Sharif
Sharif (in plural form, ashraf or shurafa’). Arabic title which means primarily a free man, one who can claim a distinguished position because of his descent from illustrious ancestors. Although the Qur’an, teaches the equality of all believers, the old reverence for a distinguished genealogy never quite disappeared. Under the influence of Shi‘a views and the increasing veneration for the Prophet, membership of the so-called “People of the House” became a mark of distinction.
Arabs, Turks, and Persians use the term as a title of honor for any descendant of Muhammad, although such distinction does not accord with Muslim egalitarianism. Unlike the Persians, Arabs traditionally gave such titles as sharif or sayyid to those who had earned them rather than inherited them. Yet in spite of the tendency to level class differences, the belief persisted that illustrious qualities are transmitted to one’s descendants. Kinship with the Prophet was thus an important claim to nobility -- to sharaf, and gradually Muhammad’s whole clan, the Hashimites, were so designated. Shi’ites, however, have restricted the title sharif to descendants of al-Hasan and al-Husayn.
In many Muslim countries, the title sayyid, like sharif, came to be applied only to descendants of the two sons of ‘Ali, Hasan and Husayn. The green turban, which became usual as a mark of the sharifs, especially in Egypt, owes its origin to an edict of the Mameluke sultan al-Ashraf Nasir al-Din Sha‘ban II. It did, however, not become the general headgear of the sharifs throughout the Muslim world. Sharif also used to be the regnal title of the rulers of Mecca and, under the term Shorfa’, it still is the title of the rulers of Morocco.
Sharīf is a traditional Arab tribal title given to those who serve as the protector of the tribe and all tribal assets, such as property, wells, and land. In origin, the word is an adjective meaning "noble", "highborn". The feminine singular is sharifa(h) (šarīfa). The masculine plural is Ashraf (ašrāf).
Primarily Sunnis in the Arab world reserve the term sharif for descendants of Hasan ibn Ali, while sayyid is used for descendants of Husayn ibn Ali. Both Hasan and Husayn are grandchildren of the Prophet Muhammad, through the marriage of his cousin Ali and his daughter Fatima. However ever since the post-Hashemite era began, the term sayyid has been used to denote descendants from both Hasan and Husayn. Arab Shiites use the terms sayyid and habib to denote descendants from both Hasan and Husayn.
From 1201 until the Hejaz was conquered by Ibn Saud in 1925, this family held the office of the Sharīf of Makkah, often also carrying the title and office of King of Hejaz. Descendants now rule the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the name being taken from the Banu Hashim, the sub-tribe of Banu Quraish, to which Prophet Muhammad belonged.
The word has no etymological connection with the English term sheriff, which comes from the Old English word scīrgerefa, meaning "shire-reeve," the local reeve (enforcement agent) of the king in the shire (county).
Sharif, however, is the Arabic/Persian word for "honorable".
Sharif is an Arabic title of respect, restricted, after the advent of Islam, to members of Muhammad’s clan of Hāshim—in particular, to descendants of his uncles al-ʿAbbās and Abū Ṭālib and of the latter’s son ʿAlī by Muhammad’s daughter Fāṭimah. In the Hejaz (western coast of Arabia), the title of sharif is said to have been further restricted to the descendants of Ḥasan, the elder son of ʿAlī and Fāṭimah. Sharifs originally were heads of prominent families in a town. Later they supplied the local semi-autonomous rulers of Mecca and Medina, especially when the cities were under the suzerainty of Baghdad and Cairo, while after the establishment of Ottoman rule, the Ottomans normally recognized the senior representative of the sharifs as prince of Mecca.
ashraf see sharif
shurafa see sharif
cherif see sharif
Sharif (in plural form, ashraf or shurafa’). Arabic title which means primarily a free man, one who can claim a distinguished position because of his descent from illustrious ancestors. Although the Qur’an, teaches the equality of all believers, the old reverence for a distinguished genealogy never quite disappeared. Under the influence of Shi‘a views and the increasing veneration for the Prophet, membership of the so-called “People of the House” became a mark of distinction.
Arabs, Turks, and Persians use the term as a title of honor for any descendant of Muhammad, although such distinction does not accord with Muslim egalitarianism. Unlike the Persians, Arabs traditionally gave such titles as sharif or sayyid to those who had earned them rather than inherited them. Yet in spite of the tendency to level class differences, the belief persisted that illustrious qualities are transmitted to one’s descendants. Kinship with the Prophet was thus an important claim to nobility -- to sharaf, and gradually Muhammad’s whole clan, the Hashimites, were so designated. Shi’ites, however, have restricted the title sharif to descendants of al-Hasan and al-Husayn.
In many Muslim countries, the title sayyid, like sharif, came to be applied only to descendants of the two sons of ‘Ali, Hasan and Husayn. The green turban, which became usual as a mark of the sharifs, especially in Egypt, owes its origin to an edict of the Mameluke sultan al-Ashraf Nasir al-Din Sha‘ban II. It did, however, not become the general headgear of the sharifs throughout the Muslim world. Sharif also used to be the regnal title of the rulers of Mecca and, under the term Shorfa’, it still is the title of the rulers of Morocco.
Sharīf is a traditional Arab tribal title given to those who serve as the protector of the tribe and all tribal assets, such as property, wells, and land. In origin, the word is an adjective meaning "noble", "highborn". The feminine singular is sharifa(h) (šarīfa). The masculine plural is Ashraf (ašrāf).
Primarily Sunnis in the Arab world reserve the term sharif for descendants of Hasan ibn Ali, while sayyid is used for descendants of Husayn ibn Ali. Both Hasan and Husayn are grandchildren of the Prophet Muhammad, through the marriage of his cousin Ali and his daughter Fatima. However ever since the post-Hashemite era began, the term sayyid has been used to denote descendants from both Hasan and Husayn. Arab Shiites use the terms sayyid and habib to denote descendants from both Hasan and Husayn.
From 1201 until the Hejaz was conquered by Ibn Saud in 1925, this family held the office of the Sharīf of Makkah, often also carrying the title and office of King of Hejaz. Descendants now rule the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the name being taken from the Banu Hashim, the sub-tribe of Banu Quraish, to which Prophet Muhammad belonged.
The word has no etymological connection with the English term sheriff, which comes from the Old English word scīrgerefa, meaning "shire-reeve," the local reeve (enforcement agent) of the king in the shire (county).
Sharif, however, is the Arabic/Persian word for "honorable".
Sharif is an Arabic title of respect, restricted, after the advent of Islam, to members of Muhammad’s clan of Hāshim—in particular, to descendants of his uncles al-ʿAbbās and Abū Ṭālib and of the latter’s son ʿAlī by Muhammad’s daughter Fāṭimah. In the Hejaz (western coast of Arabia), the title of sharif is said to have been further restricted to the descendants of Ḥasan, the elder son of ʿAlī and Fāṭimah. Sharifs originally were heads of prominent families in a town. Later they supplied the local semi-autonomous rulers of Mecca and Medina, especially when the cities were under the suzerainty of Baghdad and Cairo, while after the establishment of Ottoman rule, the Ottomans normally recognized the senior representative of the sharifs as prince of Mecca.
ashraf see sharif
shurafa see sharif
cherif see sharif
Sharif, Omar
Sharif, Omar (Michael Demitri Shalhoub) (Michel Shalhoub) (Michel Chalhoub) (b. April 10, 1932, Alexandria, Egypt - d. July 10, 2015, Cairo, Egypt). Egyptian film actor with worldwide success. His original name was Michel Shahoub, and he was educated at Victoria College in Cairo. He was working in the lumber business when he was offered a lead role in an Egyptian film in 1954. In this film, Fatin Hamama was a co-star. She was to become his wife.
Omar Sharif was an Egyptian actor of international acclaim, known for his dashing good looks and for his iconic roles in such films as Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Doctor Zhivago (1965).
Shalhoub was born in Alexandria, the only son of a prosperous lumber merchant. When he was four years old, he moved with his family to Cairo, where he attended English schools. With early aspirations of being an actor, Shalhoub participated in theater productions in secondary school. At the urging of his father, he worked for the family’s lumber business after graduating. In 1953, his acting dreams were realized when he was cast opposite Egyptian star Faten Hamama in Siraa fil-wadi (1954; “Struggle in the Valley”). He began his acting career using a pseudonym, which went through several variations and eventually was rendered consistently in English as Omar Sharif. Sharif went on to star in several more films with Hamama, whom he married in 1955 (the couple divorced in 1974).
Sharif quickly rose to stardom in his native Egypt, appearing in more than 20 films before garnering international acclaim as Sherif Ali in David Lean’s epic Lawrence of Arabia. His portrayal of the loyal Arab chief earned him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. Following this breakthrough role, Sharif was much in demand to play a variety of characters, including a Spanish priest in Behold a Pale Horse (1964) and the Mongolian conqueror in Genghis Khan (1965). Among Sharif’s most famous roles is the title character in Doctor Zhivago, Lean’s adaptation of Boris Pasternak’s novel of the same name. Starring opposite Julie Christie, Sharif portrayed a poet-doctor in the middle of a love triangle. He later was cast as a German military man in The Night of the Generals (1967), Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria in Mayerling (1968), and revolutionary Che Guevara in Che! (1969). Sharif was also well known for his portrayal of Nick Arnstein, husband to Barbra Streisand’s Fanny Brice in Funny Girl (1968). He reprised the role of Arnstein in the film’s sequel, Funny Lady (1975).
Sharif continued to appear both on-screen and on television into the 21st century, though he appeared in few notable roles after the mid-1970s. Instead, he devoted much of his time to the card game bridge, releasing books, videos, and video games on the subject. Beginning in the 1970s, Sharif published a syndicated column about bridge. He also wrote an autobiography, L’Éternel Masculin (1976; The Eternal Male), with Marie-Thérèse Guinchard.
Sharif was born Michael Shalhoub in Alexandria, into a wealthy Egyptian Catholic family. Sharif's family has widely been reported to be Egyptian-Lebanese, though Sharif has said that he is Egyptian and the reports to the contrary are incorrect. Sharif graduated from Alexandria’s Victoria College, then from Cairo University with degrees in both mathematics and physics. In 1955, Omar El-Sharif converted to Islam and then married Egyptian actress Faten Hamama. The couple had one son, Tarek El-Sharif, who appeared in Doctor Zhivago as Yuri at the age of eight. They separated in 1966 and the marriage ended in 1974. Sharif never remarried; he stated that since his divorce, he never fell in love with another woman, and that, although he lived abroad for years, it was not possible for him to fall in love with a woman who was not Egyptian. In a 2007 interview, Sharif denied rumors that he had become atheist. He’s remained a firm believer in God and Islam, and had performed a Umrah (pilgrimage to Mecca) three or four years earlier.
Sharif's filmography includes:
* Shaytan al-Sahra (1954)
* Sira` Fi al-Wadi (The Blazing Sun or Struggle in the Valley or Fight in the Valley) (1954)
* Ayyamna al-Holwa (Our Best Days) (1955)
* Siraa Fil-Mina (1956)
* Ard al-Salam (1957)
* The Lebanese Mission (Châtelaine du Liban, La) (1957)
* La anam (I Do Not Sleep) (1958)
* Goha (1958)
* Fadiha fil-zamalek (Scandal in Zamalek) (1959)
* Sayedat el kasr (Lady of the Castle) (1959)
* Seraa fil Nil (Struggle on the Nile) (1959)
* Bidaya wa nihaya (1960)
* Hobi al-wahid (My Only Love) (1960)
* Esha'a hob (Rumor of Love) (1960)
* Nahr al-Hob (The River of love) (1960)
* A Man in our House (A Man in our House) (1961)
* Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
* Behold a Pale Horse (1964)
* The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
* Doctor Zhivago (1965)
* The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1965)
* Genghis Khan (1965)
* The Night of the Generals (1967)
* More Than A Miracle (1967)
* Funny Girl (1968)
* Mayerling (1968)
* Che! (1969)
* The Appointment (1969)
* Mackenna's Gold (1969)
* The Last Valley (1970)
* The Horsemen (1971)
* The Burglars (1971)
* The Mysterious Island (L'Ile Mysterieuse) (TV miniseries) (1973)
* Juggernaut (1974)
* The Tamarind Seed (1974)
* Crime and Passion (1975)
* Funny Lady (1975)
* The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), uncredited cameo
* Ashanti: Land of No Mercy (1979)
* Bloodline (1979)
* S-H-E (1979)
* Oh Heavenly Dog (1980)
* The Baltimore Bullet (1980)
* Pleasure Palace (1980)
* Green Ice (1981)
* Top Secret! (1984)
* Peter the Great (1986)
* Harem (1986), as Sultan Hassan
* The Possessed (1988)
* The Jewel of the Nile (1988)
* Al-aragoz (the puppeteer) (1989)
* The Opium Connection (1990)
* Memories of Midnight (1991)
* Mowaten masri (An Egyptian Citizen) (1991)
* Beyond Justice (1992)
* Grand Larceny (1992)
* Mayrig (1992)
* Dehk we le'b we gad we hob (Laughter, Games, Seriousness and Love) (1993)
* Lie Down With Lions (1994)
* Catherine the Great (1995)
* Gulliver's Travels (1996)
* Heaven Before I Die (1997)
* Mysteries of Egypt (1998)
* The 13th Warrior (1999)
* The Parole Officer (2001)
* Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran (2003)
* Hidalgo (2004)
* Imperium: St Peter (2005)
* Fuoco su di me (2005)
* Shaka Zulu: The Last Great Warrior (2005)
* One Night with the King (2006)
* The Crown Prince (2006)
* Hanan W Haneen (TV Series - Egypt) (2007)
* The Ten Commandments (TV series) (2007)...as Jethro
* The Last Templar (TV Series) (2008)
* Hassan & Marcus (2008)
* 10,000 BC (2008)
* The Traveler (2009)
Sharif's books include:
* The Eternal Male (1977)
* Omar Sharif's Life in Bridge (1983)
* Omar Sharif talks Bridge (2004)
* Bridge Deluxe II play with Omar Sharif (Instruction manual)
Omar Sharif see Sharif, Omar
Michael Demitri Shalhoub see Sharif, Omar
Shalhoub, Michael Demitri see Sharif, Omar
Michel, Shalhoub see Sharif, Omar
Chalhoub, Michel see Sharif, Omar
Michel Chalhoub see Sharif, Omar
Sharif, Omar (Michael Demitri Shalhoub) (Michel Shalhoub) (Michel Chalhoub) (b. April 10, 1932, Alexandria, Egypt - d. July 10, 2015, Cairo, Egypt). Egyptian film actor with worldwide success. His original name was Michel Shahoub, and he was educated at Victoria College in Cairo. He was working in the lumber business when he was offered a lead role in an Egyptian film in 1954. In this film, Fatin Hamama was a co-star. She was to become his wife.
Omar Sharif was an Egyptian actor of international acclaim, known for his dashing good looks and for his iconic roles in such films as Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Doctor Zhivago (1965).
Shalhoub was born in Alexandria, the only son of a prosperous lumber merchant. When he was four years old, he moved with his family to Cairo, where he attended English schools. With early aspirations of being an actor, Shalhoub participated in theater productions in secondary school. At the urging of his father, he worked for the family’s lumber business after graduating. In 1953, his acting dreams were realized when he was cast opposite Egyptian star Faten Hamama in Siraa fil-wadi (1954; “Struggle in the Valley”). He began his acting career using a pseudonym, which went through several variations and eventually was rendered consistently in English as Omar Sharif. Sharif went on to star in several more films with Hamama, whom he married in 1955 (the couple divorced in 1974).
Sharif quickly rose to stardom in his native Egypt, appearing in more than 20 films before garnering international acclaim as Sherif Ali in David Lean’s epic Lawrence of Arabia. His portrayal of the loyal Arab chief earned him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. Following this breakthrough role, Sharif was much in demand to play a variety of characters, including a Spanish priest in Behold a Pale Horse (1964) and the Mongolian conqueror in Genghis Khan (1965). Among Sharif’s most famous roles is the title character in Doctor Zhivago, Lean’s adaptation of Boris Pasternak’s novel of the same name. Starring opposite Julie Christie, Sharif portrayed a poet-doctor in the middle of a love triangle. He later was cast as a German military man in The Night of the Generals (1967), Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria in Mayerling (1968), and revolutionary Che Guevara in Che! (1969). Sharif was also well known for his portrayal of Nick Arnstein, husband to Barbra Streisand’s Fanny Brice in Funny Girl (1968). He reprised the role of Arnstein in the film’s sequel, Funny Lady (1975).
Sharif continued to appear both on-screen and on television into the 21st century, though he appeared in few notable roles after the mid-1970s. Instead, he devoted much of his time to the card game bridge, releasing books, videos, and video games on the subject. Beginning in the 1970s, Sharif published a syndicated column about bridge. He also wrote an autobiography, L’Éternel Masculin (1976; The Eternal Male), with Marie-Thérèse Guinchard.
Sharif was born Michael Shalhoub in Alexandria, into a wealthy Egyptian Catholic family. Sharif's family has widely been reported to be Egyptian-Lebanese, though Sharif has said that he is Egyptian and the reports to the contrary are incorrect. Sharif graduated from Alexandria’s Victoria College, then from Cairo University with degrees in both mathematics and physics. In 1955, Omar El-Sharif converted to Islam and then married Egyptian actress Faten Hamama. The couple had one son, Tarek El-Sharif, who appeared in Doctor Zhivago as Yuri at the age of eight. They separated in 1966 and the marriage ended in 1974. Sharif never remarried; he stated that since his divorce, he never fell in love with another woman, and that, although he lived abroad for years, it was not possible for him to fall in love with a woman who was not Egyptian. In a 2007 interview, Sharif denied rumors that he had become atheist. He’s remained a firm believer in God and Islam, and had performed a Umrah (pilgrimage to Mecca) three or four years earlier.
Sharif's filmography includes:
* Shaytan al-Sahra (1954)
* Sira` Fi al-Wadi (The Blazing Sun or Struggle in the Valley or Fight in the Valley) (1954)
* Ayyamna al-Holwa (Our Best Days) (1955)
* Siraa Fil-Mina (1956)
* Ard al-Salam (1957)
* The Lebanese Mission (Châtelaine du Liban, La) (1957)
* La anam (I Do Not Sleep) (1958)
* Goha (1958)
* Fadiha fil-zamalek (Scandal in Zamalek) (1959)
* Sayedat el kasr (Lady of the Castle) (1959)
* Seraa fil Nil (Struggle on the Nile) (1959)
* Bidaya wa nihaya (1960)
* Hobi al-wahid (My Only Love) (1960)
* Esha'a hob (Rumor of Love) (1960)
* Nahr al-Hob (The River of love) (1960)
* A Man in our House (A Man in our House) (1961)
* Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
* Behold a Pale Horse (1964)
* The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
* Doctor Zhivago (1965)
* The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1965)
* Genghis Khan (1965)
* The Night of the Generals (1967)
* More Than A Miracle (1967)
* Funny Girl (1968)
* Mayerling (1968)
* Che! (1969)
* The Appointment (1969)
* Mackenna's Gold (1969)
* The Last Valley (1970)
* The Horsemen (1971)
* The Burglars (1971)
* The Mysterious Island (L'Ile Mysterieuse) (TV miniseries) (1973)
* Juggernaut (1974)
* The Tamarind Seed (1974)
* Crime and Passion (1975)
* Funny Lady (1975)
* The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), uncredited cameo
* Ashanti: Land of No Mercy (1979)
* Bloodline (1979)
* S-H-E (1979)
* Oh Heavenly Dog (1980)
* The Baltimore Bullet (1980)
* Pleasure Palace (1980)
* Green Ice (1981)
* Top Secret! (1984)
* Peter the Great (1986)
* Harem (1986), as Sultan Hassan
* The Possessed (1988)
* The Jewel of the Nile (1988)
* Al-aragoz (the puppeteer) (1989)
* The Opium Connection (1990)
* Memories of Midnight (1991)
* Mowaten masri (An Egyptian Citizen) (1991)
* Beyond Justice (1992)
* Grand Larceny (1992)
* Mayrig (1992)
* Dehk we le'b we gad we hob (Laughter, Games, Seriousness and Love) (1993)
* Lie Down With Lions (1994)
* Catherine the Great (1995)
* Gulliver's Travels (1996)
* Heaven Before I Die (1997)
* Mysteries of Egypt (1998)
* The 13th Warrior (1999)
* The Parole Officer (2001)
* Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran (2003)
* Hidalgo (2004)
* Imperium: St Peter (2005)
* Fuoco su di me (2005)
* Shaka Zulu: The Last Great Warrior (2005)
* One Night with the King (2006)
* The Crown Prince (2006)
* Hanan W Haneen (TV Series - Egypt) (2007)
* The Ten Commandments (TV series) (2007)...as Jethro
* The Last Templar (TV Series) (2008)
* Hassan & Marcus (2008)
* 10,000 BC (2008)
* The Traveler (2009)
Sharif's books include:
* The Eternal Male (1977)
* Omar Sharif's Life in Bridge (1983)
* Omar Sharif talks Bridge (2004)
* Bridge Deluxe II play with Omar Sharif (Instruction manual)
Omar Sharif see Sharif, Omar
Michael Demitri Shalhoub see Sharif, Omar
Shalhoub, Michael Demitri see Sharif, Omar
Michel, Shalhoub see Sharif, Omar
Chalhoub, Michel see Sharif, Omar
Michel Chalhoub see Sharif, Omar
Sharif Pasha
Sharif Pasha (Muhammad Sharif Pasha) (1823/1826 - April 20, 1887, Graz, Austria). Egyptian statesman of Turkish origin. He was sent to Paris from higher education together with the future khedives Sa‘id Pasha, Isma‘il Pasha and ‘Ali Mubarak Pasha, and served for some time in the French army. After the inauguration of constitutional government in Egypt in 1878, he formed three cabinets. After the defeat of ‘Urabi Pasha he came into conflict with the British and resigned in 1884.
Muhammad Sharif Pasha was an Egyptian statesman, and originally a Circassian. He served as Prime Minister of Egypt three times during his career. His first term was between April 7, 1879 and August 18, 1879. His second term was served from September 14, 1881 to February 4, 1882. His final term was served between August 21, 1882 and January 7, 1884.
Sharif, who was from Kavala in northern Greece, filled numerous administrative posts under Said Pasha and Ismail Pasha. He was better educated than most of his contemporaries, and had married a daughter of Colonel Sèves, the French non-commissioned officer who became Suleiman Pasha under Mehemet Ali.
As minister of foreign affairs he was useful to Ismail, who used Sharif's bluff bonhomie to veil many of his most insidious proposals. Of singularly lazy disposition, he yet possessed considerable tact. He was in fact an Egyptian Lord Melbourne, whose policy was to leave everything alone.
Sharif's favorite argument against any reform was to appeal to the Pyramids as an immutable proof of the solidity of Egypt financially and politically. His fatal optimism rendered him largely responsible for the collapse of Egyptian credit which brought about the fall of Ismail.
Upon the military insurrection of September 1881 under Urabi Pasha, Sharif was summoned by the khedive Tawfiq to form a new ministry. The impossibility of reconciling the financial requirements of the national party with the demands of the British and French controllers of the public debt, compelled him to resign in the following February.
After the suppression of the Urabi Revolt he was again installed in office (August 1882) by Tawfiq, but in January 1884 he resigned rather than sanction the evacuation of the Sudan. As to the strength of the Mahdist movement he had then no conception. When urged by Sir Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer) early in 1883 to abandon some of the more distant parts of the Sudan, he replied with characteristic light-heartedness: "Nous en causerons plus tard; d'abord nous allons donner une bonne racleé a ce monsieur" (We'll talk about that later, first we're going to give this gentleman (i.e. the Mahdi) a good thrashing).
Sharif died in Graz, Austria, on April 20, 1887.
Muhammad Sharif Pasha see Sharif Pasha
Sharif Pasha (Muhammad Sharif Pasha) (1823/1826 - April 20, 1887, Graz, Austria). Egyptian statesman of Turkish origin. He was sent to Paris from higher education together with the future khedives Sa‘id Pasha, Isma‘il Pasha and ‘Ali Mubarak Pasha, and served for some time in the French army. After the inauguration of constitutional government in Egypt in 1878, he formed three cabinets. After the defeat of ‘Urabi Pasha he came into conflict with the British and resigned in 1884.
Muhammad Sharif Pasha was an Egyptian statesman, and originally a Circassian. He served as Prime Minister of Egypt three times during his career. His first term was between April 7, 1879 and August 18, 1879. His second term was served from September 14, 1881 to February 4, 1882. His final term was served between August 21, 1882 and January 7, 1884.
Sharif, who was from Kavala in northern Greece, filled numerous administrative posts under Said Pasha and Ismail Pasha. He was better educated than most of his contemporaries, and had married a daughter of Colonel Sèves, the French non-commissioned officer who became Suleiman Pasha under Mehemet Ali.
As minister of foreign affairs he was useful to Ismail, who used Sharif's bluff bonhomie to veil many of his most insidious proposals. Of singularly lazy disposition, he yet possessed considerable tact. He was in fact an Egyptian Lord Melbourne, whose policy was to leave everything alone.
Sharif's favorite argument against any reform was to appeal to the Pyramids as an immutable proof of the solidity of Egypt financially and politically. His fatal optimism rendered him largely responsible for the collapse of Egyptian credit which brought about the fall of Ismail.
Upon the military insurrection of September 1881 under Urabi Pasha, Sharif was summoned by the khedive Tawfiq to form a new ministry. The impossibility of reconciling the financial requirements of the national party with the demands of the British and French controllers of the public debt, compelled him to resign in the following February.
After the suppression of the Urabi Revolt he was again installed in office (August 1882) by Tawfiq, but in January 1884 he resigned rather than sanction the evacuation of the Sudan. As to the strength of the Mahdist movement he had then no conception. When urged by Sir Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer) early in 1883 to abandon some of the more distant parts of the Sudan, he replied with characteristic light-heartedness: "Nous en causerons plus tard; d'abord nous allons donner une bonne racleé a ce monsieur" (We'll talk about that later, first we're going to give this gentleman (i.e. the Mahdi) a good thrashing).
Sharif died in Graz, Austria, on April 20, 1887.
Muhammad Sharif Pasha see Sharif Pasha
Shari‘i, al-Imam Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-
Shari‘i, al-Imam Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-(al-Imam Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-Shari‘i) (767-820). Founder of the Shafi‘i school of law. He belonged to the tribe of Quraysh and was a Hashimi, thus remotely connected with the Prophet. He acquired a thorough knowledge of the old Arab poets, knew the Muwatta of Malik ibn Anas by heart, and remained with him in Medina until the latter’s death in 796. In Yemen, he was involved in ‘Alid intrigues and was imprisoned in Raqqa by the ‘Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid in 803. After his release, he became intimate with the celebrated Hanafi Muhammad al-Shaybani, went via Harran and Syria to Egypt and in 810 to Baghdad where he set up successfully as a teacher. In 814, he returned to Egypt. Saladin had a great madrasa built in his honor at the foot of the Muqattam Hills in al-Fustat. Al-Shafi‘i may be described as an eclectic who acted as an intermediary between the independent legal investigation and the traditionalism of his time. He is regarded as the founder of the “Principles of Jurisprudence” (in Arabic, usul al-fiqh), laid down in his Treatise. Unlike the Hanafis, he sought to lay down the rules for reasoning by analogy (in Arabic, qiyas) and rejected human interpretation (in Arabic, istihsan).
Imam Abu 'Abd Allah Shari'i, al- see Shari‘i, al-Imam Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-
Shari‘i, al-Imam Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-(al-Imam Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-Shari‘i) (767-820). Founder of the Shafi‘i school of law. He belonged to the tribe of Quraysh and was a Hashimi, thus remotely connected with the Prophet. He acquired a thorough knowledge of the old Arab poets, knew the Muwatta of Malik ibn Anas by heart, and remained with him in Medina until the latter’s death in 796. In Yemen, he was involved in ‘Alid intrigues and was imprisoned in Raqqa by the ‘Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid in 803. After his release, he became intimate with the celebrated Hanafi Muhammad al-Shaybani, went via Harran and Syria to Egypt and in 810 to Baghdad where he set up successfully as a teacher. In 814, he returned to Egypt. Saladin had a great madrasa built in his honor at the foot of the Muqattam Hills in al-Fustat. Al-Shafi‘i may be described as an eclectic who acted as an intermediary between the independent legal investigation and the traditionalism of his time. He is regarded as the founder of the “Principles of Jurisprudence” (in Arabic, usul al-fiqh), laid down in his Treatise. Unlike the Hanafis, he sought to lay down the rules for reasoning by analogy (in Arabic, qiyas) and rejected human interpretation (in Arabic, istihsan).
Imam Abu 'Abd Allah Shari'i, al- see Shari‘i, al-Imam Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-
Sharqawa
Sharqawa. Name of a marabout family in central Morocco. They were members of the Shadhiliyya order and were active in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Their religious center was in Boujad (in Arabic, Abu’l-Ja‘d) in the Tadla. It became one of the most frequented sanctuaries in Morocco.
Sharqawa. Name of a marabout family in central Morocco. They were members of the Shadhiliyya order and were active in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Their religious center was in Boujad (in Arabic, Abu’l-Ja‘d) in the Tadla. It became one of the most frequented sanctuaries in Morocco.
Shattariyah
Shattariyah (Shattariyya) (Shattari). Sufi order of importance in India and Indonesia, the Shattariyah is in the Tayfuri line of Sufi orders that follow the mystical tradition of Abu Yazid al-Bistami (d. 874) and was called the Bistamiyah in Ottoman Turkey and ‘Ishqiyah in Iran and Central Asia (the principal exponent in Transoxiana was Abu Yazid al-‘Ishqi). The foundation of the Shattari order is attributed to the eponymous ‘Abdullah Shattari (d. 1485), who claimed hereditary descent from Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi (d. 1244). The title shattari is said to have been given him by his spiritual master, Muhammad ‘Arif Tayfuri, in recognition of the rapidity with which ‘Abdullah advanced on the Sufi path. As such, the word should probably be read shuttari (from shuttar, plural of shatir, meaning “skillful,” “clever”).
