Tuesday, August 30, 2022

2022: Muqaddasi - Murtada

 


Muqaddasi, Shams al-Din al-
Muqaddasi, Shams al-Din al- (Shams al-Din al-Muqaddasi) (Muhammad ibn Ahmad Shams al-Din al-Muqaddasi) (al-Maqdisi) (al-Mukaddasi) (al-Bashshari) (c. 945/946-1000).  Author of the most original and one of the most valuable geographical treatises in Arabic literature during the tenth century.  The work is called The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions.  Its object is to treat only the Islamic world, made up of the Arab world and non-Arab world, and that afte a division into regions (in Arabic, aqalim; in singular form, iqlim), individualized through their physical characteristics.  

Muhammad ibn Ahmad Shams al-Din Al-Muqaddasi was a notable medieval Arab geographer, author of Ahsan at-Taqasim fi Ma`rifat il-Aqalim (The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions).

Al-Muqaddasi, "the Hierosolomite" was born in Jerusalem. He had the advantage of an excellent education and after having made the Pilgrimage to Mecca (Mekka) in his twentieth year, determined to devote himself to the study of geography. For the purpose of acquiring the necessary information he undertook a series of journeys which lasted over a score of years, and carried him in turn through all the countries of Islam. It was only in 985 that he set himself to write his book, which gives us a systematic account of all the places and regions he had visited.
Shams al-Din al-Muqaddasi see Muqaddasi, Shams al-Din al-
Muhammad ibn Ahmad Shams al-Din al-Muqaddasi see Muqaddasi, Shams al-Din al-
Maqdisi, al- see Muqaddasi, Shams al-Din al-
Mukaddasi, al- see Muqaddasi, Shams al-Din al-
Bashshari, al- see Muqaddasi, Shams al-Din al-
The Hierosolomite see Muqaddasi, Shams al-Din al-


Muqanna, al-
Muqanna, al- (al-Muqanna') (Hashim ibn Hakim) (d. 779).  Epithet (meaning “the veiled one”) of the leader of a religious-political revolt against Abbasid rule in Transoxiana in the eighth century of the Christian calendar.  Al-Muqanna’s insurrection received support from villagers in the Zeravshan and Kashkadarya valleys, the surrounding Turkish tribes, and even the Bukhar-Khuda Bunyat.  It probably reflected resentment about Arab colonization, taxation, and efforts to bring this remote area under the control of the central administration.  Al-Muqanna allegedly taught heterodox doctrines (such as metempsychosis), permitted antinomian practices (including the common possession of women), and used deceptions, such as causing a false moon to rise from a well, to persuade people of his own divinity.  The revolt was crushed, and al-Muqanna killed, in 779-780.  A sect known as the White Raiments survived and awaited the messianic return of al-Muqanna to rule.

Al-Muqanna‘, the "veiled one", was a Persian man who claimed to be a prophet and is viewed as a heretic by mainstream Muslims.

Al-Muqanna‘ was an ethnic Persian from Merv named Hashim ibn Hakim, originally a clothes pleater. He became a commander for Abū Muslim of Khorasan. After Abū Muslim's murder, al-Muqanna‘ claimed to be an incarnation of God, a role, he insisted, passed to him from Abū Muslim, who received it via ‘Alī from the Prophet Muhammad.

Al-Muqanna‘ was reputed to wear a veil in order to cover up his beauty; however, the Abbasids claimed that he wore it to hide his ugliness, being one-eyed and bald. His followers wore white clothes in opposition to the Abbasids' black. He is reputed to have engaged in magic and quackery to impress his followers as a maker of miracles.

Al-Muqanna‘ was instrumental to the formation of the Khurramiyya, a sect that claimed Abū Muslim to be the Mahdi and denied his death.

When Al-Muqanna‘'s followers started raiding towns and mosques of other Muslims and looting their possessions, the Abbasids sent several commanders to crush the rebellion. Al-Muqanna‘ poisoned himself rather than surrender to the Abbasids, who set fire to his house when he was on the verge of being captured.

After his death, the sect continued to exist until the 12th century, waiting for al-Muqanna‘ to return again.

The first poem in Lalla Rookh (1817) by Thomas Moore is titled The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, and the character Mokanna is modeled loosely on al-Muqanna‘.

St. Louis, Missouri, businessmen referenced Moore's poem in 1878 when they created the Veiled Prophet Organization and concocted a legend of Mokanna as its founder. For many years the organization put on an annual fair and parade called the "Veiled Prophet Fair," which was renamed Fair Saint Louis in 1992. The organization also gives a debutante ball each December called the Veiled Prophet Ball.

The Mystic Order of the Veiled Prophet of the Enchanted Realm (founded 1889), a social group with membership restricted to Master Masons, and its related organization, The Daughters of Mokanna (founded 1919), also take their names from Thomas Moore's poem.

Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges used a fictionalized al-Muqanna‘ as the central character of The Masked Dyer, Hakim of Merv, a 1934 short story, and in another story fifteen years later, The Zahir, as a past avatar of the titular object.



Hashim ibn Hakim see Muqanna, al-
The Veiled One see Muqanna, al-


Muqatila
Muqatila.  Term refers to a tribal army.


Muqawqis, al-
Muqawqis, al-. Individual who in Arab tradition played the leading part on the side of the Copts and Greeks during the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 640.

Al-Muqawqis is mentioned in Islamic history as a ruler of Egypt, who corresponded with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He is often identified with Cyrus, Patriarch of Alexandria, who administered Egypt on behalf of the Byzantine Empire. However, this identification is challenged as being based on untenable assumptions. An alternative view identifies al-Muqaqis with the Sassanid governor of Egypt.

Ibn Ishaq and other Muslim historians record that some time between February 628 and 632, Muhammad sent out letters to Arabian and non-Arabian leaders, including to al-Muqawqis.

The letter that Muhammad sent to al-Muqawqis was written sometime in between February 628 and July 629.

Muhammad's letter to Muqawqis, was eventually preserved in the Christian monastery of Akhmim in Egypt. There a recluse pasted it on his Bible. The letter was written on a parchment. From there a French orientalist obtained it and sold it to Sultan Abdülmecid of Turkey, for a consideration of 300 pounds. The Sultan had the letter fixed in a golden frame and had it preserved in the treasury of the royal palace, along with other sacred relics. Some Muslim scholars have affirmed that the letter was written by Abu Bakr.


Muqtadir bi-‘llah, al-
Muqtadir bi-‘llah, al- (895-932). ‘Abbasid caliph.  His reign was marked by a gradual decline, and it inaugurated a period of unparalleled impotence and disaster for the central power of the caliphate.  

Al-Muqtadir was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 908 to 932.  After the previous Caliph, al-Muktafi, was confined for several months to his sick-bed, intrigue was made for some time as to his successor. The choice was between al-Muktafi's minor brother whom the Caliph himself favored, and a descendant of al-Mu'tazz who was only thirteen at the time. The Vazir, hoping for more power, chose the minor. The boy assumed the title of al-Muqtadir, Mighty by the help of the Lord, a sad misnomer; for even in manhood he was but a weak hedonist in the hands of women of the Court, and of their favorites. His twenty-five year reign is the constant record of his thirteen Vazirs, one rising on the fall, or on the assassination, of another.

The stand made during the last three Abbasid reigns to stay downward progress at last came to an end. From al-Muqtadir onward, the Abbasid caliphate continued its decline. At the same time many names famous in the world of literature and science fell under this and the following reigns. Among the best known are: Ishaq ibn Hunain (d. 911) (son of Hunain ibn Ishaq), the physician and translator of Greek philosophical works into Arabic; Ibn Fadlan, the explorer; al Battani (d. 923), astronomer; Tabari (d. 923), historian and theologian; al-Razi (d. 930), philosopher who made fundamental and lasting contributions to the fields of medicine and chemistry; al-Farabi (d. 950), chemist and philosopher; Abu Nasr Mansur (d. 1036), mathematician; Alhazen (d. 1040), mathematician; al-Biruni (d. 1048), mathematician, astronomer, physicist; Omar Khayyám (d. 1123), poet, mathematician, and astronomer; and Mansur Al-Hallaj a mystic, writer and teacher of Sufism most famous for his apparent, but disputed, self-proclaimed divinity, his poetry and for his execution for heresy by Caliph Al-Muqtadir.

There had been war for some years between the Muslims and the Greeks in Asia, with heavy loss for the most part on the side of the Muslims, of whom great numbers were taken prisoners. The Byzantine frontier, however, began to be threatened by Bulgarian hordes; and so the Empress Zoe Karbonopsina sent two ambassadors to Baghdad with the view of securing an armistice, and arranging for the ransom of the Muslim prisoners. The embassy was graciously received and peace restored. A sum of 120,000 golden pieces was paid for the freedom of the captives. All this only added to the disorder of the city. The people, angry at the success of the "Infidels" in Asia Minor and at similar losses in Persia, cast it in the Caliph's teeth that he cared for none of these things, but, instead of seeking to restore the prestige of Islam, passed his days and nights with slave-girls and musicians. Uttering such reproaches, they threw stones at the Imam, as in the Friday service he named the Caliph in the public prayers.

Some twelve years later, al-Muqtadir was a second time subjected to the indignity of deposition. The leading courtiers having conspired against him, he was forced to abdicate in favor of his brother al-Qahir, but, after a scene of rioting and plunder, and loss of thousands of lives, the conspirators found that they were not supported by the troops; and so al-Muqtadir, who had been kept in safety, was again placed upon the throne. The finances fell after this outbreak into so wretched a state that nothing was left with which to pay the city guards. Al-Muqtadir was eventually slain outside the city gate in 932.

The long reign of al-Muqtadir brought the Empire to the lowest ebb. External losses were of secondary moment. Even so, Africa was lost, and Egypt nearly. Mosul had thrown off its dependence, and the Greeks could make raids at pleasure on the helpless border. Yet in the East there still was kept up a formal recognition of the Caliphate, even by those who virtually claimed their independence; and nearer home, the terrible Carmathians had been for the time put down. In Baghdad, al-Muqtadir, the mere tool of a venal court, was at the mercy of foreign guards, which, commanded for the most part by Turkish and other officers of foreign descent, were frequently breaking out into rebellion. Thus, abject and reduced, twice dethroned, and at last slain in opposing a loyal officer whom he had called to his support, the prestige which his immediate predecessors had regained was lost, and that the throne became again the object of contempt at home, and a tempting prize for attack from abroad.

Mighty by the Help of the Lord see Muqtadir bi-‘llah, al-


Murad I
Murad I (Hüdavendigâr) (Khodāvandgār - "the God-like One") (Murat I) (March or June 29, 1326, Sogut or Bursa – June 15/20/28 or August 28, 1389, Kosovo).  Ottoman bey (r.1362-1389).  He was the first great Ottoman conqueror in the Balkan Peninsula, following the footsteps of his brother Suleyman Pasha and of other Turkish emirs.  Under him, the state founded by ‘Uthman rose to be more than merely one of the existing Turkmen principalities in Asia Minor.

Murad is often referred to as sultan, and even if he called himself “sultan,” it was not until 1394 that the title was officially introduced.

Murad’s reign witnessed rapid Ottoman expansion in Anatolia and the Balkans and the emergence of new forms of government and administration to consolidate Ottoman rule in these areas.

Murad ascended the throne in succession to his father, Orhan. Shortly after Murad’s accession, his forces penetrated western Thrace and took Adrianople and Philippopolis and forced the Byzantine emperor John V Palaeologus to become a vassal. Adrianople was renamed Edirne, and it became Murad’s capital. In 1366 a crusade commanded by Amadeus VI of Savoy rescued the Byzantines and occupied Gallipoli on the Dardanelles, but the Turks recaptured the town the next year. In 1371 Murad crushed a coalition of southern Serbian princes at Chernomen in the Battle of the Maritsa River, took the Macedonian towns of Dráma, Kavála, and Seres (Sérrai), and won a significant victory over a Bulgarian-Serbian coalition at Samakow (now Samokovo). These victories brought large territories under direct Ottoman rule and made the princes of northern Serbia and Bulgaria, as well as the Byzantine emperor, Murad’s vassal.

In the 1380s Murad resumed his offensive in the west. Sofia was taken in 1385 and Niš in 1386. Meanwhile, in Anatolia, Murad had extended his power as far as Tokat and consolidated his authority in Ankara. Through marriage, purchase, and conquest he also acquired territories from the principalities of Germiyan, Tekke, and Hamid. A coalition of Turkmen principalities led by the Karaman was formed to stem Ottoman expansion, but it was defeated at Konya (1386).

