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Khanqah
A Sufi lodge is a building designed specifically for gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood or ''tariqa'' and is a place for spiritual practice and religious education. They include structures also known as ''khānaqāh'', ''zāwiya'', ''ribāṭ'', ''dargāh'' and ''takya'' depending on the region, language and period (see ). In Shia Islam, the Husayniyya has a similar function. The Sufi lodge is typically a large structure with a central hall and smaller rooms on either side. Traditionally, the Sufi lodge was state-sponsored housing for Sufis. Their primary function is to provide them with a space to practice social lives of asceticism. Buildings intended for public services, such as hospitals, kitchens, and lodging, are often attached to them. Sufi lodges were funded by Ayyubid sultans in Syria, Zangid sultans in Egypt, and Delhi sultans in India in return for Sufi support of their regimes. Terminology Sufi lodges were called by various names depending on period, location and l ...
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Saladin
Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, he spearheaded the Muslim military effort against the Crusader states in the Levant. At the height of his power, the Ayyubid realm spanned Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, the Hejaz, Yemen, and Nubia. Alongside his uncle Shirkuh, a Kurdish mercenary commander in service of the Zengid dynasty, Saladin was sent to Fatimid Egypt in 1164, on the orders of the Zengid ruler Nur ad-Din. With their original purpose being to help restore Shawar as the vizier to the teenage Fatimid caliph al-Adid, a power struggle ensued between Shirkuh and Shawar after the latter was reinstated. Saladin, meanwhile, climbed the ranks of the Fatimid government by virtue of his military successes against Crusader assaults and his personal closeness to al-Adid. A ...
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Sufism
Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are referred to as "Sufis" (from , ), and historically typically belonged to "orders" known as (pl. ) — congregations formed around a grand (saint) who would be the last in a Silsilah, chain of successive teachers linking back to Muhammad, with the goal of undergoing (self purification) and the hope of reaching the Maqam (Sufism), spiritual station of . The ultimate aim of Sufis is to seek the pleasure of God by endeavoring to return to their original state of purity and natural disposition, known as . Sufism emerged early on in Islamic history, partly as a reaction against the expansion of the early Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) and mainly under the tutelage of Hasan al-Basri. Although Sufis were opposed to dry legalism, they strictly obs ...
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Cairo
Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of largest cities in the Arab world, the Arab world, and List of largest metropolitan areas of the Middle East, the Middle East. The Greater Cairo metropolitan area is List of largest cities, one of the largest in the world by population with over 22.1 million people. The area that would become Cairo was part of ancient Egypt, as the Giza pyramid complex and the ancient cities of Memphis, Egypt, Memphis and Heliopolis (ancient Egypt), Heliopolis are near-by. Located near the Nile Delta, the predecessor settlement was Fustat following the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 next to an existing ancient Roman empire, Roman fortress, Babylon Fortress, Babylon. Subsequently, Cairo was founded by the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid dynasty in 969. It ...
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Sheikh (Sufism)
A Sheikh or shaykh (, pl. , ), of Sufism is a Sufi who is authorized to teach, initiate and guide aspiring dervishes in the Islamic faith. The sheik is vital to the path of the novice Sufi, for the sheik has himself travelled the path of mysticism. Viewed as the spiritual master, the sheik forms a formal allegiance (''bay'a'') to the disciple of Sufism and authorizes the disciple's travels and helps the disciple along the mystical path. Islamic tradition focuses on the importance of chains and legitimization. In Sufism, sheiks are connected by a continuous spiritual chain (''isnad'', sanad, silsila). This chain links every previous Sufi sheik, and eventually can be traced back to the Successors, and in later times to the Prophet himself. As Sufism grew, influential shayks began to acquire spiritual centers and waypoints known as khanqah, ribat, and zaouia. Sheikhs duplicate the Prophetic realities, and are also expected to perform and act as an intermediary between the Creat ...
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Takya
A Sufi lodge is a building designed specifically for gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood or ''tariqa'' and is a place for spiritual practice and religious education. They include structures also known as ''khānaqāh'', ''zāwiya'', ''ribāṭ'', ''dargāh'' and ''takya'' depending on the region, language and period (see ). In Shia Islam, the Husayniyya has a similar function. The Sufi lodge is typically a large structure with a central hall and smaller rooms on either side. Traditionally, the Sufi lodge was state-sponsored housing for Sufis. Their primary function is to provide them with a space to practice social lives of asceticism. Buildings intended for public services, such as hospitals, kitchens, and lodging, are often attached to them. Sufi lodges were funded by Ayyubid sultans in Syria, Zangid sultans in Egypt, and Delhi sultans in India in return for Sufi support of their regimes. Terminology Sufi lodges were called by various names depending on period, location and l ...
