Isfendiyar-oghullari
Isfendiyar-oghullari. Turkmen dynasty at Kastamonu, northern Anatolia (r. c. 1290-1461). Also known as Candar, the dynasty was renowned for their patronage of men of letters and contributed to the development of Turkish as a literary language. The principality was annexed by the Ottoman Sultan Muhammad II, but members of the dynasty continued to serve as governors under the Ottomans.
Candar see Isfendiyar-oghullari.
Isfendiyar-oghullari. Turkmen dynasty at Kastamonu, northern Anatolia (r. c. 1290-1461). Also known as Candar, the dynasty was renowned for their patronage of men of letters and contributed to the development of Turkish as a literary language. The principality was annexed by the Ottoman Sultan Muhammad II, but members of the dynasty continued to serve as governors under the Ottomans.
Candar see Isfendiyar-oghullari.
Ishaki, Ayaz
Ishaki, Ayaz (Ayaz Ishaki) (1878, in Yevshirma near Kazan - July 22, 1954 in Istanbul). Tatar political activist and writer. Born on February 23, 1878, into the family of Giylajetdin, the mullah of Yaushirma village in Kazan guberniya, Ayaz (or Gayaz) Ishaki received a traditional education at the Chistay madrasah (1890-1893) and then at the Kulbue madrasah (1893-1898) of Kazan. In 1898, he entered the Kazan Teachers‘ School, from which he graduated in 1902, finding employment as a teacher of Russian at madrasahs in Kazan and Orenburg. In 1903, he returned to Yaushirma to take up briefly the duties of village mullah.
As a student, Ishaki became involved in the first Tatar literary-political circle organized by a group of Tatar youth in 1895. They published a mimeographed paper called Tarakki (Progress) and in 1901 organized the Shakirdlik party, which a year later changed its name to Hurriyet (Freedom) and adhered to purely political goals. At this time, Ishaki also established links with the Russian socialist revolutionary circles of Kazan and acquired a taste for action, which may explain the brevity of his stay in Yaushirma and his decision to return to Kazan.
Once back in Kazan, Ishaki became involved with radical circles. In 1905, he and Fuad Tuktar founded a secret Tatar political group called Tangchilar revolving around two socialist papers advocating the overthrow of tsarism – Tang (Down) and Tang yoldizi (Morning Star), both edited by Ishaki. In the fall of 1905, he and Tuktar organized the Socialist party Brek with its own journal, Azat (Free), succeeded by Azar khaliq (Free People). In August 1905, Ishaki participated in the first Congress of the Muslims of the Russian empire, heading the group of twenty radical nationalists opposing the moderate views of the majority of delegates who advocated a political union of all Muslims. This disagreement grew even wider at the third congress (August 1906), where Ishaki argued that unity of religion and culture did not suffice to unite all Muslims into one political party as long as class differences endured.
By 1906, Ishaki had clashed not only with those Tatar who did not share his political radicalism but also with the Russian government. The newspaper Tang yoldizi was banned in 1905, and Ishaki was arrested and sent to the Chistay jail. Upon release he launched the newspaper Tavish (The Voice), which continued the socialist revolutionary orientation of the previous two and prompted an immediate response from the government: Ishaki was arrested and jailed for six months and then sent to serve a three year exile in Arkhangelsk. He escaped in 1908 and made his way to Saint Petersburg, where he lived in hiding. However, the police caught up with Ishaki and deported him to Vologda, where he stayed until 1913.
Since Ishaki was not allowed to return to Kazan, he chose Saint Petersburg for launching his next projects – the publication between 1910 and 1913 of the newspapers Il (Country), Suz (The Word), and Bezneng il (Our Country). By this time, Ishaki had mellowed politically, distancing himself from the radicalism of the socialists. He moved closer to the moderate platform of the Ittifak party, which had never regarded class differences as a hindrance to the unity of all Muslims. In 1915, Ishaki traveled to the Muslim regions of the Russian empire to promote the idea of unity and common action.
After the fall of the Romanov dynasty in February 1917, Ishaki helped organize the two congresses of Russian Muslims held during that year (May in Moscow, July in Kazan). On July 22, 1917, Ishaki was instrumental in having the national cultural autonomy of the Volga-Ural Muslims proclaimed by the Second Congress, which also elected a National Assembly (Milli Majlis), National Council (Milli Shura), and National Administration (Milli Idare). He became the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Volga-Ural Muslims, but when the Red Army occupied the large cities of the Volga-Ural region in 1918, the National Administration was abrogated. Since the regional enemies of the Bolsheviks were also hostile to Ishaki, he and the National Administration moved to Kizilyar (Petropavlovsk) on the northern fringes of the Kazakh steppes, where he began to publish the newspaper Mayak (The Lighthouse).
In 1919, Ishaki left Russia (via Japan) to participate in the European Peace Conference as the representative of the Volga-Ural Muslims. This departure marks the beginning of his life as a political émigré, which took him to Warsaw, Paris, Berlin, Mukden, Ankara, and Istanbul. During this period, he channeled his efforts toward keeping alive the “national memory” of the Volga-Ural Muslims and supporting their struggle to free their homeland. In Warsaw, Ishaki was active in an organization called Promethee, aimed at achieving independence for the ethnic minorities of Russia. In Berlin, in 1928, he launched the newspaper Milli Yul (National Path), which changed its name to Yanga Milli Yul (New National Path) in 1939.
Ishaki represented the Volga-Ural Muslims at the Muslim Congress held in Jerusalem in 1931 and continued to pursue the idea of Muslim and Turkic unity. Between 1934 and 1938, he traveled to Finland, the Arab countries, Manchuria, Korea, and Japan in order to create an organization of the Volga-Ural Muslim diaspora. When the national congress of the diaspora met in 1935 in Mukden, it elected Ishaki the president of its national council. To provide the diaspora with a voice, in November 1935 Ishaki started the newspaper Milli bayrak (The National Flag), which appeared until mid-1945. It was the only one of his journals to survive German suppression in World War II. After the war, Ishaki moved to Turkey, where he lived until his death in Ankara on July 22, 1954.
Ishaki left a threefold legacy as (1) a political activist driven by the idea of Turkic unity and national autonomy for the Volga-Ural Muslims; (2) a journalist promoting that political credo; and (3) a creative writer reflecting the ideals of enlightenment, justice, and economic and political advancement intimately associated with Jadidism (Muslim reformism). His literary work includes close to fifty short stories, novellas, novels, plays, memoirs, and translations of historical essays, addressing a broad range of issues. In the fantastic novel Iki yoz eldan song inkiyraz ( After Two Hundred Years – Extinction), and the story Tagallemda sagadat (Happiness in Education), he addressed the issues of reform and modernization of education as a condition of social progress. In the play Zoleykha, the focus is on the tragedies brought about by Russian policies of forced conversion to Christianity. Other plays and stories address issues of social justice, women’s lives, and the quest for education. The literary works that most clearly mirror Ishaki’s political ideas are the play Dulkin echende (In the Wave) and the novel Oyga taba (Homeward) which are permeated by nationalist and Pan-Turkic ideas.
Ishaki’s name was obliterated from histories of Tatar literature and culture published in the Soviet Union after 1926, and he was mentioned only to vilify him as a nationalist and enemy of the Soviet people. Not until 1988, in an article by I. Nurullin in the newspaper Vechernyaya Kazan, was the first step taken toward returning Ishaki to the peoples of his homeland. Since that time, newspapers and journals such as Kazan utlari (Fires of Kazan), Miras (Heritage), and Tatarstan have carried many articles about him also reprinting some of his works. In 1991, the Union of Writers of Tatarstan instituted a literary prize in honor of Ishaki; the first writer to receive it was Rabit Batulla, whose works embody Ishaki’s ideals and hopes for the future of the Volga-Ural Muslims.
Ayaz Ishaki see Ishaki, Ayaz
Gayaz Ishaki see Ishaki, Ayaz
Ishaki, Gayaz see Ishaki, Ayaz
Ishaki, Ayaz (Ayaz Ishaki) (1878, in Yevshirma near Kazan - July 22, 1954 in Istanbul). Tatar political activist and writer. Born on February 23, 1878, into the family of Giylajetdin, the mullah of Yaushirma village in Kazan guberniya, Ayaz (or Gayaz) Ishaki received a traditional education at the Chistay madrasah (1890-1893) and then at the Kulbue madrasah (1893-1898) of Kazan. In 1898, he entered the Kazan Teachers‘ School, from which he graduated in 1902, finding employment as a teacher of Russian at madrasahs in Kazan and Orenburg. In 1903, he returned to Yaushirma to take up briefly the duties of village mullah.
As a student, Ishaki became involved in the first Tatar literary-political circle organized by a group of Tatar youth in 1895. They published a mimeographed paper called Tarakki (Progress) and in 1901 organized the Shakirdlik party, which a year later changed its name to Hurriyet (Freedom) and adhered to purely political goals. At this time, Ishaki also established links with the Russian socialist revolutionary circles of Kazan and acquired a taste for action, which may explain the brevity of his stay in Yaushirma and his decision to return to Kazan.
Once back in Kazan, Ishaki became involved with radical circles. In 1905, he and Fuad Tuktar founded a secret Tatar political group called Tangchilar revolving around two socialist papers advocating the overthrow of tsarism – Tang (Down) and Tang yoldizi (Morning Star), both edited by Ishaki. In the fall of 1905, he and Tuktar organized the Socialist party Brek with its own journal, Azat (Free), succeeded by Azar khaliq (Free People). In August 1905, Ishaki participated in the first Congress of the Muslims of the Russian empire, heading the group of twenty radical nationalists opposing the moderate views of the majority of delegates who advocated a political union of all Muslims. This disagreement grew even wider at the third congress (August 1906), where Ishaki argued that unity of religion and culture did not suffice to unite all Muslims into one political party as long as class differences endured.
By 1906, Ishaki had clashed not only with those Tatar who did not share his political radicalism but also with the Russian government. The newspaper Tang yoldizi was banned in 1905, and Ishaki was arrested and sent to the Chistay jail. Upon release he launched the newspaper Tavish (The Voice), which continued the socialist revolutionary orientation of the previous two and prompted an immediate response from the government: Ishaki was arrested and jailed for six months and then sent to serve a three year exile in Arkhangelsk. He escaped in 1908 and made his way to Saint Petersburg, where he lived in hiding. However, the police caught up with Ishaki and deported him to Vologda, where he stayed until 1913.
Since Ishaki was not allowed to return to Kazan, he chose Saint Petersburg for launching his next projects – the publication between 1910 and 1913 of the newspapers Il (Country), Suz (The Word), and Bezneng il (Our Country). By this time, Ishaki had mellowed politically, distancing himself from the radicalism of the socialists. He moved closer to the moderate platform of the Ittifak party, which had never regarded class differences as a hindrance to the unity of all Muslims. In 1915, Ishaki traveled to the Muslim regions of the Russian empire to promote the idea of unity and common action.
After the fall of the Romanov dynasty in February 1917, Ishaki helped organize the two congresses of Russian Muslims held during that year (May in Moscow, July in Kazan). On July 22, 1917, Ishaki was instrumental in having the national cultural autonomy of the Volga-Ural Muslims proclaimed by the Second Congress, which also elected a National Assembly (Milli Majlis), National Council (Milli Shura), and National Administration (Milli Idare). He became the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Volga-Ural Muslims, but when the Red Army occupied the large cities of the Volga-Ural region in 1918, the National Administration was abrogated. Since the regional enemies of the Bolsheviks were also hostile to Ishaki, he and the National Administration moved to Kizilyar (Petropavlovsk) on the northern fringes of the Kazakh steppes, where he began to publish the newspaper Mayak (The Lighthouse).
In 1919, Ishaki left Russia (via Japan) to participate in the European Peace Conference as the representative of the Volga-Ural Muslims. This departure marks the beginning of his life as a political émigré, which took him to Warsaw, Paris, Berlin, Mukden, Ankara, and Istanbul. During this period, he channeled his efforts toward keeping alive the “national memory” of the Volga-Ural Muslims and supporting their struggle to free their homeland. In Warsaw, Ishaki was active in an organization called Promethee, aimed at achieving independence for the ethnic minorities of Russia. In Berlin, in 1928, he launched the newspaper Milli Yul (National Path), which changed its name to Yanga Milli Yul (New National Path) in 1939.
Ishaki represented the Volga-Ural Muslims at the Muslim Congress held in Jerusalem in 1931 and continued to pursue the idea of Muslim and Turkic unity. Between 1934 and 1938, he traveled to Finland, the Arab countries, Manchuria, Korea, and Japan in order to create an organization of the Volga-Ural Muslim diaspora. When the national congress of the diaspora met in 1935 in Mukden, it elected Ishaki the president of its national council. To provide the diaspora with a voice, in November 1935 Ishaki started the newspaper Milli bayrak (The National Flag), which appeared until mid-1945. It was the only one of his journals to survive German suppression in World War II. After the war, Ishaki moved to Turkey, where he lived until his death in Ankara on July 22, 1954.