In 1387 or 1388 a coalition of northern Serbian princes and Bosnians stopped the Ottomans at Pločnik, but in 1389 Murad and his son Bayezid (later Bayezid I) defeated them at the first Battle of Kosovo, although Murad was killed by a Serbian noble who pretended to defect to the Ottoman camp.

Under Murad I the seeds of some of the basic Ottoman imperial institutions were sown. The administrative military offices of kaziasker (military judge), beylerbeyi (commander in chief), and grand vizier (chief minister) crystallized and were granted to persons outside the family of Osman I, founder of the dynasty. The origins of the Janissary corps (elite forces) and the devşirme (child-levy) system through which the Janissaries were recruited are also traced to Murad’s reign.


Hudavendigar see Murad I
Khodavandgar see Murad I
Murat I see Murad I


Murad II
Murad II (Murat II) (b. June 1404, Amasya, Ottoman Empire [now in Turkey] — d. February 3, 1451, Edirne).  Ottoman Sultan (r. 1421-1444 and 1446-1451).  In 1422, he began a siege of Constantinople, but the siege had to be raised.  Most of his campaigns were directed to the west.  In 1444, he abdicated in favor of his son Muhammad but had to come back when the Hungarians were preparing a new crusade.  He is described as a truthful, mild and humane ruler and was the first Ottoman prince whose court became a brilliant center of poets, literary men and Muslim scholars.

Murad II was an Ottoman sultan (1421–44 and 1446–51) who expanded and consolidated Ottoman rule in the Balkans, pursued a policy of restraint in Anatolia, and helped lead the empire to recovery after its near demise at the hands of Timur following the Battle of Ankara (1402).

Early in his reign, Murad had to overcome several claimants to the Ottoman throne who were supported by the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaeologus and by many of the Turkmen principalities in Anatolia. By 1425 Murad had eliminated his rivals, had re-established Ottoman rule over the Turkmen principalities of western Anatolia, and had once again forced Byzantium to pay tribute. He then turned his attention to the Balkans. In 1430, after a five-year struggle, he captured Salonika (modern Thessaloníki), in northern Greece, which had been under Venetian control. At first the Ottoman armies were successful against a Hungarian-Serbian-Karaman alliance; but after 1441, when the alliance expanded to include German, Polish, and Albanian forces, the Ottomans lost Niš and Sofia (1443) and were soundly defeated at Jalowaz (1444). After signing a peace treaty at Edirne (June 12, 1444), Murad abdicated in favor of his 12-year-old son, Mehmed II.

European powers, under the auspices of Pope Eugenius IV, soon broke the truce; and Murad, leading the Ottoman army, inflicted a severe defeat on the Christian forces at the Battle of Varna in November 1444. Under pressure from court notables and faced with external threats, Murad reassumed control of the state in 1446. In 1448, he defeated the Hungarians at the second Battle of Kosovo (October 17).

In Anatolia, Murad pursued a policy of caution because of the westward advance of the Timurid Shah Rokh, who posed as protector of the Turkmen principalities. The Ottomans gained suzerainty over the Turkmen rulers in the Çorum-Amasya region and in western Anatolia, but the principality of Karaman, which through its alliances with the Balkan Christian rulers was a major threat to the Ottomans, was left autonomous.

During Murad’s reign the office of grand vizier (chief minister) came to be dominated by the Çandarlı family. The Janissary corps (elite forces) gained in prominence, and the hereditary Turkish frontier rulers in the Balkans often acted independently of the sultan.




Murat II see Murad II


Murad III
Murad III (Murād-i sālis) (Murat III) (b. July 4, 1546, Bozdagan or Manisa, Ottoman Empire [now in Turkey]–  d. January 15/16, 1595, Topkapi Palace, Istanbul).  Ottoman sultan (r.1574-1595).  

The reign of Murad III saw lengthy wars against Iran and Austria and social and economic deterioration within the Ottoman state.

Externally Murad continued the military offensive of his predecessors. He took Fez (now Fès, Morocco) from the Portuguese in 1578. He fought an exhausting war against Iran (1578–90), which extended his rule over Azerbaijan, Tiflis (now Tbilisi, Georgia), Nahāvand, and Hamadān (now in Iran). In Europe he began a long war against Austria (1593–1606), which saw an alliance in 1594 of the Ottoman vassal rulers of Moldavia, Transylvania, and Walachia with Austria in defiance of Ottoman authority.

Murad came under the influence of the women in his harem and of his courtiers, and he ignored the advice of the brilliant grand vizier (chief minister) Mehmed Sokollu, who was assassinated in 1579. Under Murad, nepotism, heavy taxes necessitated by the long wars, and inflation, aggravated by the influx of cheap South American silver from Spain, all contributed to the decline of the major Ottoman administrative institutions. The tımar (fief) system suffered dislocation when the peasants, because of high taxes, were forced to leave their lands. The highly effective Janissary corps (elite forces), because of a policy of indiscriminate recruitment, degenerated into a body of ruffians that threatened the urban and rural populations.

Murad III was the eldest son of sultan Selim II (1566–74) and Valide Sultan Nurbanu Sultan (a Sephardic Jew and Venetian noblewoman, originally named Cecilia Venier-Baffo).  Murad succeeded his father in 1574. Murad began his reign by having his five younger brothers strangled. His authority was undermined by the harem influences, more specifically, those of his mother and later of his favorite wife Safiye Sultan. The power had only been maintained under Selim II by the genius of the all-powerful Grand Vizier Mehmed Sokollu who remained in office until his assassination in October 1579. The reign of Murad III was marked by wars with Iran and Austria and Ottoman economic decline and institutional decay.


Murad-i salis see Murad III
Murat III see Murad III


Murad IV
Murad IV (Murat IV) (Murad Oglu Ahmed I) (b. July 27, 1612, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]—d. February 8, 1640, Constantinople).  Ottoman Sultan (r.1623- 1640).  In 1632, he had to suppress an army mutiny.  In 1635, the Safavid fortress of Eriwan was taken, and in 1638, Baghdad itself surrendered, followed by a peace treaty with the Safavids in 1639.  He possessed some literary talent and was interested in literary debate, Ewliya’ Celebi being his most famous favorite.

Murad IV was the Ottoman sultan from 1623 to 1640 whose heavy-handed rule put an end to prevailing lawlessness and rebelliousness. Murad IV is renowned as the conqueror of Baghdad.

Murad, who came to the throne at age 11, ruled for several years through the regency of his mother, Kösem, and a series of grand viziers. Effective rule, however, remained in the hands of the turbulent spahis (from Turkish sipahiyan, quasi-feudal cavalries) and the Janissaries, who more than once forced the execution of high officials. Corruption of government officials and rebellion in the Asiatic provinces, coupled with an empty treasury, perpetuated the discontent against the central government.

Embittered by the excesses of the troops, Murad was determined to restore order both in Constantinople and in the provinces. In 1632, the spahis invaded the palace and demanded (and got) the heads of the grand vizier and 16 other high officials. Soon thereafter Murad gained full control and acted swiftly and ruthlessly. He suppressed the mutineers with a bloody ferocity. He banned the use of tobacco and closed the coffeehouses and the wineshops (no doubt as nests of sedition); violators or mere suspects were executed.

In his foreign policy, Murad took personal command in the continuing war against Iran and set out to win back territories lost to Iran earlier in his reign. Baghdad was reconquered in 1638 after a siege that ended in a massacre of garrison and citizens alike. In the following year peace was concluded.

A man of courage, determination, and violent temperament, Murad did not follow closely the precepts of the Sharīʿah (Islamic law) and was the first Ottoman sultan to execute a shaykh al-islām (the highest Muslim dignitary in the empire). He was able to restore order, however, and to straighten out state finances. Murad’s death was caused by his addiction to alcohol.

Murad IV was born in Istanbul, the son of Sultan Ahmed I (1603–17) and the ethnic Greek Valide Sultan Kadinefendi Kösem Sultan (also known as Mahpeyker), originally named Anastasia. Brought to power by a palace conspiracy in 1623, he succeeded his mad uncle Mustafa I (1617–18, 1622–23). He was only eleven when he took the throne. He married Aisha, without issue.


Murad Oglu Ahmed I see Murad IV


Murad V
Murad V (Murat V) (Mehmed Murad V) (b. September 21/22 1840, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey] - d. August 29, 1904, Constantinople).  Ottoman Sultan who ruled from May to September in 1876.  In 1876, the new Grand Council decided to proclaim a constitution, but this could not be carried through because of Murad’s mental state.  He was deposed in 1876 and replaced by his brother Abdulhamid II.

Murad V was the Ottoman sultan from May to September 1876, whose liberal disposition brought him to the throne after the deposition of his autocratic uncle Abdülaziz.

A man of high intelligence, Murad received a good education and was widely read in both Turkish and European literature. In 1867 he accompanied Abdülaziz on his European tour and made a favorable impression. During the tour, he secretly contacted exiled nationalist-liberal Young Turks, for which Abdülaziz placed him under close surveillance.

Upon Abdülaziz’ deposition by a group of ministers led by Midhat Paşa, the great advocate of constitutional government, Murad was brought to the throne. The new sultan was determined to introduce constitutional reforms, but, under the impact of Abdülaziz’ suicide and the murder of some of his key ministers, Murad suffered mental collapse. After declaration by Turkish and foreign doctors that his illness was incurable, Murad was deposed by the same men who had brought him to the throne. During the reign (1876–1909) of his brother Abdülhamid II, several attempts to restore him to the throne failed, and he spent the remaining years of his life confined in the Çiragan Palace.

Murad V was born in the Topkapi Palace in Constantinople. His father was Abdülmecid I. His mother, whom his father married in Constantinople on August 1, 1839, was Valide Sultan Shevkefza, (b. December 12, 1820, Poti - d. September 17, 1889, Ciragan Palace, Ortakoy, Constantinople), originally named Vilma, a Circassian.


Murat V see Murad V
Mehmed Murad V see Murad V


Murad, Banu
Murad, Banu (Banu Murad).  Arab tribe belonging to the great southern group of the Madhhij.  One of their chiefs went to Medina in 631 and concluded a treaty with the Prophet.  
Banu Murad see Murad, Banu

Murad, Ferid

Ferid Murad (b. September 14, 1936, Whiting, Indiana — d. September 4, 2023, Menlo Park, California), American pharmacologist who, along with Robert F. Furchgott and Louis J. Ignarro,  was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that nitric oxide (NO) acts as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system. Their combined work uncovered an entirely new mechanism for how blood vessels in the body relax and widen.

Ferid Murad was born in Whiting, Indiana, on September 14, 1936. His parents were Henrietta Josephine Bowman of Alton, Illinois, and Xhabir Murat Ejupi, an Albanian immigrant from Gostivar in present-day North Macedonia, who subsequently changed his name to John Murad after being processed at Ellis Island in 1913. His mother was from a Baptist family family and ran away from home in 1935, aged 17, to marry Murad's father, who was 39 and Muslim. Murad was the oldest of three boys. Murad and his brothers were raised as Catholics. He was later baptized an Episcopalian while in college. The family owned a small restaurant while Murad was growing up, and he spent his youth working at the family business.

In the eighth grade, he was asked to write an essay of his top three career choices, which he indicated as physician, teacher and pharmacist (in 1948, clinical pharmacology was not yet a discipline in medicine). He became a board-certified physician and internist doing both basic and clinical research with considerable teaching in medicine, pharmacology and clinical pharmacology and with a PhD in pharmacology.

Murad competed successfully for a Rector Scholarship at DePauw, University in Greencastle, Indiana a small and excellent liberal arts university on a tuition scholarship. He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from the pre-med program at DePauw University in 1958. During his senior year of college, he began to apply to medical schools when his faculty advisor Forst Fuller, a professor in the biology department suggested that he consider a new MD-PhD program at Case Western Reserve University. A fraternity brother, Bill Sutherland, also advised that he consider this new combined degree program that his father, Earl Sutherland, Jr. initiated in Cleveland in 1957. The program paid full tuition for both degrees and provided a modest stipend of $2,000 per year. Murad ultimately decided to attend and became an early graduate of the first explicit MD and pharmacology Ph.D. program (which would later lead to the development of the prestigious Medical Scientist Training Program) obtaining his degrees from Case Western Reserve University in 1965. He was an Intern in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital (1965–66), Resident in Internal Medicine (1966–67), Clinical Associate and Senior Assistant Surgeon, Public Health Service, National Heart and Lung Institute (1967–69) and Senior Staff Fellow there from 1969–70.

In addition to his clinical practice, Murad taught pharmacology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville (1975–81), at Stanford University (1981–89), and then at Northwestern University (1988). While at Stanford he ventured into the private sector as a vice president of Abbott Laboratories (1988–92) and then became president of the Molecular Geriatrics Corporation (1993–95). He began teaching at the medical school of the University of Texas, Houston, in 1997. Murad moved to the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in 2011.

