Camlibel
Camlibel (Faruq Nafidh Camlibel). Turkish poet and playwright. He wrote patriotic and epic historic poems, eulogizing Anatolia. His easy style made him one of the most popular poets of the 1920s.
Faruq Nafidh Camlibel see Camlibel
Camlibel (Faruq Nafidh Camlibel). Turkish poet and playwright. He wrote patriotic and epic historic poems, eulogizing Anatolia. His easy style made him one of the most popular poets of the 1920s.
Faruq Nafidh Camlibel see Camlibel
Campbell, Cecil
Cecil Bustamente Campbell (b. May 24, 1938, Kingston, Jamaica – d. September 8, 2016, Miami, Florida), known professionally as Prince Buster, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer. He was regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of ska and rocksteady music. The records he released in the 1960s influenced and shaped the course of Jamaican contemporary music and created a legacy of work that later reggae and ska artists would draw upon.
Cecil Bustamente Campbell was born on Orange Street in Kingston, Jamaica, on May 24, 1938. His middle name was given to him by his family in honor of the Labour activist and first post-Independence Prime Minister William Alexander Clarke Bustamante. In the early 1940s Campbell was sent to live with his grandmother in rural Jamaica where his family's commitment to the Christian faith gave him his earliest musical experiences in the form of church singing as well as private family prayer and hymn meetings. Returning to live at Orange Street while still a young boy, Campbell attended the Central Branch School and St. Anne's School.
While at school Campbell performed three or four times a week at the Glass Bucket Club, as part of Frankie Lymon's Sing and Dance Troupe. Rock 'n' roll-themed shows were popular during the 1950s, with the Glass Bucket Club establishing a reputation as the premier music venue and social club for Jamaican teenagers at that time. Upon leaving school, Campbell found himself drawn to the ranks of followers that supported the sound system of Tom the Great Sebastian. Jamaican sound systems at that time were playing American rhythm 'n' blues and Campbell credits Tom the Great Sebastian with his first introduction to the songs and artists that would later influence his own music: the Clovers' "Middle of the Night", Fats Domino's "Mardi Gras in New Orleans", the Griffin Brothers featuring Margie Day, and Shirley & Lee.
Campbell became more actively involved in the operational side of running a sound system after he was introduced to Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd, a musically inclined businessman who operated one of Kingston's most popular sound systems. Campbell found himself fulfilling a variety of roles for Coxsone: providing security, handling ticket receipts, identifying and sourcing music as well as working in the essential role of selector. The knowledge he gained about the financial and logistical aspects of staging a sound system dance was put to good use when Campbell made the decision to start his own sound system called 'Voice of the People'. Campbell approached his family and a radio shop owner called Mr. Wong for financial backing. They all agreed. Campbell's 'Voice of the People' sound system was soon operational and within a short time had established itself as a rival to the sound systems of Coxsone and Duke Reid. Campbell applied to the Farm Work Program (a guest worker program for the United States agricultural sector) with the intention of buying music for his sound system but on the day of departure was refused entry into the program. Knowing that he would not be able to personally source records from the United States, Campbell decided to record his own music. He approached Arkland "Drumbago" Parks, a professional drummer at the Baby Grand Club who had arranged and recorded a special (exclusive recording) for the Count Boysie sound system. Drumbago agreed to help and Campbell immediately began rehearsing with the musicians at the Baby Grand Club, including the guitarist Jah Jerry, who played on Campbell's first recording session.
In 1961, Campbell released his first single "Little Honey"/"Luke Lane Shuffle" featuring Jah Jerry, Drumbago and Rico Rodriquez recording under the name of Buster's Group. In that same year, he produced "Oh Carolina" by the Folkes Brothers, which was released on his Wild Bells label. The drumming on the record was provided by members of the Count Ossie Group, nyabinghi drummers from the Rastafarian community, Camp David, situated on the Wareika Hill above Kingston. After becoming a hit in Jamaica, "Oh Carolina" was licensed to Melodisc, a United Kingdom (UK) label owned by Emil Shalet. Melodisc released the track on their subsidiary label Blue Beat. The Blue Beat label would go on to become synonymous with 1960s ska releases for the UK market.
Campbell recorded prolifically throughout the 1960s. Notable early ska releases include: "Madness" (1963), "Wash Wash" (1963, with Ernest Ranglin on bass), "One Step Beyond" (1964) and "Al Capone" (1964). The documentary This is Ska (1964), hosted by Tony Verity and filmed at the Sombrero Club, includes Campbell performing his Jamaican hit "Wash Wash". In 1964 Campbell met World Heavyweight Champion boxer Muhammad Ali who invited Campbell to attend a Nation of Islam a talk at Mosque 29 in Miami. That year Campbell joined the Nation of Islam and also started to release material, including a version of Louis X's "White Man's Heaven is a Black Man's Hell," on his own imprint label called "Islam". In 1965 he appeared in Millie in Jamaica (a film short about Millie Small's return to Jamaica after the world-wide success of "My Boy Lollipop") which was broadcast on Rediffusion's Friday evening pop show Ready, Steady, Go!. Campbell had a top twenty hit in the UK with the single "Al Capone" (no. 18, February 1967). He toured the UK in the Spring of 1967 appearing at the Marquee Club in May and later toured America to promote the RCA Victor LP release The Ten Commandments (From Man To Woman). "Ten Commandments" reached #81 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his only hit single in the United States. By the late 1960s Campbell was once again at the forefront of a musical change in Jamaica. The new music would be called rocksteady. Campbell tracks like "Shaking Up Orange Street" (1967) were arranged with the slower, more soulful rocksteady template as used by Alton Ellis ("Rock Steady") and many others. The album Judge Dread Rock Steady was released in 1967, and the title track "Judge Dread" with its satirical theme and vocal style proved to be popular to the point of parody. In 1968, the compilation album FABulous was released, opening with the track "Earthquake" (which revisited the theme of Orange Street) and including earlier hits.
Campbell's career slowed up in the 1970s as the predominant style moved away from ska and rocksteady towards roots reggae, in part because as a Muslim he found it difficult to tailor his style towards a Rastafari audience. However, he did make an appearance in the 1972 movie The Harder They Come, which featured Campbell in a cameo role as a DJ.
Campbell subsequently moved to Miami to pursue business interests including running a jukebox company. From 1973 Campbell effectively retired from the music business, with only a handful of compilation albums issued. Even with the revival of interest in his music following the 2-Tone led ska revival in the UK in 1979 he remained out of the limelight. Towards the end of the 1980s he resumed performing with the Skatalites as his backing band, and resumed recording in 1992.
In 1994 a UK court ruled in favor of John Folkes and Greensleeves after they brought a lawsuit against Campbell and Melodisc (CampbelI by this time had acquired Melodisc) concerning authorship of "Oh Carolina".
Campbell had a top 30 hit in the UK with the track "Whine and Grine" (no. 21, April 1998) after the song had been used in an advertisement for Levi's.
In 2001 Campbell was awarded the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican Government for his contribution to music. He performed at the 2002 Legends Of Ska festival in Toronto. Other appearances include: Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in 2003; the 2006 Boss Sounds Reggae Festival in Newcastle upon Tyne, the 40th Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland with the Delroy Williams Junction Band, and the 2007 UK Rhythm Festival.
The UK ska revival at the end of the 1970s that started with the 2-Tone label from Coventry introduced Campbell's music to a new generation of listeners. In 1979 the band Madness released their first single on 2-Tone, a tribute to Campbell called "The Prince". The B-side was a cover of the Campbell song "Madness" from which they took their name. Their second single, released on the Stiff label ("The Prince") would be the only single released by Madness on the 2-Tone label, and was a cover of Campbell's "One Step Beyond", which reached the UK Top 10. On their self-titled debut album, the Specials covered "Too Hot" and borrowed elements from Campbell's "Judge Dread" (in the song "Stupid Marriage") and "Al Capone" (in the song "Gangsters"). The Specials also included a cover of "Enjoy Yourself" on their second album More Specials. The Beat covered "Rough Rider" and "Whine & Grine" on their album I Just Can't Stop It. Campbell's song "Hard Man Fe Dead" was covered by the U.S. ska band the Toasters on their 1996 album Hard Band For Dead.
Campbell died on the morning of 8 September 2016, in a hospital in Miami, Florida.
Canaanite
Canaanite. The term refers to the members of a Semitic group living in Palestine before the Hebrews.
Canaan is an ancient term for a region encompassing modern-day Israel and Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Jordan, Syria and northeastern Egypt. In the Hebrew Bible, the "Land of Canaan" extends from Lebanon southward across Gaza to the "Brook of Egypt" and eastward to the Jordan River Valley, thus including modern Israel and the Palestinian Territories. In far ancient times, the southern area included various ethnic groups. The Amarna Letters found in Ancient Egypt mention Canaan (Akkadian: Kinaḫḫu) in connection with Gaza and other cities along the Phoenician coast and into Upper Galilee. Many earlier Egyptian sources also make mention of numerous military campaigns conducted in Ka-na-na, just inside Asia.
The name Canaan is mentioned frequently in the Bible. It referred to parts or all of the region between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea in antiquity. Proceeding northward Lebanon is bordered by the Litani river to the watershed of the Orontes river which is known by the Egyptians as upper Retnu. Between Lebanon and Syria, Canaan is bordered to the North by Hazor, Aram and Kadesh which include the lands of the Amorites. In Egyptian campaign accounts, the term Djahi was used to refer to the watershed of the Jordan river. Many earlier Egyptian sources also make mention of numerous military campaigns conducted in Ka-na-na, just inside Asia.
Canaan predates the ancient Israelite territories described in the Bible, and describes a land with different, but overlapping bounds. The classical Jewish view is that "Canaan" is the geographical name, but this is not a view that is universally subscribed to; the renaming as "Israel" after its occupation by the Israelites is derived only from the Bible, and marks the origin of the concept of a Holy Land. The region of Judaea existed by that name from the 6th century B.C.T. until it was renamed "Palestina" by the Romans following the Bar Kokhba revolt against Rome in the 2nd century of the Christian calendar. In the Bible and elsewhere, Zion originally meant the region of and around Jerusalem but, because of the importance of this city to Zionists, came to designate the whole of the Israelite land.
The English name Canaan ultimately comes from the Hebrew, via Greek and Latin. The Hebrew name Canaan is of obscure origins, with one suggestion connecting it with the non-Semitic Hurrian term Kinahhu found at Nuzi (c. 1450 B.C.T.), and referring to the color purple— also said to be the meaning of Phoenicia (which itself is often used as synonym for Canaan).
Another etymology is straightforward. "Can" means low as "Aram" means high. A straightforward meaning of Canaan is "lowland." This was first applied to the lowland or classical Phoenicia, mainly Sidon, then by extension to the whole region.
A third possibility is that Canaan derives from the Semitic root *k-n-' meaning "to be subdued", or "to be humbled", possibly connected with the above meaning "low".
The Bible attributes the name to Canaan, the son of Ham and the grandson of Noah, whose offspring correspond to the names of various ethnic groups in the land of Canaan, listed in the "Table of Nations" (Gen. 10), where Sidon is named as his firstborn son, to be subdued by the descendants of Shem.
The eponym Ham merely means "Hot" or "Red" in Hebrew or Canaanite, although it may have been derived initially from the Egyptian word Kemet (KMT), a word applied to the land along the Nile. Some authors reason that the attribution was made because the Canaanite coast but not the interior was under Egyptian domination for several centuries.
The Hebrew Bible lists borders for the land of Canaan. Numbers 34:2 includes the phrase "the land of Canaan as defined by its borders." The borders are then delineated in Numbers 34:3–12. Present-day Bible scholars suggest that in around 1400 B.C.T. Jews first arrived in Canaan. Others dispute the veracity of the Biblical account and claim that the Hebrew culture developed locally, from the Canaanite culture, with perhaps very minor population inflows from the outside.
Canaan is mentioned in a document from the 18th century B.C.T. found in the ruins of Mari, a former Sumerian outpost in Syria, located along the Middle Euphrates. Apparently Canaan at this time existed as a distinct political entity (probably a loose confederation of city-states). A letter from this time complains about certain "thieves and Canaanites (i.e. Kinahhu)" causing trouble in the town of Rahisum.
Tablets found in the Mesopotamian city of Nuzi use the term Kinahnu ("Canaan") as a synonym for red or purple dye, laboriously produced by the Kassites from murex shells as early as 1600 B.C.T. and on the Mediterranean coast by the Phoenicians from a by-product of glassmaking. Purple cloth became a renowned Canaanite export commodity which is mentioned in Exodus. The dyes may have been named after their place of origin. The name 'Phoenicia' is connected with the Greek word for "purple", apparently referring to the same product, but it is difficult to state with certainty whether the Greek word came from the name, or vice versa. The purple cloth of Tyre in Phoenicia was well known far and wide and was associated by the Romans with nobility and royalty.
References to Canaanites are also found throughout the Amarna letters of Pharaoh Akenaton circa 1350 B.C.T., and a reference to the "land of Canaan" is found on the statue of Idrimi of Alalakh in modern Syria. After a popular uprising against his rule, Idrimi was forced into exile with his mother's relatives to seek refuge in "the land of Canaan", where he prepared for an eventual attack to recover his city. Texts from Ugarit also refer to an individual Canaanite (*kn'ny), suggesting that the people of Ugarit, contrary to much modern opinion, considered themselves to be non-Canaanite.
Archaeological excavations of a number of sites, later identified as Canaanite, show that the prosperity of the region reached its apogee during this Middle Bronze Age period, under the leadership of the city of Hazor, at least nominally tributary to Egypt for much of the period. In the north, the cities of Yamkhad and Qatna were hegemons of important confederacies, and it would appear that Biblical Hazor was the chief city of another important coalition in the south. In the early Late Bronze Age, Canaanite confederacies were centered on Megiddo and Kadesh, before again being brought into the Egyptian Empire.
One of the earliest settlements in the region was at Jericho in Canaan. The earliest settlements were seasonal, but, by the Bronze Age, had developed into large urban centers. By the Early Bronze Age other sites had developed, such as Ebla, which by ca. 2300 B.C.T. was incorporated into the Akkadian empire of Sargon the Great and Naram-Sin of Akkad (Biblical Accad). Sumerian references to the Mar.tu ("tent dwellers" – considered to be Amorite) country West of the Euphrates date from even earlier than Sargon, at least to the reign of Enshakushanna of Uruk. The archives of Ebla show reference to a number of Biblical sites, including Hazor, Jerusalem, and as a number of people have claimed, to Sodom and Gomorrah mentioned in Genesis as well. The collapse of the Akkadian Empire saw the arrival of peoples using Khirbet Kerak Ware pottery, coming originally from the Zagros Mountains, east of the Tigris. It is suspected by some that this event marks the arrival in Syria and Canaan of the Hurrians, possibly the people later known in the Biblical tradition as Horites.
Today it is thought that Canaanite civilization is a response to long periods of stable climate interrupted by short periods of climate change. During these periods, Canaanites profited from their intermediary position between the ancient civilizations of the Middle East — Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Minoan Crete — to become city states of merchant princes along the coast, with small kingdoms specializing in agricultural products in the interior. This polarity, between coastal towns and agrarian hinterland, was illustrated in Canaanite mythology by the struggle between the storm god, variously called Teshub (Hurrian) or Ba'al Hadad (Aramaean) and Ya'a, Yaw, Yahu or Yam, god of the sea and rivers. Small walled market towns characterized early Canaanite civilization surrounded by peasant farmers growing a range of local horticultural products, along with commercial growing of olives, grapes for wine, and pistachios, surrounded by extensive grain cropping, predominantly wheat and barley. Harvest in early summer was a season when transhumance nomadism was practiced — shepherds staying with their flocks during the wet season and returning to graze them on the harvested stubble, closer to water supplies in the summer. Evidence of this cycle of agriculture is found in the Gezer Calendar and in the Biblical cycle of the year.
Periods of rapid climate change generally saw a collapse of this mixed Mediterranean farming system; commercial production was replaced with subsistence agriculural foodstuffs; and transhumance pastoralism became a year-round nomadic pastoral activity, whilst tribal groups wandered in a circular pattern north to the Euphrates, or south to the Egyptian delta with their flocks. Occasionally, tribal chieftains would emerge, raiding enemy settlements and rewarding loyal followers from the spoils or by tariffs levied on merchants. Should the cities band together and retaliate, a neighboring state intervene or should the chieftain suffer a reversal of fortune, allies would fall away or inter-tribal feuding would return. It has been suggested that the Patriarchal tales of the Bible reflect such social forms. During the periods of the collapse of Akkad and the First Intermediary Period in Egypt, the Hyksos invasions and the end of the Middle Bronze Age in Babylonia, and the Late Bronze Age collapse, trade through the Canaanite area would dwindle, as Egypt and Mesopotamia withdrew into their isolation. When the climates stabilized, trade would resume firstly along the coast in the area of the Philistine and Phoenician cities. The Philistines, while an integral part of the Canaanite mix, do not seem to have been ethnically homogenous with the Canaanites. The Hurrians, Hittites, Aramaeans, Moabites, and Ammonites are also considered distinct from generic Canaanites or Amorites, in scholarship or in tradition (although in the Biblical Book of Nations, "Heth", (Hittites) are a son of Canaan). As markets redeveloped, new trade routes that would avoid the heavy tariffs of the coast would develop from Kadesh Barnea, through Hebron, Lachish, Jerusalem, Bethel, Samaria, Shechem, Shiloh through Galilee to Jezreel, Hazor and Megiddo. Secondary Canaanite cities would develop in this region. Further economic development would see the creation of a third trade route from Eilath, Timna, Edom (Seir), Moab, Ammon and thence to Damascus and Palmyra. Earlier states (for example the Philistines and Tyrians in the case of Judah and Israel, for the second route, and Judah and Israel for the third route) tried generally unsuccessfully to control the interior trade.
Eventually, the prosperity of this trade would attract more powerful regional neighbors, such as Ancient Egypt, Assyria, the Babylonians, Persians, Ancient Greeks and Romans, who would attempt to control the Canaanites politically, levying tribute, taxes and tariffs. Often in such periods, thorough overgrazing would result in a climatic collapse and a repeat of the cycle (for example, PPNB, Ghassulian, Uruk, and the Bronze Age cycles already mentioned). The fall of later Canaanite civilization occurred with the incorporation of the area into the Greco-Roman world (as Iudaea province), and after Byzantine times, into the Arab, Ottoman and Abbasid Caliphates. Aramaic, one of the two lingua franca of Canaanite civilization, is still spoken in a number of small Syrian villages, whilst Phoenician Canaanite disappeared as a spoken language in about 100 C.C.
During the 2nd millennium B.C.T., Ancient Egyptian texts use the term Canaan to refer to an Egyptian province, whose boundaries generally corroborate the definition of Canaan found in the Hebrew Bible, bounded to the west by the Mediterranean Sea, to the north in the vicinity of Hamath in Syria, to the east by the Jordan Valley, and to the south by a line extended from the Dead Sea to around Gaza (Numbers 34). Nevertheless, the Egyptian and Hebrew uses of the term are not identical: the Egyptian texts also identify the coastal city of Qadesh in Syria near Turkey as part of the "Land of Canaan", so that the Egyptian usage seems to refer to the entire Levantine coast of the Mediterranean Sea, making it a synonym of another Egyptian term for this coastland, Retenu.
There is uncertainty about whether the name Canaan refers to a specific ethnic group wherever they live, the homeland of this ethnic group, or a region under the control of this ethnic group, or perhaps any of the three.
At the end of what is referred to as the Middle Kingdom era of Egypt, there was a breakdown in centralized power, the assertion of independence by various monarchs and the assumption of power in the Delta by Pharaohs of the 17th Dynasty. Around 1674 B.C.T., these rulers, whom the Egyptians referred to as "rulers of foreign lands" (Egyptian, "Heqa Khasut", hence "Hyksos" in Greek), came to control Lower Egypt (northern Egypt), evidently leaving Canaan an ethnically diverse land.
Among the migrant tribes who appear to have settled in the region were the Amorites. In the Old Testament, Amorites are mentioned in the Table of Peoples (Genesis 10:16–18). Evidently, the Amorites played a significant role in the early history of Canaan. In Genesis 14:7, Joshua 10:5, Deuteronomy 1:19, 27, 44, Amorites were located in the southern mountain country, while in Numbers 21:13, Joshua 9:10, 24:8, and 12, there were two great Amorite kings residing at Heshbon and Ashtaroth, east of the Jordan. However, in other passages such as Genesis 15:16 and 48:22, Joshua 24:15, and Judges 1:34, the name Amorite is regarded as synonymous with "Canaanite"—only "Amorite" is never used for the population on the coast.
In Egyptian inscriptions, Amar and Amurru are applied strictly to the more northerly mountain region east of Phoenicia, extending to the Orontes. In the Akkadian Empire, as early as Naram-Sin's reign (ca. 2240 B.C.T.), Amurru was called one of the "four quarters" surrounding Sumer, along with Subartu, Akkad, and Elam, and Amorite dynasties also came to dominate in Mesopotamia, including at Babylon and Isin. Later on, Amurru became the Assyrian term for the interior of south as well as for northerly Canaan. At this time, the Canaanite area seemed divided between two confederacies, one centered upon Tel Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley, the second on the more northerly city of Kadesh on the Orontes River.
In the centuries preceding the appearance of the Biblical Hebrews, Canaan and Syria became tributary to the Egyptian Pharaohs, although domination by the sovereign was not so strong as to prevent frequent local rebellions and inter-city struggles. Under Thutmose III (1479–1426 B.C.T.) and Amenhotep II (1427–1400 B.C.T.), the regular presence of the strong hand of the Egyptian ruler and his armies kept the Syrians and Canaanites sufficiently loyal. Nevertheless, Thutmose III reported a new and troubling element in the population. Habiru or (in Egyptian) 'Apiru, are reported for the first time. These seem to have been mercenaries, brigands or outlaws, who may have at one time led a settled life, but with bad-luck or due to the force of circumstances, contributed a rootless element of the population, prepared to hire themselves to whichever local mayor or princeling prepared to undertake their support. Although Habiru SA-GAZ (a Sumerian ideogram glossed as "brigand" in Akkadian), and sometimes Habiri (an Akkadian word) had been reported in Mesopotamia from the reign of Shulgi of Ur III, their appearance in Canaan appears to have been due to the arrival of a new state in Northern Mesopotamia based upon Maryannu aristocracy of horse drawn charioteers, associated with the Indo-Aryan rulers of the Hurrians, known as Mitanni. The Habiru seem to have been more a social class than any ethnic group. One analysis shows that the majority were, however, Hurrian, though there were a number of Semites and even some Kassite adventurers amongst their number.
The reign of Amenhotep III, as a result was not quite so tranquil for the Asiatic province, as Habiru/'Apiru contributed to greater political instability. It is believed that turbulent chiefs began to seek their opportunities, though as a rule could not find them without the help of a neighboring king. The boldest of the disaffected nobles was Aziru, son of Abdi-Ashirta, a prince of Amurru, who even before the death of Amenhotep III, endeavored to extend his power into the plain of Damascus. Akizzi, governor of Katna–(Qatna?) (near Hamath), reported this to the Pharaoh, who seems to have sought to frustrate his attempts. In the next reign, however, both father and son caused infinite trouble to loyal servants of Egypt like Rib-Addi, governor of Gubla (Gebal), not the least through transferring loyalty from the Egyptian crown to that of the expanding neighboring Hittites under Suppiluliuma I.
Egyptian power in Canaan thus suffered a major setback when the Hittites (or Hatti) advanced into Syria in the reign of Amenhotep III, and became even more threatening in that of his successor, displacing the Amurru and prompting a resumption of Semitic migration. Abd-Ashirta and his son Aziru, at first afraid of the Hittites, afterwards made a treaty with their king, and joining with other external powers, attacked the districts remaining loyal to Egypt. In vain did Rib-Addi send touching appeals for aid to the distant Pharaoh, who was far too engaged in his religious innovations to attend to such messages.
In the el Amarna letters (~1350 B.C.T.) sent by governors and princes of Canaan to their Egyptian overlord Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) in the 14th century B.C.T. — commonly known as the Tel-el-Amarna tablets — one discovers that beside Amar and Amurru (Amorites), the two forms Kinahhi and Kinahni, corresponding to Kena' and Kena'an respectively, and including Syria in its widest extent. The letters are written in the official and diplomatic Akkadian language, though "Canaanitish" words and idioms are also in evidence.
Just after the Amarna period a new problem arose which was to trouble the Egyptian control of Canaan. Pharaoh Horemhab campaigned against Shasu (Egyptian = "wanderers") or living in nomadic pastoralist tribes, who had moved across the Jordan to threaten Egyptian trade through Galilee and Jezreel. Seti I (ca. 1290 B.C.T.) is said to have conquered these Shasu, Semitic nomads living just south and east of the Dead Sea, from the fortress of Taru to "Ka-n-'-na". After the near collapse of the Battle of Kadesh, Rameses II had to campaign vigorously in Canaan to maintain Egyptian power. Egyptian forces penetrated into Moab and Ammon, where a permanent fortress garrison (Called simply "Rameses") was established. After the collapse of the Levant under the so-called "Peoples of the Sea", Rameses III (ca. 1194 B.C.T.) is said to have built a temple to the god Amen in "Ka-n-'-na." This geographic name probably meant all of western Syria and Canaan, with Raphia, "the (first) city of the Ka-n-'-na,", on the southwest boundary toward the desert. Some archaeologists have proposed that Egyptian records of the 13th century B.C.T. are early written reports of a monotheistic belief in Yahweh noted among the nomadic Shasu. Evidently, belief in Yahweh had arisen among these nomadic peoples. By the reign of King Josiah (around 650 B.C.T.). Yahweh had displaced the polytheistic family of "El" as the principle God amongst those living in the high country of Israel and Judah.
Some believe the "Habiru" signified generally all the nomadic tribes known as "Hebrews." and particularly the early Israelites, who sought to appropriate the fertile region for themselves, but the term was rarely used to describe the Shasu. Whether the term may also include other related peoples such as the Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites is uncertain. It may not be an ethnonym at all.
The part of the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible often called the Table of Nations describes the Canaanites as being descended from an ancestor called Canaan (Hebrew: כְּנַעַן, Knaan), saying (Genesis 10:15–19):
The Sidon whom the Table identifies as the firstborn son of Canaan has the same name as that of the coastal city of Sidon, in Lebanon. This city dominated the Phoenician coast, and may have enjoyed hegemony over a number of ethnic groups, who are said to belong to the "Land of Canaan."
A Biblical story involving Canaan seems to refer to the ancient discovery of the cultivation of grapes around 4000 BC around the area of Ararat, which is associated with Noah. After the Flood, Noah planted a vineyard, made wine but became drunk. While intoxicated, an incident occurred involving him and his youngest son, Ham. Afterward, Noah cursed Ham's son Canaan (but not Ham, for reasons that are not stated) to a life of servitude (a possible pun on the Hebrew word "Can" meaning serviteur). Canaan was to serve his brothers (who were not cursed either due to the respect they exhibited towards their inebriated father) and also his uncles Shem and Japheth (Genesis 9:20–27). Noah's curse is typically interpreted to apply to the descendants of the mentioned figures. "Shem" includes the Israelites, Moabites, and Ammonites, who dominated the Canaanite inland areas around the Jordan Valley.
The Canaanites are said to have been one of seven regional ethnic divisions or "nations" driven out before the Israelites following the Exodus. Specifically, the other nations include the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites (Deuteronomy 7:1).
According to the Book of Jubilees, the Israelite conquest of Canaan, and the curse, are attributed to Canaan's steadfast refusal to join his elder brothers in Ham's allotment beyond the Nile, and instead "squatting" on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, within the inheritance delineated for Shem.
It is argued that the Israelites were themselves Canaanites, and that "historical Israel", as distinct from "literary" or "Biblical Israel" was a subset of Canaanite culture. Canaan when used in this sense refers to the entire Ancient Near Eastern Levant down to about 100 C.C.
Unlike Mesopotamia or Ancient Egypt, where documentation exists that is rich and varied, the documentation about Canaan is very sparse. The only sources that come from inside the region are from Syria – with Bronze Age cuneiform archives of Ebla, Mari, Alalakh and Ugarit. Iron Age materials are even more scarce, because writing then was mostly on papyrus, and unlike in Egypt, none of it has survived the humid climates of the most populous parts of the region.
The names of Canaanite kings or other figures mentioned in historiography or known through archaeology are:
Confirmed archaeologically
* Ebrium, king of Ebla
* Ibbi-Sipish, his son, king of Ebla
* Ili-ilimma, father of Idrimi, king of Halab
* Idrimi, king of Alalakh
* Ammittamru I of Ugarit (Amarna letters)
* Niqmaddu II of Ugarit (Amarna letters) (1349–1315 BC)
* Arhalba of Ugarit (1315–1313 BC)
* Niqmepa of Ugarit (1313–1260 BC)
* Ammittamru II of Ugarit (1260–1235 BC)
* Ibiranu of Ugarit (1235–1220 BC)
* Ammurapi of Ugarit (1215–1185 BC)
* Aziru, ruler of Amurru (Amarna letters)
* Labaya, lord of Shechem (Amarna letters)
* Abdikheba, mayor of Jerusalem (Amarna letters)
* Šuwardata, mayor of Qiltu (Amarna letters)
Biblical Characters
* Canaan, son of Ham (Gen. 10:6)
* Sidon, son of Canaan (Gen. 10:15)
* Heth, firstborn son of Canaan (Gen. 10:15)
* Cronos (Ilus), founder of Byblos according to Sanchuniathon
* Mamre, an Amorite chieftain (Gen. 13:18)
* Makamaron, king of Canaan (Jubilees 46:6)
* Sihon, king of Amorites (Deut 1:4)
* Og, king of Bashan (Deut 1:4)
* Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem (Josh. 10:1)
* Debir, king of Eglon (Josh. 10:3)
* Jabin, name of two kings of Hazor (Josh. 11:1; Judges 5:6)
Rulers of Tyre
* Abibaal 990–978 BC
* Hiram I 978–944 BC
* Baal-Eser I (Balbazer I) 944–927 BC
* Abdastratus 927–918 BC
* Methusastartus 918–906 BC
* Astarymus 906–897 BC
* Phelles 897–896 BC
* Eshbaal I 896–863 BC
* Baal-Eser II (Balbazer II) 863–829 BC
* Mattan I 829–820 BC
* Pygmalion 820–774 BC
* Eshbaal II 750–739 BC
* Hiram II 739–730 BC
* Mattan II 730–729 BC
* Elulaios 729 694 BC
* Abd Melqart 694–680 BC
* Baal I 680–660 BC
* Tyre may have been under control of Assyria and/or Egypt for 70 years
* Eshbaal III 591–573 BC—Carthage became independent of Tyre in 574 BC
* Baal II 573–564 BC (under Babylonian overlords)
* Yakinbaal 564 BC
* Chelbes 564–563 BC
* Abbar 563–562 BC
* Mattan III and Ger Ashthari 562–556 BC
* Baal-Eser III 556–555 BC
* Mahar-Baal 555–551 BC
* Hiram III 551–532 BC
* Mattan III (under Persian Control)
* Boulomenus
* Abdemon c.420–411 BC
Early on the Canaanites acquired fame as traders across a wide area beyond the Near East. There are occasional instances in the Hebrew Bible where "Canaanite" is used as a synonym for "merchant"—presumably indicating the aspect of Canaanite culture that the authors found most familiar. The term was derived from the place name, because so many merchants described themselves as Canaanites.