Ishaki left a threefold legacy as (1) a political activist driven by the idea of Turkic unity and national autonomy for the Volga-Ural Muslims; (2) a journalist promoting that political credo; and (3) a creative writer reflecting the ideals of enlightenment, justice, and economic and political advancement intimately associated with Jadidism (Muslim reformism). His literary work includes close to fifty short stories, novellas, novels, plays, memoirs, and translations of historical essays, addressing a broad range of issues. In the fantastic novel Iki yoz eldan song inkiyraz ( After Two Hundred Years – Extinction), and the story Tagallemda sagadat (Happiness in Education), he addressed the issues of reform and modernization of education as a condition of social progress. In the play Zoleykha, the focus is on the tragedies brought about by Russian policies of forced conversion to Christianity. Other plays and stories address issues of social justice, women’s lives, and the quest for education. The literary works that most clearly mirror Ishaki’s political ideas are the play Dulkin echende (In the Wave) and the novel Oyga taba (Homeward) which are permeated by nationalist and Pan-Turkic ideas.
Ishaki’s name was obliterated from histories of Tatar literature and culture published in the Soviet Union after 1926, and he was mentioned only to vilify him as a nationalist and enemy of the Soviet people. Not until 1988, in an article by I. Nurullin in the newspaper Vechernyaya Kazan, was the first step taken toward returning Ishaki to the peoples of his homeland. Since that time, newspapers and journals such as Kazan utlari (Fires of Kazan), Miras (Heritage), and Tatarstan have carried many articles about him also reprinting some of his works. In 1991, the Union of Writers of Tatarstan instituted a literary prize in honor of Ishaki; the first writer to receive it was Rabit Batulla, whose works embody Ishaki’s ideals and hopes for the future of the Volga-Ural Muslims.
Ayaz Ishaki see Ishaki, Ayaz
Gayaz Ishaki see Ishaki, Ayaz
Ishaki, Gayaz see Ishaki, Ayaz
Ishaq I
Ishaq I (Askia Ishaq I) (d. 1549). Ruler of Songhay (1539-1549). After the famous Askia Muhammad of Songhay was deposed in 1528, three successors ruled for short periods before their own deposition or death. Ishaq, the fourth ruler, was a son of Muhammad who ended the turmoil when he ascended the throne in 1539. During his rule, Songhay resumed its encroachment on the old Mali Empire, which had won a respite during the latter years of Askia Muhammad's rule. The Songhay army occupied the Mali capital in 1545/46, but withdrew afterwards. Ishaq died peacefully and was succeeded by his brother, Dawud.
Askia Ishaq I was elected Askia following the overthrow of Mohammad Benkan in 1537.
Seeking to centralize power, he executed a number of local governors. After a failed Moroccan expedition against the Taghaza salt mines in 1544, Ishaq I retaliated, sacking several cities in southern Morocco and forcing Sultan Mohammed I Saadi to flee Marrakesh. Askia Daoud succeeded Ishaq peacefully following his 1549 death.
Askia Ishaq I see Ishaq I
Ishaq I (Askia Ishaq I) (d. 1549). Ruler of Songhay (1539-1549). After the famous Askia Muhammad of Songhay was deposed in 1528, three successors ruled for short periods before their own deposition or death. Ishaq, the fourth ruler, was a son of Muhammad who ended the turmoil when he ascended the throne in 1539. During his rule, Songhay resumed its encroachment on the old Mali Empire, which had won a respite during the latter years of Askia Muhammad's rule. The Songhay army occupied the Mali capital in 1545/46, but withdrew afterwards. Ishaq died peacefully and was succeeded by his brother, Dawud.
Askia Ishaq I was elected Askia following the overthrow of Mohammad Benkan in 1537.
Seeking to centralize power, he executed a number of local governors. After a failed Moroccan expedition against the Taghaza salt mines in 1544, Ishaq I retaliated, sacking several cities in southern Morocco and forcing Sultan Mohammed I Saadi to flee Marrakesh. Askia Daoud succeeded Ishaq peacefully following his 1549 death.
Askia Ishaq I see Ishaq I
Ishaq II
Ishaq II (Askia Ishaq II) (d. 1591). Ruler of the empire of Songhay (1588-1591) at the time of its conquest by Morocco. When he succeeded his brother, Muhammad Bani (r. 1586-1588) internal dissension was growing within the empire. His first act was to put down a full-scale revolt of his western governors. But the real challenge to Ishaq was to come from an external force, Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, who had come to power in Morocco in 1578. Al-Mansur had designs on Songhay and the means to execute his will. His first attempt to send a military expedition across the Sahara failed in 1584. But by 1586, he had brought the important Songhay Saharan oases of Tuwat and Gurara under Moroccan control, and had planted spies in the Songhay court. When al-Mansur attempted a diplomatic ploy to deceive Ishaq about his intentions (1589/90) the latter responded with an insult. With this al-Mansur overcame the opposition of his own council and mounted a second expedition against Songhay in 1590. His commander was an Andalusian eunuch, Judar Pasha. Judar’s force of less than five thousand men crossed the Sahara and met the Songhay army of about forty thousand at Tondibi in present day Mali on March 12, 1591. The small Moroccan force utilized the advantage of firearms to rout the Songhay army. The Moroccans quickly occupied Gao, the capital. Ishaq was replaced by his brother, Muhammad Gao, at the behest of the Songhay army, but in actuality there was no more empire to rule.
Ishaq came to power in a long dynastic struggle following the death of the long-ruling Askia Daoud. Sensing the Empire's weakness, Moroccan Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur Saadi dispatched a 4,000-man force under the Islamicized Spaniard Judar Pasha across the Sahara desert in October 1590. Though Ishaq assembled more than 40,000 soldiers to meet the Moroccans, his army fled the enemy's gunpowder weapons at the decisive Battle of Tondibi in March 1591; Judar soon seized and looted the Songhai capital of Gao as well as the trading centers of Timbuktu and Djenné, ensuring the Empire's destruction.
Ishaq II (Askia Ishaq II) (d. 1591). Ruler of the empire of Songhay (1588-1591) at the time of its conquest by Morocco. When he succeeded his brother, Muhammad Bani (r. 1586-1588) internal dissension was growing within the empire. His first act was to put down a full-scale revolt of his western governors. But the real challenge to Ishaq was to come from an external force, Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, who had come to power in Morocco in 1578. Al-Mansur had designs on Songhay and the means to execute his will. His first attempt to send a military expedition across the Sahara failed in 1584. But by 1586, he had brought the important Songhay Saharan oases of Tuwat and Gurara under Moroccan control, and had planted spies in the Songhay court. When al-Mansur attempted a diplomatic ploy to deceive Ishaq about his intentions (1589/90) the latter responded with an insult. With this al-Mansur overcame the opposition of his own council and mounted a second expedition against Songhay in 1590. His commander was an Andalusian eunuch, Judar Pasha. Judar’s force of less than five thousand men crossed the Sahara and met the Songhay army of about forty thousand at Tondibi in present day Mali on March 12, 1591. The small Moroccan force utilized the advantage of firearms to rout the Songhay army. The Moroccans quickly occupied Gao, the capital. Ishaq was replaced by his brother, Muhammad Gao, at the behest of the Songhay army, but in actuality there was no more empire to rule.
Ishaq came to power in a long dynastic struggle following the death of the long-ruling Askia Daoud. Sensing the Empire's weakness, Moroccan Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur Saadi dispatched a 4,000-man force under the Islamicized Spaniard Judar Pasha across the Sahara desert in October 1590. Though Ishaq assembled more than 40,000 soldiers to meet the Moroccans, his army fled the enemy's gunpowder weapons at the decisive Battle of Tondibi in March 1591; Judar soon seized and looted the Songhai capital of Gao as well as the trading centers of Timbuktu and Djenné, ensuring the Empire's destruction.
Ishaq Efendi, Khoja
Ishaq Efendi, Khoja (Khoja Ishaq Efendi) (1774-1835). Ottoman mathematician and engineer. He wrote the first work in Turkish on the modern physical and natural sciences.
Khoja Ishaq Efendi see Ishaq Efendi, Khoja
Ishaq Efendi, Khoja (Khoja Ishaq Efendi) (1774-1835). Ottoman mathematician and engineer. He wrote the first work in Turkish on the modern physical and natural sciences.
Khoja Ishaq Efendi see Ishaq Efendi, Khoja
Ishaq ibn Hunayn
Ishaq ibn Hunayn (d. 910). Like his father Hunayn ibn Ishaq, an eminent translator of ancient science and philosophy. Well versed in Greek, Syriac, Arabic and Persian, he made many translations of Aristotle, Plato and other Greek philosophers as well as of many standard works on mathematics and astronomy. His own writings were mainly on medical and pharmacological subjects.
Ishaq ibn Hunayn (d. 910). Like his father Hunayn ibn Ishaq, an eminent translator of ancient science and philosophy. Well versed in Greek, Syriac, Arabic and Persian, he made many translations of Aristotle, Plato and other Greek philosophers as well as of many standard works on mathematics and astronomy. His own writings were mainly on medical and pharmacological subjects.
Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Mawsili
Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Mawsili (767-850). Greatest musician of his time. He showed a predilection for ancient poetry, and is mentioned in the Sessions of al-Hariri and in the “Thousand-and-One Nights.”
Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Mawsili (767-850). Greatest musician of his time. He showed a predilection for ancient poetry, and is mentioned in the Sessions of al-Hariri and in the “Thousand-and-One Nights.”
Ishmael
Ishmael. See Isma‘il.
Isma'il see Ishmael.
Ishmael. See Isma‘il.
Isma'il see Ishmael.
ISIS
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (alternatively translated as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham) (Arabic: الدولة الاسلامية في العراق والشام ʾad-dawla ʾal-islāmiyya fīl-'irāq waš-šām or Arabic: داعش dāʿiš), abbreviated ISIS or ISIL, is an unrecognized state and active jihadist militant group in Iraq and Syria. In its unrecognized self-proclaimed status as an independent state, it claims the territory of Iraq and Syria, with implied future claims intended over more of the Levant—including Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus and Southern Turkey. It was established in the early years of the Iraq War and pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2004. The group was composed of and supported by a variety of insurgent groups, including its predecessor organization, the Mujahideen Shura Council, Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), Jaysh al-Fatiheen, Jund al-Sahaba, Katbiyan Ansar Al-Tawhid wal Sunnah, Jeish al-Talifa al-Mansoura, and other clans whose constituency profess Sunni Islam. The aim of ISIS was to establish a caliphate in the Sunni majority regions of Iraq, later expanding this to include Syria. In February 2014, after an eight-month power struggle, al-Qaeda cut all ties with ISIS.
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (alternatively translated as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham) (Arabic: الدولة الاسلامية في العراق والشام ʾad-dawla ʾal-islāmiyya fīl-'irāq waš-šām or Arabic: داعش dāʿiš), abbreviated ISIS or ISIL, is an unrecognized state and active jihadist militant group in Iraq and Syria. In its unrecognized self-proclaimed status as an independent state, it claims the territory of Iraq and Syria, with implied future claims intended over more of the Levant—including Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus and Southern Turkey. It was established in the early years of the Iraq War and pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2004. The group was composed of and supported by a variety of insurgent groups, including its predecessor organization, the Mujahideen Shura Council, Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), Jaysh al-Fatiheen, Jund al-Sahaba, Katbiyan Ansar Al-Tawhid wal Sunnah, Jeish al-Talifa al-Mansoura, and other clans whose constituency profess Sunni Islam. The aim of ISIS was to establish a caliphate in the Sunni majority regions of Iraq, later expanding this to include Syria. In February 2014, after an eight-month power struggle, al-Qaeda cut all ties with ISIS.
At the height of the Iraq War, ISIS claimed a significant presence in the Iraqi provinces of Al Anbar, Ninawa, Kirkuk, most of Salah ad Din, parts of Babil, Diyala and Baghdad. It claimed Baqubah as its capital. In the ongoing Syrian Civil War, the group has a large presence in the Syrian governorates of Ar-Raqqa, Idlib and Aleppo.
In addition to attacks on government and military targets, the group has claimed responsibility for attacks that have killed thousands of Iraqi civilians. Despite significant setbacks for the group during the latter stages of the Coalition's presence in Iraq, by late 2012 the group was thought to have renewed its strength and more than doubled the number of its members to about 2,500.
A letter and later an audio recording by Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, was leaked to Al Jazeera in 2013, disbanding the Syrian faction of ISIS. However, the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, made it clear that he contested this ruling on the basis of Islamic jurisprudence, and the group has since continued to operate in Syria. Starting in April 2013, the group made rapid military gains in controlling large parts of Northern Syria, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described them as "the strongest group".
