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, the Yongle emperor 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. However, 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 have 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 Chinese geography. Ma Huan, a Muslim interpreter who went 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
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.
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.
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.Al-Maqqari states in his Nafh al-Tib (Fragrant Breeze): "There never was, either before or after him (Ziryab), a man of his profession who was more generally beloved and admired".
Ziryab is said to have improved the Oud by adding a fifth pair of strings, and using an eagle's beak or quill instead of a wooden pick. Ziryab also dyed the four strings a color to symbolize the Aristotelian humors, and the fifth string to represent the soul. He is said to have created a unique and influential style of musical performance, and written songs that were performed in Iberia for generations. He was a great influence on Spanish music, and is considered the founder of the Andalusian music traditions of North Africa.
Ziryab's Baghdadi musical style became very popular in the court of Abd al-Rahman II. Ziryab also became the example of how a courtier, a person who attended aristocratic courts, should act. According to Ibn Hayyan, in common with erudite men of his time, Ziryab was well versed in many areas of classical study such as astronomy, history, and geography.
According to al-Tifashi, Ziryab appears to have popularized an early song-sequence, which may have been a precursor to the nawba (originally simply a performer's "turn" to perform for the prince), or nuba, which is known today as the classical Arabic music of North Africa, though the connections are tenuous at best.
Abd al-Rahman II was a great patron of the arts and Ziryab was given a great deal of freedom. He established one of the first schools of music in Cordoba. This school incorporated both male and female students, who were very popular amongst the aristocracy of the time. According to Ibn Hayyan, Ziryab developed various tests for them. If a student didn't have a large vocal capacity, for instance, he would put pieces of wood in their jaw to force them to hold their mouth open. Or he would tie a sash tightly around the waist to make them breathe in a particular way, and he would test incoming students by having them sing as loudly and as long a note as they possibly could to see whether they had lung capacity.
According to the main source, Ibn Hayyan, Ziryab had eight sons and two daughters. Five of the sons and both daughters became musicians of some prominence. These children kept their father's music school alive, but the female slave singers he trained also were regarded as reliable sources for his repertoire in the following generation.
Ziryab started a vogue by changing clothes according to the weather and season. He suggested different clothing for mornings, afternoons and evenings. The existence of separate winter and summer clothing styles is attributed to Ziryab along with the luxurious dress style still found in Morocco today.
Ziryab created a new type of deodorant to get rid of bad odors and also promoted morning and evening baths and emphasized the maintenance of personal hygiene. Ziryab is thought to have invented an early toothpaste, which he popularized throughout Islamic Iberia. The exact ingredients of this toothpaste are not currently known, but it was reported to have been both "functional and pleasant to taste".
According to Al-Maqqari before the arrival of Ziryab, all the people of al-Andalus, in the Cordoban court, wore their long hair parted in the middle and hung down loose down to the shoulders, men and women both. The cultural innovator, Ziryab had his hair cut with bangs down to his eyebrows and straight across his forehead, new short hairstyles leaving the neck, ears and eyebrows free, He popularized shaving among men and set new haircut trends. Royalty used to wash their hair with rose water, but Ziryab introduced the use of salt and fragrant oils to improve the hair's condition.
Ziryab was a major trendsetter of his time creating trends in fashion, hairstyles, and hygiene. His students took these trends with them throughout Europe and North Africa.
Ziuryab was an arbiter of culinary fashion and taste, who also revolutionized the local cuisine by introducing new fruit and vegetables such as asparagus, and by introducing the three-course meal served on leathern tablecloths, insisting that meals should be served in three separate courses consisting of soup, the main course, and dessert. He also introduced the use of crystal as a container for drinks, which was more effective than metal. This claim is supported by accounts of him cutting large crystal goblets. Prior to his time, food was served plainly on platters on bare tables, as was the case with the Romans.
Ziryab revolutionized the court at Cordoba and made it the stylistic capital of its time. Whether introducing new clothes, styles, foods, hygiene products, or music, Ziryab changed Andalusian culture forever. The musical contributions of Ziryab alone are staggering, laying the early groundwork for classic Spanish music. Ziryab transcended music and style and became a revolutionary cultural figure in 8th and 9th century Iberia.
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 ‘AliZiyad 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.
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.
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
