ibn: Arabic term for “son.” Just as Arab men often are known to their friends as the “Father of So-and-So,” their sons are often known as the “Son of So-and-So” rather than by their personal name. Many famous figures in Muslim history are known this way: Ibn Sina, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Battuta, etc. Often abbreviated, as in Ahmad b. Hanbal.
Ifriqiya: Area roughly corresponding to present-day Tunisia and eastern Algeria.
ijaza: Arabic term indicating an authorization or license to teach a certain book on the grounds that the recipient of the ijaza has shown that he or she fully understands it.
ijtihad: Arabic term meaning, in the context of fiqh, independent judgment to establish a ruling upon a given point. One who exercises ijtihad is a mujtahid. Contrasts with taqlid.
imam: Cognate of the Arabic preposition meaning “before” or “in front of.” Among Sunni Muslims the term has been applied to (1) the prayer leader at a mosque, since he stands in front of the congregation, (2) the caliph, and (3) an outstanding religious scholar, especially the founder of a madhhab. Among Shi‘ite Muslims the imam (rendered in this book as Imam) is the legitimate leader of the Muslim world. Shi‘ite sects have defined the characteristics of their Imams in different ways over the centuries, but generally the Imam is understood not to have prophetic status. He does, however, provide indispensable religious guidance, and he is the rightful head of the entire Muslim community. Some Shi‘ite groups consider their Imam to be “hidden” or “invisible,” because they do not know where he is, whereas other groups have a “visible” Imam who lives among them and from whom they can obtain direct guidance.
iqta‘: Arabic term for a grant of land or of its revenues by a government to a military officer or civil official in lieu of direct cash payment for services.
isnad: Arabic term for the chain of names of the transmitters of a Hadith, cited to guarantee its validity.
jami‘: Cognate of the Arabic word connoting “to gather, unite, combine.” It is the term used for the large, officially designated congregational mosque in a large city that usually combines the functions of worship, education, and information.
jihad: Arabic term for “struggle” or “battle.” The Prophet said that the Greater Jihad was the struggle against spiritual impurity, and the Lesser Jihad was the war against unbelievers. One who engages in jihad is a mujahid.
kalam: Arabic term literally meaning “speech,” “discussion,” or “discourse.” As ‘ilm al-kalam, or the science of discourse, it refers approximately to what is called theology in Christianity.
khan: Turkish term for “ruler.” Can also mean “hostel” for merchants or students.
khanaqa: Persian term for a lodge that Sufis visit or live in, in order to pursue the mystical way.
khirqa: Arabic term for a cloak or frock (usually patched or showing signs of age) that a Sufi shaykh/pir bestowed upon a murid. Supposedly the shaykh’s own cloak, its bestowal signified the shaykh’s recognition of the murid’s high level of spiritual approval; it also suggested that the murid would be able to acquire some of the shaykh’s baraka while wearing it.
Khorasan: Region in northeastern Iran whose area has been defined differently over the centuries, but prior to the demarcation of modern national boundaries it approximated the area bounded on the west by the Dasht-e Kavir desert, on the south by the Dasht-e Lut desert, and on the north by the Amu Darya River, and it comprised the western quarter of modern Afghanistan.
khutba: Arabic term for the sermon delivered at the noon Friday worship service in the mosque. It contained prayers for the caliph as a declaration of his sovereignty.
Khwarazm: Region on lower Amu Darya River, on the shore of the Aral Sea.
Kurds: Members of an ethnic group located primarily in the mountains and highlands of western Iran, northeastern Iraq, and eastern Turkey who speak languages belonging to the Indo–European linguistic family. Their languages are closely related to Farsi (Persian).
kuttab: Cognate of the Arabic root word for “book” and “read”; connotes a primary school whose primary function is to teach the memorization of the Qur’an. Also maktab.
madhhab: Arabic term indicating a formalized, traditional system or method of determining fiqh, often translated as “school of law.”
madrasa: Cognate of the Arabic word to “study,” it connotes a school for the study of Islamic jurisprudence, Qur’an interpretation, Hadith, biographies of great Muslims, and dialectic.