In early June 2014, following its large-scale offensives in Iraq, ISIS is reported to have seized control of most of Mosul, the second most populous city in Iraq, its surrounding Nineveh province, and the city of Fallujah. ISIS also took control of Tikrit, the administrative center of the Salah ad Din Governorate, with the ultimate goal of capturing Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. ISIS was believed to have only 2,000–3,000 fighters up until the Mosul campaign, but during that campaign it became evident that this number was a gross underestimate.
Iskandar Beg al-Shahir bi-Munshi
Iskandar Beg al-Shahir bi-Munshi (c.1560-c.1632). Persian historian. His work, one of the greatest in Persian historiography, deals with the origins of the Safavids and the period between Shah Isma‘il and Shah Safi.
Munshi, Iskandar Beg al-Shahir bi- see Iskandar Beg al-Shahir bi-Munshi
Iskandar Beg al-Shahir bi-Munshi (c.1560-c.1632). Persian historian. His work, one of the greatest in Persian historiography, deals with the origins of the Safavids and the period between Shah Isma‘il and Shah Safi.
Munshi, Iskandar Beg al-Shahir bi- see Iskandar Beg al-Shahir bi-Munshi
Iskandar Muda
Iskandar Muda (c.1581/1583 - December 27, 1636). Sultan of Aceh (1607-1636). Iskandar began to advance his interests with the coming of the anti-Portuguese English and Dutch about 1600. About 1615, the English temporarily replaced the Gujaraties as importers of Surat cloth. When new Europeans, including the French and the Danes, increased the demand for pepper, the sultan brought the pepper ports under control and tried to centralize all foreign trade at the capital. He set up a licensing system that kept the Europeans divided and allowed him to reap the benefit of foreign competition. Apart from the harbor dues the king had a large income from personal trading.
Aceh reached the pinnacle of glory under Iskandar Muda. Using resources from trade and taxation he built the kingdom into a strong centralized state, governed by an elaborate bureaucracy. He had a monopoly of firearms, and his armed forces were strong enough to curb the nobilitie (Orang Kaya) and keep the Europeans at bay. With his powerful fleet, Iskandar Muda scoured the Melaka (Malacca) Strait, bearing down several times upon Johor (1613, 1623) and Portuguese Melaka (1614, 1629). Although he failed to destroy his enemies, he succeeded in making Aceh the strongest Malay power in western Indonesia. The Acehnese empire reached Aru in the east and Padang in the west -- a stretch of 1,100 miles without much hinterland. It included Pahang, Kedah, and Perak in Malaya and the island of Nias off Sumatra’s west coast.
Iskandar Muda has been harshly judged by European observers, who invariably point to the streak of cruelty in his nature. But even they admit that the king had a commanding personality and was a man of sound judgment. The Malay chronicles look upon Iskandar Muda as the greatest king of Aceh and as one who kept a grand court. He is remembered as a lawgiver and a patron of learning who bestowed favor upon such unorthodox Malay authors as Hamzah Fansuri and Syamsuddin of Pasai. In 1629, his grand expedition against Portuguese Melaka ended in a disaster and virtually wiped out his navy. Iskandar Muda died with his foreign aims unaccomplished.
Muda, Iskandar see Iskandar Muda
Iskandar Muda (c.1581/1583 - December 27, 1636). Sultan of Aceh (1607-1636). Iskandar began to advance his interests with the coming of the anti-Portuguese English and Dutch about 1600. About 1615, the English temporarily replaced the Gujaraties as importers of Surat cloth. When new Europeans, including the French and the Danes, increased the demand for pepper, the sultan brought the pepper ports under control and tried to centralize all foreign trade at the capital. He set up a licensing system that kept the Europeans divided and allowed him to reap the benefit of foreign competition. Apart from the harbor dues the king had a large income from personal trading.
Aceh reached the pinnacle of glory under Iskandar Muda. Using resources from trade and taxation he built the kingdom into a strong centralized state, governed by an elaborate bureaucracy. He had a monopoly of firearms, and his armed forces were strong enough to curb the nobilitie (Orang Kaya) and keep the Europeans at bay. With his powerful fleet, Iskandar Muda scoured the Melaka (Malacca) Strait, bearing down several times upon Johor (1613, 1623) and Portuguese Melaka (1614, 1629). Although he failed to destroy his enemies, he succeeded in making Aceh the strongest Malay power in western Indonesia. The Acehnese empire reached Aru in the east and Padang in the west -- a stretch of 1,100 miles without much hinterland. It included Pahang, Kedah, and Perak in Malaya and the island of Nias off Sumatra’s west coast.
Iskandar Muda has been harshly judged by European observers, who invariably point to the streak of cruelty in his nature. But even they admit that the king had a commanding personality and was a man of sound judgment. The Malay chronicles look upon Iskandar Muda as the greatest king of Aceh and as one who kept a grand court. He is remembered as a lawgiver and a patron of learning who bestowed favor upon such unorthodox Malay authors as Hamzah Fansuri and Syamsuddin of Pasai. In 1629, his grand expedition against Portuguese Melaka ended in a disaster and virtually wiped out his navy. Iskandar Muda died with his foreign aims unaccomplished.
Muda, Iskandar see Iskandar Muda
Islam Giray
Islam Giray. Name of three Khans of the Crimea: Islam Giray I (r. 1532); Islam Giray II (r. 1584-1588); and Islam Giray III (r. 1644-1654).
İslâm III Giray (1604–1654) was a khan of the Crimean Khanate from 1644 to 1654. In 1648, he was allied with the Cossack leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky in his revolt against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1654, after the Treaty of Pereyaslav, he switched sides and allied with Poland against the Tsardom of Russia. He died soon afterwards when, according to legends, he was assassinated by his Cossack concubine.
Khan of the Crimea see Islam Giray.
Giray, Islam see Islam Giray.
Islam Giray. Name of three Khans of the Crimea: Islam Giray I (r. 1532); Islam Giray II (r. 1584-1588); and Islam Giray III (r. 1644-1654).
İslâm III Giray (1604–1654) was a khan of the Crimean Khanate from 1644 to 1654. In 1648, he was allied with the Cossack leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky in his revolt against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1654, after the Treaty of Pereyaslav, he switched sides and allied with Poland against the Tsardom of Russia. He died soon afterwards when, according to legends, he was assassinated by his Cossack concubine.
Khan of the Crimea see Islam Giray.
Giray, Islam see Islam Giray.
Islamic Resistance Movement
Islamic Resistance Movement. See Hamas.
Islamic Resistance Movement. See Hamas.
Islamists
Islamists. Members of a group of ideologies in Islam that desired to use the shari‘a to its full extent, meaning that secular forms of governments and institutions were to be considered foreign to a true Muslim society.
Islamism is not one ideology. Inside the same society, several versions of Islamism can be found, and these versions are seldom compatible or cooperative. People belonging to an Islamist group, call themselves, and are called by others, ‘islaamiyy for men and ‘islaamiyya for women. Both men and women are called Islamists in English.
Islamism is a phenomenon primarily taking place in cities, and the most prominent members are young people with higher education, often with a modest background and often with parents living in the countryside. Islamists often have a feeling that despite the efforts they have made in their studies, they have not managed to climb very high socially, that the jobs they were aspiring to have been given to people with good social connections, but with less qualifications. Islamists do not see themselves as revolutionaries, in the sense that a revolution will turn the society upside down, and create new social structures from scratch. Instead, the revolution that Islamists hope for is the one that will bring old values back (according to how they believe that society was in early Islam), and wipe out all degenerated elements in the modern society.
Islamism is just as much a fight against what Islamists perceive as old, rigid values, still found among many Muslims living in rural areas. Islamists seek to bring people of the rural areas into the modern age, at the same time as they fight for preserving many old values that they believe that city dwellers are losing.
Islamists‘ political programs were, for a long time, simple and basic – they were based on the shari‘a. However, demands from rulers, intellectuals, and people, forced the Islamists to concretize the actual content in their politics. Sayyid Qutb, one of the main proponents of Sunni Islamism, stated that this content would be clarified through the practice of Islamism, which was a statement that shari‘a was not clear on all points, and that man had to base his decisions on more sources than just it.
In economical politics, most Islamists defend a system close to the social democracy practiced in many European countries. When Islamists diverge from social democracy, it is more often in a direction of capitalism (which is the case with the FIS in Algeria), than in the direction of communism or socialism. The most specific Islamist view on economics, is the refusal of interests on loans and deposits. Instead banks should work as investment organizations, earning money from real profits. There have been attempts on establishing such bank systems, but the results have in some cases been catastrophic, as was the case in Egypt in the 1980s.
The Islamist view on women vary a lot, but in many cases the structure of the Islamic organizations, along with the political programs, have made many women join the Islamists in order to liberate themselves. It is quite common that Islamists defend a woman’s right to work and to have political and social influence. However, in general, Islamist groups see men as belonging more to life in society, while a woman’s primary obligation is towards the family. Nevertheless, the seclusion of women is rarely professed by Islamists.
Islamists are not democrats, even if there have been very successful attempts of making the Islamists part of a democratic structure (as in Jordan and for a brief period in Turkey), but yet, Islamist programs are not in favor of dictatorship (even it this has been the temporary
result of Islamism in Iran and Sudan). Dictatorship can be transitory, but the ideal structure in an Islamist society is the system of shura, where the leaders are in frequent contact with the entire society; ask about the needs of the people, and for their ideas; and are obliged to show respect for what they are told. Nevertheless, Islamists have shown little ability to define structures that will prevent the leaders in the shura system from starting to rule as dictators.
Islamists have in many cases been involved in violent acts. The reason for resorting to such means appears to be the same over and over again: First, the Islamists try to change the rulers and men of power through intellectual means, but as this seldom leads to any change, and as there seldom are any democratic channels available, violence is resorted to as a last resort.
However, in recent times, violence seems to have become more and more an intrinsic part of the Islamist ideology, and the will to use violence has required less and less provocation.
There are four central motifs in Islamism: (1) Differences: Islamists are strongly concerned about social differences, between the rich and the poor world, as well as inside the Muslim communities. As responsibility for the poor and the needy is central in Islam, any situation with unevenly divided wealth and many poor people, is unacceptable to a zealous Muslim.
Islamists react towards both the West for its reluctance to address the poverty of the world, as well as towards the rich in their own societies, who are considered equally reluctant.
(2) Cultural Problems: Islamists feel that they are losing their culture, that Western clothes, values, social patterns, political structures, language and identity are replacing what there once was. Islamists reject many elements of the modern culture, elements they feel are superfluous and dangerous.
In many countries, the growth of Islamism must moreover be seen in connection with an inferiority complex towards the rich West, which is not only felt by Islamists, but many Muslims.
(3) The Golden Age: All Muslims are all well aware that they were the superior military and cultural force in the world for centuries, and the reversed situation in the modern ages hurts the pride of Muslims.
As many Muslim countries have tried to copy both the capitalist system, and others the socialist system, and all have seen little but marginal success, Islamists are working towards re-establishing a third alternative: the political system that once made their society grow from unknown tribes into world rulers in a few decades.
However, in order to achieve this, the Islamists are not rejecting modern technology, and are very concerned about implementing this on a grand scale in an Islamist society. Additionally, because of technology, the Islamists believe that the coming Islamist society will be an even better society than the one of the Golden Age.
There are no Muslim sources indicating that the Islam of the Golden Age was as strict and conservative as the Islamists believe. All indications show that it was the liberal Islam that paved the ground for cultural, social and military achievements of those days – values foreign to all major Islamist groups. Hence, there is reason to say that the Islamist idea of the Golden Age is a dramatic falsification of history.
Moreover, the Muslims of the Golden Age were often pragmatic in the sense that they borrowed solutions from other cultures, both from the lands they conquered as well as neighbor states. Except for the Islamists fascination with modern technology, they have almost only negative attitudes towards the culture and values outside the Muslim world.
(4) Political Alternative: Islamism has been implemented as a real political alternative in modern times. Several countries have implemented Islamist politics, principally Iran, Sudan and Afghanistan, but also to some extent Pakistan and Libya. Saudi Arabia has had an Islamist politic for a long time, but is not regarded as Islamist by many because of the differences between the rich and the poor.
However, the large numbers of problems these countries have faced have to a large extent discredited Islamism. What has been represented as good solutions for economy, safety and welfare, has not yielded its promised results. In many cases, the situation has worsened compared to before the implementation of Islamism, as is the case of Sudan, Pakistan, and Iran.
On a smaller scale, but just as important in many countries, are all the small welfare institutions that Islamists have put up in rural areas and in poor neighborhoods in the cities. These institutions have served people often left out of state run services, like health care and support for the unemployed. It is not clear, however, if the Islamists run these from a spirit of altruism or because these institutions have proven effective to spread their ideology.
