The Father of Locks

by Andrew Killeen

  Husayn al-Ansari – (Died c. 782) – Husayn ibn Yahya al-Ansari ibn Saad al Obadi was the Wali of Zaragusta (Zaragoza) from 774–781. He eventually surrendered his city to Abd al-Rahman, but was later murdered by him anyway.

  Iblis – The Muslim equivalent of Satan, also known as Shaitan and Abu Murra.

  Ibn Kulthum – (Died 584?) – Amr ibn Kulthum Ibn Malik Ibn A’tab Abu Al-Aswad al-Taghlibi was a poet and warrior of the Jahili. Among the tales told of him, it is said that he killed the King of Hira who murdered Tarafah, the King having insulted ibn Kulthum’s mother, and that he died at a great age after drinking too much wine.

  Ibn Salih – (Died c. 770?) – Ziyad ibn Salih was the leader of the Muslim army at the Battle of Talas River.

  Ibn Shaddad – (Born c. 525?, died c. 615?) – Antarah ibn Shaddad al-Absi was the son of an Arab tribesman of the Banu Abs, and an African woman. At first he was not accepted by his tribe, but he won their respect through his courage and his talent for verse. An epic poem from the time of the Crusades describes his heroic deeds and his love for his cousin Abla.

  Ibn Zuhayr – (Born c. 730?, died c. 790?) al-Musayyab ibn Zuhayr al-Dabbi was a veteran of the Black Flag revolution, and was head of the Shurta under three different Khalifahs. He was twice awarded the prestigious governorship of Khorasan, but does not seem to have been as successful an administrator as he obviously was as an enforcer.

  Ibrahim al-Imam – (Born c. 701, died 749) – Head of the Abbasid family, older brother of al-Saffar and al-Mansur.

  Ibrahim al-Mosuli – (Born 743, died 804) – a musician and poet, father of Ishaq al-Mosuli.

  Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi – (Born c. 780, died 839) – son of the Khalifah al-Mahdi, younger brother of Musa al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid.

  Ibrahim ibn al-Walid – (Reigned 744) – an Umayyad Khalifah.

  Ishaq al-Mosuli – (Born 767, died 850) – a musician and poet, son of Ibrahim al-Mosuli.

  al-Iskander – (Born 356BCE, reigned 336–323BCE) – the Arabic name for Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, who extended his empire as far as India before his early death. Some believe that he is Dhu al-Qarnayn, the “Two-Horned One” mentioned in the Quran.

  Ja’far ibn Yahya al-Barmaki – (Born 767, died 803) – Ja’far was the youngest member of the influential Barmakid family, son of Yahya and brother of Fadl. He was a friend as well as courtier to Harun al-Rashid, until his mysterious and fatal fall from favour.

  Jahili – An Islamic term describing Arabs before the coming of the Prophet, it implies an ignorant, primitive way of life.

  Janan – (Born c. 757?) – a singing girl, beloved of Abu Nuwas.

  Jinn, plural Jinni – a fire spirit, a “genie”.

  Jullaban – (Born c. 740, died c. 820) – Mother of Abu Nuwas.

  Ka’bah – A small building in Mecca made of black stone which is the most sacred shrine of Islam, and forms the focus of the hajj.

  Karlo, King of the Franks – (Born c. 747, reigned 768–814) – The Franks were a Germanic people who, by the late 8th century, occupied most of what is now France, Germany, Italy and the Low Countries. Their military and cultural dominance came to a peak under a king who was known in his own language as Karlo or Karol – it is not certain which – but is recorded in the Latin chronicles of his time as Carolus Magnus, Charles the Great. He is best known today by a mediaeval French version of that name: Charlemagne.

  Over the course of his long reign Charlemagne laid the foundations of modern Europe, and also of the Roman Catholic church as we know it today. Contact between his court and that of Harun al-Rashid probably began in reality some ten years later than I have suggested, but seems to have been largely cordial. Harun is said to have sent Charlemagne an elephant, of which the Franks were very proud.

  Khadijah – (Born c.555, died 619) – First wife of the Prophet Muhammad, and mother of Fatimah.

  Khalaf al-Amar – (Born 733, died 796) – Arabic writer, collector and alleged forger of Jahili poetry, teacher of Abu Nuwas.

  Khalifah – The word “khalifah”, traditionally written in English as “Caliph”, means “successor”, and became the principal title of the leaders of Islam after the death of the Prophet. The events surrounding the creation of this role remain the source of bitter dispute; the conflicting accounts of Sunni and Shi’a sources is only the beginning of the controversy. It does, though, seem to have been a ragmatic response to political realities, rather than a planned succession.