In 1977, Murad showed that nitroglycerin and several related heart drugs induce the formation of nitric oxide and that the colorless, odorless gas acts to increase the diameter of blood vessels in the body. Furchgott and Ignarro built on this work. About 1980 Furchgott demonstrated that cells in the endothelium, or inner lining, of blood vessels produce an unknown signaling molecule, which he named endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF). This molecule signals smooth muscle cells in blood vessel walls to relax, dilating the vessels. Ignarro’s research, conducted in 1986 and done independently of Furchgott’s work, identified EDRF as nitric oxide. These discoveries led to the development of the anti-impotence drug sildenafil citrate (Viagra) and had the potential to unlock new approaches for understanding and treating other diseases.

The Nobel Assembly of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, which presented the prize, said that the identification of a biological role for nitric oxide was surprising for several reasons. Nitric oxide was known mainly as a harmful air pollutant, released into the atmosphere from automobile engines and other combustion sources. In addition, it was a simple molecule, very different from the complex neurotransmitters and other signaling molecules that regulate many biological events. No other gas is known to act as a signaling molecule in the body.

Murad was also the recipient of the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award in 1996 for his discovery. Murad and Ignarro collaborated on Nitric Oxide: Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Therapeutic Implications (1995).

Ferid Murad died in Menlo Park, California, on September 4, 2023, at the age of 86.


Muradi, al-
Muradi, al-. Name of a family of Sayyids and scholars established at Damascus in the seventeenth through eighteenth centuries.


Muridiyya
Muridiyya (The Mouride Brotherhood) (Muride Brotherhood) (Aṭ-Ṭarīqat al-Murīdiyya).  The word murid is Arabic for the candidate in a Sufi initiation.  The word murid (Mouride) took on a particular meaning in Senegal to describe the adepts of a movement founded by Ahmadu Bamba, a Senegalese mystic and man of letters (circa 1850-1927), which was repressed for a long time by French authorities.  Basing its economic strength on the cultivation of peanuts, Muridism offers an original example of a religious fraternity engaged in agricultural production.

After the death of its founder, the Muridiyya became the mediator for all powers currently in place.  Buoyed by the extreme fervor of its adherents, the movement seeks, even though it does not represent a majority in the country, to become the national fraternity of Senegal.

The best known of the Sufi brotherhoods in Senegal, both within and outside of the country, is the Muridiyah.  Its name comes from murid, the postulant who seeks the path to spiritual knowledge.  The word was already in use when the French and the followers of the founder of the order, Amadu Bamba M’Backe, came into conflict in the 1890s in western Senegal.

Amadu Bamba (c.1850-1927) was born into a family of itinerant scholars who moved through the Wolof kingdoms of Baol, Cayor, and Jolof, states taht disintegrated rather rapidly in the late nineteenth century under the impact of internecine wars, French penetration, and opportunities provided by the cultivation of peanuts in the sandy soil fo the Sahel.  His father Momar Antassali had close attachments to the royal dynasty of Cayor and particularly to the ruler or damel, Lat Dior, and it was in a combination of court settings and rural retreats that Amadu Bamba acquired his apprenticeship in Islam and Senegalese politics.

By the 1880s, he had achieved a significant reputation as a poet, scholar, and spiritual advisor in his own right.  Bamba was able to maintain a growing following, particularly among the ceddos or slave warriors of the courts and other people who were increasingly marginalized with the decline of the kingdoms and growing violence.  He affiliated with Qadiriyah shaykhs in Mauritania, although later his particular approaches to islam often caused the Muridiyah to be categorized as an autonomous if not separate order.
In the dramatically changing situation of late nineteenth century Senegal, Bamba was careful to keep his distance from both the traditional courts, which were failing in their efforts to resist.

European conquest, and the Europeans themselves, who were working from coastal bases such as St. Louis and Dakar.  In Senegalese lore he is closely identified with the defeat and death of Lat Dior in 1886, but in fact he did not advise the king to resist.  Bamba was able to maintain his following on the fringes of areas of French control for several more years.  The regime in St. Louis finally captured him in 1895, conducted a summary trial, and sent him into exile in Gabon for a period of seven years.  Bamba spent a great deal of time during his exile in meditation and the writing of poetry, and the period has become enshrined in the memories of his followers as a series of constantly retold miracles of escape from French entrapments.

Some of Bamba’s family and friends, particularly his brother Shaykh Anta and his lieutenant Ibra Fall, were quite active on his behalf during his exile.  The actively encouraged the pattern of peanut cultivation and the acquisition of property in both rural and urban settings.  The Senegalese deputy to the French Assembly, Francois Carpot, played a role in gaining the return of Bamba from exile in 1902, but the anxiety of the French and their Senegalese chiefs alike provoked a second exile (1903-1907), this time to Butilimit and the home of a close Mauritanian friend of the colonial regime, Sidiya Baba.  From 1907 to 1912, the French kept Bamba in a remote area of Jolof in northern Senegal before finally allowing him to move to Diourbe, near the headquarters of the Muridiyah but still under close surveillance.

During all this time of exile, Bamba’s family and friends continued to develop their interests in peanut farming and in closer ties with the French administration.  By World War I, in the midst of French needs for troops and endorsement of their cause, Bamba himself was ready to give his blessing to this tissue of cooperation.  When he died in 1927, the French played a significant role in ensuring the succession of his son Muhammad Mustapha against the claims of Bamba’s brother Shaykh Anta.  They continued the close relationship with another son, Falilu, who served as successor or khalifa general from 1945 until his death in 1968, and the Senegalese government has enjoyed generally good relationships with the M’backe successors since.

Bamba was a man of great scholarly acumen and spirituality, and many of his descendants and associates have had the same orientation.  Many Murid followers, however, had little or no education in matters Islamic, and they were encouraged by the leaders to work hard, particularly in the cultivation of peanuts, and to allow the marabouts, the Islamic authorities, to carry out intercession on their behalf.  This has been particularly true of the group called the Baye Fall, followers of Ibra Fall who were always ready to carry out any physical task for their leaders.  Recently, however, Murid cells throughout Senegal and in major French urban centers modified this image of the “unlettered Murid” by their zeal for learning the teachings of Islam and the heritage of the founder.




The Mouride Brotherhood see Muridiyya
Muride Brotherhood see Muridiyya
At-Tariqat al-Muridiyya see Muridiyya


Murji‘a
Murji‘a (Murjiah).  Name of a politico-religious movement in early Islam, derived from the Qur’anic usage of the verb which means “to defer judgment.”  The word murji‘a is derived from the Arabic word irja’ meaning “postponement” or “deferment.”  The Murji‘a is a quietist sect of early Islam.  In the opinion of the Murji‘a, sinners should not be condemned, because faith can offset sins.  The Murji‘a were politically uninvolved and believed that outward confession of faith was sufficient for a good Muslim.  The sect emerged mainly in reaction to the Kharijis, who saw sin in more absolute terms.

Murji’a were a sectarian group in Islam, that during the middle of the seventh century, claimed that wrong-doings could only be judged by man, and not God, in those cases where the common good was in jeopardy.  Moreover, they believed that questions on whether or not a man was a believer was a question that should be totally left to God on the Day of Judgment.  They also claimed that sin should not be punished with the expulsion from the believer’s community.  Many of their thoughts lived on with the Umayyad Caliphs.  From opponents in their own time, the Murji’is were accused of lack of piety.

In later times, the name Murji‘a refers to all those who identified faith with belief, or confession of belief, to the exclusiong of acts.  They generally admitted that God might either punish or forgive Muslim offenders, which punishment, according to some, would be eternal, others affirming that it would be temporal and that all would eventually enter Paradise through the intercession of the Prophet.  The latter view agrees with predominant Sunni traditionalist doctrine.

Murji'ah is an early Islamic school, whose followers are known in the English language as Murjites or Murji'ites.

During the early centuries of Islam, Muslim thought encountered a multitude of influences from various ethnic and philosophical groups that it absorbed. Murji'ah emerged as a theological school that was opposed to the Kharijites on questions related to early controversies regarding sin and definitions of what is a true Muslim.

As opposed to the Kharijites, Murjites advocated the idea of deferred judgment of peoples’ belief. Murjite doctrine held that only God has the authority to judge who is a true Muslim and who is not, and that Muslims should consider all other Muslims as part of the community. This theology promoted tolerance of Ummayyads and converts to Islam who appeared half-hearted in their obedience.

In another contrast to the Kharijites, who believed that committing a grave sin would render a person non-Muslim, Murjites considered genuine belief in and submission to God to be more important than acts of piety and good works. They believed Muslims committing grave sins would remain Muslim and be eligible for paradise if they remained faithful.

The Murjite opinion on the issue of whether one committing a grave sin remains a believer was adapted with modifications by later theological schools – Maturidi, Ash'ari, and Mu'tazili.

The Murjites exited the way of the Sunnis when they declared that no Muslim would enter the hellfire, no matter what his sins. This contradicts the traditional Sunni belief which states that some Muslims will enter the fire of hell temporarily. Therefore the Murjites are classified as "Ahlul Bid'ah" or "People of Innovation" by traditional Sunni Muslims.


Murjiah see Murji‘a


Murjibi, Hamid ibn Muhammad al-
Murjibi, Hamid ibn Muhammad al- (Hamid ibn Muhammad al-Murjibi) (Tippu Tip) (Tippu Tib) (Muhammed Bin Hamid) (b. 1837 - d. June 14, 1905, Zanzibar [now in Tanzania]).  Personality of Afro-Arab stock who played a role in the history of East Africa and the Congo.  Born in Zanzibar, he led caravan expeditions to the area around Lake Tanganyika and encountered David Livingstone.  He was appointed governor of the Stanley Falls District of the Congo Free State in 1887 by King Leopold of Belgium on the advice of Stanley.  He returned to Zanzibar in 1891 and remained a highly-respected person.

Tippu Tib was the most famous late 19th-century Arab trader in central and eastern Africa. His ambitious plans for state building inevitably clashed with those of the sultan of Zanzibar and the Belgian King Leopold II. The ivory trade, however, apparently remained his chief interest, with his state-building and political intrigues serving as means to that enterprise.

Tippu Tib’s first trading trip to the African interior was in the late 1850s or early 1860s, accompanied by only a few men. By the late 1860s he was leading expeditions of 4,000 men, and shortly thereafter he began to establish a rather loosely organized state in the eastern and central Congo River basin. Ruling over an increasingly large area in the 1870s, he either confirmed local chiefs or replaced them with loyal regents. His main interests, however, were commercial. He established a monopoly on elephant hunting, had roads built, and began to develop plantations around the main Arab settlements, including Kasongo on the upper Congo River, where he himself settled in 1875.

In 1876–77, he accompanied the British explorer Henry Morton Stanley partway down the Congo River, and later he sent expeditions as far as the Aruwimi confluence, 110 miles (180 km) downriver of Stanleyville (now Kisangani, Congo [Kinshasa]). In the early 1880s he threw in his lot with Sultan Barghash of Zanzibar, who hoped to use him to extend Arab influence in the Congo region against the threat of Leopold’s International Association of the Congo (the king’s private development enterprise). Tippu Tib returned to Stanley Falls in 1883 to try to take over as much of the Congo basin as possible on behalf of Barghash. He remained in the Congo until 1886, when he again went to Zanzibar with more ivory.

By that time Leopold’s claim to the Congo basin had been recognized by other European nations, and Tippu Tib had apparently decided that an accommodation with the International Association was inevitable. In February 1887 he signed an agreement making him governor of the district of the Falls in the Congo Free State (now Congo [Kinshasa]). It proved to be an impossible position. The Europeans expected him to keep all the Arab traders in the area under control but would not allow him the necessary weapons, and many Arabs resented his alliance with the Europeans against them. In April 1890 he left the Falls for the last time and returned to Zanzibar.
Hamid ibn Muhammad al-Murjibi see Murjibi, Hamid ibn Muhammad al-
Tippu Tip see Murjibi, Hamid ibn Muhammad al-
Tippu Tib see Murjibi, Hamid ibn Muhammad al-
Muhammed Bin Hamid see Murjibi, Hamid ibn Muhammad al-


Murshid
Murshid. Arabic term that means “guide” or “spiritual leader.”  The term murshid is used to refer to a Sufi master and teacher.

Murshid is Arabic for "guide" or "teacher". Particularly in Sufism it refers to a Sufi teacher. The path of Sufism starts when a student takes an oath of allegiance (Bai'ath) with a teacher. After this oath, the student is called a Murid.

The Murshid's role is to guide and instruct the disciple on the Sufi path, by general lessons (called Suhbas) and individual guidance.