Islamists have in many cases been involved in violent acts. The reason for resorting to such means appears to be the same over and over again: First, the Islamists try to change the rulers and men of power through intellectual means, but as this seldom leads to any change, and as there seldom are any democratic channels available, violence is resorted to as a last resort.
However, in recent times, violence seems to have become more and more an intrinsic part of the Islamist ideology, and the will to use violence has required less and less provocation.
There are four central motifs in Islamism: (1) Differences: Islamists are strongly concerned about social differences, between the rich and the poor world, as well as inside the Muslim communities. As responsibility for the poor and the needy is central in Islam, any situation with unevenly divided wealth and many poor people, is unacceptable to a zealous Muslim.
Islamists react towards both the West for its reluctance to address the poverty of the world, as well as towards the rich in their own societies, who are considered equally reluctant.
(2) Cultural Problems: Islamists feel that they are losing their culture, that Western clothes, values, social patterns, political structures, language and identity are replacing what there once was. Islamists reject many elements of the modern culture, elements they feel are superfluous and dangerous.
In many countries, the growth of Islamism must moreover be seen in connection with an inferiority complex towards the rich West, which is not only felt by Islamists, but many Muslims.
(3) The Golden Age: All Muslims are all well aware that they were the superior military and cultural force in the world for centuries, and the reversed situation in the modern ages hurts the pride of Muslims.
As many Muslim countries have tried to copy both the capitalist system, and others the socialist system, and all have seen little but marginal success, Islamists are working towards re-establishing a third alternative: the political system that once made their society grow from unknown tribes into world rulers in a few decades.
However, in order to achieve this, the Islamists are not rejecting modern technology, and are very concerned about implementing this on a grand scale in an Islamist society. Additionally, because of technology, the Islamists believe that the coming Islamist society will be an even better society than the one of the Golden Age.
There are no Muslim sources indicating that the Islam of the Golden Age was as strict and conservative as the Islamists believe. All indications show that it was the liberal Islam that paved the ground for cultural, social and military achievements of those days – values foreign to all major Islamist groups. Hence, there is reason to say that the Islamist idea of the Golden Age is a dramatic falsification of history.
Moreover, the Muslims of the Golden Age were often pragmatic in the sense that they borrowed solutions from other cultures, both from the lands they conquered as well as neighbor states. Except for the Islamists fascination with modern technology, they have almost only negative attitudes towards the culture and values outside the Muslim world.
(4) Political Alternative: Islamism has been implemented as a real political alternative in modern times. Several countries have implemented Islamist politics, principally Iran, Sudan and Afghanistan, but also to some extent Pakistan and Libya. Saudi Arabia has had an Islamist politic for a long time, but is not regarded as Islamist by many because of the differences between the rich and the poor.
However, the large numbers of problems these countries have faced have to a large extent discredited Islamism. What has been represented as good solutions for economy, safety and welfare, has not yielded its promised results. In many cases, the situation has worsened compared to before the implementation of Islamism, as is the case of Sudan, Pakistan, and Iran.
On a smaller scale, but just as important in many countries, are all the small welfare institutions that Islamists have put up in rural areas and in poor neighborhoods in the cities. These institutions have served people often left out of state run services, like health care and support for the unemployed. It is not clear, however, if the Islamists run these from a spirit of altruism or because these institutions have proven effective to spread their ideology.
Isma‘il
Isma‘il (Ishmael). Arabic form of the biblical name Ishmael, the son of Abraham (Ibrahim), and according to various popular genealogies the ancestor of the North Arabian tribes. In the Qur‘an, Isma‘il is mentioned as having been inspired by Allah, as a prophet, and as having assisted his father in the construction of the Ka‘ba.
Post-Quranic commentaries and “Stories of the Prophets” elaborate on these references, assigning to Isma‘il the role of digging the well Zamzam when brought to Mecca with his mother, Hagar, after being expelled from Ibrahim’s household. They also make Isma‘il, rather than Isaac, the intended sacrificial victim in the test of Abraham (Gen. 22:1-19). Those sources regard Isma'il as the ancestor of only the North Arabs, in partial agreement with Gen. 25:12-18. Following the Qur‘an, Isma‘il is given precedence over his brother Isaac.
In the Old Testament, Ishmael (Hebrew for “may God hear”) was the elder son of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham and the reputed ancestor of a group of Arabian tribes. His story {see Genesis 16, 21, and 25} is interwoven with that of Isaac. Ishmael’s mother was Hagar, Egyptian handmaid to Abraham’s wife, Sarah, who was barren. Sarah gave her handmaid to Abraham and to this union a son was born, Ishmael. Many years later, in answer to her prayers, Sarah herself conceived and was delivered of a son, Isaac. Having thus satisfied Abraham, Sarah demanded that Hagar and Ishmael be driven away. Hagar and her son fled to the south. Ishmael settled in the wilderness, married an Egyptian woman, and became the progenitor of 12 tribes of desert nomads. The region occupied by these Ishmaelites included most of central and northern Arabia. Muslims regard themselves as the descendants of Ishmael but maintain that Hagar was the true wife of Abraham, and Ishmael his favored son. In addition to contending that Ishmael, not Isaac, was offered for sacrifice by Abraham, Muslims transfer the scene of the intended sacrifice, from Moriah, in Palestine, to Mount Ararat, near Mecca (now in Saudi Arabia). Biblical scholars consider that the story of Ishmael and other narratives in Genesis represent the true history, not only of an individual, but of a nomadic tribe.
Ishmael see Isma‘il
Isma‘il (Ishmael). Arabic form of the biblical name Ishmael, the son of Abraham (Ibrahim), and according to various popular genealogies the ancestor of the North Arabian tribes. In the Qur‘an, Isma‘il is mentioned as having been inspired by Allah, as a prophet, and as having assisted his father in the construction of the Ka‘ba.
Post-Quranic commentaries and “Stories of the Prophets” elaborate on these references, assigning to Isma‘il the role of digging the well Zamzam when brought to Mecca with his mother, Hagar, after being expelled from Ibrahim’s household. They also make Isma‘il, rather than Isaac, the intended sacrificial victim in the test of Abraham (Gen. 22:1-19). Those sources regard Isma'il as the ancestor of only the North Arabs, in partial agreement with Gen. 25:12-18. Following the Qur‘an, Isma‘il is given precedence over his brother Isaac.
In the Old Testament, Ishmael (Hebrew for “may God hear”) was the elder son of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham and the reputed ancestor of a group of Arabian tribes. His story {see Genesis 16, 21, and 25} is interwoven with that of Isaac. Ishmael’s mother was Hagar, Egyptian handmaid to Abraham’s wife, Sarah, who was barren. Sarah gave her handmaid to Abraham and to this union a son was born, Ishmael. Many years later, in answer to her prayers, Sarah herself conceived and was delivered of a son, Isaac. Having thus satisfied Abraham, Sarah demanded that Hagar and Ishmael be driven away. Hagar and her son fled to the south. Ishmael settled in the wilderness, married an Egyptian woman, and became the progenitor of 12 tribes of desert nomads. The region occupied by these Ishmaelites included most of central and northern Arabia. Muslims regard themselves as the descendants of Ishmael but maintain that Hagar was the true wife of Abraham, and Ishmael his favored son. In addition to contending that Ishmael, not Isaac, was offered for sacrifice by Abraham, Muslims transfer the scene of the intended sacrifice, from Moriah, in Palestine, to Mount Ararat, near Mecca (now in Saudi Arabia). Biblical scholars consider that the story of Ishmael and other narratives in Genesis represent the true history, not only of an individual, but of a nomadic tribe.
Ishmael see Isma‘il
Isma‘il
Isma‘il. Final legitimate imam for the Seven-Imam Shi'as.
Isma‘il ibn Ja‘far (Arabic: إسماعيل بن جعفر c. 721 CE/103 AH - 755 CE/138AH) was the eldest son of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq and the full-brother of Abdullah al-Aftah. Isma‘il was an Imam of the Isma‘ili branch of the Imami Shi'a. According to both Nizari and Mustaali he is the sixth Imam. He was buried in Jannat al-Baqi.[citation needed]
Most Shī‘ī traditions acknowledge Ja‘far al-Ṣādiq thought his son, Ismā‘īl ibn Ja‘far "al-Mubārak", would be heir to the Imamate. However, Ismā‘īl predeceased his father.
Some of the Shī‘ah claimed Ismā‘īl had not died, but rather gone into occultation, but the proto-Ismā‘īlī group accepted his death and therefore that his eldest son, Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl, was now Imām. Muḥammad remained in contact with this "Mubārakiyyah" group, most of whom resided in Kūfah.
In contrast, most Twelvers believe that because of the death of the designated heir, Ja‘far appointed Mūsá al-Kāżim, another son, the new Imām. Musa was 28 years younger than Isma'il.[1] This is the initial point of divergence between the proto-Twelvers and the proto-Ismā‘īlī. This disagreement over the proper heir to Ja‘far has been a point of contention between the two groups ever since.
Some Twelver believe that Ismail was never given the nuss (designation of the Imamate), while others believe he was such as Al-Shaykh al-Saduq, however the designation was changed, called bada'.
Isma'il ibn Jafar
of the Ahl al-Bayt
Panjetan.jpg
Banu Hashim
Clan of the Quraish
Born: 100/103 AH ≈ 719/722 C.E. Died: 158 AH ≈ 775 C.E.
Shī‘a Islam titles
Preceded by
Jafar al-Sadiq 6th or 7th Imam of Ismailism
765 – 775 Succeeded by
Muhammad ibn Ismail
[edit] Notes
Isma‘il. Final legitimate imam for the Seven-Imam Shi'as.
Isma‘il ibn Ja‘far (Arabic: إسماعيل بن جعفر c. 721 CE/103 AH - 755 CE/138AH) was the eldest son of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq and the full-brother of Abdullah al-Aftah. Isma‘il was an Imam of the Isma‘ili branch of the Imami Shi'a. According to both Nizari and Mustaali he is the sixth Imam. He was buried in Jannat al-Baqi.[citation needed]
Most Shī‘ī traditions acknowledge Ja‘far al-Ṣādiq thought his son, Ismā‘īl ibn Ja‘far "al-Mubārak", would be heir to the Imamate. However, Ismā‘īl predeceased his father.
Some of the Shī‘ah claimed Ismā‘īl had not died, but rather gone into occultation, but the proto-Ismā‘īlī group accepted his death and therefore that his eldest son, Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl, was now Imām. Muḥammad remained in contact with this "Mubārakiyyah" group, most of whom resided in Kūfah.
In contrast, most Twelvers believe that because of the death of the designated heir, Ja‘far appointed Mūsá al-Kāżim, another son, the new Imām. Musa was 28 years younger than Isma'il.[1] This is the initial point of divergence between the proto-Twelvers and the proto-Ismā‘īlī. This disagreement over the proper heir to Ja‘far has been a point of contention between the two groups ever since.
Some Twelver believe that Ismail was never given the nuss (designation of the Imamate), while others believe he was such as Al-Shaykh al-Saduq, however the designation was changed, called bada'.
Isma'il ibn Jafar
of the Ahl al-Bayt
Panjetan.jpg
Banu Hashim
Clan of the Quraish
Born: 100/103 AH ≈ 719/722 C.E. Died: 158 AH ≈ 775 C.E.
Shī‘a Islam titles
Preceded by
Jafar al-Sadiq 6th or 7th Imam of Ismailism
765 – 775 Succeeded by
Muhammad ibn Ismail
[edit] Notes
Isma‘il I
Isma‘il I (Shah Isma‘il) (Abu al-Muzaffar) (Ismā'il Abu'l-Mozaffar bin Sheikh Haydar bin Sheikh Junayd Safawī) (July 17, 1487 - May 23, 1524). Shah of Persia and founder of the Safavid dynasty (r.1501-1524). He defeated the Aq Qoyunlu in 1501, gained control of Azerbaijan and extended Safavid power over great parts of modern Iran. He proclaimed the Twelver Shi‘a as the official religion of the Safavid state, which was an important factor in making Iran a national unit for the first time since the Arab conquest in the seventh century. He thus decisively differentiated his dominions from those of the Sunni Ottomans. In 1514, Sultan Selim I invaded Persia and inflicted a crushing, but not decisive, defeat on Isma‘il at Chaldiran. Isma‘il then began exploring the possibilities of an alliance with European powers and received envoys from Louis II, King of Hungary, and from Emperor Charles V. Under the pseudonym of Khata‘i, Isma‘il wrote poetry in the Turkish language of Azerbaijan.
