Bedouin
Bedouin (in Arabic, badw or badawi -- “dwellers in the desert”). Term which generally refers to Arab camel nomads. Bedouins are nomadic Arabs inhabiting the deserts of the Middle East and northern Africa. In ancient times, their territory included only the deserts of Egypt and Syria. Later they entered Mesopotamia and Chaldea. The Muslim conquest of northern Africa in the seventh century opened vaster tracts to the Bedouins. Although they form only a small part of the population of these areas, they use a great deal of territory.
Beginning about 1045 and continuing at a decreasing rate for several centuries, Bedouin nomads from central Arabia invaded northern Africa. These invaders took over all suitable grazing land and upset the balanced agricultural and urban civilization that the resident Berbers had achieved. The Bedouin flocks destroyed most of the natural ground cover; by overgrazing, the flocks turned pastureland into semi-desert. The balance began to be restored, however, with the colonization of northern Africa by European powers, beginning in the 1830s.
The Bedouins have retained their nomadic and pastoral way of life. They subsist primarily on meat, milk, and dairy products provided by their herds. In general, they leave crop agriculture and commerce to the native peoples of northern Africa. Exploitative and aggressive, most Bedouins are disdainful of any kind of settled life.
Virtually all Bedouins are Muslims. They manufacture their own woolen clothing. Members of many tribes shave their heads, but beards are worn by all men.
Although Bedouins are predominantly Muslims, there are small groups of Christian Bedouins in Palestine and Syria. Food eaten by Bedouins upholding traditional lifestyles, are dairy products, milk and meat. Bedouins sell and barter goods in order to obtain agricultural foodstuff from sedentary peoples.
The typical Bedouin tent is made from strips of cloth woven from goat or camel hair and vegetable fibers, sewn together and dyed black. In the rare instances in which they become sedentary and erect permanent dwellings, the Bedouins build rectangular houses several stories in height, with stone or adobe walls.
The political system of the Bedouins is based on an extended patriarchal family unit. Each unit, from a minor family to an entire tribe, is led by a sheikh -- an “elder” --, and the title descends from father to eldest son. The actual political authority of each sheikh depends, not upon the size of the unit he rules, but upon his wealth and the force of his personality.
The social system of the Bedouins has four classifications, loosely based on ancestry and mobile wealth. For example, the camel breeders, the highest on the social scale, usually intermarry and consider other Bedouin groups inferior. Accordingly, passing from one class to another, while feasible, is prone to be difficult.
In modern times, Bedouins normally migrate only in parts of the year, depending on grazing conditions. In winter, when there is some precipitation, they migrate deeper into the desert, while they seek refuge around secure water sources in the hot and dry summer time. For many Bedouins, the city has become the preferred location for the summer months.
Modern societies have made traditional Bedouin lifestyles less attractive -- as they are demanding and often dangerous -- so that many tribes have settled in urban areas. At the same time, many governments have taken strong measures to regulate nomadic lifestyles. Historically, Bedouins have represented a challenge to urban rulers because there is a need to decide who belongs where, and who should be taxed where.
Up through all of recorded history, poetry has been a central cultural form of expression for the Bedouins, and in early centuries of Muslim history, Bedouin poetry represented the ideal standard for other literary achievements, as well as for Arabic language.
The Bedouin are a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and Negev to the Arabian Desert. Non-Arab groups as well, notably the Beja of the African coast of the Red Sea, are sometimes called Bedouin.
The Bedouins were divided into related tribes. These tribes were organized on several levels—a widely quoted Bedouin saying is
"I and my brothers against my cousins, I and my brothers and my cousins against the world."
The saying signifies a hierarchy of loyalties based on closeness of kinship that runs from the nuclear family through the lineage, the tribe, and even, in principle at least, to an entire ethnic or linguistic group (which is perceived to have a kinship basis). Disputes are settled, interests are pursued, and justice and order are maintained by means of this organizational framework, according to an ethic of self-help and collective responsibility. The individual family unit (known as a tent or bayt) typically consisted of three or four adults (a married couple plus siblings or parents) and any number of children.
When resources were plentiful, several tents would travel together as a goum. These groups were sometimes linked by patriarchical lineage but just as likely linked by marriage (new wives were especially likely to have male relatives join them), acquaintance or even no clearly defined relation but a simple shared membership in the tribe.
The next scale of interactions inside tribal groups was the ibn amm ("cousin") or descent group, commonly of three to five generations. These were often linked to "goums", but whereas a "goum" would generally consist of people all with the same herd type, "descent groups" were frequently split up over several economic activities (allowing a degree of risk management: should one group of members of a descent group suffer economically, the other members would be able to support them). Whilst the phrase "descent group" suggests purely a lineage-based arrangement, in reality these groups were fluid and adapted their genealogies to take in new members.
The largest scale of tribal interactions is of course the tribe as a whole, led by a Sheikh (Arabic, literally, "elder"). The tribe often claims descent from one common ancestor—as mentioned above. This appears patrilineal but in reality new groups could have genealogies invented to tie them in to this ancestor. The tribal level is the level that mediated between the Bedouin and the outside governments and organizations.
Bedouins traditionally had strong honor codes, and traditional systems of justice dispensation in Bedouin society typically revolved around such codes. The bisha'a, or ordeal by fire, is a well-known Bedouin practice of lie detection.
Bedouins are well known for practicing folk music, folk dance and folk poetry.
Starting in the late 19th century, many Bedouins under British rule began to transition to semi-nomadism. In the 1950s as well as the 1960s, large numbers of Bedouin throughout the Middle East started to leave the traditional, nomadic life to settle in the cities of the Middle East. For example, in Syria the Bedouin way of life effectively ended during a severe drought from 1958 to 1961, which forced many Bedouin to give up herding for standard jobs. Similarly, government policies in Egypt and Israel, oil production in Libya and the Persian Gulf, as well as a desire for improved standards of living, effectively led most Bedouin to become settled citizens of various nations, rather than stateless nomadic herders.
Government policies pressuring the Bedouin have in some cases been executed in an attempt to provide services (schools, health care, law enforcement and so on), but in others have been based on the desire to seize land traditionally roved and controlled by the Bedouin.
The Bedouins in recent years have adopted the past-time of raising and breeding white doves. The reason for this has in some respect been attributed to the etymology of the word Bedouin: Be-douim archaic Pheonicio-Arabic for "be," "white", and "douim," "dove".
badw see Bedouin
badawi see Bedouin
“dwellers in the desert” see Bedouin
Bedouin (in Arabic, badw or badawi -- “dwellers in the desert”). Term which generally refers to Arab camel nomads. Bedouins are nomadic Arabs inhabiting the deserts of the Middle East and northern Africa. In ancient times, their territory included only the deserts of Egypt and Syria. Later they entered Mesopotamia and Chaldea. The Muslim conquest of northern Africa in the seventh century opened vaster tracts to the Bedouins. Although they form only a small part of the population of these areas, they use a great deal of territory.
Beginning about 1045 and continuing at a decreasing rate for several centuries, Bedouin nomads from central Arabia invaded northern Africa. These invaders took over all suitable grazing land and upset the balanced agricultural and urban civilization that the resident Berbers had achieved. The Bedouin flocks destroyed most of the natural ground cover; by overgrazing, the flocks turned pastureland into semi-desert. The balance began to be restored, however, with the colonization of northern Africa by European powers, beginning in the 1830s.
The Bedouins have retained their nomadic and pastoral way of life. They subsist primarily on meat, milk, and dairy products provided by their herds. In general, they leave crop agriculture and commerce to the native peoples of northern Africa. Exploitative and aggressive, most Bedouins are disdainful of any kind of settled life.
Virtually all Bedouins are Muslims. They manufacture their own woolen clothing. Members of many tribes shave their heads, but beards are worn by all men.
Although Bedouins are predominantly Muslims, there are small groups of Christian Bedouins in Palestine and Syria. Food eaten by Bedouins upholding traditional lifestyles, are dairy products, milk and meat. Bedouins sell and barter goods in order to obtain agricultural foodstuff from sedentary peoples.
The typical Bedouin tent is made from strips of cloth woven from goat or camel hair and vegetable fibers, sewn together and dyed black. In the rare instances in which they become sedentary and erect permanent dwellings, the Bedouins build rectangular houses several stories in height, with stone or adobe walls.
The political system of the Bedouins is based on an extended patriarchal family unit. Each unit, from a minor family to an entire tribe, is led by a sheikh -- an “elder” --, and the title descends from father to eldest son. The actual political authority of each sheikh depends, not upon the size of the unit he rules, but upon his wealth and the force of his personality.
The social system of the Bedouins has four classifications, loosely based on ancestry and mobile wealth. For example, the camel breeders, the highest on the social scale, usually intermarry and consider other Bedouin groups inferior. Accordingly, passing from one class to another, while feasible, is prone to be difficult.
In modern times, Bedouins normally migrate only in parts of the year, depending on grazing conditions. In winter, when there is some precipitation, they migrate deeper into the desert, while they seek refuge around secure water sources in the hot and dry summer time. For many Bedouins, the city has become the preferred location for the summer months.
Modern societies have made traditional Bedouin lifestyles less attractive -- as they are demanding and often dangerous -- so that many tribes have settled in urban areas. At the same time, many governments have taken strong measures to regulate nomadic lifestyles. Historically, Bedouins have represented a challenge to urban rulers because there is a need to decide who belongs where, and who should be taxed where.
Up through all of recorded history, poetry has been a central cultural form of expression for the Bedouins, and in early centuries of Muslim history, Bedouin poetry represented the ideal standard for other literary achievements, as well as for Arabic language.
The Bedouin are a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and Negev to the Arabian Desert. Non-Arab groups as well, notably the Beja of the African coast of the Red Sea, are sometimes called Bedouin.
The Bedouins were divided into related tribes. These tribes were organized on several levels—a widely quoted Bedouin saying is
"I and my brothers against my cousins, I and my brothers and my cousins against the world."
The saying signifies a hierarchy of loyalties based on closeness of kinship that runs from the nuclear family through the lineage, the tribe, and even, in principle at least, to an entire ethnic or linguistic group (which is perceived to have a kinship basis). Disputes are settled, interests are pursued, and justice and order are maintained by means of this organizational framework, according to an ethic of self-help and collective responsibility. The individual family unit (known as a tent or bayt) typically consisted of three or four adults (a married couple plus siblings or parents) and any number of children.
When resources were plentiful, several tents would travel together as a goum. These groups were sometimes linked by patriarchical lineage but just as likely linked by marriage (new wives were especially likely to have male relatives join them), acquaintance or even no clearly defined relation but a simple shared membership in the tribe.
The next scale of interactions inside tribal groups was the ibn amm ("cousin") or descent group, commonly of three to five generations. These were often linked to "goums", but whereas a "goum" would generally consist of people all with the same herd type, "descent groups" were frequently split up over several economic activities (allowing a degree of risk management: should one group of members of a descent group suffer economically, the other members would be able to support them). Whilst the phrase "descent group" suggests purely a lineage-based arrangement, in reality these groups were fluid and adapted their genealogies to take in new members.
The largest scale of tribal interactions is of course the tribe as a whole, led by a Sheikh (Arabic, literally, "elder"). The tribe often claims descent from one common ancestor—as mentioned above. This appears patrilineal but in reality new groups could have genealogies invented to tie them in to this ancestor. The tribal level is the level that mediated between the Bedouin and the outside governments and organizations.
Bedouins traditionally had strong honor codes, and traditional systems of justice dispensation in Bedouin society typically revolved around such codes. The bisha'a, or ordeal by fire, is a well-known Bedouin practice of lie detection.
Bedouins are well known for practicing folk music, folk dance and folk poetry.
Starting in the late 19th century, many Bedouins under British rule began to transition to semi-nomadism. In the 1950s as well as the 1960s, large numbers of Bedouin throughout the Middle East started to leave the traditional, nomadic life to settle in the cities of the Middle East. For example, in Syria the Bedouin way of life effectively ended during a severe drought from 1958 to 1961, which forced many Bedouin to give up herding for standard jobs. Similarly, government policies in Egypt and Israel, oil production in Libya and the Persian Gulf, as well as a desire for improved standards of living, effectively led most Bedouin to become settled citizens of various nations, rather than stateless nomadic herders.
Government policies pressuring the Bedouin have in some cases been executed in an attempt to provide services (schools, health care, law enforcement and so on), but in others have been based on the desire to seize land traditionally roved and controlled by the Bedouin.
The Bedouins in recent years have adopted the past-time of raising and breeding white doves. The reason for this has in some respect been attributed to the etymology of the word Bedouin: Be-douim archaic Pheonicio-Arabic for "be," "white", and "douim," "dove".
badw see Bedouin
badawi see Bedouin
“dwellers in the desert” see Bedouin
Behbahani, Simin
Simin Behbahāni (b. June 20, 1927, Tehran, Iran – d. August 19, 2014, Tehran, Iran) was a prominent Iranian poet, activist and translator. She was Iran's national poet and an icon of modern Persian poetry. Iranian intelligentsia and literati affectionately refer to her as the lioness of Iran. She was nominated twice for the Nobel Prize in literature, and received many literary accolades from around the world.
Simin Behbahani, whose birth name was Simin Khalili, was the daughter of Abbās Khalili, poet, writer and editor of the Eghdām (Action) newspaper, and Fakhr-e Ozmā Arghun, poet and teacher of the French language. Abbās Khalili (1893–1971) wrote poetry in both Persian and Arabic and translated some 1100 verses of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh into Arabic. Fakhr-e Ozmā Arghun (1898–1966) was one of the progressive women of her time and a member of Kānun-e Nesvān-e Vatan'khāh (Association of Patriotic Women) between 1925 and 1929. In addition to her membership in Hezb-e Democrāt (Democratic Party) and Kānun-e Zanān (Women's Association), she was, for a time (1932), editor of the Āyandeh-ye Iran (Future of Iran) newspaper. She taught French at the secondary schools Nāmus, Dār ol-Mo'allemāt and No'bāvegān in Tehran.
Simin Behbahani started writing poetry at twelve years of age and published her first poem at the age of fourteen. She used the "Char Pareh" style of Nima Yooshij and subsequently turned to ghazal. Behbahani contributed to a historic development by adding theatrical subjects and daily events and conversations to poetry using the ghazal style of poetry. She expanded the range of the traditional Persian verse forms and produced some of the most significant works of Persian literature in the 20th century.
Behbahani was President of The Iranian Writers' Association and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999 and 2002. In 2013, she was awarded the Janus Pannonius Grand Prize for Poetry.
In early March 2010, Behbahani was prohibited from leaving the country due to official prohibitions. As she was about to board a plane to Paris, police detained her and interrogated her "all night long". She was released but without her passport.
Behbahani had two marriages. The first was to Hassan Behbahani and it ended in divorce. She had three children from her first marriage, one daughter and two sons. Her second marriage was to Manuchehr Koushyar and it ended when he died in 1984.
