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Arab–Byzantine Prisoner Exchanges
During the course of the Arab–Byzantine wars, exchanges of prisoners of war became a regular feature of the relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid Caliphate. The exchanges began in the late 8th century and continued until the late 10th century. Most of them took place at the Lamos River in Cilicia, on the border between the two powers. Background Centuries of war between the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Caliphate had led to a degree of mutual understanding and respect, evidenced by a regular pattern of diplomatic and cultural exchange between the two powers. This is exemplified in the protocols for the imperial receptions at the Byzantine court, where the "Eastern Muslims" are accorded the first place immediately after any ecclesiastical officials, including Bulgarians and Frankish co-religionists. There was also humane treatment of prisoners of war by both sides; on the Byzantine side, although Arab prisoners were usually paraded in triumphal processions, they ...
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Arab–Byzantine Wars
The Arab–Byzantine wars were a series of wars between a number of Muslim Arab dynasties and the Byzantine Empire between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. Conflict started during the initial Muslim conquests, under the expansionist Rashidun and Umayyad caliphs, in the 7th century and continued by their successors until the mid-11th century. The emergence of Muslim Arabs from Arabia in the 630s resulted in the rapid loss of Byzantium's southern provinces ( Syria and Egypt) to the Arab Caliphate. Over the next fifty years, under the Umayyad caliphs, the Arabs would launch repeated raids into still-Byzantine Asia Minor, twice besiege the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, and conquer the Byzantine Exarchate of Africa. The situation did not stabilize until after the failure of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople in 718, when the Taurus Mountains on the eastern rim of Asia Minor became established as the mutual, heavily fortified and largely depopulated frontier. Under the Ab ...
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Al-Mas'udi
Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus of the Arabs". A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geography, natural science and philosophy, his celebrated magnum opus '' Murūj al-Dhahab wa-Ma'ādin al-Jawhar'' ( ar, مُرُوج ٱلذَّهَب وَمَعَادِن ٱلْجَوْهَر, link=no), combines universal history with scientific geography, social commentary and biography, and is published in English in a multi-volume series as '' The Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems''. Birth, travels and literary output Apart from what Al-Mas'udi writes of himself little is known. Born in Baghdad, he was descended from Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, a companion of Muhammad. He mentions many scholar associates met on his travels thr ...
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Nasr Ibn Al-Azhar Ibn Faraj
Nasr ( ar, نصر, meaning "Victory") or Al-Nasr or variant Al Nasr or An-Nasr or An Nasr ( ar, النصر) with the definite article Al- and An- (in Arabic) meaning "The Victory" Nasr and its variants may refer to: Places * Al Nasr, Dubai, a community in Dubai, United Arab Emirates * Al Nasr Wal Salam, also known as Al-Hasuah, city in the Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad Governorate, Iraq * Nasr City, a suburb of Cairo, Egypt * Nasar, Iran, also known as Nasr, a village in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran * Nasr, Ilam, a village in Ilam Province, Iran * Jemdet Nasr, a tell or settlement mound in Babil Governorate, Iraq * Teniet En-Nasr, town and commune in Bordj Bou Arréridj Province, Algeria People * Nasr (name): list of people with the name or surname ''Nasr'' * Nasr I, Samanid amir ruled 864–892 * Nasr II, Samanid amir, ruled 914–943 * Nasr, Sultan of Granada (1287–1322), in the Nasrid dynasty Politics * Al-Nasr (Afghanistan), a Hazara militant group * El Nasr Party, o ...
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Al-Mutawakkil
Abū al-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Muʿtaṣim bi-ʾllāh ( ar, جعفر بن محمد المعتصم بالله; March 822 – 11 December 861), better known by his regnal name Al-Mutawakkil ʿalā Allāh (, "He who relies on God") was the tenth Abbasid caliph. He succeeded his brother, al-Wathiq, and is known for expanding the empire to its maximum extent. He was deeply religious, and is remembered for discarding the Muʿtazila, ending the Mihna (a period of persecution of Islamic scholars), and releasing Ahmad ibn Hanbal. He is also known for his tough rule, especially with respect to non-Muslim subjects. He was assassinated on 11 December 861 by the Turkic guard with the support of his son, al-Muntasir, marking the beginning of the period of civil strife known as the "Anarchy at Samarra". Early life Al-Mutawakkil was born on February/March 822 to the Abbasid prince Abu Ishaq Muhammad (the future al-Mu'tasim) and a slave concubine from Khwarazm called Shuja. His ...
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Theodora (wife Of Theophilos)
Theodora (Greek language, Greek: Θεοδώρα; 815 – c. 867), sometimes called Theodora the Armenian or Theodora the Blessed, was Byzantine empress as the wife of Byzantine emperor Theophilos (emperor), Theophilos from 830 to 842 and regent for the couple's young son Michael III, after the death of Theophilos, from 842 to 856. She is sometimes counted as an empress regnant, who actually ruled in her own right, rather than just a regent. Theodora is most famous for bringing an end to the second Byzantine Iconoclasm (814–843), an act for which she is recognized as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Though her reign saw the loss of most of Sicily and failure to retake Crete, Theodora's foreign policy was otherwise highly successful; by 856, the Byzantine Empire had gained the upper hand over both First Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria and the Abbasid Caliphate, and the Slavs, Slavic tribes in the Peloponnese had been forced to pay tribute, all without decreasing the imperial g ...
