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Muhammad Ibn Sulayman Al-Katib
Muhammad ibn Sulayman (), surnamed al-Katib, was a senior official and commander of the Abbasid Caliphate, most notable for his victories against the Qarmatians and for his reconquest of Syria and Egypt from the autonomous Tulunid dynasty. Life and career As his surname ''al-katib'' ("the secretary") indicates, he was originally a secretary of the Tulunid general Lu'lu', who from Raqqa ruled over northern Syria on behalf of the autonomous emir of Egypt, Ahmad ibn Tulun. When Lu'lu defected to the Abbasid regent al-Muwaffaq in 882, Muhammad followed his master and became a secretary in the central caliphal administration. He is next mentioned by al-Tabari in 891, as secretary to the vizier Abu'l-Saqr Isma'il ibn Bulbul. The latter supported an abortive attempt to depose al-Muwaffaq and restore power to Caliph al-Mu'tamid, but the reaction of the populace of Baghdad and the army thwarted this. In the resulting riots, Muhammad's house was burned down by the mob. Nevertheless, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes its name. They ruled as caliphs for most of the caliphate from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after having overthrown the Umayyad Caliphate in the Abbasid Revolution of 750 CE (132 AH). The Abbasid Caliphate first centered its government in Kufa, modern-day Iraq, but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad, near the ancient Babylonian capital city of Babylon. Baghdad became the center of science, culture and invention in what became known as the Golden Age of Islam. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom, as well as a multiethnic and multi-religious environment, garnered it a worldwide reputation as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abu'l-Saqr Isma'il Ibn Bulbul
Abuʾl-Ṣaqr Ismāʿīl ibn Bulbul () (844/5–891) was a prominent official of the Abbasid Caliphate during the reign of al-Mu'tamid (r. 870–892), serving as vizier of the Caliphate from 878 to 892. Although he claimed membership of the Arab Banu Shayban tribe, he was of Persian or Mesopotamian origin. He rose through the ranks of the Abbasid bureaucracy, becoming head of the '' diwan'' of the royal domains, but appears in the sources only in 878, when he was appointed to the highest civil office, that of vizier, by the regent al-Muwaffaq. He was deposed soon after, but was reinstated in the same year. Nevertheless, real power in the government resided with al-Muwaffaq's own secretary, Sa'id ibn Makhlad, and it was not until the latter's downfall in 885/6 that Isma'il truly became head of the administration. He enjoyed wide-ranging authority which extended even to the military. It was he that, facing chronic financial shortages, recruited two merchant brothers, Ahmad ibn al-Fur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Husayn Ibn Zikrawayh
Al-Husayn ibn Zikrawayh, also known under his assumed name Sahib al-Shama ("Man with the Mole"), was a Qarmatian leader in the Syrian Desert in the early years of the 10th century. Biography Husayn was a younger son of the Qarmatian leader Zikrawayh ibn Mihrawayh and a descendant of the seventh Isma'ili imam, Muhammad ibn Isma'il. Husayn followed his brother Yahya, who claimed to be the Mahdi and assumed the name of "Master of the She-camel", in establishing a base of operations at Palmyra. The brothers were successful in gaining the support of many local Bedouin—especially from the Banu Kalb, thus acquiring a potent military force. From there they began launching raids against the Abbasid and Tulunid provinces of Syria, with devastating effect. In 902, the Qarmatians defeated the Tulunids under Tughj ibn Juff near Raqqa, and laid siege to Damascus. The city was successfully held by Tughj, and Yahya was killed. Husayn succeeded him as leader, likewise claiming to be th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yahya Ibn Zikrawayh
Yahya ibn Zakarawayh, also known under his assumed name Sahib al-Naqa ("Master of the She-camel"), was a Qarmatian leader in the Syrian Desert in the early years of the 10th century. Yahya was the eldest son of the Qarmatian leader Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh, and a descendant of the seventh Isma'ili imam, Muhammad ibn Isma'il. His name made direct allusion to John the Baptist (known as Yahya ibn Zakariyya in Islam), but he also assumed the title of "''Sahib al-Naqa''" ("Master of the She-camel") and claimed to be the awaited Mahdi under the name "Muhammad ibn Abdallah". Along with his brother Husayn Yahya established a base of operations at Palmyra. The brothers were successful in gaining the support of many local Bedouin—especially from the Banu Kalb, thus acquiring a potent military force. From this base they began launching raids against the Abbasid and Tulunid provinces of Syria, with devastating effect. In 902, the Qarmatians defeated the Tulunids under Tughj ibn Juff n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palmyra
Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second millennium BC. Palmyra changed hands on a number of occasions between different empires before becoming a subject of the Roman Empire in the first century AD. The city grew wealthy from trade caravans; the Palmyrenes became renowned as merchants who established colonies along the Silk Road and operated throughout the Roman Empire. Palmyra's wealth enabled the construction of monumental projects, such as the Great Colonnade, the Temple of Bel, and the distinctive tower tombs. Ethnically, the Palmyrenes combined elements of Amorites, Arameans, and Arabs. The city's social structure was tribal, and its inhabitants spoke Palmyrene Aramaic, a variety of Western Middle Aramaic, while using Koine Greek for commercial and diplomatic purposes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Abbas Ibn Amr Al-Ghanawi