Behbahani was hospitalized in Tehran on August 6, 2014. She remained in a coma from August 6 until her death August 19, 2014. She died in Tehran's Pars Hospital. Her funeral was held on August 22 in Vahdat Hall and her body was buried at Behesht-e Zahra.
The literary works of Simin Behbahani include the following:
- The Broken Lute [Seh-tar-e Shekasteh, 1951]
- Footprint [Ja-ye Pa, 1954]
- Chandelier [Chelcheragh, 1955]
- Marble [Marmar 1961]
- Resurrection [Rastakhiz, 1971]
- A Line of Speed and Fire [Khatti ze Sor'at va Atash, 1980]
- Arzhan Plain [Dasht-e Arzhan, 1983]
- Paper Dress [Kaghazin Jameh, 1992]
- A Window of Freedom [Yek Daricheh Azadi, 1995]
- Collected Poems [Tehran 2003]
- Maybe It's the Messiah [Shayad ke Masihast, Tehran 2003] Selected Poems, translated by Ismail Salami
- A Cup of Sin, Selected poems, translated by Farzaneh Milani and Kaveh Safa
Beja
Beja. The Beja are a traditionally pastoral Muslim people whose territory covers some 110,000 square miles in the eastern part of Sudan plus around 20,000 or so additional square miles in adjacent parts of Eritrea. Beja also range into southern Egypt. The Beja comprise about six percent of Sudan’s population. Thousands of the Beja who traditionally have lived in Eritrea were driven into Sudan by the ravages of the Eritrea-Ethiopian wars.
The Beja have been in Bejaland at least since sometime between 4000 and 2500 B.C.T. They are an indigenous African people who were noticed by the Egyptians of the Sixth Dynasty. Bejaland was of interest to outsiders as a source of gold and as a transit area for caravans along the Nile and from the Nile to the Red Sea. Thus, contact was made with the Beja by Hellenistic Egyptians and Greeks, Romans, Meroetic peoples of Sudan, Axumites of Ethiopia and expanding Muslim Arabs. Bejaland was part of a weak Ottoman Turkish sphere of influence exerted from coastal ports in the sixteenth through the early nineteenth centuries. In the sixteenth century, the Bisharin, Hadendowa, Amarar and Ababda were in a process of emergence and consolidation as major Beja divisions. In 1821, Egypt’s Mohammed Ali began his conquest of what is now Sudan. He also destroyed the Funj kingdom and ended its control of the Beja. At various times in the past, some of the more accessible Beja clans were under allegiance to the Turks and then to the Egyptians and paid tribute to them occasionally.
Muhammad Ahmad el Mahdi began his mission of nativist revitalization in Sudan in 1881. By 1883, he had won significant battles against Egyptian forces. Some Beja clans, especially the Hadendowa, took part in the revolt against Egyptian domination. Osman Digna, a Beja emir of the Mahdi, led largely Hadendowa forces with modest success against British and Egyptian regulars having British officers. A near defeat of 4,000 well-trained British troops took place outside of Suakin on the coast. There, courageous Beja men and boys armed with spears and sticks took heavy casualties but broke infantry square (military combat formation). This action may have been the only time native forces broke a British army square equipped with modern ordnance.
Beja. The Beja are a traditionally pastoral Muslim people whose territory covers some 110,000 square miles in the eastern part of Sudan plus around 20,000 or so additional square miles in adjacent parts of Eritrea. Beja also range into southern Egypt. The Beja comprise about six percent of Sudan’s population. Thousands of the Beja who traditionally have lived in Eritrea were driven into Sudan by the ravages of the Eritrea-Ethiopian wars.
The Beja have been in Bejaland at least since sometime between 4000 and 2500 B.C.T. They are an indigenous African people who were noticed by the Egyptians of the Sixth Dynasty. Bejaland was of interest to outsiders as a source of gold and as a transit area for caravans along the Nile and from the Nile to the Red Sea. Thus, contact was made with the Beja by Hellenistic Egyptians and Greeks, Romans, Meroetic peoples of Sudan, Axumites of Ethiopia and expanding Muslim Arabs. Bejaland was part of a weak Ottoman Turkish sphere of influence exerted from coastal ports in the sixteenth through the early nineteenth centuries. In the sixteenth century, the Bisharin, Hadendowa, Amarar and Ababda were in a process of emergence and consolidation as major Beja divisions. In 1821, Egypt’s Mohammed Ali began his conquest of what is now Sudan. He also destroyed the Funj kingdom and ended its control of the Beja. At various times in the past, some of the more accessible Beja clans were under allegiance to the Turks and then to the Egyptians and paid tribute to them occasionally.
Muhammad Ahmad el Mahdi began his mission of nativist revitalization in Sudan in 1881. By 1883, he had won significant battles against Egyptian forces. Some Beja clans, especially the Hadendowa, took part in the revolt against Egyptian domination. Osman Digna, a Beja emir of the Mahdi, led largely Hadendowa forces with modest success against British and Egyptian regulars having British officers. A near defeat of 4,000 well-trained British troops took place outside of Suakin on the coast. There, courageous Beja men and boys armed with spears and sticks took heavy casualties but broke infantry square (military combat formation). This action may have been the only time native forces broke a British army square equipped with modern ordnance.
Bektashiyya
Bektashiyya (Bektashi) (Bektashi) (Bektasi). Sufi (dervish) order in Turkey, whose patron is Hajji Bektash Wali (Veli) from Khurasan in the thirteenth century. The Bektashis, who in their secret doctrines are Shi‘is, show the general features of popular mysticism and disregard Muslim ritual and worship. Bektashi was very popular amongst the Ottoman Janissaries.
The Bektashiyah Sufi order became widespread in the Ottoman Empire and today has communities in Turkey, in Albanian regions of the Balkans, and among Albanian immigrants in North America. Bektashiyah is the Arabic form of its name, while in Turkish it is Bektasi. The Bektasi order traces its origin to central Anatolia in the thirteenth century. It takes its name from Haji Bektash Veli, a religious leader from Khurasan in northeast Iran, who, according to tradition, was sent by command of the famous Sufi of western Turkestan, Ahmed Yesevi, to Anatolia where he settled in a village near the present city of Kirsehir. The organization of the Bektasi order, however, is credited to a later personage, Balim Sultan, known as the “Second Pir” (patron saint) of the order, who became head of the Bektasis in 1501. Balim Sultan was born of at least partly Bulgarian parentage near the city of Edirne, now in European Turkey. In addition to centralizing authority at the Bektasi headquarters in Anatolia, Balim Sultan instituted the celibate branch of the order that has continued to co-exist with the married branch.
Central to Bektasi teachings is the importance of the spiritual teacher (in Arabic, murshid; in Turkish, mursit). One cannot progress in spiritual growth without a spiritual teacher, and prayer and blessings are mediated by the teacher. Unlike orthodox Muslims, Bektasis believe in intercession. This intercession can also be through earlier spiritual teachers, including the two pirs of the order, the saints, the twelve imams, and ‘Ali, whom the Bektasis as well as many other Sufi orders view as the one who revealed mystic understanding of the Qur’an. Thus, the Bektasis are ‘Alid in orientation, professing strong love and loyalty to Ehli Beyt, the “household of the Prophet.” They have been called Shi‘is but theologically they differ from many Shi‘is in their emphasis on the mystic path, as well as in their understanding of Muhammad and ‘Ali, which includes reference to “Muhammad ‘Ali” as a single personage; thus they both raise the status of ‘Ali and emphasize the complementarity and unity of the word of God and its mystical dimension. Practices that reflect the ‘Alid orientation of the Bektasis are their two main annual holidays: Asure (in Arabic, ‘Ashura’), which commemorates the martyrdom of ‘Ali’s son Husayn; and Nevruz (Nawruz), which is celebrated at the spring equinox and is understood as the birthday of ‘Ali.
Additional practices that are distinctively Bektasi include their initiation rites. These rites are private, reserved for other initiated members, and include ceremonial use of candles, sheepskins, and sweet drink. What is striking about these rites, in the context of Islamic society, is the presence of unveiled women. Bektasis have always accepted women as initiated members, thereby sanctioning their participation in these ceremonies.
Another Bektasi practice is their communal praise of God (dhikr), which involves the alternation of the chanting of spiritual poetry (nefes) with formalized sharing of food and drink. Much of the teaching of the order is in these spiritual poems. Also distinctive is a disregard for certain basic practices of Islam; for example, Bektasis pray twice daily rather than five times. Finally, during the ten day period before Asure, Bektasis engage in a special fast and each evening read aloud from the sixteenth century Turkish poet Fuzuli’s account of the suffering of the prophets and martyrs.
Throughout their history, the Bektasis have been criticized by Sunni Muslim authorities for a range of offenses, from laxness in following standard Muslim practices and immorality in including women in their private rites, to heresy in elevating ‘Ali to the level of the prophet Muhammad or above him, and in comparing both to God. (These last allegations of heresy reflect non-mystic Sunnis’ inability to deal with the mystic expression.) Yet despite these criticisms, the order flourished in the Ottoman Empire among townspeople (in contrast to the Mevlevi order, which drew more urban intellectuals), in frontier regions in the Balkans, and among the Janissaries, the elite troops of the empire. Estimates of the number of Bektasis in 1900 range from one to seven million. Careful sources report ten percent of the population of Turkey and fifteen percent of the population of Albania as being directly or indirectly influenced by the order at that time. The popularity of the Bektasi order may be partly explained in that it embodied and also shaped popular Turkish piety, and that it was syncretistic in its inclusion of pre-Islamic pagan and Christian elements, thus appealing to populations that were formerly Christian. Certainly, it provided a broader range of religious expression than the mosque; socially, it added communal networks of interaction at a local level and across the empire.
In addition to its religious and social roles in more settled communities, the Bektasi order was a source of missionaries of Islam who traveled with Ottoman forces into the Balkans. The mobility and simplicity of Bektasi organization, its relaxed attitude toward the letter of Muslim law, and its tolerance of non-Muslim peoples were all well suited to facilitating the gradual conversion of people in these regions.
The Bektasis also had a longstanding special relationship with the Janissaries, many of whom had been born of Christian parents. Scholars have debated the onset of this relationship, but it was in place at least by the end of the fifteenth century (the Janissaries were founded in the fourteenth). The Bektasis officially blessed the troops, provided an ideology of bonding among them, and traveled with them as chaplains. This relationship was also a source of political power for the Bektasis within the empire.
The connection of the Bektasis with the Janissaries was such that in 1826, when Sultan Mahmud II abolished the Janissaries as part of his campaign to modernize the military, the Bektasis were also targeted. Bektasi tekkes, or centers, were destroyed. Some Bektasi leaders were executed, some were exiled, and some refigured themselves as Naqshbandiyah to ride out the persecution. Nevertheless, by the second half of the nineteenth century, the Bektasis had regained their tekkes and were publishing numerous books. Politically, many Bektasis of this period were progressive and included members of the Young Turks as well as Albanian patriots. Nonetheless, the Bektasis again suffered the closing of their tekkes when in 1925 Ataturk abolished all Sufi orders in the Republic of Turkey. In response, the Bektasis moved their headquarters from Anatolia to Albania.
With the Communist takeover of Albania in 1944, the Bektasis again began to suffer restrictions. In 1945, all property of religious institutions was confiscated in Albania, and in 1947 an attempt was made to force celibate Bektasi clerics to marry. The 1967 proclamation of Albania as an atheist state was followed by more destruction of Bektasi tombs and mausoleums (turbes), along with mosques and churches. Countering this, Albanian immigrants and refugees in America established a Bektasi tekke in Michigan in 1953. Yet another blow to the Bektasis followed in 1957, when the government in Egypt under Nasser closed the Bektasi tekke in the Muqattam outside Cairo, which since the nineteenth century had been led by Albanian babas.
In the 1990s, the situation in both Albania and Turkey improved somewhat for Bektasis. The Communist regime in Albania fell in 1990-1991, and the Bektasi headquarters there re-opened in April 1991. In Turkey, there was recognition of the contribution of the Bektasis to Turkish culture through their extensive spiritual poetry that is largely in Turkish. After great decline in the early part of the century, there has recently been some growth in Bektasi fellowships in Turkey and among Turkish guest workers in Europe. Further, in the second half of the twentieth century there has been public acknowledgment by Bektasis that the village Alevis and the Bektasis have much in common in terms of practice and belief.
Overall, the Bektasi order was an important expression of and influence on Islam among Turkish people in Anatolia and an important agent of Islam in the Balkans. Its practices, theology, and link with the Janissaries attest to the wide range of variation in Islam. The spiritual poetry produced and preserved by its adherents is a valued contribution to Turkish and Albanian culture.
The Bektasi order was widespread in the Ottoman Empire, their lodges being scattered throughout Anatolia as well as many parts of Balkans and the imperial city of Istanbul. The order had close ties with the Janissary corps, the bulk of the Ottoman Army. With the abolition of Janissaries, the Bektasi order was banned throughout the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826. This decision was supported by the Sunni religious elite as well as the leaders of other, more orthodox, Sufi orders. Bektasi tekkes were closed and their dervishes were exiled. Bektasis slowly regained freedom with the coming of the Tanzimat era. The first American college in the Middle East, Robert College, was built close to a Bektasi tekke in Bebek north of Istanbul and an excellent relationship between the Unitarian founders of the college and the leaders of the tekke followed. After the foundation of republic, Kemal Atatürk banned all Sufi orders and shut down the lodges in 1925. Consequently, the Bektasi leadership moved to Albania and established their headquarters in the city of Tirana.
Despite the negative effect of this ban on Bektasi culture, most Bektasis in Turkey have been generally supportive of secularism to this day, since these reforms have relatively relaxed the religious intolerance that had historically been shown against them by the official Sunni establishment.
In the Balkans the Bektasi order had a considerable impact on the Islamization of many areas, primarily Albania, Greece and Bulgaria, as well as parts of Macedonia. By the 18th century Bektasism began to gain a considerable hold over the population of southern Albania and northern Greece. Following the ban on Sufi orders in the Republic of Turkey, the Bektasi community's headquarters was moved from Hacıbektaş in central Anatolia to Tirana, Albania. In Albania, the Bektasi community declared its separation from the Sunni community and they were recognized ever after as a distinct Islamic sect rather than a branch of Sunni Islam, as are most other Sufi orders. Bektasism continued to flourish until the Second World War. After the communists took power in 1945, several babas and dervishes were executed and a gradual constriction of Bektasi influence began. Ultimately, in 1967 all tekkes were shut down when Enver Hoxha banned all religious practice. When this ban was rescinded in 1990 Bektasism reestablished itself, although there were few left with any real knowledge of the spiritual path. Nevertheless many tekkes (lodges) operate today in Albania. Approximately twenty percent (20%) of Albanians identify themselves as having some connection to the Bektasis. Following the post-communist rise of Sunni Islam in the country the Bektasi community became the target of vandalism and threats of violence.