One of Canaan's most famous exports was a much sought-after purple dye, derived from two species of Murex sea snails found along the east Mediterranean coast and worn proudly by figures from ancient kings to modern popes.
Between ca. 1200–1100 B.C.T., most of southern Canaan was settled, and according to the Bible conquered, by the Israelites, while the northern areas were taken over by Arameans. The remaining area still under clear Canaanite control, is referred to by its Greek name, "Phoenicia" (meaning "purple", in reference to the land's famous dye).
Augustine also mentions that one of the terms the seafaring Phoenicians called their homeland was "Canaan." This is further confirmed by coins of the city of Laodicea by the Lebanon, that bear the legend, "Of Laodicea, a metropolis in Canaan"; these coins are dated to the reign of Antiochus IV (175–164 BC) and his successors.
The first of many Canaanites who emigrated seaward finally settled in Carthage, and Augustine adds that the country people near Hippo, presumably Punic in origin, still called themselves "Chanani" in his day.
Canaanite. The term refers to the members of a Semitic group living in Palestine before the Hebrews.
Canaan is an ancient term for a region encompassing modern-day Israel and Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Jordan, Syria and northeastern Egypt. In the Hebrew Bible, the "Land of Canaan" extends from Lebanon southward across Gaza to the "Brook of Egypt" and eastward to the Jordan River Valley, thus including modern Israel and the Palestinian Territories. In far ancient times, the southern area included various ethnic groups. The Amarna Letters found in Ancient Egypt mention Canaan (Akkadian: Kinaḫḫu) in connection with Gaza and other cities along the Phoenician coast and into Upper Galilee. Many earlier Egyptian sources also make mention of numerous military campaigns conducted in Ka-na-na, just inside Asia.
The name Canaan is mentioned frequently in the Bible. It referred to parts or all of the region between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea in antiquity. Proceeding northward Lebanon is bordered by the Litani river to the watershed of the Orontes river which is known by the Egyptians as upper Retnu. Between Lebanon and Syria, Canaan is bordered to the North by Hazor, Aram and Kadesh which include the lands of the Amorites. In Egyptian campaign accounts, the term Djahi was used to refer to the watershed of the Jordan river. Many earlier Egyptian sources also make mention of numerous military campaigns conducted in Ka-na-na, just inside Asia.
Canaan predates the ancient Israelite territories described in the Bible, and describes a land with different, but overlapping bounds. The classical Jewish view is that "Canaan" is the geographical name, but this is not a view that is universally subscribed to; the renaming as "Israel" after its occupation by the Israelites is derived only from the Bible, and marks the origin of the concept of a Holy Land. The region of Judaea existed by that name from the 6th century B.C.T. until it was renamed "Palestina" by the Romans following the Bar Kokhba revolt against Rome in the 2nd century of the Christian calendar. In the Bible and elsewhere, Zion originally meant the region of and around Jerusalem but, because of the importance of this city to Zionists, came to designate the whole of the Israelite land.
The English name Canaan ultimately comes from the Hebrew, via Greek and Latin. The Hebrew name Canaan is of obscure origins, with one suggestion connecting it with the non-Semitic Hurrian term Kinahhu found at Nuzi (c. 1450 B.C.T.), and referring to the color purple— also said to be the meaning of Phoenicia (which itself is often used as synonym for Canaan).
Another etymology is straightforward. "Can" means low as "Aram" means high. A straightforward meaning of Canaan is "lowland." This was first applied to the lowland or classical Phoenicia, mainly Sidon, then by extension to the whole region.
A third possibility is that Canaan derives from the Semitic root *k-n-' meaning "to be subdued", or "to be humbled", possibly connected with the above meaning "low".
The Bible attributes the name to Canaan, the son of Ham and the grandson of Noah, whose offspring correspond to the names of various ethnic groups in the land of Canaan, listed in the "Table of Nations" (Gen. 10), where Sidon is named as his firstborn son, to be subdued by the descendants of Shem.
The eponym Ham merely means "Hot" or "Red" in Hebrew or Canaanite, although it may have been derived initially from the Egyptian word Kemet (KMT), a word applied to the land along the Nile. Some authors reason that the attribution was made because the Canaanite coast but not the interior was under Egyptian domination for several centuries.
The Hebrew Bible lists borders for the land of Canaan. Numbers 34:2 includes the phrase "the land of Canaan as defined by its borders." The borders are then delineated in Numbers 34:3–12. Present-day Bible scholars suggest that in around 1400 B.C.T. Jews first arrived in Canaan. Others dispute the veracity of the Biblical account and claim that the Hebrew culture developed locally, from the Canaanite culture, with perhaps very minor population inflows from the outside.
Canaan is mentioned in a document from the 18th century B.C.T. found in the ruins of Mari, a former Sumerian outpost in Syria, located along the Middle Euphrates. Apparently Canaan at this time existed as a distinct political entity (probably a loose confederation of city-states). A letter from this time complains about certain "thieves and Canaanites (i.e. Kinahhu)" causing trouble in the town of Rahisum.
Tablets found in the Mesopotamian city of Nuzi use the term Kinahnu ("Canaan") as a synonym for red or purple dye, laboriously produced by the Kassites from murex shells as early as 1600 B.C.T. and on the Mediterranean coast by the Phoenicians from a by-product of glassmaking. Purple cloth became a renowned Canaanite export commodity which is mentioned in Exodus. The dyes may have been named after their place of origin. The name 'Phoenicia' is connected with the Greek word for "purple", apparently referring to the same product, but it is difficult to state with certainty whether the Greek word came from the name, or vice versa. The purple cloth of Tyre in Phoenicia was well known far and wide and was associated by the Romans with nobility and royalty.
References to Canaanites are also found throughout the Amarna letters of Pharaoh Akenaton circa 1350 B.C.T., and a reference to the "land of Canaan" is found on the statue of Idrimi of Alalakh in modern Syria. After a popular uprising against his rule, Idrimi was forced into exile with his mother's relatives to seek refuge in "the land of Canaan", where he prepared for an eventual attack to recover his city. Texts from Ugarit also refer to an individual Canaanite (*kn'ny), suggesting that the people of Ugarit, contrary to much modern opinion, considered themselves to be non-Canaanite.
Archaeological excavations of a number of sites, later identified as Canaanite, show that the prosperity of the region reached its apogee during this Middle Bronze Age period, under the leadership of the city of Hazor, at least nominally tributary to Egypt for much of the period. In the north, the cities of Yamkhad and Qatna were hegemons of important confederacies, and it would appear that Biblical Hazor was the chief city of another important coalition in the south. In the early Late Bronze Age, Canaanite confederacies were centered on Megiddo and Kadesh, before again being brought into the Egyptian Empire.
One of the earliest settlements in the region was at Jericho in Canaan. The earliest settlements were seasonal, but, by the Bronze Age, had developed into large urban centers. By the Early Bronze Age other sites had developed, such as Ebla, which by ca. 2300 B.C.T. was incorporated into the Akkadian empire of Sargon the Great and Naram-Sin of Akkad (Biblical Accad). Sumerian references to the Mar.tu ("tent dwellers" – considered to be Amorite) country West of the Euphrates date from even earlier than Sargon, at least to the reign of Enshakushanna of Uruk. The archives of Ebla show reference to a number of Biblical sites, including Hazor, Jerusalem, and as a number of people have claimed, to Sodom and Gomorrah mentioned in Genesis as well. The collapse of the Akkadian Empire saw the arrival of peoples using Khirbet Kerak Ware pottery, coming originally from the Zagros Mountains, east of the Tigris. It is suspected by some that this event marks the arrival in Syria and Canaan of the Hurrians, possibly the people later known in the Biblical tradition as Horites.
Today it is thought that Canaanite civilization is a response to long periods of stable climate interrupted by short periods of climate change. During these periods, Canaanites profited from their intermediary position between the ancient civilizations of the Middle East — Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Minoan Crete — to become city states of merchant princes along the coast, with small kingdoms specializing in agricultural products in the interior. This polarity, between coastal towns and agrarian hinterland, was illustrated in Canaanite mythology by the struggle between the storm god, variously called Teshub (Hurrian) or Ba'al Hadad (Aramaean) and Ya'a, Yaw, Yahu or Yam, god of the sea and rivers. Small walled market towns characterized early Canaanite civilization surrounded by peasant farmers growing a range of local horticultural products, along with commercial growing of olives, grapes for wine, and pistachios, surrounded by extensive grain cropping, predominantly wheat and barley. Harvest in early summer was a season when transhumance nomadism was practiced — shepherds staying with their flocks during the wet season and returning to graze them on the harvested stubble, closer to water supplies in the summer. Evidence of this cycle of agriculture is found in the Gezer Calendar and in the Biblical cycle of the year.
Periods of rapid climate change generally saw a collapse of this mixed Mediterranean farming system; commercial production was replaced with subsistence agriculural foodstuffs; and transhumance pastoralism became a year-round nomadic pastoral activity, whilst tribal groups wandered in a circular pattern north to the Euphrates, or south to the Egyptian delta with their flocks. Occasionally, tribal chieftains would emerge, raiding enemy settlements and rewarding loyal followers from the spoils or by tariffs levied on merchants. Should the cities band together and retaliate, a neighboring state intervene or should the chieftain suffer a reversal of fortune, allies would fall away or inter-tribal feuding would return. It has been suggested that the Patriarchal tales of the Bible reflect such social forms. During the periods of the collapse of Akkad and the First Intermediary Period in Egypt, the Hyksos invasions and the end of the Middle Bronze Age in Babylonia, and the Late Bronze Age collapse, trade through the Canaanite area would dwindle, as Egypt and Mesopotamia withdrew into their isolation. When the climates stabilized, trade would resume firstly along the coast in the area of the Philistine and Phoenician cities. The Philistines, while an integral part of the Canaanite mix, do not seem to have been ethnically homogenous with the Canaanites. The Hurrians, Hittites, Aramaeans, Moabites, and Ammonites are also considered distinct from generic Canaanites or Amorites, in scholarship or in tradition (although in the Biblical Book of Nations, "Heth", (Hittites) are a son of Canaan). As markets redeveloped, new trade routes that would avoid the heavy tariffs of the coast would develop from Kadesh Barnea, through Hebron, Lachish, Jerusalem, Bethel, Samaria, Shechem, Shiloh through Galilee to Jezreel, Hazor and Megiddo. Secondary Canaanite cities would develop in this region. Further economic development would see the creation of a third trade route from Eilath, Timna, Edom (Seir), Moab, Ammon and thence to Damascus and Palmyra. Earlier states (for example the Philistines and Tyrians in the case of Judah and Israel, for the second route, and Judah and Israel for the third route) tried generally unsuccessfully to control the interior trade.
Eventually, the prosperity of this trade would attract more powerful regional neighbors, such as Ancient Egypt, Assyria, the Babylonians, Persians, Ancient Greeks and Romans, who would attempt to control the Canaanites politically, levying tribute, taxes and tariffs. Often in such periods, thorough overgrazing would result in a climatic collapse and a repeat of the cycle (for example, PPNB, Ghassulian, Uruk, and the Bronze Age cycles already mentioned). The fall of later Canaanite civilization occurred with the incorporation of the area into the Greco-Roman world (as Iudaea province), and after Byzantine times, into the Arab, Ottoman and Abbasid Caliphates. Aramaic, one of the two lingua franca of Canaanite civilization, is still spoken in a number of small Syrian villages, whilst Phoenician Canaanite disappeared as a spoken language in about 100 C.C.
During the 2nd millennium B.C.T., Ancient Egyptian texts use the term Canaan to refer to an Egyptian province, whose boundaries generally corroborate the definition of Canaan found in the Hebrew Bible, bounded to the west by the Mediterranean Sea, to the north in the vicinity of Hamath in Syria, to the east by the Jordan Valley, and to the south by a line extended from the Dead Sea to around Gaza (Numbers 34). Nevertheless, the Egyptian and Hebrew uses of the term are not identical: the Egyptian texts also identify the coastal city of Qadesh in Syria near Turkey as part of the "Land of Canaan", so that the Egyptian usage seems to refer to the entire Levantine coast of the Mediterranean Sea, making it a synonym of another Egyptian term for this coastland, Retenu.
There is uncertainty about whether the name Canaan refers to a specific ethnic group wherever they live, the homeland of this ethnic group, or a region under the control of this ethnic group, or perhaps any of the three.
At the end of what is referred to as the Middle Kingdom era of Egypt, there was a breakdown in centralized power, the assertion of independence by various monarchs and the assumption of power in the Delta by Pharaohs of the 17th Dynasty. Around 1674 B.C.T., these rulers, whom the Egyptians referred to as "rulers of foreign lands" (Egyptian, "Heqa Khasut", hence "Hyksos" in Greek), came to control Lower Egypt (northern Egypt), evidently leaving Canaan an ethnically diverse land.
Among the migrant tribes who appear to have settled in the region were the Amorites. In the Old Testament, Amorites are mentioned in the Table of Peoples (Genesis 10:16–18). Evidently, the Amorites played a significant role in the early history of Canaan. In Genesis 14:7, Joshua 10:5, Deuteronomy 1:19, 27, 44, Amorites were located in the southern mountain country, while in Numbers 21:13, Joshua 9:10, 24:8, and 12, there were two great Amorite kings residing at Heshbon and Ashtaroth, east of the Jordan. However, in other passages such as Genesis 15:16 and 48:22, Joshua 24:15, and Judges 1:34, the name Amorite is regarded as synonymous with "Canaanite"—only "Amorite" is never used for the population on the coast.
In Egyptian inscriptions, Amar and Amurru are applied strictly to the more northerly mountain region east of Phoenicia, extending to the Orontes. In the Akkadian Empire, as early as Naram-Sin's reign (ca. 2240 B.C.T.), Amurru was called one of the "four quarters" surrounding Sumer, along with Subartu, Akkad, and Elam, and Amorite dynasties also came to dominate in Mesopotamia, including at Babylon and Isin. Later on, Amurru became the Assyrian term for the interior of south as well as for northerly Canaan. At this time, the Canaanite area seemed divided between two confederacies, one centered upon Tel Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley, the second on the more northerly city of Kadesh on the Orontes River.
In the centuries preceding the appearance of the Biblical Hebrews, Canaan and Syria became tributary to the Egyptian Pharaohs, although domination by the sovereign was not so strong as to prevent frequent local rebellions and inter-city struggles. Under Thutmose III (1479–1426 B.C.T.) and Amenhotep II (1427–1400 B.C.T.), the regular presence of the strong hand of the Egyptian ruler and his armies kept the Syrians and Canaanites sufficiently loyal. Nevertheless, Thutmose III reported a new and troubling element in the population. Habiru or (in Egyptian) 'Apiru, are reported for the first time. These seem to have been mercenaries, brigands or outlaws, who may have at one time led a settled life, but with bad-luck or due to the force of circumstances, contributed a rootless element of the population, prepared to hire themselves to whichever local mayor or princeling prepared to undertake their support. Although Habiru SA-GAZ (a Sumerian ideogram glossed as "brigand" in Akkadian), and sometimes Habiri (an Akkadian word) had been reported in Mesopotamia from the reign of Shulgi of Ur III, their appearance in Canaan appears to have been due to the arrival of a new state in Northern Mesopotamia based upon Maryannu aristocracy of horse drawn charioteers, associated with the Indo-Aryan rulers of the Hurrians, known as Mitanni. The Habiru seem to have been more a social class than any ethnic group. One analysis shows that the majority were, however, Hurrian, though there were a number of Semites and even some Kassite adventurers amongst their number.
The reign of Amenhotep III, as a result was not quite so tranquil for the Asiatic province, as Habiru/'Apiru contributed to greater political instability. It is believed that turbulent chiefs began to seek their opportunities, though as a rule could not find them without the help of a neighboring king. The boldest of the disaffected nobles was Aziru, son of Abdi-Ashirta, a prince of Amurru, who even before the death of Amenhotep III, endeavored to extend his power into the plain of Damascus. Akizzi, governor of Katna–(Qatna?) (near Hamath), reported this to the Pharaoh, who seems to have sought to frustrate his attempts. In the next reign, however, both father and son caused infinite trouble to loyal servants of Egypt like Rib-Addi, governor of Gubla (Gebal), not the least through transferring loyalty from the Egyptian crown to that of the expanding neighboring Hittites under Suppiluliuma I.
Egyptian power in Canaan thus suffered a major setback when the Hittites (or Hatti) advanced into Syria in the reign of Amenhotep III, and became even more threatening in that of his successor, displacing the Amurru and prompting a resumption of Semitic migration. Abd-Ashirta and his son Aziru, at first afraid of the Hittites, afterwards made a treaty with their king, and joining with other external powers, attacked the districts remaining loyal to Egypt. In vain did Rib-Addi send touching appeals for aid to the distant Pharaoh, who was far too engaged in his religious innovations to attend to such messages.
In the el Amarna letters (~1350 B.C.T.) sent by governors and princes of Canaan to their Egyptian overlord Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) in the 14th century B.C.T. — commonly known as the Tel-el-Amarna tablets — one discovers that beside Amar and Amurru (Amorites), the two forms Kinahhi and Kinahni, corresponding to Kena' and Kena'an respectively, and including Syria in its widest extent. The letters are written in the official and diplomatic Akkadian language, though "Canaanitish" words and idioms are also in evidence.
Just after the Amarna period a new problem arose which was to trouble the Egyptian control of Canaan. Pharaoh Horemhab campaigned against Shasu (Egyptian = "wanderers") or living in nomadic pastoralist tribes, who had moved across the Jordan to threaten Egyptian trade through Galilee and Jezreel. Seti I (ca. 1290 B.C.T.) is said to have conquered these Shasu, Semitic nomads living just south and east of the Dead Sea, from the fortress of Taru to "Ka-n-'-na". After the near collapse of the Battle of Kadesh, Rameses II had to campaign vigorously in Canaan to maintain Egyptian power. Egyptian forces penetrated into Moab and Ammon, where a permanent fortress garrison (Called simply "Rameses") was established. After the collapse of the Levant under the so-called "Peoples of the Sea", Rameses III (ca. 1194 B.C.T.) is said to have built a temple to the god Amen in "Ka-n-'-na." This geographic name probably meant all of western Syria and Canaan, with Raphia, "the (first) city of the Ka-n-'-na,", on the southwest boundary toward the desert. Some archaeologists have proposed that Egyptian records of the 13th century B.C.T. are early written reports of a monotheistic belief in Yahweh noted among the nomadic Shasu. Evidently, belief in Yahweh had arisen among these nomadic peoples. By the reign of King Josiah (around 650 B.C.T.). Yahweh had displaced the polytheistic family of "El" as the principle God amongst those living in the high country of Israel and Judah.
Some believe the "Habiru" signified generally all the nomadic tribes known as "Hebrews." and particularly the early Israelites, who sought to appropriate the fertile region for themselves, but the term was rarely used to describe the Shasu. Whether the term may also include other related peoples such as the Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites is uncertain. It may not be an ethnonym at all.
The part of the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible often called the Table of Nations describes the Canaanites as being descended from an ancestor called Canaan (Hebrew: כְּנַעַן, Knaan), saying (Genesis 10:15–19):
The Sidon whom the Table identifies as the firstborn son of Canaan has the same name as that of the coastal city of Sidon, in Lebanon. This city dominated the Phoenician coast, and may have enjoyed hegemony over a number of ethnic groups, who are said to belong to the "Land of Canaan."
A Biblical story involving Canaan seems to refer to the ancient discovery of the cultivation of grapes around 4000 BC around the area of Ararat, which is associated with Noah. After the Flood, Noah planted a vineyard, made wine but became drunk. While intoxicated, an incident occurred involving him and his youngest son, Ham. Afterward, Noah cursed Ham's son Canaan (but not Ham, for reasons that are not stated) to a life of servitude (a possible pun on the Hebrew word "Can" meaning serviteur). Canaan was to serve his brothers (who were not cursed either due to the respect they exhibited towards their inebriated father) and also his uncles Shem and Japheth (Genesis 9:20–27). Noah's curse is typically interpreted to apply to the descendants of the mentioned figures. "Shem" includes the Israelites, Moabites, and Ammonites, who dominated the Canaanite inland areas around the Jordan Valley.
The Canaanites are said to have been one of seven regional ethnic divisions or "nations" driven out before the Israelites following the Exodus. Specifically, the other nations include the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites (Deuteronomy 7:1).
According to the Book of Jubilees, the Israelite conquest of Canaan, and the curse, are attributed to Canaan's steadfast refusal to join his elder brothers in Ham's allotment beyond the Nile, and instead "squatting" on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, within the inheritance delineated for Shem.
It is argued that the Israelites were themselves Canaanites, and that "historical Israel", as distinct from "literary" or "Biblical Israel" was a subset of Canaanite culture. Canaan when used in this sense refers to the entire Ancient Near Eastern Levant down to about 100 C.C.
Unlike Mesopotamia or Ancient Egypt, where documentation exists that is rich and varied, the documentation about Canaan is very sparse. The only sources that come from inside the region are from Syria – with Bronze Age cuneiform archives of Ebla, Mari, Alalakh and Ugarit. Iron Age materials are even more scarce, because writing then was mostly on papyrus, and unlike in Egypt, none of it has survived the humid climates of the most populous parts of the region.
The names of Canaanite kings or other figures mentioned in historiography or known through archaeology are:
Confirmed archaeologically
* Ebrium, king of Ebla
* Ibbi-Sipish, his son, king of Ebla
* Ili-ilimma, father of Idrimi, king of Halab
* Idrimi, king of Alalakh
* Ammittamru I of Ugarit (Amarna letters)
* Niqmaddu II of Ugarit (Amarna letters) (1349–1315 BC)
* Arhalba of Ugarit (1315–1313 BC)
* Niqmepa of Ugarit (1313–1260 BC)
* Ammittamru II of Ugarit (1260–1235 BC)
* Ibiranu of Ugarit (1235–1220 BC)
* Ammurapi of Ugarit (1215–1185 BC)
* Aziru, ruler of Amurru (Amarna letters)
* Labaya, lord of Shechem (Amarna letters)
* Abdikheba, mayor of Jerusalem (Amarna letters)
* Šuwardata, mayor of Qiltu (Amarna letters)
Biblical Characters
* Canaan, son of Ham (Gen. 10:6)
* Sidon, son of Canaan (Gen. 10:15)
* Heth, firstborn son of Canaan (Gen. 10:15)
* Cronos (Ilus), founder of Byblos according to Sanchuniathon
* Mamre, an Amorite chieftain (Gen. 13:18)
* Makamaron, king of Canaan (Jubilees 46:6)
* Sihon, king of Amorites (Deut 1:4)
* Og, king of Bashan (Deut 1:4)
* Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem (Josh. 10:1)
* Debir, king of Eglon (Josh. 10:3)
* Jabin, name of two kings of Hazor (Josh. 11:1; Judges 5:6)
Rulers of Tyre
* Abibaal 990–978 BC
* Hiram I 978–944 BC
* Baal-Eser I (Balbazer I) 944–927 BC
* Abdastratus 927–918 BC
* Methusastartus 918–906 BC
* Astarymus 906–897 BC
* Phelles 897–896 BC
* Eshbaal I 896–863 BC
* Baal-Eser II (Balbazer II) 863–829 BC
* Mattan I 829–820 BC
* Pygmalion 820–774 BC
* Eshbaal II 750–739 BC
* Hiram II 739–730 BC
* Mattan II 730–729 BC
* Elulaios 729 694 BC
* Abd Melqart 694–680 BC
* Baal I 680–660 BC
* Tyre may have been under control of Assyria and/or Egypt for 70 years
* Eshbaal III 591–573 BC—Carthage became independent of Tyre in 574 BC
* Baal II 573–564 BC (under Babylonian overlords)
* Yakinbaal 564 BC
* Chelbes 564–563 BC
* Abbar 563–562 BC
* Mattan III and Ger Ashthari 562–556 BC
* Baal-Eser III 556–555 BC
* Mahar-Baal 555–551 BC
* Hiram III 551–532 BC
* Mattan III (under Persian Control)
* Boulomenus
* Abdemon c.420–411 BC
Early on the Canaanites acquired fame as traders across a wide area beyond the Near East. There are occasional instances in the Hebrew Bible where "Canaanite" is used as a synonym for "merchant"—presumably indicating the aspect of Canaanite culture that the authors found most familiar. The term was derived from the place name, because so many merchants described themselves as Canaanites.
One of Canaan's most famous exports was a much sought-after purple dye, derived from two species of Murex sea snails found along the east Mediterranean coast and worn proudly by figures from ancient kings to modern popes.
Between ca. 1200–1100 B.C.T., most of southern Canaan was settled, and according to the Bible conquered, by the Israelites, while the northern areas were taken over by Arameans. The remaining area still under clear Canaanite control, is referred to by its Greek name, "Phoenicia" (meaning "purple", in reference to the land's famous dye).
Augustine also mentions that one of the terms the seafaring Phoenicians called their homeland was "Canaan." This is further confirmed by coins of the city of Laodicea by the Lebanon, that bear the legend, "Of Laodicea, a metropolis in Canaan"; these coins are dated to the reign of Antiochus IV (175–164 BC) and his successors.
The first of many Canaanites who emigrated seaward finally settled in Carthage, and Augustine adds that the country people near Hippo, presumably Punic in origin, still called themselves "Chanani" in his day.
Carmathians
Carmathians (in Arabic, Qarmati; in plural form, Qaramita). Name given to the adherents of a branch of the Isma‘iliyya. The central theme of the rebellion of Hamdan Qarmat and his brother-in-law ‘Abdan against Isma‘ili leadership in 899 was that the appearance of the Mahdi Muhammad ibn Isma‘il, the seventh Imam and seventh messenger of God, was at hand, ending the era of the Prophet, the sixth messenger.
The term Carmathians was generally used for those Isma‘ili groups which joined the revolt and repudiated the claim to the Imamate of ‘Ubayd Allah, the later Fatimid Caliph al-Mahdi. Their missionaries were active in Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Khurasan and Transoxiana but lacked united leadership.
In the first decade of the tenth century, the Carmathian movement appears to have regained its ideological unity. Damascus was subdued, and Hamat, Ma‘arrat al-Nu‘man, Baalbek and Salamiyya were sacked before the ‘Abbasid troops, sent against them, were victorious in 906. In 923, the Carmathians of Bahrain, under the leadership of the Abu Tahir al-Jannabi began a series of devastating campaigns in southern Iraq. In 930, they conquered Mecca during the pilgrimage, committed a barbarous slaughter of the pilgrims and the inhabitants and carried off the Black Stone of the Ka‘ba. In 951, Abu Tahir’s brothers returned the Black Stone for a high sum paid by the ‘Abbasid government, having rejected an earlier offer by the Fatimid Caliph al-Mansur bi-‘llah.
The fourth Fatimid Caliph al-Mu‘izz succeeded in regaining partly the support of the dissident Isma‘ili communities, but failed to win the allegiance of the Carmathians of Bahrain, who clashed openly with them. Towards the end of the tenth century of the Christian calendar, the Carmathian state declined and, outside Bahrain, their communities were rapidly absorbed into Fatimid Isma‘ilism or disintegrated. In 1077, a definite end was put to the Carmathian reign in Bahrain.
The Carmathians (Arabic: "Those Who Wrote in Small Letters"; also transliterated "Qarmatians", "Qarmathians", "Karmathians") were a millenarian Ismaili group centered in eastern Arabia, where they established a utopian republic in 899 C.C. They are most famed for their revolt against the Abbasid Caliphate and particularly with their seizure of the Black Stone from Mecca and desecration of the Well of Zamzam with Muslim corpses during the Hajj season of 930 C.C.
The Carmathians were also known as "the Greengrocers" (al-Baqliyyah) because of their strict vegetarian habits.
Qarmati see Carmathians
Qaramita see Carmathians
Qarmathians see Carmathians
Qarmatians see Carmathians
Karmathians see Carmathians
"Those Who Wrote in Small Letters" see Carmathians
Carmathians (in Arabic, Qarmati; in plural form, Qaramita). Name given to the adherents of a branch of the Isma‘iliyya. The central theme of the rebellion of Hamdan Qarmat and his brother-in-law ‘Abdan against Isma‘ili leadership in 899 was that the appearance of the Mahdi Muhammad ibn Isma‘il, the seventh Imam and seventh messenger of God, was at hand, ending the era of the Prophet, the sixth messenger.
The term Carmathians was generally used for those Isma‘ili groups which joined the revolt and repudiated the claim to the Imamate of ‘Ubayd Allah, the later Fatimid Caliph al-Mahdi. Their missionaries were active in Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Khurasan and Transoxiana but lacked united leadership.
In the first decade of the tenth century, the Carmathian movement appears to have regained its ideological unity. Damascus was subdued, and Hamat, Ma‘arrat al-Nu‘man, Baalbek and Salamiyya were sacked before the ‘Abbasid troops, sent against them, were victorious in 906. In 923, the Carmathians of Bahrain, under the leadership of the Abu Tahir al-Jannabi began a series of devastating campaigns in southern Iraq. In 930, they conquered Mecca during the pilgrimage, committed a barbarous slaughter of the pilgrims and the inhabitants and carried off the Black Stone of the Ka‘ba. In 951, Abu Tahir’s brothers returned the Black Stone for a high sum paid by the ‘Abbasid government, having rejected an earlier offer by the Fatimid Caliph al-Mansur bi-‘llah.
The fourth Fatimid Caliph al-Mu‘izz succeeded in regaining partly the support of the dissident Isma‘ili communities, but failed to win the allegiance of the Carmathians of Bahrain, who clashed openly with them. Towards the end of the tenth century of the Christian calendar, the Carmathian state declined and, outside Bahrain, their communities were rapidly absorbed into Fatimid Isma‘ilism or disintegrated. In 1077, a definite end was put to the Carmathian reign in Bahrain.
The Carmathians (Arabic: "Those Who Wrote in Small Letters"; also transliterated "Qarmatians", "Qarmathians", "Karmathians") were a millenarian Ismaili group centered in eastern Arabia, where they established a utopian republic in 899 C.C. They are most famed for their revolt against the Abbasid Caliphate and particularly with their seizure of the Black Stone from Mecca and desecration of the Well of Zamzam with Muslim corpses during the Hajj season of 930 C.C.
The Carmathians were also known as "the Greengrocers" (al-Baqliyyah) because of their strict vegetarian habits.
Qarmati see Carmathians
Qaramita see Carmathians
Qarmathians see Carmathians
Qarmatians see Carmathians
Karmathians see Carmathians
"Those Who Wrote in Small Letters" see Carmathians
Carmo
Carmo (Etesbao do Carmo) (Estebao do Carmo) (Estevao do Carmo). Black slave leader of the black community in Bahia, Brazil, who, around 1835, led an uprising of Muslim Hausa blacks in that city. He was an alufa and attained great influence among his own people.
Etesbao do Carmo see Carmo
Estebao do Carmo see Carmo
Estevao do Carmo see Carmo
Carmo, Etesbao do see Carmo
Carmo, Estebao do see Carmo
Carmo, Estevao do see Carmo
Carmo (Etesbao do Carmo) (Estebao do Carmo) (Estevao do Carmo). Black slave leader of the black community in Bahia, Brazil, who, around 1835, led an uprising of Muslim Hausa blacks in that city. He was an alufa and attained great influence among his own people.
