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Al-Muqtana
Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Ahmad al-Sammuqi (; 979 - died 1043), better known as Baha al-Din al-Muqtana (), was an 11th-century Isma'ili missionary, and one of the founders of the Druze religion. His early life is obscure, but he may have been a Fatimid official. By 1020 he was one of the chief disciples of the founder of the Druze faith, Hamza ibn Ali. The disappearance of Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, considered by the Druze to be the manifestation of God, in 1021, inaugurated a period of anti-Druze persecution. Al-Muqtana took over the leadership of the remnants of the Druze movement in 1027, and led the missionary activity (the " divine call") of the widely scattered Druze communities until 1042, when he issued his farewell epistle (, 'Epistle of Occultation'), in which he announced his retirement and the closing of the divine call due to the imminence of the end times. The Druze have been a closed community ever since. Al-Muqtana's epistles comprise four of the six books of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Isma'ilism
Ismailism () is a branch of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (Imamate in Nizari doctrine, imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelver Shia, who accept Musa al-Kazim, the younger brother of Isma'il, as the Imamah (Shia doctrine), true Imām. After the death of Muhammad ibn Isma'il in the 8th century CE, the teachings of Ismailism further transformed into the belief system as it is known today, with an explicit concentration on the deeper, esoteric meaning () of the Islamic religion. With the eventual development of Usulism and Akhbarism into the more literalistic () oriented, Shia Islam developed into two separate directions: the metaphorical Ismaili, Alevism, Alevi, Bektashi Order, Bektashi, Alians, Alian, and Alawites, Alawite groups focusing on the mysticism, mystical path and nature of God in Islam, God, along with the "Imam of the Time" representing the mani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Divine Call
The divine call, unitarian call, or da‘wat at-tawḥīd is the time period of Druze proselytization that was opened at sunset on Thursday 30 May 1017 CE by Fātimid Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah and closed in 1043 CE by al-Muqtana Baha'uddin, henceforth prohibiting anyone else from converting to the Druze religion.Al-'Uqayli, Ḥasan., ''Muntekhab'', fol. 75v.; Yūsuf al-'Uqayli, ''al-Mu'allaf'', p. 775. History The call was suspended briefly between 19 May 1018 and 9 May 1019 CE during the apostasy of ad-Darazi and again between 1021 and 1026 CE during a period of persecution by Ali az-Zahir for those who had sworn the oath to accept the call. Persecutions started forty days after the disappearance into occultation of al-Hakim, who was thought to have been converting people to a Unitarian faith for over twenty years prior. Al-Hakim convinced some heretical followers such as ad-Darazi of his soteriological divinity and officially declared the Divine call after issuing a decr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Apamea, Syria
Apamea (, ''Apameia''; ), on the right bank of the Orontes river, Orontes River, was an ancient Greek and Roman city. It was the capital of Apamene under the Macedonians, became the capital and Metropolitan Archbishopric of late Roman province Roman Syria, Syria Secunda, again in the crusader period. Amongst the impressive ancient remains, the site includes the Great Colonnade at Apamea, Great Colonnade which ran for nearly making it among the longest in the Roman Empire, Roman world and the Roman Theatre at Apamea, Roman Theatre, one of the largest surviving theatres of the Roman Empire with an estimated seating capacity in excess of 20,000. The site lies on the edge of the modern town of Qalaat al-Madiq, about to the northwest of Hama, Syria, overlooking the Ghab valley. History Hellenistic era After the conquest of the region by Alexander the Great and the subsequent wars between his generals, and according to the new interpretation of a new historical and iconograph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Hamza Ibn Ali Ibn Ahmad
Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmed (; –c. 1021) was an 11th-century Persian Ismai'li missionary and founding leader of the Druze. He was born in Zuzan in Greater Khorasan in Samanid-ruled Persia (modern Khaf, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran), and preached his heterodox strand of Isma'ilism in Cairo during the reign of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. According to Hamza, al-Hakim was God made manifest. Despite opposition from the established Isma'ili clergy, Hamza persisted, apparently being tolerated or even patronized by al-Hakim himself, and set up a parallel hierarchy of missionaries in Egypt and Syria. Following al-Hakim's disappearance—or, most likely, assassination—in February 1021, Hamza and his followers were persecuted by the new regime. Hamza himself announced his retirement in his final epistle to his followers, in which he also promised that al-Hakim would soon return and usher the end times. Hamza disappeared thereafter, although one contemporary source claims ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Druze
The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, and Religious syncretism, syncretic religion whose main tenets assert the unity of God, reincarnation, and the eternity of the soul. Although the Druze faith developed from Isma'ilism, Druze do not identify as Muslims. They maintain Arabic language and Arabic culture, culture as integral parts of their identity, with Arabic being their primary language. Most Druze religious practices are kept secret, and conversion to their religion is not permitted for outsiders. Interfaith marriages are rare and strongly discouraged. They differentiate between spiritual individuals, known as "uqqāl", who hold the faith's secrets, and secular ones, known as "juhhāl", who focus on worldly matters. Druze be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Hamza Ibn Ali
Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmed (; –c. 1021) was an 11th-century Persian Ismai'li missionary and founding leader of the Druze. He was born in Zuzan in Greater Khorasan in Samanid-ruled Persia (modern Khaf, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran), and preached his heterodox strand of Isma'ilism in Cairo during the reign of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. According to Hamza, al-Hakim was God made manifest. Despite opposition from the established Isma'ili clergy, Hamza persisted, apparently being tolerated or even patronized by al-Hakim himself, and set up a parallel hierarchy of missionaries in Egypt and Syria. Following al-Hakim's disappearance—or, most likely, assassination—in February 1021, Hamza and his followers were persecuted by the new regime. Hamza himself announced his retirement in his final epistle to his followers, in which he also promised that al-Hakim would soon return and usher the end times. Hamza disappeared thereafter, although one contemporary source claims ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Upper Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia constitutes the Upland and lowland, uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been known by the traditional Arabic name of ''al-Jazira'' ( "the island", also transliterated ''Djazirah'', ''Djezirah'', ''Jazirah'') and the Syriac language, Syriac variant ''Gāzartā'' or ''Gozarto'' (). The Euphrates and Tigris rivers transform Mesopotamia into almost an island, as they are joined together at the Shatt al-Arab in the Basra Governorate of Iraq, and their sources in eastern Turkey are in close proximity. The region extends south from the mountains of Anatolia, east from the hills on the left bank of the Euphrates river, west from the mountains on the right bank of the Tigris river and includes the Sinjar plain. It extends down the Tigris to Samarra and down the Euphrates to Hit, Iraq. The Khabur (Euphrates), Khab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake Nasser (formed by the Aswan High Dam). Name In ancient Egypt, Upper Egypt was known as ''tꜣ šmꜣw'', literally "the Land of Reeds" or "the Sedgeland", named for the sedges that grow there. In Biblical Hebrew it was known as and in Akkadian it was known as . Both names originate from the Egyptian '' pꜣ- tꜣ- rsj'', meaning "the southern land". In Arabic, the region is called Sa'id or Sahid, from صعيد meaning "uplands", from the root صعد meaning to go up, ascend, or rise. Inhabitants of Upper Egypt are known as Sa'idis and they generally speak Sa'idi Egyptian Arabic. Geography Upper Egypt is between the Cataracts of the Nile beyond modern-day Aswan, downriver (northward) to the area of El-Ayait, which places modern- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Lower Mesopotamia
Lower Mesopotamia is a historical region of Mesopotamia. It is located in the alluvial plain of Iraq from the Hamrin Mountains to the Faw Peninsula near the Persian Gulf. In the Middle Ages it was also known as the '' Sawad'' and al-Jazira al-sflia ("Lower Jazira"), which strictly speaking designated only the southern alluvial plain, and Arab Iraq, as opposed to Persian Iraq, the Jibal. Lower Mesopotamia was home to Sumer and Babylonia. Delimitation The medieval Arab geographers placed the northern border between Iraq and Upper Mesopotamia (the ''Jazirah'') in a line running from Anbar on the Euphrates to Tikrit on the Tigris, although later it was shifted to a line running due west from Tikrit, thus including several towns on the Euphrates past Anbar into Iraq. Geography An alluvial plain begins north of Tikrit Near Hamrin Mountains and extends to the Persian Gulf. Here the Tigris and Euphrates lie above the level of the plain in many places, and the whole area is a rive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Jumada II
Jumada al-Thani (), also known as Jumada al-Akhirah (), Jumada al-Akhir (), or Jumada II, is the sixth month of the Islamic calendar. The word ''Jumda'' (), from which the name of the month is derived, is used to denote dry, parched land, a land devoid of rain. ''Jumādā'' () may also be related to a verb meaning "to freeze", and another account relates that water would freeze in pre-Islamic Arabia during this time of year. Timing The Islamic calendar is a purely lunar calendar, and months begin when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. Since the Islamic lunar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year, Jumada al-Thani migrates throughout the seasons. The estimated start and end dates for Jumada al-Thani are as follows (based on the Umm al-Qura calendar of Saudi Arabia): Islamic events * 03 Jumada al-Thani, death of Muhammad's (SAW) daughter Fatimah in 11 AH. * 03 Jumada al-Thani, death of Harun al-Rashid, the fifth Abbasid caliph. * 10 Jumada al-Thani, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Mecca
Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above sea level. Its metropolitan population in 2022 was 2.4million, making it the List of cities in Saudi Arabia by population, third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah. Around 44.5% of the population are Saudis, Saudi citizens and around 55.5% are Muslim world, Muslim foreigners from other countries. Pilgrims more than triple the population number every year during the Pilgrimage#Islam, pilgrimage, observed in the twelfth Islamic calendar, Hijri month of . With over 10.8 million international visitors in 2023, Mecca was one of the ten List of cities by international visitors, most visited cities in the world. Mecca is generally considered "the fountainhead and cradle of Islam". Mecca is revered in Islam as the birthp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