There are also important Bektasi communities among the Albanian communities of Macedonia and Kosovo, the most important being the Harabati Baba Tekke in the city of Tetovo, which was until recently under the guidance of Baba Tahir Emini (1941-2006). Following the death of Baba Tahir Emini, the dedelik of Tirana appointed Baba Edmond Brahimaj (Baba Mondi), formerly head of the Turan Tekke of Korçë, to oversee the Harabati Baba Tekke.
A large functioning Bektasi tekke was established in the United States in 1954 by Baba Rexheb. This tekke is found in the Detroit suburb of Taylor and the tomb (turbe) of Baba Rexheb continues to draw pilgrims of all faiths.
It is also widely believed that the controversial 17th century Jewish Messiah Sabbatai Zevi was greatly influenced by Bektasi sufis after his conversion to Islam. His tomb in the Montenegrin town of Ulcinj is still venerated by local Muslims.
In 2002, a group of armed members of the Islamic Community of Macedonia (ICM), the legally recognized organization which claimed to represent all Muslims in Macedonia, invaded the Harabati Baba Tekke in an attempt to reclaim the tekke as a mosque, although the facility had never functioned as such. Subsequently the Bektasi community of Macedonia sued the Macedonian government for failing to restore the tekke to the Bektasi community, pursuant to a law passed in the early 1990s returning property previously nationalized under the Yugoslav government. The law, however, deals with restitution to private citizens, rather than religious communities. The ICM claim to the tekke was based upon their contention to represent all Muslims in Macedonia; and indeed, they are one of two Muslim organizations recognized by the government, both Sunni. The (Shi'i) Bektasi community filed for recognition as a separate religious community with the Macedonian government in 1993, but the Macedonian government refused to recognize them.
Bektashi see Bektashiyya
Bektashiyah see Bektashiyya
Bektasi see Bektashiyya
Bektashiyya (Bektashi) (Bektashi) (Bektasi). Sufi (dervish) order in Turkey, whose patron is Hajji Bektash Wali (Veli) from Khurasan in the thirteenth century. The Bektashis, who in their secret doctrines are Shi‘is, show the general features of popular mysticism and disregard Muslim ritual and worship. Bektashi was very popular amongst the Ottoman Janissaries.
The Bektashiyah Sufi order became widespread in the Ottoman Empire and today has communities in Turkey, in Albanian regions of the Balkans, and among Albanian immigrants in North America. Bektashiyah is the Arabic form of its name, while in Turkish it is Bektasi. The Bektasi order traces its origin to central Anatolia in the thirteenth century. It takes its name from Haji Bektash Veli, a religious leader from Khurasan in northeast Iran, who, according to tradition, was sent by command of the famous Sufi of western Turkestan, Ahmed Yesevi, to Anatolia where he settled in a village near the present city of Kirsehir. The organization of the Bektasi order, however, is credited to a later personage, Balim Sultan, known as the “Second Pir” (patron saint) of the order, who became head of the Bektasis in 1501. Balim Sultan was born of at least partly Bulgarian parentage near the city of Edirne, now in European Turkey. In addition to centralizing authority at the Bektasi headquarters in Anatolia, Balim Sultan instituted the celibate branch of the order that has continued to co-exist with the married branch.
Central to Bektasi teachings is the importance of the spiritual teacher (in Arabic, murshid; in Turkish, mursit). One cannot progress in spiritual growth without a spiritual teacher, and prayer and blessings are mediated by the teacher. Unlike orthodox Muslims, Bektasis believe in intercession. This intercession can also be through earlier spiritual teachers, including the two pirs of the order, the saints, the twelve imams, and ‘Ali, whom the Bektasis as well as many other Sufi orders view as the one who revealed mystic understanding of the Qur’an. Thus, the Bektasis are ‘Alid in orientation, professing strong love and loyalty to Ehli Beyt, the “household of the Prophet.” They have been called Shi‘is but theologically they differ from many Shi‘is in their emphasis on the mystic path, as well as in their understanding of Muhammad and ‘Ali, which includes reference to “Muhammad ‘Ali” as a single personage; thus they both raise the status of ‘Ali and emphasize the complementarity and unity of the word of God and its mystical dimension. Practices that reflect the ‘Alid orientation of the Bektasis are their two main annual holidays: Asure (in Arabic, ‘Ashura’), which commemorates the martyrdom of ‘Ali’s son Husayn; and Nevruz (Nawruz), which is celebrated at the spring equinox and is understood as the birthday of ‘Ali.
Additional practices that are distinctively Bektasi include their initiation rites. These rites are private, reserved for other initiated members, and include ceremonial use of candles, sheepskins, and sweet drink. What is striking about these rites, in the context of Islamic society, is the presence of unveiled women. Bektasis have always accepted women as initiated members, thereby sanctioning their participation in these ceremonies.
Another Bektasi practice is their communal praise of God (dhikr), which involves the alternation of the chanting of spiritual poetry (nefes) with formalized sharing of food and drink. Much of the teaching of the order is in these spiritual poems. Also distinctive is a disregard for certain basic practices of Islam; for example, Bektasis pray twice daily rather than five times. Finally, during the ten day period before Asure, Bektasis engage in a special fast and each evening read aloud from the sixteenth century Turkish poet Fuzuli’s account of the suffering of the prophets and martyrs.
Throughout their history, the Bektasis have been criticized by Sunni Muslim authorities for a range of offenses, from laxness in following standard Muslim practices and immorality in including women in their private rites, to heresy in elevating ‘Ali to the level of the prophet Muhammad or above him, and in comparing both to God. (These last allegations of heresy reflect non-mystic Sunnis’ inability to deal with the mystic expression.) Yet despite these criticisms, the order flourished in the Ottoman Empire among townspeople (in contrast to the Mevlevi order, which drew more urban intellectuals), in frontier regions in the Balkans, and among the Janissaries, the elite troops of the empire. Estimates of the number of Bektasis in 1900 range from one to seven million. Careful sources report ten percent of the population of Turkey and fifteen percent of the population of Albania as being directly or indirectly influenced by the order at that time. The popularity of the Bektasi order may be partly explained in that it embodied and also shaped popular Turkish piety, and that it was syncretistic in its inclusion of pre-Islamic pagan and Christian elements, thus appealing to populations that were formerly Christian. Certainly, it provided a broader range of religious expression than the mosque; socially, it added communal networks of interaction at a local level and across the empire.
In addition to its religious and social roles in more settled communities, the Bektasi order was a source of missionaries of Islam who traveled with Ottoman forces into the Balkans. The mobility and simplicity of Bektasi organization, its relaxed attitude toward the letter of Muslim law, and its tolerance of non-Muslim peoples were all well suited to facilitating the gradual conversion of people in these regions.
The Bektasis also had a longstanding special relationship with the Janissaries, many of whom had been born of Christian parents. Scholars have debated the onset of this relationship, but it was in place at least by the end of the fifteenth century (the Janissaries were founded in the fourteenth). The Bektasis officially blessed the troops, provided an ideology of bonding among them, and traveled with them as chaplains. This relationship was also a source of political power for the Bektasis within the empire.
The connection of the Bektasis with the Janissaries was such that in 1826, when Sultan Mahmud II abolished the Janissaries as part of his campaign to modernize the military, the Bektasis were also targeted. Bektasi tekkes, or centers, were destroyed. Some Bektasi leaders were executed, some were exiled, and some refigured themselves as Naqshbandiyah to ride out the persecution. Nevertheless, by the second half of the nineteenth century, the Bektasis had regained their tekkes and were publishing numerous books. Politically, many Bektasis of this period were progressive and included members of the Young Turks as well as Albanian patriots. Nonetheless, the Bektasis again suffered the closing of their tekkes when in 1925 Ataturk abolished all Sufi orders in the Republic of Turkey. In response, the Bektasis moved their headquarters from Anatolia to Albania.
With the Communist takeover of Albania in 1944, the Bektasis again began to suffer restrictions. In 1945, all property of religious institutions was confiscated in Albania, and in 1947 an attempt was made to force celibate Bektasi clerics to marry. The 1967 proclamation of Albania as an atheist state was followed by more destruction of Bektasi tombs and mausoleums (turbes), along with mosques and churches. Countering this, Albanian immigrants and refugees in America established a Bektasi tekke in Michigan in 1953. Yet another blow to the Bektasis followed in 1957, when the government in Egypt under Nasser closed the Bektasi tekke in the Muqattam outside Cairo, which since the nineteenth century had been led by Albanian babas.
In the 1990s, the situation in both Albania and Turkey improved somewhat for Bektasis. The Communist regime in Albania fell in 1990-1991, and the Bektasi headquarters there re-opened in April 1991. In Turkey, there was recognition of the contribution of the Bektasis to Turkish culture through their extensive spiritual poetry that is largely in Turkish. After great decline in the early part of the century, there has recently been some growth in Bektasi fellowships in Turkey and among Turkish guest workers in Europe. Further, in the second half of the twentieth century there has been public acknowledgment by Bektasis that the village Alevis and the Bektasis have much in common in terms of practice and belief.
Overall, the Bektasi order was an important expression of and influence on Islam among Turkish people in Anatolia and an important agent of Islam in the Balkans. Its practices, theology, and link with the Janissaries attest to the wide range of variation in Islam. The spiritual poetry produced and preserved by its adherents is a valued contribution to Turkish and Albanian culture.
The Bektasi order was widespread in the Ottoman Empire, their lodges being scattered throughout Anatolia as well as many parts of Balkans and the imperial city of Istanbul. The order had close ties with the Janissary corps, the bulk of the Ottoman Army. With the abolition of Janissaries, the Bektasi order was banned throughout the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826. This decision was supported by the Sunni religious elite as well as the leaders of other, more orthodox, Sufi orders. Bektasi tekkes were closed and their dervishes were exiled. Bektasis slowly regained freedom with the coming of the Tanzimat era. The first American college in the Middle East, Robert College, was built close to a Bektasi tekke in Bebek north of Istanbul and an excellent relationship between the Unitarian founders of the college and the leaders of the tekke followed. After the foundation of republic, Kemal Atatürk banned all Sufi orders and shut down the lodges in 1925. Consequently, the Bektasi leadership moved to Albania and established their headquarters in the city of Tirana.
Despite the negative effect of this ban on Bektasi culture, most Bektasis in Turkey have been generally supportive of secularism to this day, since these reforms have relatively relaxed the religious intolerance that had historically been shown against them by the official Sunni establishment.
In the Balkans the Bektasi order had a considerable impact on the Islamization of many areas, primarily Albania, Greece and Bulgaria, as well as parts of Macedonia. By the 18th century Bektasism began to gain a considerable hold over the population of southern Albania and northern Greece. Following the ban on Sufi orders in the Republic of Turkey, the Bektasi community's headquarters was moved from Hacıbektaş in central Anatolia to Tirana, Albania. In Albania, the Bektasi community declared its separation from the Sunni community and they were recognized ever after as a distinct Islamic sect rather than a branch of Sunni Islam, as are most other Sufi orders. Bektasism continued to flourish until the Second World War. After the communists took power in 1945, several babas and dervishes were executed and a gradual constriction of Bektasi influence began. Ultimately, in 1967 all tekkes were shut down when Enver Hoxha banned all religious practice. When this ban was rescinded in 1990 Bektasism reestablished itself, although there were few left with any real knowledge of the spiritual path. Nevertheless many tekkes (lodges) operate today in Albania. Approximately twenty percent (20%) of Albanians identify themselves as having some connection to the Bektasis. Following the post-communist rise of Sunni Islam in the country the Bektasi community became the target of vandalism and threats of violence.
There are also important Bektasi communities among the Albanian communities of Macedonia and Kosovo, the most important being the Harabati Baba Tekke in the city of Tetovo, which was until recently under the guidance of Baba Tahir Emini (1941-2006). Following the death of Baba Tahir Emini, the dedelik of Tirana appointed Baba Edmond Brahimaj (Baba Mondi), formerly head of the Turan Tekke of Korçë, to oversee the Harabati Baba Tekke.
A large functioning Bektasi tekke was established in the United States in 1954 by Baba Rexheb. This tekke is found in the Detroit suburb of Taylor and the tomb (turbe) of Baba Rexheb continues to draw pilgrims of all faiths.
It is also widely believed that the controversial 17th century Jewish Messiah Sabbatai Zevi was greatly influenced by Bektasi sufis after his conversion to Islam. His tomb in the Montenegrin town of Ulcinj is still venerated by local Muslims.
In 2002, a group of armed members of the Islamic Community of Macedonia (ICM), the legally recognized organization which claimed to represent all Muslims in Macedonia, invaded the Harabati Baba Tekke in an attempt to reclaim the tekke as a mosque, although the facility had never functioned as such. Subsequently the Bektasi community of Macedonia sued the Macedonian government for failing to restore the tekke to the Bektasi community, pursuant to a law passed in the early 1990s returning property previously nationalized under the Yugoslav government. The law, however, deals with restitution to private citizens, rather than religious communities. The ICM claim to the tekke was based upon their contention to represent all Muslims in Macedonia; and indeed, they are one of two Muslim organizations recognized by the government, both Sunni. The (Shi'i) Bektasi community filed for recognition as a separate religious community with the Macedonian government in 1993, but the Macedonian government refused to recognize them.
Bektashi see Bektashiyya
Bektashiyah see Bektashiyya
Bektasi see Bektashiyya
Bel
Bel. Supreme god, or one of the chief gods, of the Babylonians. Bel is the Chaldaic form of Baal and is believed by some to be identical with that god. Like the equivalent Hebrew "Ba‘al", the name Bel was used also in the sense of “lord” or “owner.” Bel presided over the air. His consort was Belit. Bel was identified with the Greek god Zeus by the Greek historian Herodotus and was believed to have been different from the Syrian Baal. As Bel-Merodach, the god was connected with the planet Jupiter, associated in astral mythology with the productive power of nature.
Bel (pronounced "beɪl"; from Akkadian bēlu), signifying "lord" or "master", is a title rather than a genuine name, applied to various gods in Babylonian religion. The feminine form is Belit ("Lady" or "Mistress"). Bel is represented in Greek as Belos and in Latin as Belus. Linguistically, Bel is an East Semitic form cognate with Northwest Semitic Ba‘al with the same meaning.
Early translators of Akkadian believed that the ideogram for the god called in Sumerian Enlil was to be read as Bel in Akkadian. This is now known to be incorrect; but one finds Bel used in referring to Enlil in older translations and discussions.
Bel became especially used of the Babylonian god Marduk and when found in Assyrian and neo-Babylonian personal names or mentioned in inscriptions in a Mesopotamian context it can usually be taken as referring to Marduk and no other god. Similarly, Belit without some disambiguation mostly refers to Bel Marduk's spouse Sarpanit. However, Marduk's mother, the Sumerian goddess called Ninhursag, Damkina, Ninmah and other names in Sumerian, was often known as Belit-ili ("Lady of the Gods") in Akkadian.