Etesbao do Carmo see Carmo
Estebao do Carmo see Carmo
Estevao do Carmo see Carmo
Carmo, Etesbao do see Carmo
Carmo, Estebao do see Carmo
Carmo, Estevao do see Carmo
Chagatay
Chagatay (Chagatai). Political and ethnic term derived from the name of Chagatay (d. 1242), Genghis Khan’s second son by his chief wife. The term Chagatay also designates the territory of the appanage (ulus) assigned to Chagatay by his father at the time of the division of the Mongol Empire in 1224. The territory of the Ulus Chagatay consisted of Transoxiana (roughly the area between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers in present day Uzbekistan, the Semirechie region of present day Kazakhstan, eastern Turkestan (present day Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of Chna), and northern and eastern Afghanistan. Its capital was at Almaligh in the Ili Valley (near present day Kuldja).
The Chagatay khanate was founded after Chagatay Khan’s death by his grandson, Kara Hulegu (r. 1242-1246) on the territory of the Ulus Chagatay. The early khans preserved the nomadic Mongol traditions and avoided mixing with the sedentary population of Transoxiana. There was no centralized authority until the accession of Kebek Khan (r. 1318-1326), who attempted to consolidate his power in Transoxiana. In the second half of the fourteenth century, the khanate split into two sections: the western in Transoxiana, which retained the name Chagatay and favored assimilation with the sedentary Muslim population, and the eastern in Semirechie and eastern Turkestan, which did not want to break with the nomadic traditions. The latter became known as Mughalistan and its inhabitants as Mughals (i. e., Mongols). After the death of Kazan Khan in 1347, power in Transoxiana passed to various local Turkic emirs, and the Chagatay khans remained only nominal rulers until Timur (Tamerlane) established his supremacy in 1370.
The term Chagatay was also applied, by extension, to the nomadic Turkic and turkicized Mongol population (as distinct from the sedentary Iranian) that inhabited the territory of the Ulus Chagatay and constituted a privileged military caste. The term continued to be used in this sense in the fifteenth century under the rule of the Timurids and was used loosely to designate the entire Turkic population of the Timurid Empire. After the collapse of the Timurids, the Chagatay became mixed with the nomadic Uzbeks, but the name was still used as a tribal designation. Moreover, the descendants of Timur who departed from Transoxiana under pressure from the Uzbeks at the beginning of the sixteenth century and founded an empire in India were also called Chagatay.
As an ethnic, tribal designation, Chagatay today is applied to a portion of the sedentary population of the Kashka-Darya and Surkhandarya regions of Uzbekistan, which is partly Uzbek and partly Tajik speaking. The term is also applied to the Eastern Turkic literary language that was formed in the fifteenth century on the territory of the former Ulus Chagatay.
Chagatai see Chagatay
Chagatay (Chagatai). Political and ethnic term derived from the name of Chagatay (d. 1242), Genghis Khan’s second son by his chief wife. The term Chagatay also designates the territory of the appanage (ulus) assigned to Chagatay by his father at the time of the division of the Mongol Empire in 1224. The territory of the Ulus Chagatay consisted of Transoxiana (roughly the area between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers in present day Uzbekistan, the Semirechie region of present day Kazakhstan, eastern Turkestan (present day Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of Chna), and northern and eastern Afghanistan. Its capital was at Almaligh in the Ili Valley (near present day Kuldja).
The Chagatay khanate was founded after Chagatay Khan’s death by his grandson, Kara Hulegu (r. 1242-1246) on the territory of the Ulus Chagatay. The early khans preserved the nomadic Mongol traditions and avoided mixing with the sedentary population of Transoxiana. There was no centralized authority until the accession of Kebek Khan (r. 1318-1326), who attempted to consolidate his power in Transoxiana. In the second half of the fourteenth century, the khanate split into two sections: the western in Transoxiana, which retained the name Chagatay and favored assimilation with the sedentary Muslim population, and the eastern in Semirechie and eastern Turkestan, which did not want to break with the nomadic traditions. The latter became known as Mughalistan and its inhabitants as Mughals (i. e., Mongols). After the death of Kazan Khan in 1347, power in Transoxiana passed to various local Turkic emirs, and the Chagatay khans remained only nominal rulers until Timur (Tamerlane) established his supremacy in 1370.
The term Chagatay was also applied, by extension, to the nomadic Turkic and turkicized Mongol population (as distinct from the sedentary Iranian) that inhabited the territory of the Ulus Chagatay and constituted a privileged military caste. The term continued to be used in this sense in the fifteenth century under the rule of the Timurids and was used loosely to designate the entire Turkic population of the Timurid Empire. After the collapse of the Timurids, the Chagatay became mixed with the nomadic Uzbeks, but the name was still used as a tribal designation. Moreover, the descendants of Timur who departed from Transoxiana under pressure from the Uzbeks at the beginning of the sixteenth century and founded an empire in India were also called Chagatay.
As an ethnic, tribal designation, Chagatay today is applied to a portion of the sedentary population of the Kashka-Darya and Surkhandarya regions of Uzbekistan, which is partly Uzbek and partly Tajik speaking. The term is also applied to the Eastern Turkic literary language that was formed in the fifteenth century on the territory of the former Ulus Chagatay.
Chagatai see Chagatay
Chagatay Khan
Chagatay Khan (Chagatai Khan) (d.1241 [1242?]). Founder of the Chagatay khanate. He was the second son of Jenghiz Khan, and the greatest authority on the tribal laws of the Mongols. He reigned over the Uighur territory between Bukhara, in the east, and Samarkand, in the west. Notwithstanding his intimate relations with his Muslim minister Qutb al-Din Habash ‘Amid, he was not favorably inclined towards Islam, since certain Islamic prescriptions like slaughtering an animal by cutting its throat and ablutions in running water constituted infringements of Mongol law. {See also Chagatay; Jenghiz Khan; Khan; Mongols; and Uighur.}
Chagatai Khan inherited most of what are now the five Central Asian states after the death of his father and ruled until his death in 1241. He was also appointed by Genghis Khan to oversee the execution of the Yassa, the written code of law created by Genghis Khan, though that lasted only until Genghis Khan was crowned Khan of the Mongol Empire. The Empire later came to be known as the Chagatai Khanate, a descendant empire of the Mongol Empire.
The real founder of the state was Chagatai's grandson Alghu. The state was much less influenced by Islam than the Ilkhanate to the southeast, but there were Muslims within the state and some did convert. However, they kept to old nomadic traits much longer. Some historians have said this was a major reason for the decline in urbanism and agriculture in this area which is known to have occurred. The first ruler who actually converted to Islam was Mubarak-Shah. His conversion occurred in 1256, however this was very problematic because in less than 30 years other rulers would renounce Islam and return to older beliefs. Tarmarshirin converted to Islam and tried to turn the dynasty back toward Islam. His conversion provoked a huge backlash from nomadic groups in the eastern part of the realm who eventually killed him in 1334. After his death the Chagatai state lost its status and disintegrated. Tamerlane would later marry into his family. By the early 1500 they had reasserted themselves in present day Uzbekistan and continued a realm there until the 1700s Shaybanid ruling house of the Uzbeks.
Chagatai Khan see Chagatay Khan
Chagatay Khan (Chagatai Khan) (d.1241 [1242?]). Founder of the Chagatay khanate. He was the second son of Jenghiz Khan, and the greatest authority on the tribal laws of the Mongols. He reigned over the Uighur territory between Bukhara, in the east, and Samarkand, in the west. Notwithstanding his intimate relations with his Muslim minister Qutb al-Din Habash ‘Amid, he was not favorably inclined towards Islam, since certain Islamic prescriptions like slaughtering an animal by cutting its throat and ablutions in running water constituted infringements of Mongol law. {See also Chagatay; Jenghiz Khan; Khan; Mongols; and Uighur.}
Chagatai Khan inherited most of what are now the five Central Asian states after the death of his father and ruled until his death in 1241. He was also appointed by Genghis Khan to oversee the execution of the Yassa, the written code of law created by Genghis Khan, though that lasted only until Genghis Khan was crowned Khan of the Mongol Empire. The Empire later came to be known as the Chagatai Khanate, a descendant empire of the Mongol Empire.
The real founder of the state was Chagatai's grandson Alghu. The state was much less influenced by Islam than the Ilkhanate to the southeast, but there were Muslims within the state and some did convert. However, they kept to old nomadic traits much longer. Some historians have said this was a major reason for the decline in urbanism and agriculture in this area which is known to have occurred. The first ruler who actually converted to Islam was Mubarak-Shah. His conversion occurred in 1256, however this was very problematic because in less than 30 years other rulers would renounce Islam and return to older beliefs. Tarmarshirin converted to Islam and tried to turn the dynasty back toward Islam. His conversion provoked a huge backlash from nomadic groups in the eastern part of the realm who eventually killed him in 1334. After his death the Chagatai state lost its status and disintegrated. Tamerlane would later marry into his family. By the early 1500 they had reasserted themselves in present day Uzbekistan and continued a realm there until the 1700s Shaybanid ruling house of the Uzbeks.
Chagatai Khan see Chagatay Khan
Chagri Beg
Chagri Beg (Dawud Chagri Beg) (989 - July 16, 1060). Oghuz leader who, with Tughril Beg, founded the Saljuq (Seljuk) dynasty. In 1040, they defeated the Ghaznavid Mas‘ud I, and Chagri Beg established Saljuq power in Khurasan. In 1060, peace was concluded between the Saljuqs and the Ghaznavids.
Čaghrī Beg Dawud (also Chagri, Çağrı or Tschaghri) * 989, † July 16th 1060) was a Saljuqs ruler and brother of Tughril (Tughrul) Beg. He was the son of Michael and grandson of the namesake of the dynasty of Seljuk Khan / bin Saldschūq Duqaq. The name translates as Čaghrī Little Hawk or Merlin.
Dawud Chagri Beg see Chagri Beg
Chagri Beg Dawud see Chagri Beg
Cagri see Chagri Beg
Tschaghri see Chagri Beg
Chagri Beg (Dawud Chagri Beg) (989 - July 16, 1060). Oghuz leader who, with Tughril Beg, founded the Saljuq (Seljuk) dynasty. In 1040, they defeated the Ghaznavid Mas‘ud I, and Chagri Beg established Saljuq power in Khurasan. In 1060, peace was concluded between the Saljuqs and the Ghaznavids.
Čaghrī Beg Dawud (also Chagri, Çağrı or Tschaghri) * 989, † July 16th 1060) was a Saljuqs ruler and brother of Tughril (Tughrul) Beg. He was the son of Michael and grandson of the namesake of the dynasty of Seljuk Khan / bin Saldschūq Duqaq. The name translates as Čaghrī Little Hawk or Merlin.
Dawud Chagri Beg see Chagri Beg
Chagri Beg Dawud see Chagri Beg
Cagri see Chagri Beg
Tschaghri see Chagri Beg
Chairil Anwar
Chairil Anwar (b. July 26, 1922, Medan, North Sumatra - d. April 28, 1949, Jakarta). Indonesian poet. Chairil Anwar was a member of a family from Medan, East Sumatra, which had moved to Djakarta. Chairil Anwar started writing in 1942 soon after the Japanese occupation. Although a vagabond by nature, and with little formal education, Chairil Anwar translated the poems of Rilke and the Dutch writers Marsman and Slauerhoff, and modelled his Indonesian poems on them.
With his burning vitality and poetic feeling, Chairil Anwar is regarded as the principal figure of the Angkatan Empatpuluh Lima (“Generation of 1945”) and the greatest of Indonesian poets. Chairil Anwar has described his approach as follows: “In Art, vitality is the chaotic initial state; beauty the cosmic final state.”
In Chairil Anwar’s hands the developing Indonesian language attained equality with other languages as a literary medium. Chairil Anwar’s collections of poems were all published in Djakarta after his early death. Deru tjampur Debu (“Cries in the Dust”) was published in 1949; Kerikil Tadjam (“Sharp Gravel”) in 1951; and Jang Terampas dan Jang Putus (“The Robbed and the Broken”) also in 1951.
Chairil Anwar's father, Toeloes, was the former regent of Indragiri, Riau. His parents migrated from Payakumbuh, West Sumatra. Toeloes came from Taeh Baruah and his mother Saleha from Situjuh.
Chairil was educated at Dutch schools, but dropped out at the age of 19. He moved to Jakarta with his mother after his parents divorced and began to read western literature, which influenced his own writing and distinguished him from the previous generation of traditional writers. His poems were circulated on cheap paper during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia and were not published until 1945.
It was apparently the death of his grandmother that inspired Chairil to write poetry and death became a theme of many of his poems. His collected poems were published as Deru Campur Debu [Roar Mixed with Dust] in 1949. By then his health was suffering as a result of his lifestyle and he died at CBZ Hospital (now Ciptomangunkusomo Hospital) on April 28, 1949. This day is celebrated as literature day in Indonesia.
Anwar, Chairil see Chairil Anwar
Chairil Anwar (b. July 26, 1922, Medan, North Sumatra - d. April 28, 1949, Jakarta). Indonesian poet. Chairil Anwar was a member of a family from Medan, East Sumatra, which had moved to Djakarta. Chairil Anwar started writing in 1942 soon after the Japanese occupation. Although a vagabond by nature, and with little formal education, Chairil Anwar translated the poems of Rilke and the Dutch writers Marsman and Slauerhoff, and modelled his Indonesian poems on them.
With his burning vitality and poetic feeling, Chairil Anwar is regarded as the principal figure of the Angkatan Empatpuluh Lima (“Generation of 1945”) and the greatest of Indonesian poets. Chairil Anwar has described his approach as follows: “In Art, vitality is the chaotic initial state; beauty the cosmic final state.”
In Chairil Anwar’s hands the developing Indonesian language attained equality with other languages as a literary medium. Chairil Anwar’s collections of poems were all published in Djakarta after his early death. Deru tjampur Debu (“Cries in the Dust”) was published in 1949; Kerikil Tadjam (“Sharp Gravel”) in 1951; and Jang Terampas dan Jang Putus (“The Robbed and the Broken”) also in 1951.
Chairil Anwar's father, Toeloes, was the former regent of Indragiri, Riau. His parents migrated from Payakumbuh, West Sumatra. Toeloes came from Taeh Baruah and his mother Saleha from Situjuh.
Chairil was educated at Dutch schools, but dropped out at the age of 19. He moved to Jakarta with his mother after his parents divorced and began to read western literature, which influenced his own writing and distinguished him from the previous generation of traditional writers. His poems were circulated on cheap paper during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia and were not published until 1945.
It was apparently the death of his grandmother that inspired Chairil to write poetry and death became a theme of many of his poems. His collected poems were published as Deru Campur Debu [Roar Mixed with Dust] in 1949. By then his health was suffering as a result of his lifestyle and he died at CBZ Hospital (now Ciptomangunkusomo Hospital) on April 28, 1949. This day is celebrated as literature day in Indonesia.
Anwar, Chairil see Chairil Anwar
Chaks
Chaks. Tribal group in Kashmir (r.1561-1588), when they were crushed by the Mughals.
Chalabi, Ahmed
Chaks. Tribal group in Kashmir (r.1561-1588), when they were crushed by the Mughals.
Chalabi, Ahmed
Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi (Arabic: أحمد عبد الهادي الجلبي; October 30, 1944 – November 3, 2015) was an Iraqi politician.
He was interim Minister of Oil in Iraq in April–May 2005 and December 2005 – January 2006 and Deputy Prime Minister from May 2005 to May 2006. Chalabi failed to win a seat in parliament in the December 2005 elections, and when the new Iraqi cabinet was announced in May 2006, he was not given a post. Once dubbed the "George Washington of Iraq" by American supporters, he later fell out of favor and came under investigation by several United States government sources. He was also the subject of a 2008 biography by investigative journalist Aram Roston: The Man Who Pushed America to War: The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, And Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi and a 2011 biography by 60 Minutes producer Richard Bonin, Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi's Long Journey to Triumph in Iraq.
Chalabi was a controversial figure, especially in the United States, for many reasons. In the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi National Congress (INC), with the assistance of lobbying powerhouse BKSH & Associates, provided a major portion of the information on which United States Intelligence based its condemnation of the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, including reports of weapons of mass destruction and alleged ties to al-Qaeda. Most, if not all, of this information has turned out to be false and Chalabi has been called a fabricator. That, combined with the fact that Chalabi subsequently boasted, in an interview with the British Sunday Telegraph, about the impact that their alleged falsifications had on American policy, led to a falling out between him and the United States government. Furthermore, Chalabi was found guilty in the Petra banking scandal in Jordan. In January 2012, a French intelligence official stated that they believed Chalabi to be an Iranian agent.
Chaldean Catholics
Chaldean Catholics. Semi-autonomous religious group who are affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church through the Eastern Rite. The Chaldean Catholics are allowed to retain their customs and rites, even when these differ from the traditions of the Roman church. There are historical ties with the Nestorian Church in Iraq, but these 2 branches split 450 years ago when, in 1551, the Nestorian Patriarch John Sulaka went to Rome and professed his Catholic faith. Many Nestorians followed Sulaka, while others did not accept this conversion. The Catholic branch of the Nestorian Church came to be called Chaldean, or Chaldean Catholic, or East Syriac. The name of the church was changed because referring to Nestor (Nestorius) would not have been acceptable to the Catholic Church. Over the next three centuries, the relationship between the Chaldean Catholics and the Roman Catholics was turbulent resulting in periods of non-affiliation. However, in 1830, there was a final unification with Rome.
The head of the Chaldean Catholic church is based in Baghdad, Iraq, and his title is Catholicos Patriarch. Below him, there are four archdioceses (2 in Iraq and 2 in Iran) and 7 dioceses. The Syrian members are headed by the Diocese of Aleppo. The few thousand members in Iran are headed by 3 archbishops, in Ahwaz, Teheran and in Orumiyeh, who is also bishop of Salmas. The Lebanese members are led by the diocese of Beirut. The Chaldeans still hold on to their East Syrian liturgy of Addai and Mari, and it is performed in Syriac (close to Aramiac, the language of Jesus).
The early history of Chaldean Catholics is linked with the Nestorian Church. However, beginning in the sixteenth century, the history of the Chaldean Catholics began to diverge from the Nestorian Church when the Nestorian community of India joined the Roman Catholic Church after the influence of the Portuguese traders and colonists. {See also Eastern Rite Catholics; Nestorians; and Roman Catholics.}
The Chaldean Christians are adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church. In the 16th century, a major segment of the Nestorian church united with Rome while retaining its ancient liturgy.
A former Nestorian denomination, the Chaldean Christians were united with the Roman Catholic Church in 1553. The Chaldean Catholic Church was established, and its first patriarch was proclaimed patriarch of "Mosul and Athur" (Nineveh and Assyria) on February 20, 1553 by Pope Julius III.
Chaldean Catholics have no direct or absolute lineage with the Neo-Babylonian Empire "Chaldeans", but were designated with the name Chaldean in the 16th century when they reunited with the Catholic Church to distinguish from the adherents of the Assyrian Church of the East.
Also sometimes known as "Chaldean Christians" are the Christians of St. Thomas in India (also called the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church), ethnically Nasrani (speakers of Malayalam).
Strictly, the name of Chaldeans is no longer correct; in Chaldea proper, apart from Baghdad, there are now very few adherents of this rite, most of the Chaldean population being found in the cities of Kerkuk, Arbil, and Mosul, in the heart of the Tigris valley, in the valley of the Zab, in the mountains of northern Iraq. It is in the former ecclesiastical province of Ator (Assyria) that are now found the most flourishing of the Catholic Chaldean communities. There are also significant communities of Chaldean Catholics in other Middle eastern countries (for instance Iran and Lebanon) and in the United States (where there are two dioceses). The native population accepts the name of Atoraya-Kaldaya (Assyro-Chaldeans) while in the neo-Syriac vernacular Christians generally are known as Syrians. The territory now occupied by these Chaldeans belonged once to the Sassanid Empire of Persia, later Umayyad and then the Abbassid caliphs of Islam. Turkish and Mongol invasions, and later efforts to reconstruct the former Kingdom of Persia shattered effectually the earlier political unity of this region; since the end of the 16th century the territory of the Chaldeans has been under Turkish or Persian rule. In fact, however, a number of the mountain tribes are only nominally subject to either.
The patriarch considers Baghdad as the principal city of his see. His title of "Patriarch of Babylon" results from the erroneous identification (in the seventeenth century) of modern Baghdad with ancient Babylon. As a matter of fact the Chaldean patriarch resides habitually at Mosul and reserves for himself the direct administration of this diocese and that of Baghdad. There are five archbishops (resident respectively at Bassora, Diarbekir, Kerkuk, Salamas, and Urmia) and seven bishops. Eight patriarchal vicars govern the small Chaldean communities dispersed throughout Turkey and Persia. The Chaldean clergy, especially the monks of Rabban-Hormizd, have established some missionary stations in the mountain districts inhabited by Nestorians. Three dioceses are in Persia, the others in Turkey.
The liturgical language of the Chaldean Church is Syriac and Arabic. Other languages such as Turkish, Persian and Kurdish are variously spoken by the people. In some districts the vernacular is neo-Syriac. The liturgical books are those of the ancient Nestorian Church, corrected in the sense of Catholic orthodoxy. Unfortunately, without doctrinal necessity, they have in some places been made to conform with Latin usage.
The literary revival in the early 20th century was mostly due to the Lazarist, Pere Bedjan, a Persian Chaldean, who devoted much industry and learning to popularizing among his people, both Catholics and Nestorians, their ancient chronicles, the lives of Chaldean saints and martyrs, even works of the ancient Nestorian doctors.
In recent times, Chaldeans suffered discrimination in Iraq and were deported from the Nineveh plains under Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist rule.
In mid-March 2008, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho was found dead, having been kidnapped two weeks earlier. Pope Benedict XVI condemned his death, by saying it was an act of inhuman violence. Sunni and Shia Muslims also expressed their condemnation.
Chaldean Catholics. Semi-autonomous religious group who are affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church through the Eastern Rite. The Chaldean Catholics are allowed to retain their customs and rites, even when these differ from the traditions of the Roman church. There are historical ties with the Nestorian Church in Iraq, but these 2 branches split 450 years ago when, in 1551, the Nestorian Patriarch John Sulaka went to Rome and professed his Catholic faith. Many Nestorians followed Sulaka, while others did not accept this conversion. The Catholic branch of the Nestorian Church came to be called Chaldean, or Chaldean Catholic, or East Syriac. The name of the church was changed because referring to Nestor (Nestorius) would not have been acceptable to the Catholic Church. Over the next three centuries, the relationship between the Chaldean Catholics and the Roman Catholics was turbulent resulting in periods of non-affiliation. However, in 1830, there was a final unification with Rome.
The head of the Chaldean Catholic church is based in Baghdad, Iraq, and his title is Catholicos Patriarch. Below him, there are four archdioceses (2 in Iraq and 2 in Iran) and 7 dioceses. The Syrian members are headed by the Diocese of Aleppo. The few thousand members in Iran are headed by 3 archbishops, in Ahwaz, Teheran and in Orumiyeh, who is also bishop of Salmas. The Lebanese members are led by the diocese of Beirut. The Chaldeans still hold on to their East Syrian liturgy of Addai and Mari, and it is performed in Syriac (close to Aramiac, the language of Jesus).
The early history of Chaldean Catholics is linked with the Nestorian Church. However, beginning in the sixteenth century, the history of the Chaldean Catholics began to diverge from the Nestorian Church when the Nestorian community of India joined the Roman Catholic Church after the influence of the Portuguese traders and colonists. {See also Eastern Rite Catholics; Nestorians; and Roman Catholics.}
The Chaldean Christians are adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church. In the 16th century, a major segment of the Nestorian church united with Rome while retaining its ancient liturgy.
A former Nestorian denomination, the Chaldean Christians were united with the Roman Catholic Church in 1553. The Chaldean Catholic Church was established, and its first patriarch was proclaimed patriarch of "Mosul and Athur" (Nineveh and Assyria) on February 20, 1553 by Pope Julius III.
Chaldean Catholics have no direct or absolute lineage with the Neo-Babylonian Empire "Chaldeans", but were designated with the name Chaldean in the 16th century when they reunited with the Catholic Church to distinguish from the adherents of the Assyrian Church of the East.
Also sometimes known as "Chaldean Christians" are the Christians of St. Thomas in India (also called the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church), ethnically Nasrani (speakers of Malayalam).
Strictly, the name of Chaldeans is no longer correct; in Chaldea proper, apart from Baghdad, there are now very few adherents of this rite, most of the Chaldean population being found in the cities of Kerkuk, Arbil, and Mosul, in the heart of the Tigris valley, in the valley of the Zab, in the mountains of northern Iraq. It is in the former ecclesiastical province of Ator (Assyria) that are now found the most flourishing of the Catholic Chaldean communities. There are also significant communities of Chaldean Catholics in other Middle eastern countries (for instance Iran and Lebanon) and in the United States (where there are two dioceses). The native population accepts the name of Atoraya-Kaldaya (Assyro-Chaldeans) while in the neo-Syriac vernacular Christians generally are known as Syrians. The territory now occupied by these Chaldeans belonged once to the Sassanid Empire of Persia, later Umayyad and then the Abbassid caliphs of Islam. Turkish and Mongol invasions, and later efforts to reconstruct the former Kingdom of Persia shattered effectually the earlier political unity of this region; since the end of the 16th century the territory of the Chaldeans has been under Turkish or Persian rule. In fact, however, a number of the mountain tribes are only nominally subject to either.
The patriarch considers Baghdad as the principal city of his see. His title of "Patriarch of Babylon" results from the erroneous identification (in the seventeenth century) of modern Baghdad with ancient Babylon. As a matter of fact the Chaldean patriarch resides habitually at Mosul and reserves for himself the direct administration of this diocese and that of Baghdad. There are five archbishops (resident respectively at Bassora, Diarbekir, Kerkuk, Salamas, and Urmia) and seven bishops. Eight patriarchal vicars govern the small Chaldean communities dispersed throughout Turkey and Persia. The Chaldean clergy, especially the monks of Rabban-Hormizd, have established some missionary stations in the mountain districts inhabited by Nestorians. Three dioceses are in Persia, the others in Turkey.
The liturgical language of the Chaldean Church is Syriac and Arabic. Other languages such as Turkish, Persian and Kurdish are variously spoken by the people. In some districts the vernacular is neo-Syriac. The liturgical books are those of the ancient Nestorian Church, corrected in the sense of Catholic orthodoxy. Unfortunately, without doctrinal necessity, they have in some places been made to conform with Latin usage.
The literary revival in the early 20th century was mostly due to the Lazarist, Pere Bedjan, a Persian Chaldean, who devoted much industry and learning to popularizing among his people, both Catholics and Nestorians, their ancient chronicles, the lives of Chaldean saints and martyrs, even works of the ancient Nestorian doctors.
In recent times, Chaldeans suffered discrimination in Iraq and were deported from the Nineveh plains under Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist rule.
In mid-March 2008, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho was found dead, having been kidnapped two weeks earlier. Pope Benedict XVI condemned his death, by saying it was an act of inhuman violence. Sunni and Shia Muslims also expressed their condemnation.
Cham
Cham. An ethnic group of Southeast Asia.
The Cham and their close relatives are remnant populations of the ancient kingdom of Champa, which is usually said to have been destroyed by the Vietnamese in 1471. At that time, most of the Cham fled to Angkor (a predecessor state of Kampuchea), where they were well received by the Khmer king. The remainder sought refuge along the least agriculturally attractive portions of the central and southern Vietnamese coast or in the highlands of the Darlac plateau.
Before the fall of Champa, the Cham had been very active in the long distance sea trade between India and China and were allied to the Malays of Melaka both economically and politically. After defeat, the Cham who fled to Angkor re-established their ties with the Malays and other Islamic peoples, but those who remained in Vietnam became increasingly isolated and less orthodox, some even losing most if not all of their Islamic traditions.
The Cham people are concentrated between the Kampong Cham Province in Cambodia and central Vietnam's Phan Rang-Thap Cham, Phan Thiet, Ho Chi Minh City and An Giang areas. Approximately 4,000 Chams also live in Thailand; many of whom have moved south to the Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala, and Songkhla Provinces for work. Cham form the core of the Muslim communities in both Cambodia and Vietnam.
The Cham are remnants of the Kingdom of Champa (7th to 15th centuries). They are closely related to other Austronesian peoples and speak Cham, a Malayo-Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family (Aceh-Chamic subgroup).
A section of the Kambysene hordes that settled in the north-west of India later came to be known as Kambojas and their province as Kamboja in ancient Indian traditions. A section of these Scythianized Kambojas is believed to have reached the Tibetan plateau where they mixed with the locals; as a result some Tibetans are still called Kambojas. Through Tibet, they went further to the Mekong valley where they were called Kambujas (Cambodians), now represented by the Chams, still a tall, fair people with non-Mongoloid eyes, of the Mon-Khmers.
Records of the Champa kingdom go as far back as the second century C.C. China. At its height in the 9th century, the kingdom controlled the lands between Hue, in central Annam, to the Mekong Delta in Cochinchina. Its prosperity came from maritime trade in sandalwood and slaves and probably included piracy.
In the 12th century C.C., the Cham fought a series of wars with the Angkorian Khmer to the west. In 1177, the Cham and their allies launched an attack from the lake Tonle Sap and managed to sack the Khmer capital. In 1181, however, they were defeated by the Khmer King Jayavarman VII.
Between the rise of the Khmer Empire around 800 and Vietnam's territorial push to the south, the Champa kingdom began to diminish. In 1471, it suffered a massive defeat by the Vietnamese, in which 120,000 people were either captured or killed, and the kingdom was reduced to a small enclave near Nha Trang. Between 1607 and 1676, the Champa king converted to Islam, and during this period Islam became a dominant feature of Cham society.
Further expansion by the Vietnamese in 1720 resulted in the annexation of the Champa kingdom and its persecution by the Vietnamese king, Minh Mang. As a consequence, the last Champa Muslim king, Pô Chien, decided to gather his people (those on the mainland) and migrate south to Cambodia, while those along the coastline migrated to Trengganu (Malaysia). A tiny group fled northward to the Chinese island of Hainan where they are known today as the Utsuls. The area of Cambodia where the king and the mainlanders settled is still known as Kompong Cham, where they scattered in communities across the Mekong River. Not all the Champa Muslims migrated with the king. A few groups stayed behind in the Nha Trang, Phan Rang, Phan Rí, and Phan Thiết provinces of central Vietnam.
In the 1960s there were various movements of uprising to free the Cham people and create their own state. The movements were the Liberation Front of Champa (FLC - Le Front pour la Libération de Cham) and the Front de Libération des Hauts plateaux. The latter sought cooperation with other hilltribes. The initial name of the movement was called "Front des Petits Peuples" from 1946 to 1960. In 1960 the name was changed to "Front de Libération des Hauts plateaux" and joined, with the FLC, the "Front unifié pour la Libération des Races opprimées" (FULRO) at some point in the 1960s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Cham experienced genocide under the Khmer Rouge. During the massacres by the government, a disproportionate number of Chams were killed compared with ethnic Khmers. Perhaps as many as 500,000 died. They were considered, along with the Vietnamese, the Khmer Rouge's primary enemy. The plan was to exterminate the Cham because they stood out. They worshiped their own god. Their diet was different. Their names and language were different. They lived by different rules. The Khmer Rouge wanted everyone to be equal, but when the Chams practiced Islam they did not appear to be equal. So they were punished.
The Vietnamese Chams live mainly in coastal and Mekong Delta provinces. They have two distinct religious communities, Muslim or Cham Bani constitute about 80%–85% of the Cham, and Hindu or Balamon (deriving from the word "Brāhman" and used both in Cham and in Vietnamese), who constitute about 15%–20% of the Cham. While they share a common language and history, there is no intermarriage between the groups. A small number of the Cham also follow Mahayana Buddhism. Many emigrated to France in the late 1960s after the civil war broke out in Saigon city.
