with. These, however, are not Turks or Saracens, but for the most part pure Chinese. The total Moslem population is probably under 4,000,000, though other statistical estimates, always uncertain in China, vary from thirty to ten millions; but the figures given here are the most reliable at present obtainable, and when it is remembered that Islam in China has not been to any great extent a preaching or propagandist power by force or the sword, it is difficult to understand the survival and existence of such a large number as that, small, indeed, compared with former estimates, but surely a very large and vigorous element." Original from the University of California
- ^ Herbert Allen Giles (1886). A glossary of reference on subjects connected with the Far East (2 ed.). HONGKONG: Messrs. Lane. p. 141. http://books.google.com/books?id=yz5KAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA141&dq=The+true+stock+of+the+present+Chinese+Mahomedans+was+a+small+army+of+4000+Arabian+soldiers+sent+by+the+Khaleef+Abu+Giafar+in+755+to+aid+in+putting+down+a+rebellion.+These+soldiers+had+permission+to+settle+in+China,+where+they+married&hl=en&ei=x_jmTt-kMKbh0QHMwqXtCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The%20true%20stock%20of%20the%20present%20Chinese%20Mahomedans%20was%20a%20small%20army%20of%204000%20Arabian%20soldiers%20sent%20by%20the%20Khaleef%20Abu%20Giafar%20in%20755%20to%20aid%20in%20putting%20down%20a%20rebellion.%20These%20soldiers%20had%20permission%20to%20settle%20in%20China%2C%20where%20they%20married&f=false. Retrieved 14 December 2011. "MAHOMEDANS: IEJ Iej. First settled in China in the Year of the Mission, A.D. 628, under Wahb-Abi-Kabcha a maternal uncle of Mahomet, who was sent with presents to the Emperor. Wahb-Abi-Kabcha travelled by sea to Cantoa, and thence overland to Si-ngan Fu, the capital, where he was well received. The first mosque was built at Canton, where, after several restorations, it still exists. Another mosque was erected in 742, but many of these M. came to China simply as traders, and by and by went back to their own country. The true stock of the present Chinese Mahomedans was a small army of 4,000 Arabian soldiers sent by the Khaleef Abu Giafar in 755 to aid in putting down a rebellion. These soldiers had permission to settle in China, where they married native wives; and three centuries later, with the conquests of Genghis Khan, largo numbers of Arabs penetrated into the Empire and swelled the Mahomedan community." Original from the New York Public Library
- ^ Herbert Allen Giles (1926). Confucianism and its rivals. Forgotten Books. p. 139. ISBN 1-60680-248-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=drPQaUGOJQIC&pg=PA138&dq=abu+giafar+chinese&hl=en&ei=LPTmToPPEsHj0QHPm4nWCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=harun%20raschid%20less%20obtrusive&f=false. Retrieved 14 December 2011. "In7= 789 the Khalifa Harun al Raschid dispatched a mission to China, and there had been one or two less important missions in the seventh and eighth centuries; but from 879, the date of the Canton massacre, for more than three centuries to follow, we hear nothing of the Mahometans and their religion. They were not mentioned in the edict of 845, which proved such a blow to Buddhism and Nestorian Christianityl perhaps because they were less obtrusive in ithe propagation of their religion, a policy aided by the absence of anything like a commercial spirit in religious mattters."
- ^ Confucianism and its Rivals. Forgotten Books. p. 223. ISBN 1-4510-0849-X. http://books.google.com/books?id=AaqwzVeg__IC&pg=PA223&dq=abu+giafar+chinese&hl=en&ei=LPTmToPPEsHj0QHPm4nWCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CFQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=mussulman%20families%20are%20still%20found%20canton%20foochow&f=false. Retrieved 14 December 2011. "The first mosque built at Canton, where, after several restorations, it may still be seen. The minaret, known as the Bare Pagoda, to distinguish it from a much more ornamental Buddhist pagoda near by, dates back to 850. There must at that time have been a considerable number of Mahometans in Canton, thought not so many as might be supposed if reliance could be placed on the figures given in reference to a massacre which took place in 879. The fact is that most of these Mahometans went to China simply as traders; they did not intend to settle permanently in the country, and when business permitted, they returned to their old haunts. About two thousand Mussulman families are still to be found at Canton, and a similar number at Foochow; descendants, perhaps, of the old sea-borne contingents which began to arrive in the seventh and eighth centuries. These remnants have nothing to do with the stock from which came the comparatively large Mussulman communities now living and practising their religion in sthe provinces of Ssŭch'uan, Yünnan, and Kansuh. The origin of the latter was as follows. In A.D. 756 the Khalifa Abu Giafar sent a small army of three thousand Arab soldiers to aid in putting down a rebellion."
- ^ Everett Jenkins (1999). The Muslim diaspora: a comprehensive reference to the spread of Islam in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Volume 1 of The Muslim Diaspora (illustrated ed.). McFarland. p. 61. ISBN 0-7864-0431-0. http://books.google.com/books?ei=28LnTsDrG8bs0gG51sTtCQ&ct=result&id=oLnXAAAAMAAJ&dq=abu+giafar+chinese&q=China+%E2%80%A2+Arab+troops+were+dispatched+by+Abu+Gia-+far+to+China.. Retrieved 14 December 2011. "China • Arab troops were dispatched by Abu Gia- far to China." (Original from the University of Michigan)
- ^ . p. 295. http://books.google.com/books?id=XVMuAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA295&dq=abu+giafar+chinese&hl=en&ei=28LnTsDrG8bs0gG51sTtCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=abu%20giafar%20chinese&f=false. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
- ^ Stanley Ghosh (1961). Embers in Cathay. Doubleday. p. 60. http://books.google.com/books?ei=28LnTsDrG8bs0gG51sTtCQ&ct=result&id=QvtwAAAAMAAJ&dq=abu+giafar+chinese&q=abu+giafar. Retrieved 14 December 2011. "During the reign of Abbassid Caliph Abu Giafar in the middle of the eighth century, many Arab soldiers evidently settled near the garrisons on the Chinese frontier." (Original from the University of Michigan, Library of Catalonia)
- ^ Heinrich Hermann (1912) (in German). Chinesische Geschichte. D. Gundert. p. 77. http://books.google.com/books?ei=mMnnTpWzPIPe0QH2ys39CQ&ct=result&id=qMSBAAAAIAAJ&dq=abu+giafar+chinese&q=785. Retrieved 14 December 2011. "785, als die Tibeter in China einfielen, sandte Abu Giafar eine zweite Truppe, zu deren Unterhalt die Regierung die Teesteuer verdoppelte. Sie wurde ebenso angesiedelt. 787 ist von 4000 fremden Familien aus Urumtsi und Kaschgar in Si-Ngan die Rede: für ihren Unterhalt wurden 500000 Taël" (Original from the University of California)
- ^ Deutsche Literaturzeitung für Kritik der Internationalen Wissenschaft, Volume 49, Issues 27–52. Weidmannsche Buchhandlung. 1928. p. 1617. http://books.google.com/books?id=3tvjAAAAMAAJ&q=abu+giafar+chinese&dq=abu+giafar+chinese&hl=en&ei=mMnnTpWzPIPe0QH2ys39CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CE0Q6AEwBjge. Retrieved 14 December 2011. "Die Fassung, daß mohammedanische Soldaten von Turkestan ihre Religion nach China gebracht hätten, ist irreführend. Das waren vielmehr die 4000 Mann, die der zweite Kalif Abu Giafar 757 schickte, ebenso wie die Hilfstruppen 785 bei dem berühmten Einfali der Tibeter. Die Uiguren waren damals noch" (Original from Indiana University)
- ^ Huff, Toby E., The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West, (Cambridge University Press, 2003), 48.
- ^ a b c d e Vartan Gregorian, "Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith", Brookings Institution Press, 2003, pg 26–38 ISBN 0-8157-3283-X
- ^ Hamilton Gibb. Studies on the civilization of Islam. Princeton University Press. 1982. ISBN 0-691-05354-5 p.66
- ^ Bertold Spuler. The Muslim World. Vol. I The Age of the Caliphs. Leiden. E.J. Brill. 1960 ISBN 0-685-23328-6 p.29
- ^ Ron Eglash(1999), p.61
- ^ Bradley Steffens (2006), Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist, Morgan Reynolds Publishing, ISBN 1-59935-024-6.
- ^ Gorini, Rosanna (October 2003). "Al-Haytham the man of experience. First steps in the science of vision" (pdf). Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine 2 (4): 53–55. http://www.ishim.net/ishimj/4/10.pdf. Retrieved 25 September 2008. "According to the majority of the historians al-Haytham was the pioneer of the modern scientific method. With his book he changed the meaning of the term optics and established experiments as the norm of proof in the field. His investigations are based not on abstract theories, but on experimental evidences and his experiments were systematic and repeatable."
- ^ Robert Briffault (1928), The Making of Humanity, p. 190–202, G. Allen & Unwin Ltd:
“ "What we call science arose as a result of new methods of experiment, observation, and measurement, which were introduced into Europe by the Arabs. [...] Science is the most momentous contribution of Arab civilization to the modern world, but its fruits were slow in ripening. [...] The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence...The ancient world was, as we saw, pre-scientific. [...] The Greeks systematized, generalized and theorized, but the patient ways of investigations, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of science, detailed and prolonged observation and experimental inquiry were altogether alien to the Greek temperament." ” - ^ Stanford Encyclopedia of Science: "Copernicus" by Sheila Rabin
- ^ a b John Grant and John Clute, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, "Arabian fantasy", p 51 ISBN 0-312-19869-8
- ^ L. Sprague de Camp, Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers: The Makers of Heroic Fantasy, p 10 ISBN 0-87054-076-9
- ^ John Grant and John Clute, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, "Arabian fantasy", p 52 ISBN 0-312-19869-8
- ^ Talattof, Kamran and Jerome W. Clinton, K. Allin Luther, The poetry of Nizami Ganjavi: knowledge, love, and rhetoric, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2000), 15–16.
- ^ NIZAMI: LAYLA AND MAJNUN – English Version by Paul Smith
- ^ a b "Islamic Philosophy", Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1998)
- ^ a b Adam Robert Lucas (2005), "Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe", Technology and Culture 46 (1), p. 1–30 [10].
- ^ Ahmad Y Hassan, Potassium Nitrate in Arabic and Latin Sources, History of Science and Technology in Islam.
- ^ Ahmad Y Hassan, Gunpowder Composition for Rockets and Cannon in Arabic Military Treatises In Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, History of Science and Technology in Islam.
- ^ Ahmad Y Hassan, Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part II: Transmission Of Islamic Engineering
- ^ Adam Robert Lucas (2005), "Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe", Technology and Culture 46 (1), p. 1–30.
- ^ Ahmad Y Hassan, Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part 1: Avenues Of Technology Transfer
- ^ Subhi Y. Labib (1969), "Capitalism in Medieval Islam", The Journal of Economic History 29 (1), p. 79–96.
- ^ Ochsenwald, William (2004). The Middle East, a History. Boston: McGraw Hill. pp. 69. ISBN 0-07-244233-6.
- ^ a b c Brauer, Ralph W, Boundaries and Frontiers in Medieval Muslim Geography, Diane Publishing Co., 1995-12-01, ISBN 0-87169-856-0, pg 7–10.