Of course other gods called "Lord" could be and sometimes were identified totally or in part with Bel Marduk. The god Malak-bel of Palmyra is an example, though in the later period from which most of our information comes he seems to have become very much a sun god which Marduk was not.
Similarly Zeus Belus mentioned by Sanchuniathon as born to Cronus/El in Peraea is certainly most unlikely to be Marduk.
Bel is named in the Bible at Isaiah 46:1 and Jeremiah 50:2 and 51:44.
Baal see Bel.
“lord” see Bel.
“owner” see Bel.
Bel. Supreme god, or one of the chief gods, of the Babylonians. Bel is the Chaldaic form of Baal and is believed by some to be identical with that god. Like the equivalent Hebrew "Ba‘al", the name Bel was used also in the sense of “lord” or “owner.” Bel presided over the air. His consort was Belit. Bel was identified with the Greek god Zeus by the Greek historian Herodotus and was believed to have been different from the Syrian Baal. As Bel-Merodach, the god was connected with the planet Jupiter, associated in astral mythology with the productive power of nature.
Bel (pronounced "beɪl"; from Akkadian bēlu), signifying "lord" or "master", is a title rather than a genuine name, applied to various gods in Babylonian religion. The feminine form is Belit ("Lady" or "Mistress"). Bel is represented in Greek as Belos and in Latin as Belus. Linguistically, Bel is an East Semitic form cognate with Northwest Semitic Ba‘al with the same meaning.
Early translators of Akkadian believed that the ideogram for the god called in Sumerian Enlil was to be read as Bel in Akkadian. This is now known to be incorrect; but one finds Bel used in referring to Enlil in older translations and discussions.
Bel became especially used of the Babylonian god Marduk and when found in Assyrian and neo-Babylonian personal names or mentioned in inscriptions in a Mesopotamian context it can usually be taken as referring to Marduk and no other god. Similarly, Belit without some disambiguation mostly refers to Bel Marduk's spouse Sarpanit. However, Marduk's mother, the Sumerian goddess called Ninhursag, Damkina, Ninmah and other names in Sumerian, was often known as Belit-ili ("Lady of the Gods") in Akkadian.
Of course other gods called "Lord" could be and sometimes were identified totally or in part with Bel Marduk. The god Malak-bel of Palmyra is an example, though in the later period from which most of our information comes he seems to have become very much a sun god which Marduk was not.
Similarly Zeus Belus mentioned by Sanchuniathon as born to Cronus/El in Peraea is certainly most unlikely to be Marduk.
Bel is named in the Bible at Isaiah 46:1 and Jeremiah 50:2 and 51:44.
Baal see Bel.
“lord” see Bel.
“owner” see Bel.
Belchoir
Belchoir. Brazilian black Muslim slave who was a leader in the ill-fated revolt of Hausa slaves in Bahia, Brazil, in 1835.
Belchoir. Brazilian black Muslim slave who was a leader in the ill-fated revolt of Hausa slaves in Bahia, Brazil, in 1835.
Bello
Bello (Alhaji Ahmadu Bello) (1909-1966). Most powerful leader at the time of Nigerian independence whose career illustrated the use of Western tools to achieve traditional recognition.
Alhaji Ahmadu Bello was born near Sokoto. He was a direct descendant of ‘Uthman dan Fodio, the legendary leader of the Islamic revolution in the Hausa states of northern Nigeria.
Bello graduated with honors from Katsina College in 1931 and became a teacher in Sokoto. At that time, the most powerful and prestigious office in northern Nigeria was the position of Sultan of Sokoto, the ruler of the Fula empire. Under the British system of indirect rule, the Sultan virtually controlled the internal affairs of northern Nigeria. When the reigning Sultan died in 1938, Bello aspired to the position, but lost to Abubakar, a rival who appointed Bello to the position of Sardauna – “leader of war” -- and put Bello in charge of a section of Sokoto.
In 1943, Bello was convicted by the Sultan’s court for misappropriation of the cattle tax revenues. Bello responded in a most non-traditional manner by appealing the decision to the British magistrate, who reversed the conviction.
In 1948, Bello went to England on a scholarship to study local government. Afterwards, Bello was reconciled with the Sultan.
In 1949, the Sultan chose Bello to serve as Sokoto’s representative in the advisory northern assembly. The Sultan, with little Western education and no inclination for constitutional politics, was content to leave the task of party organization to Bello, who accepted it willingly.
In 1951, Bello was instrumental in forming the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) as a vehicle for northern domination of federal politics. The NPC, with traditional sanction, quickly overwhelmed an older and more radical party.
Bello was elected to both the regional and national assemblies, but preferred to concentrate his energies on the north. Because of the large population in the north, the NPC became dominant in national politics.
Shortly after the 1951-1952 elections, Bello and the NPC forced the defeat of a resolution calling for independence by 1956.
In 1954, Bello became prime minister of the northern region.
Because Bello preferred to remain in the north, the position of federal chief minister fell to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the NPC vice-president.
In 1959, after federal elections, the NPC formed a coalition with the party representing the western region, and Balewa became Nigeria’s first prime minister. Remaining in the north, Bello devoted considerable energy in maintaining his status with the Sokoto Caliphate. In essence, Bello wanted to become Sultan and he did not conceal his ambition.
Bello bolstered his standing among Islamic authorities by visiting Mecca annually, sponsoring theological conventions, and building lavish mosques. He often publicly compared himself with his famous nineteenth century ancestors. His concern with traditional status and belief in natural rulers may have blinded Bello to the social forces which were tearing the fabric of Nigerian society.
In 1966, Bello and his associate, Balewa, were assassinated in a military coup which brought to an end the dominance of the north in Nigerian politics.
Alhaji Ahmadu Bello see Bello
Bello (Alhaji Ahmadu Bello) (1909-1966). Most powerful leader at the time of Nigerian independence whose career illustrated the use of Western tools to achieve traditional recognition.
Alhaji Ahmadu Bello was born near Sokoto. He was a direct descendant of ‘Uthman dan Fodio, the legendary leader of the Islamic revolution in the Hausa states of northern Nigeria.
Bello graduated with honors from Katsina College in 1931 and became a teacher in Sokoto. At that time, the most powerful and prestigious office in northern Nigeria was the position of Sultan of Sokoto, the ruler of the Fula empire. Under the British system of indirect rule, the Sultan virtually controlled the internal affairs of northern Nigeria. When the reigning Sultan died in 1938, Bello aspired to the position, but lost to Abubakar, a rival who appointed Bello to the position of Sardauna – “leader of war” -- and put Bello in charge of a section of Sokoto.
In 1943, Bello was convicted by the Sultan’s court for misappropriation of the cattle tax revenues. Bello responded in a most non-traditional manner by appealing the decision to the British magistrate, who reversed the conviction.
In 1948, Bello went to England on a scholarship to study local government. Afterwards, Bello was reconciled with the Sultan.
In 1949, the Sultan chose Bello to serve as Sokoto’s representative in the advisory northern assembly. The Sultan, with little Western education and no inclination for constitutional politics, was content to leave the task of party organization to Bello, who accepted it willingly.
In 1951, Bello was instrumental in forming the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) as a vehicle for northern domination of federal politics. The NPC, with traditional sanction, quickly overwhelmed an older and more radical party.
Bello was elected to both the regional and national assemblies, but preferred to concentrate his energies on the north. Because of the large population in the north, the NPC became dominant in national politics.
Shortly after the 1951-1952 elections, Bello and the NPC forced the defeat of a resolution calling for independence by 1956.
In 1954, Bello became prime minister of the northern region.
Because Bello preferred to remain in the north, the position of federal chief minister fell to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the NPC vice-president.
In 1959, after federal elections, the NPC formed a coalition with the party representing the western region, and Balewa became Nigeria’s first prime minister. Remaining in the north, Bello devoted considerable energy in maintaining his status with the Sokoto Caliphate. In essence, Bello wanted to become Sultan and he did not conceal his ambition.
Bello bolstered his standing among Islamic authorities by visiting Mecca annually, sponsoring theological conventions, and building lavish mosques. He often publicly compared himself with his famous nineteenth century ancestors. His concern with traditional status and belief in natural rulers may have blinded Bello to the social forces which were tearing the fabric of Nigerian society.
In 1966, Bello and his associate, Balewa, were assassinated in a military coup which brought to an end the dominance of the north in Nigerian politics.
Alhaji Ahmadu Bello see Bello
Ben Abdesselem
Ben Abdesselem (Rhadi Ben Abdesselem). Moroccan runner who won the silver medal (finished second) to Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia in the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Rhadi Ben Abdesselem see Ben Abdesselem
Ben Abdesselem (Rhadi Ben Abdesselem). Moroccan runner who won the silver medal (finished second) to Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia in the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Rhadi Ben Abdesselem see Ben Abdesselem
Ben 'Ali
Ben 'Ali (Zine el Abidine Ben 'Ali) (Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali) (b. September 3, 1936, near Sousse, Tunisia). President of Tunisia (1987-2011).
Ben 'Ali was trained in France at the military academy of Saint-Cyr and at the artillery school at Châlons-sur-Marne. He also studied engineering in the United States. From 1964 to 1974 he was head of Tunisian military security, a post that brought him into top government circles. In 1974 he began a three-year term as military attaché to the Tunisian embassy in Morocco. He then returned to Tunisia to become head of national security, and in 1980 he became ambassador to Poland. After his return, he was appointed state secretary for national security in 1984 and a cabinet minister in 1985. Ben 'Ali gained a reputation as a hard-liner in suppressing riots in 1978 and 1984, and in 1986 he became minister of the interior, taking an active role in rooting out the Islamic Tendency Movement, a violent fundamentalist group. In October 1987, President Habib Bourguiba appointed him prime minister. Bourguiba, who had ruled Tunisia since its independence from France in 1956, was ill and considered by many to be unfit to continue in office, and on November 7 Ben Ali deposed him in a peaceful coup.
Ben 'Ali was expected to favor a somewhat less secular government than Bourguiba’s, with a more moderate approach toward religious fundamentalists. In elections held on April 2, 1989, he received more than 99 percent of the votes. In 1991, however, he banned the Nahḍah (“Renaissance”) party and called for the suppression of Islamic militants, and from that point on he came under increasing criticism for his human rights policies. As head of the Democratic Constitutional Rally (Rassemblement Constitutionnel Démocratique), he won re-election in 1994, 1999, 2004, and 2009, each time by an overwhelming margin.
However, in late December 2010, protests against poverty, unemployment, and political repression erupted in Tunisia, with many of the demonstrators demanding that Ben Ali resign. Dozens of protesters were killed in clashes with security forces, provoking outcry from human rights groups. In January 2011, Ben 'Ali made several attempts to placate the opposition by expressing regret for the deaths of protesters and vowing to create jobs, control food prices, and increase political freedom. On January 13, he acknowledged popular dissatisfaction with his administration by promising to step down as president at the end of his term in 2014. However, the protests continued to intensify and, on January 14, Tunisian state media announced that the government had been dissolved and legislative elections would be held in the next six months. When that failed to quell protests, Ben 'Ali stepped down as president and left the country, fleeing to Saudi Arabia.
It was widely suspected that Ben 'Ali and his family had built a fortune worth billions of dollars by illegally appropriating national assets and skimming wealth from most sectors of the Tunisian economy. Following Ben 'Ali’s departure, Tunisian prosecutors opened an investigation into the finances of Ben 'Ali and his relatives, and Switzerland agreed to freeze any of Ben 'Ali’s assets in Swiss banks. Several days after opening the investigation, the Tunisian minister of justice, Lazhar Karoui Chebbi, announced that the interim government had issued an international arrest warrant for Ben 'Ali and several members of his family. However, Saudi Arabia, where Ben 'Ali remained in exile, refused Tunisia’s request to extradite the former president.
In June 2011, a Tunisian court convicted Ben 'Ali and his wife, Leila Trabelsi, in absentia, of having embezzled public funds and sentenced them to 35 years in prison. The trial, which lasted only a few hours, focused on large quantities of cash and jewels found in one of Ben 'Ali’s palaces. In a second trial held in July, Ben 'Ali was convicted of smuggling drugs, guns, and archaeological objects and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He still faced a number of criminal charges for corruption and for his role in ordering the use of lethal force against protesters.
Zine el Abidine Ben 'Ali see Ben 'Ali
Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali see Ben 'Ali
Ben 'Ali (Zine el Abidine Ben 'Ali) (Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali) (b. September 3, 1936, near Sousse, Tunisia). President of Tunisia (1987-2011).
Ben 'Ali was trained in France at the military academy of Saint-Cyr and at the artillery school at Châlons-sur-Marne. He also studied engineering in the United States. From 1964 to 1974 he was head of Tunisian military security, a post that brought him into top government circles. In 1974 he began a three-year term as military attaché to the Tunisian embassy in Morocco. He then returned to Tunisia to become head of national security, and in 1980 he became ambassador to Poland. After his return, he was appointed state secretary for national security in 1984 and a cabinet minister in 1985. Ben 'Ali gained a reputation as a hard-liner in suppressing riots in 1978 and 1984, and in 1986 he became minister of the interior, taking an active role in rooting out the Islamic Tendency Movement, a violent fundamentalist group. In October 1987, President Habib Bourguiba appointed him prime minister. Bourguiba, who had ruled Tunisia since its independence from France in 1956, was ill and considered by many to be unfit to continue in office, and on November 7 Ben Ali deposed him in a peaceful coup.
Ben 'Ali was expected to favor a somewhat less secular government than Bourguiba’s, with a more moderate approach toward religious fundamentalists. In elections held on April 2, 1989, he received more than 99 percent of the votes. In 1991, however, he banned the Nahḍah (“Renaissance”) party and called for the suppression of Islamic militants, and from that point on he came under increasing criticism for his human rights policies. As head of the Democratic Constitutional Rally (Rassemblement Constitutionnel Démocratique), he won re-election in 1994, 1999, 2004, and 2009, each time by an overwhelming margin.
However, in late December 2010, protests against poverty, unemployment, and political repression erupted in Tunisia, with many of the demonstrators demanding that Ben Ali resign. Dozens of protesters were killed in clashes with security forces, provoking outcry from human rights groups. In January 2011, Ben 'Ali made several attempts to placate the opposition by expressing regret for the deaths of protesters and vowing to create jobs, control food prices, and increase political freedom. On January 13, he acknowledged popular dissatisfaction with his administration by promising to step down as president at the end of his term in 2014. However, the protests continued to intensify and, on January 14, Tunisian state media announced that the government had been dissolved and legislative elections would be held in the next six months. When that failed to quell protests, Ben 'Ali stepped down as president and left the country, fleeing to Saudi Arabia.