In 1499, Isma‘il, then head of the Safavid order, emerged from hiding in Gilan and made his bid for temporal power. His defeat of an Aq Qoyunlu army at Sharur in 1501 gave Isma‘il possession of Azerbaijan, and he was crowned at Tabriz, which became the capital of the new Safavid state. One of Isma‘il’s first acts, and one that was to have profound consequesnces for the subsequent history of Persia, was to proclaim the Ithna Ashari (Twelver) form of Shi‘ite Islam to be the official religion of the state. By this act, Isma‘il imparted to his kingdom a sense of national identity and differentiated it from the powerful Sunni states on its border, namely, the Ottoman empire to the west and the Uzbek state to the east. Isma‘il spent the next decade in consolidating his power in the rest of Persia. This involved the crushing of residual Aq Qoyunlu (Akkoyunlu) forces and the expulsion of the Uzbeks from the northeastern frontier province of Khurasan. Isma‘il also extended Safavid suzerainty to “L‘Iran exterieur” by the capture of Baghdad and the occupation of Iraq in 1508.
The subversive activities of Safavid officers and militant Shi‘ite propagandists in eastern Anatolia, an area of the Ottoman empire that had a substantial Shi‘ite population, provoked the Ottoman sultan Selim to invade Persia in 1514 with two hundred thousand men. The Ottoman artillery and muskets played a major role in the crushing defeat inflicted on Isma‘il at the battle of Chaldiran on August 23, 1514. Tabriz was occupied by the Ottomans, and Selim intended to winter there and proceed with the conquest of the rest of Persia the following spring. His plans were frustrated by a mutiny of the Janissaries that forced him to withdraw from Azerbaijan, and the only territory permanently lost by the Safavids as a result of their defeat was northern Iraq.
The effects of the defeat on Isma‘il himself, however, were severe and permanent. His pretensions to invincibility and semi-divinity shattered, he spent the remaining years of his life in seclusion, giving no direction to affairs of state and never again leading his troops into action in person. As a result, the Uzbeks made significant gains on the northeastern frontier, and Babur, the future emperor of India, captured the key strategic city of Kandahar in 1522. During this period, Isma‘il tried without success to engineer an alliance with various European powers against their mutual enemy, the Ottoman empire.
On his accession, Isma‘il was faced with a number on intractable problems to which he offered novel but ultimately only partially successful solutions. First, there was the problem of imposing the new state religion, Ithna Ashari Shi‘ism, on a country that was still at least nominally Sunni. Second, he had to temper the revolutionary ardor and find an outlet for the martial energies of the militant Sufis of the Safavid order, and to incorporate their organization if possible within the administrative structure of the state. Third, he had to try to reconcile the rivalries between the two principal ethnic groups in the state: the predominantly Turkish military elite who had brought the Safavids to power (whom he had inspired by the recitation of poems of a heterodox nature, of his own composition, in their native Azeri Turkish dialect), and the Persian bureaucrats and members of the religious classes.
On his death in 1524, Isma‘il was buried in the family mausoleum at Ardabil. He had four sons (his successor, Tahmasp; Sam; the renegade Alqas; and Bahram) and five daughters.
Abu al-Muzaffar see Isma‘il I
Muzaffar, Abu al- see Isma‘il I
Shah Isma‘il see Isma‘il I
Ismā'il Abu'l-Mozaffar bin Sheikh Haydar bin Sheikh Junayd Safawī see Isma‘il I
Isma‘il I (Shah Isma‘il) (Abu al-Muzaffar) (Ismā'il Abu'l-Mozaffar bin Sheikh Haydar bin Sheikh Junayd Safawī) (July 17, 1487 - May 23, 1524). Shah of Persia and founder of the Safavid dynasty (r.1501-1524). He defeated the Aq Qoyunlu in 1501, gained control of Azerbaijan and extended Safavid power over great parts of modern Iran. He proclaimed the Twelver Shi‘a as the official religion of the Safavid state, which was an important factor in making Iran a national unit for the first time since the Arab conquest in the seventh century. He thus decisively differentiated his dominions from those of the Sunni Ottomans. In 1514, Sultan Selim I invaded Persia and inflicted a crushing, but not decisive, defeat on Isma‘il at Chaldiran. Isma‘il then began exploring the possibilities of an alliance with European powers and received envoys from Louis II, King of Hungary, and from Emperor Charles V. Under the pseudonym of Khata‘i, Isma‘il wrote poetry in the Turkish language of Azerbaijan.
In 1499, Isma‘il, then head of the Safavid order, emerged from hiding in Gilan and made his bid for temporal power. His defeat of an Aq Qoyunlu army at Sharur in 1501 gave Isma‘il possession of Azerbaijan, and he was crowned at Tabriz, which became the capital of the new Safavid state. One of Isma‘il’s first acts, and one that was to have profound consequesnces for the subsequent history of Persia, was to proclaim the Ithna Ashari (Twelver) form of Shi‘ite Islam to be the official religion of the state. By this act, Isma‘il imparted to his kingdom a sense of national identity and differentiated it from the powerful Sunni states on its border, namely, the Ottoman empire to the west and the Uzbek state to the east. Isma‘il spent the next decade in consolidating his power in the rest of Persia. This involved the crushing of residual Aq Qoyunlu (Akkoyunlu) forces and the expulsion of the Uzbeks from the northeastern frontier province of Khurasan. Isma‘il also extended Safavid suzerainty to “L‘Iran exterieur” by the capture of Baghdad and the occupation of Iraq in 1508.
The subversive activities of Safavid officers and militant Shi‘ite propagandists in eastern Anatolia, an area of the Ottoman empire that had a substantial Shi‘ite population, provoked the Ottoman sultan Selim to invade Persia in 1514 with two hundred thousand men. The Ottoman artillery and muskets played a major role in the crushing defeat inflicted on Isma‘il at the battle of Chaldiran on August 23, 1514. Tabriz was occupied by the Ottomans, and Selim intended to winter there and proceed with the conquest of the rest of Persia the following spring. His plans were frustrated by a mutiny of the Janissaries that forced him to withdraw from Azerbaijan, and the only territory permanently lost by the Safavids as a result of their defeat was northern Iraq.
The effects of the defeat on Isma‘il himself, however, were severe and permanent. His pretensions to invincibility and semi-divinity shattered, he spent the remaining years of his life in seclusion, giving no direction to affairs of state and never again leading his troops into action in person. As a result, the Uzbeks made significant gains on the northeastern frontier, and Babur, the future emperor of India, captured the key strategic city of Kandahar in 1522. During this period, Isma‘il tried without success to engineer an alliance with various European powers against their mutual enemy, the Ottoman empire.
On his accession, Isma‘il was faced with a number on intractable problems to which he offered novel but ultimately only partially successful solutions. First, there was the problem of imposing the new state religion, Ithna Ashari Shi‘ism, on a country that was still at least nominally Sunni. Second, he had to temper the revolutionary ardor and find an outlet for the martial energies of the militant Sufis of the Safavid order, and to incorporate their organization if possible within the administrative structure of the state. Third, he had to try to reconcile the rivalries between the two principal ethnic groups in the state: the predominantly Turkish military elite who had brought the Safavids to power (whom he had inspired by the recitation of poems of a heterodox nature, of his own composition, in their native Azeri Turkish dialect), and the Persian bureaucrats and members of the religious classes.
On his death in 1524, Isma‘il was buried in the family mausoleum at Ardabil. He had four sons (his successor, Tahmasp; Sam; the renegade Alqas; and Bahram) and five daughters.
Abu al-Muzaffar see Isma‘il I
Muzaffar, Abu al- see Isma‘il I
Shah Isma‘il see Isma‘il I
Ismā'il Abu'l-Mozaffar bin Sheikh Haydar bin Sheikh Junayd Safawī see Isma‘il I
Isma‘il Haqqi
Isma‘il Haqqi (1652-1725). Turkish scholar, mystic and poet of Bursa. Writing in Turkish and Arabic, he was one of the most prolific Ottoman scholars.
Haqqi, Isma'il see Isma‘il Haqqi
Isma‘il Haqqi (1652-1725). Turkish scholar, mystic and poet of Bursa. Writing in Turkish and Arabic, he was one of the most prolific Ottoman scholars.
Haqqi, Isma'il see Isma‘il Haqqi
Isma‘il ibn Ahmad
Isma‘il ibn Ahmad (b. 849). First member of the Samanid family to rule effectively all Transoxiana and Farghana as an independent sovereign (r.892-907).
Isma‘il ibn Ahmad (b. 849). First member of the Samanid family to rule effectively all Transoxiana and Farghana as an independent sovereign (r.892-907).
Isma‘ilis
Isma‘ilis. See Isma'iliyya.
Isma‘ilis. See Isma'iliyya.
Isma‘iliyya
Isma‘iliyya. Name of a branch of the Shi‘a with numerous subdivisions, which began to be differentiated from the Imamiyya at the time of the great Shi‘ite Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq. Isma‘ilis trace the imamate through one of al-Sadiq’s sons, Isma‘il, from whom they took their name. Isma‘il had been designated by al-Sadiq to succeed him, but he died while his father was still living. Some Shi‘ites maintain that he did not die but rather that he was hidden, would reappear as the Mahdi and would redress the wrongs committed against the family of Muhammad, that is, the murders of Ali and his sons.
Al-Sadiq, imam at the time of the ‘Abbasid victory, formulated the early doctrine of the office of imam and provided Shi‘ism with a sectarian ideology. His prestigious and widely recognized imamate gained ultimate recognition for the line of imams descended from al-Husayn.
Among al-Sadiq’s followers were extremist Shi‘ites who had aspired to overthrow the existing regime and establish an ideal social order under the descendants of this group which expected their imam to play a messianic role and emphasized the batin -- the esoteric meaning -- of all religious words and formulations, meaning known only to Ali and the imams descended from him.
Although the Isma‘ilis ascribed tremendous significance to the inspired imam, they also recognized the binding force of the shari'a, and this was reinforced and even intensified by their elevation of Ali and his descendants as sole custodians of esoteric truth. Muhammad, from whom Ali, as executor, had inherited the secret lore, came to be regarded as the prime figure in the Isma‘ili hierarchical structure.
Ali was the Prophet’s sole representative through the process of nass (designation). A succession was formed through delegation of this authority to Ali’s descendants until the line reached Isma‘il’s son and successor, Muhammad ibn Isma‘il, who, according to Ismaili reckoning, was the seventh imam. Isma'ilis are thus known as “Seveners” – sab‘iyya. This seventh imam was expected to return as the Mahdi, in whom the missions of all the great prophets were to culminate.
The Mahdi was believed to be in concealment, and during his absence the Isma'ilis recognized a system of twelve hujjas (competent religious authorities), each with his own territory, as representatives of the imam. Below the hujjas in rank were the da‘is (summoners to the Isma'ili message) and subordinate da‘is, in a hierarchy down to the ordinary believers. The structure was to facilitate the mission of calling believers to acknowledge the imamate of Isma‘il’s descendants.
In the tenth century of the Christian calendar, the Isma'ili message culminated in the appearance in North Africa of a certain ‘Ubaydullah, who claimed to be the Mahdi and the legitimate ruler of all Muslims by virtue of being a descendant of Fatima through Muhammad ibn Isma‘il. He established the Fatimid caliphate in Egypt, which marked the beginning of an era of social, economic, intellectual, and religious revolution and united the Isma'ilis under Fatimid rule. By the eleventh century of the Christian calendar, some prominent da‘is undertook to refine and perfect the doctrine, and by their moderation in esoteric interpretation they ended various doctrinal disputes.
However, in the same century, Fatimid power underwent an internal crisis. In 1094, after the death of the imam al-Mustansir, the main schism in the Ismaili community occurred, and it has continued to the present. Al-Mustansir‘s, two sons, Nizar and al-Must‘ali, headed rival factions. Those who upheld the imamate of Nizar started a movement under the leadership of Hasan-i Sabbah, a Persian. This movement developed into the radical sect of Assassins at Alamut in Iran. They constituted a constant challenge to the authority of the Sunnite rulers of Iran, until the execution of their last imam by the Mongols in 1256.
After this period little is known about the Nizaris, and the later lists of their imams differ widely. However, the list which ends with the present Agha Khan came to be generally accepted in the nineteenth century. The Nizaris are widely dispersed in Syria, Iran, India, and east Africa, and have developed varying understandings of their Alamut heritage.
The imamate of al-Must‘ali was recognized by most Ismailis in Egypt and Syria, by the whole Ismaili community in Yemen, and in India. A new subdivision developed among the Must‘alians after the assassination of al-Amir in 1129. Those in Yemen supported the claims made for his infant son al-Tayyib, and came to be known as Tayyibiyya. In Egypt, al-Amir’s cousin was proclaimed imam and caliph with the title al-Hafiz. The Hafiziyya, after the overthrow of the Fatimids in 1171, gradually disintegrated, but the Tayyibiyya survived in their traditional stronghold in Yemen, where from time to time they were persecuted by Shi‘ites belonging to the Zaydiyya sect. In India, they remained mostly undisturbed, although there too a split occurred in the succession of leaders, which led to another permanent schism, between the Da‘udi and Sulaymani factions.