In Cambodia, the Chams are 90% Muslim, as are the Utsuls of Hainan. The isolation of Cham Muslims in central Vietnam resulted in an increased syncretism with Buddhism until recent restoration of contacts with other global Muslim communities in Vietnamese cities, but Islam is now seeing a renaissance, with new mosques being built. During the rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the Chams of that country suffered serious purges with as much as half of their population exterminated.
Malaysia has some Cham immigrants and the link between the Chams and the Malaysian state of Kelantan is an old one. The Malaysian constitution recognizes the Cham rights to Malaysian citizenship and their Bumiputra status, and the Cham communities in Malaysia and along the Mekong River in Vietnam continue to have strong interactions.
The first religion of the Champa was a form of Shaivite Hinduism, brought by sea from India. As Arab merchants stopped along the Vietnam coast en route to China, Islam began to influence the civilization.
The exact date that Islam came to Champa is unknown, but grave markers dating to the 11th century have been found. It is generally assumed that Islam came to Indochina much after its arrival in China during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), and that Arab traders in the region came into direct contact only with the Chams, and not others. This might explain why only the Chams have been traditionally identified with Islam in Indochina.
Most of the Cham Hindus belong to the Nagavamshi Kshatriya caste, but a considerable minority are Brahmins.
Cham. An ethnic group of Southeast Asia.
The Cham and their close relatives are remnant populations of the ancient kingdom of Champa, which is usually said to have been destroyed by the Vietnamese in 1471. At that time, most of the Cham fled to Angkor (a predecessor state of Kampuchea), where they were well received by the Khmer king. The remainder sought refuge along the least agriculturally attractive portions of the central and southern Vietnamese coast or in the highlands of the Darlac plateau.
Before the fall of Champa, the Cham had been very active in the long distance sea trade between India and China and were allied to the Malays of Melaka both economically and politically. After defeat, the Cham who fled to Angkor re-established their ties with the Malays and other Islamic peoples, but those who remained in Vietnam became increasingly isolated and less orthodox, some even losing most if not all of their Islamic traditions.
The Cham people are concentrated between the Kampong Cham Province in Cambodia and central Vietnam's Phan Rang-Thap Cham, Phan Thiet, Ho Chi Minh City and An Giang areas. Approximately 4,000 Chams also live in Thailand; many of whom have moved south to the Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala, and Songkhla Provinces for work. Cham form the core of the Muslim communities in both Cambodia and Vietnam.
The Cham are remnants of the Kingdom of Champa (7th to 15th centuries). They are closely related to other Austronesian peoples and speak Cham, a Malayo-Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family (Aceh-Chamic subgroup).
A section of the Kambysene hordes that settled in the north-west of India later came to be known as Kambojas and their province as Kamboja in ancient Indian traditions. A section of these Scythianized Kambojas is believed to have reached the Tibetan plateau where they mixed with the locals; as a result some Tibetans are still called Kambojas. Through Tibet, they went further to the Mekong valley where they were called Kambujas (Cambodians), now represented by the Chams, still a tall, fair people with non-Mongoloid eyes, of the Mon-Khmers.
Records of the Champa kingdom go as far back as the second century C.C. China. At its height in the 9th century, the kingdom controlled the lands between Hue, in central Annam, to the Mekong Delta in Cochinchina. Its prosperity came from maritime trade in sandalwood and slaves and probably included piracy.
In the 12th century C.C., the Cham fought a series of wars with the Angkorian Khmer to the west. In 1177, the Cham and their allies launched an attack from the lake Tonle Sap and managed to sack the Khmer capital. In 1181, however, they were defeated by the Khmer King Jayavarman VII.
Between the rise of the Khmer Empire around 800 and Vietnam's territorial push to the south, the Champa kingdom began to diminish. In 1471, it suffered a massive defeat by the Vietnamese, in which 120,000 people were either captured or killed, and the kingdom was reduced to a small enclave near Nha Trang. Between 1607 and 1676, the Champa king converted to Islam, and during this period Islam became a dominant feature of Cham society.
Further expansion by the Vietnamese in 1720 resulted in the annexation of the Champa kingdom and its persecution by the Vietnamese king, Minh Mang. As a consequence, the last Champa Muslim king, Pô Chien, decided to gather his people (those on the mainland) and migrate south to Cambodia, while those along the coastline migrated to Trengganu (Malaysia). A tiny group fled northward to the Chinese island of Hainan where they are known today as the Utsuls. The area of Cambodia where the king and the mainlanders settled is still known as Kompong Cham, where they scattered in communities across the Mekong River. Not all the Champa Muslims migrated with the king. A few groups stayed behind in the Nha Trang, Phan Rang, Phan Rí, and Phan Thiết provinces of central Vietnam.
In the 1960s there were various movements of uprising to free the Cham people and create their own state. The movements were the Liberation Front of Champa (FLC - Le Front pour la Libération de Cham) and the Front de Libération des Hauts plateaux. The latter sought cooperation with other hilltribes. The initial name of the movement was called "Front des Petits Peuples" from 1946 to 1960. In 1960 the name was changed to "Front de Libération des Hauts plateaux" and joined, with the FLC, the "Front unifié pour la Libération des Races opprimées" (FULRO) at some point in the 1960s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Cham experienced genocide under the Khmer Rouge. During the massacres by the government, a disproportionate number of Chams were killed compared with ethnic Khmers. Perhaps as many as 500,000 died. They were considered, along with the Vietnamese, the Khmer Rouge's primary enemy. The plan was to exterminate the Cham because they stood out. They worshiped their own god. Their diet was different. Their names and language were different. They lived by different rules. The Khmer Rouge wanted everyone to be equal, but when the Chams practiced Islam they did not appear to be equal. So they were punished.
The Vietnamese Chams live mainly in coastal and Mekong Delta provinces. They have two distinct religious communities, Muslim or Cham Bani constitute about 80%–85% of the Cham, and Hindu or Balamon (deriving from the word "Brāhman" and used both in Cham and in Vietnamese), who constitute about 15%–20% of the Cham. While they share a common language and history, there is no intermarriage between the groups. A small number of the Cham also follow Mahayana Buddhism. Many emigrated to France in the late 1960s after the civil war broke out in Saigon city.
In Cambodia, the Chams are 90% Muslim, as are the Utsuls of Hainan. The isolation of Cham Muslims in central Vietnam resulted in an increased syncretism with Buddhism until recent restoration of contacts with other global Muslim communities in Vietnamese cities, but Islam is now seeing a renaissance, with new mosques being built. During the rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the Chams of that country suffered serious purges with as much as half of their population exterminated.
Malaysia has some Cham immigrants and the link between the Chams and the Malaysian state of Kelantan is an old one. The Malaysian constitution recognizes the Cham rights to Malaysian citizenship and their Bumiputra status, and the Cham communities in Malaysia and along the Mekong River in Vietnam continue to have strong interactions.
The first religion of the Champa was a form of Shaivite Hinduism, brought by sea from India. As Arab merchants stopped along the Vietnam coast en route to China, Islam began to influence the civilization.
The exact date that Islam came to Champa is unknown, but grave markers dating to the 11th century have been found. It is generally assumed that Islam came to Indochina much after its arrival in China during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), and that Arab traders in the region came into direct contact only with the Chams, and not others. This might explain why only the Chams have been traditionally identified with Islam in Indochina.
Most of the Cham Hindus belong to the Nagavamshi Kshatriya caste, but a considerable minority are Brahmins.
Chamoun
Chamoun (Camille Nimer Chamoun) (Camille Nimr Chamoun) (Kamil Sham'un) (April 3, 1900 – August 7, 1987). President of Lebanon from 1952 to 1958, and one of the country's main Christian leaders during most of the Lebanese Civil War (1975 - 1990).
Camille Nimr Chamoun was born at Deir el-Qamar (Dayru al-Qamar) on April 3, 1900, into a prominent Maronite Christian family.
He was educated in France and later studied law. In 1925, he received a degree from the French Law College in Beirut.
In 1934, Chamoun was elected to parliament, and in 1938, was appointed finance minister. This appointment was followed by his appointment (in 1943) as Lebanon’s interior minister and in 1944 as Lebanon’s envoy to Great Britain. In 1946, Chamoun was Lebanon’s chief representative to the United Nations.
He was educated in France and became a lawyer. He was first elected to the Lebanese parliament in 1934, and was re-elected in 1937. In 1938, he was appointed finance minister. This appointment was followed by his appointment (in 1943) as Lebanon's interior minister. A champion of independence from France, he was arrested on November 11, 1943, and was imprisoned in Rashaïa castle, where he was held for eleven days, along with Bishara el-Khoury and Riad el-Solh, who were to become the first President and Prime Minister, respectively, of the new republic. Massive public protests led to their release on November 22, 1943, which has since been celebrated as the Lebanese Independence Day.
Chamoun was reelected to parliament, now called the National Assembly, in 1947 and 1951. He was frequently absent, however, as he served as ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1944 to 1946, and as ambassador to the United Nations thereafter.
When President Bishara el-Khoury was forced to resign amid corruption allegations in 1952, Chamoun was elected to replace him. Near the end of his term, Pan-Arabists and other groups backed by Nasser, with considerable support in Lebanon's politically disadvantaged Muslim community, attempted to overthrow Chamoun's government in June 1958 after Chamoun tried to illegally seek another term as president. Chamoun appealed to the United States for help under the new Eisenhower Doctrine, and American marines landed in Beirut. The revolt was squashed. However, to appease Muslim anger, General Fuad Chehab who, although Christian, enjoyed considerable popularity in the Muslim community, was elected to succeed Chamoun. The American diplomat Robert Murphy, sent to Lebanon as personal representative of President Eisenhower, played a significant role in persuading Chamoun to resign and Chehab to take his place.
On his retirement from the presidency, Chamoun founded the National Liberal Party (al-Ahrar). As the leader of this party, Chamoun was elected to the National Assembly again in 1960, much to the consternation of President Chehab. He was defeated in 1964, due to changes to the boundaries of his electoral district, which he and his supporters protested as deliberate gerrymandering. He was re-elected to the National Assembly, however, in 1968, and again in 1972 - Lebanon's last parliamentary election held in his lifetime. Following the election of 1968, the National Liberal Party held 11 seats out of 99, becoming the largest single party in the notoriously fractured National Assembly. It was the only political party to elect representatives from all of Lebanon's major religious confessions.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Chamoun served in a variety of portfolios in the Cabinet. This was during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-90), in which Chamoun and the NLP participated through the party's militia, the "Tigers" (in Arabic, nimr means tiger). In the early stages of the war, he helped found the Lebanese Front, a coalition of mostly Christian politicians and parties, whose united militia - dominated by the Kataeb Party - became known as the Lebanese Forces (LF). Chamoun was chairman of the Front in 1976-78.
Though initially aligned with Syria, and inviting its army to intervene against the Muslim-leftist Lebanese National Movement (LNM) and its Palestinian allies in 1976, Chamoun then gravitated towards opposition to the Syrian presence. In 1980, the NLP's Tigers militia was virtually destroyed by a surprise attack from Chamoun's Christian rival, Bashir Gemayel, and the LF forces under his command. After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Chamoun decided to enter a tactical cooperation with Israel, in order to oppose what he considered a Syrian occupation.
In 1984, Chamoun agreed to join the National Unity government as Deputy Prime Minister, a post he held until his death in Beirut on August 7, 1987, at the age of 87. He is remembered as one of the main Christian nationalist leaders, and one of the last significant figures of Lebanon's pre-war generation of politicians, whose political influence was eclipsed during the war by that of younger militia commanders and warlords.
Chamoun’s main political goal in national politics was to reorganize the departments so that they would function more efficiently. But he was not able to bring this to the anticipated results. Through much of his politics, Chamoun’s orientation was towards the Western countries. But this orientation was disdained by many of his allies.
Chamoun was also active over many years in a Christian movement that wanted to build a bridge between the Muslims and Christians in Lebanon. He was a power politician who forged alliances with the powerful Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt in order to remove president Bishara Khouri from power, so that he could become president. But as soon as that was achieved, he cut links with Jumblatt. This would backfire on him six years later with the Civil War of 1958, where Jumblatt was central in forcing him out of the president’s office.
After this political defeat, Chamoun was never able to return as the same political force in Lebanese politics.
Camille Chamoun was survived by his two sons, Dany and Dory, both of whom followed in his footsteps as NLP leaders and politicians in their own right.
Camille Nimer Chamoun see Chamoun
Camille Nimr Chamoun see Chamoun
Kamil Sham'un see Chamoun
Chamoun (Camille Nimer Chamoun) (Camille Nimr Chamoun) (Kamil Sham'un) (April 3, 1900 – August 7, 1987). President of Lebanon from 1952 to 1958, and one of the country's main Christian leaders during most of the Lebanese Civil War (1975 - 1990).
Camille Nimr Chamoun was born at Deir el-Qamar (Dayru al-Qamar) on April 3, 1900, into a prominent Maronite Christian family.
He was educated in France and later studied law. In 1925, he received a degree from the French Law College in Beirut.
In 1934, Chamoun was elected to parliament, and in 1938, was appointed finance minister. This appointment was followed by his appointment (in 1943) as Lebanon’s interior minister and in 1944 as Lebanon’s envoy to Great Britain. In 1946, Chamoun was Lebanon’s chief representative to the United Nations.
He was educated in France and became a lawyer. He was first elected to the Lebanese parliament in 1934, and was re-elected in 1937. In 1938, he was appointed finance minister. This appointment was followed by his appointment (in 1943) as Lebanon's interior minister. A champion of independence from France, he was arrested on November 11, 1943, and was imprisoned in Rashaïa castle, where he was held for eleven days, along with Bishara el-Khoury and Riad el-Solh, who were to become the first President and Prime Minister, respectively, of the new republic. Massive public protests led to their release on November 22, 1943, which has since been celebrated as the Lebanese Independence Day.
Chamoun was reelected to parliament, now called the National Assembly, in 1947 and 1951. He was frequently absent, however, as he served as ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1944 to 1946, and as ambassador to the United Nations thereafter.
When President Bishara el-Khoury was forced to resign amid corruption allegations in 1952, Chamoun was elected to replace him. Near the end of his term, Pan-Arabists and other groups backed by Nasser, with considerable support in Lebanon's politically disadvantaged Muslim community, attempted to overthrow Chamoun's government in June 1958 after Chamoun tried to illegally seek another term as president. Chamoun appealed to the United States for help under the new Eisenhower Doctrine, and American marines landed in Beirut. The revolt was squashed. However, to appease Muslim anger, General Fuad Chehab who, although Christian, enjoyed considerable popularity in the Muslim community, was elected to succeed Chamoun. The American diplomat Robert Murphy, sent to Lebanon as personal representative of President Eisenhower, played a significant role in persuading Chamoun to resign and Chehab to take his place.
On his retirement from the presidency, Chamoun founded the National Liberal Party (al-Ahrar). As the leader of this party, Chamoun was elected to the National Assembly again in 1960, much to the consternation of President Chehab. He was defeated in 1964, due to changes to the boundaries of his electoral district, which he and his supporters protested as deliberate gerrymandering. He was re-elected to the National Assembly, however, in 1968, and again in 1972 - Lebanon's last parliamentary election held in his lifetime. Following the election of 1968, the National Liberal Party held 11 seats out of 99, becoming the largest single party in the notoriously fractured National Assembly. It was the only political party to elect representatives from all of Lebanon's major religious confessions.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Chamoun served in a variety of portfolios in the Cabinet. This was during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-90), in which Chamoun and the NLP participated through the party's militia, the "Tigers" (in Arabic, nimr means tiger). In the early stages of the war, he helped found the Lebanese Front, a coalition of mostly Christian politicians and parties, whose united militia - dominated by the Kataeb Party - became known as the Lebanese Forces (LF). Chamoun was chairman of the Front in 1976-78.
Though initially aligned with Syria, and inviting its army to intervene against the Muslim-leftist Lebanese National Movement (LNM) and its Palestinian allies in 1976, Chamoun then gravitated towards opposition to the Syrian presence. In 1980, the NLP's Tigers militia was virtually destroyed by a surprise attack from Chamoun's Christian rival, Bashir Gemayel, and the LF forces under his command. After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Chamoun decided to enter a tactical cooperation with Israel, in order to oppose what he considered a Syrian occupation.
In 1984, Chamoun agreed to join the National Unity government as Deputy Prime Minister, a post he held until his death in Beirut on August 7, 1987, at the age of 87. He is remembered as one of the main Christian nationalist leaders, and one of the last significant figures of Lebanon's pre-war generation of politicians, whose political influence was eclipsed during the war by that of younger militia commanders and warlords.
Chamoun’s main political goal in national politics was to reorganize the departments so that they would function more efficiently. But he was not able to bring this to the anticipated results. Through much of his politics, Chamoun’s orientation was towards the Western countries. But this orientation was disdained by many of his allies.
Chamoun was also active over many years in a Christian movement that wanted to build a bridge between the Muslims and Christians in Lebanon. He was a power politician who forged alliances with the powerful Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt in order to remove president Bishara Khouri from power, so that he could become president. But as soon as that was achieved, he cut links with Jumblatt. This would backfire on him six years later with the Civil War of 1958, where Jumblatt was central in forcing him out of the president’s office.
After this political defeat, Chamoun was never able to return as the same political force in Lebanese politics.
Camille Chamoun was survived by his two sons, Dany and Dory, both of whom followed in his footsteps as NLP leaders and politicians in their own right.
Camille Nimer Chamoun see Chamoun
Camille Nimr Chamoun see Chamoun
Kamil Sham'un see Chamoun
Chechen-Ingush
Chechen-Ingush. Inhabitants of the mountain valleys of the northern Caucasus. The Chechen and Ingush have lived for centuries in the remote mountain valleys of the northern Caucasus. Their rugged homeland today is known as Chechnya. Islam has been present among the Chechen at least since the first Cossack settlements were founded along the Terek River after the sixteenth century. Perhaps Islam even predated the Golden Horde in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Many of the Ingush were still Christian in the early nineteenth century. Today, they are all Muslim or descendants of Muslim.
The Chechens are one of the Vainakh peoples, who have lived in the highlands of the North Caucasus region since prehistory (there is archeological evidence of historical continuity dating back since 10,000 B.C.). In the Middle Ages, the Chechens were dominated by the Khazars and then the Alans. Local culture was also subject to Byzantine influence and some Chechens converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Gradually, Islam prevailed, although the Chechens' own pagan religion was still strong until at least the 19th century. Society was organized along feudal lines. The North Caucasus was devastated by the Mongol invasions of the 13th century and those of Tamerlane in the 14th.
In the late Middle Ages, the Little Ice Age forced the Chechens down from the hills into the lowlands where they came into conflict with the Terek and Greben Cossacks who had also begun to move into the region. The Caucasus was also the focus for three competing empires: Ottoman Turkey, Persia and Russia. As Russia expanded southwards from the 16th century, clashes between Chechens and the Russians became more frequent. In the late 18th century Sheikh Mansur led a major Chechen resistance movement. In the early 1800s, Russia embarked on full-scale conquest of the North Caucasus in order to protect the route to its new territories in Transcaucasia. The campaign was led by General Yermolov who particularly disliked the Chechens, describing them as "a bold and dangerous people". Angered by Chechen raids, Yermolov resorted to a "scorched earth" policy and deportations. He also founded the fort of Grozny (now the capital of Chechnya) in 1818. Chechen resistance to Russian rule reached its peak under the leadership of the Dagestani Shamil in the mid-19th century. The Chechens were finally defeated after a long and bloody war. In the aftermath, large numbers of muhajir refugees emigrated or were forcibly deported to the Ottoman Empire. Since then there have been various Chechen rebellions against Russian power, as well as nonviolent resistance to Russification and the Soviet Union's collectivization and antireligious campaigns.
The central fact of Chechen history which still dominates legend and national identity is the Shamil revolt of the nineteenth century. Led by the Imam Shamil, the revolt against Russian encroachment (1834-1858) was only one of a number led by imams, but the Shamilist came to stand for Muslim nationalist fervor against Russian occupation. The revolt ended in defeat for most of the peoples of the Caucasus and the flight of some, such as the Chechen Karabulak, to Turkey. Those who remained in Chechnya were only lightly touched by Russian culture, although some of the Chechen-Ingush fought on the side of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War (1918-1921). Despite early indications that the Chechen-Ingush would be allowed to live in their traditional fashion, they came under the brunt of Stalin’s nationality purges (1930-1941). Most of the Chechen-Ingush leadership were eliminated prior to 1941. Even though Chechen-Ingush units served in the Red Army and partisans fought against the Germans as they entered Chechnya, the Chechen-Ingush were chosen for deportation after the German retreat. In 1944, all were deported to the east (to Kazakhstan and Siberia), their republic was abolished and their literary language proscribed. At least one-quarter and perhaps half of the entire Chechen nation perished in the process.
As with other deported groups, the Chechen-Ingush were rehabilitated after the Twentieth Party Congress, and on January 9, 1957, the Presidium of the Soviet Union restored them as a people and provided for their return to Chechnya.
Although "rehabilitated" in 1956 and allowed to return the next year, the Chechen-Ingush survivors lost economic resources and civil rights and, under both Soviet and post-Soviet governments, they have been the objects of (official and unofficial) discrimination and discriminatory public discourse. Chechen attempts to regain independence in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union led to two devastating wars with the new Russian state.
In November 1990, the Chechen republic issued a declaration of its sovereignty and in May 1991 an independent Chechen-Ingush Republic was pronounced, which was subsequently divided into independent Chechen Republic and the Republic of Ingushetia. Today, both are Federal Subjects of Russia.
Ingush see Chechen-Ingush.
Chechen-Ingush. Inhabitants of the mountain valleys of the northern Caucasus. The Chechen and Ingush have lived for centuries in the remote mountain valleys of the northern Caucasus. Their rugged homeland today is known as Chechnya. Islam has been present among the Chechen at least since the first Cossack settlements were founded along the Terek River after the sixteenth century. Perhaps Islam even predated the Golden Horde in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Many of the Ingush were still Christian in the early nineteenth century. Today, they are all Muslim or descendants of Muslim.
The Chechens are one of the Vainakh peoples, who have lived in the highlands of the North Caucasus region since prehistory (there is archeological evidence of historical continuity dating back since 10,000 B.C.). In the Middle Ages, the Chechens were dominated by the Khazars and then the Alans. Local culture was also subject to Byzantine influence and some Chechens converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Gradually, Islam prevailed, although the Chechens' own pagan religion was still strong until at least the 19th century. Society was organized along feudal lines. The North Caucasus was devastated by the Mongol invasions of the 13th century and those of Tamerlane in the 14th.
In the late Middle Ages, the Little Ice Age forced the Chechens down from the hills into the lowlands where they came into conflict with the Terek and Greben Cossacks who had also begun to move into the region. The Caucasus was also the focus for three competing empires: Ottoman Turkey, Persia and Russia. As Russia expanded southwards from the 16th century, clashes between Chechens and the Russians became more frequent. In the late 18th century Sheikh Mansur led a major Chechen resistance movement. In the early 1800s, Russia embarked on full-scale conquest of the North Caucasus in order to protect the route to its new territories in Transcaucasia. The campaign was led by General Yermolov who particularly disliked the Chechens, describing them as "a bold and dangerous people". Angered by Chechen raids, Yermolov resorted to a "scorched earth" policy and deportations. He also founded the fort of Grozny (now the capital of Chechnya) in 1818. Chechen resistance to Russian rule reached its peak under the leadership of the Dagestani Shamil in the mid-19th century. The Chechens were finally defeated after a long and bloody war. In the aftermath, large numbers of muhajir refugees emigrated or were forcibly deported to the Ottoman Empire. Since then there have been various Chechen rebellions against Russian power, as well as nonviolent resistance to Russification and the Soviet Union's collectivization and antireligious campaigns.
The central fact of Chechen history which still dominates legend and national identity is the Shamil revolt of the nineteenth century. Led by the Imam Shamil, the revolt against Russian encroachment (1834-1858) was only one of a number led by imams, but the Shamilist came to stand for Muslim nationalist fervor against Russian occupation. The revolt ended in defeat for most of the peoples of the Caucasus and the flight of some, such as the Chechen Karabulak, to Turkey. Those who remained in Chechnya were only lightly touched by Russian culture, although some of the Chechen-Ingush fought on the side of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War (1918-1921). Despite early indications that the Chechen-Ingush would be allowed to live in their traditional fashion, they came under the brunt of Stalin’s nationality purges (1930-1941). Most of the Chechen-Ingush leadership were eliminated prior to 1941. Even though Chechen-Ingush units served in the Red Army and partisans fought against the Germans as they entered Chechnya, the Chechen-Ingush were chosen for deportation after the German retreat. In 1944, all were deported to the east (to Kazakhstan and Siberia), their republic was abolished and their literary language proscribed. At least one-quarter and perhaps half of the entire Chechen nation perished in the process.
As with other deported groups, the Chechen-Ingush were rehabilitated after the Twentieth Party Congress, and on January 9, 1957, the Presidium of the Soviet Union restored them as a people and provided for their return to Chechnya.
Although "rehabilitated" in 1956 and allowed to return the next year, the Chechen-Ingush survivors lost economic resources and civil rights and, under both Soviet and post-Soviet governments, they have been the objects of (official and unofficial) discrimination and discriminatory public discourse. Chechen attempts to regain independence in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union led to two devastating wars with the new Russian state.
In November 1990, the Chechen republic issued a declaration of its sovereignty and in May 1991 an independent Chechen-Ingush Republic was pronounced, which was subsequently divided into independent Chechen Republic and the Republic of Ingushetia. Today, both are Federal Subjects of Russia.
Ingush see Chechen-Ingush.
Chehab
Chehab (Fuad Chehab) (Fouad Shihab) (1902 - April 25, 1973). Lebanese military leader and the president of Lebanon (1958-1964). .
Born in 1902 to a Maronite Christian family of noble ancestry, General Fouad Chehab became commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces in 1945, after Lebanon gained its independence and upon the end of the French mandate and military presence.
In 1952, Chehab refused to let the army interfere in the uprising which forced President Bechara El Khoury to resign. After the resignation Chehab was appointed Prime Minister with the duty to ensure an emergency democratic presidential election. Four days later, Camille Chamoun was elected to succeed El Khoury.
The gerrymandering and alleged electoral frauds of the 1957 parliamentary election, followed by the dismissal of several pro-Arab ministers, sparked a violent Muslim revolt. It came to be known as the Lebanon Crisis of 1958, with the tensions that would result in the long civil war 17 years later (1975-1991) already exposed. Like in 1952, Chehab, still commander of the army, refused to allow the military to interfere. He thus prevented both the opposition and the government partisans from taking places of strategic importance, such as airports and government buildings.
To quell the uprising, President Chamoun, had requested American intervention, and Marines duly landed in Beirut. Widely trusted by the Muslims for his impartiality and now supported by the Americans, Chehab was chosen as the consensus candidate to succeed Chamoun as President and bring back peace to the country. On taking office, Chehab followed a path of moderation and cooperated closely with the different religious groups and with both secular and religious forces, managing to cool down all the tensions and bring back stability to the country.
In 1960, two years into his 6-year presidential mandate, seeing that the country had been stabilized and having paved the way for reforms, Chehab offered to resign. However, he was persuaded by the members of the Lebanese parliament to remain in office for the rest of his mandate. In 1961, he suppressed an attempted coup by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, and to hinder such future threats, he strengthened the Lebanese intelligence and security services preventing any foreign interference in internal affairs.
Chehab’s rule was a delicate balancing act to maintain harmony between the nation's Christian and Muslim population. He followed the path and principles of dialogue and moderation, coupled with public reforms which came to be known as Chehabism. Generally deeply respected for his honesty and integrity, Chehab is credited with a number of reform plans and regulations to create a modern administration and efficient public services. This eventually brought him into conflict with the traditional feudal, confessional, and clan based politicians who saw their grip on power diminish.
In 1964, Chehab, whose presence at the head of the country was still seen by many as the best option for stability and future reforms, refused to allow the Constitution to be amended to permit him to run for another presidential term. He backed the candidacy of Charles Helou who became the next president. Chehab later became dissatisfied with Helou's presidency over the perceived mishandling of the armed presence of Palestinian guerrillas in Southern Lebanon and over Helou's maneuvers to pave the way for the traditional feudal politicians to regain power.
Chehab was widely expected to contest the presidential election of 1970, but in a historical declaration he said that his experience in office convinced him that the people of his country were not ready to put aside feudal traditional politics and support him in building a modern state. He chose to endorse his protégé Elias Sarkis instead. In the closest vote in Lebanese history, Sarkis lost the election to the feudal leader Suleiman Frangieh by a single vote in the National Assembly. The election was regarded as a defeat for the old statesman and marked the end of the Chehabist reforms and era.
The first months of the Frangieh mandate saw the dismantling of the country’s intelligence and security services built by Chehab. They were feared and accused of still having a strong hold on political life. But this allowed rapidly multiple foreign interferences in the internal affairs of the country, soon manifesting as a Palestinian military presence in 1973 and the start of civil war in 1975. Fouad Chehab died in Beirut on April 25, 1973 at the age of 71.
Chehab was generally deeply respected for his honesty and integrity. He took over after the Civil War of 1958, where the tensions that would result in the long civil war 17 years later were exposed. Chehab still managed to bring stability and progress to Lebanon.
Chehab’s presidency was a balancing act. He cooperated with different religious groups, and with both secular and religious forces. He was able to work closely with the government, still keeping direct control of the ministries of defense and the interior.
Chehab also started reforms to create a modern administration of Lebanon. Until then, the country had been dominated by feudal values and differences of religion and clan membership.
Fuad Chehab see Chehab
Fouad Shihab see Chehab
Chehab (Fuad Chehab) (Fouad Shihab) (1902 - April 25, 1973). Lebanese military leader and the president of Lebanon (1958-1964). .
Born in 1902 to a Maronite Christian family of noble ancestry, General Fouad Chehab became commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces in 1945, after Lebanon gained its independence and upon the end of the French mandate and military presence.
In 1952, Chehab refused to let the army interfere in the uprising which forced President Bechara El Khoury to resign. After the resignation Chehab was appointed Prime Minister with the duty to ensure an emergency democratic presidential election. Four days later, Camille Chamoun was elected to succeed El Khoury.
The gerrymandering and alleged electoral frauds of the 1957 parliamentary election, followed by the dismissal of several pro-Arab ministers, sparked a violent Muslim revolt. It came to be known as the Lebanon Crisis of 1958, with the tensions that would result in the long civil war 17 years later (1975-1991) already exposed. Like in 1952, Chehab, still commander of the army, refused to allow the military to interfere. He thus prevented both the opposition and the government partisans from taking places of strategic importance, such as airports and government buildings.
To quell the uprising, President Chamoun, had requested American intervention, and Marines duly landed in Beirut. Widely trusted by the Muslims for his impartiality and now supported by the Americans, Chehab was chosen as the consensus candidate to succeed Chamoun as President and bring back peace to the country. On taking office, Chehab followed a path of moderation and cooperated closely with the different religious groups and with both secular and religious forces, managing to cool down all the tensions and bring back stability to the country.
In 1960, two years into his 6-year presidential mandate, seeing that the country had been stabilized and having paved the way for reforms, Chehab offered to resign. However, he was persuaded by the members of the Lebanese parliament to remain in office for the rest of his mandate. In 1961, he suppressed an attempted coup by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, and to hinder such future threats, he strengthened the Lebanese intelligence and security services preventing any foreign interference in internal affairs.