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Ibn Al-Athir
Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī, better known as ʿAlī ʿIzz ad-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī ( ar, علي عز الدین بن الاثیر الجزري) lived 1160–1233) was an Arab or Kurdish historian and biographer who wrote in Arabic and was from the Ibn Athir family. At the age of twenty-one he settled with his father in Mosul to continue his studies, where he devoted himself to the study of history and Islamic tradition. Biography Ibn al-Athir belonged to the Shayban lineage of the large and influential Arab tribe Banu Bakr, who lived across upper Mesopotamia, and gave their name to the city of Diyar Bakr. He was the brother of Majd ad-Dīn and Diyā' ad-Dīn Ibn Athir. Al-Athir lived a scholarly life in Mosul, often visited Baghdad and for a time traveled with Saladin's army in Syria. He later lived in Aleppo and Damascus. His chief work was a history of the world, ''al-Kamil fi at-Tarikh'' (''The Complete History''). He died i ...
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Dhimmi
' ( ar, ذمي ', , collectively ''/'' "the people of the covenant") or () is a historical term for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state with legal protection. The word literally means "protected person", referring to the state's obligation under ''sharia'' to protect the individual's life, property, as well as freedom of religion, in exchange for loyalty to the state and payment of the '' jizya'' tax, in contrast to the ''zakat'', or obligatory alms, paid by the Muslim subjects. ''Dhimmi'' were exempt from certain duties assigned specifically to Muslims if they paid the poll tax (''jizya'') but were otherwise equal under the laws of property, contract, and obligation. Historically, dhimmi status was originally applied to Jews, Christians, and Sabians, who are considered to be "People of the Book" in Islamic theology. This status later also came to be applied to Zoroastrians, Sikhs, Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists. Jews and Christians were required to pay the ''jizyah'' wh ...
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Quranic Createdness
Quranic createdness refers to the doctrinal position that the Quran was created, rather than having always existed and thus being "uncreated". In the Muslim world the opposite point of view — that the Quran is uncreated — is the accepted stance among the majority Muslims. Shia Muslims on the other hand argue for the createdness of the Quran. The dispute over which was true became a significant point of contention in early Islam. The Islamic rationalist philosophical school known as the Mutazila held that if the Quran is God's word, logically God "must have preceded his own speech". The Quran is believed to express God's eternal will, but the work itself must have been created by Him at some point in time. History The controversy over the doctrine in the Abbasid caliphate came to a head during the reign of Caliph Abd Allah al-Ma’mun. In 827 CE, al-Ma’mun publicly adopted the doctrine of createdness, and six years later instituting an inquisition known as the ''mihna' ...
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Ahmad Ibn Abi Duwad
Abu 'Abdallah Ahmad ibn Abi Du'ad al-Iyadi ( ar, أبو عبد الله أحمد بن أبي دؤاد الإيادي, ʾAbū ʿAbd Allāh ʾAḥmad ibn ʾAbī Duʾād al-ʾIyādī) (776/7–June 854) was an Islamic religious judge (''qadi'') of the mid-ninth century. A proponent of Mu'tazilism, he was appointed as chief judge of the Abbasid Caliphate in 833, and became highly influential during the caliphates of al-Mu'tasim and al-Wathiq. During his tenure as chief judge he sought to maintain Mu'tazilism as the official ideology of the state, and he played a leading role in prosecuting the Inquisition (''mihnah'') to ensure compliance with Mu'tazilite doctrines among officials and scholars. In 848 Ibn Abi Du'ad suffered a stroke and transferred his position to his son Muhammad, but his family's influence declined during the caliphate of al-Mutawakkil, who gradually abandoned Mu'tazilism and put an end to the '. As one of the most senior officials during the reigns of several caliph ...
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Qadi
A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and minors, and supervision and auditing of public works. History The term ''qāḍī'' was in use from the time of Muhammad during the early history of Islam, and remained the term used for judges throughout Islamic history and the period of the caliphates. While the '' muftī'' and '' fuqaha'' played the role in elucidation of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence (''Uṣūl al-Fiqh'') and the Islamic law (''sharīʿa''), the ''qāḍī'' remained the key person ensuring the establishment of justice on the basis of these very laws and rules. Thus, the ''qāḍī'' was chosen from amongst those who had mastered the sciences of jurisprudence and law. The Abbasid caliphs created the office of "chief ''qāḍī''" (''qāḍī al-quḍāh''), who ...
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Raqqa
Raqqa ( ar, ٱلرَّقَّة, ar-Raqqah, also and ) (Kurdish languages, Kurdish: Reqa/ ڕەقە) is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and bishopric Callinicum (formerly a Latin and now a Maronite Catholic titular see) was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate between 796 and 809, under the reign of Harun al-Rashid. It was also the capital of the Territory of the Islamic State, Islamic State from 2014 to 2017. With a population of 531,952 based on the 2021 official census, Raqqa is the sixth largest city in Syria. During the Syrian Civil War, the city was captured in 2013 by the Syrian opposition and then by the Islamic State. ISIS made the city its capital in 2014. As a result, the city was hit by airstrikes from the Syrian government, Russia, the United States, and Military intervention against ISIL, several other countries. Mos ...
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Al-Wathiq
Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ( ar, أبو جعفر هارون بن محمد المعتصم; 17 April 812 – 10 August 847), better known by his laqab, regnal name al-Wāthiq bi’llāh (, ), was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 842 until 847 AD (227–232 AH in the Islamic calendar). Al-Wathiq is described in the sources as well-educated, intellectually curious, but also a poet and a drinker, who enjoyed the company of poets and musicians as well as scholars. His brief reign was one of continuity with the policies of his father, al-Mu'tasim, as power continued to rest in the hands of the same officials whom al-Mu'tasim had appointed. The chief events of the reign were the suppression of revolts: Bedouin rebellions occurred in Bilad al-Sham, Syria in 842, the Hejaz in 845, and the Yamamah in 846, Arminiya, Armenia had to be pacified over several years, and above all, an abortive uprising took place in Baghdad itself in 846, under Ahmad ibn Nasr al-Khuza'i. The latter w ...
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