Maghrib: Literally, “West.” In general, it denotes North Africa west of central Libya (the Gulf of Sidra), but some commentators denote by it all of North Africa west of Egypt, and still others use it to identify the area comprising Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, and even Andalus.
mahdi: Arabic term meaning “guided one,” an eschatological figure who is first mentioned in the literature of Islam’s first century. He is usually considered to be a Muslim leader who will be sent by God at the end of history to bring an end to the corruption and injustice of a wicked world and to implement God’s will. Within Shi‘ism the use of the term is usually understood to mean the (hidden) Imam.
Maliki: Referring to the madhhab attributed to Malik ibn Anas (715–797).
mamluk: Arabic term meaning “owned,” usually connoting a slave soldier, most often of Turkish origin.
Mamlukes: Regime that ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1517, composed of mamluks. (Also rendered “Mamluks.”)
masjid: Arabic term meaning “place of prostration.” The word from which “mosque” is derived, connoting an edifice designed for the performance of the salah.
mihrab: Arabic term for the niche or recess in an interior wall of a mosque that designates the qibla.
mudejar: Spanish rendering of the Arabic word mudajjan, meaning “permitted to remain,” or “domesticated.” In the Iberian Peninsula, the term denoted a Muslim who was a subject of a Christian ruler in the aftermath of the Reconquista.
Muharram: First month of the Islamic calendar.
muhtasib: Arabic term used for the inspector of the market and enforcer of public morality.
murabit: Arabic term meaning “one who lives in a ribat.” In some locales at certain periods of time, the term meant “a soldier who defended the frontier.” At other times and places, it could connote a pious individual who spread the message of Islam among rural people. The word “Almoravid” is a corruption of al-murabit.
murid: Arabic term denoting a Sufi aspirant or disciple who follows a shaykh or pir.
muwallad: Term used in al-Andalus for a Hispano–Roman convert to Islam.
nabi: Arabic term for “prophet,”applied to the Hebrew prophets and Jesus as well as to Muhammad.
Oghuz: (also “Ghuzz”) A Turkish confederation that, during the tenth century, roamed the area north of the Aral Sea and Syr Darya River. The Saljuq family was the most famous group from this confederation.
Palestine: Term used for the first several centuries of Muslim history to refer to southern Syria, or roughly the territory occupied today by Jordan and Israel.
pir: Persian term for a Sufi master who leads disciples on the mystical way.
Punjab: (also “Panjab”) A geographical region deriving its name from the words punj meaning “five,” and aab meaning “waters,”referring to five rivers that are tributaries of the Indus River: the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum rivers. Today, the Punjab is divided between Pakistan and India.
pro-Alid: Muslim who believed that only an Alid could be the legitimate caliph.
qadi: Arabic term for a member of the ulama who sits in a Shari‘a court and rules on cases, using as his reference the body of jurisprudence (fiqh) worked up by scholars over the centuries.
qanun: Arabic variant of Roman “canon” law. Connotes secular government statutes and laws, in contrast to the Shari‘a.
Qara-khanid: Dynasty from the Qarluq group of Turks who invaded Transoxiana during the last decade of the tenth century. Although the members of the dynasty were not able to maint
ain control over the entire region for long, they ruled in many of the individual oases for the next three centuries.
Qara-khitai: Mongol group that dominated the area north and east of the Syr Darya river in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries before Chinggis Khan defeated them.
Qarluq: Turkish confederation which, in the tenth century, roamed north of the Syr Darya river. Its leading dynasty, the Qara-khanid, invaded Transoxiana on the eve of the eleventh century.
qibla: Arabic term indicating the correct direction in which to perform the salah (facing the Ka‘ba) from a given point on earth.
Qipchaq: Turkish confederation that dominated the so-called Qipchaq steppe north of the Black Sea. They were the primary source for the ruling elite of the Mamluke Empire from 1260 to 1382 and became the dominant cultural and demographic element within the Golden Horde.
Ramadan: Ninth month of the Islamic calendar.
rasul: Arabic term for “messenger” or “apostle.” The most common title for Muhammad, as a channel for revelation from God.
Reconquista: Spanish term literally meaning “reconquest” that was applied to the process by which the Christian kingdoms of the northern Iberian Peninsula conquered Andalus over a period of four centuries.
ribat: Cognate of an Arabic word suggesting to “tie up” or “hitch.” The word is used to refer to the forts that guarded frontier areas in North Africa, Andalus, and Anatolia. A ribat in this sense served as a garrison for what was (usually) a volunteer force that served at least in part out of religious commitment and thus became associated with religious devotionals as well as with the idea of a garrison. When conditions changed and a ribat was no longer needed for defensive purposes, it might become a Sufi lodge. In North Africa, Sufi lodges were typically called ribats whether they had originally been used as forts or built new for specifically devotional purposes.
