Mu'in al-Din Chishti
Chishtī Muʿīn al-Dīn Ḥasan Sijzī (b. February 1, 1143 CC, Herat, Ghaznavid Empire – d. March 15, 1236 CC, Ajmer, Delhi Sultante), known more commonly as Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī or Moinuddin Chishti, or by the epithet Ghareeb Nawaz (lit. "comfort to the poor"), or reverently as a Shaykh Muʿīn al-Dīn or Muʿīn al-Dīn or Khwājā Muʿīn al-Dīn by Muslims of the Indian subcontinent, was a Persian Sunni Muslim preacher and a Sayyid, ascetic, religious scholar, philosopher, and mystic from Sistan, who eventually ended up settling in the Indian subcontinent in the early 13th-century of the Christian calendar, where he promulgated the famous Chishtiyya order of Sunni mysticism. This particular tatiqa (order) became the dominant Muslim spiritual group in medieval India and many of the most beloved and venerated Indian Sunni saints. were Chishti in their affiliation, including Nizamuddin Awliya (d. 1325) and Amir Khusrow (d. 1325).
Having arrived in Delhi during the reign of the Sultan Iltutmish (d. 1236), Muʿīn al-Dīn moved from Delhi to Ajmer shortly thereafter, at which point he became increasingly influenced by the writings of the famous Sunni Hanbali scholar and mystic 'Abdallah Ansari (d. 1088), whose famous work on the lives of the early Islamic saints, the Ṭabāqāt al-ṣūfiyya, may have played a role in shaping Muʿīn al-Dīn's worldview. It was during his time in Ajmer that Muʿīn al-Dīn acquired the reputation of being a charismatic and compassionate spiritual preacher and teacher. Biographical accounts of his life written after his death report that due to his display of the gifts of many spiritual marvels (karāmāt), such as miraculous travel, clairvoyance, and visions of angels in his Ajmer years, Muʿīn al-Dīn seems to have been unanimously regarded as a great saint after his passing.
As a saint, Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī's legacy rests primarily on his having been one of the most outstanding figures in the annals of Islamic mysticism. Additionally Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī is also notable for having been one of the first major Islamic mystics to formally allow his followers to incorporate the use of music in their devotions, liturgies, and hymns to God (Allah), which he did in order to make the foreign Arab faith more relatable to the indigenous peoples who had recently entered the religion .
Born in 1143, Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī was sixteen years old when his father, Sayyid G̲h̲iyāt̲h̲ al-Dīn (d. c. 1155), died, leaving his grinding mill and orchard to his son. His father, G̲h̲iyāt̲h̲ al-Dīn, and his mother, Bibi Ummalwara (alias Bibi Mahe-Noor), were Sayyids, or descendants of Muhammad, through his grandsons Hassan and Husayn.
Despite planning to continue his father's business, Mu'in developed mystic tendencies in his personal piety and soon entered a life of destitute itineracy. He enrolled at the seminaries of Bukhara and Samarkand, and visited the shrines of Muhammad al-Bukhari (d. 870) and Abu Mansur al-Maturidi Abu (d. 944), two widely venerated figures in the Islamic world.
While traveling to Iraq, in the district of Nishapur, he came across the famous Sunni mystic Ḵh̲wāj̲a ʿUt̲h̲mān, who initiated him. Accompanying his spiritual guide for over twenty years on the latter's journeys from region to region, Muʿīn al-Dīn also continued his own independent spiritual travels during the time period. It was on his independent wanderings that Muʿīn al-Dīn encountered many of the most notable Sunni mystics of the era, including Abdul-Qadir Gilani (d. 1166) and Najmuddin Kubra (d. 1221), as well as Naj̲īb al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Ḳāhir Suhrawardī, Abū Saʿīd Tabrīzī, and ʿAbd al-Waḥid G̲h̲aznawī, all of whom were destined to become some of the most highly venerated saints in the Sunni tradition.