‘Abdullah Shattari is said to have made a theatrical migration to India during the reign of the Timurid sultan Abu Sa‘id (r. 1451-1469), wearing royal robes and accompanied by a retinue of black-gowned mystics beating drums and waving banners. He maintained a close relationship with Sultan Ghiyasuddin Khalji (r. 1469-1501), dedicating his book Lata’if-i ghaybiyah to the king and providing him with spiritual aid during the siege of Chitor. The Mughal emperor Humayun erected a mausoleum for him at Mandu in Malwa. ‘Abdullah was succeeded by his son, Abulfath Hadyatullah Sarmast (d. 1497), and by a much more influential disciple, Muhammad ibn ‘Ala Qadin Tirhuti (d. 1495). The latter is said to have been initiated into the Shattari order during ‘Abdullah Shattari’s journey to Bihar around 1475. Muhammad Qadin actively propagated the Shattariyah until his death and was the most important figure in its spread in Bihar, which ranks second only to Gujarat as a center of Shattari activity in India. He wrote two major works, Ma‘adin al-asrar and Awrad-i Qadin Shattari. An annual fair is held on the anniversary of his death at a tomb atop a Buddhist stupa in Basharh, Punjab; the date of this festival is reckoned according to the Hindu/Buddhist calendar.
The most important figure in the formation of the Shattari order is Muhammad Ghaus of Gwalior (d. 1562), fourth in line from ‘Abdullah Shattari. Both Muhammad Ghaus and his brother and fellow Shattari Shaykh Bahlul (also known as Shaykh Phul, d. 1538) were held in high esteem by Emperor Humayun, which caused them much trouble. Shaykh Bahlul was executed by Humayun’s brother Hindal, and Muhammad Ghaus was forced to flee from northern India to Gujarat when Humayun was overthrown in 1539 by Sher Shah-Suri. While in Gujarat, Muhammad Ghaus established important Shattari centers in Ahmadabad and Bharoch (Broach). He visited Agra briefly in 1558 after Akbar had restored Mughal rule and then returned to Gwalior. Akbar built an imposing tomb over his grave. Tan Sen, the most famous figure in the history of Hindustani classical music, was a devotee of Muhammad Ghaus and is buried near him.
Muhammad Ghaus was a rigorous ascetic who spent twelve years in solitary meditation in the Chunar hills near Benares (Varanasi). He was also a productive author to whom the following works are attributed: Ja-wahir-i khamsa, Risala-yi mi‘rajiyah, Bahr ul-hayat, Kalid-i makhazin, Dama’ir, Basa’ir, Kanz ul-wahdat, and Awrad-i ghausiyah. Jawahir-i khamsa is the most important and exists in a popular Arabic version in addition to the Persian original. It deals with Sufi doctrines and practices as well as astrological issues in connection with the divine names. Risalah-yi mi’rajiyah describes a spiritual journey and contains some ecstatic utterances; it is reminiscent of a similar work by Abu Yazid al-Bistami, from whom the Shattariyah is derived. The Bahr ul-hayat is a Persian translation of the Hatha-yoga treatise Amrtakunda and is probably the first translation of a Hindu religious work undertaken by a Muslim.
Muhammad Ghaus’s heterodox beliefs and active interest in yogic practices earned him the condemnation of the ‘ulama’ of Gujarat. He was vindicated by one of them, Shah Wajihuddin (d. 1589), a reputable religious scholar who became his main successor. Wajihuddin was a prolific author credited with approximately three hundred works. His famous madrasah at Ahmadabad attracted such important Sufis as ‘Abd al-Haqq Muhaddis Dihlavi (d. 1642) and survived until 1820. His shrine at Khanpur is a major pilgrimage center for Gujarat. His festival is held on the last day of Muharram and the first of Safar.
Wajihuddin discarded many of the ecstatic and yogic practices of his teacher and forbade his disciples to accept non-Muslims as folowers. He promulgated a form of Sufism that subordinated itself to the precepts of Islamic law, bringing the Shattariyah much closer to the vastly more popular Qadiri order to which he had originally belonged. A secondary branch of the Shattariyah, which continued to emphasize the more heterodox of Muhammad Ghaus’s practices, came to be known as the Ghausiyah.
Wajihuddin was succeeded by two disciples, Muhammad ibn Fadlullah Burhanpuri (whose At-tuhfa al-mursala ila’n-nabi was influential in spreading Sufism in Indonesia) and Shah Sibghatullah of Bharoch (d. 1607). Shah Sibghatullah migrated to Medina, where he built a khanqah (Sufi convent), using money given to him either by the rulers of Bijapur and Ahmadnagar, or else by the local representative of the Ottoman sultan. It was largely through his disciple Ahmad Shinnavi (d. 1619) that the Shattariyah spread outside India.
In 1643 ‘Abdurra’uf ibn ‘Ali (d. about 1693) of Singkep in Sumatra made a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he became a disciple of Ahmad Qushshashi (d. about 1661), the successor of Ahmad Shinnavi. He stayed with Qushshashi until the latter’s death nineteen years later, when ‘Abdurra’uf returned to Aceh in Sumatra where he actively promoted the Shattariyah. He wrote several treatises in Malay, including the first known Malay translation of the Qur’an with a commentary. The Shattariyah was the first Sufi order to establish itself in Java, and ‘Abdurra’uf’s shrine remains an important Sumatran and Javanese pilgrimage site.
A major source of information on the Shattariyah is Gulzar-i abrar, a biographical work written by a spiritual descendant of Muhammad Ghaus named Muhammad Ghausi (d. after 1633). Descriptions of the sect’s beliefs and practices are also found in As-salsabil al-mu’in by Muhammad al-Sanusi and in Irshadat al-‘arifin by Muhammad Ibrahim Gazur-i Ilahi.
The Shattariyah is perhaps the most thoroughly Indian of the Sufi orders, having embraced wholeheartedly the Indian cultural milieu and Hindu -- especially yogic -- ideas. ‘Abdullah Shattari is said to have studied yoga and composed songs in Indian vernaculars. Later Shattari shaykhs went so far as to allow their disciples to use Sanskrit and Hindi formulae in dhikr (Sufi prayer). Meditation exercises involving yogic postures and breath control were certainly practiced by Muhammad Ghaus. These have been described by Sanusi as a dhikr exercise called the jujiyah (i.e., yoga). Among the Shattaris, mystical practice is directly related to magical and supernatural powers, and many of their shaykhs (including the sober Wajihuddin) are remembered as exorcists and healers.
The Shattariyya Ṣūfī (Muslim mystic) order may also derive its name from the Arabic word shāṭir (“breaker”), referring to one who has broken with the world.
Most Muslim mystics emphasize the servantship of man and the lordship of God, the fana (“dissolution”) of self and the baqāʾ (“subsistence”) of God. The Shaṭṭārīyah, on the contrary, stress the self, personal deeds, personal attributes that make a person godlike, and personal union with God. They maintain that fana would imply two selves, one that is to be annihilated and another that is to be readied for the final stage of the vision of God; and that such duality is opposed to the tawhid (“unity”) on which Ṣūfism is based. They also reject the Ṣūfī practice of mujāhadah (“struggle with the carnal self”), saying that excessive focusing on the self distracts from the more important goals of knowledge of God through personal experience and ultimate union.
The word Shattar means "speed", "rapidness" or "fast-goer" and is a system of spiritual practices which lead quickly to a state of 'completion'. Unlike other Sufi turuq the Shattaris did not subscribe to the concept of fana (self effacement, annihilation in the Divine). With the sect of Shattaris, the Salik (seeker, aspirant) descends, of himself, in his own knowledge - there is no annihilation of self with them.
The Shattaris subscribed to six fundamental principles:
(i) One should not believe in self-negation but adhere to self-affirmation.
(ii) Contemplation is a waste of time.
(iii) Self-effacement is a wrong idea. Man must say nothing except "I am I." Unity is to understand One, see One, say One and to hear One. A Sufi of this order must say "I am one" and "There is no partner with me."
(iv) There is no necessity of opposition to Nafs (the self) nor of Mujaheda (effort).
(v) There is no such state as annihilation (fana), for that requires two personalities; one wishing annihilation and the other in whom annihilation takes place, which is dualism and not unity.
(vi) One should not abstain from eating certain food. He must instead consider his ego and its attributes and actions as identical with those of the Universal Ego. The animal soul is not an obstacle for reaching God.
The Shattaris held to the principle of wahdat al-wujud (Unity of Existence), as expounded by Ibn Arabi. Abu'l Mawahib al Shinnawi was know to be an outspoken adherent of this doctrine. And Shinnawi's successor, Ahmad al-Qushashi was described by the contemporary Damascene scholar Muhammad Amin al Muhibbi as "The Imam of those who expound the unity of existence".
Some aspects of Shattari teaching sought to combine parts of Nath Yoga and other forms of Hindu mystical practice with Sufi methods. Shaykh Baha' al-Din Shattari (d. 1515 C.E.) incorporated Indian spiritual practices into his Risala-i Shattariyya (The Shattari Treatise). Later The Pool of Nectar, an ancient text traced by Carl Ernst back to the Hindu Amrtakunda, was translated into Persian by Muhammad Ghawth. Muhammad Gwath's translation was "a systematic account of yogic mantras and visualization practices, assimilated and even incorporated into the conceptual structure of Sufi tradition". It included an account of the Yogic chakras, and the practices required to activate each one, with Sufi wazifas substituted instead of the traditional Hindu mantras.
The Shattari silsilah branches into a number of lines, including Gujarati, Hijazi, Jawi (Indonesian) and others. This is the succession of the Shattaris of Medina.
1. The Prophet Muhammad
2. Imam Ali
3. Amir al-Muminin Hussein
4. Zain al-abidin
5. Imam Muhammad Baqir
6. Imam Jafar al-Sadiq
7. Abu Yazid al-Bastami
8. Muhammad al-Maghribi
9. Abu Yazid al-Ishqiyyah
10. Abd al Muzafar Turki al-Tusi
11. Abu'l hasan al-Kharaqani
12. Hassan al-Hudaqly
13. Muhammad Ashiq
14. Muhammad Arif
15. Abdalllah Shattari Mast
16. Alauddin Kazan
17. Abu'l Fattah Hidayatallah Sarmast
18. Shah Zahur Hajji Huzur
19. Shah Muhammad Gwath Gwaliyari
20. Wajihuddin Gujarati
21. Sibghatallah al-Barwaji
22. Abu'l Mawahib al Shinnawi
23. Ahmad al-Qushashi
24. Ibrahim Kurani
25. Muhammad Abu'l Tahir Kurani
Shattariyya see Shattariyah
Shattari see Shattariyah
Shattariyah (Shattariyya) (Shattari). Sufi order of importance in India and Indonesia, the Shattariyah is in the Tayfuri line of Sufi orders that follow the mystical tradition of Abu Yazid al-Bistami (d. 874) and was called the Bistamiyah in Ottoman Turkey and ‘Ishqiyah in Iran and Central Asia (the principal exponent in Transoxiana was Abu Yazid al-‘Ishqi). The foundation of the Shattari order is attributed to the eponymous ‘Abdullah Shattari (d. 1485), who claimed hereditary descent from Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi (d. 1244). The title shattari is said to have been given him by his spiritual master, Muhammad ‘Arif Tayfuri, in recognition of the rapidity with which ‘Abdullah advanced on the Sufi path. As such, the word should probably be read shuttari (from shuttar, plural of shatir, meaning “skillful,” “clever”).
‘Abdullah Shattari is said to have made a theatrical migration to India during the reign of the Timurid sultan Abu Sa‘id (r. 1451-1469), wearing royal robes and accompanied by a retinue of black-gowned mystics beating drums and waving banners. He maintained a close relationship with Sultan Ghiyasuddin Khalji (r. 1469-1501), dedicating his book Lata’if-i ghaybiyah to the king and providing him with spiritual aid during the siege of Chitor. The Mughal emperor Humayun erected a mausoleum for him at Mandu in Malwa. ‘Abdullah was succeeded by his son, Abulfath Hadyatullah Sarmast (d. 1497), and by a much more influential disciple, Muhammad ibn ‘Ala Qadin Tirhuti (d. 1495). The latter is said to have been initiated into the Shattari order during ‘Abdullah Shattari’s journey to Bihar around 1475. Muhammad Qadin actively propagated the Shattariyah until his death and was the most important figure in its spread in Bihar, which ranks second only to Gujarat as a center of Shattari activity in India. He wrote two major works, Ma‘adin al-asrar and Awrad-i Qadin Shattari. An annual fair is held on the anniversary of his death at a tomb atop a Buddhist stupa in Basharh, Punjab; the date of this festival is reckoned according to the Hindu/Buddhist calendar.
The most important figure in the formation of the Shattari order is Muhammad Ghaus of Gwalior (d. 1562), fourth in line from ‘Abdullah Shattari. Both Muhammad Ghaus and his brother and fellow Shattari Shaykh Bahlul (also known as Shaykh Phul, d. 1538) were held in high esteem by Emperor Humayun, which caused them much trouble. Shaykh Bahlul was executed by Humayun’s brother Hindal, and Muhammad Ghaus was forced to flee from northern India to Gujarat when Humayun was overthrown in 1539 by Sher Shah-Suri. While in Gujarat, Muhammad Ghaus established important Shattari centers in Ahmadabad and Bharoch (Broach). He visited Agra briefly in 1558 after Akbar had restored Mughal rule and then returned to Gwalior. Akbar built an imposing tomb over his grave. Tan Sen, the most famous figure in the history of Hindustani classical music, was a devotee of Muhammad Ghaus and is buried near him.
Muhammad Ghaus was a rigorous ascetic who spent twelve years in solitary meditation in the Chunar hills near Benares (Varanasi). He was also a productive author to whom the following works are attributed: Ja-wahir-i khamsa, Risala-yi mi‘rajiyah, Bahr ul-hayat, Kalid-i makhazin, Dama’ir, Basa’ir, Kanz ul-wahdat, and Awrad-i ghausiyah. Jawahir-i khamsa is the most important and exists in a popular Arabic version in addition to the Persian original. It deals with Sufi doctrines and practices as well as astrological issues in connection with the divine names. Risalah-yi mi’rajiyah describes a spiritual journey and contains some ecstatic utterances; it is reminiscent of a similar work by Abu Yazid al-Bistami, from whom the Shattariyah is derived. The Bahr ul-hayat is a Persian translation of the Hatha-yoga treatise Amrtakunda and is probably the first translation of a Hindu religious work undertaken by a Muslim.
Muhammad Ghaus’s heterodox beliefs and active interest in yogic practices earned him the condemnation of the ‘ulama’ of Gujarat. He was vindicated by one of them, Shah Wajihuddin (d. 1589), a reputable religious scholar who became his main successor. Wajihuddin was a prolific author credited with approximately three hundred works. His famous madrasah at Ahmadabad attracted such important Sufis as ‘Abd al-Haqq Muhaddis Dihlavi (d. 1642) and survived until 1820. His shrine at Khanpur is a major pilgrimage center for Gujarat. His festival is held on the last day of Muharram and the first of Safar.
Wajihuddin discarded many of the ecstatic and yogic practices of his teacher and forbade his disciples to accept non-Muslims as folowers. He promulgated a form of Sufism that subordinated itself to the precepts of Islamic law, bringing the Shattariyah much closer to the vastly more popular Qadiri order to which he had originally belonged. A secondary branch of the Shattariyah, which continued to emphasize the more heterodox of Muhammad Ghaus’s practices, came to be known as the Ghausiyah.
Wajihuddin was succeeded by two disciples, Muhammad ibn Fadlullah Burhanpuri (whose At-tuhfa al-mursala ila’n-nabi was influential in spreading Sufism in Indonesia) and Shah Sibghatullah of Bharoch (d. 1607). Shah Sibghatullah migrated to Medina, where he built a khanqah (Sufi convent), using money given to him either by the rulers of Bijapur and Ahmadnagar, or else by the local representative of the Ottoman sultan. It was largely through his disciple Ahmad Shinnavi (d. 1619) that the Shattariyah spread outside India.
In 1643 ‘Abdurra’uf ibn ‘Ali (d. about 1693) of Singkep in Sumatra made a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he became a disciple of Ahmad Qushshashi (d. about 1661), the successor of Ahmad Shinnavi. He stayed with Qushshashi until the latter’s death nineteen years later, when ‘Abdurra’uf returned to Aceh in Sumatra where he actively promoted the Shattariyah. He wrote several treatises in Malay, including the first known Malay translation of the Qur’an with a commentary. The Shattariyah was the first Sufi order to establish itself in Java, and ‘Abdurra’uf’s shrine remains an important Sumatran and Javanese pilgrimage site.
A major source of information on the Shattariyah is Gulzar-i abrar, a biographical work written by a spiritual descendant of Muhammad Ghaus named Muhammad Ghausi (d. after 1633). Descriptions of the sect’s beliefs and practices are also found in As-salsabil al-mu’in by Muhammad al-Sanusi and in Irshadat al-‘arifin by Muhammad Ibrahim Gazur-i Ilahi.
The Shattariyah is perhaps the most thoroughly Indian of the Sufi orders, having embraced wholeheartedly the Indian cultural milieu and Hindu -- especially yogic -- ideas. ‘Abdullah Shattari is said to have studied yoga and composed songs in Indian vernaculars. Later Shattari shaykhs went so far as to allow their disciples to use Sanskrit and Hindi formulae in dhikr (Sufi prayer). Meditation exercises involving yogic postures and breath control were certainly practiced by Muhammad Ghaus. These have been described by Sanusi as a dhikr exercise called the jujiyah (i.e., yoga). Among the Shattaris, mystical practice is directly related to magical and supernatural powers, and many of their shaykhs (including the sober Wajihuddin) are remembered as exorcists and healers.
The Shattariyya Ṣūfī (Muslim mystic) order may also derive its name from the Arabic word shāṭir (“breaker”), referring to one who has broken with the world.
Most Muslim mystics emphasize the servantship of man and the lordship of God, the fana (“dissolution”) of self and the baqāʾ (“subsistence”) of God. The Shaṭṭārīyah, on the contrary, stress the self, personal deeds, personal attributes that make a person godlike, and personal union with God. They maintain that fana would imply two selves, one that is to be annihilated and another that is to be readied for the final stage of the vision of God; and that such duality is opposed to the tawhid (“unity”) on which Ṣūfism is based. They also reject the Ṣūfī practice of mujāhadah (“struggle with the carnal self”), saying that excessive focusing on the self distracts from the more important goals of knowledge of God through personal experience and ultimate union.
The word Shattar means "speed", "rapidness" or "fast-goer" and is a system of spiritual practices which lead quickly to a state of 'completion'. Unlike other Sufi turuq the Shattaris did not subscribe to the concept of fana (self effacement, annihilation in the Divine). With the sect of Shattaris, the Salik (seeker, aspirant) descends, of himself, in his own knowledge - there is no annihilation of self with them.
The Shattaris subscribed to six fundamental principles:
(i) One should not believe in self-negation but adhere to self-affirmation.
(ii) Contemplation is a waste of time.
(iii) Self-effacement is a wrong idea. Man must say nothing except "I am I." Unity is to understand One, see One, say One and to hear One. A Sufi of this order must say "I am one" and "There is no partner with me."
(iv) There is no necessity of opposition to Nafs (the self) nor of Mujaheda (effort).
(v) There is no such state as annihilation (fana), for that requires two personalities; one wishing annihilation and the other in whom annihilation takes place, which is dualism and not unity.
(vi) One should not abstain from eating certain food. He must instead consider his ego and its attributes and actions as identical with those of the Universal Ego. The animal soul is not an obstacle for reaching God.
The Shattaris held to the principle of wahdat al-wujud (Unity of Existence), as expounded by Ibn Arabi. Abu'l Mawahib al Shinnawi was know to be an outspoken adherent of this doctrine. And Shinnawi's successor, Ahmad al-Qushashi was described by the contemporary Damascene scholar Muhammad Amin al Muhibbi as "The Imam of those who expound the unity of existence".
Some aspects of Shattari teaching sought to combine parts of Nath Yoga and other forms of Hindu mystical practice with Sufi methods. Shaykh Baha' al-Din Shattari (d. 1515 C.E.) incorporated Indian spiritual practices into his Risala-i Shattariyya (The Shattari Treatise). Later The Pool of Nectar, an ancient text traced by Carl Ernst back to the Hindu Amrtakunda, was translated into Persian by Muhammad Ghawth. Muhammad Gwath's translation was "a systematic account of yogic mantras and visualization practices, assimilated and even incorporated into the conceptual structure of Sufi tradition". It included an account of the Yogic chakras, and the practices required to activate each one, with Sufi wazifas substituted instead of the traditional Hindu mantras.
The Shattari silsilah branches into a number of lines, including Gujarati, Hijazi, Jawi (Indonesian) and others. This is the succession of the Shattaris of Medina.
1. The Prophet Muhammad
2. Imam Ali
3. Amir al-Muminin Hussein
4. Zain al-abidin
5. Imam Muhammad Baqir
6. Imam Jafar al-Sadiq
7. Abu Yazid al-Bastami
8. Muhammad al-Maghribi
9. Abu Yazid al-Ishqiyyah
10. Abd al Muzafar Turki al-Tusi
11. Abu'l hasan al-Kharaqani
12. Hassan al-Hudaqly
13. Muhammad Ashiq
14. Muhammad Arif
15. Abdalllah Shattari Mast
16. Alauddin Kazan
17. Abu'l Fattah Hidayatallah Sarmast
18. Shah Zahur Hajji Huzur
19. Shah Muhammad Gwath Gwaliyari
20. Wajihuddin Gujarati
21. Sibghatallah al-Barwaji
22. Abu'l Mawahib al Shinnawi
23. Ahmad al-Qushashi
24. Ibrahim Kurani
25. Muhammad Abu'l Tahir Kurani
Shattariyya see Shattariyah
Shattari see Shattariyah
Shawar, Abu Shuja’
Shawar, Abu Shuja’ (Abu Shuja’ Shawar) (d.1169). Vizier of the last Fatimid Caliph al-‘Adid li-Din Allah. He had to flee from Cairo in 1163, returned with the support of Nur al-Din Mahmud Zangi but came into conflict with Nur al-Din’s general Shirkuh. Shawar appealed for help to Amalric I, king Jerusalem, who forced Shirkuh to return to Syria. In 1167, Shirkuh invaded Egypt for a second time and defeated Shawar, but the latter, again allied to the Franks, succeeded in getting Shirkuh to leave once more. In 1168, Nur al-Din sent Shirkuh into Egypt for the third time with the avowed object of driving out the Franks, whose demands had provoked a rupture with Shawar, who purchased their departure. When the Caliph al-‘Adid made a persona appeal to Nur al-Din for help, Shirkuh’s entourage, notably his nephew Saladin, decided upon Shawar’s death.
Abu Shuja' Shawar see Shawar, Abu Shuja’
Shawar, Abu Shuja’ (Abu Shuja’ Shawar) (d.1169). Vizier of the last Fatimid Caliph al-‘Adid li-Din Allah. He had to flee from Cairo in 1163, returned with the support of Nur al-Din Mahmud Zangi but came into conflict with Nur al-Din’s general Shirkuh. Shawar appealed for help to Amalric I, king Jerusalem, who forced Shirkuh to return to Syria. In 1167, Shirkuh invaded Egypt for a second time and defeated Shawar, but the latter, again allied to the Franks, succeeded in getting Shirkuh to leave once more. In 1168, Nur al-Din sent Shirkuh into Egypt for the third time with the avowed object of driving out the Franks, whose demands had provoked a rupture with Shawar, who purchased their departure. When the Caliph al-‘Adid made a persona appeal to Nur al-Din for help, Shirkuh’s entourage, notably his nephew Saladin, decided upon Shawar’s death.
Abu Shuja' Shawar see Shawar, Abu Shuja’
Shayba, Banu
Shayba, Banu (Banu Shayba). Name of the keepers of the Ka‘ba.
Banu Shayba see Shayba, Banu
Shayba, Banu (Banu Shayba). Name of the keepers of the Ka‘ba.
Banu Shayba see Shayba, Banu
Shaybani, Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-
Shaybani, Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-(Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-Shaybani) (Muhammad al-Shaybani) (Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī) (749/750-804). Hanafi jurist. At an early age, he studied under Abu Hanifa in Kufa. The Hanafi school owes its spread of popularity to al-Shaybani and to Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub al-Ansari (d. 798).
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī was one of the most important disciples of Abu Hanifa (the eponymous founder of the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence), and Abu Yusuf, as well as an eminent jurist.
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan was born in Wāsiṭ, Iraq. Soon afterwards his family moved to Kufa, the home town of Abū Ḥanīfa, and Muhammad grew up there.
Though he was born to a soldier, he was much more interested in pursuing an intellectual career, as opposed to a military one. Shaybani began studying in Kufa as a pupil of Abu Hanifa. When al-Shaybani was 18, however, Abu Hanifa died after having taught him for only two years.
Shaybani then began training with Abū Yūsuf, his senior, and the leading disciple of Abu Hanifa. He also had other prominent teachers as well: Sufyan al-Thawrī and al-Awzāʿī. Shaybani also later visited Medina, and studied for two to three years with Malik ibn Anas, founder of the Maliki school of Fiqh. Thus, as a result of his education, al-Shaybani became a jurist at a very early age. According to Abu Hanifa's grandson Ismail, he taught in Kufa at age twenty (c. 770).
Al-Shaybānī moved to Baghdad, where he continued his learning. He was so respected that Caliph Harun al-Rashid appointed him qadi (judge) of his capital city Ar-Raqqah (around 796). Al-Shaybānī was relieved of this position in 803. He returned to Baghdad and resumed his educational activities. It was during this period he exerted his widest influence. He taught Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi`i, the most prestigious of his pupils. Even later, when ash-Shafi'ī disagreed with his teacher and wrote the K. al-Radd ʿalā Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan ("Refutation of Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan [al-Shaybānī]"), ash-Shafi'i still maintained immense admiration for al-Shaybani.
Al-Rashid re-instated al-Shaybānī in a judicial position. The latter accompanied the caliph to Khorasan, where he served as qadi until his death in 805 at Rayy. He died the same day and the same place as the eminent philologist and grammarian al-Kisāʾī. Thus, al-Rashid remarked that he "buried law and grammar side by side."
Al-Shaybani's works, known collectively as zahir al-riwaya, were considered authoritative by later Hanafis. They are al-Mabsut, al-Jami al-Kabir, al-Jami al-Saghir, al-Siyar al-Kabir, al-Siyar al-Saghir, and al-Ziyadat.
Al-Shaybani wrote Introduction to the Law of Nations at the end of the 8th century, a book which provided detailed guidelines for the conduct of jihad against unbelievers, as well as guidelines on the treatment of non-Muslim subjects under Muslim rule. Al-Shaybani wrote a second more advanced treatise on the subject, and other jurists soon followed with a number of other multi-volume treatises.
Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad al-Shaybani see Shaybani, Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-
Muhammad al-Shaybani see Shaybani, Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī see Shaybani, Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-
Shaybani, Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-(Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-Shaybani) (Muhammad al-Shaybani) (Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī) (749/750-804). Hanafi jurist. At an early age, he studied under Abu Hanifa in Kufa. The Hanafi school owes its spread of popularity to al-Shaybani and to Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub al-Ansari (d. 798).
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī was one of the most important disciples of Abu Hanifa (the eponymous founder of the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence), and Abu Yusuf, as well as an eminent jurist.
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan was born in Wāsiṭ, Iraq. Soon afterwards his family moved to Kufa, the home town of Abū Ḥanīfa, and Muhammad grew up there.
Though he was born to a soldier, he was much more interested in pursuing an intellectual career, as opposed to a military one. Shaybani began studying in Kufa as a pupil of Abu Hanifa. When al-Shaybani was 18, however, Abu Hanifa died after having taught him for only two years.
Shaybani then began training with Abū Yūsuf, his senior, and the leading disciple of Abu Hanifa. He also had other prominent teachers as well: Sufyan al-Thawrī and al-Awzāʿī. Shaybani also later visited Medina, and studied for two to three years with Malik ibn Anas, founder of the Maliki school of Fiqh. Thus, as a result of his education, al-Shaybani became a jurist at a very early age. According to Abu Hanifa's grandson Ismail, he taught in Kufa at age twenty (c. 770).
Al-Shaybānī moved to Baghdad, where he continued his learning. He was so respected that Caliph Harun al-Rashid appointed him qadi (judge) of his capital city Ar-Raqqah (around 796). Al-Shaybānī was relieved of this position in 803. He returned to Baghdad and resumed his educational activities. It was during this period he exerted his widest influence. He taught Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi`i, the most prestigious of his pupils. Even later, when ash-Shafi'ī disagreed with his teacher and wrote the K. al-Radd ʿalā Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan ("Refutation of Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan [al-Shaybānī]"), ash-Shafi'i still maintained immense admiration for al-Shaybani.
Al-Rashid re-instated al-Shaybānī in a judicial position. The latter accompanied the caliph to Khorasan, where he served as qadi until his death in 805 at Rayy. He died the same day and the same place as the eminent philologist and grammarian al-Kisāʾī. Thus, al-Rashid remarked that he "buried law and grammar side by side."
Al-Shaybani's works, known collectively as zahir al-riwaya, were considered authoritative by later Hanafis. They are al-Mabsut, al-Jami al-Kabir, al-Jami al-Saghir, al-Siyar al-Kabir, al-Siyar al-Saghir, and al-Ziyadat.
Al-Shaybani wrote Introduction to the Law of Nations at the end of the 8th century, a book which provided detailed guidelines for the conduct of jihad against unbelievers, as well as guidelines on the treatment of non-Muslim subjects under Muslim rule. Al-Shaybani wrote a second more advanced treatise on the subject, and other jurists soon followed with a number of other multi-volume treatises.
Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad al-Shaybani see Shaybani, Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-
Muhammad al-Shaybani see Shaybani, Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī see Shaybani, Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-
Shaybani, Abu ‘Amr Ishaq al-
Shaybani, Abu ‘Amr Ishaq al- (Abu ‘Amr Ishaq al-Shaybani) (c.719-820). Foremost of the grammarians of Kufa. He compiled a large collection of poetry and linguistic data, gathered among the nomad Arabs. His Book of the (letter) Jim, the unfinished part of an Arab dictionary, is one of the earliest books in the Arabic language.
Shaybani, Abu ‘Amr Ishaq al- (Abu ‘Amr Ishaq al-Shaybani) (c.719-820). Foremost of the grammarians of Kufa. He compiled a large collection of poetry and linguistic data, gathered among the nomad Arabs. His Book of the (letter) Jim, the unfinished part of an Arab dictionary, is one of the earliest books in the Arabic language.