- ^ Persian Historiography to the End of the Twelfth Century
- ^ Huston Smith, Cyril Glasse (2002). The new encyclopedia of Islam. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. ISBN 0-7591-0190-6.
- ^ Annals of history: Invaders: Destroying Baghdad by Ian Frazier, in The New Yorker 25 April 2005
References[link]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Abbasids". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
External links[link]
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- Abbasids (750–1517)
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For other persons named Ali, see Ali (name). For other uses, see Ali (disambiguation).
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| Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
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| Commander of the Faithful (Amir al-Mu'minin) |
|
| Reign | 656–661[1] |
| Full name | Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib |
| Titles | Abu al-Hasan ("Father of Hasan") Abu Turab ("Father of Dust/Soil) Murtadha ("One Who Is Chosen and Contented") Asad ("Lion of God") Haydar ("Lion")[1] First Alī |
| Born | (598-10-23)October 23, 598,[2](599-03-17)March 17, 599 or (600-03-17)March 17, 600[1] Mecca[1] |
| Died | January 28, 661(661-01-28) (aged 62) Kufa[1] |
| Buried | Imam Ali Mosque, Najaf, Iraq |
| Predecessor | Muhammad (as first Shia Imam); Uthman Ibn Affan (as fourth Sunni Caliph) |
| Successor | Hasan[3] |
| Wives | Fatimah[1] Fatima bint Hizam al-Qilabiyya ("Ummu l-Banin") |
| Offspring | Hasan Husayn Zaynab (See:Descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib) |
| Father | Abu Talib |
| Mother | Fatima bint Asad |
| Part of a series on the |
| Ali |
|---|
| Life |
| Family tree · marital life · Descendants Succession to Muhammad Birthplace · First Fitna Timeline of Ali's life Hadith of the pond of Khumm |
| Legacy |
| Nahj al-Balagha · Qalam-e-Mowla Zulfiqar · Imam Ali Mosque · Ghurar al-Hikam wa Durar al-Kalim |
| Perspectives |
| Ali the Warrior · Ali as Caliph The Fourteen Infallibles The Twelve Imams Ali in the Qur'an Sunni · Shi'a |
Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (Arabic: علي بن أﺑﻲ طالب, Transliteration: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, [ʕaliː ibn ʔæbiː t̪ˤɑːlib]; 13th Rajab, 24 BH–21st Ramaḍān, 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600[2] or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661[4]). The son of Abu Talib,[5] Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of Islamic prophet Muhammad, ruling over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661,[5] and was the first male convert to Islam.[6][7] Sunnis consider Ali the fourth and final of the Rashidun (rightly guided Caliphs), while Shias regard Ali as the first Imam and consider him and his descendants the rightful successors to Muhammad, all of which are members of the Ahl al-Bayt, the household of Muhammad. This disagreement split the Ummah (Muslim community) into the Sunni and Shia branches.[1]
Muslim sources, especially Shia ones, state that since Muhammad's time, Ali was the only person born in the Kaaba sanctuary in Mecca, the holiest place in Islam.[1] His father was Abu Talib and his mother was Fatima bint Asad,[1] but he was raised in the household of Muhammad, who himself was raised by Abu Talib, Muhammad's uncle, and Ali's father. When Muhammad reported receiving a divine revelation, Ali was the first male to accept his message, dedicating his life to the cause of Islam.[4][8][9][10]
Ali migrated to Medina shortly after Muhammad did. Once there Muhammad told Ali that God had ordered Muhammad to give his daughter, Fatimah, to Ali in marriage.[1] For the ten years that Muhammad led the community in Medina, Ali was extremely active in his service, leading parties of warriors on battles, and carrying messages and orders. Ali took part in the early caravan raids from Mecca and later in almost all the battles fought by the nascent Muslim community.
Ali was appointed Caliph by the Companions of Muhammad (the Sahaba) in Medina after the assassination of the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan.[11][12] He encountered defiance and civil war during his reign. In 661, Ali was attacked one morning while worshipping in the mosque of Kufa, and died a few days later.[13][14][15]
In Muslim culture, Ali is respected for his courage, knowledge, belief, honesty, unbending devotion to Islam, deep loyalty to Muhammad, equal treatment of all Muslims and generosity in forgiving his defeated enemies, and therefore is central to mystical traditions in Islam such as Sufism. Ali retains his stature as an authority on Quranic exegesis, Islamic jurisprudence and religious thought.[16] Ali holds a high position in almost all Sufi orders which trace their lineage through him to Muhammad. Ali's influence has been important throughout Islamic history.[1]
Contents |
In Mecca[link]
File:Ali Mausoleum compound,Najaf.jpg
A grand view Ali Mausoleum,Najaf,Iraq
Birth and childhood[link]
Main article: Family tree of Ali
Ali's father Abu Talib was the custodian of the Kaaba and a sheikh of the Banu Hashim, an important branch of the powerful Quraysh tribe. He was also an uncle of Muhammad. Ali's mother, Fatima bint Asad, also belonged to Banu Hashim, making Ali a descendant of Ishmael, the son of Ibrahim or Abraham.[17]
Many sources, especially Shia ones, attest that during Mohammad's time Ali was born inside the Kaaba in the city of Mecca, where he stayed with his mother for three days. According to a tradition, Muhammad was the first person whom Ali saw as he took the newborn in his hands. Muhammad named him Ali, meaning "the exalted one".[1][18]
Muhammad had a close relationship with Ali's parents. When Muhammad was orphaned and later lost his grandfather Abdul Muttalib, Ali's father took him into his house.[1] Ali was born two or three years after Muhammad married Khadijah bint Khuwaylid.[19] When Ali was five or six years old, a famine occurred in and around Mecca, affecting the economic conditions of Ali's father, who had a large family to support. Muhammad took Ali into his home to raise him.[1][8][20]
Acceptance of Islam[link]
See also: Identity of the first male Muslim
The second period of Ali's life begins in 610 when he declared Islam at age 10 and ends with the Hijra of Muhammad to Medina in 622.[1] When Muhammad reported that he had received a divine revelation, Ali, then only about ten years old, believed him and professed to Islam.[1][4][8][9] According to Ibn Ishaq and some other authorities, Ali was the first male to embrace Islam. Tabari adds other traditions making the similar claim of being the first Muslim in relation to Zayd or Abu Bakr.[7][21] Some historians and scholars believe Ali's conversion is not worthy enough to consider him the first male Muslim because he was a child at the time.[22]
Shia doctrine asserts that in keeping with Ali's divine mission, he accepted Islam before he took part in any pre-Islamic Meccan traditional religion rites, regarded by Muslims as polytheistic (see shirk) or paganistic. Hence the Shia say of Ali that his face is honored — that is, it was never sullied by prostrations before idols.[8] The Sunnis also use the honorific Karam Allahu Wajhahu, which means "God's Favor upon his Face."
The reason his acceptance is often not called a conversion, is because he was never an idol worshipper like the people of Mecca. He was known to have broken idols in the mold of Abraham and asked people why they worshipped something they made themselves. Ali's grandfather, it is acknowledged without controversy, along with some members of the Banu Hashim clan, were Hanifs, followers of a monotheistic belief system, prior to the coming of Islam.
After declaration of Islam[link]
For three years Muhammad invited people to Islam in secret, then he started inviting publicly. When, according to the Quran, he was commanded to invite his closer relatives to come to Islam[23] he gathered the Banu Hashim clan in a ceremony.
According to al-Tabari, Ibn Athir and Abu al-Fida, Muhammad announced at invitational events that whoever assisted him in his invitation would become his brother, trustee and successor. Only Ali, who was thirteen or fourteen years old, stepped forward to help him. This invitation was repeated three times, but Ali was the only person who answered Muhammad. Upon Ali's constant and only answer to his call, Muhammad declared that Ali was his brother, inheritor and vice-regent and people must obey him. Most of the adults present were uncles of Ali and Muhammad, and Abu Lahab laughed at them and declared to Abu Talib that he must bow down to his own son, as Ali was now his Emir[24] This event is known as the Hadith of Warning.
During the persecution of Muslims and boycott of the Banu Hashim in Mecca, Ali stood firmly in support of Muhammad.[25]
Migration to Medina[link]
See also: Hijra (Islam)
In 622, the year of Muhammad's migration to Yathrib (now Medina), Ali risked his life by sleeping in Muhammad's bed to impersonate him and thwart an assassination plot so that Muhammad could escape in safety.[1][8][26] This night is called Laylat al-Mabit. According to some hadith, a verse was revealed about Ali concerning his sacrifice on the night of Hijra which says, "And among men is he who sells his nafs (self) in exchange for the pleasure of Allah"[27][28]
Ali survived the plot, but risked his life again by staying in Mecca to carry out Muhammad's instructions: to restore to their owners all the goods and properties that had been entrusted to Muhammad for safekeeping. Ali then went to Medina with his mother, Muhammad's daughter Fatimah and two other women.[4][8]
In Medina[link]
During Muhammad's era[link]
See also: Muhammad in Medina and Military career of Ali
Ali was 22 or 23 years old when he migrated to Medina. When Muhammad was creating bonds of brotherhood among his companions, he selected Ali as his brother.[4][8][29] For the ten years that Muhammad led the community in Medina, Ali was extremely active in his service as his secretary and deputy, serving in his armies, the bearer of his banner in every battle, leading parties of warriors on raids, and carrying messages and orders. [30] As one of Muhammad's lieutenants, and later his son-in-law, Ali was a person of authority and standing in the Muslim community.
Family life[link]
Main article: Ali marital life
In 623, Muhammad told Ali that God ordered him to give his daughter Fatimah Zahra to Ali in marriage.[1] Muhammad said to Fatimah: "I have married you to the dearest of my family to me."[31] This family is glorified by Muhammad frequently and he declared them as his Ahl al-Bayt in events such as Mubahala and hadith like the Hadith of the Event of the Cloak. They were also glorified in the Quran in several cases such as "the verse of purification".[32][33]
Ali had four children born to Fatimah, the only child of Muhammad to have surviving progeny. Their two sons (Hasan and Husain) were cited by Muhammad to be his own sons, honored numerous times in his lifetime and titled "the leaders of the youth of Jannah" (Heaven, the hereafter.)[34][35]
At the beginning they were extremely poor. For several years after his marriage, Fatimah did all of the household work by herself. The shoulder on which she carried pitchers of water from the well was swollen and the hand with which she worked the handmill to grind corn were often covered with blisters.[36] Fatimah vouched to take care of the household work, make dough, bake bread, and clean the house; in return, Ali vouched to take care of the outside work such as gathering firewood, and bringing food.[37] Their circumstances were akin to many of the Muslims at the time and only improved following the Battle of Khaybar when the wealth of Khaybar was distributed among the poor. When the economic situations of the Muslims become better, Fatimah gained some maids but treated them like her family and performed the house duties with them.[38]
Their marriage lasted until Fatimah's death ten years later. Although polygamy was permitted, Ali did not marry another woman while Fatimah was alive, and his marriage to her possesses a special spiritual significance for all Muslims because it is seen as the marriage between two great figures surrounding Muhammad. After Fatimah's death, Ali married other wives and fathered many children.[1]
In battles[link]
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Main article: Military career of Ali
_in_honor_of_Imam_%27Ali.jpg)
With the exception of the Battle of Tabouk, Ali took part in all battles and expeditions fought for Islam.[8] As well as being the standard-bearer in those battles, Ali led parties of warriors on raids into enemy lands.