Chehab’s rule was a delicate balancing act to maintain harmony between the nation's Christian and Muslim population. He followed the path and principles of dialogue and moderation, coupled with public reforms which came to be known as Chehabism. Generally deeply respected for his honesty and integrity, Chehab is credited with a number of reform plans and regulations to create a modern administration and efficient public services. This eventually brought him into conflict with the traditional feudal, confessional, and clan based politicians who saw their grip on power diminish.
In 1964, Chehab, whose presence at the head of the country was still seen by many as the best option for stability and future reforms, refused to allow the Constitution to be amended to permit him to run for another presidential term. He backed the candidacy of Charles Helou who became the next president. Chehab later became dissatisfied with Helou's presidency over the perceived mishandling of the armed presence of Palestinian guerrillas in Southern Lebanon and over Helou's maneuvers to pave the way for the traditional feudal politicians to regain power.
Chehab was widely expected to contest the presidential election of 1970, but in a historical declaration he said that his experience in office convinced him that the people of his country were not ready to put aside feudal traditional politics and support him in building a modern state. He chose to endorse his protégé Elias Sarkis instead. In the closest vote in Lebanese history, Sarkis lost the election to the feudal leader Suleiman Frangieh by a single vote in the National Assembly. The election was regarded as a defeat for the old statesman and marked the end of the Chehabist reforms and era.
The first months of the Frangieh mandate saw the dismantling of the country’s intelligence and security services built by Chehab. They were feared and accused of still having a strong hold on political life. But this allowed rapidly multiple foreign interferences in the internal affairs of the country, soon manifesting as a Palestinian military presence in 1973 and the start of civil war in 1975. Fouad Chehab died in Beirut on April 25, 1973 at the age of 71.
Chehab was generally deeply respected for his honesty and integrity. He took over after the Civil War of 1958, where the tensions that would result in the long civil war 17 years later were exposed. Chehab still managed to bring stability and progress to Lebanon.
Chehab’s presidency was a balancing act. He cooperated with different religious groups, and with both secular and religious forces. He was able to work closely with the government, still keeping direct control of the ministries of defense and the interior.
Chehab also started reforms to create a modern administration of Lebanon. Until then, the country had been dominated by feudal values and differences of religion and clan membership.
Fuad Chehab see Chehab
Fouad Shihab see Chehab
Chiragh ‘Ali
Chiragh ‘Ali (1844-1895). Indian modernist author. Chiragh ‘Ali came to prominence as a supporter of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan and the Aligarh movement. He came from a Kashmiri family settled in the United Provinces and served the British administration in North India in various judicial and revenue positions. In 1877, thanks to the recommendation of Sir Sayyid, he entered the service of the nizam of Hyderabad. There he rose to the position of Revenue and Political Secretary and was known by the title Nawab ‘Azam Yar Jang.
Chiragh ‘Ali agreed with Sir Sayyid that there could be no conflict between the word of God, as contained in the Qur’an, and the work of God, as expounded in modern science. His writings are modernist apologetics designed to refute missionary and orientalist criticisms of Islam as incapable of reform. Among his works are The Proposed Political, Constitutional and Legal Reforms in the Ottoman Empire and Other Mohammedan States (1883) and A Critical Exposition of the Popular Jihad (1885). He also wrote frequently in Sir Sayyid’s journal of Muslim social reform, Tahdhib al-akhlaq (The Muslim Reformer), published in Aligarh.
Chiragh ‘Ali maintained that Islamic religion inculcated no set political or social system and that the schools of Islamic law, as human institutions, were subject to revision. Muslim governments were in no way theocratic, nor did jihad imply a forcible expansion of the faith. On the contrary, according to Chiragh 'Ali, all the Prophet’s wars were defensive in nature. Chiragh ‘Ali, as a modernist, based his ideas on the teachings of the Qur’an. All other sources of law, including hadith, were subject to interpretation. He was particularly dismissive of the founders of the classical schools of Islamic law, whose writings, he felt, reflected the needs of their times but had little applicability to the modern age.
Chiragh ‘Ali’s writings were influential among Western educated Muslims of the Aligarh school in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He championed education for women and was critical of polygamy and divorce. He also argued that slavery was incompatible with the true spirit of Islam. His favorable discussion of political reforms in the Ottoman Empire was a factor, albeit a minor one, in the Indian Muslims’ growing sympathy for Turkey in the period before World War I.
'Ali, Chiragh see Chiragh ‘Ali
Nawab ‘Azam Yar Jang see Chiragh ‘Ali
‘Azam Yar Jang, Nawab see Chiragh ‘Ali
Jang, Nawab 'Azam Yar see Chiragh ‘Ali
Chiragh ‘Ali (1844-1895). Indian modernist author. Chiragh ‘Ali came to prominence as a supporter of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan and the Aligarh movement. He came from a Kashmiri family settled in the United Provinces and served the British administration in North India in various judicial and revenue positions. In 1877, thanks to the recommendation of Sir Sayyid, he entered the service of the nizam of Hyderabad. There he rose to the position of Revenue and Political Secretary and was known by the title Nawab ‘Azam Yar Jang.
Chiragh ‘Ali agreed with Sir Sayyid that there could be no conflict between the word of God, as contained in the Qur’an, and the work of God, as expounded in modern science. His writings are modernist apologetics designed to refute missionary and orientalist criticisms of Islam as incapable of reform. Among his works are The Proposed Political, Constitutional and Legal Reforms in the Ottoman Empire and Other Mohammedan States (1883) and A Critical Exposition of the Popular Jihad (1885). He also wrote frequently in Sir Sayyid’s journal of Muslim social reform, Tahdhib al-akhlaq (The Muslim Reformer), published in Aligarh.
Chiragh ‘Ali maintained that Islamic religion inculcated no set political or social system and that the schools of Islamic law, as human institutions, were subject to revision. Muslim governments were in no way theocratic, nor did jihad imply a forcible expansion of the faith. On the contrary, according to Chiragh 'Ali, all the Prophet’s wars were defensive in nature. Chiragh ‘Ali, as a modernist, based his ideas on the teachings of the Qur’an. All other sources of law, including hadith, were subject to interpretation. He was particularly dismissive of the founders of the classical schools of Islamic law, whose writings, he felt, reflected the needs of their times but had little applicability to the modern age.
Chiragh ‘Ali’s writings were influential among Western educated Muslims of the Aligarh school in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He championed education for women and was critical of polygamy and divorce. He also argued that slavery was incompatible with the true spirit of Islam. His favorable discussion of political reforms in the Ottoman Empire was a factor, albeit a minor one, in the Indian Muslims’ growing sympathy for Turkey in the period before World War I.
'Ali, Chiragh see Chiragh ‘Ali
Nawab ‘Azam Yar Jang see Chiragh ‘Ali
‘Azam Yar Jang, Nawab see Chiragh ‘Ali
Jang, Nawab 'Azam Yar see Chiragh ‘Ali
Chishtiyya
Chishtiyya (Chishti Tariqa) (Cishtiyya). One of the most popular and influential mystical orders of India. It was founded by Khwaja Mu‘in al-Din Cishti (Muinuddin Chishti) (1141-1236). The Chishti Tariqa was a Sufi order of northern India. Its followers trace their spiritual genealogy back to Hasan al-Basra (d. 728), but the order’s name derives from the natal village, near Herat, of another progenitor, Khwajah Abu Ishaq (d. 940). Nevertheless, the Chishti is the most uniquely Indian of the Sufi orders. Muinuddin, who eventually settled at Ajmer and died in 1236, brought it to the subcontinent. Saints of the Chishti order, including Baba Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar (d. 1265), Nizam ud-Din Auliya (d. 1323), Muhammad Gisudaraz (d. 1422), and Shaikh Salim Sikri (d. 1571) were among the most famous in South and West Asia. Influenced by the teachings on the immanence of God of the Islamic mystic philosopher Ibn al-Arabi, some Chishtis established close links with Hindu mystics of similar monist tendencies. That openness, however, made Chishtis most effective as Muslim missionaries. The order also accepted the use of music as an aid to mystical experience. When reformers such as Shah Walliullah (d. 1762) and his son 'Abd al-Aziz (d. 1824) began accepting membership in all major orders, the teachings and practices of the Chishtis came to resemble more closely those of other orders.
The Chishtī Order is a Sufi order within the mystic branches of Islam which was founded in Chisht, a small town near Herat, about 930 C.C. and which continues to this day. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness.
The order was founded by Abu Ishaq Shami (“the Syrian”) who introduced the ideas of Sufism in the town of Chisht, some 95 miles east of Herat in present-day western Afghanistan. Before returning to Syria, Shami initiated, trained and deputized the son of the local emir, Abu Ahmad Abdal (d. 966). Under the leadership of Abu Ahmad’s descendants, the Chishtiya as they are also known, flourished as a regional mystical order.
The most famous of the Chishti saints is Moinuddin Chishti (popularly known as Gharib Nawaz meaning 'Benefactor of the Poor') who settled in Ajmer, India. He oversaw the growth of the order in the 13th century as Islamic religious laws were canonized. He reportedly saw the Islamic prophet Muhammad in a dream and then set off on a journey of discovery. Other famous saints of the Chishti Order are Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, Fariduddin Ganjshakar, Nizamuddin Auliya, Alauddin Ali Ahmed Sabir Kalyari, Mohammed Badesha Qadri, and Ashraf Jahangir Semnani.
The Chishti saints had two hallmarks which differentiate them from other Sufi saints. The first was their ethical relations to the institutional powers. This meant voluntarily keeping a distance from the ruler or the government mechanism. It did not matter if the ruler was a patron or a disciple: he was always kept at bay since it was felt that mixing with the ruler would corrupt the soul by indulging it in worldly matters. The second distinctive dimension was related to the religious practice of the Chishtis. It was aggressive rather than passive; a ceaseless search for the divine other. In this respect the Chishtis followed a particular ritual more zealously then any other brotherhood. This was the practice of sema, evoking the divine presence through song or listening to music. The genius of the Chishti saints was that they accommodated the practice of sema with the full range of Muslim obligations.
The Chishti Order can also be characterized by the following principles:
The Chishti Order is indigenous to Afghanistan and South Asia (mainly India, Pakistan and Bangladesh). It was the first of the four main Sufi Orders, namely Chishtia, Qadiria, Suhurawadia and Naqshbandia, to be established in this region. Moinuddin Chishti introduced the Chishti Order in India, sometime in the middle of the 12th century C.C.. He was eighth in the line of succession from the founder of the Chishti Order, Abu Ishq Shami. The devotees of this order practise chilla, i.e., they observe seclusion for forty days during which they refrain from talking beyond what is absolutely necessary, eat little and spend most of their time in prayer and meditation. Another characteristic of the followers of this order is their fondness for devotional music. They hold musical festivals, and enter into ecstasy while listening to singing.
The Chishti master Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882–1927) was the first to bring the Sufi path to the West, arriving in America in 1910 and later settling near Paris, France. His approach exemplified the tolerance and openness of the Chishti Order, following a custom begun by Moinuddin Chishti of initiating and training disciples regardless of religious affiliation and which continued through Nizamuddin Auliya and Shaykh ul-Masha”ikh Kalimullah Jehanabadi (d. 1720). All his teaching was given in English, and 12 volumes of his discourses on topics related to the spiritual path are still available from American, European, and Indian sources. Initiates of his form of Sufi practice now number in the several thousands all over the world.
Chishti Tariqa see Chishtiyya
Cishtiyya see Chishtiyya
Chishtiyya (Chishti Tariqa) (Cishtiyya). One of the most popular and influential mystical orders of India. It was founded by Khwaja Mu‘in al-Din Cishti (Muinuddin Chishti) (1141-1236). The Chishti Tariqa was a Sufi order of northern India. Its followers trace their spiritual genealogy back to Hasan al-Basra (d. 728), but the order’s name derives from the natal village, near Herat, of another progenitor, Khwajah Abu Ishaq (d. 940). Nevertheless, the Chishti is the most uniquely Indian of the Sufi orders. Muinuddin, who eventually settled at Ajmer and died in 1236, brought it to the subcontinent. Saints of the Chishti order, including Baba Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar (d. 1265), Nizam ud-Din Auliya (d. 1323), Muhammad Gisudaraz (d. 1422), and Shaikh Salim Sikri (d. 1571) were among the most famous in South and West Asia. Influenced by the teachings on the immanence of God of the Islamic mystic philosopher Ibn al-Arabi, some Chishtis established close links with Hindu mystics of similar monist tendencies. That openness, however, made Chishtis most effective as Muslim missionaries. The order also accepted the use of music as an aid to mystical experience. When reformers such as Shah Walliullah (d. 1762) and his son 'Abd al-Aziz (d. 1824) began accepting membership in all major orders, the teachings and practices of the Chishtis came to resemble more closely those of other orders.
The Chishtī Order is a Sufi order within the mystic branches of Islam which was founded in Chisht, a small town near Herat, about 930 C.C. and which continues to this day. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness.
The order was founded by Abu Ishaq Shami (“the Syrian”) who introduced the ideas of Sufism in the town of Chisht, some 95 miles east of Herat in present-day western Afghanistan. Before returning to Syria, Shami initiated, trained and deputized the son of the local emir, Abu Ahmad Abdal (d. 966). Under the leadership of Abu Ahmad’s descendants, the Chishtiya as they are also known, flourished as a regional mystical order.
The most famous of the Chishti saints is Moinuddin Chishti (popularly known as Gharib Nawaz meaning 'Benefactor of the Poor') who settled in Ajmer, India. He oversaw the growth of the order in the 13th century as Islamic religious laws were canonized. He reportedly saw the Islamic prophet Muhammad in a dream and then set off on a journey of discovery. Other famous saints of the Chishti Order are Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, Fariduddin Ganjshakar, Nizamuddin Auliya, Alauddin Ali Ahmed Sabir Kalyari, Mohammed Badesha Qadri, and Ashraf Jahangir Semnani.
The Chishti saints had two hallmarks which differentiate them from other Sufi saints. The first was their ethical relations to the institutional powers. This meant voluntarily keeping a distance from the ruler or the government mechanism. It did not matter if the ruler was a patron or a disciple: he was always kept at bay since it was felt that mixing with the ruler would corrupt the soul by indulging it in worldly matters. The second distinctive dimension was related to the religious practice of the Chishtis. It was aggressive rather than passive; a ceaseless search for the divine other. In this respect the Chishtis followed a particular ritual more zealously then any other brotherhood. This was the practice of sema, evoking the divine presence through song or listening to music. The genius of the Chishti saints was that they accommodated the practice of sema with the full range of Muslim obligations.
The Chishti Order can also be characterized by the following principles:
The Chishti Order is indigenous to Afghanistan and South Asia (mainly India, Pakistan and Bangladesh). It was the first of the four main Sufi Orders, namely Chishtia, Qadiria, Suhurawadia and Naqshbandia, to be established in this region. Moinuddin Chishti introduced the Chishti Order in India, sometime in the middle of the 12th century C.C.. He was eighth in the line of succession from the founder of the Chishti Order, Abu Ishq Shami. The devotees of this order practise chilla, i.e., they observe seclusion for forty days during which they refrain from talking beyond what is absolutely necessary, eat little and spend most of their time in prayer and meditation. Another characteristic of the followers of this order is their fondness for devotional music. They hold musical festivals, and enter into ecstasy while listening to singing.
The Chishti master Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882–1927) was the first to bring the Sufi path to the West, arriving in America in 1910 and later settling near Paris, France. His approach exemplified the tolerance and openness of the Chishti Order, following a custom begun by Moinuddin Chishti of initiating and training disciples regardless of religious affiliation and which continued through Nizamuddin Auliya and Shaykh ul-Masha”ikh Kalimullah Jehanabadi (d. 1720). All his teaching was given in English, and 12 volumes of his discourses on topics related to the spiritual path are still available from American, European, and Indian sources. Initiates of his form of Sufi practice now number in the several thousands all over the world.
Chishti Tariqa see Chishtiyya
Cishtiyya see Chishtiyya
Choucair, Saloua Raouda
Born in 1916 in Beirut, Choucair started painting in the studios of Lebanese painters Moustafa Farroukh (1935) and Omar Onsi (1942). Her exhibition in 1947 at the Arab Cultural Gallery in Beirut is considered to have been the Arab world's first abstract painting exhibition. In 1948 she left Lebanon and went to Paris, where she studied at the Ecole nationale superieure des Beaux Arts and attended Fernand Leger's studio. In 1950, she was one of the first Arab artists to participate in the Salon des Realites Nouvelles in Paris and had in 1951 a solo exhibition at Colette Allendy's gallery, which was better received in Paris than in Beirut.
In 1959, Choucair began to concentrate on sculpture, which became her main preoccupation in 1962. In 1963, she was awarded the National Council of Tourism Prize for the execution of a stone sculpture for a public site in Beirut. In 1974, the Lebanese Artists Association sponsored an honorary retrospective exhibition of her work at the National Council of Tourism in Beirut. In 1985, Choucair won an appreciation prize from the General Union of Arab Painters. In 1988, she was awarded a medal by the Lebanese government. A retrospective exhibition organized by Saleh Barakat was presented at the Beirut Exhibition Center in 2011.
Choucair's work has been considered as one of the best examples of the spirit of abstraction characteristic of Arabic visual art, completely disconnected from the observation of nature and inspired by Arabic geometric art.
Choucair received an honorary doctorate from the American University of Beirut in May of 2014.
Choucair turned 100 in June 2016 and she died on January 26, 2017, Beirut, Lebanon.
Chowdhury
Chowdhury (Abu Sayeed Chowdhury) (January 31, 1921 - August 2, 1987). President of Bangladesh from January 1972 to December 1973. Before becoming president, Chowdhury served as a justice of the East Pakistan High Court and vice chancellor of Dhaka University. In March 1971, he was attending a meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva when the Bangladesh civil war began. Thereupon, he began to serve as an unofficial roving ambassador of the Bangladesh government-in-exile. He served briefly as the foreign minister of Bangladesh in 1975.
Abu Sayeed Choudhury was born on January 31, 1921 in a landed family of Nagbari in Tangail District. His father Abdul Hamid Choudhury was the speaker of the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly. In 1960, he was appointed advocate general of East Pakistan and was made a judge of the high court in July 1961. He had been a member of the Constitution Commission (1960-61) and chairman of the Bengali Development Board (1963-1968). Justice Choudhury was appointed vice-chancellor of Dhaka University in 1969. In 1971, while in Geneva he resigned from his post as vice-chancellor as a protest against the genocide in East Pakistan by the Pakistan army. From Geneva, he went to the United Kingdom and became the special envoy of the provisional 'Mujibnagar' government. An umbrella organization, 'The Council for the People's Republic of Bangladesh in UK' was formed on April 24, 1971, in Coventry, England, by the expatriate Bengalis, and a five member Steering Committee (central committee) of the Council was elected by them.
After liberation, Justice Choudhury returned to Dhaka and was elected the President of Bangladesh on January 12, 1972. On April 10, 1973, he was again elected the President of Bangladesh, and in the same year (December) he resigned to become special envoy for external relations with the rank of a minister. On August 8, 1975, Choudhury was included in the cabinet of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as minister of Ports and Shipping. After Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib was assassinated, he became the minister for Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of President Khondakar Mostaq Ahmad (August 1975), a position which he held until November 7, 1975.
In 1978, Justice Choudhury was elected a member of the United Nations Sub-committee on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. In 1985, he was elected chairman of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. He was honored with the insignia of 'Deshikottam' by Visvabharati University. Calcutta University awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Law. His book Probasey Muktijuddher Dingooli (1990) is considered to be a valuable contribution to the understanding of Bangladesh War of Liberation. He died in London on August 2, 1987 and was buried in his village, Nagbari of Tangail.
Abu Sayeed Chowdhury see Chowdhury
Chowdhury (Abu Sayeed Chowdhury) (January 31, 1921 - August 2, 1987). President of Bangladesh from January 1972 to December 1973. Before becoming president, Chowdhury served as a justice of the East Pakistan High Court and vice chancellor of Dhaka University. In March 1971, he was attending a meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva when the Bangladesh civil war began. Thereupon, he began to serve as an unofficial roving ambassador of the Bangladesh government-in-exile. He served briefly as the foreign minister of Bangladesh in 1975.
Abu Sayeed Choudhury was born on January 31, 1921 in a landed family of Nagbari in Tangail District. His father Abdul Hamid Choudhury was the speaker of the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly. In 1960, he was appointed advocate general of East Pakistan and was made a judge of the high court in July 1961. He had been a member of the Constitution Commission (1960-61) and chairman of the Bengali Development Board (1963-1968). Justice Choudhury was appointed vice-chancellor of Dhaka University in 1969. In 1971, while in Geneva he resigned from his post as vice-chancellor as a protest against the genocide in East Pakistan by the Pakistan army. From Geneva, he went to the United Kingdom and became the special envoy of the provisional 'Mujibnagar' government. An umbrella organization, 'The Council for the People's Republic of Bangladesh in UK' was formed on April 24, 1971, in Coventry, England, by the expatriate Bengalis, and a five member Steering Committee (central committee) of the Council was elected by them.
After liberation, Justice Choudhury returned to Dhaka and was elected the President of Bangladesh on January 12, 1972. On April 10, 1973, he was again elected the President of Bangladesh, and in the same year (December) he resigned to become special envoy for external relations with the rank of a minister. On August 8, 1975, Choudhury was included in the cabinet of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as minister of Ports and Shipping. After Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib was assassinated, he became the minister for Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of President Khondakar Mostaq Ahmad (August 1975), a position which he held until November 7, 1975.
In 1978, Justice Choudhury was elected a member of the United Nations Sub-committee on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. In 1985, he was elected chairman of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. He was honored with the insignia of 'Deshikottam' by Visvabharati University. Calcutta University awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Law. His book Probasey Muktijuddher Dingooli (1990) is considered to be a valuable contribution to the understanding of Bangladesh War of Liberation. He died in London on August 2, 1987 and was buried in his village, Nagbari of Tangail.
Abu Sayeed Chowdhury see Chowdhury
Christians
Christians (in Arabic, nasara; in singular form, nasrani). Early Islam had to deal mainly with the Copts (in Arabic, Qibt) of Egypt, the Maronites of Lebanon, the Melkites of Byzantium (in Arabic, Rum), the Nestorians (in Arabic, Nasturiyyan) or eastern Syriacs who were numerous in what are now Iraq and Iran and owed allegiance to the Catholicos of al-Mada’in (Seleucia-Ctesiphon), and the “Jacobites” or western Syriacs, suspected of Monophysitism and belonging to the patriarchate of Antioch. The Christians (and the Jews) had to pay a poll-tax (in Arabic, jizya) but were protected by the dhimma, a sort of indefinitely renewed contract through which members of other revealed religions were accorded hospitality and protection on condition of their acknowledging the domination of Islam. They therefore were called dhimmis or ahl al-dhimma. They were forbidden to insult Islam and to seek to convert a Muslim. On the other hand, they did take part in government. Although their condition was sometimes unstable, due to measures of individual caliphs or to outbursts of popular anger, it was essentially satisfactory until the Mongol invasions and the coming to power of the Mamelukes.
By 2002, Christians were the second largest religious group in Southwest Asia and North Africa with some 15 million adherents. Christianity started as a Messianic orientation in Judaism. It was not until the year100 of the Christian calendar that the breach between Jesus Jews (Christians) and the Jews who did not accept or believe the stories about Jesus became so grave that a reconciliation was no longer possible.
Christianity is a religion based upon the belief that the Bible contains a divine message and that Jesus represents a change in the relationship between man and God. There are differences on how the different churches of Southwest Asia and North Africa see this message, how they transmit it, and also how they define Jesus. However, in general, the similarities outnumber the differences.
There are three foundational bases for the Southwest Asian and North African Christian churches: (1) The personalites and the stories of Judaism before Jesus (i.e., the Old Testament); (2) Jesus, the disciples and the first apostles (i.e., the New Testament); and (3) over the centuries, the personalites of each separate church and their respective histories. It is in the third basis (the basis which often has been central in forming unique identities for the different churches) that one finds stories about martyrs and saints. Whereas, central to the first two bases is the concept that there is only one god, and that man is offered eternal life in Paradise after death, or punishment.
Under the tenets of Christianity, the Old Testament contains the promise of a Jesus as the Messiah. Since the Christians believe that the Messiah had arrived, they differed, and still do, from the Jews. The actual understanding of Messiah was, however, different for the adherents of Christianity. While the Jews considered the Messiah as the liberator of Israel, for Christians, Jesus came to be considered as the liberator of mankind, and of the world.
In both Judaism and Christianity, the Messiah represented the end of the unjust world. As the Christians saw it, Jesus’ main task was to prepare for the apocalypse and the end of Satan’s influence on the world. One book in the New Testament tells about this, the Book of Revelations. This has many similarities with the apocalyptic books of the Old Testament, but few with the Gospels. This conception of the Messiah threatens the non-believers and the lukewarm while giving hope to the many who believe.
However, as the decades passed, and the promise of the end of the world was not fulfilled, the role of Jesus as Messiah began to be modified. Instead of linking Jesus to the end of the world, Christians began to link him to the establishment of a new world order. With Jesus, a new relationship between man and God was established, and Christians could use this as a foundation for living in the secular world. They were saved and purified through the belief in Jesus alone.
Nevertheless, even today, many Christians continue to expect that the end of the world will be in the not too distant future. When this happens, God will judge every human being, and each person’s destiny in the hereafter will be determined. The unjust will burn in Hell, while the just will experience eternal bliss in Paradise, -- in Heaven.
Central to the message of Jesus is love, forgiveness and openness towards other human beings. While Judaism at the time of Jesus was predominantly a closed religion, the message of Jesus was by many understood to be that every human being could become a Christian – through the force of faith alone.
The Gospels are far less detailed on regulations on morals and life than the Jewish Law. Among other things, the dietary regulations were abolished.
With regards to the development of the individual “personality” of the Southwest Asian Christian churches, it was often in the clash with kings and rulers, as well as other religions (especially Islam) that many Christians faced persecution, and had to stand up for their religion. These stories, true or not, gave the churches both strength and identity, but also cult centers that were built around places central to each personality.
There are also many stories about ascetics, men or women who devoted themselves entirely to Christianty, and sometimes moved to inhospitable places, like into the desert, and who still managed to survive.
In most of the churches in North Africa and Southwest Asia, many rituals are performed by the clergy to the benefit of all members of the congregation. In many cases, it is expected that these attend the churches and cathedrals to witness these rituals, but there are less central everyday rituals that are performed to the benefit of believers who are not present.
The totality of rituals is both too complex, and too time consuming, for each individual to perform. It is necessary to have a clergy who perform all obligations and do it correctly. The adherents participate with money, gifts and sometimes voluntary work. Some rituals are, however, central and cannot work unless the believers participate. These include such acts as baptism, confirmation, marriage and the Eucharist. It is also important to participate at a minimum of services, even if it is not expected that all believers shall participate at all. Important feasts among the Orthodox Christians are: Easter, (celebrated at other times than the Western world, starting in April or May); Christmas (December 25); Theophany (January 19); and Great Lent (a fast starting in February or March).
Confession, fasting, prayer, self-denial, obedience, righteous deeds and visits to holy places are other rituals, and they are often performed on an individual basis. In everyday religious life, these can often be of more importance to the believer than the big feasts.
The organization of the churches in Southwest Asia and North Africa is strictly hierarchical, and the churches have little of congregational democracy. The existing leaders are effectively in charge of appointing new leaders. Most of the independent churches are headed by a patriarch, who has a small group of bishops below him, who then again have a group of priests below them. Connected to some of the churches there are also monasteries which enjoy a certain amount of independence but still come under the authority of the highest leaders.
Even the local Catholic churches have a great deal of independence, and cannot be defined as controlled by the pope from the Vatican. The relationship between the pope and the churches is more symbolic than factual, but the communication channels are open for influence.
There are many holy places for Christianity in Southwest Asia and Egypt. The most important place is Jerusalem, where there has been built a church over the place claimed to be the burial place of Jesus. In Bethlehem, there is a church built over the place where Jesus is believed to have been born. Nazareth has several sites that memorialize the life and career of Jesus. Syria has many cult centers of less well known Christian personalities, but in Damascus there are spots that are visited and revered as sites from the life of the Apostle Paul. Egypt has a rich tradition of its own, but there are also places that memorialize the exile of Jesus and his family in Egypt.
A brief history of Christianity begins in the first century of the Christian calendar with the spreading of the Jesus-orientation in Jewish communities. This Jesus orientation would develop into churches as part of what came to be an independent religion. It is possible that the Essenes were central in this development.
Around 100, the Jesus-Jews broke free from other Jews and began developing their own religion.
During the second century of the Christian calendar, the spread of Christianity continued. During this period of time, the Christian congregations were small and weak but they were in contact with each other. The main centers, at this time, were in Syria and northern Egypt.
During the second and third centuries, there was strong growth in North Africa, but also inside the Roman Empire. Indeed, the most remarkable event occurred in the fourth century of the Christian calendar when the Roman Emperor Constantine was converted to the Christian faith. Following the example of his father and earlier third century emperors, Constantine in his early life was a solar henotheist, believing that the Roman sun god Sol was the visible manifestation of an invisible “Highest God” (summus deus), who was the principle behind the universe. This god was thought to be the companion of the Roman Emperor. Constantine’s adherence to this faith is evident from his claim of having had a vision of the sun god in 310 while in a grove of Apollo in Gaul. In 312, on the eve of a battle against Maxentius (r.306-312), Constantine’s rival in Italy, Constantine is reported to have dreamed that Christ appeared to him and told him to inscribe the first two letters of his name (XP in Greek) on the shields of his troops. The next day he is said to have seen a cross superimposed on the sun and the words “in this sign you will be the victor” (usually given in Latin, in hoc signo vinces). Constantine then defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, near Rome. The Senate hailed the victor as the savior of the Roman people. Thus, Constantine, who had been a pagan solar worshiper, now looked upon the Christian deity as a bringer of victory. Persecution of the Christians was ended, and Constantine’s co-emperor, Licinius (250-325), joined Constantine in issuing the Edict of Milan (313), which granted toleration to Christians in the Roman Empire. As guardian of Constantine’s favored religion, the Christian Church – the Catholic Church – was then given legal rights and large financial donations.
During the fifth century of the Christian calendar, a great schism occurred between the churches over a central issue: Was Jesus of two natures, one human and one divine, or did he just have one nature? At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the western churches came to decide that Jesus had two natures, but that the two natures were combined in the same person. However, many eastern churches did not accept this conclusion. Consequently, in the east, a number of new and independent congregations arose which had no relations with the western church – the church of Rome.
In the seventh century of the Christian calendar, new rulers of Southwest Asia and North Africa under the banner of Islam emerged to challenge Christianity. The emergence of Islam resulted in a centuries long relationship that would shift between mild and strong persecution on one side, and fruitful coexistence on the other side. Many Christians would over the next couple of centuries convert to Islam.
The seventh century of the Christian calendar also saw the formation of the Christian Byzantine Empire, which came to cover most of modern Turkey, Greece and parts of lands further west in Europe. The Byzantine Empire developed into an important center for the development of eastern Orthodox Christianity. The empire would remain large for more than 700 years, until it was defeated by the Ottomans.
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Christian Crusades in the lands around Jerusalem would lead to new contacts between eastern churches and the Catholic Church of Rome. In some areas (especially around modern Lebanon), Christian states were established, while in other areas hostility between eastern Christians and the Crusaders was the result.