Shaybanids
Shaybanids . Uzbek (Mongol) dynasty in Transoxiana and Afghanistan (r. 1500-1599). Their main capital was Samarkand. The Shaybanids were descendants of Prince Shayban (the grandson of Jenghiz Khan and the brother of Batu Khan [Batu ibn Juci]), to whom the latter granted Hungary. His line (r. 1226-1659) comprised the khans or tsars of Tiumen and, for a while, the khans of the Golden Horde. Muhammad Shaybani Khan (r. 1500-1510), founder of the Transoxianan khanate, ruled Turkestan from 1487 to 1493, bringing an end to Timurid rule by conquering Samarkand (in 1497, and finally in 1501) and Herat (in 1507), occupied Tashkent in 1503, and advanced as far as Kuna Urgench in 1505. He died trying to seize Khorasan from the Safavids. His successors stabilized the empire. His line ruled in Bukhara from 1540, experiencing its cultural and political apogee under Abdallah II (r. 1556-1598). Abdallah was khan of Bukhara from 1556 and in 1583 he reunited the empire. In the confusion that followed his death, the main Shaybanid dynastic line collapsed and was inherited by the related Jalayirids (Astrakhanids) in 1599. Shaybanis were Sunnis and waged war with the Shi‘a Safavids of Persia.
The Shaybanids are the patrilineal descendants of Shayban (Shiban), the fifth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. Until the mid-14th century, they acknowledged the authority of the descendants of Batu Khan and Orda Khan, such as Uzbeg Khan. The Shaybanid horde was converted to Islam in 1282 and gradually assumed the name of Uzbeks.
As the lineages of Batu and Orda died out in the course of the great civil wars of the 14th century, the Shaybanids under Abu'l-Khayr Khan declared themselves the only legitimate successors to Jochi and put forward claims to the whole of his enormous ulus, which included parts of Siberia and Kazakhstan. Their rivals were the Timurids, who claimed descent from Jochi's thirteenth son by a concubine. Several decades of strife left the Timurids in control of the Great Horde and its successor states in Europe, namely, the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Crimea.
However, the Shaybanids under Muhammad Shaybani were able to rest control of Samarkand, Bukhara and (for a time) Herat from the Timurids, establishing the Shaybanid dynasty as rulers of the independent Khanates of Bukhoro and Khwarezm (Khiva).
The Shaybanid dynasty was an Uzbek dynasty, whose members ruled the Khanate of Bukhara (1505–1598), the Khanate of Khwarezm (Khiva) (1511–1695) and the Khanate of Sibir (1563–1598).
The Shaybanid dynasty traces its origins generally to the Shaybanids, descendants of Genghis Khan through his grandson Shayban (Shiban). By the 15th century, one branch of the Shaybanids moved south into Transoxiana, from whence, after a century of conflict, they managed to oust the Timurids. Abu'l-Khayr Khan (who led the Shaybanids from 1428 to 1468) began consolidating disparate Uzbek tribes, first in the area around Tyumen and the Tura River and then down into the Syr Darya region. His grandson Muhammad Shaybani (ruled 1500-10), who gave his name to the Shaybanid dynasty, wrested Samarkand, Herat and Bukhara from Babur's control and established the short-lived Shaybanid Empire. After his death at the hands of Shah Ismail I, he was followed successively by an uncle, a cousin, and a brother, whose Shaybanid descendants would rule the Khanate of Bukhara until 1598 and the Khanate of Khwarezm (Khiva) until 1695.
Another state ruled by the Shaybanids was the Khanate of Sibir, whose last khan Kuchum was deposed by the Russians in 1598. He escaped to Bukhara, but his sons and grandsons were taken by the Tsar to Moscow, where they eventually assumed the surname of Sibirsky. Apart from this famous branch, several other noble families from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan (e.g., Princes Valikhanov) petitioned the Russian imperial authorities to recognize their Shaybanid roots, but mostly in vain.
Shaybanids . Uzbek (Mongol) dynasty in Transoxiana and Afghanistan (r. 1500-1599). Their main capital was Samarkand. The Shaybanids were descendants of Prince Shayban (the grandson of Jenghiz Khan and the brother of Batu Khan [Batu ibn Juci]), to whom the latter granted Hungary. His line (r. 1226-1659) comprised the khans or tsars of Tiumen and, for a while, the khans of the Golden Horde. Muhammad Shaybani Khan (r. 1500-1510), founder of the Transoxianan khanate, ruled Turkestan from 1487 to 1493, bringing an end to Timurid rule by conquering Samarkand (in 1497, and finally in 1501) and Herat (in 1507), occupied Tashkent in 1503, and advanced as far as Kuna Urgench in 1505. He died trying to seize Khorasan from the Safavids. His successors stabilized the empire. His line ruled in Bukhara from 1540, experiencing its cultural and political apogee under Abdallah II (r. 1556-1598). Abdallah was khan of Bukhara from 1556 and in 1583 he reunited the empire. In the confusion that followed his death, the main Shaybanid dynastic line collapsed and was inherited by the related Jalayirids (Astrakhanids) in 1599. Shaybanis were Sunnis and waged war with the Shi‘a Safavids of Persia.
The Shaybanids are the patrilineal descendants of Shayban (Shiban), the fifth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. Until the mid-14th century, they acknowledged the authority of the descendants of Batu Khan and Orda Khan, such as Uzbeg Khan. The Shaybanid horde was converted to Islam in 1282 and gradually assumed the name of Uzbeks.
As the lineages of Batu and Orda died out in the course of the great civil wars of the 14th century, the Shaybanids under Abu'l-Khayr Khan declared themselves the only legitimate successors to Jochi and put forward claims to the whole of his enormous ulus, which included parts of Siberia and Kazakhstan. Their rivals were the Timurids, who claimed descent from Jochi's thirteenth son by a concubine. Several decades of strife left the Timurids in control of the Great Horde and its successor states in Europe, namely, the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Crimea.
However, the Shaybanids under Muhammad Shaybani were able to rest control of Samarkand, Bukhara and (for a time) Herat from the Timurids, establishing the Shaybanid dynasty as rulers of the independent Khanates of Bukhoro and Khwarezm (Khiva).
The Shaybanid dynasty was an Uzbek dynasty, whose members ruled the Khanate of Bukhara (1505–1598), the Khanate of Khwarezm (Khiva) (1511–1695) and the Khanate of Sibir (1563–1598).
The Shaybanid dynasty traces its origins generally to the Shaybanids, descendants of Genghis Khan through his grandson Shayban (Shiban). By the 15th century, one branch of the Shaybanids moved south into Transoxiana, from whence, after a century of conflict, they managed to oust the Timurids. Abu'l-Khayr Khan (who led the Shaybanids from 1428 to 1468) began consolidating disparate Uzbek tribes, first in the area around Tyumen and the Tura River and then down into the Syr Darya region. His grandson Muhammad Shaybani (ruled 1500-10), who gave his name to the Shaybanid dynasty, wrested Samarkand, Herat and Bukhara from Babur's control and established the short-lived Shaybanid Empire. After his death at the hands of Shah Ismail I, he was followed successively by an uncle, a cousin, and a brother, whose Shaybanid descendants would rule the Khanate of Bukhara until 1598 and the Khanate of Khwarezm (Khiva) until 1695.
Another state ruled by the Shaybanids was the Khanate of Sibir, whose last khan Kuchum was deposed by the Russians in 1598. He escaped to Bukhara, but his sons and grandsons were taken by the Tsar to Moscow, where they eventually assumed the surname of Sibirsky. Apart from this famous branch, several other noble families from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan (e.g., Princes Valikhanov) petitioned the Russian imperial authorities to recognize their Shaybanid roots, but mostly in vain.
Shaybani Khan
Shaybani Khan (Uzbek Khan Shaybani) (Shah Beg Khan Uzbek) (Muhammad Shaybani) (Abu'l-Fath Muhammad) (b. c. 1451 - December 2, 1510). Khan of the Uzbegs (r.1500-1510). He conquered Transoxiana from the last Timurids, defeated the future Mughal Emperor Babur in 1499 and starved Samarkand into surrender. In 1509, he was defeated by the Safavid Shah Isma‘il.
Shaybani Khan was a khan of the Uzbeks (from 1500) who continued consolidating various Uzbek tribes and laid foundations for their ascendance in Transoxiana. He was a descendant of Genghis Khan through his grandson Shayban and considered the Timurids as usurpers of the Genghisid heritage in Central Asia. His native Turkic name was Shabaq (wormwood, whence Shaibak, thence Shaybani--a pseudo-authentication of the Turkic name into a more prestigious Arabic tribal name of Shayban).
Continuing the policies of his grandfather, Abu'l-Khayr Khan, Shaybani ousted the Timurids from their capital Samarkand by 1500. He fought successful campaigns against the Timurid leader Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire. In 1505, he recaptured Samarkand and in 1507 also took Herat, the southern capital of the Timurids. Shaybani conquered Bukhara in 1506 and established the short-lived Shaybanid Empire. In 1508-09, he carried out many raids northward, pillaging the land of the Kazakh Khanate. However, he suffered a major defeat from Kazakhs under Kasim Khan in 1510.
Shah Ismail I from the Safavid dynasty of Persia was alarmed by Shaybani's success and moved against the Uzbeks. In the Battle of Marv (1510), Muhammad Shaybani was defeated and killed when trying to escape. Ismail had Muhammad Shaybani's body parts sent to various areas of the empire for display and had his skull coated in gold and made into a jeweled drinking goblet which was drunk from when entertaining.
At the time of Shaybani's death, the Uzbeks controlled all of Transoxiana, that is, the area between the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers. After capturing Samarkand from Babur, Shaybani married Babur's sister, Khanzada Begum. Babur's liberty to leave Samarkand was made contingent upon his assent to this alliance. After Shaybani's death, Ismail I gave liberty to Khanzada Begum with her son and, at Babur's request, sent them to his court. For this reason Shaybani was succeeded not by a son but by an uncle, a cousin and a brother whose descendants would rule Bukhara until 1598 and Khwarizm (later named Khiva) until 1687.
It should be noted that after Genghis Khan’s death in 1227, his vast empire fell to pieces. In Afghanistan some local chiefs succeeded in establishing independent principalities, and others acknowledged Mongol princes as suzerains. This state of affairs continued until the end of the 14th century, when Timur (Tamerlane) conquered a large part of the country.
Timur’s successors, the Timurids (1405–1507), were great patrons of learning and the arts who enriched their capital city of Herāt with fine buildings. Under their rule Afghanistan enjoyed peace and prosperity.
Early in the 16th century the Turkic Uzbeks rose to power in Central Asia under Muḥammad Shaybānī, who took Herāt in 1507. In late 1510 the Ṣafavid shah Ismāʿīl I besieged Shaybānī in Merv and killed him. Bābur, a descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur, had made Kabul the capital of an independent principality in 1504. He captured Kandahār in 1522, and in 1526 he marched on Delhi. He defeated Ibrāhīm, the last of the Lodī Afghan kings of India, and established the Mughal Empire, which lasted until the middle of the 19th century and included all of eastern Afghanistan south of the Hindu Kush. The capital was at Agra. Nine years after his death in 1530, the body of Bābur was taken to Kabul for burial.
During the next 200 years Afghanistan was parceled between the Mughals of India and the Ṣafavids of Persia—the former holding Kabul north to the southern foothills of the Hindu Kush and the latter, Herāt and Farāh. Kandahār was in dispute for many years.
Uzbek Khan Shaybani see Shaybani Khan
Shah Beg Khan Uzbek see Shaybani Khan
Muhammad Shaybani see Shaybani Khan
Abu'l-Fath Muhammad see Shaybani Khan
Shaybani Khan (Uzbek Khan Shaybani) (Shah Beg Khan Uzbek) (Muhammad Shaybani) (Abu'l-Fath Muhammad) (b. c. 1451 - December 2, 1510). Khan of the Uzbegs (r.1500-1510). He conquered Transoxiana from the last Timurids, defeated the future Mughal Emperor Babur in 1499 and starved Samarkand into surrender. In 1509, he was defeated by the Safavid Shah Isma‘il.
Shaybani Khan was a khan of the Uzbeks (from 1500) who continued consolidating various Uzbek tribes and laid foundations for their ascendance in Transoxiana. He was a descendant of Genghis Khan through his grandson Shayban and considered the Timurids as usurpers of the Genghisid heritage in Central Asia. His native Turkic name was Shabaq (wormwood, whence Shaibak, thence Shaybani--a pseudo-authentication of the Turkic name into a more prestigious Arabic tribal name of Shayban).
Continuing the policies of his grandfather, Abu'l-Khayr Khan, Shaybani ousted the Timurids from their capital Samarkand by 1500. He fought successful campaigns against the Timurid leader Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire. In 1505, he recaptured Samarkand and in 1507 also took Herat, the southern capital of the Timurids. Shaybani conquered Bukhara in 1506 and established the short-lived Shaybanid Empire. In 1508-09, he carried out many raids northward, pillaging the land of the Kazakh Khanate. However, he suffered a major defeat from Kazakhs under Kasim Khan in 1510.
Shah Ismail I from the Safavid dynasty of Persia was alarmed by Shaybani's success and moved against the Uzbeks. In the Battle of Marv (1510), Muhammad Shaybani was defeated and killed when trying to escape. Ismail had Muhammad Shaybani's body parts sent to various areas of the empire for display and had his skull coated in gold and made into a jeweled drinking goblet which was drunk from when entertaining.
At the time of Shaybani's death, the Uzbeks controlled all of Transoxiana, that is, the area between the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers. After capturing Samarkand from Babur, Shaybani married Babur's sister, Khanzada Begum. Babur's liberty to leave Samarkand was made contingent upon his assent to this alliance. After Shaybani's death, Ismail I gave liberty to Khanzada Begum with her son and, at Babur's request, sent them to his court. For this reason Shaybani was succeeded not by a son but by an uncle, a cousin and a brother whose descendants would rule Bukhara until 1598 and Khwarizm (later named Khiva) until 1687.
It should be noted that after Genghis Khan’s death in 1227, his vast empire fell to pieces. In Afghanistan some local chiefs succeeded in establishing independent principalities, and others acknowledged Mongol princes as suzerains. This state of affairs continued until the end of the 14th century, when Timur (Tamerlane) conquered a large part of the country.
Timur’s successors, the Timurids (1405–1507), were great patrons of learning and the arts who enriched their capital city of Herāt with fine buildings. Under their rule Afghanistan enjoyed peace and prosperity.
Early in the 16th century the Turkic Uzbeks rose to power in Central Asia under Muḥammad Shaybānī, who took Herāt in 1507. In late 1510 the Ṣafavid shah Ismāʿīl I besieged Shaybānī in Merv and killed him. Bābur, a descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur, had made Kabul the capital of an independent principality in 1504. He captured Kandahār in 1522, and in 1526 he marched on Delhi. He defeated Ibrāhīm, the last of the Lodī Afghan kings of India, and established the Mughal Empire, which lasted until the middle of the 19th century and included all of eastern Afghanistan south of the Hindu Kush. The capital was at Agra. Nine years after his death in 1530, the body of Bābur was taken to Kabul for burial.
During the next 200 years Afghanistan was parceled between the Mughals of India and the Ṣafavids of Persia—the former holding Kabul north to the southern foothills of the Hindu Kush and the latter, Herāt and Farāh. Kandahār was in dispute for many years.
Uzbek Khan Shaybani see Shaybani Khan
Shah Beg Khan Uzbek see Shaybani Khan
Muhammad Shaybani see Shaybani Khan
Abu'l-Fath Muhammad see Shaybani Khan
Shaykh
Shaykh. See shaikh.
Shaykh. See shaikh.
shaykh al-Islam
shaykh al-Islam. See Shaikh al-Islam.
shaykh al-Islam. See Shaikh al-Islam.
Shaykhi
Shaykhi (Shaikhi) (Shaykhiyah). Name of dissenting Shi‘i theologians in Persia, followers of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa‘i (d.1826). The sect was founded by Shaykh Ahmad and Sayyid Kazim (Siyyid Kazim) of Rasht. They were opposed to the doctrines of the Akhbariyya. According to them, the twelve Imams are the effective cause of creation, all the acts of the divinity being produced by them. Their doctrines prepared the way for those of the Bab.
Shaikhi was a prominent school of Twelver Shi‘a theology founded by Shaikh Ahmad Ahsa’i (1753-1826). Ahsa’i, a Shi‘a Arab born in Bahrein, had studied in Najaf and Karbala before settling in Iran for a period of fifteen years. His teachings rapidly gained a large following from among the intellectually progressive ulama (religious scholars) and the ruling classes.
Ahsa’i borrowed from Muslim philosophers and mystics the idea of the Perfect Man and developed his own conception of the Perfect Shi‘ite, a specially gifted being whose conscious knowledge of the divine is immune from error by virtue of his spiritual affinity to the Hidden Imam. ‘The each historical age its own Perfect Shi‘ite,” was the common Shaikhi belief.
Ahsa’i’s successor, the Iranian-born Kazim Rashti (d. 1844), further elaborated the Shaikhi view of evolutionary cycles of progressive revelation of esoteric truth. He argued that, although the prophet Muhammad’s prophecy was the last and his law the most perfect, religion must undergo changes in order to fit mankind’s needs and the exigencies of the time. When Rashti died, dispute over his succession split the school into two branches. The largest accepted the leadership of Muhammad Karim Khan Kirmani, a Qajar prince who further expanded the concept of the Perfect Shi‘ite, or Fourth Pillar, as the ideal leader of the community, until he was forced to retreat behind outward profession of orthodoxy. A moderate, though minor, branch developed in Azerbaijan.
It is not known whether Ahsa’i’s and Rashti’s views were meant to be studied in the context of “existential time” and not “chronological time;” as mere ideas, as Shaikhi apologists claimed in response to orthodox denunciation; or whether they were to be applied concretely, as the subsequent radical movementof the Babis proclaimed. Kirmani Shaikhism itself survived as a socially conservative, apolitical school of theory until it was closed down by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. But the Shaikhi allegorical interpretation of basic Shi‘ite doctrines and, more importantly, the belief that religious laws have to undergo constant adjustment to the times and conditions of society, proved to be supremely attractive to future generations of lay secularist Iranians who were committed to social reforms and who played a major role in the Constitutional Revolution of 1905.
Shaykhism began from a combination of Sufi and Shi‘a doctrines of the end times and the day of resurrection. Today the Shaykhi populations retain a minority following in Iran and Iraq. In the mid 19th century many Shaykhis converted to the Bábí and Bahá'í religions, which regard Shaykh Ahmad highly.
The primary force behind Shaykh Ahmad's teachings is the Twelver Shi'a belief in the occultation of the Twelfth Imam. Twelver Shi'ah believe there were twelve Imams starting with Ali and ending with Muhammad al-Mahdi. While the first eleven Imams died, the twelfth is said to have disappeared, to return "before the day of judgment" and "fill the Earth with justice and make the truth triumphant". This messianic figure is called the Mahdi.
The Shaykhís believed that since Muslims require the guidance of the Mahdi, there must be an individual on Earth who is capable of communicating with him. This personage would be described as the "perfect Shi'a", and Shaykh Ahmad was the first to adopt that position. Due to this unique capability, the leader of the sect attained a quasi-divinity in the eyes of his followers.
It is not clear whether it was Shaykh Ahmad or his successor, Sayyid Kazim Rashti, who predicted that the coming of the Mahdi was nearing.
Shaykhí teachings on knowledge are similar in appearance to that of the Sufis, save that where the Sufi "wayfarer" arrogates to himself the role of interpreting and adjudicating truth, Shaykh Ahmad was clear that the final arbiter for interpretation and clarity was the 12th Imam.
For Shaykh Ahmad, then, the Shi`ite learned man is not simply a mundane thinker dependent on nothing more than the divine text and his intellectual tools for its interpretation. The Learned must have a spiritual pole (qutb), a source of grace (ghawth), who will serve as the locus of God's own gaze in this world. Both pole and ghawth are frequently-used Sufi terms for great masters who can by their grace help their followers pursue the spiritual path. For Shaykh Ahmad, the pole is the Twelfth Imam himself, the light of whose being is in the heart of the Learned. The oral reports, he notes, say that believers benefit from the Imam in his Occultation just as the earth benefits from the sun even when it goes behind a cloud. Were the light of the Imam, as guardian (mustahfiz), to be altogether extinguished, then the Learned would not be able to see in the darkness.
Shaykh Ahmad's perspectives on accepted Islamic doctrines diverged in several areas, most notably on his mystical interpretation of prophesy. The "Sun" and "Moon" and "Stars" of the Qur'an's eschatological suras are seen as allegorical, where common Muslim interpretation is that events involving celestial bodies will happen literally at the Day of Judgment. In other writings, Shaykh Ahmad synthesizes rather dramatic descriptions of the origin of the prophets, the primal word, and other religious themes through allusions and mystical language. Much of this language is oriented around trees, specifically the primal universal tree of Eden, described in Jewish scripture as being two trees. This primal tree is, in some ways, the universal spirit of the prophets themselves.
The symbol of the pre-existent tree appears elsewhere in Shaykh Ahmad's writings. He says, for instance, that the Prophet and the Imams exist both on the level of unconstrained being or preexistence, wherein they are the Complete Word and the Most Perfect Man, and on the level of constrained being. On this second, limited plane, the cloud of the divine Will subsists and from it emanates the Primal Water that irrigates the barren earth of matter and of elements. Although the divine Will remains unconstrained in essential being, its manifest aspect has now entered into limited being. When God poured down from the clouds of Will on the barren earth, God thereby sent down this water and it mixed with the fallow soil. In the garden of the heaven known as as-Saqurah, the Tree of Eternity arose, and the Holy Spirit or Universal Intellect, the first branch that grew upon it, is the first creation among the worlds.
This notion of beings with both divine and ephemeral natures presages a similar doctrine of the Manifestation in the Babi and Bahá'í Faiths, religions whose origins are rooted in the Shaykhi spiritual tradition.
Shaykh Ahmad, at about age forty, began to study in earnest in the Shi'a centers of religious scholarship such as Karbala and Najaf. He attained sufficient recognition in such circles to be declared a mujtahid, an interpreter of Islamic Law. He contended with Sufi and Neo-Platonist scholars, and attained a positive reputation among their detractors. Most interestingly, he declared that all knowledge and sciences were contained (in essential form) within the Qur'an, and that to excel in the sciences, all knowledge must be gleaned from the Qur'an. His views resulted in his denunciation by several learned clerics, and he engaged in many debates before moving on to Persia where he settled for a time in the province of Yazd. It was in Isfahan that most of this was written.
Shaykh Ahmad led the sect for only two years before his death. His undisputed successor Siyyid Kazim also led the Shaykhís until his own death (1843). Siyyid Kázim said that he would not live to see the Promised One, but, according to the Bábís, his appearance was so imminent that Siyyid Kázim appointed no successor, instead instructing his followers to spread across the land and search him out.
Siyyid Kázim did not explicitly appoint a successor. Rather, convinced that the Mahdi was in the world, he encouraged his followers to seek him out. Many of the Shaykhis expected Mullá Husayn, one of his favorite pupils, to take on the mantle. Mullá Husayn, however, declined the honor, insisting on obedience to Siyyid Kazim's final commands to go out in search of the Mahdi. Many of the followers of Shaykh Ahmad spread out as did Mullah Husayn. By 1844, two perspectives had emerged and camps arose based on the differing claims of two individuals.
On May 23, 1844, during his search for the Mahdi, Mullah Husayn encountered a young man in Shiraz named Siyyid Alí-Muhammad. Ali-Muhammad had visited some of Siyyid Kazim's classes, and later tellings assert that Siyyid Kazim implied a connection between his own predictions about the Mahdi and this Alí-Muhammad attending his class. Ali-Muhammad, in that same May 23 meeting, took the title of the Báb and claimed to be the Mahdi outright. Mullá Husayn ultimately accepted this claim, as did many leading Shaykhi students. Most of these went on to become the earliest Bábís. The Báb was ultimately labeled a heretic, thrown into prison and was executed on July 9, 1850. Most of the Bábís turned to the well known Bábí community leader Bahá'u'lláh who founded the Bahá'í Faith in claiming that he was the one prophesied by the Báb. Both Babís and Bahá'ís regard Shaykhi thought as a precursor to their own religious traditions.
Haji Karim Khan Kirmani (1809/1810-1870/1871) became the leader of the main Shaykhi group that did not follow the Bab. He became the foremost critic of the Bab, writing four essays against him. Baha'u'llah in turn described Karim as "foolishness masquerading as knowledge" Karim repudiated some of the more radical teachings of Ahsai and Rashti and moved the Shaykhi school back towards the mainstream Usuli teachings. Karim Khan Kirmani was succeeded by bis son Shaykh Muhammad Khan Kirmani (1846-1906), then by Muhammad's brother Shaykh Zaynal 'Abidln Kirmani (1859-1946). Shaykh Zayn al-'Abidin Kirmani was succeeded by Shaykh Abu al-Qasim Ibrahimi (1896-1969), who was succeeded by his son 'Abd al-Rida Khan Ibrahimi who was a leader until his death.
Bábis and then Bahá'ís see Shaykhism as a spiritual ancestor of their movement, preparing the way for the Báb and eventually Bahá'u'lláh. In this view Shaykhism has outlived its eschatological purpose and is deemed by Babis and Baha'is no longer relevant.
The current leader of the Shaykhiya is Ali al-Musawi, who heads a community with followers in Iraq - mainly Basrah and Karbala - Iran and the Persian Gulf. Basrah has a significant Shaykhi minority, and their mosque is one of the largest in the city holding up to 12,000 people. The Shaykhiya were resolutely apolitical and hence were allowed relative freedom under Saddam Hussein. Since the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and subsequent Iraqi Civil War they have been targeted by Iraqi nationalists who accused them of being Saudis on the grounds that Ahmad al-Ahsai was from present-day Saudi Arabia. They responded by creating an armed militia and asking all local political groups to sign a pact allowing them to live in peace. This was done at the al-Zahra conference in April 2006. In a move away from their traditional apolitical stance, a Shaykhi political party stood in the Basra governorate election in 2009. They came in third, winning 5% of the votes and 2 out of 35 seats.
In Iran Shaykhism is regarded as the third Twelver Shi'a denomination after Usulism and Akhbarism. In their public explanations the Shaykhis have come so close to normative Usuli doctrine that Usulis have expressed some wonder at why the Shaykhis have maintained their separate existence.
Shaikhi see Shaykhi
Shaykhiyah see Shaykhi
Shaykhi (Shaikhi) (Shaykhiyah). Name of dissenting Shi‘i theologians in Persia, followers of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa‘i (d.1826). The sect was founded by Shaykh Ahmad and Sayyid Kazim (Siyyid Kazim) of Rasht. They were opposed to the doctrines of the Akhbariyya. According to them, the twelve Imams are the effective cause of creation, all the acts of the divinity being produced by them. Their doctrines prepared the way for those of the Bab.
Shaikhi was a prominent school of Twelver Shi‘a theology founded by Shaikh Ahmad Ahsa’i (1753-1826). Ahsa’i, a Shi‘a Arab born in Bahrein, had studied in Najaf and Karbala before settling in Iran for a period of fifteen years. His teachings rapidly gained a large following from among the intellectually progressive ulama (religious scholars) and the ruling classes.
Ahsa’i borrowed from Muslim philosophers and mystics the idea of the Perfect Man and developed his own conception of the Perfect Shi‘ite, a specially gifted being whose conscious knowledge of the divine is immune from error by virtue of his spiritual affinity to the Hidden Imam. ‘The each historical age its own Perfect Shi‘ite,” was the common Shaikhi belief.
Ahsa’i’s successor, the Iranian-born Kazim Rashti (d. 1844), further elaborated the Shaikhi view of evolutionary cycles of progressive revelation of esoteric truth. He argued that, although the prophet Muhammad’s prophecy was the last and his law the most perfect, religion must undergo changes in order to fit mankind’s needs and the exigencies of the time. When Rashti died, dispute over his succession split the school into two branches. The largest accepted the leadership of Muhammad Karim Khan Kirmani, a Qajar prince who further expanded the concept of the Perfect Shi‘ite, or Fourth Pillar, as the ideal leader of the community, until he was forced to retreat behind outward profession of orthodoxy. A moderate, though minor, branch developed in Azerbaijan.
It is not known whether Ahsa’i’s and Rashti’s views were meant to be studied in the context of “existential time” and not “chronological time;” as mere ideas, as Shaikhi apologists claimed in response to orthodox denunciation; or whether they were to be applied concretely, as the subsequent radical movementof the Babis proclaimed. Kirmani Shaikhism itself survived as a socially conservative, apolitical school of theory until it was closed down by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. But the Shaikhi allegorical interpretation of basic Shi‘ite doctrines and, more importantly, the belief that religious laws have to undergo constant adjustment to the times and conditions of society, proved to be supremely attractive to future generations of lay secularist Iranians who were committed to social reforms and who played a major role in the Constitutional Revolution of 1905.
Shaykhism began from a combination of Sufi and Shi‘a doctrines of the end times and the day of resurrection. Today the Shaykhi populations retain a minority following in Iran and Iraq. In the mid 19th century many Shaykhis converted to the Bábí and Bahá'í religions, which regard Shaykh Ahmad highly.
The primary force behind Shaykh Ahmad's teachings is the Twelver Shi'a belief in the occultation of the Twelfth Imam. Twelver Shi'ah believe there were twelve Imams starting with Ali and ending with Muhammad al-Mahdi. While the first eleven Imams died, the twelfth is said to have disappeared, to return "before the day of judgment" and "fill the Earth with justice and make the truth triumphant". This messianic figure is called the Mahdi.
The Shaykhís believed that since Muslims require the guidance of the Mahdi, there must be an individual on Earth who is capable of communicating with him. This personage would be described as the "perfect Shi'a", and Shaykh Ahmad was the first to adopt that position. Due to this unique capability, the leader of the sect attained a quasi-divinity in the eyes of his followers.
It is not clear whether it was Shaykh Ahmad or his successor, Sayyid Kazim Rashti, who predicted that the coming of the Mahdi was nearing.
Shaykhí teachings on knowledge are similar in appearance to that of the Sufis, save that where the Sufi "wayfarer" arrogates to himself the role of interpreting and adjudicating truth, Shaykh Ahmad was clear that the final arbiter for interpretation and clarity was the 12th Imam.
For Shaykh Ahmad, then, the Shi`ite learned man is not simply a mundane thinker dependent on nothing more than the divine text and his intellectual tools for its interpretation. The Learned must have a spiritual pole (qutb), a source of grace (ghawth), who will serve as the locus of God's own gaze in this world. Both pole and ghawth are frequently-used Sufi terms for great masters who can by their grace help their followers pursue the spiritual path. For Shaykh Ahmad, the pole is the Twelfth Imam himself, the light of whose being is in the heart of the Learned. The oral reports, he notes, say that believers benefit from the Imam in his Occultation just as the earth benefits from the sun even when it goes behind a cloud. Were the light of the Imam, as guardian (mustahfiz), to be altogether extinguished, then the Learned would not be able to see in the darkness.