  Kharijite – “One who walked away”, a member of a dissident sect of Islam who did not recognise the authority of the Khalifate.

  al-Khayzuran – (Born c. 740, died 789) – al-Khayzuran, whose name means “The Reed”, was the mother of

  Harun al-Rashid. She was a Yemeni slave girl, tall, slender and beautiful, who was a concubine of the Khalifah

  al-Mahdi, then scandalised the court when she became his wife. Al-Khayzuran was a friend and ally to the Barmakids, and her political influence was a source of increasing resentment to her older son Musa al-Hadi during his brief reign. It has been suggested that she had him killed so that her favourite Harun could succeed to the throne. However even he seems to have tired of her interference in the end.

  Labid – (Born c.560?, died c.661?) – Abu Aqil Labid ibn Rabi’ah was a poet, and author of one of the Mu’allaqat. He gave up writing after converting to Islam, although his work was praised by the Prophet Muhammad.

  Li Linfu – (Died 753) – Chancellor to Tang Xuanzong for 18 years. For all his political astuteness, history has judged him harshly; his ruthless elimination of all his rivals left no competent officials to take the reins after his death, and this is seen as a significant cause of the anarchy that followed.

  Li Siye – (Died 759) – Second-in-command of the Chinese and Farghana troops at the Battle of Talas River.

  Mahakala – Buddhists regard Mahakala, which means “Great Black”, as a “Dharmapala”, a Protector of the Way. However, his fangs, claws and crown of skulls betray the Tibetan demon from whom the Buddhist deity was developed.

  al-Mahdi – (Born c. 740, reigned 775–785) – Third Khalifah of the Abbasid dynasty, son of al-Mansur and father of Musa al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid.

  Malik ibn Anas – (Born c. 715, died 796) – Malik ibn Anas ibn Malik ibn’Amr al-Asbahi is regarded by Sunni Muslims as one of the most important interpreters of scripture and holy law. The Maliki school of jurisprudence, one of the four recognised by most Sunnis, was founded on his studies. The story of his clash with al-

  Mansur is an interesting reflection of the balance of power between state and scholarship in the Abbasid era.

  al-Mansur – (Born c. 712, reigned 754–775) – Second, and probably greatest of the Abbasid Khalifahs, and the founder of Baghdad. He succeeded his brother al-Saffah, and was succeeded by his son al-Mahdi. Nearly all the stories told about him in this book are drawn from historical sources.

  Maria al-Qibtiyya – (Died 637) – “Maria the Copt”, a Christian woman who was either wife or concubine to the Prophet Muhammad.

  Marwan ibn Muhammad – (Born 688, reigned 744–750) – Marwan II was the last Khalifah of the Umayyad dynasty. He took over in a period of chaos, and rarely knew peace during his brief reign.

  Masjid – a mosque.

  Mazdaist – a Mazdayani, a follower of the teachings of Zoroaster. Zoroastrianism was the main religion of Persia until the Islamic conquest, and survives as a minority faith in the region. Zoroaster or Zarathustra was a poet who wrote hymns to a benevolent creator God called Ahura Mazda, some time between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. His monotheism seems to have been a significant influence on the development of the Abrahamic religions.

  Mizmar – a reed instrument, similar to an oboe.

  Mu’allaqat – The Seven “Hanging Odes” were considered to be the finest examples of pre-Islamic Arabic verse, although there is (inevitably) disagreement about exactly which poems they were. They are said to have been written in gold and hung in th
e Ka’bah, but this may be a retrospective explanation for a name of which the true meaning had been forgotten. The traditional canon includes works by al-Qays, Tarafah, Zuhayr, Labid, ibn Shaddad, ibn Kulthum, and ibn Hillizah. Abu Ubayda, however, produced a list which featured poems by al-Nabigha and al-Asha instead of the last two.

  Mu’awiyah – (Born c.602, died 680) – Fifth Khalifah, and first of the Umayyad dynasty.

  Muhammad – (Born 570, died 632) – Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn’Abd Allah ibn’Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim is accepted by all Muslims as the final Prophet of God. It is customary to follow his name with the phrase “Peace be upon him”, as a mark of respect. All the stories relating to his lifetime included in this book are based on early Islamic accounts.

  Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah – (Died 700) – Son of Ali ibn Abi Talib, father of Abu Hashim.

  Muhammad ibn Sulayman – (Died 789) – An Abbasid prince, first cousin to al-Mansur. The account of events after his death given here is based on historical sources.