Ali first distinguished himself as a warrior in 624 at the Battle of Badr. He defeated the Umayyad champion Walid ibn Utba as well as many other Meccan soldiers. According to Muslim traditions Ali killed between twenty and thirty-five enemies in battle, most agreeing with twenty-seven.[39]
Ali was prominent at the Battle of Uhud, as well as many other battles where he wielded a bifurcated sword known as Zulfiqar.[40] He had the special role of protecting Muhammad when most of the Muslim army fled from the battle of Uhud[1] and it was said "There is no brave youth except Ali and there is no sword which renders service except Zulfiqar."[41] He was commander of the Muslim army in the Battle of Khaybar.[42] Following this battle Mohammad gave Ali the name Asadullah, which in Arabic means "Lion of Allah" or "Lion of God". Ali also defended Muhammad in the Battle of Hunayn in 630.[1]
Missions for Islam[link]
Muhammad designated Ali as one of the scribes who would write down the text of the Quran, which had been revealed to Muhammad during the previous two decades. As Islam began to spread throughout Arabia, Ali helped establish the new Islamic order. He was instructed to write down the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, the peace treaty between Muhammad and the Quraysh in 628. Ali was so reliable and trustworthy that Muhammad asked him to carry the messages and declare the orders. In 630, Ali recited to a large gathering of pilgrims in Mecca a portion of the Quran that declared Muhammad and the Islamic community were no longer bound by agreements made earlier with Arab polytheists. During the Conquest of Mecca in 630, Muhammad asked Ali to guarantee that the conquest would be bloodless. He ordered Ali to break all the idols worshipped by the Banu Aus, Banu Khazraj, Tayy, and those in the Kaaba to purify it after its defilement by the polytheism of the pre-Islamic era. Ali was sent to Yemen one year later to spread the teachings of Islam. He was also charged with settling several disputes and putting down the uprisings of various tribes.[1][4]
The incident of Mubahala[link]
Main articles: Mubahala and Hadith of Mubahala
See also: Ahl al-Bayt
According to hadith collections, in 631 an Arab Christian envoy from Najran (currently in northern Yemen and partly in Saudi Arabia) came to Muhammad to argue which of the two parties erred in its doctrine concerning Jesus. After likening Jesus' miraculous birth to Adam's creation,[43] Muhammad called them to mubahala (conversation), where each party should bring their knowledgeable men,women and children,and ask God to curse the lying party and their followers.[44] Muhammad, to prove to them that he is a prophet, brought his daughter Fatimah,Ali and his grandchildren Hasan and Husayn. He went to the Christians and said this is my family and covered himself and his family with a cloak.[45] According to Muslim sources, when one of the Christian monks saw their faces, he advised his companions to withdraw from Mubahala for the sake of their lives and families. Thus the Christian monks vanished from the Mubahala place. Allameh Tabatabaei explains in Tafsir al-Mizan that the word "Our selves" in this verse[44] refers to Muhammad and Ali. Then he narrates Imam Ali al-Rida, eighth Shia Imam, in discussion with Al-Ma'mun, Abbasid caliph, referred to this verse to prove the superiority of Muhammad's progeny over the rest of the Muslim community, and considered it the proof for Ali's right for caliphate due to Allah made Ali like the self of Muhammad.[46]
Ghadir Khumm[link]
Main articles: Hadith of the pond of Khumm and Hadith of the two weighty things
As Muhammad was returning from his last pilgrimage in 632, he made statements about Ali that are interpreted very differently by Sunnis and Shias.[1] He halted the caravan at Ghadir Khumm, gathered the returning pilgrims for communal prayer and began to address them:[47]
O people, I am a human being. I am about to receive a message from my Lord and I, in response to Allah's call, (would bid good-bye to you), but I am leaving among you two weighty things: the one being the Book of Allah(Quran) in which there is right guidance and light, so hold fast to the Book of Allah and adhere to it. He exhorted (us) (to hold fast) to the Book of Allah and then said: The second are the members of my household I remind you (of your duties) to the members of my family.[48]
This quote is confirmed by both Shia and Sunni, but they interpret the quote differently.[49]
Some Sunni and all Shia sources report that then he called Ali ibn Abu Talib to his sides, took his hand and raised it up declaring[50]
Shia's regard these statements as constituting the investiture of Ali as the successor of Muhammad and as the first Imam; by contrast, Sunnis take them only as an expression of Muhammad's closeness to Ali and of his wish that Ali, as his cousin and son-in-law, inherit his family responsibilities upon his death. [52] Many Sufis also interpret the episode as the transfer of Muhammad's spiritual power and authority to Ali, whom they regard as the wali par excellence.[1][53]
On the basis of this hadith, Ali later insisted on his religious authority superior to that of Abu Bakr and Umar.[54]
Succession to Muhammad[link]
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After uniting the Arabian tribes into a single Muslim religious polity in the last years of his life, Muhammad's death in 632 signalled disagreement over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community.[55] While Ali and the rest of Muhammad's close family were washing his body for burial, at a gathering attended by a small group of Muslims at Saqifah, a close companion of Muhammad named Abu Bakr was nominated for the leadership of the community. Others added their support and Abu Bakr was made the first caliph. The choice of Abu Bakr disputed by some of the Muhammad's companions, who held that Ali had been designated his successor by Muhammad himself.[10][56]
Later when Fatimah and Ali sought aid from the Companions in the matter of his right to the caliphate, they answered, O daughter of the Messenger of God! We have given our allegiance to Abu Bakr. If Ali had come to us before this, we would certainly not have abandoned him. Ali said, 'Was it fitting that we should wrangle over the caliphate even before the Prophet was buried?'[57][58]
Following his election to the caliphate, Abu Bakr and Umar with a few other companions headed to Fatimah's house to force Ali and his supporters who had gathered there give their allegiance to Abu Bakr. Then, it is alleged that Umar threatened to set the house on fire unless they came out and swore allegiance with Abu Bakr.[59] Fatimah, in support of her husband, started a commotion and threatened to "uncover her hair", at which Abu Bakr relented and withdrew.[38] Ali is reported to have repeatedly said that had there been forty men with him he would have resisted.[59] Ali did not actively assert his own right because he did not want to throw the nascent Muslim community into strife.[4] Other sources say that Ali accepted the selection of Umar as caliph and even gave one of his daughters, Umm Kulthūm, to him in marriage.[1]
This contentious issue caused Muslims to later split into two groups, Sunni and Shia. Sunnis assert that even though Muhammad never appointed a successor, Abu Bakr was elected first caliph by the Muslim community. The Sunnis recognize the first four caliphs as Muhammad's rightful successors. Shias believe that Muhammad explicitly named Ali as his successor at Ghadir Khumm and Muslim leadership belonged to him which had been determined by divine order.[10][60]
Ali himself was firmly convinced of his legitimacy for caliphate based on his close kinship with Muhammad, his intimate association and his knowledge of Islam and his merits in serving its cause. He told Abu Bakr that his delay in pledging allegiance (bay'ah) as caliph was based on his belief of his own prior title. Ali did not change his mind when he finally pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr and then to Umar and to Uthman but had done so for the sake of the unity of Islam, at a time when it was clear that the Muslims had turned away from him.[10][61] Ali also believed that he could fulfill his role of Imam'ate without this fighting .[62]
According to Shia historical reports, Ali maintained his right to the caliphate and said:
By Allah the son of Abu Quhafah (Abu Bakr) dressed himself with it (the caliphate) and he certainly knew that my position in relation to it was the same as the position of the axis in relation to the hand-mill...I put a curtain against the caliphate and kept myself detached from it... I watched the plundering of my inheritance till the first one went his way but handed over the Caliphate to Ibn al-Khattab after himself.[63]
Inheritance[link]
Main article: Fadak
See also: Hadith of Muhammad's inheritance
After Muhammad died, his daughter Fatimah asked Abu Bakr to turn over their property, the lands of Fadak and Khaybar. Abu Bakr refused and told her that prophets did not have any legacy and that Fadak belonged to the Muslim community. Abu Bakr said to her, "Allah's Apostle said, we do not have heirs, whatever we leave is Sadaqa." Together with Umm Ayman, Ali testified to the fact that Muhammad granted it to Fatimah Zahra, when Abu Bakr requested her to summon witnesses for her claim. Fatimah became angry and stopped speaking to Abu Bakr, and continued assuming that attitude until she died.[64]
After Fatima's death Ali again claimed her inheritance during Umar's era, but was denied with the same argument. Umar, the caliph who was famous as Umar Sanni (second Umar), did restore the estates in Medina to sons of ‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, as representatives of Muhammad's clan, the Banu Hashim. The properties in Khaybar and Fadak were retained as state property.[65]
Life after Muhammad[link]
See also: Origin and development of the Quran
Another part of Ali's life started in 632 after death of Muhammad and lasted until assassination of Uthman Ibn Affan, the third caliph in 656. During these years, Ali neither took part in any battle or conquest.[4] nor did he assume any executive position. He withdrew from political affairs, especially after the death of his wife, Fatima Zahra. He used his time to serve his family and worked as a farmer. Ali dug a lot of wells and planted gardens near Medina and endowed them for public use. These wells are known today as Abar Ali ("Ali's wells").[66]
Ali compiled a complete version of the Quran, mus'haf,[67] six months after the death of Muhammad. The volume was completed and carried by camel to show to other people of Medina. The order of this mus'haf differed from that which was gathered later during the Uthmanic era. This book was rejected by several people when he showed it to them. Despite this, Ali made no resistance against standardized mus'haf.[68]
Ali and the Rashidun Caliphs[link]
See also: Rashidun and The election of Uthman
Ali did not give his oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr until some time after the death of his wife, Fatimah.[4] Ali participated in the funeral of Abu Bakr but did not participate in the Ridda Wars.[69]
He pledged allegiance to the second caliph Umar ibn Khattab and helped him as a trusted advisor. Umar particularly relied upon Ali as the Chief Judge of Medina. He also advised Umar to set Hijra as the beginning of the Islamic calendar. Umar used Ali's suggestions in political issues as well as religious ones.[70]
Ali was one of the electoral council to choose the third caliph which was appointed by Umar. Although Ali was one of the two major candidates, but the council's arrangement was against him. Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas and Abdur Rahman bin Awf who were cousins, were naturally inclined to support Uthman, who was Abdur Rahman's brother-in-law. In addition, Umar gave the casting vote to Abdur Rahman. Abdur Rahman offered the caliphate to Ali on the condition that he should rule in accordance with the Quran, the example set by Muhammad, and the precedents established by the first two caliphs. Ali rejected the third condition while Uthman accepted it. According to Ibn Abi al-Hadid's Comments on the Peak of Eloquence Ali insisted on his prominence there, but most of the electors supported Uthman and Ali was reluctantly urged to accept him[71]
Siege of Uthman[link]
Main article: Siege of Uthman
Uthman Ibn Affan, expressed generosity toward his kin, Banu Abd-Shams, who seemed to dominate him and his supposed arrogant mistreatment toward several of the earliest companions such as Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, Abd-Allah ibn Mas'ud and Ammar ibn Yasir provoked outrage among some groups of people. Dissatisfaction and resistance openly arose since 650–651 throughout most of the empire.[72] The dissatisfaction with his rule and the governments appointed by him was not restricted to the provinces outside Arabia.[73] When Uthman's kin, especially Marwan, gained control over him, the noble companions including most of the members of elector council, turned against him or at least withdrew their support putting pressure on the caliph to mend his ways and reduce the influence of his assertive kin.[74]
At this time, Ali had acted as a restraining influence on Uthman without directly opposing him. On several occasions Ali disagreed with Uthman in the application of the Hudud; he had publicly shown sympathy for Abu Dharr al-Ghifari and had spoken strongly in the defense of Ammar ibn Yasir. He conveyed to Uthman the criticisms of other Companions and acted on Uthman's behalf as negotiator with the provincial opposition who had come to Medina; because of this some mistrust between Ali and Uthman's family seems to have arisen. Finally he tried to mitigate the severity of the siege by his insistence that Uthman should be allowed water.[4]
There is controversy among historians about the relationship between Ali and Uthman. Although pledging allegiance to Uthman, Ali disagreed with some of his policies. In particular, he clashed with Uthman on the question of religious law. He insisted that religious punishment had to be done in several cases such as Ubayd Allah ibn Umar and Walid ibn Uqba. In 650 during pilgrimage, he confronted Uthman with reproaches for his change of the prayer ritual. When Uthman declared that he would take whatever he needed from the fey', Ali exclaimed that in that case the caliph would be prevented by force. Ali endeavored to protect companions from maltreatment by the caliph such as Ibn Mas'ud.[75] Therefore, some historians consider Ali one the leading members of Uthman's opposition, if not the main one. But Wilferd Madelung rejects their judgment due to the fact that Ali did not have the Quraysh's support to be elected as a caliph. According to him, there is even no evidence that Ali had close relations with rebels who supported his caliphate or directed their actions. [76] Some other sources say Ali had acted as a restraining influence on Uthman without directly opposing him.[4] However Madelung narrates Marwan told Zayn al-Abidin, the grandson of Ali, that
No one [among the Islamic nobility] was more temperate toward our master than your master.[77]
Caliphate[link]
See also: Rashidun Empire and Ali as caliph
Strongholds of Rashidun Caliphate
Vassal states of Rashidun Caliphate
Region under the control of Muawiyah I during civil war 656–661
Region under the control of Amr ibn al-As During civil war 658–661
Election as Caliph[link]
Ali was caliph between 656 and 661, during one of the more turbulent periods in Muslim history, which also coincided with the First Fitna.