Shaykh Ahmad's perspectives on accepted Islamic doctrines diverged in several areas, most notably on his mystical interpretation of prophesy. The "Sun" and "Moon" and "Stars" of the Qur'an's eschatological suras are seen as allegorical, where common Muslim interpretation is that events involving celestial bodies will happen literally at the Day of Judgment. In other writings, Shaykh Ahmad synthesizes rather dramatic descriptions of the origin of the prophets, the primal word, and other religious themes through allusions and mystical language. Much of this language is oriented around trees, specifically the primal universal tree of Eden, described in Jewish scripture as being two trees. This primal tree is, in some ways, the universal spirit of the prophets themselves.
The symbol of the pre-existent tree appears elsewhere in Shaykh Ahmad's writings. He says, for instance, that the Prophet and the Imams exist both on the level of unconstrained being or preexistence, wherein they are the Complete Word and the Most Perfect Man, and on the level of constrained being. On this second, limited plane, the cloud of the divine Will subsists and from it emanates the Primal Water that irrigates the barren earth of matter and of elements. Although the divine Will remains unconstrained in essential being, its manifest aspect has now entered into limited being. When God poured down from the clouds of Will on the barren earth, God thereby sent down this water and it mixed with the fallow soil. In the garden of the heaven known as as-Saqurah, the Tree of Eternity arose, and the Holy Spirit or Universal Intellect, the first branch that grew upon it, is the first creation among the worlds.
This notion of beings with both divine and ephemeral natures presages a similar doctrine of the Manifestation in the Babi and Bahá'í Faiths, religions whose origins are rooted in the Shaykhi spiritual tradition.
Shaykh Ahmad, at about age forty, began to study in earnest in the Shi'a centers of religious scholarship such as Karbala and Najaf. He attained sufficient recognition in such circles to be declared a mujtahid, an interpreter of Islamic Law. He contended with Sufi and Neo-Platonist scholars, and attained a positive reputation among their detractors. Most interestingly, he declared that all knowledge and sciences were contained (in essential form) within the Qur'an, and that to excel in the sciences, all knowledge must be gleaned from the Qur'an. His views resulted in his denunciation by several learned clerics, and he engaged in many debates before moving on to Persia where he settled for a time in the province of Yazd. It was in Isfahan that most of this was written.
Shaykh Ahmad led the sect for only two years before his death. His undisputed successor Siyyid Kazim also led the Shaykhís until his own death (1843). Siyyid Kázim said that he would not live to see the Promised One, but, according to the Bábís, his appearance was so imminent that Siyyid Kázim appointed no successor, instead instructing his followers to spread across the land and search him out.
Siyyid Kázim did not explicitly appoint a successor. Rather, convinced that the Mahdi was in the world, he encouraged his followers to seek him out. Many of the Shaykhis expected Mullá Husayn, one of his favorite pupils, to take on the mantle. Mullá Husayn, however, declined the honor, insisting on obedience to Siyyid Kazim's final commands to go out in search of the Mahdi. Many of the followers of Shaykh Ahmad spread out as did Mullah Husayn. By 1844, two perspectives had emerged and camps arose based on the differing claims of two individuals.
On May 23, 1844, during his search for the Mahdi, Mullah Husayn encountered a young man in Shiraz named Siyyid Alí-Muhammad. Ali-Muhammad had visited some of Siyyid Kazim's classes, and later tellings assert that Siyyid Kazim implied a connection between his own predictions about the Mahdi and this Alí-Muhammad attending his class. Ali-Muhammad, in that same May 23 meeting, took the title of the Báb and claimed to be the Mahdi outright. Mullá Husayn ultimately accepted this claim, as did many leading Shaykhi students. Most of these went on to become the earliest Bábís. The Báb was ultimately labeled a heretic, thrown into prison and was executed on July 9, 1850. Most of the Bábís turned to the well known Bábí community leader Bahá'u'lláh who founded the Bahá'í Faith in claiming that he was the one prophesied by the Báb. Both Babís and Bahá'ís regard Shaykhi thought as a precursor to their own religious traditions.
Haji Karim Khan Kirmani (1809/1810-1870/1871) became the leader of the main Shaykhi group that did not follow the Bab. He became the foremost critic of the Bab, writing four essays against him. Baha'u'llah in turn described Karim as "foolishness masquerading as knowledge" Karim repudiated some of the more radical teachings of Ahsai and Rashti and moved the Shaykhi school back towards the mainstream Usuli teachings. Karim Khan Kirmani was succeeded by bis son Shaykh Muhammad Khan Kirmani (1846-1906), then by Muhammad's brother Shaykh Zaynal 'Abidln Kirmani (1859-1946). Shaykh Zayn al-'Abidin Kirmani was succeeded by Shaykh Abu al-Qasim Ibrahimi (1896-1969), who was succeeded by his son 'Abd al-Rida Khan Ibrahimi who was a leader until his death.
Bábis and then Bahá'ís see Shaykhism as a spiritual ancestor of their movement, preparing the way for the Báb and eventually Bahá'u'lláh. In this view Shaykhism has outlived its eschatological purpose and is deemed by Babis and Baha'is no longer relevant.
The current leader of the Shaykhiya is Ali al-Musawi, who heads a community with followers in Iraq - mainly Basrah and Karbala - Iran and the Persian Gulf. Basrah has a significant Shaykhi minority, and their mosque is one of the largest in the city holding up to 12,000 people. The Shaykhiya were resolutely apolitical and hence were allowed relative freedom under Saddam Hussein. Since the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and subsequent Iraqi Civil War they have been targeted by Iraqi nationalists who accused them of being Saudis on the grounds that Ahmad al-Ahsai was from present-day Saudi Arabia. They responded by creating an armed militia and asking all local political groups to sign a pact allowing them to live in peace. This was done at the al-Zahra conference in April 2006. In a move away from their traditional apolitical stance, a Shaykhi political party stood in the Basra governorate election in 2009. They came in third, winning 5% of the votes and 2 out of 35 seats.
In Iran Shaykhism is regarded as the third Twelver Shi'a denomination after Usulism and Akhbarism. In their public explanations the Shaykhis have come so close to normative Usuli doctrine that Usulis have expressed some wonder at why the Shaykhis have maintained their separate existence.
Shaikhi see Shaykhi
Shaykhiyah see Shaykhi
Shefiq Mehmed Efendi
Shefiq Mehmed Efendi (Musarrif-zade) (d.1715). Ottoman imperial historian and stylist. He describes only the events of the year 1703, which witnessed the fall of Sultan Mustafa II and the accession to the throne of Sultan Ahmed III.
Musarrif-zade see Shefiq Mehmed Efendi
Shefiq Mehmed Efendi (Musarrif-zade) (d.1715). Ottoman imperial historian and stylist. He describes only the events of the year 1703, which witnessed the fall of Sultan Mustafa II and the accession to the throne of Sultan Ahmed III.
Musarrif-zade see Shefiq Mehmed Efendi
Sher Shah
Sher Shah (Sher Shah Suri) (Farid Khan) (Farid al-Din Sher Shah) (Farid al-Din Shir Shah Sur)
(Sher Khan) (Sir Sah Suri) (b. 1486, Sasaram, India - d. May 22, 1545, Kalinjar, India). Founder of the Afghan Suri dynasty. He was unique among India sultans, for he rose from the rank of petty landholder to ruler of North India. Establishing his power base in eastern India, the seat of his landholdings, Sher Shah temporarily supplanted Mughal authority in India. Impressing the sultan of Bihar with his administrative ability, Sher Shah was appointed the guardian of the next king, a minor, and eventually became the de facto ruler of Bihar. Capitalizing on the unstable political situation in North India, Sher Shah, with the consolidated support of the generally divided Indian Afghan tribes, assumed the title of sultan in 1538, acquiring the sultanate of Bengal and gaining victories against the Mughal emperor Humayun. In 1540, Sher Shah decisively defeated Humayun, expelling the Mughals from India. The next five years of his reign were spent in constant warfare, annexing new territories and consolidating his rule. By the time of his death, most of North India was under Suri control.
Sher Shah’s fame rests not only on his military prowess but on his administrative ability and execution of justice. His reforms included the branding of cavalry horses and taxation based on measurement of land, measures adopted by the Mughals as well. In spite of Sher Shah’s military preoccupations, be constructed roads, serais (inns or palaces), wells, mosques, forts, and imperial mausoleums, the most famous being his own tomb at Sasaram (Bihar). All of these, built between 1540 and his death, appear to be part of a planned propagandistic campaign aimed at projecting his image as an ideal Islamic ruler born with the preferred high-ranking qualifications for kingship.
Sher Shah organized a long-lived bureaucracy responsible to the ruler and created a carefully calculated revenue system. For the first time during the Islamic conquest the relationship between the people and the ruler was systematized, with little oppression or corruption.
One of eight sons of Ḥasan Khan, a horse breeder, Farīd rebelled against his father and left home to enlist as a soldier in the service of Jamāl Khan, the governor of Jaunpur. He later worked for the Mughal king of Bihar, who rewarded him for bravery with the title of Shēr Khan. After he defeated a Bengal army, he took over the rule of Bihar. In early 1539 he conquered Bengal and, through clever deception, the Rohtas stronghold southwest of Bengal. At the Battle of Chausa on June 26, 1539, he defeated the Mughal emperor Humāyūn and assumed the royal title of Farīd al-Dīn Shēr Shah. In May 1540 at Kannauj he again defeated Humāyūn; he had driven his foes from Bengal, Bihar, Hindustan, and the Punjab and also suppressed the Baluch chiefs on the northwestern frontier. Intent on expanding the sultanate of Delhi, he captured Gwalior and Malwa but was killed during the siege of Kalinjar.
One of the great Muslim rulers of India, Shēr Shah rose from the rank of private to become emperor, efficiently administered the army and tax collections, and built roads, rest houses, and wells for his people. He was generally tolerant of non-Muslims, except in his massacre of Hindus after the surrender of Raisen. His tomb at Sasaram is one of the most magnificent in India.
Sher Shah Suri, also known as Sher Khan (The Lion King), proved himself a gifted administrator as well as an able general.His reorganization of the empire laid the foundations for the later Mughal emperors, notably Akbar, son of Humayun. During his short five year rule from 1540 to 1545, he set up a new template for civic and military administration, issued the first Rupiya in use until the 20th century and re-organized the postal system of India . He further developed Humayun's Dina-panah city and named it Shergarh and revived the historic city of Patna which had been in decline since the 7th century of the Christian calendar. He is also famously remembered for killing a fully-grown tiger with his bare hands in the Indian jungle.
Sher Shah Suri see Sher Shah
Farid Khan see Sher Shah
Sher Khan see Sher Shah
The Lion King see Sher Shah
Sir Sah Suri see Sher Shah
Farid al-Din Sher Shah see Sher Shah
Sher Shah (Sher Shah Suri) (Farid Khan) (Farid al-Din Sher Shah) (Farid al-Din Shir Shah Sur)
(Sher Khan) (Sir Sah Suri) (b. 1486, Sasaram, India - d. May 22, 1545, Kalinjar, India). Founder of the Afghan Suri dynasty. He was unique among India sultans, for he rose from the rank of petty landholder to ruler of North India. Establishing his power base in eastern India, the seat of his landholdings, Sher Shah temporarily supplanted Mughal authority in India. Impressing the sultan of Bihar with his administrative ability, Sher Shah was appointed the guardian of the next king, a minor, and eventually became the de facto ruler of Bihar. Capitalizing on the unstable political situation in North India, Sher Shah, with the consolidated support of the generally divided Indian Afghan tribes, assumed the title of sultan in 1538, acquiring the sultanate of Bengal and gaining victories against the Mughal emperor Humayun. In 1540, Sher Shah decisively defeated Humayun, expelling the Mughals from India. The next five years of his reign were spent in constant warfare, annexing new territories and consolidating his rule. By the time of his death, most of North India was under Suri control.
Sher Shah’s fame rests not only on his military prowess but on his administrative ability and execution of justice. His reforms included the branding of cavalry horses and taxation based on measurement of land, measures adopted by the Mughals as well. In spite of Sher Shah’s military preoccupations, be constructed roads, serais (inns or palaces), wells, mosques, forts, and imperial mausoleums, the most famous being his own tomb at Sasaram (Bihar). All of these, built between 1540 and his death, appear to be part of a planned propagandistic campaign aimed at projecting his image as an ideal Islamic ruler born with the preferred high-ranking qualifications for kingship.
Sher Shah organized a long-lived bureaucracy responsible to the ruler and created a carefully calculated revenue system. For the first time during the Islamic conquest the relationship between the people and the ruler was systematized, with little oppression or corruption.
One of eight sons of Ḥasan Khan, a horse breeder, Farīd rebelled against his father and left home to enlist as a soldier in the service of Jamāl Khan, the governor of Jaunpur. He later worked for the Mughal king of Bihar, who rewarded him for bravery with the title of Shēr Khan. After he defeated a Bengal army, he took over the rule of Bihar. In early 1539 he conquered Bengal and, through clever deception, the Rohtas stronghold southwest of Bengal. At the Battle of Chausa on June 26, 1539, he defeated the Mughal emperor Humāyūn and assumed the royal title of Farīd al-Dīn Shēr Shah. In May 1540 at Kannauj he again defeated Humāyūn; he had driven his foes from Bengal, Bihar, Hindustan, and the Punjab and also suppressed the Baluch chiefs on the northwestern frontier. Intent on expanding the sultanate of Delhi, he captured Gwalior and Malwa but was killed during the siege of Kalinjar.
One of the great Muslim rulers of India, Shēr Shah rose from the rank of private to become emperor, efficiently administered the army and tax collections, and built roads, rest houses, and wells for his people. He was generally tolerant of non-Muslims, except in his massacre of Hindus after the surrender of Raisen. His tomb at Sasaram is one of the most magnificent in India.
Sher Shah Suri, also known as Sher Khan (The Lion King), proved himself a gifted administrator as well as an able general.His reorganization of the empire laid the foundations for the later Mughal emperors, notably Akbar, son of Humayun. During his short five year rule from 1540 to 1545, he set up a new template for civic and military administration, issued the first Rupiya in use until the 20th century and re-organized the postal system of India . He further developed Humayun's Dina-panah city and named it Shergarh and revived the historic city of Patna which had been in decline since the 7th century of the Christian calendar. He is also famously remembered for killing a fully-grown tiger with his bare hands in the Indian jungle.
Sher Shah Suri see Sher Shah
Farid Khan see Sher Shah
Sher Khan see Sher Shah
The Lion King see Sher Shah
Sir Sah Suri see Sher Shah
Farid al-Din Sher Shah see Sher Shah
Sheykhi
Sheykhi. Pen-name of a considerable number of Turkish poets. The most important was Sheykhi Celebi, alias Mevlana Yusuf Sinan Germiyani (of the fifteenth century). His best-known poem is the Turkish version of Abu Muhammad Nizami’s Khusraw and Shirin.
Sheykhi. Pen-name of a considerable number of Turkish poets. The most important was Sheykhi Celebi, alias Mevlana Yusuf Sinan Germiyani (of the fifteenth century). His best-known poem is the Turkish version of Abu Muhammad Nizami’s Khusraw and Shirin.
Sheykh-oghlu
Sheykh-oghlu (Shaykh-zade). Patronym used for several Turkish writers. One is that of the author of the Khurshid-name, who was born around 1340. The work describes the loves of Khurshid, the daughter of the king of Persia Siyawush and of Ferahshad, son of the king of the Maghrib. Another is that of the author, or rather the translator (of the fifteenth century) of the History of the Forty Viziers, related to the History of the Seven Viziers (Sindibad-name).
Shaykh-zade see Sheykh-oghlu
Sheykh-oghlu (Shaykh-zade). Patronym used for several Turkish writers. One is that of the author of the Khurshid-name, who was born around 1340. The work describes the loves of Khurshid, the daughter of the king of Persia Siyawush and of Ferahshad, son of the king of the Maghrib. Another is that of the author, or rather the translator (of the fifteenth century) of the History of the Forty Viziers, related to the History of the Seven Viziers (Sindibad-name).
Shaykh-zade see Sheykh-oghlu
Shi‘a (Shi'i) (Shiite) (Shī‘ah). Shi'as form the second largest denomination of Islam, after Sunni Islam. The followers of Shia Islam are called Shi'as but the terms Shiites or Shi'ites are common Anglicisations. "Shia" is the short form of the historic phrase Shī‘atu ‘Alī, meaning "the followers of Ali" or "the faction of Ali".
As a term, Shi'a means “party,” in particular “party of ‘Ali” (shi‘at ‘Ali), and is used as the general name for a large group of very different Muslim sects, the starting point of all of which is the recognition of the Prophet’s son-in-law ‘Ali as the legitimate caliph after the death of the Prophet. Much more than the blood of ‘Ali, who was murdered in 661, it was that of his son al-Husayn, killed in 681 by government troops, that was the seed of the Shi‘a. It restored to religion the motive of passion, which has thoroughly penetrated Shi‘ism. To this was added the idea of the manifestation of the divine in man, namely in the Imam, who is especially chosen by God as the bearer of a part of the divine being and the leader to salvation. His death is rendered void by the idea of “return” (in Arabic, raj’), by belief in “concealment,” and by parousia, which led to the concept of the Mahdi.
The particular character of the Shi‘a offered so much incentive to dogmatic speculation that it never, like the Sunna, attained any far-reaching uniformity. In general, three main forms may be distinguished: (1) the Zaydis, who limit the manifestation of God in the Imam to mere divine “right guidance;” (2) the extremists, the so-called Ghulat (i.e., “those who go beyond all bounds” in maintaining that the mortal in the Imam is entirely swallowed up by union with God (in Arabic, hulul); and (3) the intermediate Imamis, for whom the Imam remains mortal but who believe that a divine light-substance is inherent in him by partial union with God.
Each of these three groups knew many sub-divisions. The Zaydis, who believe in five Imams, formed small principalities in Tabaristan and Daylam (from 864) and in Yemen (from 901); the Ghulat found very varied expression in the Carmathians, the Isma‘ilis (Seveners), the Druzes, the Nusayris and many other groups; the Imamis (Twelvers), finally, who believe in twelve Imams.
The consolidation of the separate groups began with the separation of the Isma‘ilis from the Imamis (c.800), followed by the Zaydis (of the ninth century) and various dynasties like the Bawandids, the Musafirids, the Fatimids and the Carmathians (of the early tenth century).
Political aspirations were further opened up by the Samanids, who were themselves not Shi‘is, the Hamdanids of Mosul, the Buyids, the Mazyadids, the Mirdasids, the Sulayhids, the Kakuyids, the Isma‘ilis at Alamut and in Syria. In later time there were the Safavids, the Qajars and now the Islamic Republic in Iran. In India, the first Shi‘i state was that of the ‘Adil Shahs of Bijapur, and, the most important, that of the Qutb Shahs of Golkonda. Growing influence was exercised by the mujtahids of Lakhnaw during the period of the Nawwabs of Awadh (Oudh).
The Arabic word, shi‘a, means “separate or distinct party.” The term Shi‘a refers to a branch of Islam composed of those sects that are followers of Ali and upholders of his direct succession to the office of Imam after Muhammad. The Shi‘a refuse to accept the imamate of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthman -- those who preceded Ali as caliph.
The origins of the Shi‘a (also known as Shi‘ites) are difficult to reconstruct. Due to the unfair presentation of Shi‘a positions by Sunni authors and biased reporting by later Shi‘ites, the origins of the Shi‘a have become clouded.
A consistent picture of the early Islamic community and its attitude toward the questions of leadership (imama) is indispensable for understanding the Shi‘a movement. Muhammad’s message, as embodied in the Qur’an, provided tremendous spiritual as well as socio-political impetus for the establishment of the ideal community -- the umma -- of Islam. Muhammad himself was not only the founder of a new religion but also the guardian of a new social order. Consequently the question of leadership was the crucial issue which divided Muslims into various factions in the decades after his death. The early years of Islam were characterized by constant victories of the Muslim armies under the first three caliphs. But as this period came to an end and civil war broke out in 656 of the Christian calendar, discussion arose over the necessity of a qualified leadership to assume the office the imam. Most of these early discussions on the imamate dealt with political issues, but eventually they took on religious implications as well. The rise of several imams and the sympathetic, even enthusiastic, following that they attracted clearly shows a desire to order Muslim society so as to fulfill its historic responsibility -- the formation of a just society with an appropriate political organization.
The Shi‘a, from the early days of the civil war in 656, thought of the imamate in both religious and political terms. They maintained that Muhammad was a charismatic leader who held both spiritual and temporal power. His spiritual authority included the power to interpret the message in the Qur’an without corrupting the revelation. Islam, in order to continue its function of directing the faithful toward a more just social order, was in need of a leader who could perform the Prophet’s role authoritatively. The exaltation of the Prophet and his rightful successor gave rise to the concept of an imam from among the descendants of the Prophet who could create an ideal Islamic community. The entire spiritual edifice of the Shi‘a was built on the walaya -- the love and devotion -- to Ali, who became the first Shi‘ite imam. In fact, walaya to Ali became the sole criterion for judging true faith.
The Shi‘ite concept of the imamate was bound to meet with strong resistance, since it not only demanded the recognition of Ali and his descendants as the succession of rightful imams, but also was a challenge to the rule of the Umayyad caliphate and a rallying point for all who felt discriminated against or maltreated by the ruling house. The early Shi‘a were united in their recognition of Ali and in their aspiration for a just order. Consequently, from its inception, Shi‘ism was an opposition party.
Several protest movements arose under a wide range of leaders from among Ali’s descendants who were able to arouse in their followers a genuine religious urge to achieve political goals. However, Shi‘ite attempts at direct political action met with strong resistance
from
the ruling dynasty, and very early their efforts met with failure. The resultant frustration produced further
Shi‘ite factions. The radical Shi‘ites
insisted on armed resistance to the oppressive rule of the caliphate. These were known as ghulat -- extremists --
because of the extravagant claims they made for their imams. Moderate Shi‘ites, having seen the futility
of direct political action, were prepared to postpone indefinitely the
establishment of true Islamic rule.
It was probably the murder of al-Husayn by Umayyad troops at Karbala in 680 and later the failure of the revolt of al-Husayn’s grandson, Zayd, in 739, which marked the turn toward a quietist attitude by the Shi‘a, who until then had been willing to fight for their ideals. But they continued to lack a specific ideology as late as the ‘Abbasid victory in 750. It was then that the great imam, Ja‘far al-Sadiq, who had been largely responsible for the moderation and discipline of the radical elements, provided Shi‘ism with a sectarian ideology. Moderate Shi‘ites continued to uphold the imamate of the descendants of al-Husayn through Ja‘far al-Sadiq until the line reached the twelfth imam, who was believed to be the Mahdi and the “hidden imam,” and whose return they awaited. These were the Imamiyya or “Twelvers.”
By the middle of the eighth century of the Christian calendar, the radical Shi‘ites had become so strong that one of their sects was able to help organize the revolution which established the ‘Abbasid caliphate. These rulers, however, disappointed their Shi‘ite followers by abandoning the messianic role and embracing Sunnism. It was at this time that the idea arose of a divinely guided savior imam, the Mahdi, who was believed to be endowed with divine knowledge like that of the Prophet himself. This idea stirred the imaginations of all who had been deprived of their rights under the existing regimes. Ambitious men found that they could manipulate the genuine religious devotion of ordinary people in the name of the descendants of Ali. But the failure of these individuals to establish the rule of justice gave rise to the two central beliefs in the idea of the Imam Mahdi: the concealment (ghayba) and return (raj‘a) of the Messianic Imam at the appropriate time. These beliefs helped the Shi‘ites endure under difficult circumstances. Lack of information on the exact time when the hidden imam would appear required them to be alert at all times.
In the political turmoil of the period, al-Sadiq had the opportunity to propagate Shi‘ite viewpoints without inhibition and to modify the radical tone of early Shi‘ism into a more sober and tolerant school of Islamic thought. Al-Sadiq was accepted by all Shi‘ites as their imam, including those of radical bent who attempted to establish the political power of Ali’s descendants. Al-Sadiq was also accepted as an authentic transmitter of the hadith in the Sunnite compilation. This indicates that it was almost certainly under his leadership that moderate Shi‘ism, with its veneration of the Prophet’s family, came to be accepted by the Sunnite majority as a permissible interpretation of Islamic piety.
Al-Sadiq’s attitude toward politics became the cornerstone of the imamite political theory, which, in the absence of political guidance from the hidden imam, did not teach its followers to overthrow tyrannical rulers and replace them by the imam. Instead, the leadership of the community was divided into temporal and spiritual spheres. The former was vested in the ruling dynasty, which in theory required designation (nass) by the Prophet, but was acceptable as long as its sphere of action was limited to the execution of the law. The spiritual sphere also required a clear designation by the Prophet, passed on through his descendants, since the holder of spiritual authority resided in Ali, duly designated by the Prophet. This leadership was handed on through a line of imams, each of whom was designated by his predecessor. When the Messianic Imam appears, temporal and spiritual authority will merge in his person, and he, like the Prophet, will uniquely unite the two spheres of ideal Islamic rule. Thus, the idea of imamate by designation among Ali’s descendants, continuing through all political circumstances, was complemented by that of an imamate based not primarily on political claims, but on the special privilege of possessing prophetic knowledge.
Aside from many failed rebellions, the Shi‘i played critical roles in ending the Umayyad dynasty, and the Shi‘i Buwayhid, a Persian dynasty, actually succeeded in controlling the Abbasid Caliphate for over 100 years.
The Shi‘i Fatimid dynasty was a competitor to the Baghdad Caliphate, and was located first in Tunisia and later in Egypt. The Almohads in the Maghrib were another Shi‘i group that succeeded. More dramatically, the Nizari Cult of the Assassins, founded by Hassan Sabbah and centered at the mountain fortress of Alamut, terrorized both Christian and Muslim leaders during the Crusades and gave Europe the word assassin (corruption of Hashish, which was used in their rituals.
However, the fortunes of the Shi‘a were very precarious until their establishment as the state religion of the Safavid dynasty in Persia in the sixteenth century. From this point on, the Twelver Shi‘a received significant support, protection and funding from the Persian state, and major theological centers were built up in Esfahan, Najaf, Qom and Meshed.
It has been particularly since the sixteenth century of the Christian calendar that the Twelver Shi‘a have become the dominant Shi‘a sect and developed a very distinct character from the Sunni majority. Here, the Twelver cause has taken on a strong identification with Iranian foreign policy and Twelver minorities in other countries have looked to Iran for support. And Iran has viewed Twelvers abroad as the country’s clients.
In the first few centuries of the Islamic era, any of Ali’s descendants (called Alids) were considered as acceptable candidates to be leaders of the Shi‘a, but as time went on it became more important for the Shi‘a leader to be descended from Ali through Husayn along a designated line.
Unlike the Sunni, the Shi‘a normally use the term imam to refer only to Ali and those descendants of his who lead the Shi‘a faction. The most significant divide among the Shi‘a today is among those recognizing twelve imams known as Twelvers, and those recognizing seven, known as Seveners, or more commonly Isma‘ilis, after Isma‘il, their seventh Imam, and the Zaydis who differ after the fourth Imam, and who accept any Alid who is learned and who asserts his rule through force of arms.
A significant feature of Twelver Shi‘a belief is their expectation of the return of the last Imam, called the Mahdi, to lead the faithful in establishing the Shi‘a belief on Islam in preparation for the Judgment Day. This ideology has many similarities with the Messiah ideology of Judaism and Christianity.
Other features with roots in Judeo-Christian tradition are the focus on the trials of the martyrs (rawda kani) and exultation of martyrdom in general, the use of self-flagellation as part of religious ritual and the commemoration of the ten days ending in the events of Karbala (ta’ziya) which are the central event of the Shi‘a calendar and bear significant similarities to the passion of Christ.
One interesting element in Shi‘a Islam is the permission to dissimulate (taqiyya), that is to deny ones faith in public in order to avoid social problems, while one maintains it in private. Another element is the principle of temporary marriage (in Arabic, mut‘a, in Persian, sigheh), in which a marriage contract can be entered for a set time, for any period of time between one day and ninety-nine years. The woman entering the mut‘a is paid a set amount of money. According to some Shi‘a traditions, a man performing four mut‘as is secured a place in Paradise. With the Iranian revolution, the system of mut‘a was re-installed as a part of the total Muslim practice.
While the Sunni consider the Shi‘a as innovators who introduced new and unorthodox elements into Islam, the Shi‘a view themselves as the true fundamentalists of Islam by retaining the leadership of Muhammad’s household.
This dilemma can be understood in the context of the methods with which the early Muslims sought guidance in matters not explicitly covered in the Qur’an. The Shi‘a relied upon the opinions of their imams, who as descendants of Muhammad and ‘Ali were viewed as having a closer connection to the divine. The Sunni relied on traditions based in theological and juridical schools which involved drawing analogies from the Qur’an and hadith, as well as from the consensus of theologians where analogies were not possible.
The four imams agreed upon by almost all currently existing branches of Shi‘a Islam are Ali, Hassan, Husayn, and Ali Zayn al-Abidin.
The Zaydis of northern Yemen recognize Ali Zayn al-Abidin’s son Zayd as the rightful imam. Following this they recognize a multitude of imams at different times and in different places. The most significant line of imams was founded in Yemen in 893 of the Christian calendar and lasted until the 1960s.
The Isma‘ilis and Twelvers both recognize Muhammad al-Baqir and Jafar as Sadiq. After this, the Isma‘ilis consider Jafar’s son Isma‘il as the truthful imam. The various Isma‘ili traditions then recognize different lines of imams which reach all the way up until modern time.
The Twelvers continue with Musa al-Kazim, Ali ar Rida, Muhammad at Taqi, Ali al-Hadi, Hassan al-Askari and Muhammad al-Mahdi, their last Imam whom they believe went into occultation. Hence, the last imam never died.
The Twelver Shi‘a are also sometimes referred to as Rafidi, Jafari, Mutawahi, Qizilbash, Imami, Ithna Ashari, and al-Khassa.
Some offshoots of Shi‘a Islam include the Druze, Alawites and the Baha’i.
The following is an outline of the Shi‘a imams and their derivative sects:
‘Ali (d. 661)
* Saba ‘iyya (who claim that ‘Ali is God, and that he went into occultation)
Hassan (d. 669)
* Kaysaniyya
* Karibiyya
* Hashimiyya
* Abbasiyya
* Rizaniyya/Muslimiyya
* Mukhtariyya
* Bayaniyya
Husayn (d. 680)
Ali Zayn al-Abidin (d. 712 or 713)
* Zaydiyya (Zayd claimed to be the fifth imam)
* Jarudiyya
* Sulaymaniyya/Jaririyya
* Butriyya/Salihiyya
Muhammad al-Baqir (d. 743)
* Janahiyya (God incarnated in the prophets/imams)
* Mughiriyya (anthropomorph God)
* Munsiriyya (symbolic understanding of the Qur’an. First, God created Jesus, then ‘Ali)
* Khattabiyya (Abdul Khattab claimed to be the imam, and hence the Prophet)
* Bazighiyya
* Mu’ammariyya
* Umayriyya
* Mufaddaliyya
* Ghurabiyya (‘Ali is above the Prophet)
* Baqiriyya
Jafar as-Sadiq (d. 765)
* Jafariyya (“Jafar is not dead!”)
