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Jawdhar
Jawdhar (, before 909March 973), surnamed al-Ustadh (), was a eunuch slave who served the Fatimid caliphs Al-Qa'im (Fatimid caliph), al-Qa'im, al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah, al-Mansur, and Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah, al-Mu'izz as chamberlain and ''de facto'' chief minister until his death. He was an extremely powerful figure in the Fatimid court, and was ranked immediately after the caliph and his designated heir. The accession of al-Mansur was probably due to Jawdhar's machinations, and he was placed in charge of keeping the new caliph's relatives under house arrest. He enjoyed close relations with the Kalbid emirs of Sicily, which enabled him to engage in profitable commerce with the island. Jawdhar accompanied al-Mu'izz during the migration of the court from Ifriqiya to Egypt, but died on the way at Barqa. His collected documents and letters were published after his death by his secretary as the , and form one of the main historical sources for the governance of the Fatimid state in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Mansur Bi-Nasr Allah
Abu Tahir Isma'il (; January 914 – 18 March 953), better known by his regnal name al-Mansur Billah (), was the thirteenth Imamate in Ismaili doctrine, Isma'ili imam and third caliph of the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya, ruling from 946 until his death. He succeeded his father, al-Qa'im (Fatimid caliph), al-Qa'im, after the latter's death, in what was likely a bloodless palace coup. At the time of al-Mansur's accession, most of the Fatimid mainland realm in Ifriqiya had been lost to a large-scale anti-Fatimid revolt led by the Kharijite preacher Abu Yazid, who was laying siege to al-Qa'im's fortified coastal palace city of Mahdia, al-Mahdiya. Unlike his father he was an active and publicly visible monarch, but plagued by illness, which led to his early death. Al-Mansur immediately took up the fight against the revolt with considerable energy, but kept his father's death secret until after the final suppression of the rebellion, governing instead as the ostensible designated succe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Qa'im (Fatimid Caliph)
Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh (; March/April 893 – 17 May 946), better known by his regnal name al-Qāʾim () or al-Qāʾim bi-Amr Allāh (), was the twelfth Isma'ili Imam and second caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, ruling in Ifriqiya from 934 to 946, succeeding his father Abd Allah al-Mahdi Billah (). Born in March or April 893 in the Syrian town of Salamiyah, where his father, under the guise of a wealthy merchant, was leading the clandestine Isma'ili missionary network. Al-Qa'im and his father had to flee Salamiyah in 903 to avoid Abbasid persecution under the impact of a pro-Isma'ili revolt in Syria. Aided by sympathizers, the small group found refuge in to Ramla in Palestine and Fustat in Egypt, before turning west and making for the remote oasis town of Sijilmasa in what is now Morocco. While there, the Isma'ili missionary () Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i, who had converted the Kutama Berbers, overthrew the Aghlabid dynasty ruling in Ifriqiya and established the Fatim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eunuch
A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium BCE. Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures: courtiers or equivalent Domestic worker, domestics, for espionage or clandestine operations, ''castrato'' singers, Concubinage, concubines or sexual partners, religious specialists, soldiers, royal guards, government officials, and guardians of women or harem servants. Eunuchs would usually be servants or Slavery, slaves who had been castrated to make them less threatening servants of a royal court where physical access to the ruler could wield great influence. Seemingly lowly domestic functions—such as making the ruler's bed, bathing him, cutting his hair, carrying him in his litter (vehicle), litter, or even rel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fatimid Invasion Of Egypt (919–921)
The second Fatimid invasion of Egypt occurred in 919–921, following the failure of the Fatimid invasion of Egypt (914–915), first attempt in 914–915. The expedition was again commanded by the Fatimid Caliphate's heir-apparent, al-Qa'im (Fatimid caliph), al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah. As during the previous attempt, the Fatimids captured Alexandria with ease. However, while the Abbasid garrison in Fustat was weaker and mutinous due to lack of pay, al-Qa'im did not exploit it for an immediate attack on the city, such as the one that had failed in 914. Instead, in March 920, the Fatimid navy was destroyed by the Abbasid fleet under Thamal al-Dulafi, and Abbasid reinforcements under Mu'nis al-Muzaffar arrived at Fustat. Nevertheless, in the summer of 920, al-Qa'im was able to capture the Fayyum Oasis, and in the spring of 921, extend his control over much of Upper Egypt as well, while Mu'nis avoided an open confrontation and remained at Fustat. During that time, both sides were engaged ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mawla
''Mawlā'' (, plural ''mawālī'' ), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the term applied to any form of tribal association. In the Quran and hadiths it is used in multiple senses, including 'lord', 'guardian', and 'trustee'. After Muhammad's death, the Umayyad dynasty accepted new converts to Islam into Arab-Muslim society and the word ''mawali'' gained currency as an appellation for converted non-Arab Muslims in the early Islamic caliphates. Etymology The word ''mawla'', which was used by the Islamic prophet Muhammad about Ali in the Ghadir Khumm speech, is derived from the root ''w-l-y'', meaning "to be close to" or "to have power over". ''Mawla'' can have reciprocal meanings, depending on whether it is used in the active or passive voice: "master" Originally, ''mawāli'' were clients of an Arab people, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robes Of Honour