Arriving at South Asia in the early thirteenth century, Muʿīn al-Dīn first travelled to Lahore to meditate at the tomb-shrine of the famous Sunni mystic and jurist Ali Hujwiri (d. 1072).
From Lahore, he continued towards Ajmer where he settled and married two wives, the first was a daughter of Saiyad Wajiuddin, whom he married in the year 1209/10. The second was the daughter of a local Hindu raja. He went on to have three sons—Abū Saʿīd, Fak̲h̲r al-Dīn and Ḥusām al-Dīn — and one daughter Bībī Jamāl. Both sons are believed to be from the daughter of the Hindu raja. After settling in Ajmer, Muʿīn al-Dīn strove to establish the Chishti order of Sunni mysticism in India. Many later biographic accounts relate the numerous miracles wrought by God at the hands of the Mu'in al-Din during this period.
Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī was not the originator or founder of the Chishtiyya order of mysticism as he is often erroneously thought to be. On the contrary, the Chishtiyya was already an established Sufi order prior to his birth, being originally an offshoot of the older Adhamiyya order that traced its spiritual lineage and titular name to the early Islamic saint and mystic Ibrahim ibn Adham (d. 782). Thus, this particular branch of the Adhamiyya was renamed the Chishtiyya after the 10th-century Sunni mystic Abū Isḥāq al-Shāmī (d. 942) migrated to Chishti Sharif, a town in the present-day Herat Province of Afghanistan in around 930, in order to preach Islam in that area. The order spread into the Indian subcontinent, however, at the hands of the Persian Muʿīn al-Dīn in the 13th-century, after Mu'in al-Din is believed to have had a dream in which the Prophet Muhammad appeared and told him to be his "representative" or "envoy" in India.
According to the various chronicles, Muʿīn al-Dīn's tolerant and compassionate behavior towards the local population seems to have been one of the major reasons behind conversion to Islam at his hand. Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī is said to have appointed Bakhtiar Kaki (d. 1235) as his spiritual successor, who worked at spreading the Chishtiyya in Delhi. Furthermore, Muʿīn al-Dīn's son, Fakhr al-Dīn (d. 1255), is said to have further spread the order's teachings in Ajmer, whilst another of the saint's major disciples, Ḥamīd al-Dīn Ṣūfī Nāgawrī (d. 1274), preached in Nagaur, Rajasthan.
The tomb (dargah) of Mu'in al-Din became a deeply venerated site in the century following the saint's death in March 1236. Honored by members of all social classes, the tomb was treated with great respect by many of the era's most important Sunni rulers, including Muhammad bin Tughuq, the Sultan of Delhi from 1324–1351, who paid a famous visit to the tomb in 1332 to commemorate the memory of the saint. In a similar way, the later Mughal emperor Akbar (d. 1605) visited the shrine no less than fourteen times during his reign.
In the present day, the tomb of Muʿīn al-Dīn continues to be one of the most popular sites of religious visitation for Sunni Muslims in the Indian subcontinent, with hundreds of thousands of people from all over the Indian sub-continent assembling there on the occasion of [the saint's ʿurs or death anniversary. Additionally, the site also attracts many Hindus, who have also venerated the Islamic saint since the medieval period.
A bomb blast on October 11, 2007 in the Dargah of Mu'in al-Din during the time of Roza Iftaar had left three pilgrims dead and 15 injured. A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Jaipur punished with life imprisonment the two individuals convicted in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah bomb blast case.
In recognition of the enduring legacy of Mu'in al-Din Chishti, Indian films about the saint and his dargah at Ajmer include Mere Gharib Nawaz by G. Ishwar, Sultan E Hind (1973) by K. Sharif, Khawaja Ki Diwani (1981) by Akbar Balam, Mere Data Garib Nawaz (1994) by M Gulzar Sultani. A song in the 2008 Indian film Jodhaa Akbar named "Khwaja Mere Khwaja," composed by A. R. Rahman, pays tribute to Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī.
