Zaynabi, Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali al-
Zaynabi, Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali al- (Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali al-Zaynabi) (d. 1144). Vizier under the ‘Abbasid Caliphs al-Mustarshid, al-Rashid, and al-Muqtafi. He was on particularly good terms with the Great Saljuq Mas‘ud ibn Muhammad ibn Malik Shah.
Abu'l-Qasim 'Ali al-Zaynabi see Zaynabi, Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali al-
Zaynabi, Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali al- (Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali al-Zaynabi) (d. 1144). Vizier under the ‘Abbasid Caliphs al-Mustarshid, al-Rashid, and al-Muqtafi. He was on particularly good terms with the Great Saljuq Mas‘ud ibn Muhammad ibn Malik Shah.
Abu'l-Qasim 'Ali al-Zaynabi see Zaynabi, Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali al-
Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al- (Abu’l-Qasim al-Zayyani) (Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani<?I>) (Abu al-Qasim ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Zayani) (1734/1735-1833). Moroccan (Berber) statesman and historian. He wrote a general history of Islam and a full account of his various journeys, among which is a description of his visit to Istanbul of 1786.
Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani was a Berber historian, geographer, poet and statesman from Morocco. He undertook diplomatic missions to the Ottoman court and engineered government attempts to bring tribes under central authority. His writings include several historical accounts of the Ottoman and Alaouite dynasties. Al-Zayyani wrote fifteen works in the field of history and geography. Some authors even consider him the greatest historian of Morocco.
Abu’l-Qasim al-Zayyani see Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani see Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Abu al-Qasim ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Zayani see Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al- (Abu’l-Qasim al-Zayyani) (Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani<?I>) (Abu al-Qasim ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Zayani) (1734/1735-1833). Moroccan (Berber) statesman and historian. He wrote a general history of Islam and a full account of his various journeys, among which is a description of his visit to Istanbul of 1786.
Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani was a Berber historian, geographer, poet and statesman from Morocco. He undertook diplomatic missions to the Ottoman court and engineered government attempts to bring tribes under central authority. His writings include several historical accounts of the Ottoman and Alaouite dynasties. Al-Zayyani wrote fifteen works in the field of history and geography. Some authors even consider him the greatest historian of Morocco.
Abu’l-Qasim al-Zayyani see Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Abu al-Qasim al-Zayyani see Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Abu al-Qasim ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Zayani see Zayyani, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Zeferina
Zeferina. Yoruba slave woman, the leader of a runaway settlement formed by black Yoruba slaves outside the city of Bahia, Brazil. In 1826, she organized a revolt against the plantation masters. The uprising was put down by government troops, and Zeferina and her people were imprisoned.
Zeferina. Yoruba slave woman, the leader of a runaway settlement formed by black Yoruba slaves outside the city of Bahia, Brazil. In 1826, she organized a revolt against the plantation masters. The uprising was put down by government troops, and Zeferina and her people were imprisoned.
Zengi
Zengi (Imad ad-Din Zengi) (Imad ad-Din Atabeg Zengi al-Malik al-Mansur) (ʿImād al-Dīn Zangī ibn Aq Sonqur) (Zangi) (Zengui) (Zenki) (Zanki) (İmadeddin Zengi) (b. c. 1084/1085 - d. September 14, 1146, Damascus, Syria [Mosul, Iraq]). Turkish general who founded a state in Mosul in the twelfth century.
ʿImād al-Dīn Zangī ibn Aq Sonqur (Zangi or Zengi) was an Iraqi ruler who founded the Zangid dynasty and led the first important counterattacks against the Crusader kingdoms in the Middle East.
When Zangī’s father, the governor of Aleppo, was killed in 1094, Zangī fled to Mosul. He served the Seljuq dynasty, and in 1126 the Seljuq sultan, Maḥmūd II, appointed Zangī governor of Basra. When the ʿAbbasid caliph al-Mustarshid rebelled in 1127, Zangī supported the sultan, and the victorious Maḥmūd II rewarded Zangī by giving him the governorship of Mosul. Next, the key city of Aleppo submitted to Zangī’s authority to secure military protection against a possible Frankish Crusader conquest.
Zangī thus came to exercise authority over a considerable geographic area, but he wanted to create a kingdom that would also include Syria and Palestine. He was charged by the sultan with the duty of defeating the Christian Crusaders, and he saw himself as the champion of Islam. He was opposed, however, by Muslim princes who refused to accept his authority as well as by the Crusaders. To both Zangī reacted with equal harshness. By diplomacy, treachery, and warfare he steadily extended his authority, with the immediate goal of securing control of Damascus—a goal he never achieved. He did, however, capture Edessa, an important focal point of Frankish authority, in 1144—the Crusaders’ first serious setback. But Zangī could not press his advantage. Returning to Iraq to repress a revolt there, he was killed by a servant who bore him a personal grudge.
Though he continued his attempts to take Damascus in 1145, Zengi was assassinated by a Frankish slave named Yarankash in 1146. The Christian chronicler William of Tyre said that he was killed by a number of his retinue while he lay drunk in his bed.
Zengi's sudden death threw his forces into a panic. His army disintegrated, the treasury was looted, and the crusader princes, made bold by Zengi's demise, plotted to attack Aleppo and Edessa. Mu'in ad-Din immediately recaptured Baalbek, Hims, and other territories lost to Zengi over the years.
Zengi was the founder of the eponymous Zengid dynasty. In Mosul he was succeeded by his eldest son Saif ad-Din Ghazi I and in Aleppo he was succeeded by his second son Nur ad-Din.
Zengi was courageous, strong in leadership and a very skilled warrior according to all of the Islam chroniclers of his day. The conquest of Edessa being his greatest achievement. These same chroniclers however, also describe Zengi as being a very violent, cruel, and brutal man. Muslims, Byzantines, and Franks all suffered at his hands.
Imad ad-Din Zengi see Zengi
Imad ad-Din Atabeg Zengi al-Malik al-Mansur see Zengi
ʿImād al-Dīn Zangī ibn Aq Sonqur see Zengi
İmadeddin Zengi see Zengi
Zangi see Zengi
Zenki see Zengi
Zengi (Imad ad-Din Zengi) (Imad ad-Din Atabeg Zengi al-Malik al-Mansur) (ʿImād al-Dīn Zangī ibn Aq Sonqur) (Zangi) (Zengui) (Zenki) (Zanki) (İmadeddin Zengi) (b. c. 1084/1085 - d. September 14, 1146, Damascus, Syria [Mosul, Iraq]). Turkish general who founded a state in Mosul in the twelfth century.
ʿImād al-Dīn Zangī ibn Aq Sonqur (Zangi or Zengi) was an Iraqi ruler who founded the Zangid dynasty and led the first important counterattacks against the Crusader kingdoms in the Middle East.
When Zangī’s father, the governor of Aleppo, was killed in 1094, Zangī fled to Mosul. He served the Seljuq dynasty, and in 1126 the Seljuq sultan, Maḥmūd II, appointed Zangī governor of Basra. When the ʿAbbasid caliph al-Mustarshid rebelled in 1127, Zangī supported the sultan, and the victorious Maḥmūd II rewarded Zangī by giving him the governorship of Mosul. Next, the key city of Aleppo submitted to Zangī’s authority to secure military protection against a possible Frankish Crusader conquest.
Zangī thus came to exercise authority over a considerable geographic area, but he wanted to create a kingdom that would also include Syria and Palestine. He was charged by the sultan with the duty of defeating the Christian Crusaders, and he saw himself as the champion of Islam. He was opposed, however, by Muslim princes who refused to accept his authority as well as by the Crusaders. To both Zangī reacted with equal harshness. By diplomacy, treachery, and warfare he steadily extended his authority, with the immediate goal of securing control of Damascus—a goal he never achieved. He did, however, capture Edessa, an important focal point of Frankish authority, in 1144—the Crusaders’ first serious setback. But Zangī could not press his advantage. Returning to Iraq to repress a revolt there, he was killed by a servant who bore him a personal grudge.
Though he continued his attempts to take Damascus in 1145, Zengi was assassinated by a Frankish slave named Yarankash in 1146. The Christian chronicler William of Tyre said that he was killed by a number of his retinue while he lay drunk in his bed.
Zengi's sudden death threw his forces into a panic. His army disintegrated, the treasury was looted, and the crusader princes, made bold by Zengi's demise, plotted to attack Aleppo and Edessa. Mu'in ad-Din immediately recaptured Baalbek, Hims, and other territories lost to Zengi over the years.
Zengi was the founder of the eponymous Zengid dynasty. In Mosul he was succeeded by his eldest son Saif ad-Din Ghazi I and in Aleppo he was succeeded by his second son Nur ad-Din.
Zengi was courageous, strong in leadership and a very skilled warrior according to all of the Islam chroniclers of his day. The conquest of Edessa being his greatest achievement. These same chroniclers however, also describe Zengi as being a very violent, cruel, and brutal man. Muslims, Byzantines, and Franks all suffered at his hands.
Imad ad-Din Zengi see Zengi
Imad ad-Din Atabeg Zengi al-Malik al-Mansur see Zengi
ʿImād al-Dīn Zangī ibn Aq Sonqur see Zengi
İmadeddin Zengi see Zengi
Zangi see Zengi
Zenki see Zengi
Zeroual, Liamine
Zeroual, Liamine (Liamine Zeroual<?I>) (b. July 3, 1941, Batna, Algeria). President of Algeria (January 31, 1994 - April 27, 1999). Zeroual was appointed president by the Haut Comte de l’Etat, for a temporary period, and it was intended that he remain in this position until public elections were held. When these elections were held on November 28, 1996, it was Zeroual who was elected.
Zeroual’s background was with the military, and he had a position as general until his appointment as president. He was seen as a hardliner in the meeting with the Islamist groups, even though his government was in talks with the leaders of the FIS.
Following the elections, the new constitution of Algeria received seventy-five percent of the votes, This new constitution gave Zeroual a democratic mandate to keep out all political groups that defined themselves from religious and ethnic orientations.
Zeroual resigned from power in connection with the democratic elections (if not open for all candidates) of Algeria in 1999. He was succeeded by Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Zeroual joined the Algerian army at age 16 and fought against France during Algeria’s War of Independence. In 1965, Zeroual went to the Soviet Union for military training, after which he was posted to Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, to head an artillery unit. During the 1970s and ’80s, he rose steadily through the army’s ranks, commanding three of Algeria’s key military regions before being named land forces chief in 1989. That same year Zeroual resigned from the army after a dispute with President Chadli Bendjedid. He later served (1990–91) as ambassador to Romania, and he was named Algeria’s defense minister in 1993.
Following his appointment as president by the High Security Council in January 1994, Zeroual attempted on two occasions to broker peace negotiations with the Islamic Salvation Front (Front Islamique du Salut - FIS), Algeria’s main opposition party. Although both attempts ended in failure, Zeroual continued to express an openness to future negotiations on the condition that the FIS would renounce the use of violence.
With his easy victory in Algeria’s first multi-candidate presidential elections on November 16, 1995, Zeroual legitimized his status as Algeria’s head of state. Stressing peace and reconciliation as the twin themes of his presidency, he declared as his goal a broad-based government in which both secular and Islamic parties would work together toward implementing democracy. Although the FIS rejected Zeroual’s blueprint for constitutional reform, most of Algeria’s legal opposition parties voted in favor of the reforms at a national conference held in September 1996. The new constitution was approved by referendum in November. As part of a pact aimed at ending Algeria’s crisis and bloodshed, Zeroual also promised legislative elections in 1997. In September 1998, he announced his intention to resign from the presidency because of health issues, and, following the election of April 1999, he was succeeded by Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Although some urged Zéroual to run in the 2009 presidential election, he said in a published statement on January 14, 2009 that he would not run, while also suggesting that it was not in the best interests of democracy for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for a third term.
Liamine Zeroual see Zeroual, Liamine
Zeroual, Liamine (Liamine Zeroual<?I>) (b. July 3, 1941, Batna, Algeria). President of Algeria (January 31, 1994 - April 27, 1999). Zeroual was appointed president by the Haut Comte de l’Etat, for a temporary period, and it was intended that he remain in this position until public elections were held. When these elections were held on November 28, 1996, it was Zeroual who was elected.
Zeroual’s background was with the military, and he had a position as general until his appointment as president. He was seen as a hardliner in the meeting with the Islamist groups, even though his government was in talks with the leaders of the FIS.
Following the elections, the new constitution of Algeria received seventy-five percent of the votes, This new constitution gave Zeroual a democratic mandate to keep out all political groups that defined themselves from religious and ethnic orientations.
Zeroual resigned from power in connection with the democratic elections (if not open for all candidates) of Algeria in 1999. He was succeeded by Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Zeroual joined the Algerian army at age 16 and fought against France during Algeria’s War of Independence. In 1965, Zeroual went to the Soviet Union for military training, after which he was posted to Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, to head an artillery unit. During the 1970s and ’80s, he rose steadily through the army’s ranks, commanding three of Algeria’s key military regions before being named land forces chief in 1989. That same year Zeroual resigned from the army after a dispute with President Chadli Bendjedid. He later served (1990–91) as ambassador to Romania, and he was named Algeria’s defense minister in 1993.
Following his appointment as president by the High Security Council in January 1994, Zeroual attempted on two occasions to broker peace negotiations with the Islamic Salvation Front (Front Islamique du Salut - FIS), Algeria’s main opposition party. Although both attempts ended in failure, Zeroual continued to express an openness to future negotiations on the condition that the FIS would renounce the use of violence.
With his easy victory in Algeria’s first multi-candidate presidential elections on November 16, 1995, Zeroual legitimized his status as Algeria’s head of state. Stressing peace and reconciliation as the twin themes of his presidency, he declared as his goal a broad-based government in which both secular and Islamic parties would work together toward implementing democracy. Although the FIS rejected Zeroual’s blueprint for constitutional reform, most of Algeria’s legal opposition parties voted in favor of the reforms at a national conference held in September 1996. The new constitution was approved by referendum in November. As part of a pact aimed at ending Algeria’s crisis and bloodshed, Zeroual also promised legislative elections in 1997. In September 1998, he announced his intention to resign from the presidency because of health issues, and, following the election of April 1999, he was succeeded by Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Although some urged Zéroual to run in the 2009 presidential election, he said in a published statement on January 14, 2009 that he would not run, while also suggesting that it was not in the best interests of democracy for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for a third term.
Liamine Zeroual see Zeroual, Liamine
Zeybek
Zeybek (Zeibek). Turkish tribe in the region of Izmir, which distinguished itself by a peculiar dress. They were subdued under the Ottoman Sultan Murad II. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk endeavored to make the dance peculiar to this tribe into a Turkish national dance.
Zeybeks or sometimes Zeibeks were irregular militia and guerilla fighters living in the Aegean Region of the Ottoman Empire from late 17th to early 20th centuries, generally of Turkmen and Yörük origins.
Before the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, large concentrations of Zeibeks could be found in western Anatolia, particularly in Isparta, Burdur, Afyon, Kütahya, Uşak, Denizli, Aydın, İzmir, Manisa, Muğla, Antalya, and the Balıkesir area.
The Zeibek acted as protectors of village people against landlords, bandits and tax collectors. A leader of a Zeibek gang was called Efe and his soldiers were known as either Zeibeks or Kızan. Kızan was generally used for newly recruited or inexperienced Zeibeks. There was generally a tribe democracy. Decisions were taken in a democratic way. The Zeibek followed definite rituals for all actions; for example, the promotion of a kızan to zeybek was very similar to Ahi rituals.
Zeybeks had a special dance in which performers simulated hawks. Romantic songs about their bravery are still popular in Turkish folk music. The yatagan sword was their primary weapon, but most of them carried firearms as well.
The Zeibeks fought against the Greek invasion of Western Anatolia during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922. Their guerrilla warfare gave time for Turkish resistance to form a defense. After the formation of a Turkish national army, most of them joined and continued their resistance.
Zeybek (Zeibek). Turkish tribe in the region of Izmir, which distinguished itself by a peculiar dress. They were subdued under the Ottoman Sultan Murad II. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk endeavored to make the dance peculiar to this tribe into a Turkish national dance.
Zeybeks or sometimes Zeibeks were irregular militia and guerilla fighters living in the Aegean Region of the Ottoman Empire from late 17th to early 20th centuries, generally of Turkmen and Yörük origins.
Before the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, large concentrations of Zeibeks could be found in western Anatolia, particularly in Isparta, Burdur, Afyon, Kütahya, Uşak, Denizli, Aydın, İzmir, Manisa, Muğla, Antalya, and the Balıkesir area.
The Zeibek acted as protectors of village people against landlords, bandits and tax collectors. A leader of a Zeibek gang was called Efe and his soldiers were known as either Zeibeks or Kızan. Kızan was generally used for newly recruited or inexperienced Zeibeks. There was generally a tribe democracy. Decisions were taken in a democratic way. The Zeibek followed definite rituals for all actions; for example, the promotion of a kızan to zeybek was very similar to Ahi rituals.
Zeybeks had a special dance in which performers simulated hawks. Romantic songs about their bravery are still popular in Turkish folk music. The yatagan sword was their primary weapon, but most of them carried firearms as well.
The Zeibeks fought against the Greek invasion of Western Anatolia during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922. Their guerrilla warfare gave time for Turkish resistance to form a defense. After the formation of a Turkish national army, most of them joined and continued their resistance.
Zheng He
Zheng He (Cheng Ho) (Ma He) (Mǎ Sānbǎo) (Hajji Mahmud Shams) (1371–1433/1435), was a Hui Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Africa, collectively referred to as the travels of "Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean" or "Zheng He to the Western Ocean", from 1405 to 1433.
Zheng He was a Chinese eunuch who commanded a series of maritime expeditions through Southeast Asia to India and the east coast of Africa for the Yongle emperor (r.1402-1424) of the Ming dynasty in the first decades of the fifteenth century.
Zheng He was born and raised in a Muslim family in central Yunnan Province in southwestern China. Both his father and his grandfather were known by the title hajji, which was conferred upon Muslims who made the pilgrimage to Mecca. At least during his early years, he was raised as a Muslim and may have acquired some knowledge of Arabic.