* Aftahiyya
* Shumaytiyya
* Isma‘iliyya
* Mubarakiyya
* Fatimid Isma‘iliyya
* Mustalia
* Nizari
* Druze
Musa al-Kazim (d. 799)
* Musawiyya (“Imam Musa is not dead!”)
* Bajaliyya
* Bashariyya (Only perform sawm and salat)
Ali ar-Rida (d. 818)
* Ahmadiyya
* Mualifa
* Muhadditha
Muhammad at-Taqi (d. 835)
Ali al-Hadi (d. 868)
* Alawiyya
* Muhammadiyya
* Jafariyya
Hassan al-Askari (d. 873)
Muhammad al-Mahdi (occultation 941)
Similar to other schools of thought in Islam, Shia Islam is based on the teachings of the Islamic holy book, the Qur'an and the message of the final prophet of Islam, Muhammad. In contrast to other schools of thought, Shia Islam holds that Muhammad's family, the Ahl al-Bayt ("the People of the House"), and certain individuals among his descendants, who are known as Imams, have special spiritual and political authority over the community. Shia Muslims further believe that Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, was the first of these Imams and was the rightful successor to Muhammad and thus reject the legitimacy of the first three caliphs.
Shias regard Ali as the second most important figure after the Prophet Muhammad. According to them, Muhammad suggested on various occasions during his lifetime that Ali should be the leader of Muslims after his demise. According to this view, Ali as the successor of Muhammad not only ruled over the community in justice, but also interpreted the Sharia Law and its esoteric meaning. Hence he was regarded as being free from error and sin (infallible), and appointed by God by divine decree (Nass) to be the first Imam. Ali is known as "perfect man" (al-insan al-kamil) similar to Muhammad according to Shia viewpoint. As a result, Shias exclusively use sermons attributed to Ali, in contrast to the Sunni traditions where the sunnah is largely narrated by companions. Subsequently, the Shi'a have their own form of hadith.
Early in the history of Islam, the Shīʿites were a political faction (Arabic shīʿat ʿAlī, “party of ʿAlī”) that supported the power of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (the fourth caliph [khalīfah, successor of Muhammad]) and, later, of his descendants. Starting as a political faction, this group gradually developed into a religious movement, Shīʿism, which not only influenced Sunni Islam but also produced a number of important sects to which the term Shīʿah is applied.
The Prophet Muhammad died in 632 without an heir, none of his sons having survived to adulthood, and a broad consensus of those present at Medina nominated his longtime companion Abū Bakr as his successor. Abū Bakr died two years later and was succeeded in the caliphate by his assistant and adviser, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭab. When ʿUmar was assassinated by a disgruntled Persian slave in 644, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān was selected by a committee to become the third caliph. ʿUthmān was killed by rebels in 656.
From the time of the first caliph, a number of those within the Muslim community felt that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, who was Muhammad’s first cousin and close confidant as well as his son-in-law and the father of Muhammad’s grandsons Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn (by Muhammad’s daughter Fāṭimah), was the natural choice to succeed the Prophet. In 656, ʿAlī was raised to the caliphate, partly with the support of those who had murdered the third caliph, ʿUthmān.
ʿAlī never quite received the allegiance of all the Muslims, however, and, in an effort to consolidate power, he was forced to wage a series of campaigns in an insurrection that came to be known as the first fitnah (“trial”). ʿAlī’s main opponent was the Muslim governor of Syria, Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān, who was a kinsman of the murdered ʿUthmān (both men were members of the Umayyad clan—founders of the Umayyad dynasty—whose leaders had been fierce adversaries of Muhammad before their conversion to Islam). The antagonism between ʿAlī and Muʿāwiyah culminated in the Battle of Ṣiffīn (657), a conflict that ʿAlī appeared to be winning until he agreed to Muʿāwiyah’s demand for arbitration. ʿAlī’s concession angered a large faction within his forces, and the malcontents soon seceded (and were henceforth known as the Khārijites, “Seceders”), which ultimately weakened ʿAlī’s position. ʿAlī was murdered by a Khārijite in 661.
Muʿāwiyah became the next generally acknowledged caliph, and for some time ʿAlī was officially cursed from the pulpits of Islam. However, many Muslims, especially those of the garrison cities of southern Iraq, hoped for a restoration of the ʿAlids (i.e., lineage of ʿAlī). ʿAlī’s son Ḥasan made a short-lived bid for the caliphate soon after his father’s death, but he met with no success and retired. Later al-Ḥusayn refused to recognize the legitimacy of Muʿāwiyah’s son and successor, Yazīd I, as caliph. The Muslims of Al-Kūfah in Iraq, ʿAlī’s former headquarters, invited al-Ḥusayn to come there and offered to support his bid for the caliphate. The broader Muslim community in Iraq generally failed to support al-Ḥusayn, however, and he and his small band of followers were cut down in 680 by Umayyad troops near the town of Karbalāʾ (the Battle of Karbalāʾ), which is now a pilgrimage destination in central Iraq for Shīʿites.
Swearing vengeance against the triumphant Umayyad government, the remorseful residents of Al-Kūfah soon engaged in a series of unsuccessful insurrections against Umayyad rule. These were put down with great brutality, notably by the Umayyad provincial governor al-Ḥajjāj. In one such insurrection, the Shīʿite leader al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbayd al-Thaqafī put forward Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah, a son of ʿAlī from a wife other than Fāṭimah, as caliph. Such revolts tended to have a strong millenarian element, and, in the turbulent social and political circumstances of the late 7th and early 8th centuries, political differences slowly began to take on theological proportions. Extremist (ghulāt) groups began to proliferate, often attributing miraculous, even divine, status to ʿAlī and his family.
The people of Al-Kūfah ultimately gained support from other groups that opposed the status quo of the Umayyad dynasty. These included aristocratic Muslim families of Medina, pious men protesting what they considered too worldly an interpretation of Islam, and non-Arab Muslims (mawālī, “clients”), especially in Iraq, who demanded an equality denied them by the ruling Arabs.
The subsequent revolt, which ended in 750, finally put an end to Umayyad power. However, rather than an ʿAlid rising to the caliphate, the appointment went to a scion of another branch of the Prophet’s family, one descended from Muhammad’s uncle al-ʿAbbās. Under the ʿAbbāsid dynasty (750–1258), the theological, philosophical, and legal superstructure of what was to become the Sunni community developed and flourished. The insurrections of the Umayyad period died down, but a counterculture developed in the form of several diverse groups promoting Shīʿite candidates to leadership. One such group, the Zaydiyyah (named for Zayd ibn ʿAlī, a grandson of al-Ḥusayn), formulated its principles in the 9th century. The Zaydīs (members of the Zaydiyyah) demanded, sometimes with sword in hand, that the ruler be whichever descendant of Ḥasan or al-Ḥusayn (that is, the sons of ʿAlī by Fāṭimah) was proved qualified, at a given time, by his religious knowledge and his practical ability. Zaydī devotees set up several small states along the Caspian littoral in what is now northern Iran and in Yemen in southern Arabia, where Zaydī imams have since been spiritual leaders and where they ruled politically until 1962.
Zaydīs differed only marginally from mainstream Sunnis in their views on political leadership, but it is possible in this sect to see a refinement of Shīʿite doctrine. Early Sunnis traditionally held that the political leader must come from the tribe of the Prophet—namely, the Quraysh. The Zaydīs narrowed the political claims of the ʿAlids, claiming that not just any descendant of ʿAlī would be eligible to lead the Muslim community (ummah) but only those males directly descended from Muḥammad through the union of ʿAlī and Fāṭimah (the sect of Muhammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah died out in the 9th century).
Other Shīʿites, who came to be known as imāmiyyah (followers of the imams [religious leaders]), narrowed the pool of potential leaders even further and asserted a more exalted religious role for the ʿAlid claimants. They insisted that, at any given time, whether in power or not, a single male descendant of ʿAlī and Fāṭimah was the divinely appointed imam and the sole authority, in his time, on all matters of faith and law. The more speculative among them, the ghulāt, sometimes bestowed practically divine honors on the imams. The more moderate came, in time, to claim that at least a supernatural “Muhammadan light” embodied in the imams gave them superhuman knowledge and power and that their sufferings were a means of divine grace to their devotees. To those Shīʿites, love of the imams and of their persecuted cause became as important as belief in God’s oneness and the mission of Muhammad. Under Sunni rule, the imāmiyyah often were violently persecuted and sometimes protected themselves by dissimulating their faith (taqiyyah), but Shīʿite doctrine eventually came to hold that the imam, as mahdi (a divine savior), would deliver the faithful and punish their enemies.
Most Shīʿites eventually came to acknowledge one of two family lines (the imamate passing from father to son) stemming from ʿAlī but diverging at al-Ḥusayn’s great-grandson Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad (also called Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq). After Jaʿfar’s death (765), one group opted to follow his son Ismāʿīl. They became known as the Ismāʿīliyyah or the Seveners, because Ismāʿīl was the seventh and final imam in their lineage. The Ismāʿīlīs developed a unique religious system and established a caliphate of their own, ruled by the Fāṭimid dynasty (909–1171), in North Africa, which later spread to Egypt and briefly took power in the Levant. Ismāʿīlī devotees (notably the Assassins) also proselytized in Iraq, Iran, and other parts of the Mashriq (the region between the western border of Egypt and the western border of Iran).
This brand of Shīʿism was extremely esoteric and never developed a mass following in its realms. Most Fāṭimid subjects remained Sunni, but the sect survived in the offshoot Druze faith of Lebanon and Syria and in the present-day Khoja and Bohra merchant communities of India and eastern Africa. The Khojas, who are descended from the Nizārī branch of the Ismāʿīlīs, continue to follow the aga khans, a lineage of Muslim spiritual leaders who claim direct descent from ʿAlī. Another Ismāʿīlī dynasty, the Qarmatians, was active in eastern Arabia from the 9th through the 11th century.
Most Shīʿites now acknowledge another line, one descended from a second son of Jaʿfar, Mūsā al-Kāẓim. This lineage ended with the Twelfth Imam, Muḥammad al-Mahdī al-Ḥujjah, when he purportedly went into occultation (ghaybah) in 878. Consequently, this branch of Shīʿism is referred to as the Ithnā ʿAshariyyah (“Twelvers”). As his name might suggest, the Twelfth Imam, or Hidden Imam, as he is often known, took on eschatological significance for the followers of this branch of Shīʿism. He is expected to return as the mahdi before the Last Judgment to establish justice on earth.
Other groups associated with the Ithnā ʿAshariyyah are the ʿAlawites (Nuṣayriyyah) of Syria (the dominant political group in Syria in the late 20th and early 21st centuries); the ʿAlī Ilāhīs or Ahl-e Haqq, who are mostly scattered herdsmen and farmers of Kurdistan, Turkey, and Iran; and the Bektāshī order of dervishes in Turkey and Albania.
In addition to the Ismāʿīlī dynasties mentioned above, several other Shīʿite dynasties played important roles in Islamic history. The emirs of the Shīʿite Ḥamdānid dynasty (905–1004) were notable patrons of the arts. One of their renowned leaders, Sayf al-Dawlah (916–967), who fought a long series of campaigns against the Byzantine Empire, was a patron of the great Arab poet al-Mutanabbī, among others. Overlapping the Ḥamdānids chronologically, the Būyid dynasty (945–1055) dominated much of Iraq and western Iran, occupied Baghdad, and for many years effectively controlled the ʿAbbāsid caliphate. Such was the scope of Shīʿite political power during the 10th century that often it has been referred to as the Shīʿite Century.
Despite the prominence of great Shīʿite polities, however, Shīʿism remained almost everywhere a minority faith until the start of the 16th century, when Ismāʿīl I founded the Ṣafavid dynasty (1502–1736) in what is now Iran and made Shīʿism the official creed of his realm. ʿAbbās I (1571–1629) later moved the Ṣafavid capital to Eṣfahān and established a series of madrasahs (religious schools), effectively shifting the intellectual center of Shīʿism from Iraq to Iran and adding rigor to Shīʿite doctrine in that country. Extreme (ghuluww) religious viewpoints and activities were mollified, and the more excessive groups—including those who were important in supporting early Ṣafavid dynastic claims—were sidelined. Over the next several centuries the empire spread, and conversion to Shīʿism steadily continued. By the early 18th century the Twelver Shīʿites had built a large and vibrant following among the Turks of Azerbaijan, the Persians of Iran, and the Arabs of southern Iraq.
By the time of the Ṣafavids, Shīʿite theological and legal doctrine had expanded and matured, precipitating doctrinal disputes that often became vitriolic between factions within the Ithnā ʿAsharī religious community. One faction, known as the Akhbāriyyah, felt that the only sound source of legal interpretation was the direct teachings of the 12 infallible imams, in the form of their written and oral testaments (akhbār). Their opponents, known as the Uṣūliyyah, held that a number of fundamental sources (uṣūl) should be consulted but that the final source for legal conclusions rested in the reasoned judgment of a qualified scholar, a mujtahid (i.e., one who is empowered to interpret legal issues not explicitly addressed in the Qurʾān). The eventual victory of the Uṣūliyyah in this debate during the turbulent years at the end of the Ṣafavid empire (early 18th century) was to have resounding effects on both the shape of Shīʿism and the course of Islamic history. The study of legal theory (fiqh; the purview of the mujtahids) became the primary field of scholarship in the Shīʿite world, and the concomitant rise of the mujtahids as a distinctive body signaled the development of a politically conscious and influential religious class not previously seen in the Muslim world.
Among the Ithnā ʿAsharī ʿulamāʾ (religious scholars), a consensus began to form that, in the absence of the Hidden Imam, the ʿulamāʾ themselves should act as his general representatives, performing such duties as administering income tax (khums, “one-fifth”) and the tax to benefit the poor (zakāt), leading prayer, and running Sharīʿah courts. Such doctrines were refined over the centuries, and in the late 20th century a Shīʿite scholar in Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini, expanded that concept, arguing that the ʿulamāʾ as a group were in fact the direct representatives of the Hidden Imam, pending his return. Although many Shīʿite divines continued to eschew the mixing of religion and politics, Khomeini’s theory of velāyat-e faqīh provided the framework for the establishment of a mixed democratic and theocratic regime in Iran in 1979.
Over time, Shīʿites became a distinct collection of sects, alike in their recognition of ʿAlī and his descendants as the legitimate leaders of the Muslim community. Although the Shīʿites’ conviction that the ʿAlids should be the leaders of the Islamic world was never fulfilled, ʿAlī himself was rehabilitated as a major hero of Sunni Islam, and his descendants by Fāṭimah—who is venerated among Sunnis and Shīʿites alike—received the courtesy titles of sayyids and sharifs.
Shīʿites have come to account for roughly one-tenth of the Muslim population worldwide. The largest Shīʿite sect in the early 21st century was the Ithnā ʿAshariyyah, which formed a majority in Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Bahrain. The sect also constituted a significant minority in eastern Saudi Arabia and the other Arab states of the Persian Gulf region, as well as in parts of Syria, South Asia, and eastern Africa. The Ithnā ʿAshariyyah was the largest Shīʿite group in Lebanon, and Shīʿites in that country, as well as in Iran and Iraq, were among the most vocal representatives of militant Islamism. Smaller Shīʿite sects included the Ismāʿīliyyah, who formed the bulk of the Shīʿite community in parts of Pakistan, India, and eastern Africa, and the Zaydiyyah, who lived almost exclusively in northwestern Yemen. Various subsects of Shīʿism were also found in other parts of the Muslim world.
Shi'i see Shi‘a
Shi'ite see Shi‘a
Shi'atu 'Ali see Shi‘a
The Followers of 'Ali see Shi‘a
The Faction of 'Ali see Shi‘a
Shi'at 'Ali see Shi‘a
It was probably the murder of al-Husayn by Umayyad troops at Karbala in 680 and later the failure of the revolt of al-Husayn’s grandson, Zayd, in 739, which marked the turn toward a quietist attitude by the Shi‘a, who until then had been willing to fight for their ideals. But they continued to lack a specific ideology as late as the ‘Abbasid victory in 750. It was then that the great imam, Ja‘far al-Sadiq, who had been largely responsible for the moderation and discipline of the radical elements, provided Shi‘ism with a sectarian ideology. Moderate Shi‘ites continued to uphold the imamate of the descendants of al-Husayn through Ja‘far al-Sadiq until the line reached the twelfth imam, who was believed to be the Mahdi and the “hidden imam,” and whose return they awaited. These were the Imamiyya or “Twelvers.”
By the middle of the eighth century of the Christian calendar, the radical Shi‘ites had become so strong that one of their sects was able to help organize the revolution which established the ‘Abbasid caliphate. These rulers, however, disappointed their Shi‘ite followers by abandoning the messianic role and embracing Sunnism. It was at this time that the idea arose of a divinely guided savior imam, the Mahdi, who was believed to be endowed with divine knowledge like that of the Prophet himself. This idea stirred the imaginations of all who had been deprived of their rights under the existing regimes. Ambitious men found that they could manipulate the genuine religious devotion of ordinary people in the name of the descendants of Ali. But the failure of these individuals to establish the rule of justice gave rise to the two central beliefs in the idea of the Imam Mahdi: the concealment (ghayba) and return (raj‘a) of the Messianic Imam at the appropriate time. These beliefs helped the Shi‘ites endure under difficult circumstances. Lack of information on the exact time when the hidden imam would appear required them to be alert at all times.
In the political turmoil of the period, al-Sadiq had the opportunity to propagate Shi‘ite viewpoints without inhibition and to modify the radical tone of early Shi‘ism into a more sober and tolerant school of Islamic thought. Al-Sadiq was accepted by all Shi‘ites as their imam, including those of radical bent who attempted to establish the political power of Ali’s descendants. Al-Sadiq was also accepted as an authentic transmitter of the hadith in the Sunnite compilation. This indicates that it was almost certainly under his leadership that moderate Shi‘ism, with its veneration of the Prophet’s family, came to be accepted by the Sunnite majority as a permissible interpretation of Islamic piety.
Al-Sadiq’s attitude toward politics became the cornerstone of the imamite political theory, which, in the absence of political guidance from the hidden imam, did not teach its followers to overthrow tyrannical rulers and replace them by the imam. Instead, the leadership of the community was divided into temporal and spiritual spheres. The former was vested in the ruling dynasty, which in theory required designation (nass) by the Prophet, but was acceptable as long as its sphere of action was limited to the execution of the law. The spiritual sphere also required a clear designation by the Prophet, passed on through his descendants, since the holder of spiritual authority resided in Ali, duly designated by the Prophet. This leadership was handed on through a line of imams, each of whom was designated by his predecessor. When the Messianic Imam appears, temporal and spiritual authority will merge in his person, and he, like the Prophet, will uniquely unite the two spheres of ideal Islamic rule. Thus, the idea of imamate by designation among Ali’s descendants, continuing through all political circumstances, was complemented by that of an imamate based not primarily on political claims, but on the special privilege of possessing prophetic knowledge.
Aside from many failed rebellions, the Shi‘i played critical roles in ending the Umayyad dynasty, and the Shi‘i Buwayhid, a Persian dynasty, actually succeeded in controlling the Abbasid Caliphate for over 100 years.
The Shi‘i Fatimid dynasty was a competitor to the Baghdad Caliphate, and was located first in Tunisia and later in Egypt. The Almohads in the Maghrib were another Shi‘i group that succeeded. More dramatically, the Nizari Cult of the Assassins, founded by Hassan Sabbah and centered at the mountain fortress of Alamut, terrorized both Christian and Muslim leaders during the Crusades and gave Europe the word assassin (corruption of Hashish, which was used in their rituals.
However, the fortunes of the Shi‘a were very precarious until their establishment as the state religion of the Safavid dynasty in Persia in the sixteenth century. From this point on, the Twelver Shi‘a received significant support, protection and funding from the Persian state, and major theological centers were built up in Esfahan, Najaf, Qom and Meshed.
It has been particularly since the sixteenth century of the Christian calendar that the Twelver Shi‘a have become the dominant Shi‘a sect and developed a very distinct character from the Sunni majority. Here, the Twelver cause has taken on a strong identification with Iranian foreign policy and Twelver minorities in other countries have looked to Iran for support. And Iran has viewed Twelvers abroad as the country’s clients.
In the first few centuries of the Islamic era, any of Ali’s descendants (called Alids) were considered as acceptable candidates to be leaders of the Shi‘a, but as time went on it became more important for the Shi‘a leader to be descended from Ali through Husayn along a designated line.
Unlike the Sunni, the Shi‘a normally use the term imam to refer only to Ali and those descendants of his who lead the Shi‘a faction. The most significant divide among the Shi‘a today is among those recognizing twelve imams known as Twelvers, and those recognizing seven, known as Seveners, or more commonly Isma‘ilis, after Isma‘il, their seventh Imam, and the Zaydis who differ after the fourth Imam, and who accept any Alid who is learned and who asserts his rule through force of arms.
A significant feature of Twelver Shi‘a belief is their expectation of the return of the last Imam, called the Mahdi, to lead the faithful in establishing the Shi‘a belief on Islam in preparation for the Judgment Day. This ideology has many similarities with the Messiah ideology of Judaism and Christianity.
Other features with roots in Judeo-Christian tradition are the focus on the trials of the martyrs (rawda kani) and exultation of martyrdom in general, the use of self-flagellation as part of religious ritual and the commemoration of the ten days ending in the events of Karbala (ta’ziya) which are the central event of the Shi‘a calendar and bear significant similarities to the passion of Christ.
One interesting element in Shi‘a Islam is the permission to dissimulate (taqiyya), that is to deny ones faith in public in order to avoid social problems, while one maintains it in private. Another element is the principle of temporary marriage (in Arabic, mut‘a, in Persian, sigheh), in which a marriage contract can be entered for a set time, for any period of time between one day and ninety-nine years. The woman entering the mut‘a is paid a set amount of money. According to some Shi‘a traditions, a man performing four mut‘as is secured a place in Paradise. With the Iranian revolution, the system of mut‘a was re-installed as a part of the total Muslim practice.
While the Sunni consider the Shi‘a as innovators who introduced new and unorthodox elements into Islam, the Shi‘a view themselves as the true fundamentalists of Islam by retaining the leadership of Muhammad’s household.
This dilemma can be understood in the context of the methods with which the early Muslims sought guidance in matters not explicitly covered in the Qur’an. The Shi‘a relied upon the opinions of their imams, who as descendants of Muhammad and ‘Ali were viewed as having a closer connection to the divine. The Sunni relied on traditions based in theological and juridical schools which involved drawing analogies from the Qur’an and hadith, as well as from the consensus of theologians where analogies were not possible.
The four imams agreed upon by almost all currently existing branches of Shi‘a Islam are Ali, Hassan, Husayn, and Ali Zayn al-Abidin.
The Zaydis of northern Yemen recognize Ali Zayn al-Abidin’s son Zayd as the rightful imam. Following this they recognize a multitude of imams at different times and in different places. The most significant line of imams was founded in Yemen in 893 of the Christian calendar and lasted until the 1960s.
The Isma‘ilis and Twelvers both recognize Muhammad al-Baqir and Jafar as Sadiq. After this, the Isma‘ilis consider Jafar’s son Isma‘il as the truthful imam. The various Isma‘ili traditions then recognize different lines of imams which reach all the way up until modern time.
The Twelvers continue with Musa al-Kazim, Ali ar Rida, Muhammad at Taqi, Ali al-Hadi, Hassan al-Askari and Muhammad al-Mahdi, their last Imam whom they believe went into occultation. Hence, the last imam never died.
The Twelver Shi‘a are also sometimes referred to as Rafidi, Jafari, Mutawahi, Qizilbash, Imami, Ithna Ashari, and al-Khassa.
Some offshoots of Shi‘a Islam include the Druze, Alawites and the Baha’i.
The following is an outline of the Shi‘a imams and their derivative sects:
‘Ali (d. 661)
* Saba ‘iyya (who claim that ‘Ali is God, and that he went into occultation)
Hassan (d. 669)
* Kaysaniyya
* Karibiyya
* Hashimiyya
* Abbasiyya
* Rizaniyya/Muslimiyya
* Mukhtariyya
* Bayaniyya
Husayn (d. 680)
Ali Zayn al-Abidin (d. 712 or 713)
* Zaydiyya (Zayd claimed to be the fifth imam)
* Jarudiyya
* Sulaymaniyya/Jaririyya
* Butriyya/Salihiyya
Muhammad al-Baqir (d. 743)
* Janahiyya (God incarnated in the prophets/imams)
* Mughiriyya (anthropomorph God)
* Munsiriyya (symbolic understanding of the Qur’an. First, God created Jesus, then ‘Ali)
* Khattabiyya (Abdul Khattab claimed to be the imam, and hence the Prophet)
* Bazighiyya
* Mu’ammariyya
* Umayriyya
* Mufaddaliyya
* Ghurabiyya (‘Ali is above the Prophet)
* Baqiriyya
Jafar as-Sadiq (d. 765)
* Jafariyya (“Jafar is not dead!”)
* Aftahiyya
* Shumaytiyya
* Isma‘iliyya
* Mubarakiyya
* Fatimid Isma‘iliyya
* Mustalia
* Nizari
* Druze
Musa al-Kazim (d. 799)
* Musawiyya (“Imam Musa is not dead!”)
* Bajaliyya
* Bashariyya (Only perform sawm and salat)
Ali ar-Rida (d. 818)
* Ahmadiyya
* Mualifa
* Muhadditha
Muhammad at-Taqi (d. 835)
Ali al-Hadi (d. 868)
* Alawiyya
* Muhammadiyya
* Jafariyya
Hassan al-Askari (d. 873)
Muhammad al-Mahdi (occultation 941)
Similar to other schools of thought in Islam, Shia Islam is based on the teachings of the Islamic holy book, the Qur'an and the message of the final prophet of Islam, Muhammad. In contrast to other schools of thought, Shia Islam holds that Muhammad's family, the Ahl al-Bayt ("the People of the House"), and certain individuals among his descendants, who are known as Imams, have special spiritual and political authority over the community. Shia Muslims further believe that Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, was the first of these Imams and was the rightful successor to Muhammad and thus reject the legitimacy of the first three caliphs.
Shias regard Ali as the second most important figure after the Prophet Muhammad. According to them, Muhammad suggested on various occasions during his lifetime that Ali should be the leader of Muslims after his demise. According to this view, Ali as the successor of Muhammad not only ruled over the community in justice, but also interpreted the Sharia Law and its esoteric meaning. Hence he was regarded as being free from error and sin (infallible), and appointed by God by divine decree (Nass) to be the first Imam. Ali is known as "perfect man" (al-insan al-kamil) similar to Muhammad according to Shia viewpoint. As a result, Shias exclusively use sermons attributed to Ali, in contrast to the Sunni traditions where the sunnah is largely narrated by companions. Subsequently, the Shi'a have their own form of hadith.
Early in the history of Islam, the Shīʿites were a political faction (Arabic shīʿat ʿAlī, “party of ʿAlī”) that supported the power of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (the fourth caliph [khalīfah, successor of Muhammad]) and, later, of his descendants. Starting as a political faction, this group gradually developed into a religious movement, Shīʿism, which not only influenced Sunni Islam but also produced a number of important sects to which the term Shīʿah is applied.
The Prophet Muhammad died in 632 without an heir, none of his sons having survived to adulthood, and a broad consensus of those present at Medina nominated his longtime companion Abū Bakr as his successor. Abū Bakr died two years later and was succeeded in the caliphate by his assistant and adviser, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭab. When ʿUmar was assassinated by a disgruntled Persian slave in 644, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān was selected by a committee to become the third caliph. ʿUthmān was killed by rebels in 656.
From the time of the first caliph, a number of those within the Muslim community felt that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, who was Muhammad’s first cousin and close confidant as well as his son-in-law and the father of Muhammad’s grandsons Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn (by Muhammad’s daughter Fāṭimah), was the natural choice to succeed the Prophet. In 656, ʿAlī was raised to the caliphate, partly with the support of those who had murdered the third caliph, ʿUthmān.
ʿAlī never quite received the allegiance of all the Muslims, however, and, in an effort to consolidate power, he was forced to wage a series of campaigns in an insurrection that came to be known as the first fitnah (“trial”). ʿAlī’s main opponent was the Muslim governor of Syria, Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān, who was a kinsman of the murdered ʿUthmān (both men were members of the Umayyad clan—founders of the Umayyad dynasty—whose leaders had been fierce adversaries of Muhammad before their conversion to Islam). The antagonism between ʿAlī and Muʿāwiyah culminated in the Battle of Ṣiffīn (657), a conflict that ʿAlī appeared to be winning until he agreed to Muʿāwiyah’s demand for arbitration. ʿAlī’s concession angered a large faction within his forces, and the malcontents soon seceded (and were henceforth known as the Khārijites, “Seceders”), which ultimately weakened ʿAlī’s position. ʿAlī was murdered by a Khārijite in 661.
Muʿāwiyah became the next generally acknowledged caliph, and for some time ʿAlī was officially cursed from the pulpits of Islam. However, many Muslims, especially those of the garrison cities of southern Iraq, hoped for a restoration of the ʿAlids (i.e., lineage of ʿAlī). ʿAlī’s son Ḥasan made a short-lived bid for the caliphate soon after his father’s death, but he met with no success and retired. Later al-Ḥusayn refused to recognize the legitimacy of Muʿāwiyah’s son and successor, Yazīd I, as caliph. The Muslims of Al-Kūfah in Iraq, ʿAlī’s former headquarters, invited al-Ḥusayn to come there and offered to support his bid for the caliphate. The broader Muslim community in Iraq generally failed to support al-Ḥusayn, however, and he and his small band of followers were cut down in 680 by Umayyad troops near the town of Karbalāʾ (the Battle of Karbalāʾ), which is now a pilgrimage destination in central Iraq for Shīʿites.
Swearing vengeance against the triumphant Umayyad government, the remorseful residents of Al-Kūfah soon engaged in a series of unsuccessful insurrections against Umayyad rule. These were put down with great brutality, notably by the Umayyad provincial governor al-Ḥajjāj. In one such insurrection, the Shīʿite leader al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbayd al-Thaqafī put forward Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah, a son of ʿAlī from a wife other than Fāṭimah, as caliph. Such revolts tended to have a strong millenarian element, and, in the turbulent social and political circumstances of the late 7th and early 8th centuries, political differences slowly began to take on theological proportions. Extremist (ghulāt) groups began to proliferate, often attributing miraculous, even divine, status to ʿAlī and his family.