In general, there are not many theological differences between early Isma‘ilis and the main Shi‘i group, the Twelvers. The theology is divided into two sectors: Acts called zahir and theory called batin. Zahir is obligatory for all, even the leaders. Batin is divided into standard theology, and one philosophical/scientific part, where the learned men aimed at proving the divine origins of the institution of the imamate.
Central in their teaching was to adapt the presentation of the religious truths to the education level of believer.
The core elements of faith for the Isma‘ilis were Unity of God (tawhid), the divine mission of Muhammad, the divine revelation of the Qur‘an, etc. Yet, there are beliefs that the Isma‘ilis practice in their faith which tend to weaken the divinity of God, as well as the finality of the Qur‘an, when compared to other Muslim groups.
Despite being in accordance with mainstream Islam in most fields, there are many elements which appear to be taken from other philosophies and religions. Among the strongest influences were neo-Platonic philosophy which gave Isma‘ilism its scientific basis. Isma‘ilism was also influenced by Christianity.
The Isma'ili imam is by himself only a man, but in him is a substance that is the hypostatis of the primal volition, an act from which the world itself started. This substance is transferred from the existing imam to his son. By associating itself with imam, the soul of man can ascend and return to the original source in order to achieve the ultimate salvation.
The Isma‘ilis‘ faith has at all times been the subject of heavy criticism from other Muslims, even from other Shi‘is. They have been portrayed as extremists in their views. They have been accused of libertinism, of sodomy and nightly orgies. These accusations have found its way into European literature.
For the Isma‘ilis, the number seven has become a number of sacred proportions. Many theories are formed around incidents and stages in seven steps. Indeed, there are seven steps of emanation: (1) God; (2) universal intelligence, called ‘aql; (3) universal soul, nafs; (4) primeval matter; (5) space; (6) time; and (7) the world of earth and man.
The universe is seen as a cyclical process, where there is one prophet for every seven cycle, called natiq: (1) Adam; (2) Noah; (3) Ibrahim; (4) Moses; (5) Jesus (Isa) ; (6) Muhammad; and (7) Muhammad at-Tamm.
Initiation into the inner, esoteric truths of the religion goes through 7 or 9 stages. The innermost stage is the one where the person can totally refrain from all earlier dogmatic restraints and all external legislation outside the Isma‘ili creed.
The different Sevener Groups (and now we include more than just the Isma‘ilis) acted in very different ways towards other Muslims. The Assassins and Qarmatians were very intolerant, while the Fatimid rulers of Egypt generally exercised tolerance.
All through their history, the Isma‘ilis exercised just as much political power as religious power. The most important expression of their power was the Fatimid empire which lasted from 909 until 1171 and controlled Egypt. However, outside this empire, the Isma‘ilis often experienced persecution from other Muslim leaders.
Today, Isma‘ilism emphasizes pacifism and is practiced in India, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen.
Isma'ilis see Isma‘iliyya.
Seveners see Isma‘iliyya.
sab'iyya see Isma‘iliyya.
Isma‘iliyya. Name of a branch of the Shi‘a with numerous subdivisions, which began to be differentiated from the Imamiyya at the time of the great Shi‘ite Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq. Isma‘ilis trace the imamate through one of al-Sadiq’s sons, Isma‘il, from whom they took their name. Isma‘il had been designated by al-Sadiq to succeed him, but he died while his father was still living. Some Shi‘ites maintain that he did not die but rather that he was hidden, would reappear as the Mahdi and would redress the wrongs committed against the family of Muhammad, that is, the murders of Ali and his sons.
Al-Sadiq, imam at the time of the ‘Abbasid victory, formulated the early doctrine of the office of imam and provided Shi‘ism with a sectarian ideology. His prestigious and widely recognized imamate gained ultimate recognition for the line of imams descended from al-Husayn.
Among al-Sadiq’s followers were extremist Shi‘ites who had aspired to overthrow the existing regime and establish an ideal social order under the descendants of this group which expected their imam to play a messianic role and emphasized the batin -- the esoteric meaning -- of all religious words and formulations, meaning known only to Ali and the imams descended from him.
Although the Isma‘ilis ascribed tremendous significance to the inspired imam, they also recognized the binding force of the shari'a, and this was reinforced and even intensified by their elevation of Ali and his descendants as sole custodians of esoteric truth. Muhammad, from whom Ali, as executor, had inherited the secret lore, came to be regarded as the prime figure in the Isma‘ili hierarchical structure.
Ali was the Prophet’s sole representative through the process of nass (designation). A succession was formed through delegation of this authority to Ali’s descendants until the line reached Isma‘il’s son and successor, Muhammad ibn Isma‘il, who, according to Ismaili reckoning, was the seventh imam. Isma'ilis are thus known as “Seveners” – sab‘iyya. This seventh imam was expected to return as the Mahdi, in whom the missions of all the great prophets were to culminate.
The Mahdi was believed to be in concealment, and during his absence the Isma'ilis recognized a system of twelve hujjas (competent religious authorities), each with his own territory, as representatives of the imam. Below the hujjas in rank were the da‘is (summoners to the Isma'ili message) and subordinate da‘is, in a hierarchy down to the ordinary believers. The structure was to facilitate the mission of calling believers to acknowledge the imamate of Isma‘il’s descendants.
In the tenth century of the Christian calendar, the Isma'ili message culminated in the appearance in North Africa of a certain ‘Ubaydullah, who claimed to be the Mahdi and the legitimate ruler of all Muslims by virtue of being a descendant of Fatima through Muhammad ibn Isma‘il. He established the Fatimid caliphate in Egypt, which marked the beginning of an era of social, economic, intellectual, and religious revolution and united the Isma'ilis under Fatimid rule. By the eleventh century of the Christian calendar, some prominent da‘is undertook to refine and perfect the doctrine, and by their moderation in esoteric interpretation they ended various doctrinal disputes.
However, in the same century, Fatimid power underwent an internal crisis. In 1094, after the death of the imam al-Mustansir, the main schism in the Ismaili community occurred, and it has continued to the present. Al-Mustansir‘s, two sons, Nizar and al-Must‘ali, headed rival factions. Those who upheld the imamate of Nizar started a movement under the leadership of Hasan-i Sabbah, a Persian. This movement developed into the radical sect of Assassins at Alamut in Iran. They constituted a constant challenge to the authority of the Sunnite rulers of Iran, until the execution of their last imam by the Mongols in 1256.
After this period little is known about the Nizaris, and the later lists of their imams differ widely. However, the list which ends with the present Agha Khan came to be generally accepted in the nineteenth century. The Nizaris are widely dispersed in Syria, Iran, India, and east Africa, and have developed varying understandings of their Alamut heritage.
The imamate of al-Must‘ali was recognized by most Ismailis in Egypt and Syria, by the whole Ismaili community in Yemen, and in India. A new subdivision developed among the Must‘alians after the assassination of al-Amir in 1129. Those in Yemen supported the claims made for his infant son al-Tayyib, and came to be known as Tayyibiyya. In Egypt, al-Amir’s cousin was proclaimed imam and caliph with the title al-Hafiz. The Hafiziyya, after the overthrow of the Fatimids in 1171, gradually disintegrated, but the Tayyibiyya survived in their traditional stronghold in Yemen, where from time to time they were persecuted by Shi‘ites belonging to the Zaydiyya sect. In India, they remained mostly undisturbed, although there too a split occurred in the succession of leaders, which led to another permanent schism, between the Da‘udi and Sulaymani factions.
In general, there are not many theological differences between early Isma‘ilis and the main Shi‘i group, the Twelvers. The theology is divided into two sectors: Acts called zahir and theory called batin. Zahir is obligatory for all, even the leaders. Batin is divided into standard theology, and one philosophical/scientific part, where the learned men aimed at proving the divine origins of the institution of the imamate.
Central in their teaching was to adapt the presentation of the religious truths to the education level of believer.
The core elements of faith for the Isma‘ilis were Unity of God (tawhid), the divine mission of Muhammad, the divine revelation of the Qur‘an, etc. Yet, there are beliefs that the Isma‘ilis practice in their faith which tend to weaken the divinity of God, as well as the finality of the Qur‘an, when compared to other Muslim groups.
Despite being in accordance with mainstream Islam in most fields, there are many elements which appear to be taken from other philosophies and religions. Among the strongest influences were neo-Platonic philosophy which gave Isma‘ilism its scientific basis. Isma‘ilism was also influenced by Christianity.
The Isma'ili imam is by himself only a man, but in him is a substance that is the hypostatis of the primal volition, an act from which the world itself started. This substance is transferred from the existing imam to his son. By associating itself with imam, the soul of man can ascend and return to the original source in order to achieve the ultimate salvation.
The Isma‘ilis‘ faith has at all times been the subject of heavy criticism from other Muslims, even from other Shi‘is. They have been portrayed as extremists in their views. They have been accused of libertinism, of sodomy and nightly orgies. These accusations have found its way into European literature.
For the Isma‘ilis, the number seven has become a number of sacred proportions. Many theories are formed around incidents and stages in seven steps. Indeed, there are seven steps of emanation: (1) God; (2) universal intelligence, called ‘aql; (3) universal soul, nafs; (4) primeval matter; (5) space; (6) time; and (7) the world of earth and man.
The universe is seen as a cyclical process, where there is one prophet for every seven cycle, called natiq: (1) Adam; (2) Noah; (3) Ibrahim; (4) Moses; (5) Jesus (Isa) ; (6) Muhammad; and (7) Muhammad at-Tamm.
Initiation into the inner, esoteric truths of the religion goes through 7 or 9 stages. The innermost stage is the one where the person can totally refrain from all earlier dogmatic restraints and all external legislation outside the Isma‘ili creed.
The different Sevener Groups (and now we include more than just the Isma‘ilis) acted in very different ways towards other Muslims. The Assassins and Qarmatians were very intolerant, while the Fatimid rulers of Egypt generally exercised tolerance.
All through their history, the Isma‘ilis exercised just as much political power as religious power. The most important expression of their power was the Fatimid empire which lasted from 909 until 1171 and controlled Egypt. However, outside this empire, the Isma‘ilis often experienced persecution from other Muslim leaders.
Today, Isma‘ilism emphasizes pacifism and is practiced in India, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen.
Isma'ilis see Isma‘iliyya.
Seveners see Isma‘iliyya.
sab'iyya see Isma‘iliyya.
Isma‘il Mire
Isma‘il Mire (1884-c.1950). Somali oral poet. One of the war leaders in the Somali insurrection against the British administration and a close friend of Muhammad Abdul Hasan, the so-called “Mad Mullah.” His poems give a first hand account of that period and are thus an important historical source. After the insurrection, he composed poems connected with interclan affairs and also turned to religious and reflective themes. His poem with the refrain Know that through pride men fall is particularly widely known among the Somalis and so is his observation on success: Keep silent, oh Muslims, for he who becomes successful loses his soul.
Mire, Isma'il see Isma‘il Mire
Isma‘il Mire (1884-c.1950). Somali oral poet. One of the war leaders in the Somali insurrection against the British administration and a close friend of Muhammad Abdul Hasan, the so-called “Mad Mullah.” His poems give a first hand account of that period and are thus an important historical source. After the insurrection, he composed poems connected with interclan affairs and also turned to religious and reflective themes. His poem with the refrain Know that through pride men fall is particularly widely known among the Somalis and so is his observation on success: Keep silent, oh Muslims, for he who becomes successful loses his soul.
Mire, Isma'il see Isma‘il Mire
Isma‘il Pasha
Isma‘il Pasha (Isma‘il Khedive) (Isma'il Paşa) (Ismail the Magnificent) (December 31, 1830, Cairo, Egypt – March 2, 1895, Istanbul). Khedive (viceroy) of Egypt (r.1863-1879). Through education, journeys and appointments, he had first-hand experience of Europe, mainly France, and of the politics and administration of Istanbul. His reign brought Egypt material prosperity, but also financial bankruptcy. At the insistence of the European powers, he was deposed by his suzerain the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid I.
Ismāʿīl Pasha was the viceroy of Egypt under Ottoman suzerainty, 1863–79, whose administrative policies, notably the accumulation of an enormous foreign debt, were instrumental in leading to British occupation of Egypt in 1882.
Ismāʿīl studied in Paris and undertook various diplomatic missions in Europe before becoming viceroy in 1863. In 1867 he obtained from the Ottoman sultan the hereditary title of khedive. As viceroy he conducted important negotiations regarding completion of the Suez Canal. The canal neared completion in the summer of 1869, and Ismāʿīl turned the celebration of the canal’s opening in November into a magnificent display of khedival splendor.