In 1381, when his locality was brought under the control of the Ming dynasty, the general in charge of the occupying armies selected Zheng He and a number of other boys for palace service. He was castrated when he was about ten years old, taken to North China, and assigned to serve on the staff of Zhu Di (who later became the Yongle emperor). During this time, he gained considerable military experience, because for the most part his duties entailed following Zhu Di on campaign.
Zheng He is described as being very tall and stout (seven feet tall with a girth of five feet by one account) and as having a loud voice and a commanding stare. He was thus physically suited for the rigors of warfare and proved himself capable in battle, first during campaigns against the Mongols between 1393 and 1397 and later during Zhu Di’s rebellion of 1399, when he played a key role in the defense of Beijing.
After Zhu Di ascended the throne in 1402, Zheng He became one of his most trusted aides. During the first years of the reign, he held important military commissions. In 1405, however, he was put in charge of a large-scale maritime expedition to Southeast Asia, and he continued to supervise such expeditions until his death in 1433.
It is not clear why the Yongle emperor decided to mount these costly maritime expeditions. Several reasons are usually put forth: that he was afraid the Jianwen emperor, whose throne he had usurped, might have escaped to Southeast Asia, and he wanted to find him; that he wanted to suppress piracy in Southeast Asian waters; and that he wanted to extend the hegemony of the Ming Empire to the shores of India and Arabia. While there is some truth in each of these reasons, it is likely that it was the last one, the desire to extend the limits of his empire, that kept the expeditions alive for more than two decades.
The Yongle emperor sought to re-establish a universal world empire on the model of the preceding Yuan dynasty. Whereas the Mongols had only had a land-based empire, however, he wanted to establish a maritime empire as well. Zheng He’s expeditions were intended to extend the hegemony of the Ming empire throughout Southeast Asia and beyond by demonstrating that the Ming navy was formidable and not easily defeated and that the Ming emperor protected maritime trade and was not hostile toward Islam. It is important to note that Zheng He’s expeditions all carried Arabic speakers conscripted from mosques in China who served as translators, for Islamic merchants had by this time come to control most of the trade routes between China and Arabia.
The first expedition, in 1405, carried a crew of 27,000 and comprised a fleet of more than 60 large vessels (440 feet long) and 255 smaller ships. The principal goal of this and the next few expeditions was to make the sea routes between China and India safe for maritime trade. In a major battle near Sumatra, Zheng He destroyed the fleet of a powerful Chinese pirate who had been harassing ships in the Straits of Melaka. During the expedition of 1409 to 1411, which reached the Malabar coast of India, Chinese luxury goods were displayed in Ceylon and other commercial centers to promote trade with China.
The expedition of 1413 to 1415, however, which reached the Arabian Peninsula, had a distinctly diplomatic cast: from this point on the expeditions revolved around carrying tribute missions to and from China. The expedition of 1417 to 1419 returned the envoys who had arrived in 1415. The expedition of 1421 to 1422, which reached the east coast of Africa, returned with even greater numbers of envoys. Yet almost immediately after the Yongle emperor’s death in 1424, influential officials at court began to protest that such voyages were too costly to continue, and the expeditions were suspended until 1431. Zheng He, already in his sixties, was unable to visit every country in person during the last expedition, in 1431 to 1433. He may in fact haved died en route at Calicut early in 1433, but the details of his death remain obscure.
Although the naval expeditions were discontinued after Zheng He’s death, the hegemony of the Ming emperor throughout Southeast Asia, at least as an arbiter of disputes and successions, remained unchallenged until the Portuguese arrived in the first years of the sixteenth century. In that respect at least, Zheng He did realize the Yongle emperor’s ambitions. Furthermore, the expeditions constituted the greatest feat of navigation undertaken in the world until that time. During the first several expeditions all of the major sea routes between China and the Islamic countries of the West were systematically explored and mapped. A vast amount of knowledge was added to the corpus of Chines geography. Ma Huan, a Muslim interpreter who wen on several of the expeditions, kept a record of about twenty places that he had visited. At least two other accounts were written by other members of the expeditions. Together these works comprise the only major accounts of travel in Asia from the fifteenth century and offer the most accurate and vivid picture of the region prior to the arrival of the Portuguese.
Cheng Ho see Zheng He
Ma He see Zheng He
Ma Sanbao see Zheng He
Hajji Mahmud Shams see Zheng He
Zheng He (Cheng Ho) (Ma He) (Mǎ Sānbǎo) (Hajji Mahmud Shams) (1371–1433/1435), was a Hui Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Africa, collectively referred to as the travels of "Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean" or "Zheng He to the Western Ocean", from 1405 to 1433.
Zheng He was a Chinese eunuch who commanded a series of maritime expeditions through Southeast Asia to India and the east coast of Africa for the Yongle emperor (r.1402-1424) of the Ming dynasty in the first decades of the fifteenth century.
Zheng He was born and raised in a Muslim family in central Yunnan Province in southwestern China. Both his father and his grandfather were known by the title hajji, which was conferred upon Muslims who made the pilgrimage to Mecca. At least during his early years, he was raised as a Muslim and may have acquired some knowledge of Arabic.
In 1381, when his locality was brought under the control of the Ming dynasty, the general in charge of the occupying armies selected Zheng He and a number of other boys for palace service. He was castrated when he was about ten years old, taken to North China, and assigned to serve on the staff of Zhu Di (who later became the Yongle emperor). During this time, he gained considerable military experience, because for the most part his duties entailed following Zhu Di on campaign.
Zheng He is described as being very tall and stout (seven feet tall with a girth of five feet by one account) and as having a loud voice and a commanding stare. He was thus physically suited for the rigors of warfare and proved himself capable in battle, first during campaigns against the Mongols between 1393 and 1397 and later during Zhu Di’s rebellion of 1399, when he played a key role in the defense of Beijing.
After Zhu Di ascended the throne in 1402, Zheng He became one of his most trusted aides. During the first years of the reign, he held important military commissions. In 1405, however, he was put in charge of a large-scale maritime expedition to Southeast Asia, and he continued to supervise such expeditions until his death in 1433.
It is not clear why the Yongle emperor decided to mount these costly maritime expeditions. Several reasons are usually put forth: that he was afraid the Jianwen emperor, whose throne he had usurped, might have escaped to Southeast Asia, and he wanted to find him; that he wanted to suppress piracy in Southeast Asian waters; and that he wanted to extend the hegemony of the Ming Empire to the shores of India and Arabia. While there is some truth in each of these reasons, it is likely that it was the last one, the desire to extend the limits of his empire, that kept the expeditions alive for more than two decades.
The Yongle emperor sought to re-establish a universal world empire on the model of the preceding Yuan dynasty. Whereas the Mongols had only had a land-based empire, however, he wanted to establish a maritime empire as well. Zheng He’s expeditions were intended to extend the hegemony of the Ming empire throughout Southeast Asia and beyond by demonstrating that the Ming navy was formidable and not easily defeated and that the Ming emperor protected maritime trade and was not hostile toward Islam. It is important to note that Zheng He’s expeditions all carried Arabic speakers conscripted from mosques in China who served as translators, for Islamic merchants had by this time come to control most of the trade routes between China and Arabia.
The first expedition, in 1405, carried a crew of 27,000 and comprised a fleet of more than 60 large vessels (440 feet long) and 255 smaller ships. The principal goal of this and the next few expeditions was to make the sea routes between China and India safe for maritime trade. In a major battle near Sumatra, Zheng He destroyed the fleet of a powerful Chinese pirate who had been harassing ships in the Straits of Melaka. During the expedition of 1409 to 1411, which reached the Malabar coast of India, Chinese luxury goods were displayed in Ceylon and other commercial centers to promote trade with China.
The expedition of 1413 to 1415, however, which reached the Arabian Peninsula, had a distinctly diplomatic cast: from this point on the expeditions revolved around carrying tribute missions to and from China. The expedition of 1417 to 1419 returned the envoys who had arrived in 1415. The expedition of 1421 to 1422, which reached the east coast of Africa, returned with even greater numbers of envoys. Yet almost immediately after the Yongle emperor’s death in 1424, influential officials at court began to protest that such voyages were too costly to continue, and the expeditions were suspended until 1431. Zheng He, already in his sixties, was unable to visit every country in person during the last expedition, in 1431 to 1433. He may in fact haved died en route at Calicut early in 1433, but the details of his death remain obscure.
Although the naval expeditions were discontinued after Zheng He’s death, the hegemony of the Ming emperor throughout Southeast Asia, at least as an arbiter of disputes and successions, remained unchallenged until the Portuguese arrived in the first years of the sixteenth century. In that respect at least, Zheng He did realize the Yongle emperor’s ambitions. Furthermore, the expeditions constituted the greatest feat of navigation undertaken in the world until that time. During the first several expeditions all of the major sea routes between China and the Islamic countries of the West were systematically explored and mapped. A vast amount of knowledge was added to the corpus of Chines geography. Ma Huan, a Muslim interpreter who wen on several of the expeditions, kept a record of about twenty places that he had visited. At least two other accounts were written by other members of the expeditions. Together these works comprise the only major accounts of travel in Asia from the fifteenth century and offer the most accurate and vivid picture of the region prior to the arrival of the Portuguese.
Cheng Ho see Zheng He
Ma He see Zheng He
Ma Sanbao see Zheng He
Hajji Mahmud Shams see Zheng He
Zia-ul Haq
Zia-ul Haq (Mohammad Zia-ul Haq) (Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq) (b. August 12, 1924, Jullundur, Punjab [now in India] - d. August 17, 1988, near Bahāwalpur, Pakistan). Military leader who became president of Pakistan in 1978. Zia-ul Haq was born in the present Punjab Province of India. He received his army commission from the military academy, Dehra Dun, in 1945. During World War II, he saw action in Southeast Asia. In 1947, he joined the Pakistan Army and received additional military training in the United States. Between 1969 and 1971, on loan to Jordan, Zia directed action against Palestinian guerrillas and was decorated by King Hussain. Prime Minister Bhutto made him a full general and chief of staff of the Pakistan Army in 1976. In 1977, during the agitation of opposition parties against Bhutto’s handling of national elections, Zia proclaimed martial law, removed Bhutto from office, and promised to hold fresh elections. These elections were later cancelled and Zia declared the “islamization of Pakistan” as his first priority. In 1978, Zia became president of Pakistan but continued to govern under martial law. Without a popular mandate to rule, he has relied heavily on the external support of his regime by the United States and its Arab allies. In August 1983, the Movement for Restoration of Democracy, an alliance of banned political parties, launched a mass resistance to Zia’s regime that was crushed by military action.
Zia was commissioned in 1945 from the Royal Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun and served with the British armored forces in Southeast Asia at the end of World War II. After 19 years spent in various staff and command appointments he was made an instructor at the Command and Staff College in Quetta. He successively commanded a regiment, brigade, division, and a corps during the period 1966–72. A major general from 1972, he was president of the military courts that tried several Army and Air Force officers alleged to have plotted against the government of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1972. Bhutto promoted him to lieutenant general in 1975 and made him Army chief of staff in 1976.
Zia seized power from Bhutto in a bloodless coup on July 5, 1977, and became chief martial-law administrator while retaining his position as Army chief of staff. He assumed the presidency after Fazal Elahi Chaudhry resigned. Zia tightened his hold on the government after having the charismatic and still-popular Bhutto executed on charges of attempted murder in 1979. Zia suspended political parties in that year, banned labor strikes, imposed strict censorship on the press, and declared martial law in the country (nominally lifted in 1985). He responded to the Soviet Union’s invasion of neighboring Afghanistan in 1979 by embarking on a United States-financed military buildup. He also tried to broaden his base of support and worked for the Islamization of Pakistan’s political and cultural life. He died in an airplane crash.
Zia-ul-Haq died in a plane crash on August 17, 1988. After witnessing a United States M1 Abrams tank demonstration in Bahawalpur, Zia had left the small town in the Punjab province by C-130 Hercules aircraft. Shortly after a smooth take-off, the control tower lost contact with the aircraft. Witnesses who saw the plane in the air afterward claim it was flying erratically, then nosedived and exploded on impact. In addition to Zia, 31 others died in the plane crash, including Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Akhtar Abdur Rehman; a close associate of General Zia, Brigadier General Siddique Salik; the American Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Raphael; and General Herbert M. Wassom, the head of the United States Military aid mission to Pakistan. Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the Senate Chairman announced Zia's death on radio and TV. The manner of his death gave rise to many conspiracy theories. There was speculation that the United States, India, the Soviet Union (in retaliation for United States-Pakistani supported attacks in Afghanistan) or an alliance of them and internal groups were behind the attack.
A board of inquiry was set up to investigate the crash. It concluded the most probable cause of the crash was a criminal act of sabotage perpetrated on the aircraft. It is also suggested that poisonous gases were released which incapacitated the passengers and crew, which would explain why no Mayday signal was given.
Zia's funeral was held on August 19, 1988 in Islamabad. Zia's body was buried in a small tomb outside the Faisal Mosque.
Mohammad Zia-ul Haq see Zia-ul Haq
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq see Zia-ul Haq
Zia-ul Haq (Mohammad Zia-ul Haq) (Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq) (b. August 12, 1924, Jullundur, Punjab [now in India] - d. August 17, 1988, near Bahāwalpur, Pakistan). Military leader who became president of Pakistan in 1978. Zia-ul Haq was born in the present Punjab Province of India. He received his army commission from the military academy, Dehra Dun, in 1945. During World War II, he saw action in Southeast Asia. In 1947, he joined the Pakistan Army and received additional military training in the United States. Between 1969 and 1971, on loan to Jordan, Zia directed action against Palestinian guerrillas and was decorated by King Hussain. Prime Minister Bhutto made him a full general and chief of staff of the Pakistan Army in 1976. In 1977, during the agitation of opposition parties against Bhutto’s handling of national elections, Zia proclaimed martial law, removed Bhutto from office, and promised to hold fresh elections. These elections were later cancelled and Zia declared the “islamization of Pakistan” as his first priority. In 1978, Zia became president of Pakistan but continued to govern under martial law. Without a popular mandate to rule, he has relied heavily on the external support of his regime by the United States and its Arab allies. In August 1983, the Movement for Restoration of Democracy, an alliance of banned political parties, launched a mass resistance to Zia’s regime that was crushed by military action.
Zia was commissioned in 1945 from the Royal Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun and served with the British armored forces in Southeast Asia at the end of World War II. After 19 years spent in various staff and command appointments he was made an instructor at the Command and Staff College in Quetta. He successively commanded a regiment, brigade, division, and a corps during the period 1966–72. A major general from 1972, he was president of the military courts that tried several Army and Air Force officers alleged to have plotted against the government of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1972. Bhutto promoted him to lieutenant general in 1975 and made him Army chief of staff in 1976.
Zia seized power from Bhutto in a bloodless coup on July 5, 1977, and became chief martial-law administrator while retaining his position as Army chief of staff. He assumed the presidency after Fazal Elahi Chaudhry resigned. Zia tightened his hold on the government after having the charismatic and still-popular Bhutto executed on charges of attempted murder in 1979. Zia suspended political parties in that year, banned labor strikes, imposed strict censorship on the press, and declared martial law in the country (nominally lifted in 1985). He responded to the Soviet Union’s invasion of neighboring Afghanistan in 1979 by embarking on a United States-financed military buildup. He also tried to broaden his base of support and worked for the Islamization of Pakistan’s political and cultural life. He died in an airplane crash.
Zia-ul-Haq died in a plane crash on August 17, 1988. After witnessing a United States M1 Abrams tank demonstration in Bahawalpur, Zia had left the small town in the Punjab province by C-130 Hercules aircraft. Shortly after a smooth take-off, the control tower lost contact with the aircraft. Witnesses who saw the plane in the air afterward claim it was flying erratically, then nosedived and exploded on impact. In addition to Zia, 31 others died in the plane crash, including Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Akhtar Abdur Rehman; a close associate of General Zia, Brigadier General Siddique Salik; the American Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Raphael; and General Herbert M. Wassom, the head of the United States Military aid mission to Pakistan. Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the Senate Chairman announced Zia's death on radio and TV. The manner of his death gave rise to many conspiracy theories. There was speculation that the United States, India, the Soviet Union (in retaliation for United States-Pakistani supported attacks in Afghanistan) or an alliance of them and internal groups were behind the attack.
A board of inquiry was set up to investigate the crash. It concluded the most probable cause of the crash was a criminal act of sabotage perpetrated on the aircraft. It is also suggested that poisonous gases were released which incapacitated the passengers and crew, which would explain why no Mayday signal was given.
Zia's funeral was held on August 19, 1988 in Islamabad. Zia's body was buried in a small tomb outside the Faisal Mosque.
Mohammad Zia-ul Haq see Zia-ul Haq
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq see Zia-ul Haq
Zikrawayh ibn Mihrawayh
Zikrawayh ibn Mihrawayh (d. 907). Carmathian missionary. Having disposed of ‘Abdan, Zikrawayh conquered Kufa in 906 but had to return to the district of al-Qadisiyya. In the same year he fell upon the great pilgrim caravan returning from Mecca. In the next year, he was defeated by an ‘Abbasid commander.
Zikrawayh ibn Mihrawayh (d. 907). Carmathian missionary. Having disposed of ‘Abdan, Zikrawayh conquered Kufa in 906 but had to return to the district of al-Qadisiyya. In the same year he fell upon the great pilgrim caravan returning from Mecca. In the next year, he was defeated by an ‘Abbasid commander.
Zindiq
Zindiq (Zendiq) (Zendik). A Muslim heretic. Zindiq also refers to Manichaean or supporter of any other pre-Islamic Persian religion.
Zindīq is taken from Persian word Zendik which means free interpreter, free thinker, atheist or heretic. The word Zindiq is applied by Muslims to individuals whom are considered to hold views or follow practices that are contrary to central Islamic dogmas. Starting in medieval times, Muslims began to refer to Manichaeans, apostates, pagans, heretics, and those who antagonized Islam as Zindiqs, the charge being punishable by death. As of the late 8th century the Abbasid caliphs began to hunt down and exterminate freethinkers in large numbers, putting to death anyone on mere suspicion of being a Zindiq. In modern times, it is occasionally used to denote members of religions, sects or cults that originated in a Muslim society but are considered heretical or independent faiths by mainstream Muslims.