Uthman's assassination meant that rebels had to select a new caliph. This met with difficulties since the rebels were divided into several groups comprising the Muhajirun, Ansar, Egyptians, Kufans and Basntes. There were three candidates: Ali, Talhah and al-Zubayr. First the rebels approached Ali, requesting him to accept being the caliph. Some of Muhammad's companions tried to persuade Ali in accepting the office,[63][78][79] but he turned down the offer, suggesting to be a counselor instead of a chief.[80]
Talhah, Zubayr and other companions also refused the rebels' offer of the caliphate. Therefore, the rebels warned the inhabitants of Medina to select a caliph within one day, or they would apply drastic action. In order to resolve the deadlock, the Muslims gathered in the Mosque of the Prophet on June 18, 656 to appoint the caliph. Initially Ali refused to accept simply because his most vigorous supporters were rebels. However, when some notable companions of Muhammad, in addition to the residents of Medina urged him to accept the offer, he finally agreed. According to Abu Mekhnaf's narration, Talhah was the first prominent companion who gave his pledge to Ali, but other narrations claimed otherwise, stating they were forced to give their pledge. Also, Talhah and Zubayr later claimed they supported him reluctantly. Regardless, Ali refuted these claims, insisting they recognized him as caliph voluntarily. Wilferd Madelung believes that force did not urge people to give their pledge and they pledged publicly in the mosque.[11][12]
While the overwhelming majority of Madina's population as well as many of the rebels gave their pledge, some important figures or tribes did not do so. The Umayyads, kinsmen of Uthman, fled to the Levant or remained in their houses, later refusing Ali's legitimacy. Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas was absent and Abdullah ibn Umar abstained from offering his allegiance, but both of them assured Ali that they would not act against him.[11][12]
Reign as Caliph[link]
Since the conflicts in which Ali was involved were perpetuated in polemical sectarian historiography, biographical material is often biased. But the sources agree that he was a profoundly religious man, devoted to the cause of Islam and the rule of justice in accordance with the Quran and the Sunna; he engaged in war against erring Muslims as a matter of religious duty. The sources abound in notices on his austerity, rigorous observance of religious duties, and detachment from worldly goods. Thus some authors have pointed out that he lacked political skill and flexibility.[4]
Ali inherited the Rashidun Caliphate—which extended from Egypt in the west to the Iranian highlands in the east—while the situation in the Hejaz and the other provinces on the eve of his election was unsettled. Soon after Ali became caliph, he dismissed provincial governors who had been appointed by Uthman, replacing them with trusted aides. He acted against the counsel of Mughira ibn Shu'ba and Ibn Abbas, who had advised him to proceed his governing cautiously. Madelung says Ali was deeply convinced of his right and his religious mission, unwilling to compromise his principles for the sake of political expediency, and ready to fight against overwhelming odds.[81] Muawiyah I, the kinsman of Uthman and governor of the Levant refused to submit to Ali's orders; he was the only governor to do so.[4]
When he was appointed caliph, Ali stated to the citizens of Medina that Muslim polity had come to be plagued by dissension and discord; he desired to purge Islam of any evil. He advised the populace to behave as true Muslims, warning that he would tolerate no sedition and those who were found guilty of subversive activities would be dealt with harshly.[82] Ali recovered the land granted by Uthman and swore to recover anything that elites had acquired before his election. Ali opposed the centralization of capital control over provincial revenues, favoring an equal distribution of taxes and booty amongst the Muslim citizens; He distributed the entire revenue of the treasury among them. Ali refrained from nepotism, including with his brother Aqeel ibn Abu Talib. This was an indication to Muslims of his policy of offering equality to Muslims who served Islam in its early years and to the Muslims who played a role in the later conquests.[4][83]
Ali succeeded in forming a broad coalition especially after the Battle of Bassorah. His policy of equal distribution of taxes and booty gained the support of Muhammad's companions especially the Ansar who were subordinated by the Quraysh leadership after Muhammad, the traditional tribal leaders, and the Qurra or Quran reciters that sought pious Islamic leadership. The successful formation of this diverse coalition seems to be due to Ali's charismatic character.[4][84] This diverse coalition became known as Shia Ali, meaning "party" or "faction of Ali". However according to Shia, as well as non-Shia reports, the majority of those who supported Ali after his election as caliph, were shia politically, not religiously. Although at this time there were many who counted as political Shia, few of them believed Ali's religious leadership.[85]
First Fitna[link]
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See also: First Fitna
A'isha, Talhah, Al-Zubayr and Umayyad especially Muawiyah I wanted to take revenge for Uthman's death and punish the rioters who had killed him. They attacked Ali for not punishing the rebels and murderers of Uthman. However some historians believe that they use this issue to seek their political ambitions because they found Ali's caliphate against their own benefit. On the other hand, the rebels maintained that Uthman had been justly killed, for not governing according to Quran and Sunnah, hence no vengeance was to be invoked.[4][8][86] Historians disagree on Ali's position. Some say the caliphate was a gift of the rebels and Ali did not have enough force to control or punish them,[82] while others say Ali accepted rebels argument or at least did not consider Uthman just ruler.[87]
Under such circumstances, a schism took place which led to the first civil war in Muslim history. Some Muslims, known as Uthmanis, considered Uthman a rightful and just Imam (Islamic leader) till the end, who had been unlawfully killed. Thus his position was in abeyance until he had been avenged and a new caliph elected. In their view Ali was the Imam of error leading a party of infidels. Some others, who are known as party of Ali, believed Uthman had fallen into error, he had forfeited the caliphate and been lawfully executed for his refusal to mend his way or step down, thus Ali was the just and true Imam and his opponents are infidels. This civil war created permanent divisions within the Muslim community regarding who had the legitimate right to occupy the caliphate.[88]
The First Fitna, 656–661, followed the assassination of Uthman, continued during the caliphate of Ali, and was ended by Muawiyah's assumption of the caliphate. This civil war (often called the Fitna) is regretted as the end of the early unity of the Islamic ummah (nation). Ali was first opposed by a faction led by Talhah, Al-Zubayr and Muhammad's wife, Aisha bint Abu Bakr. This group, known as "the disobedient ones" (Nakithin) by their enemies, gathered in Mecca then moved to Basra with the expectation of finding the necessary forces and resources to mobilize people of Iraq. The rebels occupied Basra, killing many people. They refused Ali's offer of obedience and pledge of allegiance. The two sides met at the Battle of Bassorah (Battle of the Camel) in 656, where Ali emerged victorious.[89]
Ali appointed Ibn Abbas governor of Basra and moved his capital to Kufa, the Muslim garrison city in Iraq. Kufa was in the middle of Islamic land and had strategic position.[90]
Later he was challenged by Muawiyah I, the governor of Levant and the cousin of Uthman, who refused Ali's demands for allegiance and called for revenge for Uthman. Ali opened negotiations hoping to regain his allegiance, but Muawiyah insisted on Levant autonomy under his rule. Muawiyah replied by mobilizing his Levantine supporters and refusing to pay homage to Ali on the pretext that his contingent had not participated in his election. The two armies encamped themselves at Siffin for more than one hundred days, most of the time being spent in negotiations. Although, Ali exchanged several letters with Muawiyah, he was unable to dismiss the latter, nor persuade him to pledge allegiance. Skirmishes between the parties led to the Battle of Siffin in 657. After a week of combat was followed by a violent battle known as laylat al-harir (the night of clamor), Muawiyah's army were on the point of being routed when Amr ibn al-Aas advised Muawiyah to have his soldiers hoist mus'haf (either parchments inscribed with verses of the Quran, or complete copies of it) on their spearheads in order to cause disagreement and confusion in Ali's army.[4][91] Ali saw through the stratagem, but only a minority wanted to pursue the fight.[10]
The two armies finally agreed to settle the matter of who should be Caliph by arbitration. The refusal of the largest bloc in Ali's army to fight was the decisive factor in his acceptance of the arbitration. The question as to whether the arbiter would represent Ali or the Kufans caused a further split in Ali's army. Ash'ath ibn Qays and some others rejected Ali's nominees, 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abbas and Malik al-Ashtar, and insisted on Abu Musa Ash'ari, who was opposed by Ali, since he had earlier prevented people from supporting him. Finally, Ali was urged to accept Abu Musa. Some of Ali's supporters, later were known as Kharijites (schismatics), opposed arbitration and rebelled and Ali had to fight with them in the Battle of Nahrawan. The arbitration resulted in the dissolution of Ali's coalition and some have opined that this was Muawiyah's intention.[4][92]
In the following years Muawiyah's army invaded and plundered cities of Iraq, which Ali's governors could not prevent and people did not support him to fight with them. Muawiyah overpowered Egypt, Hijaz, Yemen and other areas.[93] In the last year of Ali's caliphate, the mood in Kufa and Basra changed in his favor as Muawiyah's vicious conduct of the war revealed the nature of his reign. However the people's attitude toward Ali differed deeply. Just a small minority of them believed that Ali was the best Muslim after Muhammad (صلی الله علیھ وآلہ وسلم ) and the only one entitled to rule them, while the majority supported him due to their distrust and opposition to Muawiyah.[94]
Policies[link]
What shows Ali's policies and ideas of governing is his instruction to Malik al-Ashtar, when appointed by him as governor of Egypt. This instruction which is considered by many Muslims and even non-Muslims as the ideal constitution for Islamic governance involved detailed description of duties and rights of the ruler and various functionaries of the state and the main classes of society at that time.[95][96]
Ali wrote in his instruction to Malik al-Ashtar:
Infuse your heart with mercy, love and kindness for your subjects. Be not in face of them a voracious animal, counting them as easy prey, for they are of two kinds: either they are your brothers in religion or your equals in creation. Error catches them unaware, deficiencies overcome them, (evil deeds) are committed by them intentionally and by mistake. So grant them your pardon and your forgiveness to the same extent that you hope God will grant you His pardon and His forgiveness. For you are above them, and he who appointed you is above you, and God is above him who appointed you. God has sought from you the fulfillment of their requirements and He is trying you with them.[97]
Since the majority of Ali's subjects were nomads and peasants, he was concerned with agriculture. He instructed to Malik to give more attention to development of the land than to the collection of the tax, because tax can only be obtained by the development of the land and whoever demands tax without developing the land ruins the country and destroys the people.[98]
Death[link]
On the 19th of Ramadan, while worshipping in the Great Mosque of Kufa, Ali was attacked by the Khawarij Abd-al-Rahman ibn Muljam. He was wounded by ibn Muljam's poison-coated sword while prostrating in the Fajr prayer.[99] Ali ordered his sons not to attack the Kharijites, instead stipulating that if he survived, ibn Muljam would be pardoned whereas if he died, ibn Muljam should be given only one equal hit (regardless of whether or not he dies from the hit).[100]
Ali died a few days later on February 28, 661 (21 Ramadan 40 A.H).[99] Hasan fulfilled Qisas and gave equal punishment to ibn Muljam upon Ali's death.[94]
Burial[link]
File:Kabr Mubarak Moulana Ali.pdf According to Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid, Ali did not want his grave to be desecrated by his enemies and consequently asked his friends and family to bury him secretly. This secret gravesite was revealed later during the Abbasid caliphate by Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, his descendant and the sixth Shia Imam.[101] Most Shias accept that Ali is buried at the Tomb of Imam Ali in the Imam Ali Mosque at what is now the city of Najaf, which grew around the mosque and shrine called Masjid Ali.[102][103]
However another story, usually maintained by some Afghans, notes that his body was taken and buried in the Afghan city of Mazar-E-Sharif at the famous Blue Mosque or Rawze-e-Sharif.[104]
Aftermath[link]
See also: Umayyad dynasty and Umayyad tradition of cursing Ali
After Ali's death, Kufi Muslims pledged allegiance to his eldest son Hasan without dispute, as Ali on many occasions had declared that just Ahl al-Bayt of Muhammad (صلی الله علیھ وآلہ وسلم ) were entitled to rule the Muslim community.[105] At this time, Muawiyah held both the Levant and Egypt and, as commander of the largest force in the Muslim Empire, had declared himself caliph and marched his army into Iraq, the seat of Hasan's caliphate.