Rum: Name Arabs and Turks used to designate Byzantine territories (from “Rome”).
salat: Arabic term for the worship service of congregational prayer, performed five times daily. One of the Five Pillars of Islam. The call to prayer (adhan) is made by a mu’adhdhan (muezzin) from a manara (minaret).
Saljuq: Dynasty from the Oghuz Turkish confederation that conquered huge areas of the Muslim world in the eleventh century.
sawm: Arabic term for “abstinence” or “fasting.” Fasting from dawn until sundown during the month of Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
Shafi‘i: Referring to the madhhab attributed to al-Shafi‘i (767–820).
shahada: Arabic term referring to the declaration that there is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet. One of the Five Pillars of Islam.
shari‘a: Arabic word originally connoting “the approach to a watering hole” in the desert; later identified with Islamic law, derived from the Qur’an, Hadith, analogy, and consensus.
shaykh: Arabic term connoting “elderly man” or “venerable gentleman.” It is also used to denote a chieftain or a Sufi leader.
silsila: Arabic term for “chain,” used for the “spiritual family tree” that linked the teachings of the founder of a Sufi order to the teachings of the Prophet himself.
Sind: Region of the lower Indus River.
South Asia: Term usually applied to the region between the Hindu Kush mountains and the Himalayas on the north and the Indian Ocean on the south.
Sufism: Most common expression of the mystical life in Islam, organized into tariqas and focused on meetings in khanaqas.
Sultan: From the Arabic word “sulta,” meaning “power” or “authority.” Buyid and Saljuq military rulers assumed the title to distinguish their actual power from the nominal authority of the Abbasid caliph; in later centuries it became the typical term for the sovereign of a Muslim state.
sunna: Arabic term meaning “customary practice.” It came to mean the ritual and ethical practice of (1) the Companions of the Prophet or (2) the Prophet himself.
sura: Arabic term used to indicate a chapter in the Qur’an. Individual verses are called ayat.
Syria: Historically, the area from the Taurus Mountains in the north to the Gulf of Aqaba in the south.
taqiya: Doctrine within the Shi‘ite community that allows a believer who is being persecuted to dissimulate, or deny his or her beliefs.
taqlid: Arabic word meaning “uncritical, unquestioning acceptance.” Used as a contrast to ijtihad in the debate over how much latitude a Muslim jurist had to exercise his own judgment.
tariqa: Arabic term literally meaning “path” or “route,” it technically applies to the method of spiritual growth that the eponymous founder of a particular Sufi order reputedly taught.
tekke: Turkish term for a lodge that Sufis visit or live in, in order to pursue the mystical way.
Transoxiana: (also “Transoxania”) The area known by the Arabs as ma wara an-nahr, or “that which lies beyond the (Oxus) river.” Usually the term refers to the area between the Oxus (Amu Darya) and Jaxartes (Syr Darya) rivers, but sometimes connotes areas north of the Syr Darya, as well.
Turkmen/Turcomans: Term often used to denote nomadic Turkish-speaking Muslims, to distinguish them from urban or settled Turkish-speaking Muslims and from pagan Turks.
‘ulama’: Arabic word literally meaning “scholars,” it usually denotes the specialists in Qur’an, Hadith, and religious law. Rendered “ulama” in this book.
umma: Arabic term for “nation” or “people,” came to be applied to the Muslim community as a whole.
vizier: English transliteration of the Turkish variant of wazir.
wali: Arabic word used in Sufism that is usually translated “saint.”
waqf: Arabic word meaning “religious endowment.” The Shari‘a allowed a person to allocated part or all of his or her estate to an endowment that would provide funds to build and maintain mosques, schools, fountains, orphanages, hospitals, etc.
wazir: Arabic word denoting the chief administrative officer to the head of state (caliph or sultan) in a premodern Muslim state. In the modern era, the term usually denotes the head of a ministry or department within the national government.
zahir: Arabic term for the apparent, external, surface meaning of a text. Contrasts with batin.
zakat: Arabic word denoting the contribution that Muslims are expected to make as a tax to support charity and governmental services. One of the Five Pillars of Islam.
zawiya: Arabic term for a lodge that Sufis visit or live in, in order to pursue the mystical way.