Al-'Abbas ibn 'Amr al-Ghanawi ( ar, العباس بن عمرو الغنوي; died 917) was an Arab military commander and provincial governor for the Abbasid dynasty. He is known for his defeat and capture at the hands of the Qarmatians in 900. Life Al-'Abbas was likely born in the Diyar Mudar district of al-Jazira. He embarked on a military career in the service of the Abbasids and is first recorded as one of the officers in charge of an expedition sent against unruly Arab tribes in Iraq in 899. In the following year he was appointed by the caliph al-Mu'tadid as governor of al-Bahrain and al-Yamamah and tasked with driving the Qarmatians led by Abu Sa'id Jannabi out of the region. Since the Qarmatians had already successfully occupied much of al-Bahrain, including al-Qatif, al-'Abbas assembled an army of regular soldiers, bedouin fighters and volunteers before departing from al-Basra for the province. Shortly after their departure, al-'Abbas and his army met the Qarmatians ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bahrain (historical Region)
Eastern Arabia, historically known as al-Baḥrayn ( ar, البحرين) until the 18th century, is a region stretched from Basra to Khasab along the Persian Gulf coast and included parts of modern-day Bahrain, Kuwait, Eastern Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Oman. The entire coastal strip of Eastern Arabia was known as "Bahrain" for a millennium. Until very recently, the whole of Eastern Arabia, from the Shatt al-Arab to the mountains of Oman, was a place where people moved around, settled and married unconcerned by national borders. The people of Eastern Arabia shared a culture based on the sea; they are seafaring peoples. The Arab states of the Persian Gulf are all located in Eastern Arabia. The modern-day states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and UAE are the most commonly listed Gulf Arab states; Saudi Arabia is often considered a Gulf Arab state as well, but most of the country's inhabitants do not live in Eastern Arabia, with the exception of the Bahrani p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abu Sa'id Al-Jannabi
Abu Sa'id Hasan ibn Bahram al-Jannabi (; 845/855–913/914) was the founder of the Qarmatian state in Bahrayn (an area comprising the eastern parts of modern Saudi Arabia as well as the Gulf emirates). By 899, his followers controlled large parts of the region, and in 900, he scored a major victory over an Abbasid army sent to subdue him. He captured the local capital, Hajar, in 903, and extended his rule south and east into Oman. He was assassinated in 913, and succeeded by his eldest son Sa'id. His religious teachings and political activities are somewhat unclear, as they are reported by later and usually hostile sources, but he seems to have shared the millennialist Isma'ili belief about the imminent return of the ''mahdī'', hostility to conventional Islamic rites and rituals, and to have based the Qarmatian society on the principles of communal ownership and egalitarianism, with a system of production and distribution overseen by appointed agents. The Qarmatian "republic" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sawad
Sawad was the name used in early Islamic times (7th–12th centuries) for southern Iraq. It means "black land" or "arable land" and refers to the stark contrast between the alluvial plain of Mesopotamia and the Arabian Desert. Under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, it was an official political term for a province encompassing most of modern Iraq except for the Syrian Desert and Upper Mesopotamia in the north. As a generic term in Arabic, ''sawād'' () was used to denote the irrigated and cultivated areas in any district. Unmodified, it always referred to southern Iraq, the ''sawād'' of Baghdad. It replaced the earlier and more narrow term Rādhān. The term ''sawad'' eventually came to refer to the rural district around a particular city; thus, contemporary geographers made references to the Sawad of Baghdad, of Basra, of Kufa, of Wasit, of Samarra, or of Anbar. This usage was exclusive to Iraq. Geography The enormous economic potential of the Sawad is reflected in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kufa
Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf are joined into a single urban area that is mostly commonly known to the outside world as 'Najaf'. Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya and Najaf, Kufa is one of five Iraqi cities that are of great importance to Shi'ite Muslims. The city was founded in 638 CE (17 Hijrah) during the reign of the second Rashidun Caliph, Umar ibn Al-Khattab, and it was the final capital of the last Rashidun Caliph, Ali ibn Abi Talib. Kufa was also the founding capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. During the Islamic Golden Age it was home to the grammarians of Kufa. Kufic script is named for the city. History Establishment during Umar's era After the Arab victory against the Byzantine Empire at Battle of Yarmouk in 636, Kufa was founded and given its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isma'ili
Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelver Shia, who accept Musa al-Kadhim, the younger brother of Isma'il, as the true Imām. Isma'ilism rose at one point to become the largest branch of Shia Islam, climaxing as a political power with the Fatimid Caliphate in the 10th through 12th centuries. Ismailis believe in the oneness of God, as well as the closing of divine revelation with Muhammad, whom they see as "the final Prophet and Messenger of God to all humanity". The Isma'ili and the Twelvers both accept the same six initial Imams; the Isma'ili accept Isma'il ibn Jafar as the seventh Imam. 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Divan
A divan or diwan ( fa, دیوان, ''dīvān''; from Sumerian ''dub'', clay tablet) was a high government ministry in various Islamic states, or its chief official (see ''dewan''). Etymology The word, recorded in English since 1586, meaning "Oriental council of a state", comes from Turkish ''divan'', from Arabic ''diwan''. It is first attested in Middle Persian spelled as ''dpywʾn'' and ''dywʾn'', itself hearkening back, via Old Persian, Elamite and Akkadian, ultimately to Sumerian ''dub'', clay tablet. The word was borrowed into Armenian as well as ''divan''; on linguistic grounds this is placed after the 3rd century, which helps establish the original Middle Persian (and eventually New Persian) form was ''dīvān'', not ''dēvān'', despite later legends that traced the origin of the word to the latter form. The variant pronunciation ''dēvān'' however did exist, and is the form surviving to this day in Tajiki Persian. In Arabic, the term was first used for the ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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