War ensued during which Muawiyah gradually subverted the generals and commanders of Hasan's army with large sums of money and deceiving promises until the army rebelled against him. Finally, Hasan was forced to make peace and to yield the caliphate to Muawiyah. In this way Muawiyah captured the Islamic caliphate and in every way possible placed the severest pressure upon Ali's family and his Shia. Regular public cursing of Imam Ali in the congregational prayers remained a vital institution which was not abolished until 60 years later by Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz. Muawiyah also established the Umayyad caliphate which was a centralized monarchy. [106]
Madelung writes:
Umayyad highhandedness, misrule and repression were gradually to turn the minority of Ali's admirers into a majority. In the memory of later generations Ali became the ideal Commander of the Faithful. In face of the fake Umayyad claim to legitimate sovereignty in Islam as God's Vice-regents on earth, and in view of Umayyad treachery, arbitrary and divisive government, and vindictive retribution, they came to appreciate his [Ali's] honesty, his unbending devotion to the reign of Islam, his deep personal loyalties, his equal treatment of all his supporters, and his generosity in forgiving his defeated enemies.[16]
Knowledge[link]
See also: Nahj al-Balagha
Ali is respected not only as a warrior and leader, but as a writer and religious authority. Numerous range of disciplines from theology and exegesis to calligraphy and numerology, from law and mysticism to Arabic grammar and Rhetoric regarded as having been first adumbrated by Ali.[103] According to Hadith which is narrated by Shia and Sufis, Muhammad(صلی الله علیھ وآلہ وسلم ) told about him "I'm the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate..."[103][107][108][109] Muslims regard Ali as a major authority on Islam. Ali himself gives this testimony:
Not a single verse of the Quran descended upon (was revealed to) the Messenger of God which he did not proceed to dictate to me and make me recite. I would write it with my own hand, and he would instruct me as to its tafsir (the literal explanation) and the ta'wil (the spiritual exegesis), the nasikh (the verse which abrogates) and the mansukh (the abrogated verse), the muhkam and the mutashabih (the fixed and the ambiguous), the particular and the general...[110]
According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Ali is credited with having established Islamic theology and his quotations contain the first rational proofs among Muslims of the Unity of God.[111] Ibn Abi al-Hadid has quoted
As for theosophy and dealing with matters of divinity, it was not an Arab art. Nothing of the sort had been circulated among their distinguished figures or those of lower ranks. This art was the exclusive preserve of Greece whose sages were its only expounders. The first one among Arabs to deal with it was Ali.[112]
In later Islamic philosophy, especially in the teachings of Mulla Sadra and his followers, like Allameh Tabatabaei, Ali's sayings and sermons were increasingly regarded as central sources of metaphysical knowledge, or divine philosophy. Members of Sadra's school regard Ali as the supreme metaphysician of Islam.;[1] According to Henry Corbin, the Nahj al-Balagha may be regarded as one of the most important sources of doctrines professed by Shia thinkers especially after 1500AD. Its influence can be sensed in the logical co-ordination of terms, the deduction of correct conclusions, and the creation of certain technical terms in Arabic which entered the literary and philosophical language independently of the translation into Arabic of Greek texts.[113]
Ali was also a great scholar of Arabic literature and pioneered in the field of Arabic grammar and rhetoric. Numerous short sayings of Ali have become part of general Islamic culture and are quoted as aphorisms and proverbs in daily life. They have also become the basis of literary works or have been integrated into poetic verse in many languages. Already in the 8th century, literary authorities such as 'Abd al-Hamid ibn Yahya al-'Amiri pointed to the unparalleled eloquence of Ali's sermons and sayings, as did al-Jahiz in the following century.[1] Even staffs in the Divan of Umayyad recited Ali's sermons to improve their eloquence.[114] Of course, Peak of Eloquence (Nahj al-Balagha) is an extract of Ali's quotations from a literal viewpoint as its compiler mentioned in the preface. While there are many other quotations, prayers (Du'as), sermons and letters in other literal, historic and religious books.[115]
In addition, some hidden or occult sciences such as jafr, Islamic numerology, the science of the symbolic significance of the letters of the Arabic alphabet, are said to have been established by Ali[1] through his having studied the texts of al-Jafr and al-Jamia.
Works[link]
The compilation of sermons, lectures and quotations attributed to Ali are compiled in the form of several books.
- Nahj al-Balagha (Way of Eloquence) contains eloquent sermons, letters and quotations attributed to Ali which is compiled by ash-Sharif ar-Radi(d. 1015). Reza Shah Kazemi states: "Despite ongoing questions about the authenticity of the text, recent scholarship suggests that most of the material in it can in fact be attributed to Ali" and in support of this he makes reference to an article by Mokhtar Jebli.[103] This book has a prominent position in Arabic literature. It is also considered an important intellectual, political and religious work in Islam.[1][116][117] Masadir Nahj al-Balagha wa asaniduh written by al-Sayyid ‘Abd al-Zahra' al-Husayni al-Khatib introduces some of these sources.[118] Also Nahj al-sa'adah fi mustadrak Nahj al-balaghah by Muhammad Baqir al-Mahmudi represents all of Ali's extant speeches, sermons, decrees, epistles, prayers, and sayings have been collected. It includes the Nahj al-balagha and other discourses which were not incorporated by ash-Sharif ar-Radi or were not available to him. Apparently, except for some of the aphorisms, the original sources of all the contents of the Nahj al-balagha have been determined.[116] There are several Comments on the Peak of Eloquence by Sunnis and Shias such as Comments of Ibn Abi al-Hadid and comments of Muhammad Abduh.
- Supplications (Du'a), translated by William Chittick[119]
- Ghurar al-Hikam wa Durar al-Kalim (Exalted aphorisms and Pearls of Speech) which is compiled by Abd al-Wahid Amidi(d. 1116) consists of over ten thounsads short sayings of Ali[120]
- Nuzhat al-Absar va Mahasin al-Asar, Ali's sermons which has compiled by Ali ibn Muhammad Tabari Mamtiri[121]
- Divan-i Ali ibn Abu Talib (poems which are attributed to Ali ibn Abu Talib)[4][122]
Descendants[link]
Main articles: Descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Alavi (surname)
Ali initially married Fatimah, who is his most beloved wife. After she died, he got married again. He had four children with Fatimah, Hasan ibn Ali, Husayn ibn Ali, Zaynab bint Ali[1] and Umm Kulthum bint Ali. His other well-known sons were al-Abbas ibn Ali born to Fatima binte Hizam (Um al-Banin) and Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah.[123] Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah is Ali's son from another wife from Hanifa clan of Central Arabia[124] named Khawla bint Ja'far.[125]
Hasan, born in 625 AD, was the second Shia Imam and he also occupied the outward function of caliph for about six months. In the year 50 A.H., he was poisoned and killed by a member of his own household who, as has been accounted by historians, had been motivated by Mu'awiyah.[126]
Husayn, born in 626 AD, was the third Shia Imam. He lived under severe conditions of suppression and persecution by Mu'awiyah. On the tenth day of Muharram, of the year 680, he lined up before the army of caliph with his small band of followers and nearly all of them were killed in the Battle of Karbala. The anniversary of his death is called the Day of Ashura and it is a day of mourning and religious observance for Shia Muslims.[127] In this battle some of Ali's other sons were killed. Al-Tabari has mentioned their names in his history. Al-Abbas ibn Ali, the holder of Husayn's standard, Ja'far, Abdallah and Uthman, the four sons born to Fatima binte Hizam. Muhammad and Abu Bakr. The death of the last one is doubtful.[128] Some historians have added the names of Ali's others sons who were killed in Karbala, including Ibrahim, Umar and Abdallah ibn al-Asqar.[129][130]
His daughter Zaynab—who was in Karbala—was captured by Yazid's army and later played a great role in revealing what happened to Husayn and his followers.[131]
Ali's descendants by Fatimah are known as sharifs, sayeds or sayyids. These are honorific titles in Arabic, sharif meaning 'noble' and sayed or sayyid meaning 'lord' or 'sir'. As Muhammad's only descendants, they are respected by both Sunni and Shia, though the Shias place much more emphasis and value on the distinction.[1]
Views[link]
Muslim views[link]
Main article: Ali in Muslim culture
Except for Muhammad, there is no one in Islamic history about whom as much has been written in Islamic languages as Ali.[1] Ali is revered and honored by all Muslims. Having been one of the first Muslims and foremost Ulema (Islamic scholars), he was extremely knowledgeable in matters of religious belief and Islamic jurisprudence, as well as in the history of the Muslim community. He was known for his bravery and courage. Muslims honor Muhammad, Ali, and other pious Muslims and add pious interjections after their names.[citation needed]
Shia[link]
Main article: Shia view of Ali
The Shia regard Ali as the most important figure after Muhammad.[132] According to them, Muhammad suggested on various occasions during his lifetime that Ali should be the leader of Muslims after his death. This is supported by numerous Hadiths which have been narrated by both Sunnis and Shias, including Hadith of the pond of Khumm, Hadith of the two weighty things, Hadith of the pen and paper, Hadith of the Cloak, Hadith of position, Hadith of the invitation of the close families, and Hadith of the Twelve Successors.