From the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries, a well conducted campaign from the Catholic Church towards eastern churches, made them rejoin the great Catholic Church. However, they were allowed to keep their identity, organization, special rites, liturgy and even perform this in their traditional languages. None of the churches were forced to introduce celibacy for its clergy against its own will.
In the nineteenth century, heavy and brutal actions perpetrated by Muslims against Christians within the Ottoman Empire resulted in a great exodus of Christians from the region. The nineteenth century also saw the beginning of European colonization in Algeria, Tunisia, and Mauritania. European colonization brought large quantities of Christian Europeans into the region. For a period deep into the 20th century, Christianity became the politically dominant (if not largest) religion for this region. There was minimal persecution from the Christian side, and very few conversions from Islam to Christianity.
During the early twentieth century, Morocco and Libya were colonized and saw a large immigration of European Christians. Again, Christianity became the politically dominant religion in these countries.
Around 1960, with the fall of the North African colonies, most Christians with European origin in North Africa returned to their families’ original home countries. Only a few Christians remained.
Although Christianity began in Asia, today Asia is statistically the least Christian continent. In a world where one in every three people professes to be Christian, Asia’s population is only five percent Christian. To understand the reasons for the numerical weakness of Christianity on its home continent one must turn first to history.
The Christian faith spread eastward across Asia as quickly as it moved west into Europe, but with one significant difference: in the West it converted and transformed the culture of a whole continent. However, in non-Roman Asia, not once in Christianity’s first sixteen centuries did it manage to achieve majority influence in any enduring national power center.
A history of Asian Christianity may be characterized in terms of alternating periods of expansion and decline: (1) early advance (50-650); (2) recession: the rise of Islam and the fall of the Tang dynasty in China (650-1000); (3) revival under the Mongols (1000-1370); (4) years of devastation (1370-1500); (5) the Catholic centuries (1500-1700); (6) controversy and decline (1700-1792); (7) Protestant beginnings and the rise of the Asian churches (1792- present).
In its period of earliest expansion, Asian Christianity was impressively successful in geographical extension, but less so in penetration of major cultures. Before the end of the first century, Thomas, “the apostle of Asia,” had reached India, according to an ancient and fairly reliable tradition. About the same time, the new faith broke across the Roman border into eastern Syria and Persian Mesopotamia. By the end of the second century, the border principality of Edessa was largely Christian, and one of its kings, Abgar IX (r. 179-214), may well have been the world’s first ruler of a Christian state. Around the year 300 of the Christian calendar, Armenia officially adopted the Christian faith but ecclesiastically became more Western than Asian.
The church in Persia, however, was strong enough by the early fifth century to organize itself into a national church independent of the Western patriarchs. It called itself the Church of the East but is better known by its later name, the Nestorian church. In the remarkable missionary advance across Asia that followed, Nestorians carried the faith from the Red Sea to the heart of China. Three Arab Christian kingdoms emerged and some of the tribes of Central Asia began to convert to the Christian faith. Persian missionaries reached Chang’an, the Tang capital of China, as early as 635. But it was only in the fringe kingdoms at the edges of imperial power that decisive numbers became Christian. The key cultural and political centers, Persia, China, and India, were often hostile, at best tolerant. The first six centuries were thus years of steady but limited success.
By contrast, the next 350 years brought sharp setbacks. The first blow to the church was the rise of Islam. When the Arabs destroyed Persia and rolled Byzantine Rome back into Europe they quenched the flickering hope that the Nestorians might do for Asia what Catholic and Orthodox Christianity was accomplishing in the West: the conversion of a continent. Islam did not destroy Christianity, however, it simply encapsulated it, adapting from the defeated Persians a form of religious minority control called the millet (or dhimmi) system. As dhimmi, Christians were offered no heroic choice of death or apostasy, only the eroding humiliations of isolation, second-class citizenship, double taxation, and harsh social discrimination. The best that can be said of the ghettos thus created is that they allowed the Nestorians to survive for centuries and to serve as conduits of Greek learning through the Arabs to Europe.
Beyond the limits of Arab conquest, Christian growth was less restricted. The Nestorians were able to maintain intermittent contact with the Thomas Christians of South India, and the Persian mission to China flourished for two more centuries. Then suddenly it disappeared. The fall of the Tang dynasty in 907 was probably the major cause. The church had become too dependent upon imperial favor. But it had already been weakened by a spate of anti-religious persecutions in the mid-ninth century, and more fundamentally by its failure to take root among the Chinese. In fact, Nestorianism in China seems to have remained a religion for Persian priests and tribal groups.
By the year 1000, Christianity appeared to be a receding wave in Asia. It persisted only in isolated pockets in the Arab caliphates, South India, and Central Asia. At this low point, a Christian resurgence appeared in the wild heartlands of Asia among the Mongol and Turkic nomads. A chieftain of the Kereits was converted by Nestorian missionaries and was baptized with many of his people. When the Kereits were later drawn into the emerging Mongol confederation they became the unexpected avenue of Christian penetration into a new Asiatic center of power. Indeed, Genghis Khan married his fourth son, Tolui, to a Nestorian Kereit princess. She became the mother of three sons, all of whom eventually ruled major divisions of the Mongol empire: Mongke, the third Great Khan (1251-1259); Hulegu, the ilkhan of Islamic Persia (1261-1265); and Kublai, most famous of all, who became Grand Khan (1260) and emperor of China (1280-1294). None of the brothers became Christian, but their reigns marked the high point of the Nestorian church in Asia, and for a fleeting moment a Mongol monk, the Nestorian patriarch in Baghdad, Yaballaha III (1281-1317), ruled at least nominally a wider spiritual domain than did the pope in Rome. In 1287, Arghun, ilkhan of Persia, confirmed the prestige of the Nestorians by sending another Mongol monk as his ambassador to seek alliance with the Christian princes of Europe against the Muslims.
Once again, however, the Christian quest for political security in Asia proved illusory. The West, disillusioned with crusades, hesitated to be drawn into another. Arghun’s son, the ilkhan Ghazan (1295-1304), repudiated his compatriot the patriarch and embraced Islam. Worse yet, before the century was out, Timur’s wars of annihilation (1363-1405) displaced the more tolerant Mongols with a Muslim Turkic fanaticism that devastated Central and Inner Asia as far south as Delhi. Few Christians were left alive and Nestorianism never recovered from the breakup of Mongol power.
It was also in the Mongol period that Roman Catholicism first reached Asia. Between 1245 and 1346, ten Catholic missions were sent to the Mongol khans. The most successful was that of the Franciscan Giovanni da Montecorvino, who reached Beijing in 1294, built two churches there, and was made archbishop with the authority of a patriarch. Like the Nestorians, however, China’s first Catholics vanished with the collapse of the Mongols in 1368.
A third period of Christian advance in Asia opened with the dawn of the age of discovery. Da Gama’s Portuguese fleet, anchoring off the coast of India in 1498, brought a host of Catholic missionaries in its train. Goa became the center for ecclesiastical expansion, and the arrival of the first Jesuit, Francis Xavier, touched off ten of the most intensive years of Catholic missionary expansion in Asian history. Between 1542 and his death in 1552, Xavier laid foundations of mass evangelism in India that still endure. Xavier strengthened mission outposts in Melaka (Malacca) and the Moluccas, and, as the first Christian missionary to Japan, so effectively pioneered the “Christian century” there (1549-1650) that Japan may well have had a higher percentage of Christians in 1600 than it has today.
A tragic by-product of the coming of the West to India, however, was its effect on the ancient Thomas Christians. This Indian Syrian community had maintained tenuous connections with the Nestorians in Baghdad for centuries. Now it was first proselytized by the Portuguese and then fractured when large groups of Syrian Christians rebelled against the jurisdiction of Rome and reasserted their indigenous Christian loyalties. In Japan, there was an even greater tragedy. The savage persecutions of the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) ended the Christian century, wiped out the church, and left only a shattered underground.
The Roman Catholics in China (1583-1774), as in Japan, enjoyed remarkable initial success. Matteo Ricci’s strategy of accommodation to local customs and skillful use of Western science won the attention of the Confucian intelligentsia and gradually established a Jesuit presence and influence at the court in Beijing. So strong was this influence that when the Ming emperors fell in 1644 the church in China for the first time was able to survive the fall of a friendly dynasty and make itself indispensable to the new Manchu rulers. However, an ecclesiastical catastrophe, the rites controversy, ended the Catholics’ century long rise to Chinese favor. At issue was the Jesuit policy of accommodation to such Confucian ceremonies as veneration of ancestors. In 1704, the pope ruled against the Jesuits. The result was an angry impasse between a Chinese emperor, Kangxi, resentful of foreign interference with his Jesuit advisers, and an inflexible pope.
The abolition of the Jesuit order in 1773 and the paralysis of France’s great missionary societies by the French Revolution brought Catholic expansion throughout Asia almost to a standstill. Only in the Philippines did Roman Catholicism continue a phenomenal growth, one that by 1800 had made the islands the one land in Asia with a Christian majority.
Meanwhile, a fourth wave of Christian advance was moving into Asia, carrying Protestantism to the continent for the first time. As early as 1598, Dutch merchants began to send chaplains to their trading posts in the East Indies. Instructed to preach also to non-Christians, the chaplains baptized thousands throughout the islands of what is now Indonesia. The movement’s weakness was its mixture of colonial, commercial, and religious motives, and it was only after a Danish mission of German Pietists to Tranquebar in 1706, and William Carey’s still more significant mission to India in 1792, that Protestant missions picked up the momentum and clarity of focus that made them the dominant new factor in Christian advance in Asia in the nineteenth century.
Among the pioneers after Carey were Robert Morrison in China (1807), Henry Martyn in Persia (1811), Adoniram Judson in Burma (1812), James Curtis Hepburn in Japan (1859), Ludwig Nommensen in Sumatra (1862), and Horace N. Allen in Korea (1884). Although Christianity and westernization often came hand in hand, evidence abounds of efforts by the missionaries to separate the advance of the faith from the spread of empire. Independent missionary societies multiplied. Emphasis on self-support, self-government, and self-propagation (the “three selfs”) led toward church independence from foreign control and to interdenominational church unions. Especially noteworthy was Christian influence on Asian churches in the fields of education, medicine, and the position of women.
The collapse of colonialism after World War II accelerated the rise of national Asian churches. Since 1900, despite counter-movements like communism and revitalized Eastern religions, Asia’s churches have multiplied the number of their adherents eight times, from only 19 million at the beginning of the twentieth century to an estimated 150 million by the end of the twentieth century. This growth seems aggressive in comparison to the growth rate of the population of Asia which, during this same time, tripled. Fervent evangelism, social compassion, and concern for justice in human affairs contributed to the growth of Christian influence. Theologians like P. D. Devanandan in India and K. Kitamori in Japan won new respect for the faith among intellectuals. Catholics in Asia outnumber Protestants by about five to three. Seventy percent of all Asia’s Christians are concentrated in four countries: the Philippines, India, Indonesia, and South Korea. It remains the case, however, that only one in about nineteen Asians is Christian.
nasara see Christians
nasrani see Christians
Christians (in Arabic, nasara; in singular form, nasrani). Early Islam had to deal mainly with the Copts (in Arabic, Qibt) of Egypt, the Maronites of Lebanon, the Melkites of Byzantium (in Arabic, Rum), the Nestorians (in Arabic, Nasturiyyan) or eastern Syriacs who were numerous in what are now Iraq and Iran and owed allegiance to the Catholicos of al-Mada’in (Seleucia-Ctesiphon), and the “Jacobites” or western Syriacs, suspected of Monophysitism and belonging to the patriarchate of Antioch. The Christians (and the Jews) had to pay a poll-tax (in Arabic, jizya) but were protected by the dhimma, a sort of indefinitely renewed contract through which members of other revealed religions were accorded hospitality and protection on condition of their acknowledging the domination of Islam. They therefore were called dhimmis or ahl al-dhimma. They were forbidden to insult Islam and to seek to convert a Muslim. On the other hand, they did take part in government. Although their condition was sometimes unstable, due to measures of individual caliphs or to outbursts of popular anger, it was essentially satisfactory until the Mongol invasions and the coming to power of the Mamelukes.
By 2002, Christians were the second largest religious group in Southwest Asia and North Africa with some 15 million adherents. Christianity started as a Messianic orientation in Judaism. It was not until the year100 of the Christian calendar that the breach between Jesus Jews (Christians) and the Jews who did not accept or believe the stories about Jesus became so grave that a reconciliation was no longer possible.
Christianity is a religion based upon the belief that the Bible contains a divine message and that Jesus represents a change in the relationship between man and God. There are differences on how the different churches of Southwest Asia and North Africa see this message, how they transmit it, and also how they define Jesus. However, in general, the similarities outnumber the differences.
There are three foundational bases for the Southwest Asian and North African Christian churches: (1) The personalites and the stories of Judaism before Jesus (i.e., the Old Testament); (2) Jesus, the disciples and the first apostles (i.e., the New Testament); and (3) over the centuries, the personalites of each separate church and their respective histories. It is in the third basis (the basis which often has been central in forming unique identities for the different churches) that one finds stories about martyrs and saints. Whereas, central to the first two bases is the concept that there is only one god, and that man is offered eternal life in Paradise after death, or punishment.
Under the tenets of Christianity, the Old Testament contains the promise of a Jesus as the Messiah. Since the Christians believe that the Messiah had arrived, they differed, and still do, from the Jews. The actual understanding of Messiah was, however, different for the adherents of Christianity. While the Jews considered the Messiah as the liberator of Israel, for Christians, Jesus came to be considered as the liberator of mankind, and of the world.
In both Judaism and Christianity, the Messiah represented the end of the unjust world. As the Christians saw it, Jesus’ main task was to prepare for the apocalypse and the end of Satan’s influence on the world. One book in the New Testament tells about this, the Book of Revelations. This has many similarities with the apocalyptic books of the Old Testament, but few with the Gospels. This conception of the Messiah threatens the non-believers and the lukewarm while giving hope to the many who believe.
However, as the decades passed, and the promise of the end of the world was not fulfilled, the role of Jesus as Messiah began to be modified. Instead of linking Jesus to the end of the world, Christians began to link him to the establishment of a new world order. With Jesus, a new relationship between man and God was established, and Christians could use this as a foundation for living in the secular world. They were saved and purified through the belief in Jesus alone.
Nevertheless, even today, many Christians continue to expect that the end of the world will be in the not too distant future. When this happens, God will judge every human being, and each person’s destiny in the hereafter will be determined. The unjust will burn in Hell, while the just will experience eternal bliss in Paradise, -- in Heaven.
Central to the message of Jesus is love, forgiveness and openness towards other human beings. While Judaism at the time of Jesus was predominantly a closed religion, the message of Jesus was by many understood to be that every human being could become a Christian – through the force of faith alone.
The Gospels are far less detailed on regulations on morals and life than the Jewish Law. Among other things, the dietary regulations were abolished.
With regards to the development of the individual “personality” of the Southwest Asian Christian churches, it was often in the clash with kings and rulers, as well as other religions (especially Islam) that many Christians faced persecution, and had to stand up for their religion. These stories, true or not, gave the churches both strength and identity, but also cult centers that were built around places central to each personality.
There are also many stories about ascetics, men or women who devoted themselves entirely to Christianty, and sometimes moved to inhospitable places, like into the desert, and who still managed to survive.
In most of the churches in North Africa and Southwest Asia, many rituals are performed by the clergy to the benefit of all members of the congregation. In many cases, it is expected that these attend the churches and cathedrals to witness these rituals, but there are less central everyday rituals that are performed to the benefit of believers who are not present.
The totality of rituals is both too complex, and too time consuming, for each individual to perform. It is necessary to have a clergy who perform all obligations and do it correctly. The adherents participate with money, gifts and sometimes voluntary work. Some rituals are, however, central and cannot work unless the believers participate. These include such acts as baptism, confirmation, marriage and the Eucharist. It is also important to participate at a minimum of services, even if it is not expected that all believers shall participate at all. Important feasts among the Orthodox Christians are: Easter, (celebrated at other times than the Western world, starting in April or May); Christmas (December 25); Theophany (January 19); and Great Lent (a fast starting in February or March).
Confession, fasting, prayer, self-denial, obedience, righteous deeds and visits to holy places are other rituals, and they are often performed on an individual basis. In everyday religious life, these can often be of more importance to the believer than the big feasts.
The organization of the churches in Southwest Asia and North Africa is strictly hierarchical, and the churches have little of congregational democracy. The existing leaders are effectively in charge of appointing new leaders. Most of the independent churches are headed by a patriarch, who has a small group of bishops below him, who then again have a group of priests below them. Connected to some of the churches there are also monasteries which enjoy a certain amount of independence but still come under the authority of the highest leaders.
Even the local Catholic churches have a great deal of independence, and cannot be defined as controlled by the pope from the Vatican. The relationship between the pope and the churches is more symbolic than factual, but the communication channels are open for influence.
There are many holy places for Christianity in Southwest Asia and Egypt. The most important place is Jerusalem, where there has been built a church over the place claimed to be the burial place of Jesus. In Bethlehem, there is a church built over the place where Jesus is believed to have been born. Nazareth has several sites that memorialize the life and career of Jesus. Syria has many cult centers of less well known Christian personalities, but in Damascus there are spots that are visited and revered as sites from the life of the Apostle Paul. Egypt has a rich tradition of its own, but there are also places that memorialize the exile of Jesus and his family in Egypt.
A brief history of Christianity begins in the first century of the Christian calendar with the spreading of the Jesus-orientation in Jewish communities. This Jesus orientation would develop into churches as part of what came to be an independent religion. It is possible that the Essenes were central in this development.
Around 100, the Jesus-Jews broke free from other Jews and began developing their own religion.
During the second century of the Christian calendar, the spread of Christianity continued. During this period of time, the Christian congregations were small and weak but they were in contact with each other. The main centers, at this time, were in Syria and northern Egypt.
During the second and third centuries, there was strong growth in North Africa, but also inside the Roman Empire. Indeed, the most remarkable event occurred in the fourth century of the Christian calendar when the Roman Emperor Constantine was converted to the Christian faith. Following the example of his father and earlier third century emperors, Constantine in his early life was a solar henotheist, believing that the Roman sun god Sol was the visible manifestation of an invisible “Highest God” (summus deus), who was the principle behind the universe. This god was thought to be the companion of the Roman Emperor. Constantine’s adherence to this faith is evident from his claim of having had a vision of the sun god in 310 while in a grove of Apollo in Gaul. In 312, on the eve of a battle against Maxentius (r.306-312), Constantine’s rival in Italy, Constantine is reported to have dreamed that Christ appeared to him and told him to inscribe the first two letters of his name (XP in Greek) on the shields of his troops. The next day he is said to have seen a cross superimposed on the sun and the words “in this sign you will be the victor” (usually given in Latin, in hoc signo vinces). Constantine then defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, near Rome. The Senate hailed the victor as the savior of the Roman people. Thus, Constantine, who had been a pagan solar worshiper, now looked upon the Christian deity as a bringer of victory. Persecution of the Christians was ended, and Constantine’s co-emperor, Licinius (250-325), joined Constantine in issuing the Edict of Milan (313), which granted toleration to Christians in the Roman Empire. As guardian of Constantine’s favored religion, the Christian Church – the Catholic Church – was then given legal rights and large financial donations.
During the fifth century of the Christian calendar, a great schism occurred between the churches over a central issue: Was Jesus of two natures, one human and one divine, or did he just have one nature? At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the western churches came to decide that Jesus had two natures, but that the two natures were combined in the same person. However, many eastern churches did not accept this conclusion. Consequently, in the east, a number of new and independent congregations arose which had no relations with the western church – the church of Rome.
In the seventh century of the Christian calendar, new rulers of Southwest Asia and North Africa under the banner of Islam emerged to challenge Christianity. The emergence of Islam resulted in a centuries long relationship that would shift between mild and strong persecution on one side, and fruitful coexistence on the other side. Many Christians would over the next couple of centuries convert to Islam.
The seventh century of the Christian calendar also saw the formation of the Christian Byzantine Empire, which came to cover most of modern Turkey, Greece and parts of lands further west in Europe. The Byzantine Empire developed into an important center for the development of eastern Orthodox Christianity. The empire would remain large for more than 700 years, until it was defeated by the Ottomans.
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Christian Crusades in the lands around Jerusalem would lead to new contacts between eastern churches and the Catholic Church of Rome. In some areas (especially around modern Lebanon), Christian states were established, while in other areas hostility between eastern Christians and the Crusaders was the result.
From the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries, a well conducted campaign from the Catholic Church towards eastern churches, made them rejoin the great Catholic Church. However, they were allowed to keep their identity, organization, special rites, liturgy and even perform this in their traditional languages. None of the churches were forced to introduce celibacy for its clergy against its own will.
In the nineteenth century, heavy and brutal actions perpetrated by Muslims against Christians within the Ottoman Empire resulted in a great exodus of Christians from the region. The nineteenth century also saw the beginning of European colonization in Algeria, Tunisia, and Mauritania. European colonization brought large quantities of Christian Europeans into the region. For a period deep into the 20th century, Christianity became the politically dominant (if not largest) religion for this region. There was minimal persecution from the Christian side, and very few conversions from Islam to Christianity.
During the early twentieth century, Morocco and Libya were colonized and saw a large immigration of European Christians. Again, Christianity became the politically dominant religion in these countries.
Around 1960, with the fall of the North African colonies, most Christians with European origin in North Africa returned to their families’ original home countries. Only a few Christians remained.
Although Christianity began in Asia, today Asia is statistically the least Christian continent. In a world where one in every three people professes to be Christian, Asia’s population is only five percent Christian. To understand the reasons for the numerical weakness of Christianity on its home continent one must turn first to history.
The Christian faith spread eastward across Asia as quickly as it moved west into Europe, but with one significant difference: in the West it converted and transformed the culture of a whole continent. However, in non-Roman Asia, not once in Christianity’s first sixteen centuries did it manage to achieve majority influence in any enduring national power center.
A history of Asian Christianity may be characterized in terms of alternating periods of expansion and decline: (1) early advance (50-650); (2) recession: the rise of Islam and the fall of the Tang dynasty in China (650-1000); (3) revival under the Mongols (1000-1370); (4) years of devastation (1370-1500); (5) the Catholic centuries (1500-1700); (6) controversy and decline (1700-1792); (7) Protestant beginnings and the rise of the Asian churches (1792- present).
In its period of earliest expansion, Asian Christianity was impressively successful in geographical extension, but less so in penetration of major cultures. Before the end of the first century, Thomas, “the apostle of Asia,” had reached India, according to an ancient and fairly reliable tradition. About the same time, the new faith broke across the Roman border into eastern Syria and Persian Mesopotamia. By the end of the second century, the border principality of Edessa was largely Christian, and one of its kings, Abgar IX (r. 179-214), may well have been the world’s first ruler of a Christian state. Around the year 300 of the Christian calendar, Armenia officially adopted the Christian faith but ecclesiastically became more Western than Asian.
The church in Persia, however, was strong enough by the early fifth century to organize itself into a national church independent of the Western patriarchs. It called itself the Church of the East but is better known by its later name, the Nestorian church. In the remarkable missionary advance across Asia that followed, Nestorians carried the faith from the Red Sea to the heart of China. Three Arab Christian kingdoms emerged and some of the tribes of Central Asia began to convert to the Christian faith. Persian missionaries reached Chang’an, the Tang capital of China, as early as 635. But it was only in the fringe kingdoms at the edges of imperial power that decisive numbers became Christian. The key cultural and political centers, Persia, China, and India, were often hostile, at best tolerant. The first six centuries were thus years of steady but limited success.
By contrast, the next 350 years brought sharp setbacks. The first blow to the church was the rise of Islam. When the Arabs destroyed Persia and rolled Byzantine Rome back into Europe they quenched the flickering hope that the Nestorians might do for Asia what Catholic and Orthodox Christianity was accomplishing in the West: the conversion of a continent. Islam did not destroy Christianity, however, it simply encapsulated it, adapting from the defeated Persians a form of religious minority control called the millet (or dhimmi) system. As dhimmi, Christians were offered no heroic choice of death or apostasy, only the eroding humiliations of isolation, second-class citizenship, double taxation, and harsh social discrimination. The best that can be said of the ghettos thus created is that they allowed the Nestorians to survive for centuries and to serve as conduits of Greek learning through the Arabs to Europe.
Beyond the limits of Arab conquest, Christian growth was less restricted. The Nestorians were able to maintain intermittent contact with the Thomas Christians of South India, and the Persian mission to China flourished for two more centuries. Then suddenly it disappeared. The fall of the Tang dynasty in 907 was probably the major cause. The church had become too dependent upon imperial favor. But it had already been weakened by a spate of anti-religious persecutions in the mid-ninth century, and more fundamentally by its failure to take root among the Chinese. In fact, Nestorianism in China seems to have remained a religion for Persian priests and tribal groups.
By the year 1000, Christianity appeared to be a receding wave in Asia. It persisted only in isolated pockets in the Arab caliphates, South India, and Central Asia. At this low point, a Christian resurgence appeared in the wild heartlands of Asia among the Mongol and Turkic nomads. A chieftain of the Kereits was converted by Nestorian missionaries and was baptized with many of his people. When the Kereits were later drawn into the emerging Mongol confederation they became the unexpected avenue of Christian penetration into a new Asiatic center of power. Indeed, Genghis Khan married his fourth son, Tolui, to a Nestorian Kereit princess. She became the mother of three sons, all of whom eventually ruled major divisions of the Mongol empire: Mongke, the third Great Khan (1251-1259); Hulegu, the ilkhan of Islamic Persia (1261-1265); and Kublai, most famous of all, who became Grand Khan (1260) and emperor of China (1280-1294). None of the brothers became Christian, but their reigns marked the high point of the Nestorian church in Asia, and for a fleeting moment a Mongol monk, the Nestorian patriarch in Baghdad, Yaballaha III (1281-1317), ruled at least nominally a wider spiritual domain than did the pope in Rome. In 1287, Arghun, ilkhan of Persia, confirmed the prestige of the Nestorians by sending another Mongol monk as his ambassador to seek alliance with the Christian princes of Europe against the Muslims.
Once again, however, the Christian quest for political security in Asia proved illusory. The West, disillusioned with crusades, hesitated to be drawn into another. Arghun’s son, the ilkhan Ghazan (1295-1304), repudiated his compatriot the patriarch and embraced Islam. Worse yet, before the century was out, Timur’s wars of annihilation (1363-1405) displaced the more tolerant Mongols with a Muslim Turkic fanaticism that devastated Central and Inner Asia as far south as Delhi. Few Christians were left alive and Nestorianism never recovered from the breakup of Mongol power.
It was also in the Mongol period that Roman Catholicism first reached Asia. Between 1245 and 1346, ten Catholic missions were sent to the Mongol khans. The most successful was that of the Franciscan Giovanni da Montecorvino, who reached Beijing in 1294, built two churches there, and was made archbishop with the authority of a patriarch. Like the Nestorians, however, China’s first Catholics vanished with the collapse of the Mongols in 1368.
A third period of Christian advance in Asia opened with the dawn of the age of discovery. Da Gama’s Portuguese fleet, anchoring off the coast of India in 1498, brought a host of Catholic missionaries in its train. Goa became the center for ecclesiastical expansion, and the arrival of the first Jesuit, Francis Xavier, touched off ten of the most intensive years of Catholic missionary expansion in Asian history. Between 1542 and his death in 1552, Xavier laid foundations of mass evangelism in India that still endure. Xavier strengthened mission outposts in Melaka (Malacca) and the Moluccas, and, as the first Christian missionary to Japan, so effectively pioneered the “Christian century” there (1549-1650) that Japan may well have had a higher percentage of Christians in 1600 than it has today.
A tragic by-product of the coming of the West to India, however, was its effect on the ancient Thomas Christians. This Indian Syrian community had maintained tenuous connections with the Nestorians in Baghdad for centuries. Now it was first proselytized by the Portuguese and then fractured when large groups of Syrian Christians rebelled against the jurisdiction of Rome and reasserted their indigenous Christian loyalties. In Japan, there was an even greater tragedy. The savage persecutions of the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) ended the Christian century, wiped out the church, and left only a shattered underground.
The Roman Catholics in China (1583-1774), as in Japan, enjoyed remarkable initial success. Matteo Ricci’s strategy of accommodation to local customs and skillful use of Western science won the attention of the Confucian intelligentsia and gradually established a Jesuit presence and influence at the court in Beijing. So strong was this influence that when the Ming emperors fell in 1644 the church in China for the first time was able to survive the fall of a friendly dynasty and make itself indispensable to the new Manchu rulers. However, an ecclesiastical catastrophe, the rites controversy, ended the Catholics’ century long rise to Chinese favor. At issue was the Jesuit policy of accommodation to such Confucian ceremonies as veneration of ancestors. In 1704, the pope ruled against the Jesuits. The result was an angry impasse between a Chinese emperor, Kangxi, resentful of foreign interference with his Jesuit advisers, and an inflexible pope.
The abolition of the Jesuit order in 1773 and the paralysis of France’s great missionary societies by the French Revolution brought Catholic expansion throughout Asia almost to a standstill. Only in the Philippines did Roman Catholicism continue a phenomenal growth, one that by 1800 had made the islands the one land in Asia with a Christian majority.
Meanwhile, a fourth wave of Christian advance was moving into Asia, carrying Protestantism to the continent for the first time. As early as 1598, Dutch merchants began to send chaplains to their trading posts in the East Indies. Instructed to preach also to non-Christians, the chaplains baptized thousands throughout the islands of what is now Indonesia. The movement’s weakness was its mixture of colonial, commercial, and religious motives, and it was only after a Danish mission of German Pietists to Tranquebar in 1706, and William Carey’s still more significant mission to India in 1792, that Protestant missions picked up the momentum and clarity of focus that made them the dominant new factor in Christian advance in Asia in the nineteenth century.
Among the pioneers after Carey were Robert Morrison in China (1807), Henry Martyn in Persia (1811), Adoniram Judson in Burma (1812), James Curtis Hepburn in Japan (1859), Ludwig Nommensen in Sumatra (1862), and Horace N. Allen in Korea (1884). Although Christianity and westernization often came hand in hand, evidence abounds of efforts by the missionaries to separate the advance of the faith from the spread of empire. Independent missionary societies multiplied. Emphasis on self-support, self-government, and self-propagation (the “three selfs”) led toward church independence from foreign control and to interdenominational church unions. Especially noteworthy was Christian influence on Asian churches in the fields of education, medicine, and the position of women.
The collapse of colonialism after World War II accelerated the rise of national Asian churches. Since 1900, despite counter-movements like communism and revitalized Eastern religions, Asia’s churches have multiplied the number of their adherents eight times, from only 19 million at the beginning of the twentieth century to an estimated 150 million by the end of the twentieth century. This growth seems aggressive in comparison to the growth rate of the population of Asia which, during this same time, tripled. Fervent evangelism, social compassion, and concern for justice in human affairs contributed to the growth of Christian influence. Theologians like P. D. Devanandan in India and K. Kitamori in Japan won new respect for the faith among intellectuals. Catholics in Asia outnumber Protestants by about five to three. Seventy percent of all Asia’s Christians are concentrated in four countries: the Philippines, India, Indonesia, and South Korea. It remains the case, however, that only one in about nineteen Asians is Christian.
nasara see Christians
nasrani see Christians
Cid
Cid (El Cid) (in Arabic, al-Sid) (c.1043, Vivar, near Burgos, Spain - July 10, 1099, Valencia). Popular name for Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar. He is the most celebrated of the heroes of Castilian chivalry. The name is derived from Arabic "sayyidi", “my master,” in vulgar Spanish "sidi", “mio Cid,” a name given to him by the Muslim soldiers of Saragossa. From 1081 onwards he led the life of a “condittiere,” fighting, as occasion arose, the Muslims or his own co-religionists on behalf of a third person or on his own behalf. He offered his services to the Hudids of Saragossa, and received tribute from the Count of Barcelona, the Muslim princes of Tortosa and Valencia and several Arab lords. He forced King Alfonso VI of Castile to lift the siege of Valencia and, after a revolt in the town led by the judge Ibn Jahhaf against his Muslim lieutenant Ibn al-Faraj, El Cid took the town in 1094, of which he remained absolute master until his death.