The word Zendiq is now known to have derived from Middle Persian Pahlavi word of zandik or zendik, consisting of zand plus îk (attribution suffix in Pahlavi language) referring to those who resorted to interpretation in their understanding of Zoroastrian faith. Zand is derived from Avestan zanda found in two instances in Avesta whose root is unknown today. However, it has seemingly implied sinners such as bandits, thieves, enchanters, renegades and liars. A different, common view on the etymology of the term is that it alluded to "free interpretation" or "commentary" on the sacred texts, with the same root that occurs in the word Zand, referring to the commentary on the Avesta. The first recorded use of the word zandik is probably on the inscription in Naqsh-e Rajab attributed to Kartir, high-priest and advisor of Sassanid emperors Hormizd I, Bahram I and Bahram II, in which it explicitly denotes Manichaeans as "the ones with corrupted faith".
Some of the famous and alleged Zendiqs in Islamic history are:
* Abu Nawas
* Rhazes
* Mansour Al-Hallaj
* Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa
* Abu Shakir
* Abu Tammar Muttabib
* Abu Isa al-Warraq
* Ibn al-Rawandi
* Abul Ala'a al-Ma'ari
* Yazdan ibn Badhan
* Bashar ibn Burd
* Yazdanbakht
* Abdulkarim ibn abi Al-Ouja'
* Ali ibn Ubaydah Rihani
* Aban Abdulhamid Lahiqi
Zendiq see Zindiq
Zendik see Zindiq
Zandik see Zindiq
Atheist see Zindiq
Free Thinker see Zindiq
Heretic see Zindiq
Zindiq (Zendiq) (Zendik). A Muslim heretic. Zindiq also refers to Manichaean or supporter of any other pre-Islamic Persian religion.
Zindīq is taken from Persian word Zendik which means free interpreter, free thinker, atheist or heretic. The word Zindiq is applied by Muslims to individuals whom are considered to hold views or follow practices that are contrary to central Islamic dogmas. Starting in medieval times, Muslims began to refer to Manichaeans, apostates, pagans, heretics, and those who antagonized Islam as Zindiqs, the charge being punishable by death. As of the late 8th century the Abbasid caliphs began to hunt down and exterminate freethinkers in large numbers, putting to death anyone on mere suspicion of being a Zindiq. In modern times, it is occasionally used to denote members of religions, sects or cults that originated in a Muslim society but are considered heretical or independent faiths by mainstream Muslims.
The word Zendiq is now known to have derived from Middle Persian Pahlavi word of zandik or zendik, consisting of zand plus îk (attribution suffix in Pahlavi language) referring to those who resorted to interpretation in their understanding of Zoroastrian faith. Zand is derived from Avestan zanda found in two instances in Avesta whose root is unknown today. However, it has seemingly implied sinners such as bandits, thieves, enchanters, renegades and liars. A different, common view on the etymology of the term is that it alluded to "free interpretation" or "commentary" on the sacred texts, with the same root that occurs in the word Zand, referring to the commentary on the Avesta. The first recorded use of the word zandik is probably on the inscription in Naqsh-e Rajab attributed to Kartir, high-priest and advisor of Sassanid emperors Hormizd I, Bahram I and Bahram II, in which it explicitly denotes Manichaeans as "the ones with corrupted faith".
Some of the famous and alleged Zendiqs in Islamic history are:
* Abu Nawas
* Rhazes
* Mansour Al-Hallaj
* Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa
* Abu Shakir
* Abu Tammar Muttabib
* Abu Isa al-Warraq
* Ibn al-Rawandi
* Abul Ala'a al-Ma'ari
* Yazdan ibn Badhan
* Bashar ibn Burd
* Yazdanbakht
* Abdulkarim ibn abi Al-Ouja'
* Ali ibn Ubaydah Rihani
* Aban Abdulhamid Lahiqi
Zendiq see Zindiq
Zendik see Zindiq
Zandik see Zindiq
Atheist see Zindiq
Free Thinker see Zindiq
Heretic see Zindiq
Zionists
Zionists. Adherents of a Jewish ideology that has focused on establishing a Jewish homeland. The name of “Zionism” comes from the hill Zion, the hill on which the Temple of Jerusalem was situated. Zionism wanted to establish this homeland in Palestine, but there were many discussions on alternatives, where the use of land in Africa was perceived as a faster route to the final establishment of a Jewish state. The main organization of Zionism has always been The World Zionist organization.
Inside Zionism there have been several orientations: spiritual and cultural; work ethical; Marxist; and Orthodox Judaism. The central motivation of Zionism was the Diaspora, which started with the exile to Babylon in the sixth century B.C.T. By focusing on the Diaspora, the Jews living around the world in many different countries, shared a feeling of being in exile from their true homeland in Palestine, with Jerusalem as its real capital.
In addition to being in exile, the Jews had also been waiting for the return of the Messiah, the savior that would be sent by God to come and re-establish Israel and justice. But over time, more and more Jews started to become motivated for a human action in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Zionism was an expression of man’s will to act in order to fulfill the central promise of the Messianic idea.
Socialism had great impact on Zionism, and in early stages of Jewish immigration to Palestine, a large part of the immigrants were Marxists. The system of kibbutzes was formed after Socialist ideas. The kibbutzes were frequently used when Jews came to Palestine and settled. The kibbutzes served as a mini-state, where people could live, work, go to school and have health services. The kibbutzes were central in Jewish immigration right up until the formation of the State of Israel.
Zionism, following the establishment of the state of Israel, was based on two principles: Upholding the State of Israel, and the right of any Jew to go to Israel, if he or she wants.
A brief history of the Zionist movement reads as follows:
Around the eighteenth century, the German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn initiated a Jewish secularism which focused on Jewish national identity.
In 1862, the German Jew Moses Hess published the book Rome and Jerusalem where he called for a return of Jews to Palestine. He also said that Jews would never succeed by assimilating into European societies.
In 1881, pogroms in Russia resulted in heavy emigration to the United States. Some Russian Jews also emigrated to Palestine, as they were motivated by religious ideas of Palestine as a Jewish homeland.
In 1893, Nathan Birnbaum introduced the term Zionism.
In 1896, the Austrian Jew Theodor Herzl published the book The Jewish State, in which he declared that the cure for anti-Semitism was the establishment of a Jewish state. As he saw it, the best place to establish this state was in Palestine, but the precise geographical location of the proposed Jewish state was not set in stone.
In 1897, the First Zionist Congress was held in Basel in Switzerland. 200 delegates attended. The Basel Program was formulated which called for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, where Jews could live safely under public law. The World Zionist organization was also established, and established its headquarters in Vienna, Austria.
In 1903, Great Britain offered an area of 15,500 square kilometers in Uganda in Africa, an area of virgin land to the Jews of the world, where a Jewish homeland could be established.
In 1905, the Seventh Zionist Congress refused Britain’s Uganda proposal. Israel Zangwill formed the Jewish Territorial organization, which sought to find territory for a Jewish state, no matter where this would be. His organization got only few supporters.
In 1905, after the Russian revolution was defeated, many young Jews emigrated from Russia.
In 1917, the Balfour Declaration, issued by the British foreign secretary, gave official British support to the work on establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
In 1922, Great Britain gave the World Zionist organization the mandate to administer Jewish immigration and settlement in Palestine. This immigration and settlement was funded by American Jews.
In 1939, the British “White Paper” gave the Arabs of Palestine de facto control over Jewish immigration.
In 1942, a call was issued from Zionist leaders for the establishment of a Jewish state in all of western Palestine, when World War II ended.
On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was founded. The World Zionist organization continued to back Jewish immigration to Israel.
In the 1970s, the World Zionist organization used its influence to help Jews in the Soviet Union to immigrate to Israel.
On November 10, 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 3379, in which Zionism was declared “racist”, with 72 votes to 35 (32 abstentions).
On December 16, 1991, the United Nations General Assembly revoked Resolution 3379, with 111 votes to 25 (with 13 abstentions).
Zionism is a Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews (Hebrew: Eretz Yisraʾel, “the Land of Israel”). Though Zionism originated in eastern and central Europe in the latter part of the 19th century, it is in many ways a continuation of the ancient nationalist attachment of the Jews and of the Jewish religion to the historical region of Palestine, where one of the hills of ancient Jerusalem was called Zion.
In the 16th and 17th centuries a number of “messiahs” came forward trying to persuade Jews to “return” to Palestine. The Haskala (“Enlightenment”) movement of the late 18th century, however, urged Jews to assimilate into Western secular culture. In the early 19th century interest in a return of the Jews to Palestine was kept alive mostly by Christian millenarians. Despite the Haskala, eastern European Jews did not assimilate and in reaction to tsarist pogroms formed the Ḥovevei Ẕiyyon (“Lovers of Zion”) to promote the settlement of Jewish farmers and artisans in Palestine.
A political turn was given to Zionism by Theodor Herzl, an Austrian journalist who regarded assimilation as most desirable but, in view of anti-Semitism, impossible to realize. Thus, he argued, if Jews were forced by external pressure to form a nation, they could lead a normal existence only through concentration in one territory. In 1897 Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress at Basel, Switzerland, which drew up the Basel program of the movement, stating that “Zionism strives to create for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by public law.”
The center of the movement was established in Vienna, where Herzl published the official weekly Die Welt (“The World”). Zionist congresses met yearly until 1901 and then every two years. When the Ottoman government refused Herzl’s request for Palestinian autonomy, he found support in Great Britain. In 1903, the British government offered 6,000 square miles (15,500 square km) of uninhabited Uganda for settlement, but the Zionists held out for Palestine.
At the death of Herzl in 1904, the leadership moved from Vienna to Cologne, then to Berlin. Prior to World War I, Zionism represented only a minority of Jews, mostly from Russia but led by Austrians and Germans. It developed propaganda through orators and pamphlets, created its own newspapers, and gave an impetus to what was called a “Jewish renaissance” in letters and arts. The development of the Modern Hebrew language largely took place during this period.
The failure of the Russian Revolution of 1905 and the wave of pogroms and repressions that followed caused growing numbers of Russian Jewish youth to emigrate to Palestine as pioneer settlers. By 1914 there were about 90,000 Jews in Palestine; 13,000 settlers lived in 43 Jewish agricultural settlements, many of them supported by the French Jewish philanthropist Baron Edmond de Rothschild.
Upon the outbreak of World War I political Zionism reasserted itself, and its leadership passed to Russian Jews living in England. Two such Zionists, Chaim Weizmann and Nahum Sokolow, were instrumental in obtaining the Balfour Declaration from Great Britain (November 2, 1917), which promised British support for the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine. The declaration was included in Britain’s League of Nations mandate over Palestine (1922).
In the following years the Zionists built up the Jewish urban and rural settlements in Palestine, perfecting autonomous organizations and solidifying Jewish cultural life and Hebrew education. In March 1925 the Jewish population in Palestine was officially estimated at 108,000, and it had risen to about 238,000 (20 percent of the population) by 1933. Jewish immigration remained relatively slow, however, until the rise of Hitlerism in Europe. Nevertheless, the Arab population feared Palestine eventually would become a Jewish state and bitterly resisted Zionism and the British policy supporting it. Several Arab revolts, especially in 1929 and 1936–39, caused the British to devise schemes to reconcile the Arab and Zionist demands.
Hitlerism and the large-scale extermination of European Jews led many Jews to seek refuge in Palestine and many others, especially in the United States, to embrace Zionism. As tensions grew among Arabs and Zionists, Britain submitted the Palestine problem first to Anglo-United States discussion for solution and later to the United Nations, which on November 29, 1947, proposed partition of the country into separate Arab and Jewish states and the internationalization of Jerusalem. The creation of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, brought about the Arab–Israeli war of 1948–49, in the course of which Israel obtained more land than had been provided by the United Nations resolution, and drove out 800,000 Arabs who became displaced persons known as Palestinians. Thus, 50 years after the first Zionist congress and 30 years after the Balfour Declaration, Zionism achieved its aim of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine, but at the same time it became an armed camp surrounded by hostile Arab nations and Palestinian “liberation” organizations engaged in terrorism in and outside of Israel.
During the next two decades Zionist organizations in many countries continued to raise financial support for Israel and to encourage Jews to immigrate there. Most Jews, however, reject the view propagated by many very Orthodox Jews in Israel that the Jews outside Israel were living in “exile” and could live a full life only in Israel.
Zionists. Adherents of a Jewish ideology that has focused on establishing a Jewish homeland. The name of “Zionism” comes from the hill Zion, the hill on which the Temple of Jerusalem was situated. Zionism wanted to establish this homeland in Palestine, but there were many discussions on alternatives, where the use of land in Africa was perceived as a faster route to the final establishment of a Jewish state. The main organization of Zionism has always been The World Zionist organization.
Inside Zionism there have been several orientations: spiritual and cultural; work ethical; Marxist; and Orthodox Judaism. The central motivation of Zionism was the Diaspora, which started with the exile to Babylon in the sixth century B.C.T. By focusing on the Diaspora, the Jews living around the world in many different countries, shared a feeling of being in exile from their true homeland in Palestine, with Jerusalem as its real capital.
In addition to being in exile, the Jews had also been waiting for the return of the Messiah, the savior that would be sent by God to come and re-establish Israel and justice. But over time, more and more Jews started to become motivated for a human action in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Zionism was an expression of man’s will to act in order to fulfill the central promise of the Messianic idea.
Socialism had great impact on Zionism, and in early stages of Jewish immigration to Palestine, a large part of the immigrants were Marxists. The system of kibbutzes was formed after Socialist ideas. The kibbutzes were frequently used when Jews came to Palestine and settled. The kibbutzes served as a mini-state, where people could live, work, go to school and have health services. The kibbutzes were central in Jewish immigration right up until the formation of the State of Israel.
Zionism, following the establishment of the state of Israel, was based on two principles: Upholding the State of Israel, and the right of any Jew to go to Israel, if he or she wants.
A brief history of the Zionist movement reads as follows:
Around the eighteenth century, the German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn initiated a Jewish secularism which focused on Jewish national identity.
In 1862, the German Jew Moses Hess published the book Rome and Jerusalem where he called for a return of Jews to Palestine. He also said that Jews would never succeed by assimilating into European societies.
In 1881, pogroms in Russia resulted in heavy emigration to the United States. Some Russian Jews also emigrated to Palestine, as they were motivated by religious ideas of Palestine as a Jewish homeland.
In 1893, Nathan Birnbaum introduced the term Zionism.
In 1896, the Austrian Jew Theodor Herzl published the book The Jewish State, in which he declared that the cure for anti-Semitism was the establishment of a Jewish state. As he saw it, the best place to establish this state was in Palestine, but the precise geographical location of the proposed Jewish state was not set in stone.
In 1897, the First Zionist Congress was held in Basel in Switzerland. 200 delegates attended. The Basel Program was formulated which called for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, where Jews could live safely under public law. The World Zionist organization was also established, and established its headquarters in Vienna, Austria.
In 1903, Great Britain offered an area of 15,500 square kilometers in Uganda in Africa, an area of virgin land to the Jews of the world, where a Jewish homeland could be established.
In 1905, the Seventh Zionist Congress refused Britain’s Uganda proposal. Israel Zangwill formed the Jewish Territorial organization, which sought to find territory for a Jewish state, no matter where this would be. His organization got only few supporters.
In 1905, after the Russian revolution was defeated, many young Jews emigrated from Russia.
In 1917, the Balfour Declaration, issued by the British foreign secretary, gave official British support to the work on establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
In 1922, Great Britain gave the World Zionist organization the mandate to administer Jewish immigration and settlement in Palestine. This immigration and settlement was funded by American Jews.
In 1939, the British “White Paper” gave the Arabs of Palestine de facto control over Jewish immigration.
In 1942, a call was issued from Zionist leaders for the establishment of a Jewish state in all of western Palestine, when World War II ended.
On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was founded. The World Zionist organization continued to back Jewish immigration to Israel.
In the 1970s, the World Zionist organization used its influence to help Jews in the Soviet Union to immigrate to Israel.
On November 10, 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 3379, in which Zionism was declared “racist”, with 72 votes to 35 (32 abstentions).
On December 16, 1991, the United Nations General Assembly revoked Resolution 3379, with 111 votes to 25 (with 13 abstentions).
Zionism is a Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews (Hebrew: Eretz Yisraʾel, “the Land of Israel”). Though Zionism originated in eastern and central Europe in the latter part of the 19th century, it is in many ways a continuation of the ancient nationalist attachment of the Jews and of the Jewish religion to the historical region of Palestine, where one of the hills of ancient Jerusalem was called Zion.
In the 16th and 17th centuries a number of “messiahs” came forward trying to persuade Jews to “return” to Palestine. The Haskala (“Enlightenment”) movement of the late 18th century, however, urged Jews to assimilate into Western secular culture. In the early 19th century interest in a return of the Jews to Palestine was kept alive mostly by Christian millenarians. Despite the Haskala, eastern European Jews did not assimilate and in reaction to tsarist pogroms formed the Ḥovevei Ẕiyyon (“Lovers of Zion”) to promote the settlement of Jewish farmers and artisans in Palestine.
A political turn was given to Zionism by Theodor Herzl, an Austrian journalist who regarded assimilation as most desirable but, in view of anti-Semitism, impossible to realize. Thus, he argued, if Jews were forced by external pressure to form a nation, they could lead a normal existence only through concentration in one territory. In 1897 Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress at Basel, Switzerland, which drew up the Basel program of the movement, stating that “Zionism strives to create for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by public law.”
The center of the movement was established in Vienna, where Herzl published the official weekly Die Welt (“The World”). Zionist congresses met yearly until 1901 and then every two years. When the Ottoman government refused Herzl’s request for Palestinian autonomy, he found support in Great Britain. In 1903, the British government offered 6,000 square miles (15,500 square km) of uninhabited Uganda for settlement, but the Zionists held out for Palestine.