One of the most significant of Ismāʿīl’s innovations was the establishment of an assembly of delegates in November 1866. Although this body served only in an advisory capacity, its members eventually came to have an important influence on the course of governmental affairs. Village headmen dominated the assembly and came to exert increasing political and economic influence over the countryside and the central government. This was demonstrated in 1876, when the assembly prevailed upon Ismāʿīl to reinstate the law (promulgated by him in 1871 to raise money and later repealed) that allowed landownership and tax privileges to persons paying six years’ land tax in advance.
Ismāʿīl, hoping to bring the vast areas of the Sudan under effective Egyptian control, hired Europeans and Americans to direct the military and administrative aspects of this venture, feeling that they would be more immune to the intrigues to which his own officials would have been subjected. Although some progress was made, Ismāʿīl did not realize his goal of creating a new southern province but did assert what later became an important element in nationalist thought—the political unity of the Nile valley.
Ismāʿīl’s administrative policies consumed an enormous amount of money, much of it supplied by European financiers. When he assumed power, the Egyptian national debt stood at £7,000,000; by 1876 this debt had increased to almost £100,000,000. The Commission of the Public Debt was set up at the urging of Ismāʿīl’s foreign creditors, but he did not cooperate fully because some of the measures he was required to take would have infringed on his domestic authority. The Ottoman sultan dismissed him in June 1879.
Isma'il Pasha's philosophy can be glimpsed in a statement he made in 1879: "My country (Egypt) is no longer in Africa; we are now part of Europe. It is therefore natural for us to abandon our former ways and to adopt a new system adapted to our social conditions."
Isma'il Khedive see Isma‘il Pasha
Isma'il Paşa see Isma‘il Pasha
Ismail the Magnificent see Isma‘il Pasha
Isma‘il Pasha (Isma‘il Khedive) (Isma'il Paşa) (Ismail the Magnificent) (December 31, 1830, Cairo, Egypt – March 2, 1895, Istanbul). Khedive (viceroy) of Egypt (r.1863-1879). Through education, journeys and appointments, he had first-hand experience of Europe, mainly France, and of the politics and administration of Istanbul. His reign brought Egypt material prosperity, but also financial bankruptcy. At the insistence of the European powers, he was deposed by his suzerain the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid I.
Ismāʿīl Pasha was the viceroy of Egypt under Ottoman suzerainty, 1863–79, whose administrative policies, notably the accumulation of an enormous foreign debt, were instrumental in leading to British occupation of Egypt in 1882.
Ismāʿīl studied in Paris and undertook various diplomatic missions in Europe before becoming viceroy in 1863. In 1867 he obtained from the Ottoman sultan the hereditary title of khedive. As viceroy he conducted important negotiations regarding completion of the Suez Canal. The canal neared completion in the summer of 1869, and Ismāʿīl turned the celebration of the canal’s opening in November into a magnificent display of khedival splendor.
One of the most significant of Ismāʿīl’s innovations was the establishment of an assembly of delegates in November 1866. Although this body served only in an advisory capacity, its members eventually came to have an important influence on the course of governmental affairs. Village headmen dominated the assembly and came to exert increasing political and economic influence over the countryside and the central government. This was demonstrated in 1876, when the assembly prevailed upon Ismāʿīl to reinstate the law (promulgated by him in 1871 to raise money and later repealed) that allowed landownership and tax privileges to persons paying six years’ land tax in advance.
Ismāʿīl, hoping to bring the vast areas of the Sudan under effective Egyptian control, hired Europeans and Americans to direct the military and administrative aspects of this venture, feeling that they would be more immune to the intrigues to which his own officials would have been subjected. Although some progress was made, Ismāʿīl did not realize his goal of creating a new southern province but did assert what later became an important element in nationalist thought—the political unity of the Nile valley.
Ismāʿīl’s administrative policies consumed an enormous amount of money, much of it supplied by European financiers. When he assumed power, the Egyptian national debt stood at £7,000,000; by 1876 this debt had increased to almost £100,000,000. The Commission of the Public Debt was set up at the urging of Ismāʿīl’s foreign creditors, but he did not cooperate fully because some of the measures he was required to take would have infringed on his domestic authority. The Ottoman sultan dismissed him in June 1879.
Isma'il Pasha's philosophy can be glimpsed in a statement he made in 1879: "My country (Egypt) is no longer in Africa; we are now part of Europe. It is therefore natural for us to abandon our former ways and to adopt a new system adapted to our social conditions."
Isma'il Khedive see Isma‘il Pasha
Isma'il Paşa see Isma‘il Pasha
Ismail the Magnificent see Isma‘il Pasha
Isma‘il Sabri Pasha
Isma‘il Sabri Pasha (February 16, 1854, Cairo - March 16, 1923). Egyptian poet and statesman. Drawing upon his knowledge of classical Arabic and French, he contributed to the awakening of the national consciousness in Egypt.
Ismail Sabri Pasha was an Egyptian poet and politician. He studied in France and came into contact with French culture. In Egypt, he obtained his degree in law and served as magistrate, was governor of Alexandria in 1896 until 1899 and then held a position under the government until his death. He wrote poetry, with nationalist tendency, and left a Diwan, published in Cairo in 1938.
Isma‘il Sabri Pasha (February 16, 1854, Cairo - March 16, 1923). Egyptian poet and statesman. Drawing upon his knowledge of classical Arabic and French, he contributed to the awakening of the national consciousness in Egypt.
Ismail Sabri Pasha was an Egyptian poet and politician. He studied in France and came into contact with French culture. In Egypt, he obtained his degree in law and served as magistrate, was governor of Alexandria in 1896 until 1899 and then held a position under the government until his death. He wrote poetry, with nationalist tendency, and left a Diwan, published in Cairo in 1938.
Isma‘il Sidqi
Isma‘il Sidqi (1875-1948). Egyptian politician and statesman. Having joined the Wafd movement in 1918, he became the moving spirit of the anti-Wafdist element in Egyptian politics. He played a leading role in the drafting and implementation of the Declaration of 1922 which granted Egypt its independence, as well as in that of the Constitution of 1923.
Sidqi, Isma'il see Isma‘il Sidqi
Isma‘il Sidqi (1875-1948). Egyptian politician and statesman. Having joined the Wafd movement in 1918, he became the moving spirit of the anti-Wafdist element in Egyptian politics. He played a leading role in the drafting and implementation of the Declaration of 1922 which granted Egypt its independence, as well as in that of the Constitution of 1923.
Sidqi, Isma'il see Isma‘il Sidqi
Ismet
Ismet (Mustafa İsmet İnönü). See Inonu, Ismet).
Ismet (Mustafa İsmet İnönü). See Inonu, Ismet).
Isra'il
Isra'il (Yisra'el) (Israel) Jacob) (Ya'aqov) (Ya'qub). Hebrew patriarch who was the grandson of Abraham, the son of Isaac and Rebekah, and the traditional ancestor of the people of Israel. Stories about Israel/Jacob in the Bible begin at Genesis 25:19.
According to the Old Testament, Jacob was the younger twin brother of Esau, who was the ancestor of Edom and the Edomites. The two are representatives of two different grades of social order, Jacob being a pastoralist and Esau a nomadic hunter. During her pregnancy, Rebekah was told by God that she would give birth to twins; each of them would found a great nation, and Esau, the elder, would serve his younger brother. As it turned out, Jacob, by means of an elaborate double deception, managed to obtain his older brother’s birthright from their father. Jacob then fled his brother’s wrath and went to take refuge with the Aramaean tribe of his ancestors at Haran in Mesopotamia.
Along his journey Jacob received a special revelation from God; God promised Jacob lands and numerous offspring that would prove to be the blessing of the entire Earth. Jacob named the place where he received his vision Bethel (“House of God”). Arriving at his uncle Laban’s home in Haran, Jacob fell in love with his cousin Rachel. He worked for her father, Laban, for seven years to obtain Rachel’s hand in marriage, but then Laban substituted his older daughter, Leah, for Rachel at the wedding ceremony. Unwittingly married to Leah, Jacob was thus compelled to serve Laban for another seven years so that he could take his beloved Rachel as his wife as well. Jacob then served Laban for another six years, during which he amassed a large amount of property; he then set out with his wives and children to return to Palestine. On the way Jacob wrestled with a mysterious stranger, a divine being, who changed Jacob’s name to Israel. Jacob then met and was reconciled with Esau and settled in Canaan.
Jacob had 13 children, 10 of whom were founders of tribes of Israel. Leah bore him his only daughter, Dinah, and six sons—Reuben, Simeon, Levi (who did not found a tribe, but was the ancestor of the Levites), Judah (from whom a tribe and the Davidic monarchy were descended), Issachar, and Zebulun. Leah’s maidservant, Zilpah, bore him Gad and Asher, and Rachel’s maidservant, Bilhah, bore him Dan and Naphtali. Rachel’s sons were Benjamin and Joseph (who did not found a tribe, but whose sons founded the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim).
The story of Jacob’s later years more properly belongs to the story of Joseph. Late in his life, a famine prompted Jacob and his sons to migrate to Egypt, where he was reunited with his son Joseph, who had disappeared some years before. Israel died in Egypt at the age of 147 years and was buried in Canaan at Hebron.
The stories about Jacob’s birth and his acquisition of the birthright (Genesis 25:19–34; 27) provide a thinly veiled apology for the relation between Edom (Esau) and Israel in Davidic times. Edom, the older nation, was made subject to Israel by David (2 Samuel 8:8ff.). The Jacob stories assume and emphasize that all things occur by divine design. The divine objective is of overriding significance; it is God’s will that Esau (Edom) shall live in the desert and be subject to Israel.
In Arabic, Jacob is known as Ya`qūb. He is revered as a prophet who received inspiration from God. The Qur'an does not give the details of Jacob’s life. Isra'il is the Arabic translation of the Hebrew Yisrael. God perfected his favor on Jacob and his posterity as he perfected his favor on Abraham and Isaac (12:6). Jacob was a man of might and vision (38:45) and was chosen by God to preach the Message. The Qur'an stresses that worshiping and bowing to the One true God was the main legacy of Jacob Kaaihue and his fathers (2:132-133). Salvation, according to the Qur'an, hinges upon this legacy rather than being a Jew or Christian (See Qur'an 2:130-141).
The Qur'an does not give many details of Ya'qub’s life, though it says he was a righteous prophet, and of the company of the Elect and the Good, who received inspiration from God (38:47, 21:75). God perfected his favor on Jacob and his posterity as he perfected his favor on Abraham and Isaac (12:6). He was a man of might and vision (38:45) and was chosen by God to preach the Message.
The Qur'an stresses that worshiping and bowing to the one true God (Arabic: Allah) was the main legacy of Jacob and his fathers (2:132-133). The Qur'an states that salvation hinges upon this legacy rather than being Jew or Christian (See 2:130-141):
"We believe in Allah and that which has been sent down to us and that which had been sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and to Al Asbat (the twelve sons of Jacob), and that which has been given to Moses and Jesus and that which has been given to the Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we have submitted (in Islam)."
Ya'qub (Jacob) is also known as Isrā'īl and his people (Israelites) are known as Bani Isrā'īl (sons of Israel). They are addressed and mentioned in the Qur'an at several places.
Yisra'el see Isra'il
Israel see Isra'il
Jacob see Isra'il
Ya'aqov see Isra'il
Ya'qub see Isra'il
Isra'il (Yisra'el) (Israel) Jacob) (Ya'aqov) (Ya'qub). Hebrew patriarch who was the grandson of Abraham, the son of Isaac and Rebekah, and the traditional ancestor of the people of Israel. Stories about Israel/Jacob in the Bible begin at Genesis 25:19.
According to the Old Testament, Jacob was the younger twin brother of Esau, who was the ancestor of Edom and the Edomites. The two are representatives of two different grades of social order, Jacob being a pastoralist and Esau a nomadic hunter. During her pregnancy, Rebekah was told by God that she would give birth to twins; each of them would found a great nation, and Esau, the elder, would serve his younger brother. As it turned out, Jacob, by means of an elaborate double deception, managed to obtain his older brother’s birthright from their father. Jacob then fled his brother’s wrath and went to take refuge with the Aramaean tribe of his ancestors at Haran in Mesopotamia.
Along his journey Jacob received a special revelation from God; God promised Jacob lands and numerous offspring that would prove to be the blessing of the entire Earth. Jacob named the place where he received his vision Bethel (“House of God”). Arriving at his uncle Laban’s home in Haran, Jacob fell in love with his cousin Rachel. He worked for her father, Laban, for seven years to obtain Rachel’s hand in marriage, but then Laban substituted his older daughter, Leah, for Rachel at the wedding ceremony. Unwittingly married to Leah, Jacob was thus compelled to serve Laban for another seven years so that he could take his beloved Rachel as his wife as well. Jacob then served Laban for another six years, during which he amassed a large amount of property; he then set out with his wives and children to return to Palestine. On the way Jacob wrestled with a mysterious stranger, a divine being, who changed Jacob’s name to Israel. Jacob then met and was reconciled with Esau and settled in Canaan.