Various qawwalis portray devotion to the saint including Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's "Khwaja E Khwajgan" and the Sabri Brothers "Khawaja Ki Deewani".
Mu‘in al-Din Sulayman Parwana Mu‘in al-Din Sulayman Parwana (d. 1277). De facto ruler of the Saljuq state of Rum in Anatolia during most of the Mongol Protectorate. Of Persian stock, he attempted to maintain stability both amongst the Turkish emirs and between them and the ever-increasing number of Mongols resident on Anatolian soil. He is said to have enjoyed a close relationship with Jalal al-Din Rumi.
Parwana, Mu'in al-Din Sulayman see Mu‘in al-Din Sulayman Parwana
Mu‘in al-Din Yazdi Mu‘in al-Din Yazdi (d. 1387). Persian historiographer. He adopted an avowed positive attitude towards the representatives of the despotic Muzaffarids who, after the decay of Mongol power, ruled from 1314 until 1394 in Fars, Isfahan and Yazd.
Yazdi, Mu'in al-Din see Mu‘in al-Din Yazdi
Mu‘izz al-Dawla, Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad Mu‘izz al-Dawla, Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad (Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad Mu‘izz al-Dawla) (915 - April 8, 967). Founder of the Buyid rule in Baghdad (r. 945-967). Appointed supreme amir by the ‘Abbasid caliph al-Muti’, he made the latter the instrument of his policy. He had to defend himself against the Hamdanids of Mosul and against the Daylami mercenaries, who had helped the Buyids to build their power. He began to rely more and more on Turkish mercenaries and distributed leases without any financial return, which was to become a characteristic of Buyid financial policy.
Ahmad was the first of the Buwayhid (Buyid) emirs of Iraq, ruling from 945 until his death. He was the son of Buya.
During the Buwayhid conquest of Fars, Ahmad distinguished himself in battle. In 935 or 936, Ahmad's oldest brother 'Ali sent Ahmad to Kerman with the task of conquering that province from the Banu Ilyas. He overran much of Kerman, but encountered resistance from the Baluchis and Arab Qafs, receiving a wound to the head and losing a hand and several fingers on the other. Direct Buyid control over Kerman was not established, resulting in 'Ali's recall of Ahmad. The latter was then sent to Istakhr to await further orders.
Ahmad's next opportunity to expand the possessions of the Buyids came when the Baridis requested help from 'Ali. The Baridis, who ruled in Khuzestan, were nominally subordinate to the Caliphate, but were attempting to establish their independence. Ahmad was sent by 'Ali to the area. He succeeded in uprooting the authority of the Baridis and taking control of that province. From Khuzestan he launched several campaigns into Iraq, where the Caliphate was in serious internal disarray. These expeditions were of his own initiative. 'Ali had not ordered them and did not send support for them.
The fighting in Iraq took several years, but at last Ahmad gained control of Baghdad on December 19, 945 without a struggle. He took charge of the administration of the Caliphate by taking the position of amir al-umara'. The Caliph Al-Mustakfi also gave him the honorific title of "Mu'izz al-Daula". 'Ali was given the title of "'Imad al-Daula"; another of Ahmad's brothers, Hasan, who had gained control of northern Persia, gained the title of "Rukn al-Daula". Despite Al-Mustakfi's apparent acceptance of Buyid authority, Mu'izz al-Daula blinded and deposed him in 946, and installed Al-Muti as Caliph.
The next two years of Mu'izz al-Daula's life were spent securing his control over Iraq. The Hamdanids of Mosul attempted to seize Baghdad in 946. When they failed to do so, they gave up on the campaign, but remained hostile against the Buyids. The Baridis, who still controlled Basra and Wasit, were defeated and their lands taken by the Buyids in 947. Their defeat marked the end of major fighting. Mu'izz al-Daula's only failure was against an amirate situated in the marshlands between Basra and Wasit. However, this was of little concern due to the amirate's small size.