At the death of Herzl in 1904, the leadership moved from Vienna to Cologne, then to Berlin. Prior to World War I, Zionism represented only a minority of Jews, mostly from Russia but led by Austrians and Germans. It developed propaganda through orators and pamphlets, created its own newspapers, and gave an impetus to what was called a “Jewish renaissance” in letters and arts. The development of the Modern Hebrew language largely took place during this period.
The failure of the Russian Revolution of 1905 and the wave of pogroms and repressions that followed caused growing numbers of Russian Jewish youth to emigrate to Palestine as pioneer settlers. By 1914 there were about 90,000 Jews in Palestine; 13,000 settlers lived in 43 Jewish agricultural settlements, many of them supported by the French Jewish philanthropist Baron Edmond de Rothschild.
Upon the outbreak of World War I political Zionism reasserted itself, and its leadership passed to Russian Jews living in England. Two such Zionists, Chaim Weizmann and Nahum Sokolow, were instrumental in obtaining the Balfour Declaration from Great Britain (November 2, 1917), which promised British support for the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine. The declaration was included in Britain’s League of Nations mandate over Palestine (1922).
In the following years the Zionists built up the Jewish urban and rural settlements in Palestine, perfecting autonomous organizations and solidifying Jewish cultural life and Hebrew education. In March 1925 the Jewish population in Palestine was officially estimated at 108,000, and it had risen to about 238,000 (20 percent of the population) by 1933. Jewish immigration remained relatively slow, however, until the rise of Hitlerism in Europe. Nevertheless, the Arab population feared Palestine eventually would become a Jewish state and bitterly resisted Zionism and the British policy supporting it. Several Arab revolts, especially in 1929 and 1936–39, caused the British to devise schemes to reconcile the Arab and Zionist demands.
Hitlerism and the large-scale extermination of European Jews led many Jews to seek refuge in Palestine and many others, especially in the United States, to embrace Zionism. As tensions grew among Arabs and Zionists, Britain submitted the Palestine problem first to Anglo-United States discussion for solution and later to the United Nations, which on November 29, 1947, proposed partition of the country into separate Arab and Jewish states and the internationalization of Jerusalem. The creation of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, brought about the Arab–Israeli war of 1948–49, in the course of which Israel obtained more land than had been provided by the United Nations resolution, and drove out 800,000 Arabs who became displaced persons known as Palestinians. Thus, 50 years after the first Zionist congress and 30 years after the Balfour Declaration, Zionism achieved its aim of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine, but at the same time it became an armed camp surrounded by hostile Arab nations and Palestinian “liberation” organizations engaged in terrorism in and outside of Israel.
During the next two decades Zionist organizations in many countries continued to raise financial support for Israel and to encourage Jews to immigrate there. Most Jews, however, reject the view propagated by many very Orthodox Jews in Israel that the Jews outside Israel were living in “exile” and could live a full life only in Israel.
Zirids
Zirids (Banu Ziri). Name of two medieval dynasties in the Muslim west:
The Zirids of North Africa were a Berber dynasty in Tunisia and northern Algeria which ruled from 971 to 1152. The Zirids of Ifriqiya (r. 971-1152) were Berbers of the Sanhaja confederation. Their main capitals were al-Mansuriyya in 971, Kairouan in 1048, and Mahdiya from 1057. The Banu Ziri, clients of the Fatimids, from 935 they were resident in the stronghold of Ashir near Algiers under Ziri ibn Manad, who fell in the service of the Fatimids in 971. Ziri ibn Manad had founded Ashir about 940 as a bulwark against the Zanata Maghrawa, allies of the Umayyads of Cordoba. He thus rendered service to the Fatimids, especially by relieving al-Mahdiyya when it was besieged by the Khariji Abu Yazid.
When the Fatimid al-Mu‘izz li-Din Allah left for Egypt, he appointed Yusuf Buluggin I ibn Ziri (Ziri ibn Manad’s son) governor of Ifriqiya. Buluggin (971-984) became the founder of the Zirid dynasty. Buluggin became the largely independent governor of Tunisia and northern Algeria (Constantine region) and conquered territories in the west stretching as far as Ceuta. Under his successors, there followed violent battles against rival Berber tribes.
In 995, what were later to be the Zirids of Granada, and in 1007 the Hammadids, broke away. Under Badis (r. 996-1016) an amicable division of the Zirids into two kingdoms took place, one in the west, which went to the Hammadids who lived on the Qal‘a, and the other in the east to the Zirids with Qayrawan as capital. Al-Mu‘izz (r. 1016-1062) threw off Fatimid suzerainty, but he was defeated by the Arab nomad tribes of the Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym, sent by the Fatimid Caliph in Cairo al-Mustansir bi-‘llah. Al-Muizz (1016-1062) became subject to the caliph of Baghdad in 1045, whereupon the Fatimids started the Banu Hilal invasion of North Africa in 1057.
Under Tamim (1062-1108), Zirid rule became restricted to the coastal towns of Tunisia. His successors made repeated attempts to retake command of the sea from the Normans of Sicily, who, in 1148, took al-Mahdiyya. Under the sovereignty of Roger II of Sicily from 1148, the last Zirid ruler, al-Hasan (r. 1121-1152), finally surrendered Algiers, their last city, to the Almohads in 1152.
The Zirids of Granada (r. 1012-1090) were a secondary branch of the Zirids of Ifriqiya. They founded an independent principality with Granada as capital at the time of the dismemberment of the Umayyad caliphate of Cordoba. The founder of this dynasty was Zawi ibn Ziri. His nephew and successor Habbus ibn Maksan (r. 1025-1038) appointed the Jew Samuel ibn Naghzala as vizier, an unprecedented occurrence in Muslim Spain. The latter’s son Joseph ibn Naghzala endeavored to establish a Jewish principality in Granada but was killed in 1066, together with several thousand Granada Jews. The citadel of the town was built by Habbus and enlarged by the latter’s son Badis (r. 1038-1073).
The Zirids of Granada were the rulers of the taifa kingdoms of Granada which ruled from 1012 to 1090 and Malaga from 1058 to 1090. Their leader, Zawi ibn Ziri (Zavi ibn Ziri) (1012-1019), from 995 hostile pretender to the Zirids of North Africa and leader of the Berber contingents in southern Spain, seized power in Granada following the collapse of the caliphate of Cordoba in 1012. Under his successors, Habbus (r. 1019-1038), Badis (r.1038-1073), and Abdallah (r. 1073-1090), Granada became the most important cultural center of southern Spain. In 1058, the Zirids also acquired authority over Malaga but were finally ousted by the Almoravids in 1090. Almoravid governors were installed at Granada and Malaga in 1090.
The Zirid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Ṣanhājah Berbers whose various branches ruled in Ifrīqīyah (Tunisia and eastern Algeria) and Granada (972–1152). Rising to prominence in the mountains of Kabylie, Algeria, where they established their first capital, Ashīr, the Zīrids became allies of the Fāṭimids of al-Qayrawān. Their loyal support prompted the Fāṭimid caliph al-Muʿizz, when moving to his new capital of Cairo (972), to appoint Yūsuf Buluggīn I ibn Zīrī governor of al-Qayrawān and any other territory the Zīrids might reclaim from their enemies, the Zanātah tribesmen. The Zīrid state under Buluggīn accordingly expanded its boundaries westward as far as Sabtah (now Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Morocco) on the Strait of Gibraltar. In the reign of Bādīs ibn al-Manṣūr (995–1016) it was divided between the Zīrids at al-Qayrawān in the east and their kinsmen, the Ḥammādids, at Qalʿah (in Algeria). In 1048, encouraged by economic prosperity, the Zīrids under al-Muʿizz (1016–62) declared themselves independent of the Fāṭimids and their Shīʿī doctrine. The Fāṭimids responded (1052) by sending the Banū Hilāl and Banū Sulaym Bedouins into the Maghrib. Cut off from traditional routes to the east, North Africa fell into a state of anarchy—the countryside was devastated, the peasant economy was ruined, and many settled communities reverted to nomadism. The Zīrids, forced to abandon al-Qayrawān, retreated to Mahdīyah, but their shattered state was not long able to survive coastal attacks by Sicilian Normans and finally fell in 1148. In 1067 the Ḥammādids managed to relocate in Bejaïa (Bougie), where they carried on a lively trade until conquered by the Almohads in 1152.
Another group of Zīrids, who had gone to Spain to serve in the Berber army of the Umayyad al-Muẓaffar (1002–08), established themselves as an independent dynasty (1012–90) in Granada under Zāwī ibn Zīrī. At the beginning of the 11th century the Zīrids were given the province of Ilbīra by the Spanish Umayyad caliph Sulaymān al-Mustaʿīn and by 1038 had extended this kingdom to include Jaén and Cabra. Málaga was taken from the Ḥammūdids c. 1058 by Bādīs ibn Ḥabbūs and became the second center of Zīrid rule in Spain. Despite their support of the Almohad Yūsuf ibn Tāshufīn at the Battle of Zallāqah in 1086, these Zīrids were overthrown by the Almohads in 1090.
A list of Zirid rulers includes:
* Abul-Futuh Sayf ad-Dawla Buluggin ibn Ziri (973-983)
* Abul-Fat'h al-Mansur ibn Buluggin (983-995)
* Abu Qatada Nasir ad-Dawla Badis ibn Mansur (995-1016)
* Sharaf ad-Dawla al-Muizz ibn Badis (1016–1062) declared independence from the Fatimids 1048, changed capital to Mahdia in 1057 after Kairouan was lost to the Banu Hilal.
* Abu Tahir Tamim ibn al-Muizz (1062–1108); changed the khutba to refer to the Abbasid Caliph in 1087, marking a final break with the Fatimids.
* Yahya ibn Tamim (1108–1131)
* Ali ibn Yahya (1115–1121)
* Abul-Hasan al-Hasan ibn Ali (1121–1152)
Banu Ziri see Zirids
Zirids (Banu Ziri). Name of two medieval dynasties in the Muslim west:
The Zirids of North Africa were a Berber dynasty in Tunisia and northern Algeria which ruled from 971 to 1152. The Zirids of Ifriqiya (r. 971-1152) were Berbers of the Sanhaja confederation. Their main capitals were al-Mansuriyya in 971, Kairouan in 1048, and Mahdiya from 1057. The Banu Ziri, clients of the Fatimids, from 935 they were resident in the stronghold of Ashir near Algiers under Ziri ibn Manad, who fell in the service of the Fatimids in 971. Ziri ibn Manad had founded Ashir about 940 as a bulwark against the Zanata Maghrawa, allies of the Umayyads of Cordoba. He thus rendered service to the Fatimids, especially by relieving al-Mahdiyya when it was besieged by the Khariji Abu Yazid.
When the Fatimid al-Mu‘izz li-Din Allah left for Egypt, he appointed Yusuf Buluggin I ibn Ziri (Ziri ibn Manad’s son) governor of Ifriqiya. Buluggin (971-984) became the founder of the Zirid dynasty. Buluggin became the largely independent governor of Tunisia and northern Algeria (Constantine region) and conquered territories in the west stretching as far as Ceuta. Under his successors, there followed violent battles against rival Berber tribes.
In 995, what were later to be the Zirids of Granada, and in 1007 the Hammadids, broke away. Under Badis (r. 996-1016) an amicable division of the Zirids into two kingdoms took place, one in the west, which went to the Hammadids who lived on the Qal‘a, and the other in the east to the Zirids with Qayrawan as capital. Al-Mu‘izz (r. 1016-1062) threw off Fatimid suzerainty, but he was defeated by the Arab nomad tribes of the Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym, sent by the Fatimid Caliph in Cairo al-Mustansir bi-‘llah. Al-Muizz (1016-1062) became subject to the caliph of Baghdad in 1045, whereupon the Fatimids started the Banu Hilal invasion of North Africa in 1057.
Under Tamim (1062-1108), Zirid rule became restricted to the coastal towns of Tunisia. His successors made repeated attempts to retake command of the sea from the Normans of Sicily, who, in 1148, took al-Mahdiyya. Under the sovereignty of Roger II of Sicily from 1148, the last Zirid ruler, al-Hasan (r. 1121-1152), finally surrendered Algiers, their last city, to the Almohads in 1152.
The Zirids of Granada (r. 1012-1090) were a secondary branch of the Zirids of Ifriqiya. They founded an independent principality with Granada as capital at the time of the dismemberment of the Umayyad caliphate of Cordoba. The founder of this dynasty was Zawi ibn Ziri. His nephew and successor Habbus ibn Maksan (r. 1025-1038) appointed the Jew Samuel ibn Naghzala as vizier, an unprecedented occurrence in Muslim Spain. The latter’s son Joseph ibn Naghzala endeavored to establish a Jewish principality in Granada but was killed in 1066, together with several thousand Granada Jews. The citadel of the town was built by Habbus and enlarged by the latter’s son Badis (r. 1038-1073).
The Zirids of Granada were the rulers of the taifa kingdoms of Granada which ruled from 1012 to 1090 and Malaga from 1058 to 1090. Their leader, Zawi ibn Ziri (Zavi ibn Ziri) (1012-1019), from 995 hostile pretender to the Zirids of North Africa and leader of the Berber contingents in southern Spain, seized power in Granada following the collapse of the caliphate of Cordoba in 1012. Under his successors, Habbus (r. 1019-1038), Badis (r.1038-1073), and Abdallah (r. 1073-1090), Granada became the most important cultural center of southern Spain. In 1058, the Zirids also acquired authority over Malaga but were finally ousted by the Almoravids in 1090. Almoravid governors were installed at Granada and Malaga in 1090.
The Zirid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Ṣanhājah Berbers whose various branches ruled in Ifrīqīyah (Tunisia and eastern Algeria) and Granada (972–1152). Rising to prominence in the mountains of Kabylie, Algeria, where they established their first capital, Ashīr, the Zīrids became allies of the Fāṭimids of al-Qayrawān. Their loyal support prompted the Fāṭimid caliph al-Muʿizz, when moving to his new capital of Cairo (972), to appoint Yūsuf Buluggīn I ibn Zīrī governor of al-Qayrawān and any other territory the Zīrids might reclaim from their enemies, the Zanātah tribesmen. The Zīrid state under Buluggīn accordingly expanded its boundaries westward as far as Sabtah (now Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Morocco) on the Strait of Gibraltar. In the reign of Bādīs ibn al-Manṣūr (995–1016) it was divided between the Zīrids at al-Qayrawān in the east and their kinsmen, the Ḥammādids, at Qalʿah (in Algeria). In 1048, encouraged by economic prosperity, the Zīrids under al-Muʿizz (1016–62) declared themselves independent of the Fāṭimids and their Shīʿī doctrine. The Fāṭimids responded (1052) by sending the Banū Hilāl and Banū Sulaym Bedouins into the Maghrib. Cut off from traditional routes to the east, North Africa fell into a state of anarchy—the countryside was devastated, the peasant economy was ruined, and many settled communities reverted to nomadism. The Zīrids, forced to abandon al-Qayrawān, retreated to Mahdīyah, but their shattered state was not long able to survive coastal attacks by Sicilian Normans and finally fell in 1148. In 1067 the Ḥammādids managed to relocate in Bejaïa (Bougie), where they carried on a lively trade until conquered by the Almohads in 1152.
Another group of Zīrids, who had gone to Spain to serve in the Berber army of the Umayyad al-Muẓaffar (1002–08), established themselves as an independent dynasty (1012–90) in Granada under Zāwī ibn Zīrī. At the beginning of the 11th century the Zīrids were given the province of Ilbīra by the Spanish Umayyad caliph Sulaymān al-Mustaʿīn and by 1038 had extended this kingdom to include Jaén and Cabra. Málaga was taken from the Ḥammūdids c. 1058 by Bādīs ibn Ḥabbūs and became the second center of Zīrid rule in Spain. Despite their support of the Almohad Yūsuf ibn Tāshufīn at the Battle of Zallāqah in 1086, these Zīrids were overthrown by the Almohads in 1090.
A list of Zirid rulers includes:
* Abul-Futuh Sayf ad-Dawla Buluggin ibn Ziri (973-983)
* Abul-Fat'h al-Mansur ibn Buluggin (983-995)
* Abu Qatada Nasir ad-Dawla Badis ibn Mansur (995-1016)
* Sharaf ad-Dawla al-Muizz ibn Badis (1016–1062) declared independence from the Fatimids 1048, changed capital to Mahdia in 1057 after Kairouan was lost to the Banu Hilal.
* Abu Tahir Tamim ibn al-Muizz (1062–1108); changed the khutba to refer to the Abbasid Caliph in 1087, marking a final break with the Fatimids.
* Yahya ibn Tamim (1108–1131)
* Ali ibn Yahya (1115–1121)
* Abul-Hasan al-Hasan ibn Ali (1121–1152)
Banu Ziri see Zirids
Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali
Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali (Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali Ziryab) (Abu l-Hasan ‘Ali Ibn Nafi‘) (Ziryab) (Zaryab) (Zorab) (c.789-857). The greatest musician of Muslim Spain. He lived during the ninth century. He was first at the court of the ‘Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid, then entered the service of the Aghlabid Ziyadat Allah I (r. 817-838), afterwards went to the court of the Spanish Umayyad al-Hakam I, and was on intimate terms with the latter’s successor ‘Abd al-Rahman II.
Abu l-Hasan ‘Ali Ibn Nafi‘, nicknamed Ziryab, was a Persian or Kurdish polymath: a poet, musician, singer, cosmetologist, fashion designer, celebrity, trendsetter, strategist, astronomer, botanist and geographer. He was active at the Umayyad court of Córdoba in Islamic Iberia. The name "Ziryab" (Blackbird) was given to him for his dark complexion, eloquence, and melodious voice. He first achieved notoriety at the Abbasid court in Baghdad, Iraq, his birth place, as a performer and student of the great musician and composer, Ishaq al-Mawsili.