The people of Al-Kūfah ultimately gained support from other groups that opposed the status quo of the Umayyad dynasty. These included aristocratic Muslim families of Medina, pious men protesting what they considered too worldly an interpretation of Islam, and non-Arab Muslims (mawālī, “clients”), especially in Iraq, who demanded an equality denied them by the ruling Arabs.
The subsequent revolt, which ended in 750, finally put an end to Umayyad power. However, rather than an ʿAlid rising to the caliphate, the appointment went to a scion of another branch of the Prophet’s family, one descended from Muhammad’s uncle al-ʿAbbās. Under the ʿAbbāsid dynasty (750–1258), the theological, philosophical, and legal superstructure of what was to become the Sunni community developed and flourished. The insurrections of the Umayyad period died down, but a counterculture developed in the form of several diverse groups promoting Shīʿite candidates to leadership. One such group, the Zaydiyyah (named for Zayd ibn ʿAlī, a grandson of al-Ḥusayn), formulated its principles in the 9th century. The Zaydīs (members of the Zaydiyyah) demanded, sometimes with sword in hand, that the ruler be whichever descendant of Ḥasan or al-Ḥusayn (that is, the sons of ʿAlī by Fāṭimah) was proved qualified, at a given time, by his religious knowledge and his practical ability. Zaydī devotees set up several small states along the Caspian littoral in what is now northern Iran and in Yemen in southern Arabia, where Zaydī imams have since been spiritual leaders and where they ruled politically until 1962.
Zaydīs differed only marginally from mainstream Sunnis in their views on political leadership, but it is possible in this sect to see a refinement of Shīʿite doctrine. Early Sunnis traditionally held that the political leader must come from the tribe of the Prophet—namely, the Quraysh. The Zaydīs narrowed the political claims of the ʿAlids, claiming that not just any descendant of ʿAlī would be eligible to lead the Muslim community (ummah) but only those males directly descended from Muḥammad through the union of ʿAlī and Fāṭimah (the sect of Muhammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah died out in the 9th century).
Other Shīʿites, who came to be known as imāmiyyah (followers of the imams [religious leaders]), narrowed the pool of potential leaders even further and asserted a more exalted religious role for the ʿAlid claimants. They insisted that, at any given time, whether in power or not, a single male descendant of ʿAlī and Fāṭimah was the divinely appointed imam and the sole authority, in his time, on all matters of faith and law. The more speculative among them, the ghulāt, sometimes bestowed practically divine honors on the imams. The more moderate came, in time, to claim that at least a supernatural “Muhammadan light” embodied in the imams gave them superhuman knowledge and power and that their sufferings were a means of divine grace to their devotees. To those Shīʿites, love of the imams and of their persecuted cause became as important as belief in God’s oneness and the mission of Muhammad. Under Sunni rule, the imāmiyyah often were violently persecuted and sometimes protected themselves by dissimulating their faith (taqiyyah), but Shīʿite doctrine eventually came to hold that the imam, as mahdi (a divine savior), would deliver the faithful and punish their enemies.
Most Shīʿites eventually came to acknowledge one of two family lines (the imamate passing from father to son) stemming from ʿAlī but diverging at al-Ḥusayn’s great-grandson Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad (also called Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq). After Jaʿfar’s death (765), one group opted to follow his son Ismāʿīl. They became known as the Ismāʿīliyyah or the Seveners, because Ismāʿīl was the seventh and final imam in their lineage. The Ismāʿīlīs developed a unique religious system and established a caliphate of their own, ruled by the Fāṭimid dynasty (909–1171), in North Africa, which later spread to Egypt and briefly took power in the Levant. Ismāʿīlī devotees (notably the Assassins) also proselytized in Iraq, Iran, and other parts of the Mashriq (the region between the western border of Egypt and the western border of Iran).
This brand of Shīʿism was extremely esoteric and never developed a mass following in its realms. Most Fāṭimid subjects remained Sunni, but the sect survived in the offshoot Druze faith of Lebanon and Syria and in the present-day Khoja and Bohra merchant communities of India and eastern Africa. The Khojas, who are descended from the Nizārī branch of the Ismāʿīlīs, continue to follow the aga khans, a lineage of Muslim spiritual leaders who claim direct descent from ʿAlī. Another Ismāʿīlī dynasty, the Qarmatians, was active in eastern Arabia from the 9th through the 11th century.
Most Shīʿites now acknowledge another line, one descended from a second son of Jaʿfar, Mūsā al-Kāẓim. This lineage ended with the Twelfth Imam, Muḥammad al-Mahdī al-Ḥujjah, when he purportedly went into occultation (ghaybah) in 878. Consequently, this branch of Shīʿism is referred to as the Ithnā ʿAshariyyah (“Twelvers”). As his name might suggest, the Twelfth Imam, or Hidden Imam, as he is often known, took on eschatological significance for the followers of this branch of Shīʿism. He is expected to return as the mahdi before the Last Judgment to establish justice on earth.
Other groups associated with the Ithnā ʿAshariyyah are the ʿAlawites (Nuṣayriyyah) of Syria (the dominant political group in Syria in the late 20th and early 21st centuries); the ʿAlī Ilāhīs or Ahl-e Haqq, who are mostly scattered herdsmen and farmers of Kurdistan, Turkey, and Iran; and the Bektāshī order of dervishes in Turkey and Albania.
In addition to the Ismāʿīlī dynasties mentioned above, several other Shīʿite dynasties played important roles in Islamic history. The emirs of the Shīʿite Ḥamdānid dynasty (905–1004) were notable patrons of the arts. One of their renowned leaders, Sayf al-Dawlah (916–967), who fought a long series of campaigns against the Byzantine Empire, was a patron of the great Arab poet al-Mutanabbī, among others. Overlapping the Ḥamdānids chronologically, the Būyid dynasty (945–1055) dominated much of Iraq and western Iran, occupied Baghdad, and for many years effectively controlled the ʿAbbāsid caliphate. Such was the scope of Shīʿite political power during the 10th century that often it has been referred to as the Shīʿite Century.
Despite the prominence of great Shīʿite polities, however, Shīʿism remained almost everywhere a minority faith until the start of the 16th century, when Ismāʿīl I founded the Ṣafavid dynasty (1502–1736) in what is now Iran and made Shīʿism the official creed of his realm. ʿAbbās I (1571–1629) later moved the Ṣafavid capital to Eṣfahān and established a series of madrasahs (religious schools), effectively shifting the intellectual center of Shīʿism from Iraq to Iran and adding rigor to Shīʿite doctrine in that country. Extreme (ghuluww) religious viewpoints and activities were mollified, and the more excessive groups—including those who were important in supporting early Ṣafavid dynastic claims—were sidelined. Over the next several centuries the empire spread, and conversion to Shīʿism steadily continued. By the early 18th century the Twelver Shīʿites had built a large and vibrant following among the Turks of Azerbaijan, the Persians of Iran, and the Arabs of southern Iraq.
By the time of the Ṣafavids, Shīʿite theological and legal doctrine had expanded and matured, precipitating doctrinal disputes that often became vitriolic between factions within the Ithnā ʿAsharī religious community. One faction, known as the Akhbāriyyah, felt that the only sound source of legal interpretation was the direct teachings of the 12 infallible imams, in the form of their written and oral testaments (akhbār). Their opponents, known as the Uṣūliyyah, held that a number of fundamental sources (uṣūl) should be consulted but that the final source for legal conclusions rested in the reasoned judgment of a qualified scholar, a mujtahid (i.e., one who is empowered to interpret legal issues not explicitly addressed in the Qurʾān). The eventual victory of the Uṣūliyyah in this debate during the turbulent years at the end of the Ṣafavid empire (early 18th century) was to have resounding effects on both the shape of Shīʿism and the course of Islamic history. The study of legal theory (fiqh; the purview of the mujtahids) became the primary field of scholarship in the Shīʿite world, and the concomitant rise of the mujtahids as a distinctive body signaled the development of a politically conscious and influential religious class not previously seen in the Muslim world.
Among the Ithnā ʿAsharī ʿulamāʾ (religious scholars), a consensus began to form that, in the absence of the Hidden Imam, the ʿulamāʾ themselves should act as his general representatives, performing such duties as administering income tax (khums, “one-fifth”) and the tax to benefit the poor (zakāt), leading prayer, and running Sharīʿah courts. Such doctrines were refined over the centuries, and in the late 20th century a Shīʿite scholar in Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini, expanded that concept, arguing that the ʿulamāʾ as a group were in fact the direct representatives of the Hidden Imam, pending his return. Although many Shīʿite divines continued to eschew the mixing of religion and politics, Khomeini’s theory of velāyat-e faqīh provided the framework for the establishment of a mixed democratic and theocratic regime in Iran in 1979.
Over time, Shīʿites became a distinct collection of sects, alike in their recognition of ʿAlī and his descendants as the legitimate leaders of the Muslim community. Although the Shīʿites’ conviction that the ʿAlids should be the leaders of the Islamic world was never fulfilled, ʿAlī himself was rehabilitated as a major hero of Sunni Islam, and his descendants by Fāṭimah—who is venerated among Sunnis and Shīʿites alike—received the courtesy titles of sayyids and sharifs.
Shīʿites have come to account for roughly one-tenth of the Muslim population worldwide. The largest Shīʿite sect in the early 21st century was the Ithnā ʿAshariyyah, which formed a majority in Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Bahrain. The sect also constituted a significant minority in eastern Saudi Arabia and the other Arab states of the Persian Gulf region, as well as in parts of Syria, South Asia, and eastern Africa. The Ithnā ʿAshariyyah was the largest Shīʿite group in Lebanon, and Shīʿites in that country, as well as in Iran and Iraq, were among the most vocal representatives of militant Islamism. Smaller Shīʿite sects included the Ismāʿīliyyah, who formed the bulk of the Shīʿite community in parts of Pakistan, India, and eastern Africa, and the Zaydiyyah, who lived almost exclusively in northwestern Yemen. Various subsects of Shīʿism were also found in other parts of the Muslim world.
Shi'i see Shi‘a
Shi'ite see Shi‘a
Shi'atu 'Ali see Shi‘a
The Followers of 'Ali see Shi‘a
The Faction of 'Ali see Shi‘a
Shi'at 'Ali see Shi‘a
Shibli, Abu Bakr Dulaf al-
Shibli, Abu Bakr Dulaf al- (Abu Bakr Dulaf al-Shibli) (861-945). Sunni mystic of Baghdad. After the execution of his friend al-Hallaj in 922, he led an eccentric life. His tomb was venerated at Baghdad.
Abu Bakr Dulaf al-Shibli see Shibli, Abu Bakr Dulaf al-
Shibli, Abu Bakr Dulaf al- (Abu Bakr Dulaf al-Shibli) (861-945). Sunni mystic of Baghdad. After the execution of his friend al-Hallaj in 922, he led an eccentric life. His tomb was venerated at Baghdad.
Abu Bakr Dulaf al-Shibli see Shibli, Abu Bakr Dulaf al-
Shibli al-Dawla Nasr I
Shibli al-Dawla Nasr I. Member of the Midrasid dynasty of Aleppo and northern Syria (r.1029-1038). He defeated the Byzantines, but came to terms with the emperor. His reign ended with a temporary conquest by the Fatimids.
Shibli al-Dawla Nasr I. Member of the Midrasid dynasty of Aleppo and northern Syria (r.1029-1038). He defeated the Byzantines, but came to terms with the emperor. His reign ended with a temporary conquest by the Fatimids.
Shibli Nu’mani, Muhammad
Shibli Nu’mani, Muhammad (Shibli Nomani) (Allama Shibli Nomani) (June 3, 1857 - November 18, 1914, Azamgarh) (1857-1916). Indian scholar of Persian literature and Islamic history. The son of a wealthy landholder of Azamgarh (eastern Uttar Pradesh), Shibli pursued a peripatetic Islamic education in a variety of North Indian centers of learning. In 1883, he was appointed professor of Persian in the newly founded Aligarh College, later shifting to the professorship of Arabic. At Aligarh, his interests shifted from literature to Islamic history. Influenced by his British colleague T. W. Arnold, Shibli set out to write a series of works in Urdu, particularly of the early history of Islam. In 1893, he traveled to Istanbul to be honored by the Ottoman sultan. Upon his return, Shibli helped found the Nadwa’t al-Ulama, first a voluntary association of Islamic scholars and later a theological academy in Lucknow. In 1898, following the death of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan, the founder of Aligarh College, Shibli resigned and devoted himself to his research and to establishing the leadership of the ulama in the political concerns of Indian Muslims.
Allama Shibli Nomani was an Indian scholar on Islam. He was born at Bindwal in Azamgarh district of present-day Uttar Pradesh. He is known for the founding of the Shibli National College in 1883 and the Darul Mussanifin in Azamgarh. Shibli was a versatile scholar in Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Turkish and Urdu. He was also a poet. He collected much material on the life of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad but could write only the first two volumes of the planned work the Sirat-un-Nabi. His disciple, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, made use of this material and added his own and wrote the remaining five volumes of the Sirat-un-Nabi after the death of his mentor.
Shibli was born to Shaikh Habibullah and Moqeema Khatoon. Although his younger brothers went to Aligarh for their education, Shibli received a traditional Islamic education. His teacher was Maulana Muhammad Farooq Chirayakoti, a rationalist scholar. He went to Mecca for the Hajj and there he devoted his time to furthering his studies in Islamic theology, history, philosophy and Sufism from different scholars in Arabia. An orthodox Hanafi Muslim, he was a staunch supporter of Shari’a.
When he returned to India, Shibli met Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817–1898) who had just established Aligarh Muslim University. Nomani was offered and accepted a teaching position at the university on February 1, 1882. He taught Persian and Arabic languages at Aligarh for sixteen years where he met Thomas Arnold and other British scholars from whom he learned first hand modern Western ideas and thoughts. He traveled with Thomas Arnold in 1892 to Syria, Egypt, Turkey and other countries of the Middle East and got direct and practical experience of their societies. His scholarship influenced Thomas Arnold on one hand and on the other he was influenced by Thomas Arnold to a great extent, and this explains the modern touch in his ideas. In Cairo, he met noted Islamic scholar Sheikh Muhammad Abduh.
After the death of Sir Syed Ahmed in 1898, he left Aligarh and became an advisor in the Education Department of Hyderabad State. He initiated many reforms in the Hyderabad education system. From his policy, the Osmania University of Hyderabad adopted Urdu as the medium of instruction. Before that no other university of India had adopted any vernacular language as the medium of instruction in higher studies. In 1908 he left Hyderabad and went to Lucknow to become the principal of Nadwat tul-‘Ulum (Nadwa). He introduced reforms in the school's teaching and curriculum. He stayed at the school for five years but the orthodox class of scholars became hostile towards him, and he had to leave Lucknow for his birthplace, Azamgarh, in 1913.
Earlier at Nadwa he wanted to establish Darul Musannifin or the House of Writers but there he could not do this. He bequeathed his bungalow and mango orchard and motivated the members of his clan and relatives to do the same and succeeded. He wrote letters to his disciples and other eminent persons and sought their cooperation. Eventually one of his disciples, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi fulfilled his dream and established Darul Musannifin at Azamgarh. The first formal meeting of the institution was held on November 21, 1914, within three days of Shibli's death.
Shibli’s genius had its flowering in Aligarh University when he came into contact with Sir Syed Ahmed and British scholars. Both Shibli and Sir Syed Ahmed wished for the welfare of Muslims, and wanted to have Western thinking and style come along with it. However, Sir Syed wanted to save the Muslims from the wrath of the British rulers after their active participation in the War of Independence, called the "Sepoy Mutiny" by the British colonialist rulers, whereas, Shibli wanted to make them self-reliant and self-respecting by regaining their lost heritage and tradition.
Shibli was a staunch supporter of Pan-Islamism. He wrote poems and articles decrying the British and other Western powers when Turkey was defeated in the Balkan Wars and he urged the world Muslims to unite. In 1913, when the British Administration in India stormed the Kanpur Mosque, Shibli condemned them.
Shibli Nomani – whose ancestor converted from Hindu Rajput to Islam - also had a caste mindset. On occasion, he humiliated his own step mother by calling her names like “chhawni / arbabe chhawni” because she was from low caste. However, later in life, Shibli asked for forgiveness from his stepmother mother and she forgave him.
Allama Shibli had two daughters, Rabia Khatoon and Fatima Jannutul , and one son, Hamid Hassan Nu'mani.
Shibli was well aware of the progress of science and education in the West. He wanted to inspire the Muslims to make similar progress by having recourse to their lost heritage and culture, and warned them against getting lost in Western culture. In keeping with this goal, he wrote the following books:
* Sirat-un-Nabi
* Sirat an-Nu'man,
* Al-Faruq,
* Al-Ma’mun,
* Al-Ghazali,
* Imam Ibn-e-Tamia (Edited by Mohammad Tanzeel-ul-siddiqi al-husaini ),
* Mawlana Rumi
* Aurangzeb Alamgir Par Ek Nazar
* Shiʾr al-ʻAjam, a history of Persian poetry
* "Ilm-Kalam", The best book on the history of Muslim theology
Muhammad Shibli Nu'mani see Shibli Nu’mani, Muhammad
Shibli Nomani see Shibli Nu’mani, Muhammad
Alama Shibli Nomani see Shibli Nu’mani, Muhammad
Shibli Nu’mani, Muhammad (Shibli Nomani) (Allama Shibli Nomani) (June 3, 1857 - November 18, 1914, Azamgarh) (1857-1916). Indian scholar of Persian literature and Islamic history. The son of a wealthy landholder of Azamgarh (eastern Uttar Pradesh), Shibli pursued a peripatetic Islamic education in a variety of North Indian centers of learning. In 1883, he was appointed professor of Persian in the newly founded Aligarh College, later shifting to the professorship of Arabic. At Aligarh, his interests shifted from literature to Islamic history. Influenced by his British colleague T. W. Arnold, Shibli set out to write a series of works in Urdu, particularly of the early history of Islam. In 1893, he traveled to Istanbul to be honored by the Ottoman sultan. Upon his return, Shibli helped found the Nadwa’t al-Ulama, first a voluntary association of Islamic scholars and later a theological academy in Lucknow. In 1898, following the death of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan, the founder of Aligarh College, Shibli resigned and devoted himself to his research and to establishing the leadership of the ulama in the political concerns of Indian Muslims.
Allama Shibli Nomani was an Indian scholar on Islam. He was born at Bindwal in Azamgarh district of present-day Uttar Pradesh. He is known for the founding of the Shibli National College in 1883 and the Darul Mussanifin in Azamgarh. Shibli was a versatile scholar in Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Turkish and Urdu. He was also a poet. He collected much material on the life of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad but could write only the first two volumes of the planned work the Sirat-un-Nabi. His disciple, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, made use of this material and added his own and wrote the remaining five volumes of the Sirat-un-Nabi after the death of his mentor.
Shibli was born to Shaikh Habibullah and Moqeema Khatoon. Although his younger brothers went to Aligarh for their education, Shibli received a traditional Islamic education. His teacher was Maulana Muhammad Farooq Chirayakoti, a rationalist scholar. He went to Mecca for the Hajj and there he devoted his time to furthering his studies in Islamic theology, history, philosophy and Sufism from different scholars in Arabia. An orthodox Hanafi Muslim, he was a staunch supporter of Shari’a.
When he returned to India, Shibli met Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817–1898) who had just established Aligarh Muslim University. Nomani was offered and accepted a teaching position at the university on February 1, 1882. He taught Persian and Arabic languages at Aligarh for sixteen years where he met Thomas Arnold and other British scholars from whom he learned first hand modern Western ideas and thoughts. He traveled with Thomas Arnold in 1892 to Syria, Egypt, Turkey and other countries of the Middle East and got direct and practical experience of their societies. His scholarship influenced Thomas Arnold on one hand and on the other he was influenced by Thomas Arnold to a great extent, and this explains the modern touch in his ideas. In Cairo, he met noted Islamic scholar Sheikh Muhammad Abduh.
After the death of Sir Syed Ahmed in 1898, he left Aligarh and became an advisor in the Education Department of Hyderabad State. He initiated many reforms in the Hyderabad education system. From his policy, the Osmania University of Hyderabad adopted Urdu as the medium of instruction. Before that no other university of India had adopted any vernacular language as the medium of instruction in higher studies. In 1908 he left Hyderabad and went to Lucknow to become the principal of Nadwat tul-‘Ulum (Nadwa). He introduced reforms in the school's teaching and curriculum. He stayed at the school for five years but the orthodox class of scholars became hostile towards him, and he had to leave Lucknow for his birthplace, Azamgarh, in 1913.
Earlier at Nadwa he wanted to establish Darul Musannifin or the House of Writers but there he could not do this. He bequeathed his bungalow and mango orchard and motivated the members of his clan and relatives to do the same and succeeded. He wrote letters to his disciples and other eminent persons and sought their cooperation. Eventually one of his disciples, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi fulfilled his dream and established Darul Musannifin at Azamgarh. The first formal meeting of the institution was held on November 21, 1914, within three days of Shibli's death.
Shibli’s genius had its flowering in Aligarh University when he came into contact with Sir Syed Ahmed and British scholars. Both Shibli and Sir Syed Ahmed wished for the welfare of Muslims, and wanted to have Western thinking and style come along with it. However, Sir Syed wanted to save the Muslims from the wrath of the British rulers after their active participation in the War of Independence, called the "Sepoy Mutiny" by the British colonialist rulers, whereas, Shibli wanted to make them self-reliant and self-respecting by regaining their lost heritage and tradition.
Shibli was a staunch supporter of Pan-Islamism. He wrote poems and articles decrying the British and other Western powers when Turkey was defeated in the Balkan Wars and he urged the world Muslims to unite. In 1913, when the British Administration in India stormed the Kanpur Mosque, Shibli condemned them.
Shibli Nomani – whose ancestor converted from Hindu Rajput to Islam - also had a caste mindset. On occasion, he humiliated his own step mother by calling her names like “chhawni / arbabe chhawni” because she was from low caste. However, later in life, Shibli asked for forgiveness from his stepmother mother and she forgave him.
Allama Shibli had two daughters, Rabia Khatoon and Fatima Jannutul , and one son, Hamid Hassan Nu'mani.
Shibli was well aware of the progress of science and education in the West. He wanted to inspire the Muslims to make similar progress by having recourse to their lost heritage and culture, and warned them against getting lost in Western culture. In keeping with this goal, he wrote the following books:
* Sirat-un-Nabi
* Sirat an-Nu'man,
* Al-Faruq,
* Al-Ma’mun,
* Al-Ghazali,
* Imam Ibn-e-Tamia (Edited by Mohammad Tanzeel-ul-siddiqi al-husaini ),
* Mawlana Rumi
* Aurangzeb Alamgir Par Ek Nazar
* Shiʾr al-ʻAjam, a history of Persian poetry
* "Ilm-Kalam", The best book on the history of Muslim theology
Muhammad Shibli Nu'mani see Shibli Nu’mani, Muhammad
Shibli Nomani see Shibli Nu’mani, Muhammad
Alama Shibli Nomani see Shibli Nu’mani, Muhammad
Shihab, Fuad
Shihab, Fuad (Fuad Shihab) (Fuad Chehab) (Fouad Shihab) (b. March 19, 1902, Lebanon - d. April 25, 1973, Beirut). Lebanese army officer and statesman who served as president of Lebanon in 1958–64. Noted for his honesty and integrity, he brought a measure of stability to the government and to the nation.
Chehab received a military education in Syria and France and served with French mandatory forces in Syria after World War I. In 1945 he became commander of the Lebanese army. He first became prominent in the internal affairs of Lebanon in 1952, when violent opposition to the presidency of Bishara al-Khuri emerged. Chehab believed that his role as commander required him to defend the country against external aggression but not to maintain politicians in office, and he refused to give Khuri military support. Khuri was forced to resign and was succeeded by Camille Chamoun. In 1958, when open rebellion broke out against Chamoun’s regime, Chehab prevented the rebellion from spreading but again refused to give positive support. Chamoun left office when his term ended that September, and Chehab was elected to the presidency.
Chehab was considered to be the one person who could ease the tensions that accompanied the termination of Chamoun’s administration. He maintained a balance between the myriad sectarian, economic, and geographic interests that filled the Lebanese political scene. Working closely and harmoniously with the Cabinet, he kept basic power in his own hands and exercised direct control of the ministries of defense and the interior.
Chehab saw that the 1960 elections for the Chamber of Deputies were carried out with fairness. Taking the successful elections as an indication that the country had returned to normal, he announced his intention to resign. He was widely felt to be indispensable, however, and, bowing to popular pressure, he agreed to remain in office. He easily suppressed an attempted coup by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (a small group trying to realize pan-Syrian unity) in 1961. Despite a proposal in the Chamber of Deputies for a constitutional amendment to allow him a second term, Chehab left office when his term ended in September 1964.
In 1964, Chehab, whose presence at the head of the country was still seen by many as the best option for stability and future reforms, refused to allow the Constitution to be amended to permit him to run for another presidential term. He backed the candidacy of Charles Helou who became the next president. Chehab later became dissatisfied with Helou's presidency over the perceived mishandling of the armed presence of Palestinian guerrillas in Southern Lebanon and over Helou's maneuvers to pave the way for the traditional feudal politicians to regain power.
Chehab was widely expected to contest the presidential election of 1970, but in a historical declaration he said that his experience in office convinced him that the people of his country were not ready to put aside feudal traditional politics and support him in building a modern state. He chose to endorse his protégé Elias Sarkis instead. In the closest vote in Lebanese history, Sarkis lost the election to the feudal leader Suleiman Frangieh by a single vote in the National Assembly. The election was regarded as a defeat for the old statesman and marked the end of the Chehabist reforms and era.
The first months of the Frangieh mandate saw the dismantling of the country’s intelligence and security services built by Chehab. They were feared and accused of still having a strong hold on political life. But this allowed rapidly multiple foreign interferences in the internal affairs of the country, soon manifesting as a Palestinian military presence in 1973 and the start of civil war in 1975. Fouad Chehab died in Beirut in April 1973 at the age of 71.
In 1976, Elias Sarkis, the Chehabist heir, was unanimously elected as President of the country in a hope to stop the civil war that had erupted and to reunite the nation. But such an attempt was too late as the Palestinian, Syrian, Israeli and other international direct interferences had by then taken full control of the political and security powers in the country. Without the support of domestic strong security services, Sarkis failed to create any impact or succeed in any of his initiatives.
Fuad Shihab see Shihab, Fuad
Fuad Chehab see Shihab, Fuad
Chehab, Fuad see Shihab, Fuad
Fouad Shihab see Shihab, Fuad
Shihab, Fouad see Shihab, Fuad
Shihab, Fuad (Fuad Shihab) (Fuad Chehab) (Fouad Shihab) (b. March 19, 1902, Lebanon - d. April 25, 1973, Beirut). Lebanese army officer and statesman who served as president of Lebanon in 1958–64. Noted for his honesty and integrity, he brought a measure of stability to the government and to the nation.
Chehab received a military education in Syria and France and served with French mandatory forces in Syria after World War I. In 1945 he became commander of the Lebanese army. He first became prominent in the internal affairs of Lebanon in 1952, when violent opposition to the presidency of Bishara al-Khuri emerged. Chehab believed that his role as commander required him to defend the country against external aggression but not to maintain politicians in office, and he refused to give Khuri military support. Khuri was forced to resign and was succeeded by Camille Chamoun. In 1958, when open rebellion broke out against Chamoun’s regime, Chehab prevented the rebellion from spreading but again refused to give positive support. Chamoun left office when his term ended that September, and Chehab was elected to the presidency.
Chehab was considered to be the one person who could ease the tensions that accompanied the termination of Chamoun’s administration. He maintained a balance between the myriad sectarian, economic, and geographic interests that filled the Lebanese political scene. Working closely and harmoniously with the Cabinet, he kept basic power in his own hands and exercised direct control of the ministries of defense and the interior.
Chehab saw that the 1960 elections for the Chamber of Deputies were carried out with fairness. Taking the successful elections as an indication that the country had returned to normal, he announced his intention to resign. He was widely felt to be indispensable, however, and, bowing to popular pressure, he agreed to remain in office. He easily suppressed an attempted coup by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (a small group trying to realize pan-Syrian unity) in 1961. Despite a proposal in the Chamber of Deputies for a constitutional amendment to allow him a second term, Chehab left office when his term ended in September 1964.
In 1964, Chehab, whose presence at the head of the country was still seen by many as the best option for stability and future reforms, refused to allow the Constitution to be amended to permit him to run for another presidential term. He backed the candidacy of Charles Helou who became the next president. Chehab later became dissatisfied with Helou's presidency over the perceived mishandling of the armed presence of Palestinian guerrillas in Southern Lebanon and over Helou's maneuvers to pave the way for the traditional feudal politicians to regain power.
Chehab was widely expected to contest the presidential election of 1970, but in a historical declaration he said that his experience in office convinced him that the people of his country were not ready to put aside feudal traditional politics and support him in building a modern state. He chose to endorse his protégé Elias Sarkis instead. In the closest vote in Lebanese history, Sarkis lost the election to the feudal leader Suleiman Frangieh by a single vote in the National Assembly. The election was regarded as a defeat for the old statesman and marked the end of the Chehabist reforms and era.
The first months of the Frangieh mandate saw the dismantling of the country’s intelligence and security services built by Chehab. They were feared and accused of still having a strong hold on political life. But this allowed rapidly multiple foreign interferences in the internal affairs of the country, soon manifesting as a Palestinian military presence in 1973 and the start of civil war in 1975. Fouad Chehab died in Beirut in April 1973 at the age of 71.
In 1976, Elias Sarkis, the Chehabist heir, was unanimously elected as President of the country in a hope to stop the civil war that had erupted and to reunite the nation. But such an attempt was too late as the Palestinian, Syrian, Israeli and other international direct interferences had by then taken full control of the political and security powers in the country. Without the support of domestic strong security services, Sarkis failed to create any impact or succeed in any of his initiatives.
Fuad Shihab see Shihab, Fuad
Fuad Chehab see Shihab, Fuad
Chehab, Fuad see Shihab, Fuad
Fouad Shihab see Shihab, Fuad
Shihab, Fouad see Shihab, Fuad
Shilluh (Chleuh) (Shleuh) (Shluh</I). Name given to the Berber speaking peoples of Sus, of the High and
Anti-Atlas in
Morocco, renowned for their poets.