A Murshid usually has authorizations to be a teacher for one (or more) Tariqas (paths). A tariqa may have more than one Murshid at a time. A Murshid is accorded that status by his murshid (Shaikh) by way of Khilafath: the process in which the Shaikh identifies one of his disciples as his successor, the Khalifa. A Murshid can have more than one khalifa.

Other words that refer to a murshid include, Pir and Sarkar.

Guide see Murshid.
Spiritual Leader see Murshid.
Teacher see Murshid.


Murshid Quli Khan
Murshid Quli Khan (Muhammad Hadi) (d. 1727).  Title of Muhammad Hadi, perhaps born a brahman, who was purchased and adopted by Haji Shafi Isfahani, a successful diwan (revenue administrator) in India from 1668 to 1690.  The son began service under the diwan of Berar.  The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb noticed his ability, leading to his appointment as diwan of Bengal in 1700.  Orissa and Bihar were added to his domain in 1703 and 1704.  Succession politics caused his transfer to the Deccan in 1708, but he returned home in 1710 and secured quasi-independent status in 1717.  When he died, he bequeathed Bengal to his son-in-law, Shuja ud-Din Muhammad Khan.  His exceptional administrative abilities made Bengal orderly and yielded high revenues, but English economic dominance beginning in his rule led to their political dominance as well.

Murshid Quli Khan was the first Nawab of Bengal. In fact circumstances resulted in his being the first independent ruler of Bengal after the death of Emperor Aurangzeb. Though he continued to recognize the nominal overlordship of the Mughal Emperor, for all practical purposes he was the de facto ruler of Bengal.

The decay and downfall of the Mughal Empire began in earnest after the reign of Aurangzeb. The Peacock Throne in Delhi became a "musical chair" for the successors of Aurangzeb and fueled by court intrigues of numerous nobles the tenure between 1707 and 1719 saw no less than eight Mughal Emperors (more than the sum of the last 180 years) namely Bahadur Shah I, Jahandar Shah, Farrukh Siyar, Rafi ud-Darajat, Rafi ud-Daulah, Neku Siyar, Muhammad Ibrahim and finally some stability came in the form of Muhammad Shah in 1719.

Such instability saw the rise of three notable nobles; Saadat Ali Khan the Subahdar of Oudh, Murshid Quli Khan the Subahdar of Orissa and Nazim of Bengal and Qamar ud-din Khan (also known as Asaf Jah I) the Subahdar of Deccan.

Muhammad Hadi see Murshid Quli Khan
Hadi, Muhammad see Murshid Quli Khan


Murtada, Abu’l-Qasim al-
Murtada, Abu’l-Qasim al- (Abu’l-Qasim al-Murtada) (967-1044). Imami theologian, grammarian, writer and poet from Baghdad.
Abu’l-Qasim al-Murtada see Murtada, Abu’l-Qasim al-


Murtada Ansari
Murtada Ansari (Shaykh Murtada Ansari) (Morteza Ansari) (Mortaza Ansari) (Murtada al-Ansari) (1781/1799-1864, Dezful).  Shi‘ite mujtahid of Iran.  His widely recognized religious leadership in the Shi‘ite world has not yet been surpassed.

Morteza Ansari was a Shi'a jurist who "was generally acknowledged as the most eminent jurist of the time." Ansari has also been called the "first effective" model or Marja of the Shi'a or "the first scholar universally recognized as supreme authority in matters of Shii law", and the first to develop the theory of Vilayat-e Faqih, later made famous by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as a political ideology.

Morteza Ansari was born in Dezful around 1781, the time the Qajar dynasty was establishing its power in Iran. He commenced his religious studies in Defzul, under the tutelage of his uncle, himself a notable scholar. At the age of twenty, he made Ziyarat with his father to Kerbala, Iraq, where he met Mohammad Mujtahid Karbala'i, the leader of the city's scholars. Ansari demonstrated considerable promise during a debate with the senior Mujtahid, who was so impressed that he induced his father to allow Ansari to continue his studies with them.. Ansari studied in Kerbala for four years, until the city was besieged by Dawud Pasha and his rebels, causing the scholars of Kerbala and their students to flee to Baghdad and the shrine of al-Kazim. From there, Ansari returned to his homeland, where he quickly became restless and resolving to find teachers to continue his religious instruction. After about a year of traveling, he spent two years in Najaf studying under Musa al-Ja'fari and Sharif Mazandarani and a year in Najaf studying with Kashf ul-Ghita. Returning from a pilgrimage to Mashhad, Khurasan, he encountered Ahmad al-Naraqi, an authority in fiqh, usul al-fiqh and irfan, and - although Ansari was already a mujtahid in his own right when he left Karbala - studied with him for a further four years. After again traveling for a number of years, he returned to Najaf where he completed his studies under Kashf ul-Ghita and Muhammad Hasan Najafi (author of Jawahir ul-Kalam) and began teaching.

When the last of the prominent scholars of the generation senior to Ansari died in 1849, Ansari was universally recognized as the 'most learned Mujtahid' (marja') in the Twelver Shi'ah community. His lessons in Fiqh and Usul al-fiqh became incredibly popular, attracting hundreds of students. Furthermore, it is estimated that 200,000 Tomans a year of Khums money was tithed to Ansari's base in Najaf "from all over the Islamic world". Despite this, Ansari lived humbly, generously provided stipends to his Talebeh (Islamic students) with these funds, and this resulted in a confirmation of Najaf's standing as center of Shiah learning. In spite of the tremendous prestige attached to his position, Ansari lived the life of an ascetic. When he died, his two daughters were unable to pay for his funeral expenses from his inheritance. He rarely used his authority in the Shia community, seldom judging cases or giving fatawa.

Ansari was celebrated for his piety and generosity and "more than that of any mullah leader of the past two centuries, his leadership celebrated his learning." Through the expansion of rational devices in Usul al-fiqh, Ansari implicitly admitted the uncertainty of much of the sacred law. For this reason, he emphasized that only a learned Mujtahid could interpret scripture (i.e. the Qur'an and Hadith) and employ reason to produce legal doctrines. The rest of the community was obliged to follow (Taqlid) the doctrines of these legal scholars.

The author of some thirty books and treatises, his work is noted for its clarity and readability. Most of his works center on Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh. Of the former, his most important work is the Makasib, a detailed exposition of Islamic Commercial Law, which is still taught today in the Hawza. Of the latter, his Fara'id ul-Usul remains an extremely important work. In it, he is credited with expanding the scope of the usul 'amaliyyah (practical principles, as opposed to semantic principles) in Shi'i jurisprudence. For this reason, Ansari is said to have laid the foundations of modern Twelver jurisprudence and his style - more than any other classical scholar - is imitated by the modern jurists. He also developed the theory of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists (Vilayat-e Faqih), by which jurists were to become legal guardians of orphans, the mentally incompetent, etc. However, he did not extend this so far as to give the jurists general political leadership, and was personally extremely reluctant to intervene in politics in any way.

Shaykh Murtada Ansari see Murtada Ansari
Morteza Ansari see Murtada Ansari
Mortaza Ansari see Murtada Ansari
Murtada al-Ansari see Murtada Ansari
Ansari, Murtada see Murtada Ansari
Ansari, Morteza see Murtada Ansari

2022: Musa - Musha'sha'

 


Musa
Musa.  See Mansa Musa.


Musa al-Kazim
Musa al-Kazim (Mūsá ibn Ja‘far al-Kāżim) (al-Kādhim) (November 6, 745 - September 1, 799).  Seventh Imam of the Twelver Shi‘a.  He adhered to a quietist policy, devoting himself to prayer and contemplation.  Yet he was harassed by the ‘Abbasid Caliphs al-Mahdi and Harun al-Rashid.  His descendants are known as Musawis.

Musa’s imamate coincided with one of the greatest periods of the persecution of the Shi‘a community.  Son of Jafar as-Sadiq by a Berber slave named Hamida, he was twenty years of age at his father’s death.  Initially his imamate was very controversial with many Shi‘a.  Many recognized his brother Abdullah al-Aftali, or insisting that the imamate had stayed with Ismail, Sadiq’s oldest son, who had died while Sadiq was still living.

After this rocky start, Musa managed to gain the allegiance of most of the Shi‘a community but as time went on persecution increased until it climaxed under the bloody reign of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid.  Hundreds of Alids were killed and Musa was arrested and brought to Baghdad to be executed.  Surprisingly, Harun released Musa at the last minute, reportedly because of a dream.  This respite was short lived and rearrested, Musa spent six years in prison before being poisoned.

His body was publicly displayed by Harun to dispel any rumors that he had escaped and was living in secret.  He was buried with his grandson, Muhammad at Taqi, in Kazimayn near Baghdad, Iraq.  Their burial place was covered by a magnificent gold domed shrine.  Musa al-Kazim was succeeded by his son Ali ar-Rida.

Mūsá ibn Ja‘far al-Kāżim was the son of the sixth Imam, Ja‘far aṣ-Ṣādiq and his mother was Hamidah Khātūn, a student and former slave of African descent. His wife Najmah was also a former slave purchased and freed by Hamidah, his mother.

Mūsá al-Kāżim was born during the power struggles between the Umayyad and the Abbasid. Like his father, he was assassinated by the Abbasids. He bore three notable children: the eighth Imām, ‘Alī ar-Riżá, and two daughters, Fāṭimah al-Ma‘sūmah and Hājar Khātūn.

The Festival of Imam Musa al-Kadhim celebrates his life and death.



Musa ibn Ja'far al-Kazim see Musa al-Kazim
Kazim, Musa al- see Musa al-Kazim
Kazim, Musa ibn Ja'far al- see Musa al-Kazim
Kadhim, al- see Musa al-Kazim


Musa, Banu
Musa, Banu (Banu Musa).  Name of three brothers: Muhammad, Ahmad and al-Hasan, who were among the most important figures of Baghdad in the ninth century.  They were skilled in geometry, mechanics, music, mathematics and astronomy.  Muhammad (d. 873) played a part in the nomination of the Caliph al-Musta‘in (I) bi-‘llah.  The best known of their books, which largely the work of Ahmad, comprises descriptions of some 100 small machines.  

The Banū Mūsā brothers ("Sons of Mūsā") were three 9th century Persian scholars, of Baghdad, active in the House of Wisdom:

    * Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir (before 803 – 873), who specialized in astronomy, engineering, geometry and physics.
    * Ahmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir (803 – 873), who specialized in engineering and mechanics.
    * Al-Hasan ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir (810 – 873), who specialized in engineering and geometry.

The Banu Musa were the sons of Mūsā ibn Shākir, who had been a highwayman and later an astrologer to the Caliph al-Ma'mūn. At his death, he left his young sons in the custody of the Caliph, who entrusted them to Ishaq bin Ibrahim al-Mus'abi, a former governor of Baghdad. The education of the three brothers was carried out by Yahya bin Abu Mansur who worked at the famous House of Wisdom library and translation center in Baghdad.

The Banu Musa brothers built a number of automata (automatic machines) and mechanical devices, and they described a hundred such devices in their Book of Ingenious Devices. Some of these inventions include:

    * Feedback controller
    * Automatic flute player
    * Self-trimming lamp (Ahmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir)
    * Self-feeding lamp
    * Gas mask
    * Grab
    * Clamshell grab
    * Fail-safe system
    * Differential pressure

The Banu Musa also invented "the earliest known mechanical musical instrument", in this case a hydro-powered organ which played interchangeable cylinders automatically. This cylinder with raised pins on the surface remained the basic device to produce and reproduce music mechanically until the second half of the nineteenth century.

In physics and astronomy, Muhammad ibn Musa was a pioneer of astrophysics and celestial mechanics. In the Book on the motion of the orbs, he was the first to discover that the heavenly bodies and celestial spheres were subject to the same laws of physics as Earth, unlike the ancients who believed that the celestial spheres followed their own set of physical laws different from that of Earth.

Ahmad (c. 805) specialized in mechanics and wrote a work on pneumatic devices called On mechanics.

The eldest brother, Ja'far Muḥammad, wrote a critical revision on Apollonius' Conics, called the Premises of the book of conics.

The Banu Musa's most famous mathematical treatise is The Book of the Measurement of Plane and Spherical Figures, which considered similar problems as Archimedes did in his On the Measurement of the Circle and On the Sphere and the Cylinder.

The youngest brother, al-Hasan (c. 810), specialised in geometry and wrote a work on the ellipse called The elongated circular figure.

Banu Musa see Musa, Banu


Musabbihi, al-
Musabbihi, al- (977-1030).  Fatimid historian.  He is known as a prolific and versatile writer.  The only one of his writings which has survived is a chapter of his history of Egypt, recording events of 1023-1024. 