It was widely suspected that Ben 'Ali and his family had built a fortune worth billions of dollars by illegally appropriating national assets and skimming wealth from most sectors of the Tunisian economy. Following Ben 'Ali’s departure, Tunisian prosecutors opened an investigation into the finances of Ben 'Ali and his relatives, and Switzerland agreed to freeze any of Ben 'Ali’s assets in Swiss banks. Several days after opening the investigation, the Tunisian minister of justice, Lazhar Karoui Chebbi, announced that the interim government had issued an international arrest warrant for Ben 'Ali and several members of his family. However, Saudi Arabia, where Ben 'Ali remained in exile, refused Tunisia’s request to extradite the former president.
In June 2011, a Tunisian court convicted Ben 'Ali and his wife, Leila Trabelsi, in absentia, of having embezzled public funds and sentenced them to 35 years in prison. The trial, which lasted only a few hours, focused on large quantities of cash and jewels found in one of Ben 'Ali’s palaces. In a second trial held in July, Ben 'Ali was convicted of smuggling drugs, guns, and archaeological objects and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He still faced a number of criminal charges for corruption and for his role in ordering the use of lethal force against protesters.
Zine el Abidine Ben 'Ali see Ben 'Ali
Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali see Ben 'Ali
Ben Bella
Ben Bella (Ahmed Ben Bella) (Mohamed Ahmed Ben Bella) (Muhammad Ahmad Bin Balla) (b. December 25, 1918). First president of Algeria (1963-65). He was born in Marnia (Maghnia), Algeria. He fought in the French army in World War II and was decorated for bravery. After the war, he began to fight for Algerian independence. He was arrested in 1952, but escaped and fled to Cairo. In 1954, Ben Bella was one of the nine original members of the revolutionary committee that later became the Algerian National Liberation Front (Front de Liberation Nationale, or FLN). He was an arms procurer for the FLN in 1956, when he was captured aboard a plane and imprisoned in France. When France agreed to Algerian independence in 1962, Ben Bella was freed, and he returned to Algeria. Defeating his rival, Yusuf Ben Kheddha (b. 1920), for power in 1962, Ben Bella became premier and later president. As such, he grew increasingly preoccupied with international leadership and more and more autocratic at home. Overthrown in 1965 by his old Ally, Houari Boumedienne, Ben Bella was placed under house arrest and was not released until 1980.
Ben Bella was born in a small village in western Algeria during the height of the French colonial period to a Sufi Muslim family. He attended school in Tlemcen and was disturbed by the discrimination practiced towards Muslims by his European teacher. He failed his brevet exam, and subsequently dropped out of school.
Ben Bella volunteered for service in the French Army in 1936. The Army was one of the few avenues of advancement for Algerian Muslims under colonial rule and voluntary enlistment was common. Posted to Marseille he played center mid-field for Olympique de Marseille in 1939-1940. He was offered a professional spot on the team, but rejected the offer.
In 1940 Ben Bella enlisted again and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He was demobilised after the fall of France but joined a regiment of Moroccan tirailleurs (infantry) with whom he saw service throughout the Italian campaign. Ben Bella was promoted to the rank of warrant officer and received the Medaille Militaire for bravery. He refused to accept an officer's commission after learning of the harsh French repression that followed a Muslim rising in the small Algerian town of Setif in May 1945.
Following election as a municipal councillor, Ben Bella became a founding member of an underground organization pledged to fight colonial rule, known as the Organisation Spéciale. This was the immediate predecessor of the Front de Libération Nationale. Arrested in 1951 and sentenced to eight years imprisonment Ben Bella escaped from Blida prison, making his way to Tunisia and then Egypt.
At the outbreak of the Algerian War in 1954 Ben Bella was based in Cairo where he had become one of the nine members of the Revolutionary Committee of Unity and Action which headed the Front de Liberation Nationale. He was arrested by the French in 1956, after his airplane had been controversially intercepted and brought to France, and released in 1962. His arrest led to the resignation of Alain Savary, opposed to Guy Mollet's policies. While in prison he was elected a vice-premier of the Algerian provisional government. Ben Bella's first language was French, not Arabic. He learned Arabic while in prison. While in Egypt, Ben Bella met the Egyptian president, Gamel Abdel Nasser. When Abdel Nasser brought Ben Bella to speak for the first time to an Egyptian audience, he broke into tears because he could not speak Arabic. It has been said that he refused to teach his own daughter French because he wanted her to learn Arabic first and not be in the same position he was. Like many Arab militants of the time, he would come to describe himself as a "Nasserist" and developed close ties to Egypt even before independence was achieved. Abdel Nasser's material, emotional and political support of the Algerian movement would come to cause him troubles, as it played a major role in France's choice to wage war on him during the 1956 Suez Crisis.
Due to Pakistan's support of the Algerian struggle for self determination and independence, Ben Bella was given a Pakistani diplomatic passport in order to make his foreign travels possible in the face of the international hunt by the French and their allies. Ben Bella also traveled on a Pakistani diplomatic passport during the years of his exile from Algeria in 1980's.
After Algeria's independence was recognized, Ben Bella quickly became more popular, and thereby more powerful. In June 1962, he challenged the leadership of Premier Benyoucef Benkhedda. This led to several disputes among his rivals in the FLN, which were quickly suppressed by Ben Bella's rapidly growing number of supporters, most notably within the armed forces. By September, Bella was in control of Algeria by all but name, and was elected as premier in a one-sided election on September 20, which was recognized by the United States on September 29. Algeria was admitted as the 109th member of the United Nations on October 8, 1962.
In 1963, he was elected President in an uncontested election, and also led Algeria's costly but ultimately victorious defense against Moroccan invasion in the Sand war. After stabilizing the country, Ben Bella embarked on a series of popular but somewhat anarchic land reforms to the benefit of landless farmers, and increasingly turned to socialist rhetoric. His policy of Autogestion, or self-management, was adopted after the peasants seized former French lands. In balancing factions within the Algerian government, notably the FLN army, the former guerrillas and the state bureaucracy, his rule became increasingly autocratic. Eccentric and arrogant behavior towards colleagues is said to have alienated many former supporters, and, while he promoted the development of his own cult of personality, by 1964 he was dedicating more time to foreign affairs than local political developments. In 1965, Ben Bella was deposed by army strongman and close friend Houari Boumédiènne, and placed under house arrest until 1980, when he was granted exile in Switzerland. He lived for 10 years in Lausanne, but was allowed to return to his homeland in 1990.
Ben Bella was elected President of the International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq at its Cairo Conference. Ben Bella described himself numerous times in interviews as an Islamist of a mild and peace loving flavor. Despite his former one party state he later vocally advocated democracy in Algeria. He described the militant voice rising in the Islamic world as having developed from an incorrect and faulty interpretation of Islam. He was a controversial figure, but widely respected for his role in the anti-colonial struggle, and seen by many Arab intellectuals as one of the last original Arab nationalists.
Ben Bella also served as Chairperson of the African Union Panel of the Wise, which serves the purpose of a conflict prevention and mediation unit of the AU Commission.
Ahmed Ben Bella was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on April 30, 1964.
Ahmed Ben Bella see Ben Bella
Mohamed Ahmed Ben Bella see Ben Bella
Muhammad Ahmad Bin Balla see Ben Bella
Ben Bella (Ahmed Ben Bella) (Mohamed Ahmed Ben Bella) (Muhammad Ahmad Bin Balla) (b. December 25, 1918). First president of Algeria (1963-65). He was born in Marnia (Maghnia), Algeria. He fought in the French army in World War II and was decorated for bravery. After the war, he began to fight for Algerian independence. He was arrested in 1952, but escaped and fled to Cairo. In 1954, Ben Bella was one of the nine original members of the revolutionary committee that later became the Algerian National Liberation Front (Front de Liberation Nationale, or FLN). He was an arms procurer for the FLN in 1956, when he was captured aboard a plane and imprisoned in France. When France agreed to Algerian independence in 1962, Ben Bella was freed, and he returned to Algeria. Defeating his rival, Yusuf Ben Kheddha (b. 1920), for power in 1962, Ben Bella became premier and later president. As such, he grew increasingly preoccupied with international leadership and more and more autocratic at home. Overthrown in 1965 by his old Ally, Houari Boumedienne, Ben Bella was placed under house arrest and was not released until 1980.
Ben Bella was born in a small village in western Algeria during the height of the French colonial period to a Sufi Muslim family. He attended school in Tlemcen and was disturbed by the discrimination practiced towards Muslims by his European teacher. He failed his brevet exam, and subsequently dropped out of school.
Ben Bella volunteered for service in the French Army in 1936. The Army was one of the few avenues of advancement for Algerian Muslims under colonial rule and voluntary enlistment was common. Posted to Marseille he played center mid-field for Olympique de Marseille in 1939-1940. He was offered a professional spot on the team, but rejected the offer.
In 1940 Ben Bella enlisted again and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He was demobilised after the fall of France but joined a regiment of Moroccan tirailleurs (infantry) with whom he saw service throughout the Italian campaign. Ben Bella was promoted to the rank of warrant officer and received the Medaille Militaire for bravery. He refused to accept an officer's commission after learning of the harsh French repression that followed a Muslim rising in the small Algerian town of Setif in May 1945.
Following election as a municipal councillor, Ben Bella became a founding member of an underground organization pledged to fight colonial rule, known as the Organisation Spéciale. This was the immediate predecessor of the Front de Libération Nationale. Arrested in 1951 and sentenced to eight years imprisonment Ben Bella escaped from Blida prison, making his way to Tunisia and then Egypt.
At the outbreak of the Algerian War in 1954 Ben Bella was based in Cairo where he had become one of the nine members of the Revolutionary Committee of Unity and Action which headed the Front de Liberation Nationale. He was arrested by the French in 1956, after his airplane had been controversially intercepted and brought to France, and released in 1962. His arrest led to the resignation of Alain Savary, opposed to Guy Mollet's policies. While in prison he was elected a vice-premier of the Algerian provisional government. Ben Bella's first language was French, not Arabic. He learned Arabic while in prison. While in Egypt, Ben Bella met the Egyptian president, Gamel Abdel Nasser. When Abdel Nasser brought Ben Bella to speak for the first time to an Egyptian audience, he broke into tears because he could not speak Arabic. It has been said that he refused to teach his own daughter French because he wanted her to learn Arabic first and not be in the same position he was. Like many Arab militants of the time, he would come to describe himself as a "Nasserist" and developed close ties to Egypt even before independence was achieved. Abdel Nasser's material, emotional and political support of the Algerian movement would come to cause him troubles, as it played a major role in France's choice to wage war on him during the 1956 Suez Crisis.
Due to Pakistan's support of the Algerian struggle for self determination and independence, Ben Bella was given a Pakistani diplomatic passport in order to make his foreign travels possible in the face of the international hunt by the French and their allies. Ben Bella also traveled on a Pakistani diplomatic passport during the years of his exile from Algeria in 1980's.
After Algeria's independence was recognized, Ben Bella quickly became more popular, and thereby more powerful. In June 1962, he challenged the leadership of Premier Benyoucef Benkhedda. This led to several disputes among his rivals in the FLN, which were quickly suppressed by Ben Bella's rapidly growing number of supporters, most notably within the armed forces. By September, Bella was in control of Algeria by all but name, and was elected as premier in a one-sided election on September 20, which was recognized by the United States on September 29. Algeria was admitted as the 109th member of the United Nations on October 8, 1962.
In 1963, he was elected President in an uncontested election, and also led Algeria's costly but ultimately victorious defense against Moroccan invasion in the Sand war. After stabilizing the country, Ben Bella embarked on a series of popular but somewhat anarchic land reforms to the benefit of landless farmers, and increasingly turned to socialist rhetoric. His policy of Autogestion, or self-management, was adopted after the peasants seized former French lands. In balancing factions within the Algerian government, notably the FLN army, the former guerrillas and the state bureaucracy, his rule became increasingly autocratic. Eccentric and arrogant behavior towards colleagues is said to have alienated many former supporters, and, while he promoted the development of his own cult of personality, by 1964 he was dedicating more time to foreign affairs than local political developments. In 1965, Ben Bella was deposed by army strongman and close friend Houari Boumédiènne, and placed under house arrest until 1980, when he was granted exile in Switzerland. He lived for 10 years in Lausanne, but was allowed to return to his homeland in 1990.
Ben Bella was elected President of the International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq at its Cairo Conference. Ben Bella described himself numerous times in interviews as an Islamist of a mild and peace loving flavor. Despite his former one party state he later vocally advocated democracy in Algeria. He described the militant voice rising in the Islamic world as having developed from an incorrect and faulty interpretation of Islam. He was a controversial figure, but widely respected for his role in the anti-colonial struggle, and seen by many Arab intellectuals as one of the last original Arab nationalists.
Ben Bella also served as Chairperson of the African Union Panel of the Wise, which serves the purpose of a conflict prevention and mediation unit of the AU Commission.
Ahmed Ben Bella was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on April 30, 1964.
Ahmed Ben Bella see Ben Bella
Mohamed Ahmed Ben Bella see Ben Bella
Muhammad Ahmad Bin Balla see Ben Bella
Bendahara
Bendahara. Melakan/Malay court title. Generally, the bendahara was considered the prime minister and was ranked second in the hierarchy, after the sultan. The Code of Malacca describes the bendahara as “he who rules the peasantry, the army and those dependent on the state. His sway extends over all the islands and it is he who is the King’s lawgiver.” The exact status of the office varied over time. In 1512, it was held by the sultan’s younger brother, Mutahir, who was also the heir apparent. At other times (e.g., 1699) it was held by the most important lineage chief. In the early nineteenth century the last bendahara, under the Johor/Riau sultanate, was actually a territorial chief who ruled Pahang. His descendants were recognized as sultans of Pahang in 1890.
Bendahara was an administrative position within classical Malay kingdoms before the intervention of European powers during the 19th century. A bendahara was appointed by a sultan and was a hereditary post. The office that was held by the bendahara family. The bendahara and the Sultan shared the same lineage.
The closest post which is comparable to the post of bendahara of the Malay kingdoms are the viziers of the Islamic kingdoms. As the bendahara is the head of the nobility, the status confers certain responsibility. The bendahara is the backbone of the Malay Sultanate. For the ancient kingdom of Malacca and Johor, there were many tasks and responsibilities but the primary ones were:
* coronation and installation of the Sultan
* responsibility for the welfare of the Sultan
* adviser to his majesty on affairs of state based on Sharia and Adat (Prevailing norms and values)
* responsibility for the royal marriage, birth and funeral
* responsibility for the royal succession if the Sultan died without any heir
* acting as a vicegerent if the Sultan was still young
* acting on any command of the Sultan.
The legitimacy of the Sultan lies with the bendahara. The bendahara always consult the other nobles before arriving at a decision. The bendahara and nobles do this for the well-being of the subjects and consider essential if there are problems in the state. These tasks are more extensive than those of any vizier or modern prime minister.