  Muhammad of the Pure Soul – (Died 762) – Muhammad ibn Abd Allah, known as al-Nafs al-Zakiya, the Pure Soul, was an Alid rebel in the time of al-Mansur.

  Musa al-Hadi – (Born c. 760, reigned 785–786) – Fourth Khalifah of the Abbasid dynasty, and oldest son of al-Mahdi and al-Khayzuran.

  al-Nabighah – (Born c. 535, died c. 604) – al-Nabighah al-Dhubyani was a Christian poet, one of the most celebrated writers in Arabic of his day.

  Orreaga – The Basque name for Roncevaux or Roncesvalles Pass, scene of a notorious massacre of Frankish troops in 778.

  Otsoa – (Died c.778) – Otso in the Euskara language means “wolf”, and the Basque leader Otsoa was known to other peoples by a translation of his name: Loup in French or Lupo in Gascon. It has been suggested but not proven that he was responsible for the ambush of Hruodland.

  Qadi – A judge.

  Qamis – A light shirt.

  al-Qays – (Died c. 550) – Imru’ al-Qays ibn Hujr was the earliest poet whose work is included in the Mu’allaqat. He is credited with the invention of the qasida.

  Qin, qanun – stringed instruments of the zither family.

  Rabi ibn Yunus – (Died 786) – A freed slave who became one of the Abbasids’ most trusted servants, although according to some accounts he was murdered by Musa

  al-Hadi after an argument about a slave-girl. His son

  Fadl ibn Rabi inherited, and built on, his position.

  Rabi’a al-Adawiyya – (Born c. 717, died 801) – Rabi’a al-Adawiyya al-Qaysiyya, also called Rabi’a al-Basri, was a poet and mystic, considered to be a Sufi saint.

  al-Rashidun – The “Righteous Ones”, a Sunni term for the first four Khalifahs, who were chosen from among the Companions of Muhammad, the Sabaha. They were Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali. Harun al-Rashid was given his epithet in tribute to these early leaders.

  Rita – (Born c. 745?) – cousin and wife of al-Mahdi.

  Roman Empire – The division of the vast Roman Empire into western and eastern halves began as an administrative convenience, but by 395 the split had become permanent. The western half collapsed within a century, when Rome itself fell to barbarian invaders, but the empire survived in eastern Europe and the Middle East for nearly a thousand years afterwards.

  This eastern Roman empire, with its capital in the city variously called Byzantium, New Rome, Constantinople, and now Istanbul, is usually referred to as the Byzantine Empire, but this name is a later invention. It was a Christian state, and its language was Greek not Latin, but its citizens considered themselves the heirs of Augustus, Vespasian and Marcus Aurelius. To its people, its allies and its enemies it was known only as the Roman Empire.

  al-Saffah – (Born c. 720, reigned 750–754) – First Khalifah of the Abbasid dynasty. He came to power as a result of the Revolution of the Black Flag, and cemented his position by massacring members of Umayyad family whom he had invited to a feast; his name means Shedder of Blood. He was succeeded by his older brother al-Mansur.

  Sayf – a sword. The word is usually associated with the curved “scimitar”, but in the 8th century it would have been a straight blade.

  Salam al-Abrash – (Born c. 750?, died c. 820?) – a eunuch courtier, who served three generations of the Abbasid family.

  Sappho – (Born c. 620BCE?, died c. 570BCE?) – A Greek lyric poet. She was held in high regard by later generations of both Greek and Roman writers, but very little of her work has survived. Much of her love poetry was addressed to other women, and her name and birthplace are the origin of the words “sapphic” and “lesbian”.

  al-Shafi’i – (Born 767, died 820) – Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi’i was a scholar of fiqh, the process of establishing Islamic law and custom from interpretations of the Quran and Hadith. Although he studied under Malik ibn Anas, his own work was of such significance that a separate school is based on it, and the Shafi’i school is one of the four recognised by Sunni Muslims. Reality and pious myth are hopelessly entangled in accounts of his life and character, so that it is hard to say what the real man was like. However the portrayal of him here as pompous and dogmatic is not founded on anything but my feeling that clever men need to learn humility before they become wise.

  Shaikh – Also spelt Sheikh or Shaykh – a term of respect, meaning tribal leader or elder. It can also indicate a man of learning.

  Shaitan – the Devil, Iblis.

  Sherbet – a cold, spiced non-alcoholic drink often flavoured with rose petals or liquorice.

  Shurta – the Baghdad city police. Their function and organisation remain uncertain, but they seem to have been of low status, and as likely to start riots as to prevent them.

  Span – The width of an outstretched hand, considered to be half a cubit, or around nine inches.