Mus‘ab ibn ‘Abd Allah
Mus‘ab ibn ‘Abd Allah (773-851).  Genealogist from Medina.  His fame rests upon a work on the history of the Quraysh, which is of outstanding importance for the history of the beginnings of Islam, and in particular for that of the first four caliphs.


Mus‘ab ibn al-Zubayr
Mus‘ab ibn al-Zubayr (d. 691).  Son of the famous Companion of the Prophet al-Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam and brother of the anti-caliph ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.  He defeated al-Mukhtar at Kufa in 687 but was killed near Basra.


Mus‘ab ibn ‘Umayr
Mus‘ab ibn ‘Umayr ( Mus'ab ibn 'Umair) (d. 625).  Companion of the Prophet of the Quraysh clan of ‘Abd al-Dar.  He died in the Battle of Uhud.

Mus‘ab ibn ‘Umair was a sahabi (companion) of Muhammad. He was from the Banū ‘Abd al-Dār branch of the tribe of Quraish. He died in the Battle of Uhud. He is said to have been the first envoy of Islam.

Mus‘ab bin ‘Umair was a very handsome young man. He was the son of ‘Umair who was a wealthy person. He brought up his son in quite a luxurious fashion. Mus‘ab enjoyed the best of food, finest dresses and the best perfumes. Whenever Mus‘ab passed through the streets, dressed in precious clothes and profusely perfumed, the sweet smell scented the atmosphere all around and the people gazed at him with amazement and appreciation. His beauty and charm was the talk of the town. Every person knew that Mus‘ab's parents were bringing up their son with great affection and care.

Whenever the Prophet Muhammad talked of him, he said "There is nobody more handsome in Makkah than Mus‘ab. There is no person in the city better clothed and fed than Mus‘ab. There is no child brought up with more affection and love than him." Due to his charming personality and being a lovely son of wealthy parents, everyone young or old had great regard for him.

When he embraced Islam he was given a respectable place in the Muslim society. But it was not due to his beauty, charm, good dress, good manners or wealth, but due to his piety and fear of God. When he embraced Islam, he faced severe hardships and torture. The beauty and charm of his person faded. He was also deprived of the affection and care of his parents. But his virtues and piety won the appreciation of Allah and the prophet Muhammed. In his pursuit for winning the favor of Allah and the prophet Muhammed, Mus‘ab cared neither for good food, nor good dress. He was no longer inclined towards expensive perfumes, instead he devoted himself whole heartedly to serve the cause of Islam.

Mus‘ab accepted Islam at a time when life had been made unbearable for Muslims. He was turned out of his home and was socially boycotted. He had to suffer countless miseries. This pampered young man embraced Islam at a time when those who believed in Islam were refused food and water and were thrown in dark prison cells. Many tyrants, not satisfied with the infliction of pain and injury, often murdered their Muslim victims. There were other hard-hearted fellows who had invented various forms of torments, to inflict on the Muslims.

Mus‘ab accepted Islam during that difficult period. One day a non-believer saw him offering prayers. He at once informed Mus‘ab's parents who turned hostile to their son. His mother's affection vanished. All the love and care of his father changed into anger and grief. They admonished him, but when they knew that he was firm, they tied him with ropes and threw him in a dark cell. He was kept in prison for a long time, but his belief in Islam was so deep that the torment of prison did not change his mind. He sacrificed everything and remained patient.

When the Muslims were ordered to migrate to Abyssinia, this young-man, brought up like a prince, also migrated along with the other devotees. When he returned from Abyssinia, people saw in him a different person- all the luster and gaity was gone. He who would have scoffed at the most precious raiment, was wearing a dress made of coarse, worn-out blanket. The spectacle inspired amazement, and awe among the onlookers. His mother, too, pitied her son’s condition and repented of the harsh treatment, she had shown to him.

During this period many people of Medina had accepted Islam. They requested that prophet Muhammed send them a preacher for teaching them the fundamentals of Islam. Prophet Muhammed selected Mus'ab. He went from door to door to convince the people of the message of Islam. Initially, he talked to each person in terms which that person could understand, and then presented to him the message of Islam at the right moment. He recited before the people selected verses of the Qur’an, which had a profound effect on their minds. He treated his visitors very politely. He had a natural gift for soft speech and people who approached him instantly became his friends.

It was in Medina that Mus‘ab bin ‘Umair did a remarkable work which shows his intelligence and tact in propagating the call of Islam. When the number of Muslims increased in Medina, he organized them in a body and requested permission of the prophet Muhammad to lay the foundation of Friday prayers.  When the permission of Friday prayers was granted Mus'ab's first talks were to deliver a very impressive address. Then he led the congregational Friday prayers with great reverence. In this way Mus‘ab bin ‘Umair had the honor of founding the Friday prayers. Mus‘ab's achievements at Medina were constantly reported to the prophet Muhammed.

When Mus‘ab’s mission had been fully accomplished, he led a group of Muslims to Mecca to bring the prophet Muhammed to Medina. On arrival at Mecca the first thing Mus‘ab did was to approach the prophet Muhammad to give him a full report of the success of his mission. Muhammad was very pleased with Mus‘ab’s account. A true Muslim (Momin) does not require anything else but the pleasure of Allah through following the commands of their prophet Muhammad.

Mus‘ab’s mother learned that her son had returned home at last; and that he was staying with someone else. She felt annoyed and sent him word : “My son! You have returned to a town, in which I reside. But woe to me! You have not come to see me!” The reply which Mus‘ab sent to his mother shows his sincere devotion to prophet Muhammad. He said, “I will not see anybody before I have paid homage to the Holy Prophet".

The account of Mus‘ab bin ‘Umair given above demonstrates an exemplary proof of the great love he had for Islam and the pains he took in presenting Islam to the non-believers. He sacrificed everything he possessed for the sake of Islam including his charm and beauty, his wealth and worldly belongings, his luxurious style of living and shed his attachment to his parents, his homeland, his people and his own country. In short, everything which was dear to him, was sacrificed by him for Islam.

Mus‘ab bin ‘Umair was not only very handsome, he also possessed the qualities of submission and sacrifice; he was a master of high intelligence and good eloquence, and he was also a gallant soldier, a fearless warrior and an able General. It was because of his gallantry that the prophet Muhammed entrusted him with the charge of the highest banner of war, in the battle of Badr. He was also given the rare honor of holding the Muslim banner during the battle of Uhud. The way in which the high office of holding the war banner was discharged in the two battles by this great devotee of Islam may be judged from the events of the Battle of Uhud.

In the battle of Uhud, the battle was lost for a while by a casual mistake of the Muslims. The people of Mecca attacked the Muslims from the rear via cavalry and thus disorganized the Muslim army.  At that critical time, Mus‘ab kept the Islamic banner flying high. When the Muslims were scattered, he stood fast until he met Ibn Quma'ah who was a knight. He struck him on his right hand and cut it off, but Mus'ab said, "And Muhammad is but a Messenger. Messengers have died before him" He carried the standard with his left hand and leaned on it. He struck his left hand and cut it off, and so he leaned on the standard and held it with his upper arms to his chest, all the while saying, "And Muhammad is but a Messenger. Messengers have died before him". Then a third one struck him with his spear, and the spear went through him. Mus'ab fell and the standard followed.

In another account: Mus'ab withstood the attack of his enemies with great valour. He bore the cuts of the enemy on his breast, but held the Islamic banner in his hands firmly. During this attack one of the enemies stepped forward and cut off his right hand with one stroke of the sword. The hand fell on the ground. The banner was about to fall when he transferred it to his left hand. The enemy now took another chance and struck a second blow of sword on his left hand. Still Mus‘ab did not lose courage; he did not allow the banner to fall down; he held it by his breast, within the circle of his arms. The enemy was irritated to see such intrepid devotion. In savage fury, he threw the sword on the ground and flung a spear at the breast of Mus‘ab. The pointed end of the blade pierced the chest, broke and remained embedded there.

The great hero, thus fell to the ground reciting the following Qur’anic verse: “Wa ma Muhammad-dun illa rasulun qad khalat min qablehil rusul). Meaning: “And Muhammad is only a prophet of Allah. Many other Prophets have died before him."

When the keeper of Islamic banner fell, the banner fluttered in the air. Seeing this Abul bin ‘Umair, brother of the martyr, moved forward and took over the banner. He protected its honor until the last.

When the battle came to an end the Prophet stood by the dead body of Mus‘ab ibn ‘Umair and recited the verse: (Minal momeneena rejalun sadqu ma ‘ahadullaha ‘ alaihe) Meaning: “There are some persons among the devoted Muslims (momeneen) who kept the promise made to Allah.”

  


Musa Celebi
Musa Celebi (d. 1413). Ottoman prince and ruler of Rumelia.  He laid an unsuccessful siege on Constantinople.
Celebi, Musa see Musa Celebi

Musafirids
Musafirids (Kangarids) (Sallarids) (Langarids).  Dynasty of Daylami origin, which came from Tarum and reigned in the tenth through eleventh centuries in Azerbaijan, Arran and Armenia.

The Sallarid dynasty was an Islamic Iranian dynasty principally known for its rule of Iranian Azerbaijan and part of Armenia from 942 until 979. They constitute the period in history that has been named the Iranian Intermezzo, a period that saw the rise of native Iranian dynasties during the 9th to the 11th centuries of the Christian calendar.

The Sallarids were Dailamites who, probably in the later 9th century, gained control of Shamiran, a mountain stronghold about twenty five miles north of Zanjan. From Shamiran they established their rule over the surrounding region of Tarum. The Sallarids also established marriage ties with the neighboring Justanid dynasty of Rudbar.

In the early 10th century the Sallarid in control of Shamiran was Muhammad bin Musafir. He married a Justanid and subsequently involved himself in their internal affairs. His harsh rule, however, eventually turned even his family against him, and in 941 he was imprisoned by his sons Wahsudan and Marzuban.

Wahsudan remained in Shamiran while Marzuban invaded Azerbaijan and took it from its ruler, Daisam. Marzuban took Dvin and successfully held off attacks from the Rus and Hamdanids of Mosul. However, he was captured in a war with the Buwayhid Rukn al-Daula and control of Azerbaijan was fought over between Muhammad bin Musafir, Wahsudan, the Buyids, and Daisam. Eventually Marzuban escaped, re-established control over Azerbaijan and made peace with Rukn al-Daula, marrying off his daughter to him. He ruled until his death in 957.

Marzuban designated his brother Wahsudan as his successor. When he came to Azerbaijan, however, the commanders of the fortresses refused to surrender to him, recognizing instead Maruban's son Justan as his successor. Unable to establish his rule in the province, Wahusdan returned to Tarum. Justin was recognized as ruler in Azerbaijan, with his brother Ibrahim made governor of Dvin. Justan seems to have been interested primarily in his harem, a fact which alienated some of his supporters, although he and Ibrahim successfully put down a revolt by a grandson of the caliph al-Muktafi in 960.

Shortly afterwards Justan and another brother, Nasir, came to Tarum, where they were treacherously imprisoned by Wahsudan, who sent his son Isma'il to take over Azerbaijan. Ibrahim raised an army in Armenia to oppose Isma'il, prompting Wahsudan to execute Justan, his mother and Nasir. Ibrahim was driven out of Azerbaijan by Isma'il, but retained his rule in Armenia.

Isma'il died in 962, however, allowing Ibrahim to occupy Azerbaijan. He then invaded Tarum and forced Wahsudan to flee to Dailaman. In 966 Ibrahim was defeated by an army of Wahsudan's and his soldiers subsequently deserted him. He fled to his brother-in-law, the Buyid Rukn al-Daula, while Wahsudan installed his son Nuh in Azerbaijan. Rukn al-Daula sent an army under his vizier to reinstate Ibrahim in Azerbaijan, and Wahsudan was ejected from Tarum for a time. In 967 however he again sent an army, which burned Ardabil before Ibrahim concluded a peace with his uncle, ceding part of Azerbaijan to him. In 968, he reaffirmed Sallarid authority over Shirvan, forcing the Shirvanshah to pay him tribute.

Ibrahim's authority began to decline in the latter part of his reign. In 971, the Shaddadids took Ganja, and Ibrahim was forced to recognize their rule in that city after a siege failed to dislodge them. In around 979 he was deposed and imprisoned; he died in 983. His deposition marked the end of the Sallarids as a major power in Azerbaijan, as the Rawadids of Tabriz overran much of the province. A grandson of Wahsudan named Marzuban b. Isma'il retained a small portion of Azerbaijan until 984 when he was captured by the Rawadids. His son Ibrahim fled to Tarum and would later restore Sallarid rule there after it was seized by the Buwayhids.