A robe of honour (, plural , or , pl. or ) were rich garments given by medieval and early modern Islamic rulers to subjects as tokens of honour, often as part of a ceremony of appointment to a public post, or as a token of confirmation or acceptance of vassalage of a subordinate ruler. They were usually produced in government factories and decorated with the inscribed bands known as '' ṭirāz''. History The endowment of garments as a mark of favor is an ancient Middle Eastern tradition, recorded in sources such as the Hebrew Bible and Herodotus. In the Islamic world, Muhammad himself set a precedent when he removed his cloak () and gave it to Ka'b ibn Zuhayr in recognition of a poem praising him. Indeed, the term "denotes the action of removing one's garment in order to give it to someone". The practice of awarding robes of honour appears in the Abbasid Caliphate, where it became such a regular feature of government that ceremonies of bestowal occurred almost every day, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Mosque Of Mahdiya
The Great Mosque of Mahdiya () is a mosque that was built in the tenth century in Mahdia, Tunisia. Located on the southern side of the peninsula on which the old city was located, construction of the mosque was initiated in 916, when the city was founded by the Fatimid caliph Abdallah al-Mahdi, to serve as the new city's main mosque. Most of the Fatimid-era city and its structures have since disappeared. The current mosque was largely reconstructed by archeologists in the 1960s, with the exception of its preserved entrance façade. History In 912 the first Fatimid imam and caliph, Abdallah al-Mahdi, began looking for the site of a new capital for his newly established state in Ifriqiya. A site was chosen along the coast and construction of the new fortified palace city, al-Mahdiyya (Mahdia), began in 916. Construction of the Great Mosque, which served as the new city's congregational mosque, began that same year. The new city was officially inaugurated on 20 February 921, thoug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fatimid Harem
The Fatimid harem refers to the harem belonging to the rulers of the Fatimid dynasty during the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt (909–1171). The harem was the quarters of the royal court in which the female members of the court, including the female relatives, wives, concubines (sex slaves) and female servants lived in seclusion under sex segregation. This was common for all Muslim royal courts, with some variation in how the harem was organized. Hierarchy and organization The Fatimid harem (909–1171) built upon the established model of the Abbasid harem. Female relatives The highest ranked woman in the Fatimid harem was normally the mother of the Caliph, or alternatively the mother of the heir or a female relative, who was given the title ''sayyida'' or ''al-sayyida al-malika'' ("queen"). There was a general dislike of Fatimid princesses marrying outside of the family, since their marriage was seen as a potential political security risk, and it appears they either remained unma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Brett (historian)
Miles Barton Tripp (1923–2000) was an English writer of thirty-seven works of fiction including crime novels and thrillers, some of which he wrote under noms de plume Michael Brett and John Michael Brett. He served in RAF Bomber Command during World War II, flying thirty-seven sorties as a bomber-aimer, and completed 40 missions over enemy territory. He initially recorded his wartime experiences in a fictionalised memoir, ''Faith is a Windsock'', before exploring them more deeply in the non-fiction title ''The Eighth Passenger''. After the war, Tripp studied law and worked as a solicitor, and started to write fiction during his spare time.Miles Tripp fantasticfiction.co.uk. He lived in |
Heinz Halm
Heinz Halm (born 21 February 1942 in Andernach, Rhine Province) is a German scholar of Islamic Studies, with a particular expertise on early Shia Islam, Shia history, the Isma'ilism, Ismailites and other Shia sects. Life Born and raised in Andernach, Halm studied Islamic and Semitic studies, and medieval and modern history at the University of Bonn, where he was a scholar of Annemarie Schimmel. Following his Ph.D. and a traineeship in journalism at Hessischer Rundfunk, he joined the scholarly project of the (''Tuebingen Atlas of the Near & Middle East''), a bilingual (German/English) collection of geographical and historical maps. In 1980, he was appointed Professor for Islamic Studies at the University of Tübingen. Work Halm's book ''The Shiites'' was reviewed in the ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'' by Said Amir Arjomand who remarked that "Halm’s historical perspective is a welcome corrective to the ahistorical shallowness of the vast majority of the accounts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abu Yazid
Abū Yazīd Makhlad ibn Kaydād Dajjal (; – 19 August 947), was a member of the Ibadi sect. He opposed the Ismaili Shia rule of the Fatimids in North Africa and sought to restore Ibadi dominance in the region. Known as the Man on the Donkey () due to his humble means of transport, Abu Yazid led a rebellion against the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya (modern Tunisia and eastern Algeria) starting in 944, rallying various Berber tribes and disaffected groups against the Fatimids. His forces initially achieved significant victories, even threatening the Fatimid capital of Mahdia, al-Mahdiyya. Abu Yazid conquered Kairouan for a time, but was eventually driven back and defeated by the Fatimid caliph al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah in 947, Abu Yazid escaped following a siege, but was wounded and captured. He died of his wounds several days later. Early life Abu Yazid's father Kaydad was a Zenata Berbers, Berber from Taqyus or Tozeur in the district of Chott el Djerid, then still known by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berbers
Berbers, or the Berber peoples, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arab migrations to the Maghreb, Arabs in the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their usage of Berber languages, most of them mutually unintelligible, which are part of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They are indigenous peoples, indigenous to the Maghreb region of North Africa, where they live in scattered communities across parts of Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and to a lesser extent Tunisia, Mauritania, northern Mali and northern Niger. Smaller Berber communities are also found in Burkina Faso and Egypt's Siwa Oasis. Descended from Stone Age tribes of North Africa, accounts of the Imazighen were first mentioned in Egyptian hieroglyphs, Ancient Egyptian writings. From about 2000 BC, Berber languages spread westward from the Nile, Nile Valley across the northern Sahara int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