  Sulayman al-Arabi – (Died 780) – Sulayman ibn Yaqzan al-Arabi was a Wali of Barsalona (modern Barcelona) and Girona, who sought an alliance with the Franks to resist the rising power of Abd al-Rahman in the region.

  Surah – A chapter of the Quran.

  Tang Xuanzong – (Born 685, reigned 712–756, died 762) – The longest ruling Emperor of the Tang dynasty in China. In his youth he was a dynamic leader, but his grip on affairs loosened as he aged, and his reign was to end in tragedy.

  Tarafah – (Born 543, died 569) – Tarafah ibn al’Abd ibn Sufyan ibn Malik al-Bakri was one of the most celebrated pre-Islamic poets, and his ode was the longest of the

  Mu’allaqat. According to some accounts he was buried alive as punishment for writing a satire about the King of Hira.

  Thalaba ibn Obeid – (Died c. 780?) – A friend and ally of Abd al-Rahman.

  Tunbur – a long-necked lute.

  Umar ibn al-Khattab – (Born c.586, died 644) – A companion of the Prophet Muhammad, and close friend of Abu Bakr. On the latter’s death he became the second Khalifah.

  Umayyad – The Umayyad clan ruled over Islam for nearly a century (660–750), between the Righteous Ones (al-Rashidun) and the Abbasids. At their peak, the family did much to stabilise the Muslim empire, but in a two year period from 743 to 744 there were five different Khalifahs, and the chaos left the dynasty’s last ruler, Marwan II, in charge of a fatally unpopular regime.

  Uthman ibn Affan – (Born c.580, died 656) – The third Khalifah. Although he was from the Umayyad clan, he is considered to be one of al-Rashidun, and was not succeeded by a member of his family but by Ali ibn Abi Talib.

  Wali – The governor of a city.

  Waliba al-Asadi – (Died 786) – A poet and mentor to Abu Nuwas.

  al-Walid II – (Reigned 743–744) – an Umayyad Khalifah.

  Wang Wei – (Born 701, died 761) – A poet, painter and musician, who also had a successful political career, rising to become Chancellor. Although he was a remarkable polymath, a knowledge of Arabic is not recorded as being among his accomplishments.

  Yahya ibn Khalid al-Barmaki – (Died 805) – Head of the Barmakid family, father of Ja’far and Fadl ib
n Yahya.

  Yang Guozhong – (Died 756) – An official at the court of Tang Xuanzong. Despite his drinking, gambling, and incompetence, he was promoted to Chancellor through flattery of the Emperor and the influence of his cousin Lady Yang.

  Yang, the Lady – (Born 719, died 756) – Yang Yuhuan, usually known as Yang Guifei or Lady Yang, is considered to be one of the Four Beauties of Ancient China, although she was apparently plump by modern standards, and according to some accounts suffered from unpleasant armpit odour. Her life and death are the subject of innumerable plays, novels, operas and films.

  Yazid III – (Born 701, reigned 744) – An Umayyad Khalifah.

  Zindiq – A general term for a Muslim whose beliefs are regarded as heretical by mainstream Islam.

  Zubayda – (Born c. 740) – Zubayda bint Munir was the wife of Yahya ibn Khalid al-Barmaki.

  Recommended Reading

  If you enjoyed reading The Father Locks there is one book on our list, which is perfect for you, The Arabian Nightmare.

  The Arabian Nightmare – Robert Irwin

  “Robert Irwin is indeed particularly brilliant. He takes the story-within-a-story technique of the Arab storyteller a stage further, so that a tangle of dreams and imaginings becomes part of the narrative fabric. The prose is discriminating and, beauty of all beauties, the book is constantly entertaining.”

  Hilary Bailey in The Guardian

  “Robert Irwin writes beautifully and is dauntingly clever but the stunning thing about him is his originality. Robert Irwin’s work, while rendered in the strictest, simplest and most elegant prose, defies definition. All that can be said is that it is a bit like a mingling of The Thousand and One Nights and The Name of the Rose. It is also magical, bizarre and frightening.”

  Ruth Rendell

  “… a classic orientalist fantasy tells the story of Balian of Norwich and his misadventures in a labyrinthine Cairo at the time of the Mamelukes. Steamy, exotic and ingenious, it is a boxes-within-boxes tale featuring such characters as Yoll, the Storyteller, Fatima the Deathly and the Father of Cats. It is a compelling meditation on reality and illusion, as well as on Arabian Nights-style storytelling. At its elusive centre lies the affliction of the Arabian Nightmare: a dream of infinite suffering that can never be remembered on waking, and might almost have happened to somebody else.”