In Dvin, meanwhile, a son of Ibrahim b. Marzuban b. Muhammad, Abu'l-Hajja', held power; in 982 or 983 he was persuaded by the King of Kars to invade the domain of the Bagratid king Smbat II. Some time after this Abu'l-Hajja' led an expedition against Abu Dulaf al-Shaibani, the ruler of Golthn and Nakhchivan, but was defeated and lost Dvin to him. He then traveled throughout Georgia and Armenia and visited the Byzantine emperor Basil II. In 989 or 990 Smbat II gave him an army to retake Dvin, but afterwards revoked his support. Eventually Abu'l-Hajja' met his end at the hands of his servants, who strangled him.

After Wahsudan's death (some time after 967), his son Nuh succeeded him in Shamiran. Nuh died before 989. In that year the Buwayhid Fakhr al-Daula married his widow and then divorced her, taking Shamiran in the process. Nuh's young son Justan was brought to Ray.

In 997, after Fakhr al-Daula died, Ibrahim ibn Marzuban ibn Isma'il took advantage of the weakness of his successor to seize control of Shamiran, Zanjan, Abhar, and Suharavard. When the Ghaznavid Mahmud of Ghazni conquered Ray in 1029 he sent a force to conquer Ibrahim's territories, but it failed to do so. Ibrahim took Qazvin from the Ghaznavids and defeated Mahmud's son Mas'ud in battle. Mas'ud managed to bribe some of Ibrahim's soldiers to capture him. Ibrahim's son refused to give up the fortress of Sarjahan but was compelled to pay tribute. By 1036 the Sallarids were back in Shamiran.

In around 1043 the Seljuk sultan Toghril Beg received the submission of the salar of Tarum, who became his vassal and submitted tribute. This Sallarid may have been Justan ibn Ibrahim, who was named as the ruler of Tarum in 1046. In 1062 Toghril went to Shamiran and again received tribute from its ruler, Musafir. This is the last Sallarid who is known. It is likely that the dynasty was shortly afterwards wiped out by the Assassins of Alamut, who dismantled the fortress of Shamiran.


Kangarids see Musafirids
Sallarids see Musafirids
Langarids see Musafirids


Musa Hajji Isma‘il Galaal
Musa Hajji Isma‘il Galaal (Musa Galaal) (b. 1914).  Somali prose writer, poet and collector of oral literature.  He spent his youth as a camel-herder of the nomadic interior and became a teacher after World War II.  From 1951 to 1954, he worked at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.  After the independence of the Somali Republic in 1960, he became the chairman of the Linguistic Committee concerned with the introduction of a national orthography for Somali, and afterwards the head of the Cultural Relations Division in the Ministry of Education in Mogadishu.  In 1956, he published a collection of traditional stories and poems in Somali under the title Hikmad Somali (1956).
Galaal, Musa Hajji Isma'il see Musa Hajji Isma‘il Galaal
Musa Galaal see Musa Hajji Isma‘il Galaal
Galaal, Musa see Musa Hajji Isma‘il Galaal


Musahib-zade Jelal
Musahib-zade Jelal (Musahip-zade Celal) (1868-1959).  Turkish classical playwright.  The themes of his plays were mainly taken from the daily lives of the Ottoman people in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Jelal, Musahib-zade see Musahib-zade Jelal
Musahip-zade Celal see Musahib-zade Jelal
Celal, Musahip-zade see Musahib-zade Jelal


Musa ibn Abi’l-‘Afiya
Musa ibn Abi’l-‘Afiya (d. 938).  Chieftain of the Miknasa, a prominent Berber tribe of the Zanata confederation.  His claim to fame rests on his role in the troubled history of the Idrisids of Fez and the politics of the western Maghrib in the tenth century.


Musa ibn Nusayr
Musa ibn Nusayr (Musa bin Nusair) (Musa ben Nusair) (640-716).  Conqueror of the western Maghrib and of Spain.  In 698, he was given the governorship of Ifriqiya by the governor of Egypt ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Marwan.  He crossed to Spain in 712 and left the following year with immense booty.

Musa ibn Nusayr was an Azdi of Assir (south west Saudi Arabia) who served as a governor and general under the Umayad caliph Al-Walid I. He ruled over the Muslim provinces of North Africa (Ifriqiya), and directed the Islamic opening of the Visigothic kingdom in Hispania.

Musa's father was an Arab of either Syria or Western Iraq (there are several different opinions) who was captured during the first Muslim expeditions and made a slave. Musa according to the most reliable reports state that he was the son of a Jewish convert to Islam. This convert had preferred relations with Muawiya (first Muslim Governor of Syria and first Umayyad Dynasty Caliph). He advised Muawiyah that the only way to capture Constantinople was from both sides. His son Musa was groomed to be the leader of the army to start the western invasion starting from Spain. However this plan was delayed because of the outbreak of civil war among Muslims.

Uqba bin Nafi was sent to continue the Islamic opening in North Africa all the way to Morocco. However, his policies were quite strict and he did not tolerate Berber traditions. This caused fierce resistance from the Berbers, leading to his demise in a battle against an alliance of Byzantines and Berbers. Musa bin Nusair was then sent to renew the attacks against the Berbers. But he did not impose Islam by force, rather, he respected Berber traditions and used diplomacy in subjugating them. This proved highly successful, as many Berbers converted to Islam and even entered his army as soldiers and officers, amongst whom would be Tariq bin Ziyad who would lead the later Islamic expedition in Iberia.

A few years earlier in 698, Musa had been made the governor of Ifriqiya and was responsible for completing the Umayyad conquest of North Africa and reopening of Cyprus, the Balearic Islands and Sardinia. He was the first governor of Ifriqiya not to be subordinate to the governor of Egypt. He was the first Muslim general to take Tangiers and occupy it. His troops also conquered the Sous, effectively taking control of all of modern Morocco. He also had to deal with constant harassment from the Byzantine navy.   He built a navy that would go on to conquer the islands of Ibiza, Majorca, and Minorca.

While Musa bin Nusair was eager to cross the strait to the land mass of the Iberian peninsula, he was only encouraged to do so when a Visigoth nobleman, Julian, had come to Musa encouraging him to invade Iberia, telling him of the people's sufferings and the injustice of their king, Roderick, while giving him additional cause by telling him of the riches that would be found, and the many palaces, gardens and beauties of Iberia.

After a successful minor raid on the coast of today's Portugal, and the raiding force returning with a booty they captured without any reported resistance, Musa decided to land a larger invasion force. Tariq bin Ziyad crossed the strait with approximately 7,000 Berbers and Arabs, and landed at Gibraltar (from Jebel Tariq, meaning Tariq's mountain in Arabic). The expedition's purpose must have been to conduct further raids and explore the territory. Tariq's army contained some guides supplied by Julian. Three weeks after his landing, the Muslims were faced with a superior Visigoth army of nearly 20,000 led by King Roderick. The Muslims won the Battle of Guadalete and the entire Visigoth nobility was all but exterminated at the battle. The Muslims then marched towards Córdoba, bypassing several strong fortifications. The ill defended city fell and Tariq established a garrison there comprised mainly of the city's Jews who welcomed the invaders, having been subjected to persecution from the Visigoths for centuries. Tariq then continued on his way to Toledo.

Musa, learning of Tariq's successes, landed in Iberia with an army of 18,000 Berbers and Arabs. He planned to rendezvous with Tariq at Toledo, but first proceeded to take Seville, which Tariq had bypassed, and where Musa met stiff resistance, and succeeded after three months of siege. He then campaigned in the area that is today Portugal, eliminating the remaining Gothic resistance there. His last destination before meeting Tariq was to subdue Mérida. After five months of siege and inconclusive fighting, a group of Ceutans pretended to be Christian reinforcements and managed to convince the guards into opening the gates. Once inside, the "reinforcements", nearly 700, overwhelmed the guards and managed to keep the gates open for the Muslims to enter the city and capture it.

After Mérida, Musa divided his forces, taking the majority with him to meet Tariq at Toledo where he would remain for winter. The remainder of his forces were led by his son 'Abd al-Aziz, who would return to Sevilla to deal with an uprising. 'Abd al-Aziz made short work of the rebellion. He then conducted several campaigns on the return journey in the territories comprising future Portugal. Coimbra and Santarém were captured in the spring of 714. 'Abd al-Aziz then campaigned in Murcia. The Duke of Murcia, Theodemir, or Tudmir as he was called by the Muslims, surrendered to 'Abd al-Aziz after several hard-fought engagements in April 713. The terms imposed on Theodemir declared that the duke would keep the citadel of Orihuela and several other settlements, including Alicante and Lorca on the Mediterranean; that his followers would not be killed, taken prisoner, forced into Islam; and that their churches would not be burned. It also demanded that Theodemir not encourage or support others to resist the Muslims, and that he pay an annual tax in money and other goods.

Musa finally met up with Tariq where there was an argument over the latter's booty, which reportedly included a table holding gems and other precious stones that belonged to King Solomon. Meanwhile, Musa's messenger, Mughith al-Rumi (the Roman) who had been sent to Caliph al-Walid I to inform him of the situation in Iberia, had returned. The Caliph requested Musa to withdraw and to report in person to Damascus. Musa chose to ignore this order temporarily, knowing that if he did not continue his advance, Visigoth resistance would increase and turn the tables against the Muslims. Having done so, he continued with Tariq to the north; Musa heading for Zaragoza, to which he lay siege, while Tariq continued to the provinces of León and Castile, capturing the towns of León and Astorga. Musa continued after taking Zaragoza to the north, taking Oviedo and reaching as far as the Bay of Biscay. The Islamic opening of Iberia now complete, Musa proceeded to place governors and prefects throughout the newly conquered Al-Andalus, before returning to Damascus with most of the booty captured from the Jihad.

Both North African leaders were thereafter summoned by the caliph to Damascus. Tariq arrived first. But then the caliph was taken ill. So the caliph's brother, Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik became temporarily in charge, and asked Musa, who was arriving with a cavalcade of soldiers and spoils, to delay his grand entry into the city. He most certainly intended to claim the glories brought from the conquest for himself. But Musa dismissed this request, triumphantly entered Damascus anyway, and brought the booty before the ailing Al-Walid I, which brought Musa and Tariq unprecedented popularity amongst the people of Damascus. Al-Walid I then died a few days later and was succeeded by his brother Sulayman, who demanded that Musa deliver up all his spoils. When Musa complained, Sulayman stripped him of his rank and confiscated all the booty, including a table which had reputedly once belonged to Solomon. He ordered that Musa (a very old man by then) be paraded through the city's streets with a rope around his neck and Musa said "Oh, Caliph, I deserve a better rewarding than this". Reports claim he was seen begging at a mosque door in the last days of his life.

One of Musa's sons, Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa, married a Spanish woman, who was the daughter of Roderick. She asked 'Abd al-Aziz why his guests did not bow to him as they used to do in the presence of her father. It was reported that he began to force guests to bow to him. It was rumored that he had secretly become a Christian, and a group of Arabs assassinated him, cut off his head and sent it to the caliph. Sulayman had Musa in his audience when the head arrived, and seeing whose it was, callously asked Musa if he recognized it. Musa maintained his dignity, saying he recognized it as belonging to someone who had always practiced the faith fervently, and cursed the men who had killed him.

Musa died naturally while on the Hajj pilgrimage with Sulayman in about the year 715-716. Because of his disgrace, and the misfortunes of his sons, there was a tendency among medieval historians of the Maghreb to attribute his deeds (the Islamic opening of Tangiers and the Sous) to Uqba ibn Nafi.

Musa, Mansa

Musa I (b.c. 1280, Mali Empire   d.c. 1337, Mali Empire), or Mansa Musa, was the ninth Mansa -- the ninth Emperor -- of the Mali Empire, one of the most powerful West African states in history. He has sometimes been called the wealthiest person in history, though his wealth is impossible to accurately quantify and it is difficult to meaningfully compare the wealth of historical figures. At the time of Musa's ascension to the throne, Mali in large part consisted of the territory of the former Ghana Empire, which Mali had conquered. The Mali Empire consisted of land that is now part of Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, The Gambia and the modern state of Mali. 

Musa went on hajj to Mecca in 1324, and traveled with an enormous entourage and a vast supply of gold. En route, he spent time in Cairo, where his lavish gift-giving caused a noticeable drop in the price of gold for over a decade and garnered the attention of the wider Muslim world.


Musa expanded the borders of the Mali Empire, in particular incorporating the cities of Gao and Timbuktu into its territory. He sought closer ties with the rest of the Muslim world, particularly the Mamluk Sultanate and Marinid Sultanate. He recruited scholars from the wider Muslim world to travel to Mali, such as the Andalusian poet Abu Ishaq al-Sahili, and helped establish Timbuktu as a center of Islamic learning. His reign is associated with numerous construction projects, including part of Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu. Musa's reign is often regarded as the zenith of Mali's power and prestige.