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1040, Vivar, near Burgos, Spain – July 10, 1099, Valencia), known as El Cid Campeador, was a Castilian nobleman, a military leader and diplomat who, after being exiled, conquered and governed the city of Valencia. Rodrigo Díaz was educated in the royal court of Castile and became the alférez, or chief general, of Alfonso VI, and his most valuable asset in the fight against the Moors.
The Cid, Spanish El Cid, also called El Campeador (“the Champion”), byname of Rodrigo, or Ruy, Díaz de Vivar, Castilian military leader and national hero. His popular name, El Cid, dates from his lifetime.
Rodrigo Díaz’s father, Diego Laínez, was a member of the minor nobility (infanzones) of Castile. But the Cid’s social background was less unprivileged than later popular tradition liked to suppose, for he was directly connected on his mother’s side to the great landed aristocracy, and he was brought up at the court of Ferdinand I in the household of that king’s eldest son, the future Sancho II of Castile. When Sancho succeeded to the Castilian throne (1065), he nominated the 22-year-old Cid as his standard-bearer (armiger regis), or commander of the royal troops. This early promotion to important office suggests that the young Cid had already won a reputation for military prowess. In 1067 he accompanied Sancho on a campaign against the important Moorish kingdom of Zaragoza (Saragossa) and played a leading role in the negotiations that made its king, al-Muqtadir, a tributary of the Castilian crown.
Ferdinand I, on his death, had partitioned his kingdoms among his various children, leaving Leon to his second son, Alfonso VI. Sancho began (1067) to make war on the latter with the aim of annexing Leon. Later legend was to make the Cid a reluctant supporter of Sancho’s aggression, but it is unlikely the real Cid had any such scruples. He played a prominent part in Sancho’s successful campaigns against Alfonso and so found himself in an awkward situation in 1072, when the childless Sancho was killed while besieging Zamora, leaving the dethroned Alfonso as his only possible heir. The new king appears to have done his best to win the allegiance of Sancho’s most powerful supporter. Though the Cid now lost his post as armiger regis to a great magnate, Count García Ordóñez (whose bitter enemy he became), and his former influence at court naturally declined, he was allowed to remain there; and, in July 1074, probably at Alfonso’s instigation, he married the king’s niece Jimena, daughter of the count of Oviedo. He thus became allied by marriage to the ancient royal dynasty of Leon. Very little is known about Jimena. The couple had one son and two daughters. The son, Diego Rodríguez, was killed in battle against the Muslim Almoravid invaders from North Africa, at Consuegra (1097).
The Cid’s position at court was, despite his marriage, precarious. He seems to have been thought of as the natural leader of those Castilians who were unreconciled to being ruled by a king of Leon. He certainly resented the influence exercised by the great landed nobles over Alfonso VI. Though his heroic biographers would later present the Cid as the blameless victim of unscrupulous noble enemies and of Alfonso’s willingness to listen to unfounded slanders, it seems likely that the Cid’s penchant for publicly humiliating powerful men may have largely contributed to his downfall. Though he was later to show himself astute and calculating as both a soldier and a politician, his conduct vis-à-vis the court suggests that resentment at his loss of influence as a result of Sancho’s death may temporarily have undermined his capacity for self-control. In 1079, while on a mission to the Moorish king of Sevilla (Seville), he became embroiled with García Ordóñez, who was aiding the king of Granada in an invasion of the kingdom of Sevilla. The Cid defeated the markedly superior Granadine army at Cabra, near Sevilla, capturing García Ordóñez. This victory prepared the way for his downfall; and when, in 1081, he led an unauthorized military raid into the Moorish kingdom of Toledo, which was under Alfonso’s protection, the king exiled the Cid from his kingdoms. Several subsequent attempts at reconciliation produced no lasting results, and after 1081 the Cid never again was able to live for long in Alfonso VI’s dominions.
The Cid in exile offered his services to the Muslim dynasty that ruled Zaragoza and with which he had first made contact in 1065. The king of Zaragoza, in northeastern Spain, al-Muʿtamin, welcomed the chance of having his vulnerable kingdom defended by so prestigious a Christian warrior. The Cid now loyally served al-Muʿtamin and his successor, al-Mustaʿīn II, for nearly a decade. As a result of his experience he gained that understanding of the complexities of Hispano-Arabic politics and of Islamic law and custom that would later help him to conquer and hold Valencia. Meanwhile, he steadily added to his reputation as a general who had never been defeated in battle. In 1082, on behalf of al-Muʿtamin, he inflicted a decisive defeat on the Moorish king of Lérida and the latter’s Christian allies, among them the count of Barcelona. In 1084 he defeated a large Christian army under King Sancho Ramírez of Aragon. He was richly rewarded for these victories by his grateful Muslim masters.
In 1086 there began the great Almoravid invasion of Spain from North Africa. Alfonso VI, crushingly defeated by the invaders at Sagrajas (October 23, 1086), suppressed his antagonism to the Cid and recalled from exile the Christians’ best general. The Cid’s presence at Alfonso’s court in July 1087 is documented. But shortly afterward, he was back in Zaragoza, and he was not a participant in the subsequent desperate battles against the Almoravids in the strategic regions where their attacks threatened the whole existence of Christian Spain. The Cid, for his part, now embarked on the lengthy and immensely complicated political maneuvering that was aimed at making him master of the rich Moorish kingdom of Valencia.
The Cid’s first step was to eliminate the influence of the counts of Barcelona in that area. This was done when Berenguer Ramón II was humiliatingly defeated at Tébar, near Teruel (May 1090). During the next years the Cid gradually tightened his control over Valencia and its ruler, al-Qādir, now his tributary. His moment of destiny came in October 1092 when the qāḍī (chief magistrate), Ibn Jaḥḥāf, with Almoravid political support rebelled and killed al-Qādir. The Cid responded by besieging the rebel city. The siege lasted for many months; an Almoravid attempt to break it failed miserably (December 1093). In May 1094 Ibn Jaḥḥāf at last surrendered, and the Cid finally entered Valencia as its conqueror. To facilitate his takeover, he characteristically first made a pact with Ibn Jaḥḥāf that led the latter to believe that his acts of rebellion and regicide were forgiven; but when the pact had served its purpose, the Cid arrested the former qāḍī and ordered him to be burnt alive. The Cid now ruled Valencia directly, himself acting as chief magistrate of the Muslims as well as the Christians. Nominally he held Valencia for Alfonso VI, but in fact he was its independent ruler in all but name. The city’s chief mosque was Christianized in 1096; a French bishop, Jerome, was appointed to the new see; and there was a considerable influx of Christian colonists. The Cid’s princely status was emphasized when his daughter Cristina married a prince of Aragon, Ramiro, lord of Monzón, and his other daughter, María, married Ramón Berenguer III, count of Barcelona. The Cid continued to rule Valencia until his death in 1099.
The great enterprise to which the Cid had devoted so much of his energies was to prove totally ephemeral. Soon after his death, Valencia was besieged by the Almoravids, and Alfonso VI had to intervene in person to save it. But the king rightly judged the place indefensible unless he diverted there permanently large numbers of troops urgently needed to defend the Christian heartlands against the invaders. He evacuated the city and then ordered it to be burned. On May 5, 1102, the Almoravids occupied Valencia, which was to remain in Muslim hands until 1238. The Cid’s body was taken to Castile and reburied in the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña, near Burgos, where it became the center of a lively tomb cult.
The Cid’s biography presents special problems for the historian because he was speedily elevated to the status of national hero of Castile, and a complex heroic biography of him, in which legend played a dominant role, came into existence; the legend was magnified by the influence of the 12th-century epic poem of Castile, El cantar de mío Cid (“The Song of the Cid”) and later by Pierre Corneille’s tragedy Le Cid, first performed in 1637.
El Cid see Cid
Sid, al- see Cid
Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar see Cid
Vivar, Rodrigo Diaz de see Cid
Ruy Diaz de Vivar see Cid
Vivar, Ruy Diaz de see Cid
Cid (El Cid) (in Arabic, al-Sid) (c.1043, Vivar, near Burgos, Spain - July 10, 1099, Valencia). Popular name for Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar. He is the most celebrated of the heroes of Castilian chivalry. The name is derived from Arabic "sayyidi", “my master,” in vulgar Spanish "sidi", “mio Cid,” a name given to him by the Muslim soldiers of Saragossa. From 1081 onwards he led the life of a “condittiere,” fighting, as occasion arose, the Muslims or his own co-religionists on behalf of a third person or on his own behalf. He offered his services to the Hudids of Saragossa, and received tribute from the Count of Barcelona, the Muslim princes of Tortosa and Valencia and several Arab lords. He forced King Alfonso VI of Castile to lift the siege of Valencia and, after a revolt in the town led by the judge Ibn Jahhaf against his Muslim lieutenant Ibn al-Faraj, El Cid took the town in 1094, of which he remained absolute master until his death.
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1040, Vivar, near Burgos, Spain – July 10, 1099, Valencia), known as El Cid Campeador, was a Castilian nobleman, a military leader and diplomat who, after being exiled, conquered and governed the city of Valencia. Rodrigo Díaz was educated in the royal court of Castile and became the alférez, or chief general, of Alfonso VI, and his most valuable asset in the fight against the Moors.
The Cid, Spanish El Cid, also called El Campeador (“the Champion”), byname of Rodrigo, or Ruy, Díaz de Vivar, Castilian military leader and national hero. His popular name, El Cid, dates from his lifetime.
Rodrigo Díaz’s father, Diego Laínez, was a member of the minor nobility (infanzones) of Castile. But the Cid’s social background was less unprivileged than later popular tradition liked to suppose, for he was directly connected on his mother’s side to the great landed aristocracy, and he was brought up at the court of Ferdinand I in the household of that king’s eldest son, the future Sancho II of Castile. When Sancho succeeded to the Castilian throne (1065), he nominated the 22-year-old Cid as his standard-bearer (armiger regis), or commander of the royal troops. This early promotion to important office suggests that the young Cid had already won a reputation for military prowess. In 1067 he accompanied Sancho on a campaign against the important Moorish kingdom of Zaragoza (Saragossa) and played a leading role in the negotiations that made its king, al-Muqtadir, a tributary of the Castilian crown.
Ferdinand I, on his death, had partitioned his kingdoms among his various children, leaving Leon to his second son, Alfonso VI. Sancho began (1067) to make war on the latter with the aim of annexing Leon. Later legend was to make the Cid a reluctant supporter of Sancho’s aggression, but it is unlikely the real Cid had any such scruples. He played a prominent part in Sancho’s successful campaigns against Alfonso and so found himself in an awkward situation in 1072, when the childless Sancho was killed while besieging Zamora, leaving the dethroned Alfonso as his only possible heir. The new king appears to have done his best to win the allegiance of Sancho’s most powerful supporter. Though the Cid now lost his post as armiger regis to a great magnate, Count García Ordóñez (whose bitter enemy he became), and his former influence at court naturally declined, he was allowed to remain there; and, in July 1074, probably at Alfonso’s instigation, he married the king’s niece Jimena, daughter of the count of Oviedo. He thus became allied by marriage to the ancient royal dynasty of Leon. Very little is known about Jimena. The couple had one son and two daughters. The son, Diego Rodríguez, was killed in battle against the Muslim Almoravid invaders from North Africa, at Consuegra (1097).
The Cid’s position at court was, despite his marriage, precarious. He seems to have been thought of as the natural leader of those Castilians who were unreconciled to being ruled by a king of Leon. He certainly resented the influence exercised by the great landed nobles over Alfonso VI. Though his heroic biographers would later present the Cid as the blameless victim of unscrupulous noble enemies and of Alfonso’s willingness to listen to unfounded slanders, it seems likely that the Cid’s penchant for publicly humiliating powerful men may have largely contributed to his downfall. Though he was later to show himself astute and calculating as both a soldier and a politician, his conduct vis-à-vis the court suggests that resentment at his loss of influence as a result of Sancho’s death may temporarily have undermined his capacity for self-control. In 1079, while on a mission to the Moorish king of Sevilla (Seville), he became embroiled with García Ordóñez, who was aiding the king of Granada in an invasion of the kingdom of Sevilla. The Cid defeated the markedly superior Granadine army at Cabra, near Sevilla, capturing García Ordóñez. This victory prepared the way for his downfall; and when, in 1081, he led an unauthorized military raid into the Moorish kingdom of Toledo, which was under Alfonso’s protection, the king exiled the Cid from his kingdoms. Several subsequent attempts at reconciliation produced no lasting results, and after 1081 the Cid never again was able to live for long in Alfonso VI’s dominions.
The Cid in exile offered his services to the Muslim dynasty that ruled Zaragoza and with which he had first made contact in 1065. The king of Zaragoza, in northeastern Spain, al-Muʿtamin, welcomed the chance of having his vulnerable kingdom defended by so prestigious a Christian warrior. The Cid now loyally served al-Muʿtamin and his successor, al-Mustaʿīn II, for nearly a decade. As a result of his experience he gained that understanding of the complexities of Hispano-Arabic politics and of Islamic law and custom that would later help him to conquer and hold Valencia. Meanwhile, he steadily added to his reputation as a general who had never been defeated in battle. In 1082, on behalf of al-Muʿtamin, he inflicted a decisive defeat on the Moorish king of Lérida and the latter’s Christian allies, among them the count of Barcelona. In 1084 he defeated a large Christian army under King Sancho Ramírez of Aragon. He was richly rewarded for these victories by his grateful Muslim masters.
In 1086 there began the great Almoravid invasion of Spain from North Africa. Alfonso VI, crushingly defeated by the invaders at Sagrajas (October 23, 1086), suppressed his antagonism to the Cid and recalled from exile the Christians’ best general. The Cid’s presence at Alfonso’s court in July 1087 is documented. But shortly afterward, he was back in Zaragoza, and he was not a participant in the subsequent desperate battles against the Almoravids in the strategic regions where their attacks threatened the whole existence of Christian Spain. The Cid, for his part, now embarked on the lengthy and immensely complicated political maneuvering that was aimed at making him master of the rich Moorish kingdom of Valencia.
The Cid’s first step was to eliminate the influence of the counts of Barcelona in that area. This was done when Berenguer Ramón II was humiliatingly defeated at Tébar, near Teruel (May 1090). During the next years the Cid gradually tightened his control over Valencia and its ruler, al-Qādir, now his tributary. His moment of destiny came in October 1092 when the qāḍī (chief magistrate), Ibn Jaḥḥāf, with Almoravid political support rebelled and killed al-Qādir. The Cid responded by besieging the rebel city. The siege lasted for many months; an Almoravid attempt to break it failed miserably (December 1093). In May 1094 Ibn Jaḥḥāf at last surrendered, and the Cid finally entered Valencia as its conqueror. To facilitate his takeover, he characteristically first made a pact with Ibn Jaḥḥāf that led the latter to believe that his acts of rebellion and regicide were forgiven; but when the pact had served its purpose, the Cid arrested the former qāḍī and ordered him to be burnt alive. The Cid now ruled Valencia directly, himself acting as chief magistrate of the Muslims as well as the Christians. Nominally he held Valencia for Alfonso VI, but in fact he was its independent ruler in all but name. The city’s chief mosque was Christianized in 1096; a French bishop, Jerome, was appointed to the new see; and there was a considerable influx of Christian colonists. The Cid’s princely status was emphasized when his daughter Cristina married a prince of Aragon, Ramiro, lord of Monzón, and his other daughter, María, married Ramón Berenguer III, count of Barcelona. The Cid continued to rule Valencia until his death in 1099.
The great enterprise to which the Cid had devoted so much of his energies was to prove totally ephemeral. Soon after his death, Valencia was besieged by the Almoravids, and Alfonso VI had to intervene in person to save it. But the king rightly judged the place indefensible unless he diverted there permanently large numbers of troops urgently needed to defend the Christian heartlands against the invaders. He evacuated the city and then ordered it to be burned. On May 5, 1102, the Almoravids occupied Valencia, which was to remain in Muslim hands until 1238. The Cid’s body was taken to Castile and reburied in the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña, near Burgos, where it became the center of a lively tomb cult.
The Cid’s biography presents special problems for the historian because he was speedily elevated to the status of national hero of Castile, and a complex heroic biography of him, in which legend played a dominant role, came into existence; the legend was magnified by the influence of the 12th-century epic poem of Castile, El cantar de mío Cid (“The Song of the Cid”) and later by Pierre Corneille’s tragedy Le Cid, first performed in 1637.
El Cid see Cid
Sid, al- see Cid
Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar see Cid
Vivar, Rodrigo Diaz de see Cid
Ruy Diaz de Vivar see Cid
Vivar, Ruy Diaz de see Cid
Ciller
Ciller (Tansu Ciller) (Tansu Penbe Ciller) (b. May 24, 1946). Turkish politician, member of parliament, and leader of the True Path Party. She was Turkey’s first female prime minister from 1993 to 1996.
Ciller was born in Istanbul. She was the daughter of a Turkish governor of Bilecik province during the 1950s. She graduated from the School of Economics at Robert College after finishing the American College for Girls in Istanbul. She received her Master of Science from the University of New Hampshire and a doctorate from the University of Connecticut. She later completed her post-doctoral studies at Yale University. After teaching economics at Franklin and Marshall College, in 1978, she became a lecturer at Bosphorus University in Istanbul and in 1983 she was appointed as professor by the same institution. She also worked in the now-defunct Istanbul Bank as president of the company.
After teaching at several universities as a professor, she entered politics in November 1990, joining the conservative True Path Party (DYP). She was first elected to parliament in October 1991 as deputy of Istanbul and served as Minister of State in charge of economics in the coalition government of Süleyman Demirel. On June 13, 1993, she became the leader of the True Path Party and later she became the Prime Minister of a coalition government. After the withdrawal of the Republican People's Party (CHP) from the coalition in 1995 she attempted to form a minority government, which failed. After that she agreed to form another cabinet with CHP and went for general elections.
In September 1995, the Republican People’s Party left the government, which forced Ciller to call for early elections. In December, Ciller did not achieve the number of votes needed in the parliamentary elections, as her party only received nineteen percent, two percent less than the winning Islamist Welfare Party.
In March 1996, Ciller and the True Path Party formed a government together with Mesut Yilmaz of the Motherland Party, leaving him in the position of prime minister. Later, in June, Ciller cooperated with Necmettin Erbakan of the Islamist Welfare Party in overthrowing her partner Yilmaz. In July, a coalition was forged between Erbakan and Ciller which left Ciller in the position as foreign minister.
Çiller also served as Turkey's Foreign Affairs Minister and the vice prime minister between 1996 and 1997. After the Susurluk scandal, she praised Abdullah Catli, a leader of the ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves killed during the Susurluk car-crash.
In June 1997, Ciller announced her intentions to become prime minister after the resignation of Erbakan, but President Suleiman Demirel asked Yilmaz to form a new government instead, thereby forestalling Ciller’s plans.
Throughout her career, Ciller’s politics were marked by attempts to liberalize both the economy of Turkey and the individual rights of its people. The European Union-Turkey Customs Union agreement was signed in 1995 and came into effect in 1996, during Çiller's government. Çiller was also Turkey's Prime Minister during the Imia/Kardak crisis with neighboring Greece in 1996.
One of her major achievements was to transform the Turkish Army from an organization using vintage equipment from the United States Army to a modern fighting force capable of defeating the PKK, using hit-and-run tactics. She also convinced the United States government to list the PKK as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, which was later followed by the acceptance of the same by the European Union.
Ciller was investigated by the Turkish Parliament on serious corruption accusations following her period in government. Along with another former Prime Minister, Mesut Yılmaz, she was later cleared of all the charges mainly due to technicalities such as statute of limitations and political immunity.
Prime Minister Tansu Çiller was a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an International network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission was to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.
After her November 2002 election defeat, Ciller retired from political life.
She married Özer Uçuran Çiller and they had two sons.
Tansu Ciller see Ciller
Ciller, Tansu see Ciller
Tansu Penbe Ciller see Ciller
Ciller, Tansu Penbe see Ciller
Ciller (Tansu Ciller) (Tansu Penbe Ciller) (b. May 24, 1946). Turkish politician, member of parliament, and leader of the True Path Party. She was Turkey’s first female prime minister from 1993 to 1996.
Ciller was born in Istanbul. She was the daughter of a Turkish governor of Bilecik province during the 1950s. She graduated from the School of Economics at Robert College after finishing the American College for Girls in Istanbul. She received her Master of Science from the University of New Hampshire and a doctorate from the University of Connecticut. She later completed her post-doctoral studies at Yale University. After teaching economics at Franklin and Marshall College, in 1978, she became a lecturer at Bosphorus University in Istanbul and in 1983 she was appointed as professor by the same institution. She also worked in the now-defunct Istanbul Bank as president of the company.
After teaching at several universities as a professor, she entered politics in November 1990, joining the conservative True Path Party (DYP). She was first elected to parliament in October 1991 as deputy of Istanbul and served as Minister of State in charge of economics in the coalition government of Süleyman Demirel. On June 13, 1993, she became the leader of the True Path Party and later she became the Prime Minister of a coalition government. After the withdrawal of the Republican People's Party (CHP) from the coalition in 1995 she attempted to form a minority government, which failed. After that she agreed to form another cabinet with CHP and went for general elections.
In September 1995, the Republican People’s Party left the government, which forced Ciller to call for early elections. In December, Ciller did not achieve the number of votes needed in the parliamentary elections, as her party only received nineteen percent, two percent less than the winning Islamist Welfare Party.
In March 1996, Ciller and the True Path Party formed a government together with Mesut Yilmaz of the Motherland Party, leaving him in the position of prime minister. Later, in June, Ciller cooperated with Necmettin Erbakan of the Islamist Welfare Party in overthrowing her partner Yilmaz. In July, a coalition was forged between Erbakan and Ciller which left Ciller in the position as foreign minister.
Çiller also served as Turkey's Foreign Affairs Minister and the vice prime minister between 1996 and 1997. After the Susurluk scandal, she praised Abdullah Catli, a leader of the ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves killed during the Susurluk car-crash.
In June 1997, Ciller announced her intentions to become prime minister after the resignation of Erbakan, but President Suleiman Demirel asked Yilmaz to form a new government instead, thereby forestalling Ciller’s plans.
Throughout her career, Ciller’s politics were marked by attempts to liberalize both the economy of Turkey and the individual rights of its people. The European Union-Turkey Customs Union agreement was signed in 1995 and came into effect in 1996, during Çiller's government. Çiller was also Turkey's Prime Minister during the Imia/Kardak crisis with neighboring Greece in 1996.
One of her major achievements was to transform the Turkish Army from an organization using vintage equipment from the United States Army to a modern fighting force capable of defeating the PKK, using hit-and-run tactics. She also convinced the United States government to list the PKK as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, which was later followed by the acceptance of the same by the European Union.
Ciller was investigated by the Turkish Parliament on serious corruption accusations following her period in government. Along with another former Prime Minister, Mesut Yılmaz, she was later cleared of all the charges mainly due to technicalities such as statute of limitations and political immunity.
Prime Minister Tansu Çiller was a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an International network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission was to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.
After her November 2002 election defeat, Ciller retired from political life.
She married Özer Uçuran Çiller and they had two sons.
Tansu Ciller see Ciller
Ciller, Tansu see Ciller
Tansu Penbe Ciller see Ciller
Ciller, Tansu Penbe see Ciller
Circassians
Circassians. The Circassian population represents a relatively small remnant of a once large and important group of people. As a result of a series of bloody wars, starting in the beginning of the nineteenth century and ending in the mid-1860s, roughly ninety percent of the Circassian population was either killed or forced to flee to various parts of the Ottoman Empire.
The Circassians once dominated the entire fertile steppe area of the western North Caucasus between the Baltic Sea on the west, the Stavropol Plateau on the east, the lower Don River to the north and the Caucasus Mountains to the south. In its more restrictive and more precise meaning, the ethnonym “Circassian” designates the tribes of northwest Caucasic speakers who called themselves Adyge. Adyge is still the self-designation of the Circassian people. In the pre-revolutionary period they were also referred to in Tatar, Turkish and Russian as Cherkess (from whence came the English -- Circassian). In ancient times they were known as Kerkete.
Christianity was introduced among the Circassians between the sixth and twelfth centuries by Byzantine missionaries. The Circassian religion, however, was more of a blending of the pre-Christian religion with Eastern Orthodox elements. Sunni Islam (Hanafi school) was first introduced in the sixteenth century by the Golden Horde. At first Islam was accepted only by the nobility among the eastern Kabard Circassians, and only slowly did it penetrate the lower classes. Islam was introduced among the western Circassian tribes, as well as among the Abkhaz, Abaza and Ubykh, only in the eighteenth century from the Ottoman Turkish town of Anapa on the Black Sea coast. By the late eighteenth century, Islam was well established among all of these peoples, although many Christian and traditional survivals remained. In the nineteenth century Sufi orders attempted to “purify” Islam in this region. They were popular and widespread in influence in the eastern North Caucasus, but they met with far less success among the Circassians.
The lands occupied by the Circassians were among the most productive in Russia and rivaled the Ukraine in crop yields. As such, they were very attractive to the Slavs (Russians and Ukrainians) as well. Starting in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Cossacks (basically runaway serfs who organized themselves into military bands, based on the Tatar model) began moving into the Circassian lands. In the eighteenth century, Catherine the Great transferred a large number of Ukrainian Cossacks into these lands. Although relations between these Slavs and the Circassians were never good, and there were constant skirmishes, a modus vivendi had developed by the early nineteenth century. For the most part, these Cossacks adopted the way of life of the Circassians, including their folk traditions, such as horsemanship, horse breeding, marksmanship, the traditional male costume and the squatting dances performed by the Circassians. Although these Slavs basically maintained the Slavic languages and Christian religion, they adopted the Tatar language as a second tongue, which permitted easy communications with the Tatars and the North Caucasians who also spoke it.
The Russo-Turkish wars of the nineteenth century broke this modus vivendi. These wars were fought on three fronts: the Balkans, the Crimea and the Caucasus. The Christian Cossacks were called upon to fight the infidel Muslim Caucasians, and, conversely, the Circassians joined the other Muslim Caucasians against the Russians and their empire. These wars were disastrous to the Circassians, as well as to many other North Caucasians and the Crimean Tatars. The Circassian population was decimated. Unlike the Daghestanis, Chechens, Karachai, Balkars and others who could retreat into their isolated and easily defensible mountain valleys and gorges, the Circassians lived in the open steppes. A policy of virtual genocide was carried out against them. Only among the Kabards, who generally did not take part in these wars, was a significant population left after the 1860s. It has been estimated that approximately 500,000 Circassians emigrated to Turkey between 1861 and 1864. In addition to the Circassians, the majority of Crimean Tatars, Nogai, Karachai, Balkars and Abkhaz also emigrated. The entire surviving Ubykh population emigrated.
In the 1830s, the Abkhaz population was estimated at approximately 130,000. By 1866, it had been reduced to 65,000, and by 1881 to a mere 20,000. Only the Muslims emigrated. By the late nineteenth century what was once a relatively small Christian minority became the majority. What remains of the Circassian, Abaza, Abkhaz, Crimean Tatar, Nogai, Karachai and Balkar populations today are only small remnants of once far more numerous peoples.
The actual number of Circassians in Turkey and other Southwest Asian countries is not known. It is estimated that there are approximately two million people of Circassian background living in the Middle East today, although many have been linguistically and ethnically assimilated, especially in Turkey. So many Circassians lived in Turkey in the 1920s that Soviet nationality policy among the remaining Soviet Circassians was to make the Soviet Union appear as a great and benevolent state, one that openly supported the Circassian people. The Circassians received three separate autonomies, and after a number of reorganizations, the Adygi Autonomous Oblast (A.O.), the Karachai-Cherkess (A.O.) and Kabardino-Balkar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (A.S.S.R.) emerged. It is not by accident that the names of these autonomies correspond to important Circassian ethnic identities.
In 1922, all Quranic schools were closed, and a major effort was waged by the Soviets against Islam. In 1923-1924, the Circassian literary language was changed to the Latin script. To further complicate matters the Soviets decided (against the will of the Circassian leaders) to create another Circassian literary language. In 1927, a separate Adygei literary language was established on the basis of one of the western Kyakh dialects. The Kyakh dialects were the dominant ones used by the Circassians in Turkey.
In the 1930s, the Circassians were again reorganized. They were divided on a territorial rather than social (or dialectic) basis. The western tribes were designated as Adygei, the central ones as Cherkess and the eastern Circassians as Kabards. Thus many who were Kabards in the 1920s became Cherkess if they lived in what became the Karachai-Cherkess A.O. In addition to this, the Abaza, who numbered a mere 13,826 and who were on the verge of total assimilation by the central Circassians, were given a distinct literary language of their own, one which used the Latin script. In 1938, both Circassian literary languages and Abaza were changed to the Cyrillic script. At the same time, Arabic, Turkic and Persian words and expressions were purged from the languages and replaced by Russian ones. It was also decreed that any further language borrowing must come from Russian itself. Russian was made a mandatory language of study, and the Circassian languages were used in the schools only through the fifth grade, after which all education was in Russian only. In the early 1960s Circassian and Abaza were eliminated completely as languages of instruction in the schools.
The history of Abhkaz is somewhat different. The Soviets wanted to maintain them as a separate group, and they have received an inordinate amount of support as an ethnic group. Abkhaz was originally written in the mid-nineteenth century in the Cyrillic script. It was changed to the Latin in 1928, to the Georgian in 1938 and finally back to the Cyrillic in 1954. Little is printed in any of these languages anyway, and that which is tends to be translations from other languages, most notably Russian. Few books are available in them, and when they are printed few copies are issued. In the Circassian languages (in 1979) only four tenths of one book were available per person. The same is true of Abaza.
Circassians are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school. Between the end of the fourteenth century until 1517, they constituted the pre-dominant element of Mameluke military society. The Mameluke Sultan Barquq, a Circassian himself, became the founder of what is called the Circassian line of the Mameluke sultans, known as Burjis, which lasted until 1517.
Circassians. The Circassian population represents a relatively small remnant of a once large and important group of people. As a result of a series of bloody wars, starting in the beginning of the nineteenth century and ending in the mid-1860s, roughly ninety percent of the Circassian population was either killed or forced to flee to various parts of the Ottoman Empire.
The Circassians once dominated the entire fertile steppe area of the western North Caucasus between the Baltic Sea on the west, the Stavropol Plateau on the east, the lower Don River to the north and the Caucasus Mountains to the south. In its more restrictive and more precise meaning, the ethnonym “Circassian” designates the tribes of northwest Caucasic speakers who called themselves Adyge. Adyge is still the self-designation of the Circassian people. In the pre-revolutionary period they were also referred to in Tatar, Turkish and Russian as Cherkess (from whence came the English -- Circassian). In ancient times they were known as Kerkete.