The involvement of the British and the Dutch in the administration of the Malay States and the subsequent independence of Malaysia and Indonesia reduced the Bendahara to a symbolic title only.
In modern times, it is typical to render the position as prime minister. Though a bendahara's duties are similar to that of a prime minister's, the two terms are not interchangeable. One clear difference is the amount of power held by the two positions. In ancient times, the bendahara was typically the highest ranking official after the sultan but the sultan retained ultimate authority. The sultan was not answerable to the bendahara, or to anyone else for that matter. The sultan was not a ceremonial ruler like the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in contemporary Malaysia where the Prime Minister holds effective political power.
Though it is unclear when the title was first used, the Sultanate of Malacca had several influential bendaharas. The most famous is Tun Perak. Under Tun Perak's service which spanned several sultans, Malacca reached its height in the late 15th century. According to the Malay Annals and the Hikayat Hang Tuah, the bendahara secretly saved the life of Hang Tuah, a laksamana the sultan had ordered killed.
In 1612, Bendahara Tun Sri Lanang of the Sultanate of Johor was commissioned by Sultan Alauddin Riaayat Shah of Johor to compile Malay history and record it into a book. The book was known as Sulalatus Salatin and was later known as Sejarah Melayu, an important literary piece in Malay language history. In 1699, Bendahara Abdul Jalil became Sultan Abdul Jalil IV of Johor after the previous sultan, Mahmud Shah II was murdered, leaving no heir behind. After the rule of Sultan Abdul Jalil IV, the bendahara was awarded Pahang as his personal fief. Bendahara Tun Abbas and his descendents ruled Pahang continuously until Tun Mutahir, who was deposed in a civil war in 1863.
The current Terengganu sultanate was founded by Sultan Zainal Abidin I of Terengganu in 1708. He was the son of Tun Habib Abdul Majid, a 17th century bendahara of Johor.
Bendaharas of Malacca and Johore have been:
* Tun Perpatih Muka Berjajar, Bendahara
* Tun Perpatih Tulus, Bendahara of Malacca
* Raden Bagus, Bendahara of Malacca
* Raden Anum, Bendahara Sri Amar DiRaja, Bendahara of Malacca
* Tun Perpatih Sedang, Bendahara Sri Wak Raja, Bendahara of Malacca
* Tun Perpatih Putih, Bendahara Paduka Tuan, Bendahara of Malacca
* Tun Perak, Bendahara Paduka Raja, Bendahara of Malacca
* Tun Mutahir, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Bendahara of Malacca
* Tun Tepok, Bendahara Paduka Tuan, Bendahara of Malacca
After the fall of Malacca to the Portuguese, the Malacca Sultanate was succeeded by the Johore Sultanate. The bendaharas of Johore have been:
* Tun Khoja, Bendahara Paduka Raja, Bendahara of Johore
* Tun Biajid, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Bendahara of Johore
* Tun Mahmud, Bendahara Tun Narawangsa, Bendahara of Johore
* Tun Isap Misai, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Bendahara of Johore
* Tun Sri Lanang, Bendahara Paduka Raja, Bendahara of Johore. He was captured by the Acehnese forces and opted to remain in Aceh.
The following Bendaharas were sidelined by the palace following the rise of Laksamana Paduka Tuan
* Tun Anum, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Bendahara of Johore
* Tun Mat Ali, Bendahara Paduka Tuan, Bendahara of Johore
* Tun Rantau, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Bendahara of Johore. He was captured by the Jambi forces.
* Tun Habib Abdul Majid, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Bendahara Padang Saujana, restored back the position of the bendahara in the palace.
* Tun Abdul Jalil, Bendahara Paduka Raja, was elevated to the Sultan of Johore as Sultan Abdul Jalil IV following the death of Sultan Mahmud II. The Temenggung branch of his dynasty still rules the Malaysian state of Johore today.
* Tun Abbas, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Bendahara of Johore and Pahang
Following the elevation of Sultan Abdul Jalil IV, the bendahara was granted Pahang as his personal fief. From thereon afterwards the Bendahara of Johor was known as the Bendahara in Pahang. The bendahara is also known as "Raja Bendahara" for his status as the ruler of the vassal state of Pahang. Pahang was the vassal of the Johore Sultanate.
The bendahara in Pahang have been:
* Tun Abdul Majid, Raja Bendahara Pahang I (1777-1802)
* Tun Muhammad, Raja Bendahara Pahang II
* Tun Koris, Bendahara Paduka Raja, Raja Bendahara Pahang III (1803-1806)
* Tun Ali, Bendahara Siwa Raja, Raja Bendahara Pahang IV (1806-1847)
* Tun Mutahir, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Raja Bendahara Pahang V (1847-1863). He was the last reigning Raja Bendahara of Pahang. He was ousted by his brother Wan Ahmad who was later proclaimed as Sultan of Pahang after the dismemberment of the Johore Empire.
Bendahara. Melakan/Malay court title. Generally, the bendahara was considered the prime minister and was ranked second in the hierarchy, after the sultan. The Code of Malacca describes the bendahara as “he who rules the peasantry, the army and those dependent on the state. His sway extends over all the islands and it is he who is the King’s lawgiver.” The exact status of the office varied over time. In 1512, it was held by the sultan’s younger brother, Mutahir, who was also the heir apparent. At other times (e.g., 1699) it was held by the most important lineage chief. In the early nineteenth century the last bendahara, under the Johor/Riau sultanate, was actually a territorial chief who ruled Pahang. His descendants were recognized as sultans of Pahang in 1890.
Bendahara was an administrative position within classical Malay kingdoms before the intervention of European powers during the 19th century. A bendahara was appointed by a sultan and was a hereditary post. The office that was held by the bendahara family. The bendahara and the Sultan shared the same lineage.
The closest post which is comparable to the post of bendahara of the Malay kingdoms are the viziers of the Islamic kingdoms. As the bendahara is the head of the nobility, the status confers certain responsibility. The bendahara is the backbone of the Malay Sultanate. For the ancient kingdom of Malacca and Johor, there were many tasks and responsibilities but the primary ones were:
* coronation and installation of the Sultan
* responsibility for the welfare of the Sultan
* adviser to his majesty on affairs of state based on Sharia and Adat (Prevailing norms and values)
* responsibility for the royal marriage, birth and funeral
* responsibility for the royal succession if the Sultan died without any heir
* acting as a vicegerent if the Sultan was still young
* acting on any command of the Sultan.
The legitimacy of the Sultan lies with the bendahara. The bendahara always consult the other nobles before arriving at a decision. The bendahara and nobles do this for the well-being of the subjects and consider essential if there are problems in the state. These tasks are more extensive than those of any vizier or modern prime minister.
The involvement of the British and the Dutch in the administration of the Malay States and the subsequent independence of Malaysia and Indonesia reduced the Bendahara to a symbolic title only.
In modern times, it is typical to render the position as prime minister. Though a bendahara's duties are similar to that of a prime minister's, the two terms are not interchangeable. One clear difference is the amount of power held by the two positions. In ancient times, the bendahara was typically the highest ranking official after the sultan but the sultan retained ultimate authority. The sultan was not answerable to the bendahara, or to anyone else for that matter. The sultan was not a ceremonial ruler like the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in contemporary Malaysia where the Prime Minister holds effective political power.
Though it is unclear when the title was first used, the Sultanate of Malacca had several influential bendaharas. The most famous is Tun Perak. Under Tun Perak's service which spanned several sultans, Malacca reached its height in the late 15th century. According to the Malay Annals and the Hikayat Hang Tuah, the bendahara secretly saved the life of Hang Tuah, a laksamana the sultan had ordered killed.
In 1612, Bendahara Tun Sri Lanang of the Sultanate of Johor was commissioned by Sultan Alauddin Riaayat Shah of Johor to compile Malay history and record it into a book. The book was known as Sulalatus Salatin and was later known as Sejarah Melayu, an important literary piece in Malay language history. In 1699, Bendahara Abdul Jalil became Sultan Abdul Jalil IV of Johor after the previous sultan, Mahmud Shah II was murdered, leaving no heir behind. After the rule of Sultan Abdul Jalil IV, the bendahara was awarded Pahang as his personal fief. Bendahara Tun Abbas and his descendents ruled Pahang continuously until Tun Mutahir, who was deposed in a civil war in 1863.
The current Terengganu sultanate was founded by Sultan Zainal Abidin I of Terengganu in 1708. He was the son of Tun Habib Abdul Majid, a 17th century bendahara of Johor.
Bendaharas of Malacca and Johore have been:
* Tun Perpatih Muka Berjajar, Bendahara
* Tun Perpatih Tulus, Bendahara of Malacca
* Raden Bagus, Bendahara of Malacca
* Raden Anum, Bendahara Sri Amar DiRaja, Bendahara of Malacca
* Tun Perpatih Sedang, Bendahara Sri Wak Raja, Bendahara of Malacca
* Tun Perpatih Putih, Bendahara Paduka Tuan, Bendahara of Malacca
* Tun Perak, Bendahara Paduka Raja, Bendahara of Malacca
* Tun Mutahir, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Bendahara of Malacca
* Tun Tepok, Bendahara Paduka Tuan, Bendahara of Malacca
After the fall of Malacca to the Portuguese, the Malacca Sultanate was succeeded by the Johore Sultanate. The bendaharas of Johore have been:
* Tun Khoja, Bendahara Paduka Raja, Bendahara of Johore
* Tun Biajid, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Bendahara of Johore
* Tun Mahmud, Bendahara Tun Narawangsa, Bendahara of Johore
* Tun Isap Misai, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Bendahara of Johore
* Tun Sri Lanang, Bendahara Paduka Raja, Bendahara of Johore. He was captured by the Acehnese forces and opted to remain in Aceh.
The following Bendaharas were sidelined by the palace following the rise of Laksamana Paduka Tuan
* Tun Anum, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Bendahara of Johore
* Tun Mat Ali, Bendahara Paduka Tuan, Bendahara of Johore
* Tun Rantau, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Bendahara of Johore. He was captured by the Jambi forces.
* Tun Habib Abdul Majid, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Bendahara Padang Saujana, restored back the position of the bendahara in the palace.
* Tun Abdul Jalil, Bendahara Paduka Raja, was elevated to the Sultan of Johore as Sultan Abdul Jalil IV following the death of Sultan Mahmud II. The Temenggung branch of his dynasty still rules the Malaysian state of Johore today.
* Tun Abbas, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Bendahara of Johore and Pahang
Following the elevation of Sultan Abdul Jalil IV, the bendahara was granted Pahang as his personal fief. From thereon afterwards the Bendahara of Johor was known as the Bendahara in Pahang. The bendahara is also known as "Raja Bendahara" for his status as the ruler of the vassal state of Pahang. Pahang was the vassal of the Johore Sultanate.
The bendahara in Pahang have been:
* Tun Abdul Majid, Raja Bendahara Pahang I (1777-1802)
* Tun Muhammad, Raja Bendahara Pahang II
* Tun Koris, Bendahara Paduka Raja, Raja Bendahara Pahang III (1803-1806)
* Tun Ali, Bendahara Siwa Raja, Raja Bendahara Pahang IV (1806-1847)
* Tun Mutahir, Bendahara Seri Maharaja, Raja Bendahara Pahang V (1847-1863). He was the last reigning Raja Bendahara of Pahang. He was ousted by his brother Wan Ahmad who was later proclaimed as Sultan of Pahang after the dismemberment of the Johore Empire.
Bendjelloul, Malik
Malik Bendjelloul (September 14, 1977 – May 13, 2014) was an Algerian Swedish Academy-Award-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist and former child actor. He is best known for his 2012 documentary, Searching for Sugar Man, which won an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award.
Bengalis
Bengalis. Governors and sultans of Indian dynasties in northeast India and Bangladesh (r.1202-1576). Their main capitals were Gaur (Lakhnawti), later Firuzabad, and from 1564, Tandah. The conqueror of Bengal, Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji (1202-1205), and his descendants began as governors of the Ghurids, the sultans of Delhi. The great cultural independence of the region, which until 1202 represented the last Buddhist state on Indian soil, made it easier for them to assert their independence as sultans in 1338. They began by ruling as two dynastic branches in west and east Bengal. The Ilyas dynasty, which ruled west Bengal from 1339, extended its rule throughout Bengal in 1352, but was expelled by the Raja-Khan dynasty (1409-1442). After the demise of the Ilyas dynasty in 1486, another four dynasties followed. Having already been occupied by the Mughals (1537-1552), in 1576 Bengal was occupied by Emperor Akbar and added to the Mughal empire.
Bengalis. Governors and sultans of Indian dynasties in northeast India and Bangladesh (r.1202-1576). Their main capitals were Gaur (Lakhnawti), later Firuzabad, and from 1564, Tandah. The conqueror of Bengal, Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji (1202-1205), and his descendants began as governors of the Ghurids, the sultans of Delhi. The great cultural independence of the region, which until 1202 represented the last Buddhist state on Indian soil, made it easier for them to assert their independence as sultans in 1338. They began by ruling as two dynastic branches in west and east Bengal. The Ilyas dynasty, which ruled west Bengal from 1339, extended its rule throughout Bengal in 1352, but was expelled by the Raja-Khan dynasty (1409-1442). After the demise of the Ilyas dynasty in 1486, another four dynasties followed. Having already been occupied by the Mughals (1537-1552), in 1576 Bengal was occupied by Emperor Akbar and added to the Mughal empire.
Bengalis
Bengalis. Among the Bengali peoples of the South Asian subcontinent is to be found the world’s second largest Muslim ethnic group, after the Arabs. About sixty percent of the Bengalis are Muslims. They share with Bengali Hindus, Buddhists and Christians the acceptance of the diverse complex of symbols and social interaction patterns which, in their entirety, comprise a distinct culture, most saliently marked by common usage of the Bengali (bangla) language and inheritance of its various literatures and traditions.
Islam came to Bengal at the end of the thirteenth century with Turkish expansion across eastern India. Subsequent Muslim conquest and gradual political hegemony over the region, culminating in Mughal rule after 1576, set the stage for massive conversion. Chief agents of Islamization were Sufi missionaries. Numerous Sufi shaikhs are known to have spread the seeds of Islam on an unusually fertile soil in rural East Bengal, which, being the last outpost of a syncretic popular Buddhism in India at that late date, was ripe for a religiously mystical and social egalitarian appeal. To this day, several Sufis orders flourish in Muslim Bengal, notably the Chistiyya and the Qadiriyya. Bengalis practice saint worship despite nineteenth century revivalist efforts to purge it, as witnessed by the widespread participation in urus, or commemorative gatherings at saints’ tombs.