Credits
Page 13: Hulton-Deutsch Collection; CORBIS BETTMANN; © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/ CORBIS. Page 21: Mehmet Biber; Photo Researchers, Inc. Page 69: © nik wheeler/Alamy Stock Photo. Page 82: Vernon O. Egger. Page 91: Aerofilms. Page 108: American Numismatic Society of New York. Page 108: American Numismatic Society of New York. Page 108: American Numismatic Society of New York. Page 108: American Numismatic Society of New York. Page 152: Copyright Josephine Powell, image courtesy of Harvard University, Fine Arts, Special Collections. Page 157: Bernard O’Kane. Page 190: Copyright Josephine Powell, image courtesy Harvard University, Fine Arts Library, Special Collections. Page 196: Peter Willey The Castles of the Assassins (1963) George G. Harp and Co. Ltd permission granted by Adrianne E. Woodfine Page 210: Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Ouseley Add.24, folio 119 recto Page 221: Chris Hellier; CORBIS BETTMANN; © Chris Hellier/CORBIS. Page 243: Israel Antiquities Authority; Courtesy Israel Antiquities Authority. Page 245: Photo Researchers, Inc. Page 266: © Photo SCALA, Florence. Page 277: Copyright Josephine Powell, image courtesy of Harvard University, Fine Arts Library, Special Collections.
Page 296: Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Marsh 139 , fol. 16 verso. Page 311: Vernon O. Egger.
Color Insert
Photo Cover: Photos 12; Maqamat of Al Hariri, Library in a mosque, Arab manuscript, 13th century (1237). Paris, France, Bibliotheque Nationale (National Library). Credit line: Photos 12.com -ARJ. Photo 1:© Photo SCALA. Floren
ce. Photo 2: Vernon O. Egger. Photo 3: Vernon O. Egger. Photo 4: Vernon O. Egger. Photo 5: Vernon O. Egger. Photo 6: Vernon O. Egger. Photo 7: Geoff Brightling; Dorling Kinder- sley Media Library. Photo 8: Vernon O. Egger. Photo 9: © Robert Fried/AlamyStockPhoto.Photo 10:©dbimages/Ala my Stock Photo. Photo 11: Ludovic Maisant; CORBIS BETTMANN; © Ludovic Maisant / CORBIS. Photo 12: Vernon O. Egger. Photo 13: Bernard O’Kane. Photo 14: Roger Wood; CORBIS BETTMANN; © Roger Wood/CORBIS. Photo 15: SuperStock, Inc. Photo 16: © dbimages/Alamy Stock Photo.
Index
Abbasids, 59, 70–73, 75, 86–93, 116, 122, 190, 196, 239, 254, 272, 274
‘Abd Allah al-Mahdi (leader of Fatimids), 79, 95–98, 155
‘Abd al-Malik, 54, 56, 108
‘Abd al-Mu’min, 185
‘Abd al-Qadir al-Gilani, 207
‘Abd al-Rahman I, 72, 100
‘Abd al-Rahman II, 100, 102
‘Abd al-Rahman III, 102–103, 166–168
‘Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi, 58
Abraham. See Ibrahim.
Abu al-‘Atahiya, 88
Abu Bakr, 28, 34–36, 46–47, 67, 83
Abu Hanifa, 119
Abu Hashim, 70–71
Abu Muslim, 72
Abu Nuwas, 87–88
Abu Sa‘id, 267, 299, 301
al-Afdal, 161, 175, 178, 216
Aghlabids, 87, 89, 96, 163–165
ahwal, 125
‘A’isha, 28, 34, 64–65, 118
Alamut, 161–162, 192, 195–196, 217, 267
Alarcos, Battle of, 186
Alawis, 307
Aleppo, 10, 15, 37, 144, 176, 178–179, 211, 285
Alevis, 315–316
Alexandria, 5, 8, 38–39, 111, 130, 231, 241, 272
Alfonso VI, 168–169, 182
Alfonso VIII, 186
Algiers, 166
‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, 39, 44–45, 62, 64–67, 71, 83–84, 219, 306–307, 314–315
‘Ali ibn Yusuf ibn Tashfin, 183–184
A History of the Muslim World to 1405: The Making of a Civilization Page 55