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Umayyad Mosque
The Umayyad Mosque (; ), also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus, located in the old city of Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. Its religious importance stems from the eschatological reports concerning the mosque and historic events associated with it. Christian and Muslim tradition alike consider it the burial place of John the Baptist's head, a tradition originating in the 6th century. Two shrines inside the premises commemorate the Islamic prophet Muhammad's grandson Husayn ibn Ali, whose Battle of Karbala, martyrdom is frequently compared to that of John the Baptist. The site has been used as a house of worship since the Iron Age, when the Aram-Damascus, Arameans built on it a temple dedicated to their god of rain, Hadad. Under Roman Syria, Roman rule, beginning in 64 CE, it was converted into the center of the imperial cult of ancient Rome, imperial cult of Jupiter, the Roman god of rain, becoming one of the largest templ ...
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Old Damascus
The old city of Damascus () is the historic city centre of Damascus, Syria. The old city, which is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, contains numerous archaeological sites, including some historical churches and mosques. Many cultures have left their mark, especially Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic. In 1979, the historical center of the city, surrounded by walls of Roman era, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. In June 2013, UNESCO included all Syrian sites on the list of World Heritage in Danger to warn of the risks to which they are exposed because of the Syrian Civil War. Origins and founding Lying on the south bank of Barada River, the ancient city was founded in the 3rd millennium B.C. The horizontal diameter of the oval is about which is known as Damascus Straight Street, while the vertical diameter () is about . With an approximate area of , the ancient city was enclosed within a historic wall of in circuit that was m ...
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Damascus
Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Known colloquially in Syria as () and dubbed, poetically, the "City of Jasmine" ( ), Damascus is a major cultural center of the Levant and the Arab world. Situated in southwestern Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area. Nestled among the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau above sea level, Damascus experiences an arid climate because of the rain shadow effect. The Barada, Barada River flows through Damascus. Damascus is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. First settled in the 3rd millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. Afte ...
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Nur Ad-Din Zangi
Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd Zengī (; February 1118 – 15 May 1174), commonly known as Nur ad-Din (lit. 'Light of the Faith' in Arabic), was a Turkoman (ethnonym), Turkoman member of the Zengid dynasty, who ruled the Syria (region), Syrian province () of the Seljuk Empire. He reigned from 1146 to 1174. He is regarded as an important figure of the Second Crusade. War against Crusaders Born in February 1118, Nur ad-Din was the second son of Imad al-Din Zengi, the Turkoman (ethnonym), Turcoman ''atabeg'' of Aleppo and Mosul, who was a devoted enemy of the crusader presence in Syria (region), Syria. After the assassination of his father in 1146, Nur ad-Din and his older brother Saif ad-Din Ghazi I divided the kingdom between themselves, with Nur ad-Din governing Aleppo and Saif ad-Din Ghazi establishing himself in Mosul. The border between the two new kingdoms was formed by the Khabur (Euphrates), Khabur River. Almost as soon as he began his rule, Nur ad-Din attacked the Principality of ...
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Waqf
A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitable purposes with no intention of reclaiming the assets. A charitable trust may hold the donated assets. The person making such dedication is known as a ('donor') who uses a ''mutawalli'' ('trustee') to manage the property in exchange for a share of the revenues it generates. A waqf allows the state to provide social services in accordance with Islamic law while contributing to the preservation of cultural and historical sites. Although the system depended on several hadiths and presented elements similar to practices from pre-Islamic cultures, it seems that the specific full-fledged Islamic legal form of financial endowment, endowment called dates from the 9th century CE (see below ...
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Haruniyeh
Haruniyeh (, also Romanized as Hārūnīyeh and Harūnīeh; also known as Gol Lar, Harūnābād, and Hūrlān) is a village in Mishu-e Jonubi Rural District, Sufian District, Shabestar County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort .... At the 2006 census, its population was 193, comprising 52 families. The village has a predominantly arid to semi-arid climate. References Populated places in Shabestar County {{Shabestar-geo-stub ...
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Sufi Saint
The term ''wali'' is most commonly used by Muslims to refer to a saint, or literally a "friend of God in Islam, God".John Renard, ''Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008); John Renard, ''Tales of God Friends: Islamic Hagiography in Translation'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009), passim. In the traditional Islamic understanding, a saint is portrayed as someone "marked by [special] divine favor ... [and] holiness", and who is specifically "chosen by God and endowed with exceptional gifts, such as the ability to work Miracle worker, miracles".Radtke, B., "Saint", in: ''Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān'', General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. The doctrine of saints was articulated by ulama, Muslim scholars very early on in Early history of Islam, Islamic history, and particular verses of the Quran and certain hadith were interpreted by early Muslim t ...
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