Ziryab was a gifted pupil of Ishaq al-Mawsili. He had to leave Baghdad when his skills as a musician surpassed those of his teacher. He moved to Córdoba in the southern Iberian Peninsula and was accepted as court musician in the court of Abd al-Rahman II of the Umayyad Dynasty (822-52).
By the 8th century Muslims occupied most of the Iberian peninsula. While Muslims dominated the Iberia territorially, Christians and Jews were very prominent throughout al-Andalus. Before the Islamic occupation of Iberia several cultures such as Christians, Iberians, Berbers, and Jews created many unique musical styles in Iberia. Christians or Muslims were most likely the key contributors to the music of the early decades during the Muslim occupation of Spain. After the occupation of Persia by Muslim Arabs in the 7th century, Arabs were greatly influenced by the richness of Persian culture and way of life. As the Islamic armies conquered more ground during their wars in the centuries that followed, this culture was spread from western China to the Iberian Peninsula and music was no exception. During the 8th and 9th centuries, a wealth of musicians and artists flocked toward Iberia. While many talented artists immigrated to Iberia, Ziryab surpassed all of them with his extraordinary musical talent.
There are conflicting tales of the early years of Ziryab. Ziryab was most likely born in Baghdad, and was trained in the art of music from a young age. During that time Baghdad was the center of music and culture in the East. According to many sources the accomplished and talented musician Ishaq al-Mawsili was Ziryab’s teacher. The debate continues about how he arrived in al-Andalus, but it is clear he offended his patron or a powerful figure with his musical talent.
One account recorded by al-Maqqari says that Ziryab outperformed his mentor Ishaq al-Mawsili at a concert. Out of jealousy, Ziryab was told to leave the city or face the penalty of death.
Ziryab left Baghdad during the reign of Harun al-Rashid in the year 820. He then traveled first to Damascus in (Syria), then to Ifriqiyya (Tunisia), where he lived at the Aghlabid court of Ziyadat Allah (ruled 816-837). Ziryab fell out with Ziyadat Allah but was invited to Al-Andalus by the Umayyad prince, Al-Hakam I. He found on arrival in 822 that the prince had died, but the prince's son, Abd ar-Rahman II, renewed his father's invitation. Ziryab settled in Córdoba where he was honored with a monthly salary of 200 gold dinars, he soon became even more celebrated as the court's aficionado of food, fashion, singing and music. He introduced standards of excellence in all these fields as well as setting new norms for elegant and noble manners. Ziryab became such a prominent cultural figure, and was given a huge salary from Abd al Rahman II. He was an intimate companion of the prince and established a school of music that trained singers and musicians which influenced musical performance for at least two generations after him. In the 9th century he introduced the New Year celebration based on the Iranian holiday Nowruz to the courts of Andalusia in Iberia and thence to Europe.
Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali Ziryab see Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali
Abu l-Hasan ‘Ali Ibn Nafi‘ see Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali
Ziryab see Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali
Zaryab see Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali
Zorab see Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali
Blackbird see Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali
Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali (Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali Ziryab) (Abu l-Hasan ‘Ali Ibn Nafi‘) (Ziryab) (Zaryab) (Zorab) (c.789-857). The greatest musician of Muslim Spain. He lived during the ninth century. He was first at the court of the ‘Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid, then entered the service of the Aghlabid Ziyadat Allah I (r. 817-838), afterwards went to the court of the Spanish Umayyad al-Hakam I, and was on intimate terms with the latter’s successor ‘Abd al-Rahman II.
Abu l-Hasan ‘Ali Ibn Nafi‘, nicknamed Ziryab, was a Persian or Kurdish polymath: a poet, musician, singer, cosmetologist, fashion designer, celebrity, trendsetter, strategist, astronomer, botanist and geographer. He was active at the Umayyad court of Córdoba in Islamic Iberia. The name "Ziryab" (Blackbird) was given to him for his dark complexion, eloquence, and melodious voice. He first achieved notoriety at the Abbasid court in Baghdad, Iraq, his birth place, as a performer and student of the great musician and composer, Ishaq al-Mawsili.
Ziryab was a gifted pupil of Ishaq al-Mawsili. He had to leave Baghdad when his skills as a musician surpassed those of his teacher. He moved to Córdoba in the southern Iberian Peninsula and was accepted as court musician in the court of Abd al-Rahman II of the Umayyad Dynasty (822-52).
By the 8th century Muslims occupied most of the Iberian peninsula. While Muslims dominated the Iberia territorially, Christians and Jews were very prominent throughout al-Andalus. Before the Islamic occupation of Iberia several cultures such as Christians, Iberians, Berbers, and Jews created many unique musical styles in Iberia. Christians or Muslims were most likely the key contributors to the music of the early decades during the Muslim occupation of Spain. After the occupation of Persia by Muslim Arabs in the 7th century, Arabs were greatly influenced by the richness of Persian culture and way of life. As the Islamic armies conquered more ground during their wars in the centuries that followed, this culture was spread from western China to the Iberian Peninsula and music was no exception. During the 8th and 9th centuries, a wealth of musicians and artists flocked toward Iberia. While many talented artists immigrated to Iberia, Ziryab surpassed all of them with his extraordinary musical talent.
There are conflicting tales of the early years of Ziryab. Ziryab was most likely born in Baghdad, and was trained in the art of music from a young age. During that time Baghdad was the center of music and culture in the East. According to many sources the accomplished and talented musician Ishaq al-Mawsili was Ziryab’s teacher. The debate continues about how he arrived in al-Andalus, but it is clear he offended his patron or a powerful figure with his musical talent.
One account recorded by al-Maqqari says that Ziryab outperformed his mentor Ishaq al-Mawsili at a concert. Out of jealousy, Ziryab was told to leave the city or face the penalty of death.
Ziryab left Baghdad during the reign of Harun al-Rashid in the year 820. He then traveled first to Damascus in (Syria), then to Ifriqiyya (Tunisia), where he lived at the Aghlabid court of Ziyadat Allah (ruled 816-837). Ziryab fell out with Ziyadat Allah but was invited to Al-Andalus by the Umayyad prince, Al-Hakam I. He found on arrival in 822 that the prince had died, but the prince's son, Abd ar-Rahman II, renewed his father's invitation. Ziryab settled in Córdoba where he was honored with a monthly salary of 200 gold dinars, he soon became even more celebrated as the court's aficionado of food, fashion, singing and music. He introduced standards of excellence in all these fields as well as setting new norms for elegant and noble manners. Ziryab became such a prominent cultural figure, and was given a huge salary from Abd al Rahman II. He was an intimate companion of the prince and established a school of music that trained singers and musicians which influenced musical performance for at least two generations after him. In the 9th century he introduced the New Year celebration based on the Iranian holiday Nowruz to the courts of Andalusia in Iberia and thence to Europe.
Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali Ziryab see Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali
Abu l-Hasan ‘Ali Ibn Nafi‘ see Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali
Ziryab see Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali
Zaryab see Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali
Zorab see Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali
Blackbird see Ziryab, Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali
Ziyad ibn Abihi
Ziyad ibn Abihi (Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan) (d. 673). Viceroy of Iraq under Caliph Mu‘awiya. His name, “Ziyad, son of his father” indicates that the name of his father was not known. He was a member of the Banu Thaqafi. Having at first served ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, he caught the eye of the Umayyad Caliph Mu‘awiya I and when Ziyad rejected the first advances, Mu‘awiya recognized him as a son of Abu Sufyan, thus making him his half-brother. He was given the governorship of Basra, and in his famous inaugural speech announced a strict program. This having led to order in town and province, Mu‘awiya entrusted him also with Kufa, where he restored order as well. To checkmate, the ‘Alid opposition and that of the Arab tribes settled in Iraq, he moved 50,000 Bedouins to Khurasan.
Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan was a Muslim general and administrator and a member of the clan of the Umayyads.
Ziyad was born in Taif (a city in modern day Saudi Arabia) to a member of the Banu Fuqaim, of unknown parentage.
The Umayyad Mu`awiyah Sufyan, governor at Damascus, opposed Ali's rule and repeatedly tried to lure his kinsman Ziyad to his camp.
In 661, Ali was assassinated and Mu`awiyah succeeded as Caliph. In 662, he sent Mughira, his governor at Kufa, to Istakhr to recall Ziyad to Damascus and Ziyad obeyed.
In 664, Muawiya and Ziyad reached an agreement and the Caliph recognized Ziyad as a brother. Ziyad then adopted the name ibn Abi Sufyan and Muawiya appointed him governor at Basra, replacing the Umayyad `Abd Allah, who had proved a great general but a poor administrator. This act was then and later considered a scandal in Islam, criticized in contemporary satire and by the 13th century historian Ibn al-Athir:
Critics wrote that Muawiya's decision to declare Ziyad as his brother, and thus allowing Ziyad to receive inheritance from Abu Sufyan, to be against the Sharia.
In 670, Mughira governor of Kufa died of plague, and the caliph Mu'awiya handed the administration of that city to Ziyad as well. Ziyad altered the city's plan from seven districts to quarters. Hujr ibn Adi soon agitated against Ziyad, and Ziyad placed him in irons and shipped him to Damascus.
Ziyad also planned great mosques where he ruled, as a symbol of his supremacy and that of his religion.
In 671, Ziyad sent 50,000 Arab troops to the Iranian oasis of Merv as a colony. This colony retained its native Kufan sympathies and became the nucleus of Khurasan.
Ziyad died in 673, and Mu`awiyah appointed his son Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad as successor.
In Shia traditions, Ziyad's notoriety as a brutal master outlived him. By tradition, Hasan ibn Ali used to say that the testimony of four companions will not be accepted and those four are Mu'awiya, Amr bin Aas, Mugheera (bin Shuba) and Ziyad (bin Abi Sufyan).
Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan see Ziyad ibn Abihi
Ziyad ibn Abihi (Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan) (d. 673). Viceroy of Iraq under Caliph Mu‘awiya. His name, “Ziyad, son of his father” indicates that the name of his father was not known. He was a member of the Banu Thaqafi. Having at first served ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, he caught the eye of the Umayyad Caliph Mu‘awiya I and when Ziyad rejected the first advances, Mu‘awiya recognized him as a son of Abu Sufyan, thus making him his half-brother. He was given the governorship of Basra, and in his famous inaugural speech announced a strict program. This having led to order in town and province, Mu‘awiya entrusted him also with Kufa, where he restored order as well. To checkmate, the ‘Alid opposition and that of the Arab tribes settled in Iraq, he moved 50,000 Bedouins to Khurasan.
Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan was a Muslim general and administrator and a member of the clan of the Umayyads.
Ziyad was born in Taif (a city in modern day Saudi Arabia) to a member of the Banu Fuqaim, of unknown parentage.
The Umayyad Mu`awiyah Sufyan, governor at Damascus, opposed Ali's rule and repeatedly tried to lure his kinsman Ziyad to his camp.
In 661, Ali was assassinated and Mu`awiyah succeeded as Caliph. In 662, he sent Mughira, his governor at Kufa, to Istakhr to recall Ziyad to Damascus and Ziyad obeyed.
In 664, Muawiya and Ziyad reached an agreement and the Caliph recognized Ziyad as a brother. Ziyad then adopted the name ibn Abi Sufyan and Muawiya appointed him governor at Basra, replacing the Umayyad `Abd Allah, who had proved a great general but a poor administrator. This act was then and later considered a scandal in Islam, criticized in contemporary satire and by the 13th century historian Ibn al-Athir:
Critics wrote that Muawiya's decision to declare Ziyad as his brother, and thus allowing Ziyad to receive inheritance from Abu Sufyan, to be against the Sharia.
In 670, Mughira governor of Kufa died of plague, and the caliph Mu'awiya handed the administration of that city to Ziyad as well. Ziyad altered the city's plan from seven districts to quarters. Hujr ibn Adi soon agitated against Ziyad, and Ziyad placed him in irons and shipped him to Damascus.
Ziyad also planned great mosques where he ruled, as a symbol of his supremacy and that of his religion.
In 671, Ziyad sent 50,000 Arab troops to the Iranian oasis of Merv as a colony. This colony retained its native Kufan sympathies and became the nucleus of Khurasan.
Ziyad died in 673, and Mu`awiyah appointed his son Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad as successor.
In Shia traditions, Ziyad's notoriety as a brutal master outlived him. By tradition, Hasan ibn Ali used to say that the testimony of four companions will not be accepted and those four are Mu'awiya, Amr bin Aas, Mugheera (bin Shuba) and Ziyad (bin Abi Sufyan).
Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan see Ziyad ibn Abihi
Ziyadids
Ziyadids. Yemeni dynasty which ruled from 819 to 1018 with its capital at Zabid. The dynasty was founded by Muhammad ibn Ziyad. His grandson Abu’l-Jaysh Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ruled for an extremely long period (r.904-981). In 989, ‘Abd Allah ibn Qahtan, who restored the power of the Ya‘furids for a short time by taking and burning Zabid, put an end to the dynasty of the Ziyadids. The actual ruler by that time was the Abyssinian slave vizier al-Husayn ibn Salama who, by making pilgrim roads with mosques and wells, secured a long lasting fame. He was followed by his slave Marjan as independent vizier, who in turn divided the government between his two slaves Najah, who founded the dynasty of the Najahids who were to rule in the northern provinces, and Nafis (or Anis) who was to rule in the southern provinces, including the capital.
The Ziyadid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty that ruled western Yemen from 819 until 1018 from the capital city of Zabid. The dynasty was formed by the Abbasid Caliph, al-Ma'mun, to manage 'Alid Shi'a influence. The first ruler was Muhammad ibn Ziyad, the Ziyad family quickly declared independence.
In 1018, the city of Zabid fell to the Najahid dynasty under Najah after the Ziyadi ruler was murdered.
The ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Maʾmūn transferred the rule of Yemen to the Ziyād family to offset the intrigues of the ʿAlids—the Shīʿite opponents of the ʿAbbāsids—who had made southern Arabia their headquarters. The first Ziyādid, Muḥammad ibn Ziyād, firmly established himself along the Yemeni coast (Tihāmah) with the support of a Khorāsānian army and cavalry. He was also recognized by the tribal chiefs along the edges of the highlands. Ṣanʿāʾ in the interior, however, remained under ʿAbbāsid control, and, when the Banū Yaʿfur—the pre-Islāmic nobility—set up an independent dynasty there in 859, they soon forced the Ziyādī ruler Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad (859–902) to cede territory in return for tribute. More territory, including Zabīd itself, was lost to the sectarian Qarmaṭians after Ibrāhīm’s death, and records of his successor were obscured. Abū al-Jaysh Isḥāq, however, restored Ziyādid power and territory in a celebrated reign (904–981).
In 989 the Ziyādid capital was seized and burned by the Banū Yaʿfur, and effective power passed from the Ziyādids to their Ethiopian slave-viziers. The Mamelūke (slave) al-Ḥusayn ibn Salāmah, who had preserved the kingdom from collapse after the Yaʿfurid attack, was succeeded by his slave Marjān, who divided the government of the kingdom between two other Mamelūkes, the northern provinces falling to Najāḥ, the capital and southern regions coming under the rule of Nafīs. In 1018 the last Ziyādid ruler was murdered by Nafīs. Control of Zabīd finally fell to Najāḥ, however, and in 1022 the Najāḥids began their rule in Yemen.
Ziyadids. Yemeni dynasty which ruled from 819 to 1018 with its capital at Zabid. The dynasty was founded by Muhammad ibn Ziyad. His grandson Abu’l-Jaysh Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ruled for an extremely long period (r.904-981). In 989, ‘Abd Allah ibn Qahtan, who restored the power of the Ya‘furids for a short time by taking and burning Zabid, put an end to the dynasty of the Ziyadids. The actual ruler by that time was the Abyssinian slave vizier al-Husayn ibn Salama who, by making pilgrim roads with mosques and wells, secured a long lasting fame. He was followed by his slave Marjan as independent vizier, who in turn divided the government between his two slaves Najah, who founded the dynasty of the Najahids who were to rule in the northern provinces, and Nafis (or Anis) who was to rule in the southern provinces, including the capital.
The Ziyadid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty that ruled western Yemen from 819 until 1018 from the capital city of Zabid. The dynasty was formed by the Abbasid Caliph, al-Ma'mun, to manage 'Alid Shi'a influence. The first ruler was Muhammad ibn Ziyad, the Ziyad family quickly declared independence.
In 1018, the city of Zabid fell to the Najahid dynasty under Najah after the Ziyadi ruler was murdered.
The ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Maʾmūn transferred the rule of Yemen to the Ziyād family to offset the intrigues of the ʿAlids—the Shīʿite opponents of the ʿAbbāsids—who had made southern Arabia their headquarters. The first Ziyādid, Muḥammad ibn Ziyād, firmly established himself along the Yemeni coast (Tihāmah) with the support of a Khorāsānian army and cavalry. He was also recognized by the tribal chiefs along the edges of the highlands. Ṣanʿāʾ in the interior, however, remained under ʿAbbāsid control, and, when the Banū Yaʿfur—the pre-Islāmic nobility—set up an independent dynasty there in 859, they soon forced the Ziyādī ruler Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad (859–902) to cede territory in return for tribute. More territory, including Zabīd itself, was lost to the sectarian Qarmaṭians after Ibrāhīm’s death, and records of his successor were obscured. Abū al-Jaysh Isḥāq, however, restored Ziyādid power and territory in a celebrated reign (904–981).
In 989 the Ziyādid capital was seized and burned by the Banū Yaʿfur, and effective power passed from the Ziyādids to their Ethiopian slave-viziers. The Mamelūke (slave) al-Ḥusayn ibn Salāmah, who had preserved the kingdom from collapse after the Yaʿfurid attack, was succeeded by his slave Marjān, who divided the government of the kingdom between two other Mamelūkes, the northern provinces falling to Najāḥ, the capital and southern regions coming under the rule of Nafīs. In 1018 the last Ziyādid ruler was murdered by Nafīs. Control of Zabīd finally fell to Najāḥ, however, and in 1022 the Najāḥids began their rule in Yemen.