Mansa Musa's personal name was Musa, the Arabic form of Moses.  Mansa means "ruler" or "king" in Mande, and was the title of the ruler of the Mali Empire.  It has also been translated as "conqueror" and "priest-king". In oral tradition and the Timbuktu Chronicles, Musa is known as Kanku Musa. In Mandé tradition, it was common for one's name to be prefixed by their mother's name, so the name Kanku Musa means "Musa, son of Kanku", although it is unclear if the genealogy implied is literal. He is also called Hidji Mansa Musa in oral tradition in reference to his hajj.


In the Songhai language, rulers of Mali such as Musa were known as the Mali-koi, koi being a title that conveyed authority over a region: in other words, the "ruler of Mali".


Much of what is known about Musa comes from Arabic sources written after his hajj, especially the writings of Al-Umari and Ibn Khaldun.  While in Cairo during his hajj, Musa befriended officials such as Ibn Amir Hajib, who learned about him and his country from him and later passed on that information to historians such as Al-Umari.  Additional information comes from two 17th-century manuscripts written in Timbuktu, the Tarikh as-Sudan and Tarikh al-fattash. Oral tradition, as performed by the jeliw (sg. jeli), also known as griots, includes relatively little information about Musa compared to some other parts of the history of Mali.


Musa's father was named Faga Leye and his mother may have been named Kanku.  Faga Leye was the son of Abu Bakr, a brother of Sunjata, the first mansa of the Mali Empire. Ibn Battuta, who visited Mali during the reign of Musa's brother Sulayman, said that Musa's grandfather was named Sariq Jata.  Sariq Jata may be another name for Sunjata, who was actually Musa's great-uncle. The date of Musa's birth is unknown, but he still appeared to be a young man in 1324. The Tarikh al-fattash claims that Musa accidentally killed Kanku at some point prior to his hajj.


Musa ascended to power in the early 1300s under unclear circumstances. According to Musa's own account, his predecessor as mansa of Mali, presumably Muhammad ibn Qu, launched two expeditions to explore the Atlantic Ocean (200 ships for the first exploratory mission and 2,000 ships for the second). The mansa led the second expedition himself, and appointed Musa as his deputy to rule the empire until he returned. When he did not return, Musa was crowned as mansa himself, marking a transfer of the line of succession from the descendants of Sunjata to the descendants of his brother Abu Bakr. Some modern historians have cast doubt on Musa's version of events, suggesting he may have deposed his predecessor and devised the story about the voyage to explain how he took power.  Nonetheless, the possibility of such a voyage has been taken seriously by several historians.

According to the Tarikh al-Fattash, Musa had a wife named Inari Konte.

Musa was a devout Muslim, and his pilgrimage to Mecca, also known as hajj, made him well known across Northern Africa and the Middle East. To Musa, Islam was "an entry into the cultured world of the Eastern Mediterranean". He would have spent much time fostering the growth of the religion within his empire.

Musa made his pilgrimage between 1324 and 1325 spanning 2,700 miles. His procession reportedly included 60,000 men, all wearing brocade and Persian silk, including 12,000 slaves, who each carried 1.8 kg (4 lb) of gold bars, and heralds dressed in silks, who bore gold staffs, organized horses, and handled bags. Musa provided all necessities for the procession, feeding the entire company of men and animals. Those animals included 80 camels which each carried 23–136 kg (50–300 lb) of gold dust. Musa gave the gold to the poor he met along his route. Musa not only gave to the cities he passed on the way to Mecca, including Cairo and Medina, but also traded gold for souvenirs. It was reported that he built a mosque every Friday.

Musa's journey was documented by several eyewitnesses along his route.  These eyewitnesses invariably were in awe of his wealth and the extensive procession that followed him.  Records exist in a variety of sources, including journals, oral accounts, and histories. Musa is known to have visited the Mamluk sultan of Egypt, Al-Nasir Muhammad in July 1324. Al-Umari, who visited Cairo shortly after Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca, noted that it was "a lavish display of power, wealth, and unprecedented by its size and pageantry". Musa made a major point of showing off his nation's wealth. His goal was to make his kingdom known to the outside world.  He succeeded greatly in this, so much so that he landed himself and Mali on the Catalan Atlas of 1375.


During his long return journey from Mecca in 1325, Musa heard news that his army had recaptured Gao. Sagmandia, one of his generals, led the endeavor. The city of Gao had been within the empire since before Sakura's reign and was an important − though often rebellious − trading center. Musa made a detour and visited the city where he received, as hostages, the two sons of the Gao king, Ali Kolon and Suleiman Nar.  Musa returned to Niani with the two boys and later educated them at his court. When Mansa Musa returned, he brought back many Arabian scholars and architects

Musa embarked on a large building program, raising mosques and madrasas in Timbuktu and Gao. Most notably, the ancient center of learning Sankore Madrasah (or University of Sankore) was constructed during his reign.


In Niani, Musa built the Hall of Audience, a building connected by an interior door to the royal palace. It was an admirable monument, surmounted by a dome and adorned with arabesques of striking colors. The wooden window frames of an upper story were plated with silver foil; those of a lower story with gold. Like the Great Mosque, a contemporaneous and grandiose structure in Timbuktu, the Hall was built of cut stone.


During the reign of Mansa Musa, there was an advanced level of urban living in the major centers of Mali.  At the height of his power, Mali had at least 400 cities, and the interior of the Niger Delta was very densely populated.


It is recorded that Mansa Musa traveled through the cities of Timbuktu and Gao on his way to Mecca, and made them a part of his empire when he returned around 1325. He brought architects from Andalusia, a region in Spain, and from Cairo to build his grand palace in Timbuktu and the great Djinguereber Mosque that still stands today.


Timbuktu soon became the center of trade, culture, and Islam.  Markets brought in merchants from Hausaland, Egypt, and other African kingdoms.  A university was founded in the city (as well as in the Malian cities of Djenne and Segou), and Islam was spread through the markets and university, making Timbuktu a new center for Islamic scholarship. News of the Malian empire's city of wealth even traveled across the Mediterranean to southern Europe, where traders from Venice, Granada, and Genoa soon added Timbuktu to their maps to trade manufactured goods for gold.


The University of Sankore in Timbuktu was restaffed under Musa's reign with jurists, astronomers, and mathematicians. The university became a center of learning and culture, drawing Muslim scholars from around Africa and the Middle East to Timbuktu.


In 1330, the kingdom of Mossi invaded and conquered the city of Timbuktu. Gao had already been captured by Musa's general, and Musa quickly regained Timbuktu, built a rampart and stone fort, and placed a standing army to protect the city from future invaders.


While Musa's palace has since vanished, the university and mosque still stand in Timbuktu today.


By the end of Mansa Musa's reign, the Sankoré University had been converted into a fully staffed University with the largest collections of books in Africa since the Library of Alexandria. The Sankoré University was capable of housing 25,000 students and had one of the largest libraries in the world with roughly 1,000,000 manuscripts.


The date of Mansa Musa's death is not certain. Using the reign lengths reported by Ibn Khaldun to calculate back from the death of Mansa Suleyman in 1360, Musa would have died in 1332. However, Ibn Khaldun also reports that Musa sent an envoy to congratulate Abu al-Hasan Ali for his conquest of Tlemcen, which took place in May 1337, but by the time Abu al-Hasan sent an envoy in response, Musa had died and Suleyman was on the throne, suggesting that Musa died in 1337. In contrast, al-Umari, writing twelve years after Musa's hajj, in approximately 1337, claimed that Musa returned to Mali intending to abdicate and return to live in Mecca but died before he could do so, suggesting that he died even earlier than 1332.  It is possible that it was actually Musa's son Maghan who congratulated Abu al-Hasan, or Maghan who received Abu al-Hasan's envoy after Musa's death. The latter possibility is corroborated by Ibn Khaldun calling Suleyman Musa's son in that passage, suggesting he may have confused Musa's brother Suleyman with Musa's son Maghan. Alternatively, it is possible that the four-year reign Ibn Khaldun credits Maghan with actually referred to his ruling Mali while Musa was away on the hajj, and he only reigned briefly in his own right.  Nevertheless, 1337 is deemed to be the most likely date for Musa's death and is the one set forth here.  


Musa's hajj has been regarded as the most illustrious moment in the history of West Africa. Musa's reign is commonly regarded as Mali's golden age, but this perception may be the result of his reign being the best recorded by Arabic sources, rather than him necessarily being the wealthiest and most powerful mansa of Mali.


Musa is less renowned in Mandé oral tradition as performed by the jeliw. He is criticized for being unfaithful to tradition, and some of the jeliw regard Musa as having wasted Mali's wealth. However, some aspects of Musa appear to have been incorporated into a figure in Mandé oral tradition known as Fajigi, which translates as "father of hope". Fajigi is remembered as having traveled to Mecca to retrieve ceremonial objects known as boliw, which feature in Mandé traditional religion. As Fajigi, Musa is sometimes conflated with a figure in oral tradition named Fakoli, who is best known as Sunjata's top general. The figure of Fajigi combines both Islam and traditional beliefs.


The name "Musa" has become virtually synonymous with pilgrimage in Mandé tradition, such that other figures who are remembered as going on a pilgrimage, such as Fakoli, are also called Musa.


Musa has been considered the wealthiest human ever. Though some sources have estimated his wealth as equivalent to US$400 billion, his actual wealth is impossible to accurately calculate. Contemporary Arabic sources may have been trying to express that Musa had more gold than they thought possible, rather than trying to give an exact number. Furthermore, it is difficult to meaningfully compare the wealth of historical figures such as Mansa Musa, due to the difficulty of separating the personal wealth of a monarch from the wealth of the state and the difficulty of comparing wealth in highly different societies. Musa may have brought as much as 18 tons of gold on his hajj, equal in value to over US$957 million in 2022. Musa himself further promoted the appearance of having vast, inexhaustible wealth by spreading rumors that gold grew like a plant in his kingdom.


Musa see Mansa Musa
Kankan Musa see Mansa Musa


Musa, Nabawiyah
Musa, Nabawiyah (1886-1951).  Feminist and pioneer in women’s education.  Born in Zagazig, Egypt, the daughter of Musa Muhammad, an army captain who died before her birth, Nabawiyah was raised in Cairo by her mother.  Beginning her education at home with the help of her older brother, Nabawiyah entered the girls’ section of the ‘Abbas Primary School, receiving her certificate in 1903.  She began teaching at ‘Abbas in 1906, after completing the Teachers’ Training Program at the Saniyah School.  Musa resolved to obtain a secondary school diploma when she discovered that male teachers with this degree received higher pay.  But, in the absence of government secondary school for girls, Musa prepared at home for the state baccalaureate examination.  Overcoming objections from colonial education officials, she successfully completed the exam in 1907.  She became the first woman to teach Arabic in the state school system, incurring the wrath of religiously trained shaykhs, who monopolized Arabic instruction.  In 1909, she was appointed principal of the Girls’ School in Fayyum, an oasis west of Cairo, the first Egyptian woman to hold such a post.  The following year, she became principal of the Women Teachers’ Training School in Mansurah.  In 1915, Musa was principal of the Wardiyan Women Teachers’ Training School in Alexandria.  Nine years later she was appointed chief inspector of female education in the Ministry of Education.  She incurred numerous adversaries as an efficient and strong-willed administrator who enforced a strict moral code among teachers and students, and was dismissed from the ministry in 1926.  She then founded and ran two private schools for girls, al-Tarqiyah al-Fatah primary school in Alexandria and Banat al-Ashraf secondary school in Cairo.

Musa’s feminism and nationalist aspirations were expressed in her everyday life.  Discreetly unveiling around 1909, in full awareness that concealing the face was not an Islamic prescription, Musa remained fastidious about covering her hair and wearing modest clothing.  When the Egyptian University opened in 1908 Musa was refused enrollment, but the following year was invited to lecture in the university’s special extracurricular program for women.  During the Egyptian national independence movement of 1919-1922, Musa maintained the operation of her school, rather than demonstrating and risking closure, considering this a political act in itself and insisting that education was the strongest weapon against colonial domination.  In 1920, she published Al-mar’ah wa-al-‘amal (The Woman and Work), promoting education ad work for women as a means of individual and national liberation within the framework of Islamic modernism.  In 1923, the year after Egyptian independence, Musa joined the Egyptian Feminist Union, attending the Rome Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance as a member of the union’s delegation.  However, Musa soon rejected movement feminism, preferring the mode of everyday activism within the context of her profession as an educator.  She also sustained advocacy through her writings, including Al-ayah al-bayyinah fi tarbiyat al-banat (The Clear Model in the Education of Girls), Diwan al-fatah (The Young Woman Collection of Poems), and Riwayah Nabhutub (Nabhutub: A Novel).  In 1937, she founded Majallat al-fatah (The Magazine of the Young Woman), which published through 1943.