According to this view, Ali as the successor of Muhammad not only ruled over the community in justice, but also interpreted the Sharia Law and its esoteric meaning. Hence he was regarded as being free from error and sin (infallible), and appointed by God by divine decree (nass) through Muhammad.[133] Ali is known as "perfect man" (al-insan al-kamil) similar to Muhammad according to Shia viewpoint.[134]
Shia pilgrims usually go to Mashad Ali in Najaf for Ziyarat, pray there and read "Ziyarat Amin Allah"[135] or other Ziyaratnamehs.[136] Under the Safavid Empire, his grave became the focus of much devoted attention, exemplified in the pilgrimage made by Shah Ismail I to Najaf and Karbala.[10]
Sunni[link]
Main article: Sunni view of Ali
Sunni Muslims regard Ali with great respect as one of the Ahl al-Bayt and the last of the Rashidun caliphs, as well as one of the most influential and respected leaders in Islam. Also, he is one of the Al-Asharatu Mubashsharun, the Ten Companions of Muhammad whom the Prophet of Islam promised Paradise.
Sufi[link]
Almost all Sufi orders trace their lineage to Muhammad through Ali, an exception being Naqshbandi, who go through Abu Bakr. Even in this order, there is Ja'far al-Sadiq, the great great grandson of Ali. Sufis believe that Ali inherited from Muhammad the saintly power wilayah that makes the spiritual journey to God possible.[1] Sufis recite Manqabat Ali in the praise of Ali (Maula Ali), after Hamd and Naat in their Qawwali.[citation needed]
As a deity[link]
Main article: Ghulat
Some groups such as the Alawis believe that Ali is a deity in his own right or he was God incarnate. They are described as ghulat (Ar: غُلاة) "exaggerators" by the vast majority of Islamic scholars. These groups have, in traditional Islamic thought, left Islam due to their exaggeration of a human being's praiseworthy traits. Ali is recorded in some traditions as having forbidden those who sought to worship him in his own lifetime.[137]
Non-Muslim views[link]
Main article: Non-Muslim view of Ali
| Person | Quote |
|---|---|
| Edward Gibbon (British 18th century historian) | The zeal and virtue of Ali were never outstripped by any recent proselyte. He united the qualifications of a poet, a soldier, and a saint; his wisdom still breathes in a collection of moral and religious sayings; and every antagonist,in the combats of the tongue or of the sword, was subdued by his eloquence and valour. From the first hour of his mission to the last rites of his funeral, the apostle was never forsaken by a generous friend, whom he delighted to name his brother, his vicegerent, and the faithful Aaron of a second Moses.[138] |
| Washington Irving (American author and essayist) | He was of the noblest branch of the noble race of Koreish. He possessed the three qualities most prized by Arabs: courage, eloquence, and munificence. His intrepid spirit had gained him from the prophet the appellation of The Lion of God, specimens of his eloquence remain in some verses and sayings preserved among the Arabs; and his munificence was manifested in sharing among others, every Friday, what remained in the treasury. Of his magnanimity, we have given repeated instances; his noble scorn of everything false and mean, and the absence in his conduct of everything like selfish intrigue.[139] |
| Thomas Carlyle (Scottish historian, critic, and sociological writer) | As for this young Ali, one cannot but like him. A noble-minded creature, as he shows himself, now and always afterwards; full of affection, of fiery daring. Something chivalrous in him; brave as a lion; yet with a grace, a truth and affection worthy of Christian knighthood[140] |
| Sir William Muir (Scottish scholar and statesman) | Endowed with a clear intellect, warm in affection, and confiding in friendship, he was from the boyhood devoted heart and soul to the Prophet. Simple, quiet, and unambitious, when in after days he obtained the rule of half of the Moslem world, it was rather thrust upon him than sought[141] |
| Dr. Henry Stubbe (Classicist, polemicist, physician, and philosopher) | He had a contempt of the world, its glory and pomp, he feared God much, gave many alms, was just in all his actions, humble and affable; of an exceeding quick wit and of an ingenuity that was not common, he was exceedingly learned, not in those sciences that terminate in speculations but those which extend to practice[142] |
| Simon Ockley (British Orientalist and Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge) | One thing particularly deserving to be noticed is that his mother was delivered of him at Mecca, in the very temple itself; which never happened to any one else.[143] |
The poet Khalil Gibran said of him: "In my view, ʿAlī was the first Arab to have contact with and converse with the universal soul. He died a martyr of his greatness, he died while prayer was between his two lips. The Arabs did not realise his value until appeared among their Persian neighbors some who knew the difference between gems and gravels."[144][145]
However, Henri Lammens[146] held a negative view of Ali.
Historiography[link]
See also: Historiography of early Islam
The primary sources for scholarship on the life of Ali are the Quran and the Hadith, as well as other texts of early Islamic history. The extensive secondary sources include, in addition to works by Sunni and Shī‘a Muslims, writings by Christian Arabs, Hindus, and other non-Muslims from the Middle East and Asia and a few works by modern Western scholars. However, many of the early Islamic sources are colored to some extent by a positive or negative bias towards Ali.[1]
There had been a common tendency among the earlier western scholars against these narrations and reports gathered in later periods due to their tendency towards later Sunni and Shī‘a partisan positions; such scholars regarding them as later fabrications. This leads them to regard certain reported events as inauthentic or irrelevant. Leone Caetani considered the attribution of historical reports to Ibn Abbas and Aisha as mostly fictitious while proffering accounts reported without isnad by the early compilers of history like Ibn Ishaq. Wilferd Madelung has rejected the stance of indiscriminately dismissing everything not included in "early sources" and in this approach tendentious alone is no evidence for late origin. According to him, Caetani's approach is inconsistent. Madelung and some later historians do not reject the narrations which have been complied in later periods and try to judge them in the context of history and on the basis of their compatibility with the events and figures[147]
Until the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate, few books were written and most of the reports had been oral. The most notable work previous to this period is The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays, written by Sulaym ibn Qays, a companion of Ali who lived before the Abbasid.[148] When paper was introduced to Muslim society, numerous monographs were written between 750 and 950 AD. According to Robinson, at least twenty-one separate monographs have been composed on the Battle of Siffin. Abi Mikhnaf is one of the most renowned writers of this period who tried to gather all of the reports. 9th and 10th century historians collected, selected and arranged the available narrations. However, most of these monographs do not exist anymore except for a few which have been used in later works such as History of the Prophets and Kings by Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d.932).[149]
Shia of Iraq actively participated in writing monographs but most of those works have been lost. On the other hand, in the 8th and 9th century Ali's descendants such as Muhammad al Baqir and Jafar as Sadiq narrated his quotations and reports which have been gathered in Shia hadith books. The later Shia works written after the 10th century AD are about biographies of The Fourteen Infallibles and Twelve Imams. The earliest surviving work and one of the most important works in this field is Kitab al-Irshad by Shaykh Mufid (d. 1022). The author has dedicated the first part of his book to a detailed account of Ali. There are also some books known as Manāqib which describe Ali's character from a religious viewpoint. Such works also constitute a kind of historiography.[150]
See also[link]
Notes[link]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. "Ali". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9005712/Ali. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
- ^ a b Ahmed 2005, p. 234
- ^ Madelung 1997, p. 311
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Alī ibn Abu Talib". Encyclopædia Iranica. Archived from the original on 2007-11-07. http://web.archive.org/web/20071107180319/http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v1f8/v1f8a043.html. Retrieved 2010-12-16.
- ^ a b Biographies of the Prophet's companions and their successors,Ṭabarī,Translated by Ella Landau-Tasseron,pp.37-40,Vol:XXXIX
- ^ Kelen 2001, p. 29
- ^ a b Watt 1953, p. xii
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Tabatabaei 1979, p. 191
- ^ a b Ashraf 2005, p. 14
- ^ a b c d e f Diana, Steigerwald. "Alī ibn Abu Talib". Encyclopaedia of Islam and the Muslim world; vol.1. MacMillan. ISBN 978-0-02-865604-5.
- ^ a b c Ashraf 2005, p. 119 and 120
- ^ a b c Madelung 1997, pp. 141–145
- ^ Lapidus 2002, p. 47
- ^ Holt, Lambton & Lewis 1970, pp. 70–72
- ^ Tabatabaei 1979, pp. 50–75 and 192
- ^ a b Madelung 1997, p. 309 and 310
- ^ Ashraf 2005, p. 5
- ^ See:
- Ashraf 2005, p. 6
- "Khalifa Ali Ibn Abu Talib". witness-pioneer.org. 2004-11-05. http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Articles/companion/00_ali_bin_talib.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
- ^ Ashraf 2005, p. 6 and 7
- ^ Ashraf 2005, p. 7
- ^ * See also:**Ibn Majah in Sunan ibn Majah, Ibn Majah, al-Sunan, Vol. I, p. 44;**Hakim al-Nishaburi in Al-Mustadrak alaa al-Sahihain, al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, Vol. III, p. 112;** Ibn Hisham in As-Sirah an-Nabawiyyah, Ibn Hisham, al-Sirah, Vol. I, p.245.
- ^ Watt 1953, p. 86
- ^ Quran 26:214
- ^ See:
- Momen 1985, p. 12
- Tabatabaei 1979, p. 39
- ^ Ashraf 2005, pp. 16–26
- ^ Ashraf 2005, p. 28 and 29
- ^ Quran 2:207
- ^ Tabatabaei, Sayyid Mohammad Hosayn. "Tafsir al-Mizan, Volume 3: Surah Baqarah, Verses 204–207". almizan.org. http://www.shiasource.com/al-mizan/. Retrieved 2010-11-25.
- ^ Ashraf 2005, pp. 30–32
- ^ See:
- Momen 1985, p. 13 and 14
- Ashraf 2005, pp. 28–118
- ^ Singh 2003, p. 175
- ^ Quran 33:33
- ^ Madelung 1997, p. 14 and 15
- ^ See:
- ^ "Hasan ibn Ali". Encyclopædia Iranica. http://www.iranica.com/newsite/index.isc?Article=http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v12f1/v12f1024.html. Retrieved 2009-12-06. [dead link]
- ^ Ashraf 2005, p. 42 and 43
- ^ Qazwini 1992, p. 140
- ^ a b Vaglieri, Veccia. "Fatima". Encyclopedia of Islam. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. p. Vol. 2 844–850. ISSN 1573-3912.