Despite the fact that Mu'izz al-Daula had taken control of Iraq by himself, he remained subordinate to 'Imad al-Daula, who ruled in Shiraz. Coins bearing 'Imad al-Daula's name in addition to his own were made. His title of amir al-umara', which in theory made him the senior amir of the Buyids, meant little in reality and was soon claimed by 'Imad al-Daula. Although he maintained a certain level of independence, it was clear that he had to respect the authority of 'Imad al-Daula.
When 'Imad al-Daula died in 949 and Rukn al-Daula took the title of senior amir, Mu'izz al-Daula accepted the change of rulers. He also sent troops to Shiraz to ensure that Fana-Khusrau, who was the son of Rukn al-Daula and 'Imad al-Daula's successor, would take power there. Still, he raised objections when Fana-Khusrau requested the title of "Taj al-Daula". The title of "Taj" ("crown") implied that Fana-Khusrau was superior to his father and uncle, provoking a reaction from Mu'izz al-Daula A more suitable title ("'Adud al-Daula") was instead chosen.
Rukn al-Daula's struggles in northern Persia against various enemies caused Mu'izz al-Daula to send military aid for several years. This, combined with continually having to deal with the Hamdanids, prevented Mu'izz al-Daula from expanding the borders of his state for several years. Despite this, he managed to annex Oman with military support from 'Adud al-Daula, and shortly afterwards undertook a campaign against the Shahinids of the Mesopotamian marshlands. It was during this campaign that he died, in 967. His son 'Izz al-Daula, whom he had named his successor during a serious illness in 955, took power following his death.
Mu'izz al-Daula's entrance into Baghdad in 945 marked over a century of Buyid rule in Iraq, and also of Shi'ite Buyid control over the Sunni Caliphate. Nevertheless, by the time of his death several problems remained unsolved. The Buyids had difficulty becoming accustomed to Baghdad; Mu'izz al-Daula almost left the city in favor of Ahvaz. The enemies of the Buyids, such as the Hamdanids and the Byzantines, continued to pose a threat. The struggle for power between Baghdad and Shiraz that first showed itself during Mu'izz al-Daula's lifetime exploded into violence soon after his death.
Finally, the hostility between the Turks and Dailamites in Baghdad continued to pose a problem. The Sunni Turks, who found their privileges eroded by the Dailamite troops that had entered Baghdad with their master in 945, constantly threatened to upset the internal stability of the state. Mu'izz al-Daula at first favored the Dailamite troops but later attempted to compromise between the two groups, making a Turk named Sebük-Tegin his chief commander. 'Izz al-Daula's ascension would soon upset this balance, however, resulting in internal disunity.
Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad Mu‘izz al-Dawla see Mu‘izz al-Dawla, Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad Dawla, Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad Mu‘izz al- see Mu‘izz al-Dawla, Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad
Mu‘izzi Mu‘izzi (Slave Kings). Name of a dynasty which ruled in northern India (r. 1206-1290). It was founded by Qutb al-Din Aybak.
Slave Kings see Mu‘izzi
Mu‘izz ibn Badis, al- Mu‘izz ibn Badis, al- (1007/1008-1062). Ruler of the Zirid dynasty (r.1016-1062). In the history of Ifriqiya, he remains the artisan of the restoration of Maliki orthodoxy, itself linked to the Hilali invasion of 1057.
Al-Muizz ibn Badis was the fourth ruler of the Zirids in Ifriqiya, reigning from 1016 to 1062. Al-Muizz ascended the throne as a minor following the death of his father Badis ibn Mansur, with his aunt acting as regent. In 1016 there was a bloody revolt in Ifriqiya in which the Fatimid residence Al-Mansuriya was completely destroyed and 20,000 Shiites were massacred. The unrest forced a ceasefire in the conflict with the Hammadids of Algeria, and their independence was finally recognized in 1018.