The Chleuh people are a Berber ethnic group. They live mainly in Morocco's Atlas Mountains and Souss Valley. The Chleuh population is estimated to be approximately 10,000,000. They speak the Tachelhiyt language in several regional varieties. The indigenous peoples of the central Moroccan coast, noted by the early Phoenician explorers, would have been the Chleuh. The first millennium voyages of Hanno described the Phoenicians' methods of peacefully trading with the native peoples of the Mogador area.
The Chleuh are associated with Berber music of Morocco and dance.
Through a process of linguistic transference, which is not completely clear but evidently dates from the period of French colonial rule in North Africa, the name "Chleuh" also came to be a French pejorative term for Germans.
Chleuh see Shilluh Shleuh see Shilluh Shluh see Shilluh
The Chleuh people are a Berber ethnic group. They live mainly in Morocco's Atlas Mountains and Souss Valley. The Chleuh population is estimated to be approximately 10,000,000. They speak the Tachelhiyt language in several regional varieties. The indigenous peoples of the central Moroccan coast, noted by the early Phoenician explorers, would have been the Chleuh. The first millennium voyages of Hanno described the Phoenicians' methods of peacefully trading with the native peoples of the Mogador area.
The Chleuh are associated with Berber music of Morocco and dance.
Through a process of linguistic transference, which is not completely clear but evidently dates from the period of French colonial rule in North Africa, the name "Chleuh" also came to be a French pejorative term for Germans.
Chleuh see Shilluh Shleuh see Shilluh Shluh see Shilluh
Shinasi
Shinasi.. Pen-name of a number of Turkish poets, the best-known of whom is Ibrahim Efendi (1826-1871). While in Paris, he is said to have hung the Republican flag on the Pantheon during the Revolution of 1848. In 1860, he founded a journal, which was to exist until its suppression in 1925. He attempted to write a poem with Turkish words only, tried his hand at a comedy, and collected Turkish proverbs.
Shinasi.. Pen-name of a number of Turkish poets, the best-known of whom is Ibrahim Efendi (1826-1871). While in Paris, he is said to have hung the Republican flag on the Pantheon during the Revolution of 1848. In 1860, he founded a journal, which was to exist until its suppression in 1925. He attempted to write a poem with Turkish words only, tried his hand at a comedy, and collected Turkish proverbs.
Shina-speaking peoples
Shina-speaking peoples. Speakers of the Shina language are distributed throughout the mountainous regions of the upper Indus River and its tributaries, the Gilgit, lower Hunza, Tangir, Kishenganga, Astor and Dras rivers, an area which is now approximately bisected by the cease-fire line between Pakistan and India. Owing to an ambiguity in the distinction between ethnicity and linguistic affiliation among these people, an accurate estimate of their numbers is difficult to obtain, and census data are unreliable. Nearly all Shina-speaking peoples are Muslim.
Shina-speaking peoples. Speakers of the Shina language are distributed throughout the mountainous regions of the upper Indus River and its tributaries, the Gilgit, lower Hunza, Tangir, Kishenganga, Astor and Dras rivers, an area which is now approximately bisected by the cease-fire line between Pakistan and India. Owing to an ambiguity in the distinction between ethnicity and linguistic affiliation among these people, an accurate estimate of their numbers is difficult to obtain, and census data are unreliable. Nearly all Shina-speaking peoples are Muslim.
Shir ‘Ali, Barakzay
Shir ‘Ali, Barakzay (Sher 'Ali) (Shir 'Ali Khan)(Barakzay Shir ‘Ali) (Sher Ali Khan) (1825–February 21, 1879). Amir of Afghanistan (r.1863-1865 and 1867-1879). In 1865, his eldest brother Afdal Khan was proclaimed amir at Kabul, but he died almost immediately. In 1867, Shir ‘Ali returned from Afghan Turkestan where he had fled, and entered Herat, Qandahar, and Kabul. He sought assistance from the British against the Russians in 1873 had conquered Khiva. Rebuffed, he entered into relations with Russia. In 1878, the British government declared the second Afghan War. Shir ‘Ali placed his son Muhammad Ya‘qub Khan on the throne (r.1879-1880) and fled to Turkestan but died during the journey.
Sher Ali Khan was the son of Dost Mohammed Khan, founder of the Barakzai Dynasty in Afghanistan.
Sher Ali Khan initially seized power when his father died, but was quickly ousted by his older brother, Mohammad Afzal Khan. Internecine warfare followed until Sher Ali defeated his brother and regained the title of Emir. His rule was hindered by pressure from both Britain and Russia though Sher Ali attempted to keep Afghanistan neutral in their conflict. In 1878, the neutrality fell apart and the Second Anglo-Afghan War erupted. As British forces marched on Kabul, Sher Ali Khan decided to leave Kabul to seek political asylum in Russia. He died in Mazar-e Sharif, leaving the throne to his son Mohammad Yaqub Khan.
Sher Ali was closely affiliated to the modern day region of Potohar in Pakistan. He married one of his daughters to a prominent Tribal Chief of Gakhars, Khan Bahadur Raja Jahandad Khan. After independence, Gakhars became part of Pakistan.
Sher 'Ali see Shir ‘Ali, Barakzay Barakzay Shir ‘Ali see Shir ‘Ali, Barakzay Shir 'Ali Khan see Shir ‘Ali, Barakzay Sher Ali Khan see Shir ‘Ali, Barakzay
Shir ‘Ali, Barakzay (Sher 'Ali) (Shir 'Ali Khan)(Barakzay Shir ‘Ali) (Sher Ali Khan) (1825–February 21, 1879). Amir of Afghanistan (r.1863-1865 and 1867-1879). In 1865, his eldest brother Afdal Khan was proclaimed amir at Kabul, but he died almost immediately. In 1867, Shir ‘Ali returned from Afghan Turkestan where he had fled, and entered Herat, Qandahar, and Kabul. He sought assistance from the British against the Russians in 1873 had conquered Khiva. Rebuffed, he entered into relations with Russia. In 1878, the British government declared the second Afghan War. Shir ‘Ali placed his son Muhammad Ya‘qub Khan on the throne (r.1879-1880) and fled to Turkestan but died during the journey.
Sher Ali Khan was the son of Dost Mohammed Khan, founder of the Barakzai Dynasty in Afghanistan.
Sher Ali Khan initially seized power when his father died, but was quickly ousted by his older brother, Mohammad Afzal Khan. Internecine warfare followed until Sher Ali defeated his brother and regained the title of Emir. His rule was hindered by pressure from both Britain and Russia though Sher Ali attempted to keep Afghanistan neutral in their conflict. In 1878, the neutrality fell apart and the Second Anglo-Afghan War erupted. As British forces marched on Kabul, Sher Ali Khan decided to leave Kabul to seek political asylum in Russia. He died in Mazar-e Sharif, leaving the throne to his son Mohammad Yaqub Khan.
Sher Ali was closely affiliated to the modern day region of Potohar in Pakistan. He married one of his daughters to a prominent Tribal Chief of Gakhars, Khan Bahadur Raja Jahandad Khan. After independence, Gakhars became part of Pakistan.
Sher 'Ali see Shir ‘Ali, Barakzay Barakzay Shir ‘Ali see Shir ‘Ali, Barakzay Shir 'Ali Khan see Shir ‘Ali, Barakzay Sher Ali Khan see Shir ‘Ali, Barakzay
Shirazi, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-
Shirazi, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al- (1003-1083). was a Shafi‘i jurist. He was greatly honored during his lifetime and wrote a legal compendium on which commentaries have frequently been written.
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Shirazi see Shirazi, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-
Shirazi, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al- (1003-1083). was a Shafi‘i jurist. He was greatly honored during his lifetime and wrote a legal compendium on which commentaries have frequently been written.
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Shirazi see Shirazi, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-
Shirazi, Abu’l-Husayn ‘Abd al-Malik al-
Shirazi, Abu’l-Husayn ‘Abd al-Malik al- (Abu’l-Husayn ‘Abd al-Malik Shirazi). Mathematician from Shiraz who lived during the middle of the twelfth century. He prepared a synopsis of the Conic Sections of Apolloniu of Perge, which is of great value since the last three of the seven books of this work only survive in Arabic.
Abu'l-Husayn 'Abd al-Malik al-Shirazi see Shirazi, Abu’l-Husayn ‘Abd al-Malik al-
Shirazi, Abu’l-Husayn ‘Abd al-Malik al- (Abu’l-Husayn ‘Abd al-Malik Shirazi). Mathematician from Shiraz who lived during the middle of the twelfth century. He prepared a synopsis of the Conic Sections of Apolloniu of Perge, which is of great value since the last three of the seven books of this work only survive in Arabic.
Abu'l-Husayn 'Abd al-Malik al-Shirazi see Shirazi, Abu’l-Husayn ‘Abd al-Malik al-
Shirazis
Shirazis (c.957). Name of a dynasty established at Kilwa by ‘Ali ibn Husayn. They were immigrants from Persia, known as Banadir (literally, “seaports”), who intermarried with Bantu-speaking groups on the east coast of Africa. A second so-called Shirazi dynasty was founded by Shehe (Shaykh) Mvita, who gave the island and town of Mombasa their Swahili name. This dynasty died out in the late sixteenth century and was followed by another Shirazi dynasty, which ruled from 1631 until 1698, when the Ya‘rubids from Oman began to extend their influence over the towns on the east coast of Africa.
Shirazis (c.957). Name of a dynasty established at Kilwa by ‘Ali ibn Husayn. They were immigrants from Persia, known as Banadir (literally, “seaports”), who intermarried with Bantu-speaking groups on the east coast of Africa. A second so-called Shirazi dynasty was founded by Shehe (Shaykh) Mvita, who gave the island and town of Mombasa their Swahili name. This dynasty died out in the late sixteenth century and was followed by another Shirazi dynasty, which ruled from 1631 until 1698, when the Ya‘rubids from Oman began to extend their influence over the towns on the east coast of Africa.
Shirbini, Yusuf ibn Muhammad al-
Shirbini, Yusuf ibn Muhammad al- (Yusuf ibn Muhammad al-Shirbini). Egyptian moralist and poet of the seventeenth century. He describes the peasants of the Nile valley.
Yusuf ibn Muhammad al-Shirbini see Shirbini, Yusuf ibn Muhammad al-
Shirbini, Yusuf ibn Muhammad al- (Yusuf ibn Muhammad al-Shirbini). Egyptian moralist and poet of the seventeenth century. He describes the peasants of the Nile valley.
Yusuf ibn Muhammad al-Shirbini see Shirbini, Yusuf ibn Muhammad al-
Shirkuh
Shirkuh (Abu’l-Harith Asad al-Din Shirkuh) (Asad ad-Din Shirkuh bin Shadhi) (d. 1169). Uncle of Saladin. He entered the service of the Zangid Nur al-Din Mahmud of Aleppo, who in 1163 sent him to Egypt to assist Shawar in gaining the vizierate. Dirgham, the vizier of the Fatimid Caliph al-Adid li-Din Allah, was defeated, but then Shawar turned against Shirkuh. With the help of the Franks, Shirkuh was defeated in 1164 and returned to Damascus. In 1167, he again invaded Egypt, installed Saladin as governor in Alexandria, but was ousted by Shawar. In 1169, he was recalled to Egypt, this time by the caliph himself. After Shawar had been assassinated, Shirkuh became vizier, but died after only two months.
Asad ad-Din Shirkuh bin Shadhi (Shêr-guh literally means lion-ear in Kurdish), also known as Shêrko or "Shêrgo", was an important Muslim military commander, and uncle of Saladin. He was originally from a Kurdish village in Armenia near the town of Dvin. He was the son of Shadhi ibn Marwan, a Kurdish ruler, and was the brother of Najm ad-Din Ayyub, the ancestor of the Ayyubid dynasty. The family was closely connected to the Shaddadid dynasty, and when the last Shaddadid was deposed in Dvin in 1130, Shahdi moved the family first to Baghdad and then to Tikrit, where he was appointed governor by the regional administrator Bihruz. Ayyub succeeded his father as governor of Tikrit when Shahdi died soon afterwards. When Shirkuh killed a Christian with whom he was quarrelling in Tikrit in 1138, the brothers were exiled (Shirkuh's nephew Yusuf, later known as Saladin, was supposedly born the night they left). They joined Zengi's army, and Shirkuh served under Nur ad-Din who succeeded Zengi in Mosul. Shirkuh was later given Homs as a vassal state of Mosul. Ayyub served as governor of Baalbek and later Damascus, and the two brothers negotiated the surrender of Damascus to Nur ad-Din in 1154.
In 1163 Shirkuh convinced Nur ad-Din to send him to Egypt to settle a dispute between Shawar and Dirgham over the Fatimid vizierate. Saladin accompanied him as an advisor. Shawar was restored and Dirgham was killed. However, after quarrelling with Shirkuh, Shawar allied with Amalric I of Jerusalem, who marched into Egypt in 1164 and besieged Shirkuh at Bilbeis. In response Nur ad-Din attacked the Crusader states and almost captured the Principality of Antioch.
Shirkuh was sent back into Egypt in 1167, with Shawar once again allying with Amalric, who besieged Shirkuh in Alexandria until he agreed to leave. However, a Crusader garrison remained in Egypt and Amalric allied with the Byzantine Empire, planning to conquer it entirely. To destroy the garrison, Shawar switched alliances, from Amalric to Shirkuh. The Muslims fought a pitched battle with the Crusaders, who did not have the resources to conquer Egypt and were forced to retreat.
In January of 1169 Shirkuh entered Cairo and had the untrustworthy Shawar executed. He set himself up as vizier, but died two months later on March 22. He was succeeded as vizier by his nephew Saladin, who had served with him on his campaigns in Egypt. Saladin eventually succeeded Nur ad-Din as well, uniting Egypt and Syria, which enabled him to almost completely drive out the Crusaders from Syria and Palestine.
Shirkuh is a Kurdish-Persian name which literally means "the lion (of the) mountain". His Arabic honorific Asad ad-Din similarly means "the lion of faith".
Abu’l-Harith Asad al-Din Shirkuh see Shirkuh Shirkuh, Abu’l-Harith Asad al-Din see Shirkuh Asad ad-Din Shirkuh bin Shadhi see Shirkuh The Lion of the Mountain see Shirkuh The Lion of Faith see Shirkuh
Shirkuh (Abu’l-Harith Asad al-Din Shirkuh) (Asad ad-Din Shirkuh bin Shadhi) (d. 1169). Uncle of Saladin. He entered the service of the Zangid Nur al-Din Mahmud of Aleppo, who in 1163 sent him to Egypt to assist Shawar in gaining the vizierate. Dirgham, the vizier of the Fatimid Caliph al-Adid li-Din Allah, was defeated, but then Shawar turned against Shirkuh. With the help of the Franks, Shirkuh was defeated in 1164 and returned to Damascus. In 1167, he again invaded Egypt, installed Saladin as governor in Alexandria, but was ousted by Shawar. In 1169, he was recalled to Egypt, this time by the caliph himself. After Shawar had been assassinated, Shirkuh became vizier, but died after only two months.
Asad ad-Din Shirkuh bin Shadhi (Shêr-guh literally means lion-ear in Kurdish), also known as Shêrko or "Shêrgo", was an important Muslim military commander, and uncle of Saladin. He was originally from a Kurdish village in Armenia near the town of Dvin. He was the son of Shadhi ibn Marwan, a Kurdish ruler, and was the brother of Najm ad-Din Ayyub, the ancestor of the Ayyubid dynasty. The family was closely connected to the Shaddadid dynasty, and when the last Shaddadid was deposed in Dvin in 1130, Shahdi moved the family first to Baghdad and then to Tikrit, where he was appointed governor by the regional administrator Bihruz. Ayyub succeeded his father as governor of Tikrit when Shahdi died soon afterwards. When Shirkuh killed a Christian with whom he was quarrelling in Tikrit in 1138, the brothers were exiled (Shirkuh's nephew Yusuf, later known as Saladin, was supposedly born the night they left). They joined Zengi's army, and Shirkuh served under Nur ad-Din who succeeded Zengi in Mosul. Shirkuh was later given Homs as a vassal state of Mosul. Ayyub served as governor of Baalbek and later Damascus, and the two brothers negotiated the surrender of Damascus to Nur ad-Din in 1154.
In 1163 Shirkuh convinced Nur ad-Din to send him to Egypt to settle a dispute between Shawar and Dirgham over the Fatimid vizierate. Saladin accompanied him as an advisor. Shawar was restored and Dirgham was killed. However, after quarrelling with Shirkuh, Shawar allied with Amalric I of Jerusalem, who marched into Egypt in 1164 and besieged Shirkuh at Bilbeis. In response Nur ad-Din attacked the Crusader states and almost captured the Principality of Antioch.
Shirkuh was sent back into Egypt in 1167, with Shawar once again allying with Amalric, who besieged Shirkuh in Alexandria until he agreed to leave. However, a Crusader garrison remained in Egypt and Amalric allied with the Byzantine Empire, planning to conquer it entirely. To destroy the garrison, Shawar switched alliances, from Amalric to Shirkuh. The Muslims fought a pitched battle with the Crusaders, who did not have the resources to conquer Egypt and were forced to retreat.
In January of 1169 Shirkuh entered Cairo and had the untrustworthy Shawar executed. He set himself up as vizier, but died two months later on March 22. He was succeeded as vizier by his nephew Saladin, who had served with him on his campaigns in Egypt. Saladin eventually succeeded Nur ad-Din as well, uniting Egypt and Syria, which enabled him to almost completely drive out the Crusaders from Syria and Palestine.
Shirkuh is a Kurdish-Persian name which literally means "the lion (of the) mountain". His Arabic honorific Asad ad-Din similarly means "the lion of faith".
Abu’l-Harith Asad al-Din Shirkuh see Shirkuh Shirkuh, Abu’l-Harith Asad al-Din see Shirkuh Asad ad-Din Shirkuh bin Shadhi see Shirkuh The Lion of the Mountain see Shirkuh The Lion of Faith see Shirkuh
Shishakli, Adib
Shishakli, Adib (Adib Shishakli) (Adib ibn Hasan Shishakli). (b. 1909, Hama, Syria - d. September 27, 1964 Ceres, Brazil). President of Syria (r.1949-1954).
Adib ibn Hasan Shishaki was born to a Syrian father and a Kurdish mother in the city of Hama. Shishakli served with the French Army during the mandate era. He studied at the Military Academy of Damascus (which later was relocated to Homs) and became an early member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) of Antun Saadeh, promoting the concept of a Greater Syria. His brother Salah was also a prominent member of the SSNP. After independence, Shishakli fought in a volunteer Arab army, known as the Army of Deliverance, against the Zionist militias in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
The Arab defeat in that war was a motivating factor for the military coup d'état of Husni al-Za'im which had taken place soon after in 1949, shattering Syria's weak parliamentary system. Only months after al-Za'im's takeover, the weak ruler was overthrown by a group of officers connected to the SSNP, including Shishakli and Colonel Sami al-Hinnawi, who led the new military junta. Za'im had betrayed the SSNP leader Antun Saadeh, giving him to Lebanese authorities where he was tried and executed for wanting to destroy the modern state of Lebanon. An infuriated Shishakli co-launched the coup of 1949 to revenge Saadeh's killing, and reportedly ripped off Za'im's bloodstained shirt and took it to Saadeh's widow, who was still in Syria, telling her: "We have avenged his murder!"
Shishakli worked with Sami al-Hinnawi, the new de facto ruler of Syria who refused to assume power on his own and restored Syria's parliamentary system. Hinnawi became chief-of-staff of the Syrian Army and the veteran nationalist Hashem al-Atassi, who had been president in the 1930s, became prime minister, and then president of Syria. Atassi wanted to create union with Hashemite Iraq, something which Shishakli greatly opposed, claiming that Hinnawi was the driving force behind pro-Hashemite sentiment in Syria.
In December 1949, Shishakli launched another coup, the third in 1949, arresting Hinnawi to break Hashemite influence in Syria, but keeping Atassi at his post. He then ordered the assassination of Colonel Mohammad Nasser, the Air Force Commander, because he threatened Shishakli's popularity in the Syrian Army. All of this greatly weakened the pro-union elements in Syria but they continued to try working for the union through the cabinets of Prime Minister Nazim al-Kudsi. Shishakli conditioned that all governments must include his right-hand-man Fawzi Selu as minister of defense, to curb Hashemite influence in the Syrian government. When Prime Minister Maarouf al-Dawalibi, a pro-Iraq politician from Aleppo, refused, Shishakli responded on November 28, 1951. He arrested Dawalibi and his entire cabinet, in addition to all pro-Iraq politicians in Syria, including the leaders of the People's Party, Nazim al-Kudsi and Rushdi al-Kikhya. In protest, Atassi resigned from office and moved into the opposition. Pleased to get rid of this stubborn nationalist, who rejected officer intervention in political affairs, Shishakli made his comrade Selu the Chief-of-Staff of the Army, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, and the Head of State. But in effect, Selu was nothing but a figurehead. Real powers lay in the hands of Adib al-Shishakli.
Shishakli then dissolved all political parties and banned many newspapers, in a return to military rule. Among those to suffer persecution under his rule were the National Party of Damascus, the People's Party of Aleppo, the Communist Party, the Baath Party, and the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. He also outlawed all newspapers that were not pro-Shishakli, and banished the Baath leaders Akram al-Hawrani, Michel Aflaq, and Salah al-Bitar to Lebanon, where they then actively worked against his regime. He was a skilled public speaker, however, and relied greatly on the radio to transmit his speeches to every-day Syrians. In August 1952 he established an official government party, the Arab Liberation Movement, but it was boycotted by powerful representatives of the civilian political society, such as Hashim al-Atassi. The party was progressive, accepting women among its ranks and calling for a limited degree of socialism. Some said that he viewed himself as "an Arab Caesar." In mid-1953 Shishakli staged a referendum to elect himself President, but he was by then facing mounting dissent.
As leader of Syria, Shishakli sought good relations with Western countries, and maintained Syria's uncompromising stance towards Israel. Syrian relations with the Hashemite monarchies of Jordan and Iraq were poor during his presidency, but he also looked with distrust at the rapid spread of Nasserism. Many believe that Nasser's Free Officer Revolution of 1952 in Egypt had been modeled after Shishakli's own coups of 1949 and 1951. Shishakli's relations were strong, however, with King Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia, his son King Saud, and King Talal of Jordan. Shishakli greatly liked King Talal, saying that he had no ambitions in Syria, unlike his grand-father King Abdullah I or his grandson, King Hussein. Despite this, and in contrast with his pro-Western outlook and some Kurdish background, Shishakli recognized the desires of Syria's Arab majority, and accordingly adopted a policy of pan-Arabism. He clashed frequently with the independent-minded Druze minority on the Jabal Druze mountain, accusing them of wanting to topple his regime using funds from Jordan, and in 1954 resorted to shelling Druze strongholds to put down resistance to his rule.
His relations with both Britain and the US ran hot and cold. Britain courted Shishakli during the early period of his rule in the hope that Syria would join plans for a British-led Middle East Defense Organization. The United States offered Shishakli considerable sums of money to settle Palestinian refugees in Syria and turn them into Syrians. Shishakli, although tempted by these offers of Western arms and money, did not take them. The Palestinian situation had soured Syrians on relations with the West. Syria wanted revenge rather than to accept defeat and repair Syria's damaged relations with the West and make peace with Israel.
Growing discontent eventually led to another coup, in which Shishakli was overthrown in February 1954. The plotters included members of the Syrian Communist Party, Druze officers, Baath Party members, and possibly had Iraqi backing. He had also arrested a lot of active officers in the Syrian Army, including the rising young Adnan al-Malki, also a prominent Baathist. Leading the anti-Shishakli movement were former President Atassi and the veteran Druze leader Sultan al-Atrash. The largest anti-Shishakli conference had been held in Atassi's home in Homs. Shishakli had responded by arresting Atassi and Atrash's sons, Adnan and Mansur (both of whom were ranking politicians in Syria).
When the insurgency reached its peak, Shishakli backed down, refusing to drag Syria into civil war. He fled to Lebanon, but when the Druze leader Kamal Jumblat threatened to have him killed, he fled to Brazil. Prior to the union between Syria and Egypt in 1958, Shishakli toyed with the idea of returning to Syria to launch a coup d'état, using funds provided by Iraq. The coup was foiled by Syrian intelligence and Shishakli was sentenced to death in absentia, although he never attended its hearings.
On September 27, 1964, Shishakli was assassinated at Ceres, Brazil by Nawaf Ghazaleh, a Syrian Druze who sought revenge for the bombardments of Jabal Druze.
Adib Shishakli see Shishakli, Adib Adib ibn Hasan Shishakli see Shishakli, Adib
Shishakli, Adib (Adib Shishakli) (Adib ibn Hasan Shishakli). (b. 1909, Hama, Syria - d. September 27, 1964 Ceres, Brazil). President of Syria (r.1949-1954).
Adib ibn Hasan Shishaki was born to a Syrian father and a Kurdish mother in the city of Hama. Shishakli served with the French Army during the mandate era. He studied at the Military Academy of Damascus (which later was relocated to Homs) and became an early member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) of Antun Saadeh, promoting the concept of a Greater Syria. His brother Salah was also a prominent member of the SSNP. After independence, Shishakli fought in a volunteer Arab army, known as the Army of Deliverance, against the Zionist militias in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
The Arab defeat in that war was a motivating factor for the military coup d'état of Husni al-Za'im which had taken place soon after in 1949, shattering Syria's weak parliamentary system. Only months after al-Za'im's takeover, the weak ruler was overthrown by a group of officers connected to the SSNP, including Shishakli and Colonel Sami al-Hinnawi, who led the new military junta. Za'im had betrayed the SSNP leader Antun Saadeh, giving him to Lebanese authorities where he was tried and executed for wanting to destroy the modern state of Lebanon. An infuriated Shishakli co-launched the coup of 1949 to revenge Saadeh's killing, and reportedly ripped off Za'im's bloodstained shirt and took it to Saadeh's widow, who was still in Syria, telling her: "We have avenged his murder!"
Shishakli worked with Sami al-Hinnawi, the new de facto ruler of Syria who refused to assume power on his own and restored Syria's parliamentary system. Hinnawi became chief-of-staff of the Syrian Army and the veteran nationalist Hashem al-Atassi, who had been president in the 1930s, became prime minister, and then president of Syria. Atassi wanted to create union with Hashemite Iraq, something which Shishakli greatly opposed, claiming that Hinnawi was the driving force behind pro-Hashemite sentiment in Syria.
In December 1949, Shishakli launched another coup, the third in 1949, arresting Hinnawi to break Hashemite influence in Syria, but keeping Atassi at his post. He then ordered the assassination of Colonel Mohammad Nasser, the Air Force Commander, because he threatened Shishakli's popularity in the Syrian Army. All of this greatly weakened the pro-union elements in Syria but they continued to try working for the union through the cabinets of Prime Minister Nazim al-Kudsi. Shishakli conditioned that all governments must include his right-hand-man Fawzi Selu as minister of defense, to curb Hashemite influence in the Syrian government. When Prime Minister Maarouf al-Dawalibi, a pro-Iraq politician from Aleppo, refused, Shishakli responded on November 28, 1951. He arrested Dawalibi and his entire cabinet, in addition to all pro-Iraq politicians in Syria, including the leaders of the People's Party, Nazim al-Kudsi and Rushdi al-Kikhya. In protest, Atassi resigned from office and moved into the opposition. Pleased to get rid of this stubborn nationalist, who rejected officer intervention in political affairs, Shishakli made his comrade Selu the Chief-of-Staff of the Army, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, and the Head of State. But in effect, Selu was nothing but a figurehead. Real powers lay in the hands of Adib al-Shishakli.
Shishakli then dissolved all political parties and banned many newspapers, in a return to military rule. Among those to suffer persecution under his rule were the National Party of Damascus, the People's Party of Aleppo, the Communist Party, the Baath Party, and the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. He also outlawed all newspapers that were not pro-Shishakli, and banished the Baath leaders Akram al-Hawrani, Michel Aflaq, and Salah al-Bitar to Lebanon, where they then actively worked against his regime. He was a skilled public speaker, however, and relied greatly on the radio to transmit his speeches to every-day Syrians. In August 1952 he established an official government party, the Arab Liberation Movement, but it was boycotted by powerful representatives of the civilian political society, such as Hashim al-Atassi. The party was progressive, accepting women among its ranks and calling for a limited degree of socialism. Some said that he viewed himself as "an Arab Caesar." In mid-1953 Shishakli staged a referendum to elect himself President, but he was by then facing mounting dissent.
As leader of Syria, Shishakli sought good relations with Western countries, and maintained Syria's uncompromising stance towards Israel. Syrian relations with the Hashemite monarchies of Jordan and Iraq were poor during his presidency, but he also looked with distrust at the rapid spread of Nasserism. Many believe that Nasser's Free Officer Revolution of 1952 in Egypt had been modeled after Shishakli's own coups of 1949 and 1951. Shishakli's relations were strong, however, with King Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia, his son King Saud, and King Talal of Jordan. Shishakli greatly liked King Talal, saying that he had no ambitions in Syria, unlike his grand-father King Abdullah I or his grandson, King Hussein. Despite this, and in contrast with his pro-Western outlook and some Kurdish background, Shishakli recognized the desires of Syria's Arab majority, and accordingly adopted a policy of pan-Arabism. He clashed frequently with the independent-minded Druze minority on the Jabal Druze mountain, accusing them of wanting to topple his regime using funds from Jordan, and in 1954 resorted to shelling Druze strongholds to put down resistance to his rule.
His relations with both Britain and the US ran hot and cold. Britain courted Shishakli during the early period of his rule in the hope that Syria would join plans for a British-led Middle East Defense Organization. The United States offered Shishakli considerable sums of money to settle Palestinian refugees in Syria and turn them into Syrians. Shishakli, although tempted by these offers of Western arms and money, did not take them. The Palestinian situation had soured Syrians on relations with the West. Syria wanted revenge rather than to accept defeat and repair Syria's damaged relations with the West and make peace with Israel.
Growing discontent eventually led to another coup, in which Shishakli was overthrown in February 1954. The plotters included members of the Syrian Communist Party, Druze officers, Baath Party members, and possibly had Iraqi backing. He had also arrested a lot of active officers in the Syrian Army, including the rising young Adnan al-Malki, also a prominent Baathist. Leading the anti-Shishakli movement were former President Atassi and the veteran Druze leader Sultan al-Atrash. The largest anti-Shishakli conference had been held in Atassi's home in Homs. Shishakli had responded by arresting Atassi and Atrash's sons, Adnan and Mansur (both of whom were ranking politicians in Syria).