- ^ See:
- Ashraf 2005, p. 36
- Merrick 2005, p. 247
- ^ Khatab, Amal (May 1, 1996). Battles of Badr and Uhud. Ta-Ha Publishers. ISBN 978-1-897940-39-6.
- ^ Ibn Al Atheer, In his Biography, vol 2 p 107 "لا فتی الا علي لا سيف الا ذوالفقار"
- ^ See:
- Ashraf 2005, pp. 66–68
- Zeitlin 2007, p. 134
- ^ Quran 3:59
- ^ a b Quran 3:61
- ^ See:
- Sahih Muslim, Chapter of virtues of companions, section of virtues of Ali, 1980 Edition Pub. in Saudi Arabia, Arabic version, v4, p1871, the end of tradition No. 32
- Sahih al-Tirmidhi, v5, p654
- Madelung 1997, p. 15 and 16
- ^ Tabatabaei, Sayyid Mohammad Hosayn. "Tafsir al-Mizan, v.6, Al Imran, verses 61–63". almizan.org. http://www.shiasource.com/al-mizan/. Retrieved 2010-11-25.
- ^ Dakake 2008, pp. 34–39
- ^ See:
- Dakake 2008, p. 39 and 40
- Sahih Muslim 031.5920 The Book Pertaining to the Merits of the Companions (Allah Be Pleased With Them) of the Holy Prophet (May Peace Be Upon Him) (Kitab Al-Fada'il Al-Sahabah)
- ^ Dakake 2008, p. 39 and 40
- ^ Dakake 2008, pp. 34–37
- ^ See:
- Dakake 2008, p. 34 and 35
- Ibn Taymiyyah, Minhaaj as-Sunnah 7/319
- ^ See:
- Dakake 2008, pp. 43–48
- Tabatabaei 1979, p. 40
- ^ Dakake 2008, pp. 33–35
- ^ Madelung 1997, p. 253
- ^ Lapidus 2002, p. 31 and 32
- ^ See:
- Holt, Lambton & Lewis 1970, p. 57
- Madelung 1997, pp. 26–27, 30–43 and 356–360
- ^ Ibn Qutaybah, al-Imamah wa al-Siyasah, Vol. I, pp. 12–13
- ^ Ibn Abi al-Hadid, Sharh; Vol. II, p.5.
- ^ a b Madelung 1997, p. 43
- ^ "Sunnite". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9070378/Sunnite. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
- ^ See:
- Madelung 1997, p. 141 and 270
- Ashraf 2005, p. 99 and 100
- ^ Chirri 1982
- ^ a b
- Nahj Al-Balagha Nahj Al-Balagha Sermon 3
- For Isnad of this sermon and the name of the names of scholars who narrates it see Nahjul Balagha, Mohammad Askari Jafery (1984), pp. 108–112
- ^ See:
- Madelung 1997, p. 50 and 51
- Qazwini & Ordoni 1992, p. 211
- [Quran 27:16]
- [Quran 21:89]
- Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:53:325
- Sahih al-Bukhari, 5:59:546
- Sahih Muslim, 19:4352
- ^
- Madelung 1997, pp. 62–64
- Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:53:326
- ^ History of Mecca, Medina and all other Ziyarats[dead link]
- ^ Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (2007). "Quran". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-68890/Quran. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
- ^ See:
- Tabatabaei 1987, p. chapter 5
- Observations on Early Quran Manuscripts in San'a
- The Quran as Text, ed. Wild, Brill, 1996 ISBN 978-90-04-10344-3
- ^ See:
- Ashraf 2005, p. 100 and 101
- Madelung 1997, p. 141
- Sahih al-Bukhari, 5:59:546
- Sahih al-Bukhari, 8:82:817
- Sahih Muslim, 19:4352
- Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, vol. 3, p.208; Ibn Qutaybah, vol. 1, p.29; quoted in Ayoub, 2003, 18
- Rizvi, Sa'id Akhtar, Imamate: The Vicegerency of the Prophet by, quoting Ibn Qutaybah 18. SUNNI VIEWS ON THE CALIPHATE
- Shia encyclopedia quoting from Ibn Qutaybah, Muhammad al-Bukhari, Massudi, Ibn Abu al-Hadid
- The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon, section Reign of Abubeker; A.D. 632, June 7.
- ^ See
- Ashraf 2005, pp. 107–110
- The Caliphate of Umar
- ^ See:
- Madelung 1997, pp. 70–72
- Dakake 2008, p. 41
- Momen 1985, p. 21
- ^ Madelung 1997, p. 87 and 88
- ^ Madelung 1997, p. 90
- ^ Madelung 1997, pp. 92–107
- ^ Madelung 1997, p. 109 and 110
- ^ See:
- Holt, Lambton & Lewis 1970, p. 67 and 68
- Madelung 1997, p. 107 and 111
- ^ Madelung 1997, p. 334
- ^ Ashraf 2005, p. 119
- ^ Madelung 1997, pp. 141–143
- ^ Hamidullah 1988, p. 126
- ^ Madelung 1997, p. 148 and 149
- ^ a b Ashraf 2005, p. 121
- ^ See:
- Lapidus 2002, p. 46
- Madelung 1997, p. 150 and 264
- ^ Shaban 1971, p. 72
- ^ Momen 1985, p. 63
- ^ See:
- Madelung 1997, p. 147 and 148
- Lewis 1991, p. 214
- ^ Lewis 1991, p. 214
- ^ See:
- Lapidus 2002, p. 47
- Holt, Lambton & Lewis 1970, p. 72
- Tabatabaei 1979, p. 57
- ^ See:
- Lapidus 2002, p. 47
- Holt, Lambton & Lewis 1970, pp. 70–72
- Tabatabaei 1979, pp. 50–53
- ^ 'Ali[dead link]
- ^ See:
- Lapidus 2002, p. 47
- Holt, Lambton & Lewis 1970, pp. 70–72
- Tabatabaei 1979, p. 53 and 54
- ^ See:
- Madelung 1997, pp. 241–259
- Lapidus 2002, p. 47
- Holt, Lambton & Lewis 1970, pp. 70–72
- Tabatabaei 1979, p. 53 and 54
- ^ Madelung 1997, pp. 267–269 and 293–307
- ^ a b Madelung 1997, p. 309
- ^ Shah-Kazemi 2007, p. 81
- ^ United Nations Development Program, Arab human development report, (2002), p. 107
- ^ Nasr, Dabashi & Nasr 1989, p. 75
- ^ Lambton 1991, p. xix and xx
- ^ a b Tabatabaei 1979, p. 192
- ^ Kelsay 1993, p. 92
- ^ Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid 1986
- ^ Redha 1999
- ^ a b c d Shah-Kazemi, Reza (2006). "'Ali ibn Abu Talib". Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-96691-7. , Pages 36 and 37
- ^ Balkh and Mazar-e-Sharif
- ^ Madelung 1997, p. 313 and 314
- ^ See:
- Madelung 1997, p. 334
- Lapidus 2002, p. 47
- Holt, Lambton & Lewis 1970, p. 72
- Tabatabaei 1979, p. 195
- ^ Momen 1985, p. 14
- ^ School of Islamic Sufism[dead link]
- ^ World of Tasawwuf
- ^ Corbin 1993, p. 46
- ^ Nasr 2006, p. 120
- ^ Nasr, Dabashi & Nasr 1996, p. 136
- ^ Corbin 1993, p. 35
- ^ "حفظت سبعين خطبة من خطب الاصلع ففاضت ثم فاضت ) ويعني بالاصلع أمير المؤمنين عليا عليه السلام " مقدمة في مصادر نهج البلاغة[dead link]
- ^ See:
- ^ a b Mutahhari, 1997 The Glimpses of Nahj al Balaghah Part I – Introduction
- ^ Shah-Kazemi 2007, p. 3
- ^ Quarterly Journal of Islamic Thought and Culture, Vol. VII, No. 1 issue of Al-Tawhid[dead link]
- ^ Ali ibn Abi Talib (1990). Supplications (Du'a). Muhammadi Trust. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-9506986-4-9.
- ^ Shah-Kazemi 2007, p. 4
- ^ پیدا شدن مجموعه نفیس کلمات امام علی(ع) در واتیكان : «نزهه الأبصار و محاسن الآثار» عنوان کتابی است از ابوالحسن علی بن محمد بن مهدی طبری مامطیری، که دربر دارنده کلمات مولای متقیان امام علیبنابیطالب (ع) است و پیشینه ای بیش از نهجالبلاغه شریف رضی (ره) دارد[dead link]
- ^ Collection of Ali's poems (I Arabic)
- ^ Stearns & Langer 2001, p. 1178
- ^ Farooque Ahmed Makakmayum wrote in The Sangai Express (English daily, Imphal, India), on July 28, 2007 (sources:Muslims in Manipur).
- ^ After Fatima's death, Ali married Khawla bint Ja'far of the Bani Hanifa tribe (source:[islamichistory.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/ali-muawiya.ppt ali-muawiya)
- ^ Tabatabaei 1979, p. 194
- ^ Tabatabaei 1979, pp. 196–201
- ^ Al-Tabari 1990, pp. vol.XIX pp. 178–179
- ^ The Sanctified Household
- ^ List of Martyrs of Karbala by Khansari "فرزندان اميراالمؤمنين(ع): 1-ابوبكربن علي(شهادت او مشكوك است). 2-جعفربن علي. 3-عباس بن علي(ابولفضل) 4-عبدالله بن علي. 5-عبدالله بن علي العباس بن علي. 6-عبدالله بن الاصغر. 7-عثمان بن علي. 8-عمر بن علي. 9-محمد الاصغر بن علي. 10-محمدبن العباس بن علي."
- ^ "Zaynab Bint ʿAlĪ". Encyclopedia of Religion. Gale Group. 2004. http://www.bookrags.com/research/zaynab-bint-al-eorl-14/. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
- ^ "Yawm-e Ali". TheIsmaili.org. 2011-06-10. http://www.theismaili.org/festival/yawm-e-ali. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
- ^ Nasr, Shi'ite Islam, preface, p. 10
- ^ Motahhari, Perfect man, Chapter 1[dead link]
- ^ Trust, p. 695
- ^ Trust, p. 681
- ^ See:
- Peters 2003, pp. 320–321
- Halm 2004, pp. 154–159
- ^ The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, London, 1911, volume 5, pp. 381–2
- ^ Lives of the Successors of Mahomet, London, 1850, p. 165
- ^ On Heroes, Hero-Worship, And The Heroic In History, 1841, Lecture 2: The Hero as Prophet. Mahomet: Islam., May 8, 1840)
- ^ The Life of Mahomet, London, 1877, p. 250]
- ^ An Account of the Rise and Progress of Mahometanism, 1705, p. 83
- ^ History of the Saracens, London, 1894, p. 331
- ^ Morteza Motahhari, Islam and Religious Pluralism
- ^ George Jordac, the Voice of Human Justice
- ^ Henri Lammens, Fatima and the Daughters of Muhammad, Rome and Paris: Scripta Pontificii Instituti Biblici, 1912. Translation by Ibn Warraq.
- ^ Madelung 1997, p. xi, 19 and 20
- ^ See:
- Dakake 2008, p. 270
- Lawson 2005, p. 59
- ^ Robinson 2003, p. 28 and 34
- ^ Jafarian, Rasul; Translated by Delārām Furādī, Publisher:Message of Thaqalayn
References[link]
- Ahmed, M. Mukarram (2005). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD.. ISBN 978-81-261-2339-1.
- Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid (1986). Kitab Al-Irshad: The Book of Guidance into the Lives of the Twelve Imams. Routledge Kegan & Paul. ISBN 978-0-7103-0151-2.
- Al-Tabari, Muhammad ibn Jarir (1990). History of the Prophets and Kings, translation and commentary issued by R. Stephen Humphreys. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-0154-5. (volume XV.)
- Ashraf, Shahid (2005). Encyclopedia of Holy Prophet and Companions. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD.. ISBN 978-81-261-1940-0.
- Kelen, Betty (2001). Muhammad: The Messenger of God. Taylor Production. ISBN 978-0-929093-12-3.
- Chirri, Mohammad (1982). The Brother of the Prophet Mohammad. Islamic Center of America, Detroit, Michigan. Alibris. ISBN 978-0-942778-00-7.
- Corbin, Henry (1993) [1964]. History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Kegan Paul International in association with Islamic Publications for The Institute of Ismaili Studies. ISBN 978-0-7103-0416-2. Translated by Liadain Sherrard, Philip Sherrard.
- Dakake, Maria Massi (2008). The Charismatic Community: Shi'ite Identity in Early Islam. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-7033-6.
- Halm, Halm (2004). Shi'ism. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-1888-0.
- Hamidullah, Muhammad (1988). The Prophet's Establishing a State and His Succession. University of California. ISBN 978-969-8016-22-7.
- Holt, P.M.; Lambton, Ann K.S.; Lewis, Bernard, eds. (1970). Cambridge History of Islam. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29135-4.
- Kelsay, Jhon (1993). Islam and War: A Study in Comparative Ethics. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-25302-8.
- Lambton, Ann K. S. (1991). Landlord and Peasant in Persia. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-85043-293-7.
- Lawson, Todd, ed. (2005). Reason and Inspiration in Islam: Theology, Philosophy and Mysticism in Muslim Thought. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-85043-470-2.
- Lapidus, Ira (2002). A History of Islamic Societies (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-77933-3.
- Lewis, Bernard (1991). The Political Language of Islam. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-47693-3.
- Madelung, Wilferd (1997). The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-64696-3.
- Merrick, James L. (2005). The Life and Religion of Mohammed as Contained in the Sheeah Traditions. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4179-5536-7.
- Momen, Moojan (1985). An Introduction to Shi‘i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi'ism. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-03531-5.
- Nasr, Seyyed Hossein; Dabashi, Hamid; Nasr, Vali (1989). Expectation of the Millennium. Suny press. ISBN 978-0-88706-843-0.
- Nasr, Seyyed Hossein; Leaman, Oliver (1996). History of Islamic Philosophy. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-13159-9.
- Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (2006). Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-6799-2.
- Peters, F. E. (2003). The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-11461-3.
- Qazwini, Muhammad Kazim; Ordoni, Abu Muhammad (1992). Fatima the Gracious. Ansariyan Publications. OCLC 61565460.
- Redha, Mohammad (1999). Imam Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (Imam Ali the Fourth Caliph, 1/1 Volume). Dar Al Kotob Al ilmiyah. ISBN 978-2-7451-2532-3.
- Robinson, Chase F. (2003). Islamic Historiography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-62936-2.
- Shaban, Muḥammad ʻAbd al-Ḥayy (1971). Islamic History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29131-6.
- Shah-Kazemi, Reza (2007). Justice and Remembrance: Introducing the Spirituality of Imam Ali. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-526-5.
- Stearns, Peter N.; Langer, William Leonard (2001). The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. Houghton Mifflin Books. ISBN 978-0-395-65237-4.
- Tabatabaei, Sayyid Mohammad Hosayn (1979). Shi'ite Islam. Suny press. ISBN 978-0-87395-272-9. | Translated by Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
- Tabatabaei, Sayyid Mohammad Hosayn (1987). The Quran in Islam: Its Impact and Influence on the Life of Muslims. Zahra. ISBN 978-0-7103-0265-6. http://al-islam.org/quraninislam/index.htm.
- Watt, William Montgomery (1953). Muhammad at Mecca. Oxford University Press.
- Zeitlin, Irving M. (2007). The Historical Muhammad. Polity. ISBN 978-0-7456-3998-7.
Further reading[link]
Original sources[link]
- Al-Bukhari, Muhammad. Sahih Bukhari, Book 4, 5, 8.
- Ali ibn Abi Talib (1984). Nahj al-Balagha (Peak of Eloquence), compiled by ash-Sharif ar-Radi. Alhoda UK. ISBN 978-0-940368-43-9.
- Ali ibn al-Athir. In his Biography, vol 2.
- Ibn Taymiyyah, Taqi ad-Din Ahmad. Minhaj as-Sunnah an-Nabawiyyah. (In Arabic)
- Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj. Sahih Muslim, Book 19, 31.
Secondary sources[link]
- Books
- Abdul Rauf, Muhammad; Seyyed Hossein Nasr (1996). Imam 'Ali ibn Abi Talib: The First Intellectual Muslim Thinker. Al Saadawi Publications. ISBN 978-1-881963-49-3.
- Al-Tabari, Muhammad ibn Jarir (1987 to 1996). History of the Prophets and Kings, translation and commentary issued in multiple volumes. SUNY Press. volumes 6–17 are relevant.
- Allamah Hilli, Jamal al-Din ibn Yusuf. Certainty Uncovered, A book on the virtues of Imam Ali from Sunni and Shia Sources (Kashf Al-Yaqin). Ansariyan Publications, Iran. ISBN 978-964-438-925-2. http://www.maaref-foundation.com/english/library/pro_ahl/imam01_ali/certainty_uncovered/index.htm.
- Motahhari, Morteza (1997). Glimpses of the Nahj Al-Balaghah, translated by Ali Quli Qara'i. Islamic Culture and Relations Organizati. ISBN 978-964-472-071-0.
- Motahhari, Murtaza (1981). Polarization Around the Character of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib. World Organization for Islamic Services, Tehran. http://www.alseraj.net/maktaba/kotob/english/FourteenInfallibles/Polarization/polarization/.
- Motahhari, Mortaza. The Attraction and Repulsion of Ali (a.s.). http://www.maaref-foundation.com/english/library/pro_ahl/imam01_ali/the_attraction_and_repulsion_of_ali/index.htm.
- Chirri, Mohamad Jawad. The Brother of the Prophet Mohammad (Imam Ali). Ansariyan Publications, Iran. http://www.maaref-foundation.com/english/library/pro_ahl/imam01_ali/imam_ali/04.htm.
- Jordac, George. The Voice of Human Justice. Ansariyan Publications, Iran. ISBN 978-964-438-158-4. http://www.maaref-foundation.com/english/library/pro_ahl/imam01_ali/human_voice/index.htm.
- Husayn, Mufti Ja`far. Biography of Imam Ali ibn Abi-Talib. Ansariyan Publications, Iran. ISBN 978-964-438-798-2. http://www.maaref-foundation.com/english/library/pro_ahl/imam01_ali/biography_of_imam_ali/index.htm.
- Majid, Massoudi. The Sufferings of Amirol Mo’minin Ali ibn Abi Talib Life and Martyrdom. Ansariyan Publications, Iran. ISBN 978-964-438-959-7. http://www.maaref-foundation.com/english/library/pro_ahl/imam01_ali/the_sufferings_of_amir_al-momenine/index.htm.
- Labbaf, Ali. A Victim Lost in Saqifah. Ansariyan Publications, Iran. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/978-964-438-976-8|978-964-438-976-8]]. http://www.maaref-foundation.com/english/library/pro_ahl/imam01_ali/a_victim_lost_in_saqifah/index.htm.
- Tahmasebi, Muhammad Husayn. Imam Ali (S), Sunshine of Civilized Islam. Ansariyan Publications, Iran. ISBN 978-964-438-377-9. http://www.maaref-foundation.com/english/library/pro_ahl/imam01_ali/imam_ali-sunshine_of_civilized_islam/index.htm.
- Cleary, Thomas (1996). Living and Dying with Grace: Counsels of Hadrat Ali. Shambhala Publications, Incorporated. ISBN 978-1-57062-211-3.
- Corn, Patricia (2005). Medieval Islamic Political Thought. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-2194-1.
- Gordagh, George (1956). Ali, The Voice of Human Justice. ISBN 978-0-941724-24-1. (in Arabic)
- Khatab, Amal (1996). Battles of Badr and Uhud. Ta-Ha Publishers. ISBN 978-1-897940-39-6.
- Kattani, Sulayman (1983). Imam 'Ali: Source of Light, Wisdom and Might, translation by I.K.A. Howard. Muhammadi Trust of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. ISBN 978-0-9506986-6-3.
- Lakhani, M. Ali.; Reza Shah-Kazemi and Leonard Lewisohn (2007). The Sacred Foundations of Justice in Islam: The Teachings of Ali Ibn Abi Talib, Contributor Dr Seyyed Hossein Nasr. World Wisdom, Inc. ISBN 978-1-933316-26-0.
- Encyclopedia
- Encyclopaedia of Islam Online. Brill. 2004. E-ISSN 1573-3912.
- Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc..
- Martin, Richard C.. Encyclopaedia of Islam and the Muslim world; vol.1. MacMillan. ISBN 978-0-02-865604-5.
- Encyclopædia Iranica. Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University. ISBN 978-1-56859-050-9.
- Meri, Josef W.; Jere L. Bacharach (2006). Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-96691-7.
- Jones, Lindsay (2004). Encyclopedia of Religion. Gale Group. ISBN 978-0-02-865733-2.
External links[link]
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- The Secret of Imam Ali's Force of Attraction
- Al-Nebras (The Lantern) - A film depicting various events and occurrences in the life of Imam Ali
- Ali ibn Abi Talib by I. K. Poonawala and E. Kohlberg in Encyclopædia Iranica
- Ali, article in Encyclopædia Britannica Online
- Some of his most famous sermons and letters
- Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Nahjul Balagha
- Order to Maalik al-Ashtar, governor of Egypt (UN Legal Committee, member states voted that the document should be considered as one of the sources of International Law.) The United Nation and Imam Ali’s Constitution
- A advice ti his son Hasan ib Ali (This letter contains ethical advisement)
- 185 Sermon about the Oneness of Allah
- The Last Will of Ali ibn Abi Talib
- Shī‘a biography
- The Life of the Commander of the Faithful Ali b. Abu Talib by Shaykh Mufid in Kitab al-Irshad
- Website devoted to the Life of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib
- A Biographical Profile of Imam Ali (Archived 2009-10-25) by Syed Muhammad Askari Jafari
- The Seerat Of Amir al-Mu'mineen (SA)
- Sunni biography
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chief of Banu Hashim since 653
Clan of the Banu Quraish
Born: October 23 598 Died: February 28 661 |
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| Shī‘a Islam titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Muhammad seal of prophecy — last prophet |
1st Imam of Shia Islam 632–661 |
Succeeded by Hasan ibn Ali Disputed by Nizari |
| Sunni Islam titles | ||
| Preceded by Uthman |
4th Rashidun Caliph of Sunni Islam 656–661 |
Succeeded by Hasan ibn Ali |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ali |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | October 23, 0598 |
| Place of birth | Mecca |
| Date of death | January 28, 0661 |
| Place of death | Kufa |
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