Ziyaniyya
Ziyaniyya. Branch of the Shadhili order, with its headquarters at Qenadha to the southwest of Figuig in Morocco. It was founded by Muhammad ibn Abi Ziyan (d. 1733). At the end of the nineteenth century, their specialty was the guiding and protection of caravans through the Sahara.
Ziyaniyya. Branch of the Shadhili order, with its headquarters at Qenadha to the southwest of Figuig in Morocco. It was founded by Muhammad ibn Abi Ziyan (d. 1733). At the end of the nineteenth century, their specialty was the guiding and protection of caravans through the Sahara.
Ziyarid
Ziyarid (Zeyarids). Dynasty of vassals of the Samanids, founded by Mardawij ibn Ziyar. They reigned over Tabaristan and Gurgan from 927 to 1090. Their adherence to Sunni and not Shi‘a Islam distinguished them from almost all the other Daylami dynasties.
The Ziyarids were one of the many semi-autonomous petty dynasties that flourished in northern Iran during the tenth century. The family claimed descent from the pre-Islamic local ruler of Gilan, a small province near the southwestern shores of the Caspian Sea, and was definitely related to the dominant “noble” clan in the Dakhil district near the mouth of the Safid Rud River.
The region from which the Ziyarids came was famous for the military qualities of its inhabitants: the anonymous Persian geographical treatise Hudud al-alam noted that in Dakhil and adjacent districts agriculture was left to the women and “the men have no other business but warfare.” Their aggressive energy was usually dissipated in constant tribal conflict. However, during the ninth and tenth centuries, these warriors tended to enter the armed forces of various Muslim powers and occasionally to succeed in establishing principalities of their own. This was the pattern followed by the founder of the Ziyarid “dynasty,” Mardavij ibn Ziyar.
Mardavij first appeared in the service of another Dailamite general, Asfar, who was himself acting as a vassal of the Samanid dynasty of eastern Iran. As the result of some rather murky intrigues, Mardavij was able in 930 to massacre the chiefs of the tribe to which Asfar belonged and then to persuade most of Asfar’s remaining troops to defect. Asfar then fled, and Mardavij went on to conquer a sizable territory stretching from Gorgan in northeastern Iran to Hamadan and Dinawar in the west and Ahwaz in the south. After these successes, Mardavij apparently began plans for an assault on Baghdad. Supposedly he was scheming to destroy the Abbasid caliphate, to restore the Iranian empire, or even to conquer the whole world. These grandiose plans were abruptly ended in 935 when Mardavij was assassinated by some of his four thousand Turkish slave-troops (mamluks), who were outraged by his abuse of them (and perhaps alarmed by the extent of his ambitions).
Most of Mardavij’s conquests were seized after his death by rivals, notably the Buyids, another family of Dailamite soldiers of fortune. However, the Dailamite/Gilani tribal contingents in his army remained loyal to his brother Vushmgir (935-967), who was thus able to salvage control of the Caspian provinces with his principal base of power in Gorgan. Vushmgir and his successors retained some measure of autonomy over this area by voluntarily acting as the vassals of their more powerful neighbors, who included the Buyids but more typically the rulers of eastern Iran: the Samanids, Ghaznavids, and Seljuks, in succession. Of the later Ziyarid rulers, only one, Shams al-Ma’ali Qabus (978-1012), enjoyed relative independence and was recognized as a legitimate ruler by the Abbasid caliphate. The Ziyarid dependence on the protection of the eastern Iranian dynasties and the recognition of the caliphs may explain why they, unlike many of the other dynasties of northwestern Iran, were careful to adhere to Sunni Islam in their religious policy.
The Seljuks took direct control of the Caspian provinces toward the middle of the eleventh century, but some petty Ziyarid rulers survived this takeover. The last known member of the dynasty was Gilan Shah (fl. 1080s?).
Politically, the Ziyarids were of little significance. They did make some important contributions to the cultural history of their period. Qabus extended the hospitality of his court in Gorgan to many scholars, notably the scientist and antiquarian Biruni, who dedicated his Al-athar al-baqiyya (Surviving Monuments or Chronology) to Qabus. Qabus’s grandson, Kay Ka’us, is especially noteworthy as the author of the Qabusnama, one of the finest examples of the Persian andarz (“mirror for princes”) genre of literature.
An interesting feature Ziyarid dynasty is the tower Gonbad e Ghaboos built during this era. The tomb is one of the earliest architectural monuments with a dated inscription surviving in post-Islamic Iran. The inscription reads:
"In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful; this Tower was built by the Amir Shams ol-Moali, son of the Amir, Qabus son of Voshmgir, who ordered it built during his lifetime in the lunar year 397 and the solar year 375" (1007AD).
The tomb, built of fired brick, is an enormous cylinder capped by a conical roof. The circular plan, broken by 10 flanges, is 56 feet in diameter, and the walls are 17 feet thick. The height from base to tip is 160 feet.
There were 6 rulers (amirs) in the Ziyarid dynasty. They ruled as follows:
* Mardavij 928-934
* Voshmgeer Ziyar 934-967
* Zahirodoleh Behsotoon 967-976
* Shamsol-Mo'ali Abolhassan Ghaboos Wushmgir 976-1012 (the aforementioned tower is his tomb)
* Falakol-Mo'ali Manuchehr Ghabus 1012-1031
* Anushiravan Manouchehr 1031-1043
Zeyarids see Ziyarid
Ziyarid (Zeyarids). Dynasty of vassals of the Samanids, founded by Mardawij ibn Ziyar. They reigned over Tabaristan and Gurgan from 927 to 1090. Their adherence to Sunni and not Shi‘a Islam distinguished them from almost all the other Daylami dynasties.
The Ziyarids were one of the many semi-autonomous petty dynasties that flourished in northern Iran during the tenth century. The family claimed descent from the pre-Islamic local ruler of Gilan, a small province near the southwestern shores of the Caspian Sea, and was definitely related to the dominant “noble” clan in the Dakhil district near the mouth of the Safid Rud River.
The region from which the Ziyarids came was famous for the military qualities of its inhabitants: the anonymous Persian geographical treatise Hudud al-alam noted that in Dakhil and adjacent districts agriculture was left to the women and “the men have no other business but warfare.” Their aggressive energy was usually dissipated in constant tribal conflict. However, during the ninth and tenth centuries, these warriors tended to enter the armed forces of various Muslim powers and occasionally to succeed in establishing principalities of their own. This was the pattern followed by the founder of the Ziyarid “dynasty,” Mardavij ibn Ziyar.
Mardavij first appeared in the service of another Dailamite general, Asfar, who was himself acting as a vassal of the Samanid dynasty of eastern Iran. As the result of some rather murky intrigues, Mardavij was able in 930 to massacre the chiefs of the tribe to which Asfar belonged and then to persuade most of Asfar’s remaining troops to defect. Asfar then fled, and Mardavij went on to conquer a sizable territory stretching from Gorgan in northeastern Iran to Hamadan and Dinawar in the west and Ahwaz in the south. After these successes, Mardavij apparently began plans for an assault on Baghdad. Supposedly he was scheming to destroy the Abbasid caliphate, to restore the Iranian empire, or even to conquer the whole world. These grandiose plans were abruptly ended in 935 when Mardavij was assassinated by some of his four thousand Turkish slave-troops (mamluks), who were outraged by his abuse of them (and perhaps alarmed by the extent of his ambitions).
Most of Mardavij’s conquests were seized after his death by rivals, notably the Buyids, another family of Dailamite soldiers of fortune. However, the Dailamite/Gilani tribal contingents in his army remained loyal to his brother Vushmgir (935-967), who was thus able to salvage control of the Caspian provinces with his principal base of power in Gorgan. Vushmgir and his successors retained some measure of autonomy over this area by voluntarily acting as the vassals of their more powerful neighbors, who included the Buyids but more typically the rulers of eastern Iran: the Samanids, Ghaznavids, and Seljuks, in succession. Of the later Ziyarid rulers, only one, Shams al-Ma’ali Qabus (978-1012), enjoyed relative independence and was recognized as a legitimate ruler by the Abbasid caliphate. The Ziyarid dependence on the protection of the eastern Iranian dynasties and the recognition of the caliphs may explain why they, unlike many of the other dynasties of northwestern Iran, were careful to adhere to Sunni Islam in their religious policy.
The Seljuks took direct control of the Caspian provinces toward the middle of the eleventh century, but some petty Ziyarid rulers survived this takeover. The last known member of the dynasty was Gilan Shah (fl. 1080s?).
Politically, the Ziyarids were of little significance. They did make some important contributions to the cultural history of their period. Qabus extended the hospitality of his court in Gorgan to many scholars, notably the scientist and antiquarian Biruni, who dedicated his Al-athar al-baqiyya (Surviving Monuments or Chronology) to Qabus. Qabus’s grandson, Kay Ka’us, is especially noteworthy as the author of the Qabusnama, one of the finest examples of the Persian andarz (“mirror for princes”) genre of literature.
An interesting feature Ziyarid dynasty is the tower Gonbad e Ghaboos built during this era. The tomb is one of the earliest architectural monuments with a dated inscription surviving in post-Islamic Iran. The inscription reads:
"In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful; this Tower was built by the Amir Shams ol-Moali, son of the Amir, Qabus son of Voshmgir, who ordered it built during his lifetime in the lunar year 397 and the solar year 375" (1007AD).
The tomb, built of fired brick, is an enormous cylinder capped by a conical roof. The circular plan, broken by 10 flanges, is 56 feet in diameter, and the walls are 17 feet thick. The height from base to tip is 160 feet.
There were 6 rulers (amirs) in the Ziyarid dynasty. They ruled as follows:
* Mardavij 928-934
* Voshmgeer Ziyar 934-967
* Zahirodoleh Behsotoon 967-976
* Shamsol-Mo'ali Abolhassan Ghaboos Wushmgir 976-1012 (the aforementioned tower is his tomb)
* Falakol-Mo'ali Manuchehr Ghabus 1012-1031
* Anushiravan Manouchehr 1031-1043
Zeyarids see Ziyarid
Ziya ud-Din Tabatabai, Sayyid
Ziya ud-Din Tabatabai, Sayyid (Sayyid Ziya ud-Din Tabatabai). Civilian leader of the Iranian nationalist revolt of 1921 which brought Reza Pahlavi to power.
Sayyid Ziya ud-Din Tabatabai see Ziya ud-Din Tabatabai, Sayyid
Ziya ud-Din Tabatabai, Sayyid (Sayyid Ziya ud-Din Tabatabai). Civilian leader of the Iranian nationalist revolt of 1921 which brought Reza Pahlavi to power.
Sayyid Ziya ud-Din Tabatabai see Ziya ud-Din Tabatabai, Sayyid
Zoroastrians
Zoroastrians. Practitioners of Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism is the religion of pre-Islamic Iran founded by the prophet Zoroaster. Zoroastrianism became the official creed of the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanid empires.
The fundamental tenets of the Zoroastrian faith are set forth in the Avesta (meaning something like “authoritative utterance”), a collection of theological and ritual texts in the Old Iranian language of Zoroaster’s own hymns, the Gathas (which form the core of the Avesta, only a small part of which survives), and in a later dialect called Younger Avestan. Part of the Middle Persian Zand, a translation and commentary on the Avestan text, also survives. A number of theological works that reflect ancient traditions survive in Pahlavi. Other sources include the works of Greek and Latin authors, the inscriptions of the Achaemenids and Sasanids, and the writings of later Arab historians.
Zoroaster’s tribe practiced a polytheistic religion akin to Vedic Hinduism, in which offerings were made through fire to powerful gods, the daevas (Sanskrit, deva); a drink made of the intoxicant haoma (Sanskrit, soma) was prepared ritually (Avestan, yasna; Sanskrit, yajna); and sacred verses (Avestan, manthra; Sanskrit, mantra) were composed by priests. In pagan Iran, as in Vedic India, the gods were seen to personify both human characteristics and natural phenomena and to uphold cosmic order (Sanskrit, rta; Avestan, asha; Old Persian, arta; Greek, arete). Zoroaster, himself a priest learned in ritual and trained in the composition of religious poetry, was troubled by the often amoral behavior ascribed to the daevas and by the violence practiced in their cult and seen in the human and natural world. The answer to his questions came in the revelation of a cosmic dualism proclaimed in all its essentials in the Gathas and amplified, though never altered in its ethical character, in all later Zoroastrian literature, notably the Pahlavi Bundahishn (Creation).
According to the Gathas and other texts, Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, and Angra Mainyu, the Destructive Spirit (Pahlavi, Ohrmazd, Ahriman) existed from eternity as wholly separate entities, the first entirely good and all-knowing but not all-powerful, the second evil and implacably hostile. Ahura Mazda, whose desire is increase and beneficence, created the world and invited Angra Mainyu to forsake evil and to partake of the goodness of material being. Angra Mainyu refused, promising instead to corrupt the world, but Ahura Mazda in his omniscience knew that his adversary should be trapped, defeated, and cast from existence in time, lest he invade the material creation. The creator had formed the world through seven lesser divinities, evocations of himself, called the Amesha Spentas (“bounteous immortals”), who guard and personify various of the good creations, while embodying divine attributes. For example, Asha Vahishta (“best righteousness”) protects the creation of fire, which with its warmth, light and energy is said to pervade all the other creations. It remains the living icon of Zoroastrians, who are often mistakenly called fire worshipers. The cosmic order or rightness Asha Vahishta represents should likewise pervade the moral, spiritual, and temporal worlds. The Amesha Spentas in their turn emanated lesser divinities, the yazatas (“beings worthy to be worshipped”), among whom are gods of the pagan pantheon whose moral qualities are consonant with Zoroastrianism, such as Mithra (Sanskrit, Mitra), the lord of covenants.
The fravashis, or incorruptible spirits of men, are said to have made a primordial covenant with their creator to assume physical form and to aid Ahura Mazda in the cosmic struggle against evil, but in the present, “mixed” state of the world (Pahlavi, gumezishn), in which the good creations have been polluted through the invasion of Ahriman, the souls of men (Pahlavi, ruwan) possess free will. They are positively enjoined to procreate, to enjoy in moderation the good things of life, and to further the Good Religion, as Zoroastrianism is called by its adherents, through good thoughts, words, and deeds. Ultimately a savior (Avestan, Saoshyant) will be born of the preserved seed of Zoroaster, the dead will be resurrected and judged, the damned will be annihilated, and the righteous will enjoy eternal earthly bliss.
At about the age of seven (fifteen in ancient times), the Zoroastrian becomes a full member of the community and assumes moral responsibility for his or her actions with the ceremony of binding the sacred girdle (New Persian, kusti; the ceremony is called Navjote, “newborn,” among the Parsis). Particular stress is laid upon observance of the laws of purity, as death and disease are regarded as demonic assaults upon the good creation. Accordingly, corpses are exposed in so-called towers of silence to be picked clean by birds rather than being allowed to pollute earth or fire by interment or cremation. After death, the soul rises to heaven to be judged and is sent to await the resurrection, or the renovation of the world (Pahlavi, frashegird), and final judgment, in paradise, hell, or limbo (Pahlavi, hammistagan). Zoroastrian concepts of heaven, hell, salvation by a good shepherd, resurrection, and the last judgment antedate the appearance of these ideas in Judaism and Christianity, and Islam owes to Zoroastrianism, in addition, to the foregoing, the five daily times of prayer, the bridge (Arabic, sirat) of judgment, and the idea of the pre-eternal covenant between God and man (Sura 7:172).
All obligatory Zoroastrian rites may be solemnized by priests (the magi, later called mobads) before the ritually pure hearth fire, but around the mid-Achaemenid period a temple cult of fire was instituted, probably in response to the establishment of shrines with images of the yazatas on the Babylonian model. The holiest grade of temple fire, the atakhsh i warahran (Pahlavi, apparently meaning “victorious fire”) is elaborately consecrated and must be kept permanently ablaze. Three such fires, Adur Burzen Mihr in Parthia, Adur Gushnasp in Media, and Adur Farnbag in Persia, were particularly famed under the Sasanids. Adur Farnbag still burns in a temple outside Yazd, Iran.
The main feast of the Zoroastrian year is Now Ruz, the vernal new year, which honors fire and anticipates the eternal spring of the renovation. Six other seasonal feasts (Pahlavi, gahambar) commemorate the creation of the sky, water, earth, plants, animals, and man. In ancient times, the feasts of Mithra and Tiri (Mihragan and Tiragan) were also celebrated in royal splendor. The endowments established by individuals for the regular public celebration of feasts are believed to have provided the model for the Islamic waqf.
During the Achaemenid period, Zoroastrians came into contact with Mesopotamian civilization; several alien divinties were adapted to Iranian yazatas; the myth of the deluge was worked into the Indo-Iranian legend of the primal king, Yima (Sanskrit, Yama; New Persian, Jamshid); and the twelve thousand year Babylonian world cycle was fitted to the cosmic drama, with the onslaught of Angra Mainyu dated to the six-thousandth year after creation, and frashegird to the twelve-thousandth year. Most significantly, a god of time, Zurvan, was established in priestly doctrine as the single progenitor of Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu. This heretical doctrine, expunged from Zoroastrianism after the Sasanid period and never pervasive in the faith, may have evolved as a response to Western monist doctrines.
Although Zurvanism, established in Persia, was the official doctrine of the Sasanids, the ethical dualism of the religion was never altered, and the Zoroastrians retained their unique and separate character among the great religions as adherents of cosmic dualism. There was little proselytism, although the faith had been embraced by various Iranian peoples and by a few other nations with close cultural and dynastic ties to Iran, notably the Armenians, and although Zoroastrian influence on the religions of Iran’s neighbors was strong. The stringent requirements of the faith, and the national traditions intertwined with its teachings, may have combined to repel outsiders and to persuade Iranians that their religion was meant for them alone, for the three great dynasties suffered large foreign communities to flourish in Iran and ruled other lands tolerantly, persecuting infidels only when they proselytized among influential Iranians or were seen to favor an external enemy, such as Christian Byzantium. However, the authoritative Pahlavi Denkard (Acts of the Religion) states uncompromisingly that the Zoroastrianism is meant for all men, of all races. Zoroaster’s own Gathas likewise envisage a world faith.