Musa’s educational career came to an end in 1942 when she was imprisoned for publicly protesting the Egyptian government’s conciliatory policy regarding national sovereignty in the face of British pressure.  She died in retirement in 1951.  Four decades later the Egyptian state honored her by issuing a commemorative stamp.  Musa is claimed as a foremother by feminists and Islamists alike.




Nabawiyah Musa see Musa, Nabawiyah


Musawis
Musawis.  Name for the descendants of Imam Musa al-Kazim, who are said to account for some seventy percent (70%) of all the Sayyids in present day Iran.


Musaylima ibn Habib
Musaylima ibn Habib (Maslamah ibn Habib) (Musaylimah) (d. 632).  Member of the Banu Hanifa who lived in al-Yamama.  He claimed to be a prophet, and led a large section of his tribe in revolt during the politico-religious uprisings, known as “apostasy” (in Arabic, ridda), in various parts of Arabia during the caliphate of Abu Bakr.  Khalid ibn al-Walid defeated him at the fierce battle of al-‘Aqraba’, in which many Helpers, invaluable for their knowledge of the as yet unwritten Qur’an, were killed.

Musaylimah was one of a series of men who claimed to be a prophet around the same time as Muhammad. He is often viewed as a false prophet by traditional accounts, and frequently referred to by the epithet "the Liar" (Arabic: al-Kaḏḏāb).

Musaylimah's name was Ibn Habib al-Hanifi, which indicates that he was the son of Habib, of the tribe Banu Hanifa, one of the largest tribes of Arabia that inhabited the region of Yamamah. The present House of Saud and the Al Saud dynasty traces their ancestry to the same Banu Hanifa tribe. The Banu Hanifa were a Christian branch of Banu Bakr and led an independent existence prior to Islam.

Musaylimah was the theocratic lord of a sacred haram or enclave which, according to one report, he had set up in Yamamah before the prophet's hijrah. He thus controlled an extensive area of eastern Arabia. He controlled more extensive territories and properties than Muhammad.

Among the first records of him is in late 9th Hijri, the Year of Delegations, when he accompanied a delegation of his tribe to Medina. The delegation included two other prominent Muslims. They would later help Musaylimah rise to power and save their tribe from destruction. These men were Nahar Ar-Rajjal bin Unfuwa (or Rahhal) and Muja'a bin Marara. In Medina, the deputation stayed with the daughter of al-Harith, a woman of the Ansar from the Banu Najjar.

When the delegation arrived at Medinah, the camels were tied in a traveler's camp, and Musaylimah remained there to look after them while the other delegates went in.

They had talks with Muhammad. The delegation before their departure embraced Islam and denounced Christianity without compunction. As was his custom, Muhammad presented gifts to the delegates, and when they had received their gifts one said, "We left one of our comrades in the camp to look after our mounts."

Muhammad gave them gifts for him also, and added, "He is not the least among you that he should stay behind to guard the property of his comrades." On their return they converted the tribe of Banu Hanifa to Islam. They built a mosque at Yamamah and started regular prayers.

Musaylimah, who is reported as having been a skilled magician, dazzled the crowd with miracles. He could put an egg in a bottle; he could cut off the feathers of a bird and then stick them on so the bird would fly again; and he used this skill to persuade the people that he was divinely gifted.

Musaylimah shared verses purporting them to have been revelations from God and told the crowd that Muhammad had shared power with him. Musaylimah even referred to himself as Rahman, which suggests that he may have attributed some divinity to himself. Thereafter, some of the people accepted him as a prophet alongside Muhammad. Gradually the influence and authority of Musaylimah increased with the people of his tribe. Musaylimah sought to abolish prayer and freely allow sex and alcohol consumption. He also took to addressing gatherings as an apostle of Allah just like Muhammad, and would compose verses and offer them, as Quranic revelations. Most of his verses extolled the superiority of his tribe, the Bani Hanifa, over the Quraish.

Musaylimah also proposed to share power over Arabia with Muhammad. Then one day, in late 10 Hijri, he wrote to Muhammad:

    "From Musaylimah, Messenger of Allah, to Muhammad, Messenger of God. Salutations to you. I have been given a share with you in this matter. Half the earth belongs to us and half to the Quraish. But the Quraish are a people who transgress."

Muhammad, however, replied back:
  "From Muhammad, the messenger of God, to Musaylimah, the arch-liar. Peace be upon him who follows (God's) guidance. Now then, surely the earth belongs to God, who bequeaths it to whom He will amongst his servants. The ultimate issue is to the God-fearing." ”

After Muhammad's death, Musaylimah rose up against the new Caliph Abu Bakr but his forces were defeated by Khalid ibn al-Walid as Musaylimah was killed by Wahshi ibn Harb in the Battle of Yamama.

Not all the followers of Musaylimah became "good" Muslims. Ten or twenty years later the man who carried his message to Muhammad and some others were denounced in Kufar as remaining followers of Musaylima.  The messenger was executed


    * Al-Aswad Al-Ansi
    * Tulayha
    * Prestidigitators
    * Non-Muslim interactants with Muslims during Muhammad's era

[edit] References
Maslamah ibn Habib see Musaylima ibn Habib
The Liar see Musaylima ibn Habib
Kaddab, al- see Musaylima ibn Habib
Musaylimah see Musaylima ibn Habib


Mushaqa, Mikha’il ibn Jirjis
Mushaqa, Mikha’il ibn Jirjis (Mikha'il ibn Jirjis Mushaqa) (1800-1888).  Lebanese historian and polemicist, and the most important of modern Arabic writers on the theory of music.  
Mikha'il ibn Jirjis Mushaqa see Mushaqa, Mikha’il ibn Jirjis


Musharraf, Pervez
Musharraf, Pervez (Pervez Musharraf) (b. August 11, 1943, New Delhi, British India [today in India]- d. February 5, 2023, Dubai, United Arab Emirates) was President of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008.  He was born on August 11, 1943, in New Delhi, India.  His father, a civil servant in British-ruled India, later served as a Pakistani ambassador to Turkey.  The family fled to Pakistan ambassador to Turkey.  The family fled to Pakistan in 1947 when British India was partitioned into predominantly Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan.  Young Musharraf joined the army in 1964.  In 1965, he received a medal for gallantry for his efforts during the 16 day war with India.  In 1998, Musharraf became chief of the army and, in October 1999, he seized power in a coup d’etat and declared himself the nation’s “chief executive.” He served as president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008.

Musharraf moved with his family from New Delhi to Karachi in 1947, when Pakistan was separated from India. The son of a career diplomat, he lived in Turkey during 1949–56. He joined the army in 1964, graduated from the Army Command and Staff College in Quetta, and attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in London. He held a number of appointments in the artillery, the infantry, and commando units and also taught at the Staff College in Quetta and in the War Wing of the National Defence College. He fought in Pakistan’s 1965 and 1971 wars with India. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed him head of the armed forces in October 1998. Musharraf is believed to have played a key role in the invasion of the Indian-administered portion of the disputed Kashmir region in the summer of 1999. Under international pressure, Sharif later ordered the troops to pull back to Pakistani-controlled territory, a move that angered the military.

On October 12, 1999, while Musharraf was out of the country, Sharif dismissed him and tried to prevent the plane carrying Musharraf home from landing at the Karachi airport. The armed forces, however, took control of the airport and other government installations and deposed Sharif, paving the way for Musharraf to become head of a military government. Although he was generally considered to hold moderate views and promised an eventual return to civilian rule, Musharraf suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament. He formed the National Security Council, made up of civilian and military appointees, to run Pakistan in the interim. In early 2001 he assumed the presidency and later attempted to negotiate an agreement with India over the Kashmir region. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001 in the United States and the subsequent United States invasion of Afghanistan later that year, the United States government cultivated close ties with Musharraf in an attempt to root out Islamic extremists in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.

Over the next several years, Musharraf survived a number of assassination attempts. He reinstated the constitution in 2002, though it was heavily amended with the Legal Framework Order (LFO)—a provision of which extended his term as president for another five years. Parliamentary elections were held in October 2002, and in late 2003 the legislature ratified most provisions of the LFO.

In 2007 Musharraf sought re-election to the presidency, but he faced opposition from Pakistan’s Supreme Court, primarily over the issue of his continuing to serve simultaneously as both president and head of the military. The court thwarted his attempt to suspend the chief justice, and in October it delayed the results of Musharraf’s re-election (by the parliament). In November, Musharraf responded by declaring a state of emergency. Citing growing terrorist threats, he suspended the constitution for a second time, dismissed the chief justice and replaced other justices on the Supreme Court, arrested opposition political leaders, and imposed restrictions on the independent press and media. Later that month, the reconstituted Supreme Court dismissed the last legal challenges to his re-election, and he resigned his military post to become a civilian president. Musharraf ended the state of emergency in mid-December, though, before restoring the constitution, he instituted several amendments to it that protected the measures enacted during emergency rule.

The poor performance of Musharraf’s party in the February 2008 parliamentary elections was widely seen as a rejection of the president and his rule. The elections yielded an opposition coalition headed by Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who had been assassinated in December 2007. Citing grave constitutional violations, the governing coalition moved in early August 2008 to begin impeachment proceedings against Musharraf, and, faced with the impending charges, Musharraf announced his resignation on August 18.

In October 2010, after a period of self-imposed exile, Musharraf announced the formation of a new political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, and vowed to return to Pakistan in time for the 2013 national elections. He did so in March 2013, but his bid to stand in elections faced a variety of legal and political obstacles, including several open criminal investigations regarding his actions as president. On April 18, 2013, a Pakistani court disqualified him from entering the race because of an ongoing investigation regarding his suspension of the constitution in 2007. He was arrested the following day to face charges stemming from the investigation. In August 2013, with Musharraf still under house arrest, murder charges were filed against him in connection with Bhutto’s assassination in 2007.

Musharraf was permitted to leave the country to seek medical treatment in Dubai in 2016, where he remained thereafter. In late 2018 it was revealed that his health was rapidly deteriorating due to amyloidosis -- a disease in which abnormal proteins build up in tissue. He was convicted a year later in absentia on charges of high treason and sentenced to death, though his state of health made any return to Pakistan unlikely. In January 2020, the special court that issued the sentence was ruled unconstitutional, and his conviction was overturned.

Pervez Musharraf died on February 5, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from amyloidosis.

Pervez Musharraf see Musharraf, Pervez


Musha‘sha’
Musha‘sha’ (Musha'sha'iyyah).  Shi‘a Arab dynasty of the town of Hawiza (Huwayza) in Khuzistan which ruled from the fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries.

The Musha‘sha’iyyah were a Shī‘ah sect founded and led by Muhammad ibn Falah, an Iraqi-born theologian who believed himself to be the earthly representative of ‘Alī and the Mahdi. From the middle of the 15th century to the 19th century, they came to dominate much of western Khūzestān Province in southwestern Iran.

Beginning in 1436, Ibn Falah spread his messianic beliefs amongst the less powerful Arab tribes along the area of the present-day border of Iraq and Iran, gaining converts in an attempt to forge a strong tribal alliance. In 1441, they succeeded in capturing the city of Hoveizeh in Khuzestan, and during the following ten years the Musha‘sha’iyyah increased their strength and consolidated their power in the area around the city and the Tigris river. These early military ambitions were fueled by Muhammad ibn Falah's zealous millenarian theology, which continued to significantly influence the later military campaigns of the Musha‘sha’iyyah decades after his death.

Successors of ibn Falah were in continual conflict with the Safavid rulers as well as with Iranian Arab tribes until overcome by the Safavids in 1508. The conflict with the Safavids was driven not only by politics and territorial domination, but also by theological differences and competition between two rival Shi'a schools of thought. According to Moojan Momen, both sects adhered to heterodox (ghuluww) Shi'a beliefs.

According to Shī‘ah eschatology, the Mahdi will appear at the end times to lead the forces of good, who will be based in Yemen, to struggle against the forces of evil, who will be based in Syria and Khorasan. The Musha‘sha’iyyah believed that the end times were imminent and that they would need to defeat the Safavids and gain control of Iran in order to fulfill the prophecy heralded by Ibn Falah.

The Musha‘sha’iyyah gradually abandoned their eschatological beliefs and more closely adhered to mainstream Shī‘a orthodoxy. Like other mystical Shī‘a sects, they placed a great deal of importance upon poetry and art.

Musha'sha'iyyah see Musha‘sha’