Muslim “fundamentalist” revivalism -- most notably in the form of the Fara’idi Movement, unique to Bengal -- was an important nineteenth century force in promoting the widespread Sunni orthodoxy present among the Muslims today, as well as in fomenting their sense of ethnic and communal identity. Revivalism undoubtedly played a role in Bengali Muslim separatism, leading to their mass participation in the Pakistan movement and, in an ironic post-Partition reversal, the ethnic Bengali quotient of their collective identity came to the fore, leading in turn to the creation of Bangladesh.
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal (now divided between Bangladesh and India) in South Asia. They speak Bengali (Bangla), which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as Bangali. They are mostly Indo-Aryan people from the eastern Indian subcontinent. However, many are also descended from Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian peoples, and closely related to the Assamese, Biharis and other East Indians, as well as to Munda and Tibeto-Burman peoples. As such, Bengalis are a homogeneous but considerably diverse ethnic group with heterogeneous origins.
The Bengali people are mostly concentrated in the states of West Bengal and Tripura in India and in Bangladesh. There are also a number of Bengali communities scattered in North-East India, New Delhi, and the Indian states of Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharastra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. In addition, there are significant Bengali communities beyond South Asia, the most well established Bengali communities are in the United Kingdom and United States. Large numbers of Bengalis (mainly from Sylhet) have settled in Britain, mainly living in the East boroughs of London, numbering from around 300,000, in the USA there are about 150,000 living across the country, mainly in New York. There are also millions living across the Gulf States, majority of whom are living as foreign workers. There are also many Bengalis in Malaysia, South Korea, Canada, Japan, Australia and many other countries.
Remnants of civilization in the greater Bengal region date back 4,000 years, when the region was settled by Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic peoples. The exact origin of the word Bangla or Bengal is unknown, though it is believed to be derived from the Dravidian-speaking tribe Bang that settled in the area around the year 1000 B.C.T.
After the arrival of Indo-Aryans, the kingdoms of Anga, Vanga and Magadha were formed in and around Bengal and were first described in the Atharvaveda around 1000 B.C.T.. From the 6th century B.C.T., Magadha expanded to include most of the Bihar and Bengal regions. It was one of the four main kingdoms of India at the time of Buddha and was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas. Under the Maurya Empire founded by Chandragupta Maurya, Magadha extended over nearly all of South Asia, including parts of Persia and Afghanistan, reaching its greatest extent under the Buddhist emperor Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century B.C.T. One of the earliest foreign references to Bengal is the mention of a land ruled by the king Xandrammes named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100 B.C.T. The word is speculated to have come from Gangahrd (Land with the Ganges in its heart) in reference to an area in Bengal. Later, from the 3rd to the 6th centuries C.C., the kingdom of Magadha served as the seat of the Gupta Empire.
One of the first recorded independent kings of Bengal was Shashanka, reigning around the early 7th century. After a period of anarchy, Gopala came to power in 750 by democratic election. He founded the Bengali Buddhist Pala Empire which ruled the region for four hundred years, and expanded across much of Southern Asia, from Assam in the northeast, to Kabul in the west, to Andhra Pradesh in the south. Atisha was a well known Bengali Buddhist teacher who was instrumental in revival of Buddhism in Tibet and also held the position of Abbot at the Vikramshila university. Tilopa was also from Bengal region.
The Pala dynasty was later followed by a shorter reign of the Hindu Sena dynasty. Islam was introduced to Bengal in the twelfth century by Sufi missionaries. Subsequent Muslim conquests helped spread Islam throughout the region. Bakhtiar Khilji, an Afghan general of the Slave dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, defeated Lakshman Sen of the Sena dynasty and conquered large parts of Bengal. Consequently, the region was ruled by dynasties of sultans and feudal lords under the Delhi Sultanate for the next few hundred years. Islam was introduced to the Sylhet region by the Muslim saint Shah Jalal in the early 14th century. In the 16th century, Mughal general Islam Khan conquered Bengal. However, administration by governors appointed by the court of the Mughal Empire gave way to the semi-independence of the area under the Nawabs of Murshidabad, who nominally respected the sovereignty of the Mughals in Delhi. After the collapse of the Mughal Empire in 1707, Bengal was ruled independently by the Nawabs until 1757, when the region was annexed by the East India Company after the Battle of Plassey.
The Bengal Renaissance refers to a social reform movement during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the region of Bengal in undivided India during the period of British rule. The Bengal renaissance can be said to have started with Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1775-1833) and ended with Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), although there have been many stalwarts thereafter embodying particular aspects of the unique intellectual and creative output. Nineteenth century Bengal was a unique blend of religious and social reformers, scholars, literary giants, journalists, patriotic orators and scientists, all merging to form the image of a renaissance, and marked the transition from the 'medieval' to the 'modern'.
Bengal played a major role in the Indian independence movement, in which revolutionary groups such as Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar were dominant. Bengalis also played a notable role in the Indian independence movement. Many of the early proponents of the freedom struggle, and subsequent leaders in the movement were Bengalis such as Chittaranjan Das, Surendranath Banerjea, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chaki, Bagha Jatin, Khudiram Bose, Surya Sen, Binoy-Badal-Dinesh, Sarojini Naidu, Aurobindo Ghosh, Rashbehari Bose and many more. Some of these leaders, such as Netaji, did not subscribe to the view that non-violent civil disobedience was the best way to achieve Indian Independence, and were instrumental in armed resistance against the British force. Netaji was the co-founder and leader of the Indian National Army (distinct from the army of British India) that challenged British forces in several parts of India. He was also the head of state of a parallel regime, the Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind, that was recognized and supported by the Axis powers. Bengal was also the fostering ground for several prominent revolutionary organizations, the most notable of which was Anushilan Samiti. A large number of Bengalis were martyred in the freedom struggle and many were exiled in Cellular Jail, the much dreaded prison located in Andaman.
The two major religions practiced in Bengal are Islam and Hinduism. In Bangladesh 88.3% of the population follow Islam while 9.2% follow Hinduism. In West Bengal, Hindus are the majority with 70% of the population while Muslims comprise 23%. Other religious groups include Buddhists and Christians.
Noted Bengali saints, authors, scientists, researchers, thinkers, music composers, painters and film-makers have played a significant role in the development of Bengali culture . The Bengal Renaissance of the 19th and early 20th centuries was brought about after the British introduced Western education and ideas. Among the various Indian cultures, the Bengalis were relatively quick to adapt to the British rule and actually use its principles (such as the judiciary and the legislature) in the subsequent political struggle for independence. The Bengal Renaissance contained the seeds of a nascent political Indian nationalism and was the precursor in many ways to modern Indian artistic and cultural expression.
The Bengali poet and novelist, Rabindranath Tagore, became the first Nobel laureate from Asia when he won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature. Other Bengali Nobel laureates include Amartya Sen (1999 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences) and Muhammad Yunus (2006 Nobel Peace Prize). Other famous figures in Bengali literature include Ram Mohan Roy, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Bangla science fiction writers such as Jagadananda Roy and Roquia Sakhawat Hussain (Begum Rokeya). Famous Bengali scientists include Jagadish Chandra Bose and Satyendra Nath Bose; famous Bengali engineers include Fazlur Khan and Amar Bose ; famous Bengali filmmakers include Satyajit Ray, Bimal Roy, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Aparna Sen and Tareque Masud; and famous Bengali entrepeneurs include Sake Dean Mahomed, Amar Bose and Jawed Karim.
Bangalis see Bengalis.
Bengalis. Among the Bengali peoples of the South Asian subcontinent is to be found the world’s second largest Muslim ethnic group, after the Arabs. About sixty percent of the Bengalis are Muslims. They share with Bengali Hindus, Buddhists and Christians the acceptance of the diverse complex of symbols and social interaction patterns which, in their entirety, comprise a distinct culture, most saliently marked by common usage of the Bengali (bangla) language and inheritance of its various literatures and traditions.
Islam came to Bengal at the end of the thirteenth century with Turkish expansion across eastern India. Subsequent Muslim conquest and gradual political hegemony over the region, culminating in Mughal rule after 1576, set the stage for massive conversion. Chief agents of Islamization were Sufi missionaries. Numerous Sufi shaikhs are known to have spread the seeds of Islam on an unusually fertile soil in rural East Bengal, which, being the last outpost of a syncretic popular Buddhism in India at that late date, was ripe for a religiously mystical and social egalitarian appeal. To this day, several Sufis orders flourish in Muslim Bengal, notably the Chistiyya and the Qadiriyya. Bengalis practice saint worship despite nineteenth century revivalist efforts to purge it, as witnessed by the widespread participation in urus, or commemorative gatherings at saints’ tombs.
Muslim “fundamentalist” revivalism -- most notably in the form of the Fara’idi Movement, unique to Bengal -- was an important nineteenth century force in promoting the widespread Sunni orthodoxy present among the Muslims today, as well as in fomenting their sense of ethnic and communal identity. Revivalism undoubtedly played a role in Bengali Muslim separatism, leading to their mass participation in the Pakistan movement and, in an ironic post-Partition reversal, the ethnic Bengali quotient of their collective identity came to the fore, leading in turn to the creation of Bangladesh.
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal (now divided between Bangladesh and India) in South Asia. They speak Bengali (Bangla), which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as Bangali. They are mostly Indo-Aryan people from the eastern Indian subcontinent. However, many are also descended from Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian peoples, and closely related to the Assamese, Biharis and other East Indians, as well as to Munda and Tibeto-Burman peoples. As such, Bengalis are a homogeneous but considerably diverse ethnic group with heterogeneous origins.
The Bengali people are mostly concentrated in the states of West Bengal and Tripura in India and in Bangladesh. There are also a number of Bengali communities scattered in North-East India, New Delhi, and the Indian states of Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharastra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. In addition, there are significant Bengali communities beyond South Asia, the most well established Bengali communities are in the United Kingdom and United States. Large numbers of Bengalis (mainly from Sylhet) have settled in Britain, mainly living in the East boroughs of London, numbering from around 300,000, in the USA there are about 150,000 living across the country, mainly in New York. There are also millions living across the Gulf States, majority of whom are living as foreign workers. There are also many Bengalis in Malaysia, South Korea, Canada, Japan, Australia and many other countries.
Remnants of civilization in the greater Bengal region date back 4,000 years, when the region was settled by Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic peoples. The exact origin of the word Bangla or Bengal is unknown, though it is believed to be derived from the Dravidian-speaking tribe Bang that settled in the area around the year 1000 B.C.T.
After the arrival of Indo-Aryans, the kingdoms of Anga, Vanga and Magadha were formed in and around Bengal and were first described in the Atharvaveda around 1000 B.C.T.. From the 6th century B.C.T., Magadha expanded to include most of the Bihar and Bengal regions. It was one of the four main kingdoms of India at the time of Buddha and was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas. Under the Maurya Empire founded by Chandragupta Maurya, Magadha extended over nearly all of South Asia, including parts of Persia and Afghanistan, reaching its greatest extent under the Buddhist emperor Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century B.C.T. One of the earliest foreign references to Bengal is the mention of a land ruled by the king Xandrammes named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100 B.C.T. The word is speculated to have come from Gangahrd (Land with the Ganges in its heart) in reference to an area in Bengal. Later, from the 3rd to the 6th centuries C.C., the kingdom of Magadha served as the seat of the Gupta Empire.
One of the first recorded independent kings of Bengal was Shashanka, reigning around the early 7th century. After a period of anarchy, Gopala came to power in 750 by democratic election. He founded the Bengali Buddhist Pala Empire which ruled the region for four hundred years, and expanded across much of Southern Asia, from Assam in the northeast, to Kabul in the west, to Andhra Pradesh in the south. Atisha was a well known Bengali Buddhist teacher who was instrumental in revival of Buddhism in Tibet and also held the position of Abbot at the Vikramshila university. Tilopa was also from Bengal region.
The Pala dynasty was later followed by a shorter reign of the Hindu Sena dynasty. Islam was introduced to Bengal in the twelfth century by Sufi missionaries. Subsequent Muslim conquests helped spread Islam throughout the region. Bakhtiar Khilji, an Afghan general of the Slave dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, defeated Lakshman Sen of the Sena dynasty and conquered large parts of Bengal. Consequently, the region was ruled by dynasties of sultans and feudal lords under the Delhi Sultanate for the next few hundred years. Islam was introduced to the Sylhet region by the Muslim saint Shah Jalal in the early 14th century. In the 16th century, Mughal general Islam Khan conquered Bengal. However, administration by governors appointed by the court of the Mughal Empire gave way to the semi-independence of the area under the Nawabs of Murshidabad, who nominally respected the sovereignty of the Mughals in Delhi. After the collapse of the Mughal Empire in 1707, Bengal was ruled independently by the Nawabs until 1757, when the region was annexed by the East India Company after the Battle of Plassey.
The Bengal Renaissance refers to a social reform movement during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the region of Bengal in undivided India during the period of British rule. The Bengal renaissance can be said to have started with Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1775-1833) and ended with Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), although there have been many stalwarts thereafter embodying particular aspects of the unique intellectual and creative output. Nineteenth century Bengal was a unique blend of religious and social reformers, scholars, literary giants, journalists, patriotic orators and scientists, all merging to form the image of a renaissance, and marked the transition from the 'medieval' to the 'modern'.
Bengal played a major role in the Indian independence movement, in which revolutionary groups such as Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar were dominant. Bengalis also played a notable role in the Indian independence movement. Many of the early proponents of the freedom struggle, and subsequent leaders in the movement were Bengalis such as Chittaranjan Das, Surendranath Banerjea, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chaki, Bagha Jatin, Khudiram Bose, Surya Sen, Binoy-Badal-Dinesh, Sarojini Naidu, Aurobindo Ghosh, Rashbehari Bose and many more. Some of these leaders, such as Netaji, did not subscribe to the view that non-violent civil disobedience was the best way to achieve Indian Independence, and were instrumental in armed resistance against the British force. Netaji was the co-founder and leader of the Indian National Army (distinct from the army of British India) that challenged British forces in several parts of India. He was also the head of state of a parallel regime, the Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind, that was recognized and supported by the Axis powers. Bengal was also the fostering ground for several prominent revolutionary organizations, the most notable of which was Anushilan Samiti. A large number of Bengalis were martyred in the freedom struggle and many were exiled in Cellular Jail, the much dreaded prison located in Andaman.
The two major religions practiced in Bengal are Islam and Hinduism. In Bangladesh 88.3% of the population follow Islam while 9.2% follow Hinduism. In West Bengal, Hindus are the majority with 70% of the population while Muslims comprise 23%. Other religious groups include Buddhists and Christians.
Noted Bengali saints, authors, scientists, researchers, thinkers, music composers, painters and film-makers have played a significant role in the development of Bengali culture . The Bengal Renaissance of the 19th and early 20th centuries was brought about after the British introduced Western education and ideas. Among the various Indian cultures, the Bengalis were relatively quick to adapt to the British rule and actually use its principles (such as the judiciary and the legislature) in the subsequent political struggle for independence. The Bengal Renaissance contained the seeds of a nascent political Indian nationalism and was the precursor in many ways to modern Indian artistic and cultural expression.