Jacob had 13 children, 10 of whom were founders of tribes of Israel. Leah bore him his only daughter, Dinah, and six sons—Reuben, Simeon, Levi (who did not found a tribe, but was the ancestor of the Levites), Judah (from whom a tribe and the Davidic monarchy were descended), Issachar, and Zebulun. Leah’s maidservant, Zilpah, bore him Gad and Asher, and Rachel’s maidservant, Bilhah, bore him Dan and Naphtali. Rachel’s sons were Benjamin and Joseph (who did not found a tribe, but whose sons founded the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim).
The story of Jacob’s later years more properly belongs to the story of Joseph. Late in his life, a famine prompted Jacob and his sons to migrate to Egypt, where he was reunited with his son Joseph, who had disappeared some years before. Israel died in Egypt at the age of 147 years and was buried in Canaan at Hebron.
The stories about Jacob’s birth and his acquisition of the birthright (Genesis 25:19–34; 27) provide a thinly veiled apology for the relation between Edom (Esau) and Israel in Davidic times. Edom, the older nation, was made subject to Israel by David (2 Samuel 8:8ff.). The Jacob stories assume and emphasize that all things occur by divine design. The divine objective is of overriding significance; it is God’s will that Esau (Edom) shall live in the desert and be subject to Israel.
In Arabic, Jacob is known as Ya`qūb. He is revered as a prophet who received inspiration from God. The Qur'an does not give the details of Jacob’s life. Isra'il is the Arabic translation of the Hebrew Yisrael. God perfected his favor on Jacob and his posterity as he perfected his favor on Abraham and Isaac (12:6). Jacob was a man of might and vision (38:45) and was chosen by God to preach the Message. The Qur'an stresses that worshiping and bowing to the One true God was the main legacy of Jacob Kaaihue and his fathers (2:132-133). Salvation, according to the Qur'an, hinges upon this legacy rather than being a Jew or Christian (See Qur'an 2:130-141).
The Qur'an does not give many details of Ya'qub’s life, though it says he was a righteous prophet, and of the company of the Elect and the Good, who received inspiration from God (38:47, 21:75). God perfected his favor on Jacob and his posterity as he perfected his favor on Abraham and Isaac (12:6). He was a man of might and vision (38:45) and was chosen by God to preach the Message.
The Qur'an stresses that worshiping and bowing to the one true God (Arabic: Allah) was the main legacy of Jacob and his fathers (2:132-133). The Qur'an states that salvation hinges upon this legacy rather than being Jew or Christian (See 2:130-141):
"We believe in Allah and that which has been sent down to us and that which had been sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and to Al Asbat (the twelve sons of Jacob), and that which has been given to Moses and Jesus and that which has been given to the Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we have submitted (in Islam)."
Ya'qub (Jacob) is also known as Isrā'īl and his people (Israelites) are known as Bani Isrā'īl (sons of Israel). They are addressed and mentioned in the Qur'an at several places.
Yisra'el see Isra'il
Israel see Isra'il
Jacob see Isra'il
Ya'aqov see Isra'il
Ya'qub see Isra'il
Isra‘il, Banu
Isra‘il, Banu (Banu Isra‘il) (“Children of Israel”). Term used in the Qur‘an and in Islamic hadith for the Jewish people.
Banu Isra'il see Isra‘il, Banu
Children of Israel see Isra‘il, Banu
Isra‘il, Banu (Banu Isra‘il) (“Children of Israel”). Term used in the Qur‘an and in Islamic hadith for the Jewish people.
Banu Isra'il see Isra‘il, Banu
Children of Israel see Isra‘il, Banu
Isra‘iliyyat
Isra‘iliyyat. Arabic term covering narratives, regarded as historical, edifying tales and fables belonging to folklore, allegedly borrowed from Jewish and other sources. They are found in commentaries on the Qur‘an and on mystics, and were popular with compilers of edifying stories and other writers.
Isra‘iliyyat. Arabic term covering narratives, regarded as historical, edifying tales and fables belonging to folklore, allegedly borrowed from Jewish and other sources. They are found in commentaries on the Qur‘an and on mystics, and were popular with compilers of edifying stories and other writers.
Istakhri, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-
Istakhri, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al- (Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Istakhri) (al-Farisi) (Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al Istakhri) (Estakhri) . Arab geographer of the tenth century. He was one of the first and most important representatives of the new trends adopted by Arabo-Muslim geography in the tenth century.
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al Istakhri, from the city of Estakhr, was a medieval Persian geographer in the 10th century.
It was Estakhri who created the earliest known account of windmills. His works included Al-masaalik al-mamaalik ("Traditions of Countries") and Suwar al-Aqaaleem ("Shapes of the Climes").
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Istakhri see Istakhri, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-
Farisi, al- see Istakhri, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-
Estakhri see Istakhri, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al Istakhri see Istakhri, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-
Istakhri, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al- (Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Istakhri) (al-Farisi) (Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al Istakhri) (Estakhri) . Arab geographer of the tenth century. He was one of the first and most important representatives of the new trends adopted by Arabo-Muslim geography in the tenth century.
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al Istakhri, from the city of Estakhr, was a medieval Persian geographer in the 10th century.
It was Estakhri who created the earliest known account of windmills. His works included Al-masaalik al-mamaalik ("Traditions of Countries") and Suwar al-Aqaaleem ("Shapes of the Climes").
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Istakhri see Istakhri, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-
Farisi, al- see Istakhri, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-
Estakhri see Istakhri, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al Istakhri see Istakhri, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-
Istiqlal
Istiqlal. Leading Moroccan nationalist party in the period from 1943 to 1962. The Istiqlal (Hizb al-Istiqlal – “Independence Party”) was founded in December 1943 by Ahmad Balafrej and a group of younger Moroccan nationalists drawn from the urban bourgeoisie of Fez, Rabat, Tangier, and Tetouan. Together with King Muhammad V, Istiqlal played a major role in bringing about the end of the French and Spanish protectorates in March 1956.
From the outset, the movement drew both on currents of Islamic reformism (Salafiyah) and political organization and on the emerging younger generation of French-educated elites. Salafiyah-influenced young leaders, such as Muhammad ‘Allal al-Fasi, joined forces with more secular individuals, such as Ahmad Balafrej and Makki Nasiri. Politically, Istiqlal was the successor of the Kutlah al-‘Amal al-Watani (National Action Bloc), which had been established in 1932. The Kutlah was an elite based nationalist organization that drew its supporters chiefly from the urban bourgeoisie of northern Moroccan cities. Many of the leaders of the Kutlah, among them Muhammad Hasan al-Wazzani, Ahmad Balafrej, Makki al-Nasiri, and ‘Allal al-Fasi, later went on to play important roles in the nationalist movement in the 1940s. In 1934, the group issued a Plan of Reforms that criticized the French protectorate government and demanded far-reaching reforms. A major weakness of the Kutlah and other early nationalist groups is that they were primarily based among the elites and not mass based. By 1937, when French authorities banned it and jailed or exiled most of the leadership, members numbered only around 6,500.
After 1946, an alliance with the Moroccan king, Muhammad V, permitted Istiqlal to extend its influence rapidly among peasants and workers. In the ensuing years, the Istiqlal party successfully developed into a mass-based nationalist organization, playing a particularly crucial role in the independence movement in the period following the French deposition and exile of Muhammad V in August 1953. However, its lack of support in the countryside and the emergence of guerrilla groups outside its control marked the limits of its effectiveness. The return of Muhammad V from exile in November 1955, and the subsequent independence of Morocco in March 1956, inaugurated a new phase in the party’s political role.
Following Moroccan independence, Istiqlal became the largest political party in the Moroccan majlis (national assembly). However, divergent interests and personal rivalries gradually undermined its alliance with the crown. When Muhammad V encouraged the emergence of political parties favoring his policies, Istiqlal gradually moved into opposition. At the same time, younger and more militant elements in the Istiqlal party led by Mehdi Ben Barka (al-Mahdi Ibn Barakah) split off and formed a new party, the National Union of Popular Forces (UNFP). Following the death of Muhammad V in February 1961, Crown Prince Hasan ascended to the throne. The adoption of a Moroccan constitution in 1962 transformed the political arena. After 1956, periods of representative government alternated with periods of direct rule by the crown. Throughout, the king continued successfully to pose as political arbiter. Istiqlal was an important participant in several Moroccan governments. By the 1990s, no longer the dynamic force it once was, Istiqlal declined in political influence, although it continued to have a constituency among urban voters.
In the parliamentary election held on 27 September 2002, the party won 48 out of 325 seats.
In January 2006, Istiqlal criticized Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's visit to the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the north African coast, reflecting its nationalist heritage.
Istiqlal won 52 out of 325 seats in the parliamentary election held on September 7, 2007, more than any other party, and subsequently the party's leader, Abbas El Fassi, was named Prime Minister by King Mohammed VI on September 19, 2007.
Hizb al-Istiqlal see Istiqlal.
Independence Party see Istiqlal.
Istiqlal. Leading Moroccan nationalist party in the period from 1943 to 1962. The Istiqlal (Hizb al-Istiqlal – “Independence Party”) was founded in December 1943 by Ahmad Balafrej and a group of younger Moroccan nationalists drawn from the urban bourgeoisie of Fez, Rabat, Tangier, and Tetouan. Together with King Muhammad V, Istiqlal played a major role in bringing about the end of the French and Spanish protectorates in March 1956.
From the outset, the movement drew both on currents of Islamic reformism (Salafiyah) and political organization and on the emerging younger generation of French-educated elites. Salafiyah-influenced young leaders, such as Muhammad ‘Allal al-Fasi, joined forces with more secular individuals, such as Ahmad Balafrej and Makki Nasiri. Politically, Istiqlal was the successor of the Kutlah al-‘Amal al-Watani (National Action Bloc), which had been established in 1932. The Kutlah was an elite based nationalist organization that drew its supporters chiefly from the urban bourgeoisie of northern Moroccan cities. Many of the leaders of the Kutlah, among them Muhammad Hasan al-Wazzani, Ahmad Balafrej, Makki al-Nasiri, and ‘Allal al-Fasi, later went on to play important roles in the nationalist movement in the 1940s. In 1934, the group issued a Plan of Reforms that criticized the French protectorate government and demanded far-reaching reforms. A major weakness of the Kutlah and other early nationalist groups is that they were primarily based among the elites and not mass based. By 1937, when French authorities banned it and jailed or exiled most of the leadership, members numbered only around 6,500.
After 1946, an alliance with the Moroccan king, Muhammad V, permitted Istiqlal to extend its influence rapidly among peasants and workers. In the ensuing years, the Istiqlal party successfully developed into a mass-based nationalist organization, playing a particularly crucial role in the independence movement in the period following the French deposition and exile of Muhammad V in August 1953. However, its lack of support in the countryside and the emergence of guerrilla groups outside its control marked the limits of its effectiveness. The return of Muhammad V from exile in November 1955, and the subsequent independence of Morocco in March 1956, inaugurated a new phase in the party’s political role.
Following Moroccan independence, Istiqlal became the largest political party in the Moroccan majlis (national assembly). However, divergent interests and personal rivalries gradually undermined its alliance with the crown. When Muhammad V encouraged the emergence of political parties favoring his policies, Istiqlal gradually moved into opposition. At the same time, younger and more militant elements in the Istiqlal party led by Mehdi Ben Barka (al-Mahdi Ibn Barakah) split off and formed a new party, the National Union of Popular Forces (UNFP). Following the death of Muhammad V in February 1961, Crown Prince Hasan ascended to the throne. The adoption of a Moroccan constitution in 1962 transformed the political arena. After 1956, periods of representative government alternated with periods of direct rule by the crown. Throughout, the king continued successfully to pose as political arbiter. Istiqlal was an important participant in several Moroccan governments. By the 1990s, no longer the dynamic force it once was, Istiqlal declined in political influence, although it continued to have a constituency among urban voters.
In the parliamentary election held on 27 September 2002, the party won 48 out of 325 seats.
In January 2006, Istiqlal criticized Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's visit to the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the north African coast, reflecting its nationalist heritage.
Istiqlal won 52 out of 325 seats in the parliamentary election held on September 7, 2007, more than any other party, and subsequently the party's leader, Abbas El Fassi, was named Prime Minister by King Mohammed VI on September 19, 2007.
Hizb al-Istiqlal see Istiqlal.
Independence Party see Istiqlal.
No comments:
Post a Comment