Within Iran, two major religions and social movements were born out of Zoroastrianism -- Manichaeism and Mazdakism. They were violently suppressed in Iran and left no lasting influence on the faith, although the first became a great and influential religion, from China to Europe, while the second survived the Sasanids to play a role in altered form in early Islam.
Zoroastrianism waned gradually in the three centuries following the Arab conquest of Iran in 651 of the Christian calendar. In the tenth century, a small group of the faithful from the forcibly islamicized province of Khurasan fled to Gujarat in India. At the end of the twentieth century, about ninety thousand Zoroastrians, called Parsis (i.e., Persians), lived in India, mainly in the Bombay area. Another twenty thousand remained in Iran, in Tehran, Yazd, and Kerman, survivors of a millennium of systematic persecution and massacre by Islam. Five thousand or more live in other parts of the world, particularly Great Britain and America. The community, which accepts no converts, is dwindling rapidly through intermarriage and a low birthrate. It adheres conservatively to ancient rituals, but theological learning has suffered greatly from the introduction of theosophical, monist, and other doctrines adopted as a defensive response to British Christian proselytism among the Parsis in the nineteenth century.
Zoroastrians. Practitioners of Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism is the religion of pre-Islamic Iran founded by the prophet Zoroaster. Zoroastrianism became the official creed of the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanid empires.
The fundamental tenets of the Zoroastrian faith are set forth in the Avesta (meaning something like “authoritative utterance”), a collection of theological and ritual texts in the Old Iranian language of Zoroaster’s own hymns, the Gathas (which form the core of the Avesta, only a small part of which survives), and in a later dialect called Younger Avestan. Part of the Middle Persian Zand, a translation and commentary on the Avestan text, also survives. A number of theological works that reflect ancient traditions survive in Pahlavi. Other sources include the works of Greek and Latin authors, the inscriptions of the Achaemenids and Sasanids, and the writings of later Arab historians.
Zoroaster’s tribe practiced a polytheistic religion akin to Vedic Hinduism, in which offerings were made through fire to powerful gods, the daevas (Sanskrit, deva); a drink made of the intoxicant haoma (Sanskrit, soma) was prepared ritually (Avestan, yasna; Sanskrit, yajna); and sacred verses (Avestan, manthra; Sanskrit, mantra) were composed by priests. In pagan Iran, as in Vedic India, the gods were seen to personify both human characteristics and natural phenomena and to uphold cosmic order (Sanskrit, rta; Avestan, asha; Old Persian, arta; Greek, arete). Zoroaster, himself a priest learned in ritual and trained in the composition of religious poetry, was troubled by the often amoral behavior ascribed to the daevas and by the violence practiced in their cult and seen in the human and natural world. The answer to his questions came in the revelation of a cosmic dualism proclaimed in all its essentials in the Gathas and amplified, though never altered in its ethical character, in all later Zoroastrian literature, notably the Pahlavi Bundahishn (Creation).
According to the Gathas and other texts, Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, and Angra Mainyu, the Destructive Spirit (Pahlavi, Ohrmazd, Ahriman) existed from eternity as wholly separate entities, the first entirely good and all-knowing but not all-powerful, the second evil and implacably hostile. Ahura Mazda, whose desire is increase and beneficence, created the world and invited Angra Mainyu to forsake evil and to partake of the goodness of material being. Angra Mainyu refused, promising instead to corrupt the world, but Ahura Mazda in his omniscience knew that his adversary should be trapped, defeated, and cast from existence in time, lest he invade the material creation. The creator had formed the world through seven lesser divinities, evocations of himself, called the Amesha Spentas (“bounteous immortals”), who guard and personify various of the good creations, while embodying divine attributes. For example, Asha Vahishta (“best righteousness”) protects the creation of fire, which with its warmth, light and energy is said to pervade all the other creations. It remains the living icon of Zoroastrians, who are often mistakenly called fire worshipers. The cosmic order or rightness Asha Vahishta represents should likewise pervade the moral, spiritual, and temporal worlds. The Amesha Spentas in their turn emanated lesser divinities, the yazatas (“beings worthy to be worshipped”), among whom are gods of the pagan pantheon whose moral qualities are consonant with Zoroastrianism, such as Mithra (Sanskrit, Mitra), the lord of covenants.
The fravashis, or incorruptible spirits of men, are said to have made a primordial covenant with their creator to assume physical form and to aid Ahura Mazda in the cosmic struggle against evil, but in the present, “mixed” state of the world (Pahlavi, gumezishn), in which the good creations have been polluted through the invasion of Ahriman, the souls of men (Pahlavi, ruwan) possess free will. They are positively enjoined to procreate, to enjoy in moderation the good things of life, and to further the Good Religion, as Zoroastrianism is called by its adherents, through good thoughts, words, and deeds. Ultimately a savior (Avestan, Saoshyant) will be born of the preserved seed of Zoroaster, the dead will be resurrected and judged, the damned will be annihilated, and the righteous will enjoy eternal earthly bliss.
At about the age of seven (fifteen in ancient times), the Zoroastrian becomes a full member of the community and assumes moral responsibility for his or her actions with the ceremony of binding the sacred girdle (New Persian, kusti; the ceremony is called Navjote, “newborn,” among the Parsis). Particular stress is laid upon observance of the laws of purity, as death and disease are regarded as demonic assaults upon the good creation. Accordingly, corpses are exposed in so-called towers of silence to be picked clean by birds rather than being allowed to pollute earth or fire by interment or cremation. After death, the soul rises to heaven to be judged and is sent to await the resurrection, or the renovation of the world (Pahlavi, frashegird), and final judgment, in paradise, hell, or limbo (Pahlavi, hammistagan). Zoroastrian concepts of heaven, hell, salvation by a good shepherd, resurrection, and the last judgment antedate the appearance of these ideas in Judaism and Christianity, and Islam owes to Zoroastrianism, in addition, to the foregoing, the five daily times of prayer, the bridge (Arabic, sirat) of judgment, and the idea of the pre-eternal covenant between God and man (Sura 7:172).
All obligatory Zoroastrian rites may be solemnized by priests (the magi, later called mobads) before the ritually pure hearth fire, but around the mid-Achaemenid period a temple cult of fire was instituted, probably in response to the establishment of shrines with images of the yazatas on the Babylonian model. The holiest grade of temple fire, the atakhsh i warahran (Pahlavi, apparently meaning “victorious fire”) is elaborately consecrated and must be kept permanently ablaze. Three such fires, Adur Burzen Mihr in Parthia, Adur Gushnasp in Media, and Adur Farnbag in Persia, were particularly famed under the Sasanids. Adur Farnbag still burns in a temple outside Yazd, Iran.
The main feast of the Zoroastrian year is Now Ruz, the vernal new year, which honors fire and anticipates the eternal spring of the renovation. Six other seasonal feasts (Pahlavi, gahambar) commemorate the creation of the sky, water, earth, plants, animals, and man. In ancient times, the feasts of Mithra and Tiri (Mihragan and Tiragan) were also celebrated in royal splendor. The endowments established by individuals for the regular public celebration of feasts are believed to have provided the model for the Islamic waqf.
During the Achaemenid period, Zoroastrians came into contact with Mesopotamian civilization; several alien divinties were adapted to Iranian yazatas; the myth of the deluge was worked into the Indo-Iranian legend of the primal king, Yima (Sanskrit, Yama; New Persian, Jamshid); and the twelve thousand year Babylonian world cycle was fitted to the cosmic drama, with the onslaught of Angra Mainyu dated to the six-thousandth year after creation, and frashegird to the twelve-thousandth year. Most significantly, a god of time, Zurvan, was established in priestly doctrine as the single progenitor of Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu. This heretical doctrine, expunged from Zoroastrianism after the Sasanid period and never pervasive in the faith, may have evolved as a response to Western monist doctrines.
Although Zurvanism, established in Persia, was the official doctrine of the Sasanids, the ethical dualism of the religion was never altered, and the Zoroastrians retained their unique and separate character among the great religions as adherents of cosmic dualism. There was little proselytism, although the faith had been embraced by various Iranian peoples and by a few other nations with close cultural and dynastic ties to Iran, notably the Armenians, and although Zoroastrian influence on the religions of Iran’s neighbors was strong. The stringent requirements of the faith, and the national traditions intertwined with its teachings, may have combined to repel outsiders and to persuade Iranians that their religion was meant for them alone, for the three great dynasties suffered large foreign communities to flourish in Iran and ruled other lands tolerantly, persecuting infidels only when they proselytized among influential Iranians or were seen to favor an external enemy, such as Christian Byzantium. However, the authoritative Pahlavi Denkard (Acts of the Religion) states uncompromisingly that the Zoroastrianism is meant for all men, of all races. Zoroaster’s own Gathas likewise envisage a world faith.
Within Iran, two major religions and social movements were born out of Zoroastrianism -- Manichaeism and Mazdakism. They were violently suppressed in Iran and left no lasting influence on the faith, although the first became a great and influential religion, from China to Europe, while the second survived the Sasanids to play a role in altered form in early Islam.
Zoroastrianism waned gradually in the three centuries following the Arab conquest of Iran in 651 of the Christian calendar. In the tenth century, a small group of the faithful from the forcibly islamicized province of Khurasan fled to Gujarat in India. At the end of the twentieth century, about ninety thousand Zoroastrians, called Parsis (i.e., Persians), lived in India, mainly in the Bombay area. Another twenty thousand remained in Iran, in Tehran, Yazd, and Kerman, survivors of a millennium of systematic persecution and massacre by Islam. Five thousand or more live in other parts of the world, particularly Great Britain and America. The community, which accepts no converts, is dwindling rapidly through intermarriage and a low birthrate. It adheres conservatively to ancient rituals, but theological learning has suffered greatly from the introduction of theosophical, monist, and other doctrines adopted as a defensive response to British Christian proselytism among the Parsis in the nineteenth century.
Zubayda bint Ja‘far
Zubayda bint Ja‘far (Zubayda bint Ja'far ibn Mansur</I.) (762-832). Wife of the ‘Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid. She is famous for her love of splendor, her liberality to poets and scholars, and for the public works she carried out.
Zubayda bint Ja`far ibn Mansur was granddaughter of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur, through his son Ja'far, and cousin (through mothers) of Harun al-Rashid (r.766-809), whom she later married (781).
Zubayda went on to become the best known of the Abbasid princesses. She and her husband's exploits are the subjects of The Thousand and One Nights. It is said that her palace 'sounded like a beehive' because she employed one hundred women maids who had memorized the Qur'an.
Zubayda is particularly remembered for the contributions she made to the ulema and the poor, and for the series of wells, reservoirs and artificial pools that provided water for Muslim pilgrims along the route from Baghdad to Mecca and Medina. The route was re-named Darb Zubayda (“Zubayda’s Way”) in her honor.
Zubayda bint Ja'far ibn Mansur see Zubayda bint Ja‘far
Zubayda bint Ja‘far (Zubayda bint Ja'far ibn Mansur</I.) (762-832). Wife of the ‘Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid. She is famous for her love of splendor, her liberality to poets and scholars, and for the public works she carried out.
Zubayda bint Ja`far ibn Mansur was granddaughter of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur, through his son Ja'far, and cousin (through mothers) of Harun al-Rashid (r.766-809), whom she later married (781).
Zubayda went on to become the best known of the Abbasid princesses. She and her husband's exploits are the subjects of The Thousand and One Nights. It is said that her palace 'sounded like a beehive' because she employed one hundred women maids who had memorized the Qur'an.
Zubayda is particularly remembered for the contributions she made to the ulema and the poor, and for the series of wells, reservoirs and artificial pools that provided water for Muslim pilgrims along the route from Baghdad to Mecca and Medina. The route was re-named Darb Zubayda (“Zubayda’s Way”) in her honor.
Zubayda bint Ja'far ibn Mansur see Zubayda bint Ja‘far
Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam
Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam (Zubair ibn al-'Awwam) (al-Hawari - “the Apostle”) (594-656). Cousin of the Prophet and nephew of Khadija. He was one of the earliest converts to Islam. With his wife, Asthma bint Abi Bakr, he had three sons who also became known in early Islam: ‘Abd Allah, ‘Urwa, and Mus‘ab. He took part in all the battles and campaigns of the Prophet, and was renowned for his gallantry. His epithet “the Apostle” was given him by the Prophet on account of his services as a spy in the conflict with the Banu Qurayza. In the conflict between ‘A’isha and ‘Ali, he was on the side of the Prophet’s widow, but withdrew from the Battle of the Camel and was treacherously killed in 656 in Basra (Iraq).
Zubayr (Zubair) ibn al-Awwam was a companion of Muhammad and later one of the most successful commanders of the Rashidun army. He was born in Mecca (Arabia) in 594. He first served under Prophet Muhammad in various military expeditions and was a commander of one of the four armies that entered Mecca during the Conquest of Mecca. He later served under the Rashidun caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar. He commanded a regiment in the decisive Battle of Yarmouk, fought in 636. Later in 640, he commanded the reinforcements sent to capture Amr ibn al-As in Egypt. Zubayr was the most successful field commander during the Muslim conquest of Egypt. On his death bed, Caliph Umar selected Zubayr along with five other individuals, from whom one Caliph would be chosen to succeed him.
Zubayr kept himself away from state politics and military affairs after the death of Caliph Umar. Caliph Uthman was assassinated in 656, and when 'A'isha (Ayesha), wife of Prophet Muhammad, raised the cry for the vengeance of blood of 'Uthman, Zubayr along with another influential personality, Talha ibn Ubaidullah, joined 'A'isha and marched to Basra, where 4000 people, who had joined the rebels to besiege Caliph Uthman's house, were killed. 'Ali, marched to Basra, where the army of 'Ali and that of 'A'isha agreed upon a pact to aid the Caliphate in dealing with the rebels who killed 'Uthman. At night, however, a battle started between the two armies erupted. The battle that ensued is known as Battle of Camel. Zubayr, unwilling to fight against 'Ali, left the battlefield.
Zubayr left the battlefield and was killed during prayers by one of the soldiers of Ali's army who had been chasing him.
Hawari, al- see Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam
The Apostle see Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam
Zubair ibn al-'Awwam see Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam
Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam (Zubair ibn al-'Awwam) (al-Hawari - “the Apostle”) (594-656). Cousin of the Prophet and nephew of Khadija. He was one of the earliest converts to Islam. With his wife, Asthma bint Abi Bakr, he had three sons who also became known in early Islam: ‘Abd Allah, ‘Urwa, and Mus‘ab. He took part in all the battles and campaigns of the Prophet, and was renowned for his gallantry. His epithet “the Apostle” was given him by the Prophet on account of his services as a spy in the conflict with the Banu Qurayza. In the conflict between ‘A’isha and ‘Ali, he was on the side of the Prophet’s widow, but withdrew from the Battle of the Camel and was treacherously killed in 656 in Basra (Iraq).
Zubayr (Zubair) ibn al-Awwam was a companion of Muhammad and later one of the most successful commanders of the Rashidun army. He was born in Mecca (Arabia) in 594. He first served under Prophet Muhammad in various military expeditions and was a commander of one of the four armies that entered Mecca during the Conquest of Mecca. He later served under the Rashidun caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar. He commanded a regiment in the decisive Battle of Yarmouk, fought in 636. Later in 640, he commanded the reinforcements sent to capture Amr ibn al-As in Egypt. Zubayr was the most successful field commander during the Muslim conquest of Egypt. On his death bed, Caliph Umar selected Zubayr along with five other individuals, from whom one Caliph would be chosen to succeed him.
Zubayr kept himself away from state politics and military affairs after the death of Caliph Umar. Caliph Uthman was assassinated in 656, and when 'A'isha (Ayesha), wife of Prophet Muhammad, raised the cry for the vengeance of blood of 'Uthman, Zubayr along with another influential personality, Talha ibn Ubaidullah, joined 'A'isha and marched to Basra, where 4000 people, who had joined the rebels to besiege Caliph Uthman's house, were killed. 'Ali, marched to Basra, where the army of 'Ali and that of 'A'isha agreed upon a pact to aid the Caliphate in dealing with the rebels who killed 'Uthman. At night, however, a battle started between the two armies erupted. The battle that ensued is known as Battle of Camel. Zubayr, unwilling to fight against 'Ali, left the battlefield.
Zubayr left the battlefield and was killed during prayers by one of the soldiers of Ali's army who had been chasing him.
Hawari, al- see Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam
The Apostle see Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam
Zubair ibn al-'Awwam see Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam
Zubayr Rahma Mansur, al-
Zubayr Rahma Mansur, al- (1830-1913). Arab slave trader who built his own principality in southeastern Sudan.
A Sudanese Arab slave trader in the late 19th-century, Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur (also Sebehr Rahma or Rahama Zobeir) later became a pasha and Sudanese governor. His reputation as a nemesis of General Charles Gordon meant he was bestowed a near-mythic status in England, where he was referred to as "the richest and worst", a "Slaver King" "who [had] chained lions as part of his escort".
Born in 1830, al-Zubayr came from the Gemaab section of the Ja'Alin tribe in Northern Sudan. Al-Zubayr was raised and educated in northern Sudan. He first entered southern Sudan to trade and to raid for slaves in 1856. He then began his large-scale business when he left Khartoum with a small army to set up a network of trading forts known as zaribas, focusing his efforts on slave trading and ivory sales.
By the mid-1860s, al-Zubayr was the virtual master of the Bahr al-Ghazal province. Al-Zubayr controlled Bahr al-Ghazal through military conquests and an elaborate system of alliances with local chiefs.
In the early 1870s, al-Zubayr’s efforts to expand his activities to the south were frustrated by the fierce resistance of the Zande chief Yambio and the increased efforts of the Egyptian-Sudanese administration to curb slaving. Afterwards, al-Zubayr maintained an uneasy alliance with the Egyptians in a drive to conquer Darfur to the north.
In 1871, at the height of his power, al-Zubayr was visited by Georg Schweinfurth. Two years later, he was granted the title of Governor over Bahr el Ghazal in return for an annual tribute of ivory.