The Bengali poet and novelist, Rabindranath Tagore, became the first Nobel laureate from Asia when he won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature. Other Bengali Nobel laureates include Amartya Sen (1999 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences) and Muhammad Yunus (2006 Nobel Peace Prize). Other famous figures in Bengali literature include Ram Mohan Roy, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Bangla science fiction writers such as Jagadananda Roy and Roquia Sakhawat Hussain (Begum Rokeya). Famous Bengali scientists include Jagadish Chandra Bose and Satyendra Nath Bose; famous Bengali engineers include Fazlur Khan and Amar Bose ; famous Bengali filmmakers include Satyajit Ray, Bimal Roy, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Aparna Sen and Tareque Masud; and famous Bengali entrepeneurs include Sake Dean Mahomed, Amar Bose and Jawed Karim.
Bangalis see Bengalis.
Ben Gesla
Ben Gesla (Byngezla) (Abu ‘Ali Yahya ibn Jazla) (Abu 'Ali Yahya ibn Isa ibn Jazla al-Baghdadi) (Ibn Jazlah) (Buhahylyha Bingezla) (d. 1100). Arab physician of Baghdad. He described 352 maladies, indicating the appropriate diets for them.
Ben Gesla (Ibn Jazla) was an 11th-century physician of Baghdad and an author of an influential treatise on a regimen that was translated into Latin in 1280 C.C. by the Sicilian Jewish physician Faraj ben Salem.
Ibn Jazla was born of Christian Nestorian parents at Baghdad. He converted to Islam in 1074. He died in 1100 under the tutelage of Abu `Ali ibn Al-Walid Al-Maghribi.
Ibn Jazla's Taqwim al-Abdan fi Dadbir al-Insan (dispositio corporum de constittutione hominis, Tacuin agritudinum), as the name implies, consists of tables in which diseases are arranged like the stars in astronomical tables. This treatise was translated into Latin.
The Tacuin was translated by the Jew Faraj ben Salim and the Latin version was published in 1532. A German translation was published at Strasbourg in 1533 by Hans Schotte.
Ibn Jazla also wrote another work, Al-Minhaj fi Al-Adwiah Al-Murakkabah, (Methodology of Compound Drugs), which was translated by Jambolinus and was known in Latin translation as the Cibis et medicines simplicibus.
Late in life Ibn Jazla wrote a treatise in praise of Islam and criticizing Christianity and Judaism.
Byngezla see Ben Gesla
Abu ‘Ali Yahya ibn Jazla see Ben Gesla
Gelsa, Ben see Ben Gesla
Abu 'Ali Yahya ibn Isa ibn Jazla al-Baghdadi see Ben Gesla
Ibn Jazlah see Ben Gesla
Buhahylyha Bingezla see Ben Gesla
Ben Gesla (Byngezla) (Abu ‘Ali Yahya ibn Jazla) (Abu 'Ali Yahya ibn Isa ibn Jazla al-Baghdadi) (Ibn Jazlah) (Buhahylyha Bingezla) (d. 1100). Arab physician of Baghdad. He described 352 maladies, indicating the appropriate diets for them.
Ben Gesla (Ibn Jazla) was an 11th-century physician of Baghdad and an author of an influential treatise on a regimen that was translated into Latin in 1280 C.C. by the Sicilian Jewish physician Faraj ben Salem.
Ibn Jazla was born of Christian Nestorian parents at Baghdad. He converted to Islam in 1074. He died in 1100 under the tutelage of Abu `Ali ibn Al-Walid Al-Maghribi.
Ibn Jazla's Taqwim al-Abdan fi Dadbir al-Insan (dispositio corporum de constittutione hominis, Tacuin agritudinum), as the name implies, consists of tables in which diseases are arranged like the stars in astronomical tables. This treatise was translated into Latin.
The Tacuin was translated by the Jew Faraj ben Salim and the Latin version was published in 1532. A German translation was published at Strasbourg in 1533 by Hans Schotte.
Ibn Jazla also wrote another work, Al-Minhaj fi Al-Adwiah Al-Murakkabah, (Methodology of Compound Drugs), which was translated by Jambolinus and was known in Latin translation as the Cibis et medicines simplicibus.
Late in life Ibn Jazla wrote a treatise in praise of Islam and criticizing Christianity and Judaism.
Byngezla see Ben Gesla
Abu ‘Ali Yahya ibn Jazla see Ben Gesla
Gelsa, Ben see Ben Gesla
Abu 'Ali Yahya ibn Isa ibn Jazla al-Baghdadi see Ben Gesla
Ibn Jazlah see Ben Gesla
Buhahylyha Bingezla see Ben Gesla
Beni Amer
Beni Amer. The pastoral Beni Amer of eastern Sudan and northwestern Ethiopia are one of the five groups recognized as Beja, the others being the Hadendowa, Bisharin, Ammarar and Ababda. Unlike the others, however, the Beni Amer are not so much a tribe in the ethnic sense as a confederation of various groups that have formed a single political unit.
Although exposed to Islam since the Funj period, the Beni Amer have been Muslim only since the nineteenth century of the Christian calendar. The renaissance of Sufism that tookplace in nineteenth century Arabia under Sayyid Ahmed Idris led one of his disciples, Sayyid Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani, to proselytize successfully in the Sudan. It was under Muhammad Uthman’s son, al-Hassan, that the Mirghaniyya (better known as the Khatmiyya) became the dominant Muslim Sufi order in eastern Sudan and Eritrea. The Beni Amer as a group give complete religious allegiance to the Khatmiyya. This allegiance was further cemented by marriages between the family of the Diglel and leading families of the Khatmiyya.
Amer, Beni see Beni Amer.
Beni Amer. The pastoral Beni Amer of eastern Sudan and northwestern Ethiopia are one of the five groups recognized as Beja, the others being the Hadendowa, Bisharin, Ammarar and Ababda. Unlike the others, however, the Beni Amer are not so much a tribe in the ethnic sense as a confederation of various groups that have formed a single political unit.
Although exposed to Islam since the Funj period, the Beni Amer have been Muslim only since the nineteenth century of the Christian calendar. The renaissance of Sufism that tookplace in nineteenth century Arabia under Sayyid Ahmed Idris led one of his disciples, Sayyid Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani, to proselytize successfully in the Sudan. It was under Muhammad Uthman’s son, al-Hassan, that the Mirghaniyya (better known as the Khatmiyya) became the dominant Muslim Sufi order in eastern Sudan and Eritrea. The Beni Amer as a group give complete religious allegiance to the Khatmiyya. This allegiance was further cemented by marriages between the family of the Diglel and leading families of the Khatmiyya.
Amer, Beni see Beni Amer.
Benin slaves
Benin slaves. Benin was an ancient African kingdom located in the south-central Nigerian forest, not far from the Guinea Coast. It was founded at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Before the coming of the Europeans, it was the center of a network of trade routes linking towns and villages throughout almost the entire western Sudan. Around 1482, when the Portuguese reached the Guinea Coast, Benin was already a powerful state where the industrial arts and the art of working gold, ivory, bronze, and iron were well developed. Hence, the Portuguese found considerable opportunities for trade expansion there. Benin flourished during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when it achieved extraordinary artistic development, which in many respects equaled that of Europe. Between 1680 and 1730, the devastation of the slave-raiding wars began to destroy its trade and its political structure. Even so, it remained a powerful kingdom until the end of the nineteenth century. In colonial Brazil, Muslim slaves were imported from the Benin Kingdom. These slaves were skilled in iron, gold, and bronze work, and introduced into the northeast a highly advanced metallurgic art. The vast majority of the so-called Benin slaves brought to the New World during the nineteenth century came from a narrow coastal region -- from the present state of Togo in the west to the Cameroons in the east.
Benin slaves. Benin was an ancient African kingdom located in the south-central Nigerian forest, not far from the Guinea Coast. It was founded at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Before the coming of the Europeans, it was the center of a network of trade routes linking towns and villages throughout almost the entire western Sudan. Around 1482, when the Portuguese reached the Guinea Coast, Benin was already a powerful state where the industrial arts and the art of working gold, ivory, bronze, and iron were well developed. Hence, the Portuguese found considerable opportunities for trade expansion there. Benin flourished during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when it achieved extraordinary artistic development, which in many respects equaled that of Europe. Between 1680 and 1730, the devastation of the slave-raiding wars began to destroy its trade and its political structure. Even so, it remained a powerful kingdom until the end of the nineteenth century. In colonial Brazil, Muslim slaves were imported from the Benin Kingdom. These slaves were skilled in iron, gold, and bronze work, and introduced into the northeast a highly advanced metallurgic art. The vast majority of the so-called Benin slaves brought to the New World during the nineteenth century came from a narrow coastal region -- from the present state of Togo in the west to the Cameroons in the east.
Benjedid
Benjedid (Chadli Benjedid) (Chadli Bendjedid) (b. April 14, 1929 at Bouteldja, near Annaba). President of Algeria. He was born in Sebaa. He joined the National Liberation Front shortly after the Algerian revolution began in 1954 and rose through the ranks of the guerrilla forces. By the early 1960s, he was on the staff of Colonel (later president) Houari Boumedienne, and he played a decisive role in the latter’s overthrow of President Ahmed Ben Bella in 1965. Subsequently serving in the Revolutionary Council and as acting minister of defense (1978), he was elected president in February, 1979.
Chadli Benjedid was President of Algeria from February 9, 1979 to January 11, 1992. He served in the French Army as a non-commissioned officer and fought in Indo-China when the rebellion began there in 1954. He defected to the National Liberation Front (FLN) at the beginning of the Algerian War of Independence. A protege of Houari Boumediene, Bendjedid was rewarded with the military command of the Oran, Algeria region in 1964. After independence, he rose through the ranks, becoming head of the 2nd military region in 1964 and Colonel in 1969. He was minister of defense from November 1978 to February 1979 and became president following the death of Boumédiènne. Bendjadid was a compromise candidate who came to power after the party leadership and presidency were contested at the fourth FLN congress held on January 27 -31, 1979. The most likely to succeed Boumedienne were Mohammad Salah Yahiaoui and Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The latter had served as a foreign secretary at the United Nations for sixteen years. He was a prominent member of the Oujda clan and regarded as a pro-Western liberal. Yahiaoui was closely affiliated with the communists, permitting the Parti de l'Avant-Garde Socialiste (PAGS) to acquire jurisdiction over the mass trade union and youth organizations.
In office, Benjedid reduced the state's role in the economy and eased government surveillance of citizens. In the late 1980s, with the economy failing due to rapidly falling oil prices, tension rose between elements of the regime who supported Benjedid's economic liberalization policies, and those who wanted a return to the statist model. In October, 1988, youth marches protesting the regime’s austerity policies, and shouting slogans against Benjedid, evolved into massive rioting which spread to Oran, Annaba and other cities; the military’s brutal suppression of the rioters left several hundred dead. Perhaps as a political survival strategy, Benjedid then called for and began to implement a transition towards multi-party democracy. But, in 1991, the military intervened to stop elections from bringing the Islamist Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) to power, forcing Benjedid out of office and sparking a long and bloody Algerian Civil War.
In Algerian politics, Chadli Benjedid is considered a symbol for the nation's numerous failures as his term in office coincided with a halt in the industrial development policy, militant socialism and engaged third world politics characteristic of the Houari Boumédienne era as well as with the adoption of various policies that transformed the country into a consumer society under the slogan 'For a better life'.
Chadli Benjedid is also often held responsible for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Algeria as, contrary to his predecessor Boumédienne, he tolerated the rise of various Islamist grassroots movements during the 1980s as well as the legalizing of the FIS following the riots of October 1988. Various conspiracy theories have accused him of being involved in a plot aimed at transforming Algeria into a Muslim fundamentalist state.
Chadli Benjedid see Benjedid
Chadli Bendjedid see Benjedid
Benjedid (Chadli Benjedid) (Chadli Bendjedid) (b. April 14, 1929 at Bouteldja, near Annaba). President of Algeria. He was born in Sebaa. He joined the National Liberation Front shortly after the Algerian revolution began in 1954 and rose through the ranks of the guerrilla forces. By the early 1960s, he was on the staff of Colonel (later president) Houari Boumedienne, and he played a decisive role in the latter’s overthrow of President Ahmed Ben Bella in 1965. Subsequently serving in the Revolutionary Council and as acting minister of defense (1978), he was elected president in February, 1979.
Chadli Benjedid was President of Algeria from February 9, 1979 to January 11, 1992. He served in the French Army as a non-commissioned officer and fought in Indo-China when the rebellion began there in 1954. He defected to the National Liberation Front (FLN) at the beginning of the Algerian War of Independence. A protege of Houari Boumediene, Bendjedid was rewarded with the military command of the Oran, Algeria region in 1964. After independence, he rose through the ranks, becoming head of the 2nd military region in 1964 and Colonel in 1969. He was minister of defense from November 1978 to February 1979 and became president following the death of Boumédiènne. Bendjadid was a compromise candidate who came to power after the party leadership and presidency were contested at the fourth FLN congress held on January 27 -31, 1979. The most likely to succeed Boumedienne were Mohammad Salah Yahiaoui and Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The latter had served as a foreign secretary at the United Nations for sixteen years. He was a prominent member of the Oujda clan and regarded as a pro-Western liberal. Yahiaoui was closely affiliated with the communists, permitting the Parti de l'Avant-Garde Socialiste (PAGS) to acquire jurisdiction over the mass trade union and youth organizations.
In office, Benjedid reduced the state's role in the economy and eased government surveillance of citizens. In the late 1980s, with the economy failing due to rapidly falling oil prices, tension rose between elements of the regime who supported Benjedid's economic liberalization policies, and those who wanted a return to the statist model. In October, 1988, youth marches protesting the regime’s austerity policies, and shouting slogans against Benjedid, evolved into massive rioting which spread to Oran, Annaba and other cities; the military’s brutal suppression of the rioters left several hundred dead. Perhaps as a political survival strategy, Benjedid then called for and began to implement a transition towards multi-party democracy. But, in 1991, the military intervened to stop elections from bringing the Islamist Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) to power, forcing Benjedid out of office and sparking a long and bloody Algerian Civil War.
In Algerian politics, Chadli Benjedid is considered a symbol for the nation's numerous failures as his term in office coincided with a halt in the industrial development policy, militant socialism and engaged third world politics characteristic of the Houari Boumédienne era as well as with the adoption of various policies that transformed the country into a consumer society under the slogan 'For a better life'.
Chadli Benjedid is also often held responsible for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Algeria as, contrary to his predecessor Boumédienne, he tolerated the rise of various Islamist grassroots movements during the 1980s as well as the legalizing of the FIS following the riots of October 1988. Various conspiracy theories have accused him of being involved in a plot aimed at transforming Algeria into a Muslim fundamentalist state.
Chadli Benjedid see Benjedid
Chadli Bendjedid see Benjedid