Christianity was introduced among the Circassians between the sixth and twelfth centuries by Byzantine missionaries. The Circassian religion, however, was more of a blending of the pre-Christian religion with Eastern Orthodox elements. Sunni Islam (Hanafi school) was first introduced in the sixteenth century by the Golden Horde. At first Islam was accepted only by the nobility among the eastern Kabard Circassians, and only slowly did it penetrate the lower classes. Islam was introduced among the western Circassian tribes, as well as among the Abkhaz, Abaza and Ubykh, only in the eighteenth century from the Ottoman Turkish town of Anapa on the Black Sea coast. By the late eighteenth century, Islam was well established among all of these peoples, although many Christian and traditional survivals remained. In the nineteenth century Sufi orders attempted to “purify” Islam in this region. They were popular and widespread in influence in the eastern North Caucasus, but they met with far less success among the Circassians.
The lands occupied by the Circassians were among the most productive in Russia and rivaled the Ukraine in crop yields. As such, they were very attractive to the Slavs (Russians and Ukrainians) as well. Starting in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Cossacks (basically runaway serfs who organized themselves into military bands, based on the Tatar model) began moving into the Circassian lands. In the eighteenth century, Catherine the Great transferred a large number of Ukrainian Cossacks into these lands. Although relations between these Slavs and the Circassians were never good, and there were constant skirmishes, a modus vivendi had developed by the early nineteenth century. For the most part, these Cossacks adopted the way of life of the Circassians, including their folk traditions, such as horsemanship, horse breeding, marksmanship, the traditional male costume and the squatting dances performed by the Circassians. Although these Slavs basically maintained the Slavic languages and Christian religion, they adopted the Tatar language as a second tongue, which permitted easy communications with the Tatars and the North Caucasians who also spoke it.
The Russo-Turkish wars of the nineteenth century broke this modus vivendi. These wars were fought on three fronts: the Balkans, the Crimea and the Caucasus. The Christian Cossacks were called upon to fight the infidel Muslim Caucasians, and, conversely, the Circassians joined the other Muslim Caucasians against the Russians and their empire. These wars were disastrous to the Circassians, as well as to many other North Caucasians and the Crimean Tatars. The Circassian population was decimated. Unlike the Daghestanis, Chechens, Karachai, Balkars and others who could retreat into their isolated and easily defensible mountain valleys and gorges, the Circassians lived in the open steppes. A policy of virtual genocide was carried out against them. Only among the Kabards, who generally did not take part in these wars, was a significant population left after the 1860s. It has been estimated that approximately 500,000 Circassians emigrated to Turkey between 1861 and 1864. In addition to the Circassians, the majority of Crimean Tatars, Nogai, Karachai, Balkars and Abkhaz also emigrated. The entire surviving Ubykh population emigrated.
In the 1830s, the Abkhaz population was estimated at approximately 130,000. By 1866, it had been reduced to 65,000, and by 1881 to a mere 20,000. Only the Muslims emigrated. By the late nineteenth century what was once a relatively small Christian minority became the majority. What remains of the Circassian, Abaza, Abkhaz, Crimean Tatar, Nogai, Karachai and Balkar populations today are only small remnants of once far more numerous peoples.
The actual number of Circassians in Turkey and other Southwest Asian countries is not known. It is estimated that there are approximately two million people of Circassian background living in the Middle East today, although many have been linguistically and ethnically assimilated, especially in Turkey. So many Circassians lived in Turkey in the 1920s that Soviet nationality policy among the remaining Soviet Circassians was to make the Soviet Union appear as a great and benevolent state, one that openly supported the Circassian people. The Circassians received three separate autonomies, and after a number of reorganizations, the Adygi Autonomous Oblast (A.O.), the Karachai-Cherkess (A.O.) and Kabardino-Balkar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (A.S.S.R.) emerged. It is not by accident that the names of these autonomies correspond to important Circassian ethnic identities.
In 1922, all Quranic schools were closed, and a major effort was waged by the Soviets against Islam. In 1923-1924, the Circassian literary language was changed to the Latin script. To further complicate matters the Soviets decided (against the will of the Circassian leaders) to create another Circassian literary language. In 1927, a separate Adygei literary language was established on the basis of one of the western Kyakh dialects. The Kyakh dialects were the dominant ones used by the Circassians in Turkey.
In the 1930s, the Circassians were again reorganized. They were divided on a territorial rather than social (or dialectic) basis. The western tribes were designated as Adygei, the central ones as Cherkess and the eastern Circassians as Kabards. Thus many who were Kabards in the 1920s became Cherkess if they lived in what became the Karachai-Cherkess A.O. In addition to this, the Abaza, who numbered a mere 13,826 and who were on the verge of total assimilation by the central Circassians, were given a distinct literary language of their own, one which used the Latin script. In 1938, both Circassian literary languages and Abaza were changed to the Cyrillic script. At the same time, Arabic, Turkic and Persian words and expressions were purged from the languages and replaced by Russian ones. It was also decreed that any further language borrowing must come from Russian itself. Russian was made a mandatory language of study, and the Circassian languages were used in the schools only through the fifth grade, after which all education was in Russian only. In the early 1960s Circassian and Abaza were eliminated completely as languages of instruction in the schools.
The history of Abhkaz is somewhat different. The Soviets wanted to maintain them as a separate group, and they have received an inordinate amount of support as an ethnic group. Abkhaz was originally written in the mid-nineteenth century in the Cyrillic script. It was changed to the Latin in 1928, to the Georgian in 1938 and finally back to the Cyrillic in 1954. Little is printed in any of these languages anyway, and that which is tends to be translations from other languages, most notably Russian. Few books are available in them, and when they are printed few copies are issued. In the Circassian languages (in 1979) only four tenths of one book were available per person. The same is true of Abaza.
Circassians are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school. Between the end of the fourteenth century until 1517, they constituted the pre-dominant element of Mameluke military society. The Mameluke Sultan Barquq, a Circassian himself, became the founder of what is called the Circassian line of the Mameluke sultans, known as Burjis, which lasted until 1517.
Comans
Comans (in Turkish, Quman). Branch of the Turkish Qipcaq (Kipchak) confederation who, fleeing before the Mongol invasion of 1237, sought asylum in Hungary. The famous Codex Comanicus of the fourteenth century is a collection of texts brought together in South Russia by Italian and German missionaries.
Quman see Comans
Comans (in Turkish, Quman). Branch of the Turkish Qipcaq (Kipchak) confederation who, fleeing before the Mongol invasion of 1237, sought asylum in Hungary. The famous Codex Comanicus of the fourteenth century is a collection of texts brought together in South Russia by Italian and German missionaries.
Quman see Comans
Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) (Committee of Ottoman Union) (Ittihad we Teraqqi Jem‘iyyeti) (Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti) (Ittihad-i Osmani Cemiyeti). Main organization of the group of Turkish nationalists who took control of the Ottoman government in 1908.
The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) (Turkish: İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti) began as a secret society established as the "Committee of Ottoman Union" (Turkish: İttihad-ı Osmanî Cemiyeti) in 1889 by the medical students İbrahim Temo, Abdullah Cevdet, İshak Sükuti and Hüseyinzade Ali. It became a political organization, established by Bahaeddin Sakir among Young Turks in 1906, during the period of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The CUP came to power between 1908 and 1918. At the end of World War I most of its members were court-martialled by the sultan Mehmed VI and imprisoned. A few of the members of the organization were executed in Turkey during the "attempted assassination of Atatürk" trials in 1926. Members who survived continued their political careers in Turkey as members of the Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi) and other political parties as well.
The Committee of Union and Progress was an umbrella name for different underground factions, some of which were generally known as the "Young Turks". The name was officially sanctioned to a specific group in 1906 by Bahaeddin Sakir. The organization was based upon the revolutionary
Italian Carbonari. The CUP had built an extensive organization, in home towns, at the capital, and in Europe. Under this umbrella name one could find ethnic Albanians, Bulgarians, Arabs, Slavs, Jews, Greeks, Turks, Kurds and Armenians. Changing the régime was their common goal but after the 1908 revolution, the Young Turk Revolution, this goal lost its meaning and factions began to emerge. Abdul Hamid II was quite successful in suppressing the CUP, and even approached France and Germany in suppression of this political movement.
The Young Turk Revolution played a significant role in the evolution of Committee of Union and Progress from a revolutionary organization to a political party. The revolution and CUP's work made a strong impact on Muslims. The Persian community in Istanbul founded the Iranian Union and Progress Committee. Indian Muslims imitated the CUP oath for joining the organization. The leaders of the Young Bukhara movement were deeply influenced by the Young Turk Revolution, and saw it as an example to emulate.
The Chinese Revolution of 1911 and the Russian Revolution of 1917 diverted the attention of world revolutionaries from the Young Turk Revolution.
The first election to the Ottoman Parliament after the Young Turk Revolution netted the Committee of Union and Progress only 60 of the 275 seats, despite its leading role in the revolution. Other parties represented in Parliament at this time included the Armenian nationalist Dashnak and Hunchak parties (four and two members respectively) and the main opposition, the Liberty and Entente party, sometimes referred to by Ottoman historians as the "Liberal Union".
As a result of the "Law of Associations" shutting down ethnically based organizations and clubs, by the time of the second general election in 1912, smaller parties had coalesced with the Liberal Union. At this election, a total of 67% or 184 seats were won by the CUP. In most republics this is the margin required for wholesale transformation of the constitution. However, this Parliament was in a very short session due to the outbreak of the First Balkan War. Sensing the danger, the government won passage of a bill conscripting dhimmis into the army. This proved too little and too late to salvage the Ottoman toehold in southeast Europe. The Ottomans lost Albania, Macedonia and western Thrace.
On August 5, 1912, the government shuttered Parliament. Just prior to that it had succeeded in passing the "Law for the Prevention of Brigandage and Sedition," a measure ostensibly intended to prevent insurgency against the central government which assigned that duty to newly created paramilitary formations. These later came under the control of the Teşkilat-i Mahsusa.
In spite of parliamentary elections, non-partisan figures from the pre-revolutionary period known as the "Old Turks" still dominated the Ottoman cabinet, known as the Sublime Porte. The Grand Vizier Mehmed Kamil Pasha and his minister of war Nazim Pasha became targets of the CUP, which overthrew them in a military coup d'etat on January 23, 1913.
The emerging government could hardly be called constitutional. Indeed, 1913 was a period of government by assassination as Nazim and then his successor Mahmud Sevket Pasha were both slain, Nazim at the very instant the CUP seized power. The passage of a new law the following year made the CUP the Empire's only legal political party; all provincial and local officials reported to "Responsible Secretaries" chosen by the party for each vilayet.
Absent the wartime atmosphere, the CUP did not purge minority religions from political life. At least 23 Christians joined it and were elected to the third Parliament. This is one possible motivation for the entry into the war, another being the "pan-Turkic" ideology of the party which emphasized the Empire's manifest destiny of ruling over the Muslims of Central Asia once Russia was driven out of that region. Notably, two principal leaders from this time, Enver Pasha and Ahmed Djemal, would in fact die in the Soviet Union leading Muslim anti-Communist movements years after the Russian Revolution and the Ottoman defeat in World War I.
The CUP was especially hostile to the Armenian population, and began plotting their extermination almost immediately. Indeed, the first major offensive the Turks undertook in World War I was an unsuccessful attempt to drive the Russians from the portion of partially classic Armenia which they had taken over in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. After the predictable failure of this expedition, the CUP was involved in the genocide of between one and one and one half million Armenians between 1915-1916. As explained in the key indictment at the trial (in absentia) of the Three Pashas (Enver, Cemal, and Talaat); the Armenian Genocide massacres were spearheaded by the Teşkilat-i Mahsusa under its leader, Turkish physician Behaeddin Shakir.
The disbandment process of the CUP was achieved through military trials. As the military position of the Central Powers disintegrated in October 1918, the government resigned. A new Grand Vizier, Damad Ferid Pasha, negotiated the Armistice of Mudros at the end of the month. The position of the CUP was now untenable, and its top leaders fled three days later.
British forces occupied various points throughout the Empire, and through their High Commissioner Somerset Calthorpe demanded those members of the leadership who had not fled be put on trial, a policy also demanded by Part VII of the Treaty of Sevres formally ending hostilities between the Allies and the Empire. The British carried off sixty Turks thought to be responsible for atrocities to Malta, where trials were planned. The new government obligingly arrested over 100 party and military officials by April 1919 and began a series of trials. These were initially promising, with one district governor, Mehmed Kemal, being hanged on April 10.
Any possibility of a general effort at truth, reconciliation, or democratization was, however, lost when Greece, which had sought to remain neutral through most of World War I, was invited by France, Britain, and the United States to occupy western Anatolia in May 1919. Nationalist leader Mustafa Kemal (no relation to the CUP official) rallied the Turkish people to resist. Two additional organizers of the genocide were hanged, but while a few others were convicted, none completed their prison terms. The CUP and other Turkish prisoners held on Malta were eventually traded for almost 30 British prisoners held by Nationalist forces, obliging the British to give up their plans for international trials.
The CUP has at times been identified with the two opposition parties attempted to be introduced into Turkish politics during the life of Kemal, the Progressive Republican Party and the Liberal Republican Party. While neither of these parties was primarily made up of persons indicted for genocidal activities, they were eventually taken over (or at least exploited) by persons who wished to restore the caliphate. Consequently, both parties had to be outlawed, although Kazim Karabekir, founder of the PRP, was eventually rehabilitated after the death of Kemal and even served as speaker of the Grand National Assembly.
It was also Karabekir who crystallized the modern Turkish position on the Armenian Genocide, telling Soviet peace commissioners that the return of any Armenians to territory controlled by Turks was out of the question, as the Armenians had perished in a rebellion of their own making. Historian Taner Akçam has identified four definitions of Turkey which have been handed down by Kemal's generation to modern Turks, of which the second is "Turkey is a society without ethnic minorities or cultures." While the postwar reconstruction of Eastern Europe was generally dominated by Wilsonian ideas of national self-determination, Turkey probably came closer than most of the new countries to ethnic homogeneity due to the subsequent population exchanges with neighboring countries. Similarly with countries which came under Soviet domination following World War II, it has not become truly multi-ethnic like the immigrant havens of Western Europe or the United States, rather serving as a net exporter of people. This is probably the main reason Karabekir's approach has continued to be viable.
CUP see Committee of Union and Progress
Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti see Committee of Union and Progress
Committee of Ottoman Union see Committee of Union and Progress
Ittihad-i Osmani Cemiyeti see Committee of Union and Progress
Ittihad we Teraqqi Jem‘iyyeti see Committee of Union and Progress
The Young Turk Revolution played a significant role in the evolution of Committee of Union and Progress from a revolutionary organization to a political party. The revolution and CUP's work made a strong impact on Muslims. The Persian community in Istanbul founded the Iranian Union and Progress Committee. Indian Muslims imitated the CUP oath for joining the organization. The leaders of the Young Bukhara movement were deeply influenced by the Young Turk Revolution, and saw it as an example to emulate.
The Chinese Revolution of 1911 and the Russian Revolution of 1917 diverted the attention of world revolutionaries from the Young Turk Revolution.
The first election to the Ottoman Parliament after the Young Turk Revolution netted the Committee of Union and Progress only 60 of the 275 seats, despite its leading role in the revolution. Other parties represented in Parliament at this time included the Armenian nationalist Dashnak and Hunchak parties (four and two members respectively) and the main opposition, the Liberty and Entente party, sometimes referred to by Ottoman historians as the "Liberal Union".
As a result of the "Law of Associations" shutting down ethnically based organizations and clubs, by the time of the second general election in 1912, smaller parties had coalesced with the Liberal Union. At this election, a total of 67% or 184 seats were won by the CUP. In most republics this is the margin required for wholesale transformation of the constitution. However, this Parliament was in a very short session due to the outbreak of the First Balkan War. Sensing the danger, the government won passage of a bill conscripting dhimmis into the army. This proved too little and too late to salvage the Ottoman toehold in southeast Europe. The Ottomans lost Albania, Macedonia and western Thrace.
On August 5, 1912, the government shuttered Parliament. Just prior to that it had succeeded in passing the "Law for the Prevention of Brigandage and Sedition," a measure ostensibly intended to prevent insurgency against the central government which assigned that duty to newly created paramilitary formations. These later came under the control of the Teşkilat-i Mahsusa.
In spite of parliamentary elections, non-partisan figures from the pre-revolutionary period known as the "Old Turks" still dominated the Ottoman cabinet, known as the Sublime Porte. The Grand Vizier Mehmed Kamil Pasha and his minister of war Nazim Pasha became targets of the CUP, which overthrew them in a military coup d'etat on January 23, 1913.
The emerging government could hardly be called constitutional. Indeed, 1913 was a period of government by assassination as Nazim and then his successor Mahmud Sevket Pasha were both slain, Nazim at the very instant the CUP seized power. The passage of a new law the following year made the CUP the Empire's only legal political party; all provincial and local officials reported to "Responsible Secretaries" chosen by the party for each vilayet.
Absent the wartime atmosphere, the CUP did not purge minority religions from political life. At least 23 Christians joined it and were elected to the third Parliament. This is one possible motivation for the entry into the war, another being the "pan-Turkic" ideology of the party which emphasized the Empire's manifest destiny of ruling over the Muslims of Central Asia once Russia was driven out of that region. Notably, two principal leaders from this time, Enver Pasha and Ahmed Djemal, would in fact die in the Soviet Union leading Muslim anti-Communist movements years after the Russian Revolution and the Ottoman defeat in World War I.
The CUP was especially hostile to the Armenian population, and began plotting their extermination almost immediately. Indeed, the first major offensive the Turks undertook in World War I was an unsuccessful attempt to drive the Russians from the portion of partially classic Armenia which they had taken over in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. After the predictable failure of this expedition, the CUP was involved in the genocide of between one and one and one half million Armenians between 1915-1916. As explained in the key indictment at the trial (in absentia) of the Three Pashas (Enver, Cemal, and Talaat); the Armenian Genocide massacres were spearheaded by the Teşkilat-i Mahsusa under its leader, Turkish physician Behaeddin Shakir.
The disbandment process of the CUP was achieved through military trials. As the military position of the Central Powers disintegrated in October 1918, the government resigned. A new Grand Vizier, Damad Ferid Pasha, negotiated the Armistice of Mudros at the end of the month. The position of the CUP was now untenable, and its top leaders fled three days later.
British forces occupied various points throughout the Empire, and through their High Commissioner Somerset Calthorpe demanded those members of the leadership who had not fled be put on trial, a policy also demanded by Part VII of the Treaty of Sevres formally ending hostilities between the Allies and the Empire. The British carried off sixty Turks thought to be responsible for atrocities to Malta, where trials were planned. The new government obligingly arrested over 100 party and military officials by April 1919 and began a series of trials. These were initially promising, with one district governor, Mehmed Kemal, being hanged on April 10.
Any possibility of a general effort at truth, reconciliation, or democratization was, however, lost when Greece, which had sought to remain neutral through most of World War I, was invited by France, Britain, and the United States to occupy western Anatolia in May 1919. Nationalist leader Mustafa Kemal (no relation to the CUP official) rallied the Turkish people to resist. Two additional organizers of the genocide were hanged, but while a few others were convicted, none completed their prison terms. The CUP and other Turkish prisoners held on Malta were eventually traded for almost 30 British prisoners held by Nationalist forces, obliging the British to give up their plans for international trials.
The CUP has at times been identified with the two opposition parties attempted to be introduced into Turkish politics during the life of Kemal, the Progressive Republican Party and the Liberal Republican Party. While neither of these parties was primarily made up of persons indicted for genocidal activities, they were eventually taken over (or at least exploited) by persons who wished to restore the caliphate. Consequently, both parties had to be outlawed, although Kazim Karabekir, founder of the PRP, was eventually rehabilitated after the death of Kemal and even served as speaker of the Grand National Assembly.
It was also Karabekir who crystallized the modern Turkish position on the Armenian Genocide, telling Soviet peace commissioners that the return of any Armenians to territory controlled by Turks was out of the question, as the Armenians had perished in a rebellion of their own making. Historian Taner Akçam has identified four definitions of Turkey which have been handed down by Kemal's generation to modern Turks, of which the second is "Turkey is a society without ethnic minorities or cultures." While the postwar reconstruction of Eastern Europe was generally dominated by Wilsonian ideas of national self-determination, Turkey probably came closer than most of the new countries to ethnic homogeneity due to the subsequent population exchanges with neighboring countries. Similarly with countries which came under Soviet domination following World War II, it has not become truly multi-ethnic like the immigrant havens of Western Europe or the United States, rather serving as a net exporter of people. This is probably the main reason Karabekir's approach has continued to be viable.
CUP see Committee of Union and Progress
Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti see Committee of Union and Progress
Committee of Ottoman Union see Committee of Union and Progress
Ittihad-i Osmani Cemiyeti see Committee of Union and Progress
Ittihad we Teraqqi Jem‘iyyeti see Committee of Union and Progress
Companions of the Prophet
Companions of the Prophet (in Arabic, ashab or sahaba or Sahabah). In earlier times, the term was restricted to those who had been close to the Prophet. Later it also included those who had met him during his life, or who had seen him even if only for a few brief moments. After the Qur’an, the Companions were the sources of authentic religious doctrine. Tradition is based on the utterances handed down by them as authentic. The highest place among them is taken by the first four caliphs: Abu Bakr, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan and ‘Ali. Other categories are the Emigrants, the Helpers and the Badriyun (i.e., those who cooperated with him at the Battle of Badr). The Shi‘a in general hold a different attitude towards the Companions, because it was with the approval of the Companions that the first three caliphs took away the rights of ‘Ali and his family.
In Islam, the Ṣaḥābah were the companions of the Islamic prophet Muḥammad. Most Sunnis regard anyone who, in the state of faith, saw Muḥammad to be a ṣaḥāba. Lists of prominent companions usually run to fifty or sixty names, being the people most closely associated with Muḥammad. However, there were clearly many others who had some contact with Muḥammad, and their names and biographies were recorded in religious reference texts such as Muḥammad ibn Sa'd's early Kitāb at-Tabāqat al-Kabīr.
Muhammed bin Ahmed Efendi (died 1622), who is also known with the sobriquet "Nişancızâde", the author of the book entitled Mir’ât-i-kâinât (in Turkish), states as follows: "Once a male or female Muslim has seen Hadrat Muhammad only for a short time, no matter whether he/she is a child or an adult, he/she is called a Sahaba with the proviso of dying with as a believer; the same rule applies to blind Muslims who have talked with the Prophet at least once. If a disbeliever sees the Prophet and then joins the Believers after the demise of Muhammad, he is not a Sahaba; nor is a person called a Sahaba if he converted to Islam afterwards although he had seen the Prophet Muhammad as a Muslim. A person who converts to Islam after being a Sahaba and then becomes a Believer again after the demise of Prophet Muhammad, is a Sahaba."
It was important to identify the companions because later scholars accepted their testimony (the hadith, or traditions) as to the words and deeds of Muḥammad, the occasions on which the Qur'an was revealed, and various important matters of Islamic history and practice (sunnah). The testimony of the companions, as it was passed down through chains of trusted narrators (isnads), was the basis of the developing Islamic tradition.
Because the hadith were not written down until many years after the death of Muḥammad, the isnads, or chains of transmission, always have several links. The first link is preferably a companion, who had direct contact with Muḥammad. The companion then related the tradition to a tābi‘īn, the companion of the companion. Tābi‘īn had no direct contact with Muḥammad, but did have direct contact with the Ṣahāba. The tradition then would have been passed from the Tābi‘īn to the Tābi‘ at-Tābi‘īn, the third link.
The second and third links in the chain of transmission were also of great interest to Muslim scholars, who referred to them in biographical dictionaries and evaluated them for bias and reliability. Shi'a and Sunni apply different metrics.
Some Muslims assert that there were more than two hundred thousand companions. One hundred twenty four thousand are believed to have witnessed the last sermon Muḥammad delivered after making his last pilgrimage, or Hajj, to Mecca.
The book entitled Istî’âb fî ma’rifat-il-Ashâb by Hafidh Yusuf bin Muhammad bin Qurtubi (death 1071) consists of two thousand seven hundred and seventy biographies of male Sahaba and three hundred and eighty-one biographies of female Sahaba. According to an observation in the book entitled Mawâhib-i-ladunniyya, an untold number of persons had already converted to Islam by the time Muhammad died. There were ten thousand Sahaba by the time Mecca was conquered and seventy thousand Sahaba during the Battle of Tabuk in 630.
Soon after Muḥammad's death the Muslim community, the ummah, was riven by conflicts over leadership. Companions took sides in the conflicts – or were forced to take sides – and later scholars considered their allegiances in weighing their testimony. The two largest Muslim denominations, the Shi'a and Sunni take very different approaches in weighing the value of the companions' testimony.
According to Sunni scholars, Muslims of the past should be considered companions if they had any contact with Muḥammad, and they were not liars or opposed to the Prophet and his teachings. If they saw him, heard him, or were in his presence even briefly, they are companions. Blind people are considered companions even if they could not see Muḥammad. Even unlearned Muslims are considered companions. However, anyone who died after rejecting Islam and becoming an apostate is not considered a companion.
Sunni Muslim scholars classified companions into many categories, based on a number of criteria. The hadith quoted above shows the rank of ṣaḥābah, tābi‘īn, and tābi‘ at-tābi‘īn. Suyuti recognized eleven levels of companionship. However, all companions are assumed to be just (udul) unless they are proven otherwise. That is, Sunni scholars do not believe that companions would lie or fabricate hadith unless they were proven to be liars, untrustworthy or opposed to Islam.
Shi'a Muslims do not accept all companions as just. The Shi'a believe that after the death of Muḥammad, the majority of the sahabah turned aside from true Islam and deviated from Muhammad's family, instead electing the caliph by themselves. Although some of the sahabah repented later, only a few of the early Muslims held fast to Ali, whom Shi'a Muslims regard as the rightful successor to Muḥammad. Shi'a scholars therefore deprecate hadith believed to have been transmitted through unjust companions, and place much more reliance on hadith believed to have been related by Muhammad's family members and companions who supported Ali.
ashab see Companions of the Prophet
sahaba see Companions of the Prophet
Companions of the Prophet (in Arabic, ashab or sahaba or Sahabah). In earlier times, the term was restricted to those who had been close to the Prophet. Later it also included those who had met him during his life, or who had seen him even if only for a few brief moments. After the Qur’an, the Companions were the sources of authentic religious doctrine. Tradition is based on the utterances handed down by them as authentic. The highest place among them is taken by the first four caliphs: Abu Bakr, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan and ‘Ali. Other categories are the Emigrants, the Helpers and the Badriyun (i.e., those who cooperated with him at the Battle of Badr). The Shi‘a in general hold a different attitude towards the Companions, because it was with the approval of the Companions that the first three caliphs took away the rights of ‘Ali and his family.
In Islam, the Ṣaḥābah were the companions of the Islamic prophet Muḥammad. Most Sunnis regard anyone who, in the state of faith, saw Muḥammad to be a ṣaḥāba. Lists of prominent companions usually run to fifty or sixty names, being the people most closely associated with Muḥammad. However, there were clearly many others who had some contact with Muḥammad, and their names and biographies were recorded in religious reference texts such as Muḥammad ibn Sa'd's early Kitāb at-Tabāqat al-Kabīr.
Muhammed bin Ahmed Efendi (died 1622), who is also known with the sobriquet "Nişancızâde", the author of the book entitled Mir’ât-i-kâinât (in Turkish), states as follows: "Once a male or female Muslim has seen Hadrat Muhammad only for a short time, no matter whether he/she is a child or an adult, he/she is called a Sahaba with the proviso of dying with as a believer; the same rule applies to blind Muslims who have talked with the Prophet at least once. If a disbeliever sees the Prophet and then joins the Believers after the demise of Muhammad, he is not a Sahaba; nor is a person called a Sahaba if he converted to Islam afterwards although he had seen the Prophet Muhammad as a Muslim. A person who converts to Islam after being a Sahaba and then becomes a Believer again after the demise of Prophet Muhammad, is a Sahaba."
It was important to identify the companions because later scholars accepted their testimony (the hadith, or traditions) as to the words and deeds of Muḥammad, the occasions on which the Qur'an was revealed, and various important matters of Islamic history and practice (sunnah). The testimony of the companions, as it was passed down through chains of trusted narrators (isnads), was the basis of the developing Islamic tradition.
Because the hadith were not written down until many years after the death of Muḥammad, the isnads, or chains of transmission, always have several links. The first link is preferably a companion, who had direct contact with Muḥammad. The companion then related the tradition to a tābi‘īn, the companion of the companion. Tābi‘īn had no direct contact with Muḥammad, but did have direct contact with the Ṣahāba. The tradition then would have been passed from the Tābi‘īn to the Tābi‘ at-Tābi‘īn, the third link.
The second and third links in the chain of transmission were also of great interest to Muslim scholars, who referred to them in biographical dictionaries and evaluated them for bias and reliability. Shi'a and Sunni apply different metrics.
Some Muslims assert that there were more than two hundred thousand companions. One hundred twenty four thousand are believed to have witnessed the last sermon Muḥammad delivered after making his last pilgrimage, or Hajj, to Mecca.
The book entitled Istî’âb fî ma’rifat-il-Ashâb by Hafidh Yusuf bin Muhammad bin Qurtubi (death 1071) consists of two thousand seven hundred and seventy biographies of male Sahaba and three hundred and eighty-one biographies of female Sahaba. According to an observation in the book entitled Mawâhib-i-ladunniyya, an untold number of persons had already converted to Islam by the time Muhammad died. There were ten thousand Sahaba by the time Mecca was conquered and seventy thousand Sahaba during the Battle of Tabuk in 630.
Soon after Muḥammad's death the Muslim community, the ummah, was riven by conflicts over leadership. Companions took sides in the conflicts – or were forced to take sides – and later scholars considered their allegiances in weighing their testimony. The two largest Muslim denominations, the Shi'a and Sunni take very different approaches in weighing the value of the companions' testimony.
According to Sunni scholars, Muslims of the past should be considered companions if they had any contact with Muḥammad, and they were not liars or opposed to the Prophet and his teachings. If they saw him, heard him, or were in his presence even briefly, they are companions. Blind people are considered companions even if they could not see Muḥammad. Even unlearned Muslims are considered companions. However, anyone who died after rejecting Islam and becoming an apostate is not considered a companion.
Sunni Muslim scholars classified companions into many categories, based on a number of criteria. The hadith quoted above shows the rank of ṣaḥābah, tābi‘īn, and tābi‘ at-tābi‘īn. Suyuti recognized eleven levels of companionship. However, all companions are assumed to be just (udul) unless they are proven otherwise. That is, Sunni scholars do not believe that companions would lie or fabricate hadith unless they were proven to be liars, untrustworthy or opposed to Islam.
Shi'a Muslims do not accept all companions as just. The Shi'a believe that after the death of Muḥammad, the majority of the sahabah turned aside from true Islam and deviated from Muhammad's family, instead electing the caliph by themselves. Although some of the sahabah repented later, only a few of the early Muslims held fast to Ali, whom Shi'a Muslims regard as the rightful successor to Muḥammad. Shi'a scholars therefore deprecate hadith believed to have been transmitted through unjust companions, and place much more reliance on hadith believed to have been related by Muhammad's family members and companions who supported Ali.
ashab see Companions of the Prophet
sahaba see Companions of the Prophet
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