When the insurgency reached its peak, Shishakli backed down, refusing to drag Syria into civil war. He fled to Lebanon, but when the Druze leader Kamal Jumblat threatened to have him killed, he fled to Brazil. Prior to the union between Syria and Egypt in 1958, Shishakli toyed with the idea of returning to Syria to launch a coup d'état, using funds provided by Iraq. The coup was foiled by Syrian intelligence and Shishakli was sentenced to death in absentia, although he never attended its hearings.
On September 27, 1964, Shishakli was assassinated at Ceres, Brazil by Nawaf Ghazaleh, a Syrian Druze who sought revenge for the bombardments of Jabal Druze.
Adib Shishakli see Shishakli, Adib Adib ibn Hasan Shishakli see Shishakli, Adib
Shuja ud-Daulah
Shuja ud-Daulah (Shuja-ud-Daula) (Jalal-ud-din Haider Abul Mansur Khan Shuja-ud-Daula) (b. January 19, 1732, Mansion of Dara Shikoh, Delhi - d. January 26, 1775, Faizabad). Third nawab, or ruler, of Awadh (Oudh), India, from 1754 until his death. One of the most capable statesmen of eighteenth century India, he made his realm into the major indigenous power in North India, fighting the British almost to a standstill at Baksar in 1764. Realizing his value as an ally, the East India Company reinstated him in 1765, and for the next decade a process of mutual testing and political experimentation occurred. Under the subsidiary alliance system, in which he paid for the use of British officered troops, the way was opened for increasing company intervention during subsequent reigns. Shuja nonetheless modernized his army during this period, closed Awadh to the disruptive effects of European trade, secured the treasury in the custody of his chief wife Bahu Begam, and made large annexations in lands on his western borders.
Shuja-ud-Daula was the Subedar Nawab of Oudh from October 5, 1754 to January 26, 1775, and the son of Muhammad Nasir.
Though a minor royal, he is best known for his key roles in two definitive battles in Indian history - the Third Battle of Panipat which ended Maratha domination of India, and the Battle of Buxar that definitively established British domination.
Shuja's decision about whom to join as an ally in the Third Battle of Panipat was one of the decisive factors that determined the outcome of the war as lack of food due to the Afghans cutting the supply lines of the Marathas was one of the reasons that the Marathas could not sustain the day long battle. Their forces were weak due to starvation and also fighting facing the sun.
Shuja was earlier not very sure about whose side should he take before the Third Battle of Panipat. The Marathas were still further south then and it would have taken them considerable time to reach Shuja's province. Considering the risk he had with upsetting Abdali with his huge army on his soil he took (albeit hesitatingly) the decision to join the Afghans and Najib (Najib-ud-Daula). His mother was of the opinion that he should join the Marathas as they had helped his father previously on numerous occasions. Eventually he was forced to join the Afghans that were led by Ahmad Shah Durrani, whose troops crossed the flooded Ganga river into his province.
Shuja is also known for his role in the Battle of Buxar, a battle that was no less definite in Indian history. He along with the forces of Shah Alam II and Mir Qasim were defeated by the British forces in one of the key battles in the history of British rule in India. The 0Battle of Buxar was fought on October 22, 1764 between the forces under the command of the British East India Company, and the combined armies of Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal; Shuja-ud-Daula Nawab of Awadh; and Shah Alam II, the Mughal Emperor. The battle fought at Buxar, then within the territory of Bengal, a town located on the bank of the Ganges river, was a decisive victory for the British East India Company.
Shuja again fought the British with the help of the Marathas at Kara Jahanabad and was again defeated. On August 16, 1765, he signed the "Allahabad Treaty", which set forth that Kara and the Allahabad district would go to the Company and the Company would get 50 lakhs of rupees from Oudh. The British would be allowed free trade in Oudh and Shuja and the British would help each other in case of war with other powers.
To pay for the protection of British forces and assistance in war, Oudh gave up first the fort of Chunar, then districts of Benaras, Ghazipur and finally Allahabad.
Jalal-ud-din Haider Abul Mansur Khan Shuja-ud-Daula see Shuja ud-Daulah Shuja-ud-Daula see Shuja ud-Daulah Jalal-ud-din Haider Abul Mansur Khan Shuja-ud-Daula see Shuja ud-Daulah
Shuja ud-Daulah (Shuja-ud-Daula) (Jalal-ud-din Haider Abul Mansur Khan Shuja-ud-Daula) (b. January 19, 1732, Mansion of Dara Shikoh, Delhi - d. January 26, 1775, Faizabad). Third nawab, or ruler, of Awadh (Oudh), India, from 1754 until his death. One of the most capable statesmen of eighteenth century India, he made his realm into the major indigenous power in North India, fighting the British almost to a standstill at Baksar in 1764. Realizing his value as an ally, the East India Company reinstated him in 1765, and for the next decade a process of mutual testing and political experimentation occurred. Under the subsidiary alliance system, in which he paid for the use of British officered troops, the way was opened for increasing company intervention during subsequent reigns. Shuja nonetheless modernized his army during this period, closed Awadh to the disruptive effects of European trade, secured the treasury in the custody of his chief wife Bahu Begam, and made large annexations in lands on his western borders.
Shuja-ud-Daula was the Subedar Nawab of Oudh from October 5, 1754 to January 26, 1775, and the son of Muhammad Nasir.
Though a minor royal, he is best known for his key roles in two definitive battles in Indian history - the Third Battle of Panipat which ended Maratha domination of India, and the Battle of Buxar that definitively established British domination.
Shuja's decision about whom to join as an ally in the Third Battle of Panipat was one of the decisive factors that determined the outcome of the war as lack of food due to the Afghans cutting the supply lines of the Marathas was one of the reasons that the Marathas could not sustain the day long battle. Their forces were weak due to starvation and also fighting facing the sun.
Shuja was earlier not very sure about whose side should he take before the Third Battle of Panipat. The Marathas were still further south then and it would have taken them considerable time to reach Shuja's province. Considering the risk he had with upsetting Abdali with his huge army on his soil he took (albeit hesitatingly) the decision to join the Afghans and Najib (Najib-ud-Daula). His mother was of the opinion that he should join the Marathas as they had helped his father previously on numerous occasions. Eventually he was forced to join the Afghans that were led by Ahmad Shah Durrani, whose troops crossed the flooded Ganga river into his province.
Shuja is also known for his role in the Battle of Buxar, a battle that was no less definite in Indian history. He along with the forces of Shah Alam II and Mir Qasim were defeated by the British forces in one of the key battles in the history of British rule in India. The 0Battle of Buxar was fought on October 22, 1764 between the forces under the command of the British East India Company, and the combined armies of Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal; Shuja-ud-Daula Nawab of Awadh; and Shah Alam II, the Mughal Emperor. The battle fought at Buxar, then within the territory of Bengal, a town located on the bank of the Ganges river, was a decisive victory for the British East India Company.
Shuja again fought the British with the help of the Marathas at Kara Jahanabad and was again defeated. On August 16, 1765, he signed the "Allahabad Treaty", which set forth that Kara and the Allahabad district would go to the Company and the Company would get 50 lakhs of rupees from Oudh. The British would be allowed free trade in Oudh and Shuja and the British would help each other in case of war with other powers.
To pay for the protection of British forces and assistance in war, Oudh gave up first the fort of Chunar, then districts of Benaras, Ghazipur and finally Allahabad.
Jalal-ud-din Haider Abul Mansur Khan Shuja-ud-Daula see Shuja ud-Daulah Shuja-ud-Daula see Shuja ud-Daulah Jalal-ud-din Haider Abul Mansur Khan Shuja-ud-Daula see Shuja ud-Daulah
Shuqayri, Ahmad al-
Shuqayri, Ahmad al- (Ahmad al-Shuqayri) (Ahmad Shukeri) (Ahmad al-Shukeiri) (January 1, 1908–February 26, 1980). First Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader (1964-1968).
Ahmad al-Shukeiri, also transcribed as al-Shuqayri, Shuqeiri, Shukeiry, Shukairī, or Shukairy, was the first Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Shukeiri was born in Tibnin, south Lebanon, then Ottoman Empire to a Palestinian father, As'ad Shukeiri (1860–1940), a member of the Arab Higher Committee and of the Nashashibi party in Palestine, MP for Acre elected to the Ottoman Parliament in 1908 and 1912, and a Turkish mother. Ahmad acquired the Turkish language from his mother. After studying law in Jerusalem, he became a prominent lawyer in Palestine and a member of the Syrian delegation to the United Nations from 1949 to 1951.
He then became assistant Secretary General for the Arab League from 1950–56, Saudi ambassador to the United Nations from 1957 to 1962. He was elected the first Chairman of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) when that organization was created after a summit of Arab leaders in 1964 in Cairo. He resigned in December 1967 in the aftermath of the Six-Day War in June. His enemies and opponents used him as a scapegoat.
From May 28 to June 2, 1964, Shukeiri and 396 nominated representatives from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza strip, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya and Iraq attended a Palestinian Conference (The First Palestinian National Council) in East Jerusalem. Delegates wore badges carrying a map of Palestine and inscribed "We shall return". The Times reported that following an introductory address by King Hussein of Jordan, Shukeiri told delegates that "Palestinians had experienced 16 years' misery and it was time they relied on themselves and liberated Palestine from the Israelis". The conference announced the establishment of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian Arabs. Shukeiri and his colleagues also announced the formation of the Palestinian National Fund, and at the Second Arab Summit Conference in Alexandria in September 1964 of a military wing, the Palestine Liberation Army. Shukeiri was succeeded as Chairman of the PLO by Yahya Hammuda.
Between 1968 and 1979, Shukeiri wrote more than twenty books dealing with Palestine and Arab Unity. He died on February 26, 1980, in Amman.
The son of a noted religious scholar, Shuqayrī was born in Lebanon and returned to the family home in Acre, Palestine (now ʿAkko, Israel), when he was eight years old. After graduating from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and the Jerusalem Law School, he practiced law for several years and became involved in the Palestinian nationalist movement. He fled Palestine following the aborted Palestine Arab Revolt (1936–39), returning only in the late 1940s, when he held several positions in the Palestinian civil administration. Shuqayrī fled the fighting of the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 and eventually took a position with the Arab League. He later became a delegate for both Syria and Saudi Arabia at the United Nations. As the PLO’s first president he was a leading spokesman for the Palestinian cause during the mid-1960s and was active as a propagandist and negotiator with Arab governments and international organizations. After the devastating Arab defeat by Israel in the Six-Day War of June 1967, there was a new militancy among Palestinian groups, and Shuqayrī was thought by some to be ineffectual. Accused of failure in coordinating the activities of Palestinian guerrilla groups, he resigned from the PLO’s top position—he was replaced by the youthful Yāsir ʿArafāt—and virtually disappeared from active political life.
Ahmad al-Shuqayri see Shuqayri, Ahmad al- Ahmad Shukeri see Shuqayri, Ahmad al- Shukeri, Ahmad see Shuqayri, Ahmad al- Ahmad al-Shukeiri see Shuqayri, Ahmad al- Shukeiri, Ahmad al- see Shuqayri, Ahmad al-
Shuqayri, Ahmad al- (Ahmad al-Shuqayri) (Ahmad Shukeri) (Ahmad al-Shukeiri) (January 1, 1908–February 26, 1980). First Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader (1964-1968).
Ahmad al-Shukeiri, also transcribed as al-Shuqayri, Shuqeiri, Shukeiry, Shukairī, or Shukairy, was the first Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Shukeiri was born in Tibnin, south Lebanon, then Ottoman Empire to a Palestinian father, As'ad Shukeiri (1860–1940), a member of the Arab Higher Committee and of the Nashashibi party in Palestine, MP for Acre elected to the Ottoman Parliament in 1908 and 1912, and a Turkish mother. Ahmad acquired the Turkish language from his mother. After studying law in Jerusalem, he became a prominent lawyer in Palestine and a member of the Syrian delegation to the United Nations from 1949 to 1951.
He then became assistant Secretary General for the Arab League from 1950–56, Saudi ambassador to the United Nations from 1957 to 1962. He was elected the first Chairman of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) when that organization was created after a summit of Arab leaders in 1964 in Cairo. He resigned in December 1967 in the aftermath of the Six-Day War in June. His enemies and opponents used him as a scapegoat.
From May 28 to June 2, 1964, Shukeiri and 396 nominated representatives from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza strip, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya and Iraq attended a Palestinian Conference (The First Palestinian National Council) in East Jerusalem. Delegates wore badges carrying a map of Palestine and inscribed "We shall return". The Times reported that following an introductory address by King Hussein of Jordan, Shukeiri told delegates that "Palestinians had experienced 16 years' misery and it was time they relied on themselves and liberated Palestine from the Israelis". The conference announced the establishment of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian Arabs. Shukeiri and his colleagues also announced the formation of the Palestinian National Fund, and at the Second Arab Summit Conference in Alexandria in September 1964 of a military wing, the Palestine Liberation Army. Shukeiri was succeeded as Chairman of the PLO by Yahya Hammuda.
Between 1968 and 1979, Shukeiri wrote more than twenty books dealing with Palestine and Arab Unity. He died on February 26, 1980, in Amman.
The son of a noted religious scholar, Shuqayrī was born in Lebanon and returned to the family home in Acre, Palestine (now ʿAkko, Israel), when he was eight years old. After graduating from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and the Jerusalem Law School, he practiced law for several years and became involved in the Palestinian nationalist movement. He fled Palestine following the aborted Palestine Arab Revolt (1936–39), returning only in the late 1940s, when he held several positions in the Palestinian civil administration. Shuqayrī fled the fighting of the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 and eventually took a position with the Arab League. He later became a delegate for both Syria and Saudi Arabia at the United Nations. As the PLO’s first president he was a leading spokesman for the Palestinian cause during the mid-1960s and was active as a propagandist and negotiator with Arab governments and international organizations. After the devastating Arab defeat by Israel in the Six-Day War of June 1967, there was a new militancy among Palestinian groups, and Shuqayrī was thought by some to be ineffectual. Accused of failure in coordinating the activities of Palestinian guerrilla groups, he resigned from the PLO’s top position—he was replaced by the youthful Yāsir ʿArafāt—and virtually disappeared from active political life.
Ahmad al-Shuqayri see Shuqayri, Ahmad al- Ahmad Shukeri see Shuqayri, Ahmad al- Shukeri, Ahmad see Shuqayri, Ahmad al- Ahmad al-Shukeiri see Shuqayri, Ahmad al- Shukeiri, Ahmad al- see Shuqayri, Ahmad al-
Shura
Shura. Term which refers to the council chosen by Umar to elect his successor in 644. The word shura came to mean an advisory council and also refers to the Islamic principle of mutual consultation.
Shura is an Arabic word for "consultation". It is believed to be the method by which pre-Islamic Arabian tribes selected leaders and made major decisions.
Shura is mentioned twice in the Quran as a praiseworthy activity, and is a word often used in the name of parliaments in Muslim-majority countries.
Muslims believe that Islam requires all decisions made by and for the Muslim societies to be made by shura of the Muslim community and believe this to be the basis for implementing representative democracy.
In early Islāmic history, shura was the board of electors that was constituted by the second caliph (head of the Muslim community), ʿUmar I (634–644), to elect his successor. Thereafter, in Muslim states, shūrā variously designated a council of state, or advisers to the sovereign, a parliament (in modern times), and—in certain Arab states—a court of law with jurisdiction over claims made by citizens and public officials against the government. The word shūrā provides the title of the 42nd chapter of the Qurʾān, in which believers are exhorted to conduct their affairs “by mutual consultation.”
Shura. Term which refers to the council chosen by Umar to elect his successor in 644. The word shura came to mean an advisory council and also refers to the Islamic principle of mutual consultation.
Shura is an Arabic word for "consultation". It is believed to be the method by which pre-Islamic Arabian tribes selected leaders and made major decisions.
Shura is mentioned twice in the Quran as a praiseworthy activity, and is a word often used in the name of parliaments in Muslim-majority countries.
Muslims believe that Islam requires all decisions made by and for the Muslim societies to be made by shura of the Muslim community and believe this to be the basis for implementing representative democracy.
In early Islāmic history, shura was the board of electors that was constituted by the second caliph (head of the Muslim community), ʿUmar I (634–644), to elect his successor. Thereafter, in Muslim states, shūrā variously designated a council of state, or advisers to the sovereign, a parliament (in modern times), and—in certain Arab states—a court of law with jurisdiction over claims made by citizens and public officials against the government. The word shūrā provides the title of the 42nd chapter of the Qurʾān, in which believers are exhorted to conduct their affairs “by mutual consultation.”
Shurat
Shurat. Qur’anic term which means “those who sell their life to God.” It was adopted by the extreme Kharijites who vowed to fight to death against their enemies.
Those Who Sell Their Life to God see Shurat.
Shurat. Qur’anic term which means “those who sell their life to God.” It was adopted by the extreme Kharijites who vowed to fight to death against their enemies.
Those Who Sell Their Life to God see Shurat.
Shushtari, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd Allah
Shushtari, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd Allah (Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd Allah Shushtari) (c.1203-1269). Mystic poet of Muslim Spain. He is known for a collection of short, poignant poems written in vulgar Arabic.
Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali ibn 'Abd Allah Shushtari see Shushtari, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd Allah
Shushtari, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd Allah (Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd Allah Shushtari) (c.1203-1269). Mystic poet of Muslim Spain. He is known for a collection of short, poignant poems written in vulgar Arabic.
Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali ibn 'Abd Allah Shushtari see Shushtari, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd Allah
Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah
Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah (Sayyid Nur Allah Shushtari) (Qazi Nurullah Shustari) (Qazi Zia-ud-Din Nurullah Shustari) (1542-1610/1611). Shi‘i writer from Lahore. He defended the Imamiyya against the Sunnis, and mysticism against the majority of the Imamis. He wrote a fully documented biographical collection of the principal martyrs of Imami and mystic Islam, and a treatise on Imami apologetics.
Qazi Nurullah Shustari, also known as Shaheed-e-Salis, was an eminent jurist (faqih) and scholar (alim) of his time.
Qazi Zia-ud-Din Nurullah Shustari known as Amir Sayyid and Shaheed-i-Thalis was born at Shushtar, one of the cities of the present Khuzestan province in the south of Iran. He was sayyid by lineage and belonged to the Mar'ashi family. Qazi Nurullah Shustari was the most important Shi'a scholar of the Mughal period in India. His father was Sayyid Muhammad Sharif-ud-din and his grandfather was Sayyid Zia-ud-Din Nurullah.
Shustari received his early education at home under the tutelage of his grandfather Sayyid Zia-ud-Din Nurullah and his father Sayyid Muhammad Sharif-ud-din and other local tutors. In the year 1571, he went to Mashhad, the holy city in the Khurasan province.
On October 6, 1584, Nuru'llah Shustari moved from Mashhad to India. There he held the post of Chief Qazi under Akbar. He was an emissary of Akbar in Kashmir and was instrumental in pacifying a revolt which was in the offing. He conducted the first census of the areas of the Mughal Empire during Akbar's reign. This earned him the great respect and trust of the Mughal emperor. On his return, he was appointed as Chief Qazi (Qazi Quzaz), a position equivalent to Chief Justice, of the Mughal empire.
Under Jehangir's reign he continued to hold the same high position as in Akbar's time. But his position was threatened because of Jehangir's more orthodox nature. Other groups which had tried to malign his position during Akbar's reign once again became powerful and influential. More over, he made enemies from his involvement in the settling of disputes in Kashmir and Agra. His book Ahqaq-ul-Haq (Justification of the Truth) was brought as evidence against him. A fatwa was passed declaring him a heretic. Thus Jehangir was made to issue death orders for the Qazi. 'The Empire of the Great Mughals' mentions this incidence. However, he had both the Sikh guru Arjan and the Shi'i Qadi Nurullah Shushtari executed, which demonstrates how different he was from Akbar.
Qazi Nurullah Shustari was executed for his Shi'ism by Jahangir. He was flogged to death because of his writings. Qazi Nurullah Shustari was executed in September 1610.
Qazi Nurullah is known since that time as Shaheed-e-Salis (also Shahid al-Thalis) or the Third Martyr. Muhammad ibn Makki is considered Shaheed-e-Awwal (Shahid al-Awwal) or the First Martyr, and Zayn al-Din al-Juba'i al'Amili is as Shaheed-e-Sani (or Shahid al-Thani) or the Second Martyr.
Qazi Nurullah's tomb, which is at Agra, has been the center of pilgrimage since the day of his martyrdom. It is also a venue where every year people gather from all over the Indian sub-continent to commemorate the anniversary of his martyrdom.
Qazi Nurullah wrote numerous books, which according to some count up to hundred and a large number of treatises on various subjects . Some of them are:
* Ihqaq-ul-Haq (Justification of the Truth ) : In this work he defended the beliefs of the Shi'ite faith and answered Sunni objections about it.
* Masa'ib-un-Nawasib (Troubles for the Nasibiites) : Refutation of "Nawaqiz-ul-Rawafiz" by a Sunnite scholar.
* Sawarim-ul-Muhriqa (The Pouring Swords) : Refutation of "Sawaiq-ul-Muhriqa" by the Sunnite scholar Ibn Hajar.
* Majalis-ul-Mo'mineen ( The Assembly of the faithfuls ) : Gives the description of the religious scholars and the other learned men .
* Risala-i-Jalaliyyah: A treatise dedicated to Jalal - ud- Din Akbar , the Mughal emperor of Hindustan .
Sayyid Nur Allah Shushtari see Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah Qazi Nurullah Shustari see Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah Shaheed-e-Salis see Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah Qazi Zia-ud-Din Nurullah Shustari see Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah Amir Sayyid see Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah Shaheed-i-Thalis see Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah
Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah (Sayyid Nur Allah Shushtari) (Qazi Nurullah Shustari) (Qazi Zia-ud-Din Nurullah Shustari) (1542-1610/1611). Shi‘i writer from Lahore. He defended the Imamiyya against the Sunnis, and mysticism against the majority of the Imamis. He wrote a fully documented biographical collection of the principal martyrs of Imami and mystic Islam, and a treatise on Imami apologetics.
Qazi Nurullah Shustari, also known as Shaheed-e-Salis, was an eminent jurist (faqih) and scholar (alim) of his time.
Qazi Zia-ud-Din Nurullah Shustari known as Amir Sayyid and Shaheed-i-Thalis was born at Shushtar, one of the cities of the present Khuzestan province in the south of Iran. He was sayyid by lineage and belonged to the Mar'ashi family. Qazi Nurullah Shustari was the most important Shi'a scholar of the Mughal period in India. His father was Sayyid Muhammad Sharif-ud-din and his grandfather was Sayyid Zia-ud-Din Nurullah.
Shustari received his early education at home under the tutelage of his grandfather Sayyid Zia-ud-Din Nurullah and his father Sayyid Muhammad Sharif-ud-din and other local tutors. In the year 1571, he went to Mashhad, the holy city in the Khurasan province.
On October 6, 1584, Nuru'llah Shustari moved from Mashhad to India. There he held the post of Chief Qazi under Akbar. He was an emissary of Akbar in Kashmir and was instrumental in pacifying a revolt which was in the offing. He conducted the first census of the areas of the Mughal Empire during Akbar's reign. This earned him the great respect and trust of the Mughal emperor. On his return, he was appointed as Chief Qazi (Qazi Quzaz), a position equivalent to Chief Justice, of the Mughal empire.
Under Jehangir's reign he continued to hold the same high position as in Akbar's time. But his position was threatened because of Jehangir's more orthodox nature. Other groups which had tried to malign his position during Akbar's reign once again became powerful and influential. More over, he made enemies from his involvement in the settling of disputes in Kashmir and Agra. His book Ahqaq-ul-Haq (Justification of the Truth) was brought as evidence against him. A fatwa was passed declaring him a heretic. Thus Jehangir was made to issue death orders for the Qazi. 'The Empire of the Great Mughals' mentions this incidence. However, he had both the Sikh guru Arjan and the Shi'i Qadi Nurullah Shushtari executed, which demonstrates how different he was from Akbar.
Qazi Nurullah Shustari was executed for his Shi'ism by Jahangir. He was flogged to death because of his writings. Qazi Nurullah Shustari was executed in September 1610.
Qazi Nurullah is known since that time as Shaheed-e-Salis (also Shahid al-Thalis) or the Third Martyr. Muhammad ibn Makki is considered Shaheed-e-Awwal (Shahid al-Awwal) or the First Martyr, and Zayn al-Din al-Juba'i al'Amili is as Shaheed-e-Sani (or Shahid al-Thani) or the Second Martyr.
Qazi Nurullah's tomb, which is at Agra, has been the center of pilgrimage since the day of his martyrdom. It is also a venue where every year people gather from all over the Indian sub-continent to commemorate the anniversary of his martyrdom.
Qazi Nurullah wrote numerous books, which according to some count up to hundred and a large number of treatises on various subjects . Some of them are:
* Ihqaq-ul-Haq (Justification of the Truth ) : In this work he defended the beliefs of the Shi'ite faith and answered Sunni objections about it.
* Masa'ib-un-Nawasib (Troubles for the Nasibiites) : Refutation of "Nawaqiz-ul-Rawafiz" by a Sunnite scholar.
* Sawarim-ul-Muhriqa (The Pouring Swords) : Refutation of "Sawaiq-ul-Muhriqa" by the Sunnite scholar Ibn Hajar.
* Majalis-ul-Mo'mineen ( The Assembly of the faithfuls ) : Gives the description of the religious scholars and the other learned men .
* Risala-i-Jalaliyyah: A treatise dedicated to Jalal - ud- Din Akbar , the Mughal emperor of Hindustan .
Sayyid Nur Allah Shushtari see Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah Qazi Nurullah Shustari see Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah Shaheed-e-Salis see Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah Qazi Zia-ud-Din Nurullah Shustari see Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah Amir Sayyid see Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah Shaheed-i-Thalis see Shushtari, Sayyid Nur Allah
Shu‘ubiyya
Shu‘ubiyya (Shu'ubiyyah). Name of a movement in early Islam of non-Arabs who objected to the privileged position of the Arabs and their pride towards them, who exalted the non-Arabs over the Arabs or who, in general, despised and depreciated the Arabs. The term is derived from the Qur’an 49, which teaches the brotherhood and equality of all Muslims without regard to tribe and race. More specifically, the Shu‘ubiyya was the ninth century literary and political movement in which Persians sought equal power and status with Arabs. The Shu‘ubiyah exalted the values of Sassanid “courtly” literature integrated into the adab. The Shu‘ubiyah opposed the dominance of the Arabs.
Shu'ubiyyah refers to the response by non-Arab Muslims to the privileged status of Arabs within the Ummah. There has been discrimination and in many cases oppression of minority groups resulting in many defined periods of cultural struggle throughout Islamic History.
The name of the movement is derived from the Qur'anic use of the word for "nations" or "peoples", shū'ub. The verse (49:13) is often used by Muslims to counter prejudice and fighting among different people.
The use of the word in the context of a movement existed before the 9th century. The Kharijites, an early splinter sect from mainstream Islam, used it to mean extending equality between the shu'ub and the kaba'il to bring about equality among all followers of Islam. It was a direct response to the claims by the Quraysh of being privileged to lead the Ummah, or community of believers.
"Shu'ubiyyah", when used as a reference to a specific movement, refers to a response by Persian Muslims to the growing Arabization of Islam in the 9th and 10th centuries in what is now Iran. It was primarily concerned with preserving Persian culture and protecting Persian identity. The most notable effect of the movement was the survival of Persian language, the language of the Persians, to the present day. The movement never moved into apostasy though, and has its basis in the Islamic thought of equality of races and nations.
In the late 8th and early 9th centuries there was a resurgence of Persian national identity. This came about after years of oppression by the Abbassid caliphate. The movement left substantial records in the form of Persian literature and new forms of poetry. Most of those behind the movement were Persian, but references to Egyptians, Berbers and Aramaeans are attested.
Two centuries after the end of the Shu'ubiyyah movement in the east, another form of the movement came about in Islamic Spain. It was attractive to, and controlled by, Muladi (Iberian Muslims). It was fueled mainly by the Berbers, but included many European cultural groups as well including Galicians, Franks, Calabrians, and Basques. A notable example of Shu'ubi literature is the epistle (risala) of the Andalusian poet Ibn Gharsiya (Garcia).
Shu'ubiyyah see Shu‘ubiyya
Shu‘ubiyya (Shu'ubiyyah). Name of a movement in early Islam of non-Arabs who objected to the privileged position of the Arabs and their pride towards them, who exalted the non-Arabs over the Arabs or who, in general, despised and depreciated the Arabs. The term is derived from the Qur’an 49, which teaches the brotherhood and equality of all Muslims without regard to tribe and race. More specifically, the Shu‘ubiyya was the ninth century literary and political movement in which Persians sought equal power and status with Arabs. The Shu‘ubiyah exalted the values of Sassanid “courtly” literature integrated into the adab. The Shu‘ubiyah opposed the dominance of the Arabs.
Shu'ubiyyah refers to the response by non-Arab Muslims to the privileged status of Arabs within the Ummah. There has been discrimination and in many cases oppression of minority groups resulting in many defined periods of cultural struggle throughout Islamic History.
The name of the movement is derived from the Qur'anic use of the word for "nations" or "peoples", shū'ub. The verse (49:13) is often used by Muslims to counter prejudice and fighting among different people.
The use of the word in the context of a movement existed before the 9th century. The Kharijites, an early splinter sect from mainstream Islam, used it to mean extending equality between the shu'ub and the kaba'il to bring about equality among all followers of Islam. It was a direct response to the claims by the Quraysh of being privileged to lead the Ummah, or community of believers.
"Shu'ubiyyah", when used as a reference to a specific movement, refers to a response by Persian Muslims to the growing Arabization of Islam in the 9th and 10th centuries in what is now Iran. It was primarily concerned with preserving Persian culture and protecting Persian identity. The most notable effect of the movement was the survival of Persian language, the language of the Persians, to the present day. The movement never moved into apostasy though, and has its basis in the Islamic thought of equality of races and nations.
In the late 8th and early 9th centuries there was a resurgence of Persian national identity. This came about after years of oppression by the Abbassid caliphate. The movement left substantial records in the form of Persian literature and new forms of poetry. Most of those behind the movement were Persian, but references to Egyptians, Berbers and Aramaeans are attested.
Two centuries after the end of the Shu'ubiyyah movement in the east, another form of the movement came about in Islamic Spain. It was attractive to, and controlled by, Muladi (Iberian Muslims). It was fueled mainly by the Berbers, but included many European cultural groups as well including Galicians, Franks, Calabrians, and Basques. A notable example of Shu'ubi literature is the epistle (risala) of the Andalusian poet Ibn Gharsiya (Garcia).
Shu'ubiyyah see Shu‘ubiyya
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