Eventually al-Zubayr controlled 30 zaribas, and earned the titles of bey and Pasha, after allying himself, and his lieutenant Rabih az-Zubayr, with the khedive Ismail Pasha briefly during the invasion of Darfur, where he led the southern forces. He was referred to as "the Black Pasha", and ultimately wished to become Governor General.
In 1877, General Gordon arrived as the newly-appointed Governor of the Sudan, and sought to suppress the slavetrade. Al-Zubayr brought his grievances to Cairo, asking for the Governorship of the newly-conquered Darfur, but was rejected. Egyptian authorities also prohibited his return to Sudan, but allowed him to travel to Istanbul at the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War.
On February 18, 1884, Gordon offered the imprisoned al-Zubayr leadership of the entire Sudan, in addition to his freedom - if he would help the British keep the forces of Muhammad Ahmad at bay. The following month Gordon astonished Europe by recommending that al-Zubayr be named his successor as Governor of Sudan.
Eventually, Queen Victoria, Sir Evelyn Baring, William Ewart Gladstone and Nubar Pasha in Cairo, all agreed to allow al-Zubayr the title, but the order was rescinded by the British government, upset with al-Zubayr's slave-raiding practises.
Nevertheless, al-Zubayr was put in charge of all the black African forces, as well as sharing command of Arab forces with Hussein Pasha.
In March 1885, al-Zubayr was removed from command and imprisoned at Gibraltar, when British forces suspected that he might have negotiated fealty to Ahmad, based on alleged correspondence between them.
In August 1887, he was allowed to return to Cairo, and after the 1899 reconquest of the Sudan was permitted to settle in his native country. He established himself on his estates at Geili, some 30 miles north of Khartoum.
In retirement Zubayr wrote his memoirs, which were translated into English as Black Ivory: Or, the Story of El Zubeir Pasha, Slaver and Sultan, as Told By Himself.
Sebehr Rahma see Zubayr Rahma Mansur, al-
Rahama Zobeir see Zubayr Rahma Mansur, al-
Mansur, al-Zubayr Rahma see Zubayr Rahma Mansur, al-
Zubayr Rahma Mansur, al- (1830-1913). Arab slave trader who built his own principality in southeastern Sudan.
A Sudanese Arab slave trader in the late 19th-century, Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur (also Sebehr Rahma or Rahama Zobeir) later became a pasha and Sudanese governor. His reputation as a nemesis of General Charles Gordon meant he was bestowed a near-mythic status in England, where he was referred to as "the richest and worst", a "Slaver King" "who [had] chained lions as part of his escort".
Born in 1830, al-Zubayr came from the Gemaab section of the Ja'Alin tribe in Northern Sudan. Al-Zubayr was raised and educated in northern Sudan. He first entered southern Sudan to trade and to raid for slaves in 1856. He then began his large-scale business when he left Khartoum with a small army to set up a network of trading forts known as zaribas, focusing his efforts on slave trading and ivory sales.
By the mid-1860s, al-Zubayr was the virtual master of the Bahr al-Ghazal province. Al-Zubayr controlled Bahr al-Ghazal through military conquests and an elaborate system of alliances with local chiefs.
In the early 1870s, al-Zubayr’s efforts to expand his activities to the south were frustrated by the fierce resistance of the Zande chief Yambio and the increased efforts of the Egyptian-Sudanese administration to curb slaving. Afterwards, al-Zubayr maintained an uneasy alliance with the Egyptians in a drive to conquer Darfur to the north.
In 1871, at the height of his power, al-Zubayr was visited by Georg Schweinfurth. Two years later, he was granted the title of Governor over Bahr el Ghazal in return for an annual tribute of ivory.
Eventually al-Zubayr controlled 30 zaribas, and earned the titles of bey and Pasha, after allying himself, and his lieutenant Rabih az-Zubayr, with the khedive Ismail Pasha briefly during the invasion of Darfur, where he led the southern forces. He was referred to as "the Black Pasha", and ultimately wished to become Governor General.
In 1877, General Gordon arrived as the newly-appointed Governor of the Sudan, and sought to suppress the slavetrade. Al-Zubayr brought his grievances to Cairo, asking for the Governorship of the newly-conquered Darfur, but was rejected. Egyptian authorities also prohibited his return to Sudan, but allowed him to travel to Istanbul at the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War.
On February 18, 1884, Gordon offered the imprisoned al-Zubayr leadership of the entire Sudan, in addition to his freedom - if he would help the British keep the forces of Muhammad Ahmad at bay. The following month Gordon astonished Europe by recommending that al-Zubayr be named his successor as Governor of Sudan.
Eventually, Queen Victoria, Sir Evelyn Baring, William Ewart Gladstone and Nubar Pasha in Cairo, all agreed to allow al-Zubayr the title, but the order was rescinded by the British government, upset with al-Zubayr's slave-raiding practises.
Nevertheless, al-Zubayr was put in charge of all the black African forces, as well as sharing command of Arab forces with Hussein Pasha.
In March 1885, al-Zubayr was removed from command and imprisoned at Gibraltar, when British forces suspected that he might have negotiated fealty to Ahmad, based on alleged correspondence between them.
In August 1887, he was allowed to return to Cairo, and after the 1899 reconquest of the Sudan was permitted to settle in his native country. He established himself on his estates at Geili, some 30 miles north of Khartoum.
In retirement Zubayr wrote his memoirs, which were translated into English as Black Ivory: Or, the Story of El Zubeir Pasha, Slaver and Sultan, as Told By Himself.
Sebehr Rahma see Zubayr Rahma Mansur, al-
Rahama Zobeir see Zubayr Rahma Mansur, al-
Mansur, al-Zubayr Rahma see Zubayr Rahma Mansur, al-
Zubeiru
Zubeiru (d. 1903). Ruler of the Fula emirate of Adamawa created by his father, Adama. Zubeiru ruled from 1890 to 1893 and during his reign he resisted British encroachment and was forced to spend his last years as a renegade.
When Zubeiru succeeded his brother, Sanda, he was considered unstable, and probably suffered from epilepsy. He began a program of Islamic fundamentalist reform. These reforms along with the perception of him held by his people, made Zubeiru unpopular and weakened his ability to withstand the challenge of Hayatu ibn Sa’id.
Hayatu was a great-grandson of the Fula Islamic revolutionary ‘Uthman dan Fodio who had created the empire of which Adamawa was a part. Hayatu came to Adamawa and attracted a large following. Zubeiru felt compelled to fight him, but was disastrously defeated in 1892. Hayatu was unable to follow up his victory, however, and later was killed in Bornu.
Afterwards, Zubeiru’s chief concern was limiting the encroachment of George Goldie’s Royal Niger Company, which had assumed that its 1886 treaty with Sokoto, the seat of the empire, permitted trade with Adamawa. Zubeiru refused to acknowledge the treaty, however, and signed separate agreements in 1893 and 1897.
In 1900, the British under Frederick Lugard took over the administration of Northern Nigeria from the Royal Niger Company, but Zubeiru refused to submit to British authority. Lugard considered him the worst slave trader in Africa, and determined to bring Adamawa under British control.
In 1901, British forces stormed and captured Yola, Zubeiru’s capital, but Zubeiru escaped. He was replaced there by his brother.
Zubeiru and his followers kept on the move. He briefly attempted to ally with the French and Germans in neighboring Chad and Cameroon, but ended up fighting the Germans who massacred most of his remaining troops.
Early in 1903, Zubeiru had the German resident at Marua assassinated. Zubeiru began raiding again, as the British kept him on the run.
Zubeiru was killed in 1903 by Lala warriors who were hunting down slave raiders.
Zubeiru (d. 1903). Ruler of the Fula emirate of Adamawa created by his father, Adama. Zubeiru ruled from 1890 to 1893 and during his reign he resisted British encroachment and was forced to spend his last years as a renegade.
When Zubeiru succeeded his brother, Sanda, he was considered unstable, and probably suffered from epilepsy. He began a program of Islamic fundamentalist reform. These reforms along with the perception of him held by his people, made Zubeiru unpopular and weakened his ability to withstand the challenge of Hayatu ibn Sa’id.
Hayatu was a great-grandson of the Fula Islamic revolutionary ‘Uthman dan Fodio who had created the empire of which Adamawa was a part. Hayatu came to Adamawa and attracted a large following. Zubeiru felt compelled to fight him, but was disastrously defeated in 1892. Hayatu was unable to follow up his victory, however, and later was killed in Bornu.
Afterwards, Zubeiru’s chief concern was limiting the encroachment of George Goldie’s Royal Niger Company, which had assumed that its 1886 treaty with Sokoto, the seat of the empire, permitted trade with Adamawa. Zubeiru refused to acknowledge the treaty, however, and signed separate agreements in 1893 and 1897.
In 1900, the British under Frederick Lugard took over the administration of Northern Nigeria from the Royal Niger Company, but Zubeiru refused to submit to British authority. Lugard considered him the worst slave trader in Africa, and determined to bring Adamawa under British control.
In 1901, British forces stormed and captured Yola, Zubeiru’s capital, but Zubeiru escaped. He was replaced there by his brother.
Zubeiru and his followers kept on the move. He briefly attempted to ally with the French and Germans in neighboring Chad and Cameroon, but ended up fighting the Germans who massacred most of his remaining troops.
Early in 1903, Zubeiru had the German resident at Marua assassinated. Zubeiru began raiding again, as the British kept him on the run.
Zubeiru was killed in 1903 by Lala warriors who were hunting down slave raiders.
Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma
Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma (b. c. 520-d. c. 609). Pre-Islamic Arab poet. Along with Imru’ al-Qays ibn Hujr and al-Nabigha al-Dhubyani, Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma is considered one of the great poets of the pre-Islamic period.
Zuhayr, also Zuhair, full name Zuhayr ibn Abî Sûlmâ, belonged to the Muzaynah tribe. His father was a poet. His elder son, Ka'b bin Zuhayr, was also a poet and read poems to Muhammad.
His poems can be found in Hammad Ar-Rawiya's anthology, the Mu'allaqat ("the Suspended"), a collection of pre-Islamic poetry. He was one of the Seven Hanged Poets who were reputed to have been honored by hanging copies of their work in the Kaaba at Mecca. He was Umar ibn Khattab's favorite poet.
Zuhayr's poetry was written when two Bedouin tribes ended a longstanding hostility. His poems deal with raids and other subjects of nomadic desert life. He also wrote satirical poems and poems about the glory of his tribe, but in his verses he was less satiric than most of his brother poets. He strove to express deep thoughts in simple words, to be clear and by his clear phrases to teach his people high and noble ideas. He was a man of rank and wealth, the foremost of a family noted for their poetic skill and religious earnestness. In brief, Zuhayr was the gentleman-philosopher among pre-Islamic Arab poets.
Although Zuhayr was from the Muzaynah tribe, he lived among the Ghaṭafān. Zuhayr’s father was a poet, his first wife the sister of a poet, and two of his sons were poets. The elder son, Kaʿb, is famous for the poem he recited for the Prophet Muhammad, thereby signalling his acceptance of Islam. Zuhayr’s poem in Al-Muʿallaqāt praises the men who brought peace between the clans of ʿAbs and Dhubyān. In the poem, war is compared to a millstone that grinds those who set it moving, and the poet speaks as one who from a long life has learned humankind’s need for morality. Zuhayr’s extant poetry, available in several Arabic editions, includes other poems of praise and satires.
Zuhayr see Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma
Zuhair see Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma
Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma (b. c. 520-d. c. 609). Pre-Islamic Arab poet. Along with Imru’ al-Qays ibn Hujr and al-Nabigha al-Dhubyani, Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma is considered one of the great poets of the pre-Islamic period.
Zuhayr, also Zuhair, full name Zuhayr ibn Abî Sûlmâ, belonged to the Muzaynah tribe. His father was a poet. His elder son, Ka'b bin Zuhayr, was also a poet and read poems to Muhammad.
His poems can be found in Hammad Ar-Rawiya's anthology, the Mu'allaqat ("the Suspended"), a collection of pre-Islamic poetry. He was one of the Seven Hanged Poets who were reputed to have been honored by hanging copies of their work in the Kaaba at Mecca. He was Umar ibn Khattab's favorite poet.
Zuhayr's poetry was written when two Bedouin tribes ended a longstanding hostility. His poems deal with raids and other subjects of nomadic desert life. He also wrote satirical poems and poems about the glory of his tribe, but in his verses he was less satiric than most of his brother poets. He strove to express deep thoughts in simple words, to be clear and by his clear phrases to teach his people high and noble ideas. He was a man of rank and wealth, the foremost of a family noted for their poetic skill and religious earnestness. In brief, Zuhayr was the gentleman-philosopher among pre-Islamic Arab poets.
Although Zuhayr was from the Muzaynah tribe, he lived among the Ghaṭafān. Zuhayr’s father was a poet, his first wife the sister of a poet, and two of his sons were poets. The elder son, Kaʿb, is famous for the poem he recited for the Prophet Muhammad, thereby signalling his acceptance of Islam. Zuhayr’s poem in Al-Muʿallaqāt praises the men who brought peace between the clans of ʿAbs and Dhubyān. In the poem, war is compared to a millstone that grinds those who set it moving, and the poet speaks as one who from a long life has learned humankind’s need for morality. Zuhayr’s extant poetry, available in several Arabic editions, includes other poems of praise and satires.
Zuhayr see Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma
Zuhair see Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma
Zuhri, Muhammad ibn Muslim al-
Zuhri, Muhammad ibn Muslim al- (Muhammad ibn Muslim al-Zuhri) (Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri)(Abu Shihab) (d. 741/2). Celebrated traditionist. He collected a great amount of hadith and is described as the first to fix hadith in writing. He also dealt with chronology, was a critic of poetry and was one of the chief authorities for the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, written by his pupil, Ibn Ishaq.
Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, usually called simply Ibn Shihab or al-Zuhri, was if not the founder of Islamic scholarship, then its earliest luminary.
As a youth, al-Zuhri left his home in Madinah (Medina), went to Damascus to seek his fortune and was recruited into the administration of the Caliph, Abd al-Malik. The Caliph observed that al-Zuhri's father had supported Ibn al-Zubayr against him in the then recent civil war. However, the Caliph'a policy toward the Zubayrites was reconciliation and his father's politics were not held against him.
Abd al-Malik died in 705 but al-Zuhri continued to serve the Umayyid court for the rest of his life. He died in AH 124 (741–2).
Some accuse al-Zuhri of having flattered the Umayyads. He taught the son of Caliph Hisham (died AH 125/743). but this did not mean that he supported the Umayyads uncritically. His relationship with the heir to the caliphate, Walid (who ruled for one year after al-Zuhri's death) was so bad that Walid was only restrained from killing him by the Caliph's intervention.
Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri is regarded as one of the greatest Sunni authorities on Hadith. The leading critics of Hadith such as Ibn al-Madini, Ibn Hibban, Abu Hatim, Al-Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani are all agreed upon his indisputable authority. He received hadith from many Sahaba (Companions) and numerous scholars among the first and second generations after the Companions narrated from him.
Muhammad ibn Muslim al-Zuhri see Zuhri, Muhammad ibn Muslim al-
Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri see Zuhri, Muhammad ibn Muslim al-
Abu Shihab see Zuhri, Muhammad ibn Muslim al-
Ibn Shihab see Zuhri, Muhammad ibn Muslim al-
Zuhri, al- see Zuhri, Muhammad ibn Muslim al-
Zuhri, Muhammad ibn Muslim al- (Muhammad ibn Muslim al-Zuhri) (Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri)(Abu Shihab) (d. 741/2). Celebrated traditionist. He collected a great amount of hadith and is described as the first to fix hadith in writing. He also dealt with chronology, was a critic of poetry and was one of the chief authorities for the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, written by his pupil, Ibn Ishaq.
Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, usually called simply Ibn Shihab or al-Zuhri, was if not the founder of Islamic scholarship, then its earliest luminary.
As a youth, al-Zuhri left his home in Madinah (Medina), went to Damascus to seek his fortune and was recruited into the administration of the Caliph, Abd al-Malik. The Caliph observed that al-Zuhri's father had supported Ibn al-Zubayr against him in the then recent civil war. However, the Caliph'a policy toward the Zubayrites was reconciliation and his father's politics were not held against him.
Abd al-Malik died in 705 but al-Zuhri continued to serve the Umayyid court for the rest of his life. He died in AH 124 (741–2).
Some accuse al-Zuhri of having flattered the Umayyads. He taught the son of Caliph Hisham (died AH 125/743). but this did not mean that he supported the Umayyads uncritically. His relationship with the heir to the caliphate, Walid (who ruled for one year after al-Zuhri's death) was so bad that Walid was only restrained from killing him by the Caliph's intervention.
Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri is regarded as one of the greatest Sunni authorities on Hadith. The leading critics of Hadith such as Ibn al-Madini, Ibn Hibban, Abu Hatim, Al-Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani are all agreed upon his indisputable authority. He received hadith from many Sahaba (Companions) and numerous scholars among the first and second generations after the Companions narrated from him.
Muhammad ibn Muslim al-Zuhri see Zuhri, Muhammad ibn Muslim al-
Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri see Zuhri, Muhammad ibn Muslim al-
Abu Shihab see Zuhri, Muhammad ibn Muslim al-
Ibn Shihab see Zuhri, Muhammad ibn Muslim al-
Zuhri, al- see Zuhri, Muhammad ibn Muslim al-
Zuhuri, Nur al-Din Muhammad (Nur al-Din Muhammad Zuhuri) (d. 1615). Persian poet of the school of Herat. His poetry is admired in India where he lived for a long time.
Nur al-Din Muhammad Zuhuri see Zuhuri, Nur al-Din Muhammad
Nur al-Din Muhammad Zuhuri see Zuhuri, Nur al-Din Muhammad
Zuray‘ids Zuray‘ids (Banu’l-Karam). Dynasty from Aden, which was in power in Yemen from 1138 until the arrival of the Ayyubids in 1174.
Banu'l-Karam see Zuray‘ids
Banu'l-Karam see Zuray‘ids
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