Al-Muizz took over the government in 1022 following the overthrow of his aunt. The relationship with the Fatimids was strained, when in 1027 they supported a revolt of the Zanatas in Tripolitania which resulted in permanent loss of control of the region. His son Abdallah shortly ruled Sicily in 1038-1040, after intervening with a Zirid army in the civil war that broke out in the island.
The political turmoil notwithstanding, the general economic well-being initially made possible an extensive building program. However, the kingdom found itself in economic crisis in the 1040s, reflected in currency devaluation, epidemic and famine. This may have been related to the high level of tribute which the Zirids were compelled to pay annually to the Fatimids (one million gold dinars a year).
When al-Muizz, under the influence of Sunni jurists in Kairouan, recognised the Abbasids in Baghdad as rightful Caliphs in 1045, the break with the Fatimids was complete.
The Fatimids then deported the Bedouin tribes of the Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym from Egypt to Ifriqiya. The invasion of the Bedouin (1051-1052) led to great hardship after the defeat at Jabal Haydaran, severely impacting agriculture in Ifriqiya. The conquest of Kairouan in 1057 resulted in further anarchy. The Zirids lost control over the hinterland and were only able to retain the coastal areas, the capital being moved to Mahdia. With the growth of Bedouin Emirates and the continuing insecurity inland, the economy of Ifriqiya looked increasingly towards the Mediterranean, with the result the coastal cities grew in importance through maritime trade and piracy.
Al-Muizz is usually thought to be the author of the famous Kitab `umdat al-kuttab wa `uddat dhawi al-albab (Staff of the Scribes).
Al-Muizz was succeeded by his son Tamim ibn Muizz.
Mu‘izzi, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik Mu‘izzi, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik (Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik Mu‘izzi) (Abdollah Muhammad Mu'izzi) (1048/1049-c.1125). Persian panegyrist of the Saljuq period and poet laureate of the Great Saljuqs Malik Shah II and Sanjar.
Amir Abdollah Muhammad Mu'izzi was an 11th century and 12th century poet of Persia. He was the poet laureate of Sanjar. Born in 1048 and originating from Nisa, he ranks as one of the great masters of the Persian panegyric qasideh.
Mu'izzi lived in the courts of Malik Shah I and Sultan Sanjar. His divan of 18,000 distichs remain. Anvari accused Mu'izzi of copying the verses of other poets (which cannot be proven for certain), yet Anvari himself is known to have copied Mu'izzi's verses. Mu'izzi is said to have died by the arrow shot at him by the King's son in 1125 for unknown reasons. He was accidentally shot by Sanjar.
Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik Mu‘ izzi see Mu‘izzi, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik
Mu‘izz li-Din Allah, Ma‘add al- Mu‘izz li-Din Allah, Ma‘add al- (Ma‘add al-Mu‘izz li-Din Allah) (Ma‘ādh Abū Tamīm al-Mu‘izz li Dīn Allāh) (al-Moezz) ("Fortifier of the Religion of God") (931/932-975). Last caliph of the Fatimid dynasty (r. 953-975). After asserting his control over the central Maghrib against the Kharijites, he turned against the Spanish Umayyad ‘Abd al-Rahman III and his successor al-Hakam II. Hostilities against Byzantium, the ally of the Spanish Umayyads, were resumed in 955. In 963, a Byzantine expeditionary body was destroyed in Sicily and an agreement concluded. In 969, the freedman Jawhar started the famous expedition against Egypt where the Ikhshidids were removed and Cairo was founded. In order to check the Carmathians of Syria, al-Mu‘izz transferred the seat of the Imamate to Egypt in 972.
Ma‘ādh Abū Tamīm al-Mu‘izz li Dīn Allāh was the fourth Fatimid Caliph and reigned from 953 to 975. It was during his caliphate that the center of power of the Fatimid dynasty was moved from Ifriqiya (northern Africa) to the newly-conquered Egypt. Fatimids founded the city of al-Qāhiratu ("the Victorious") in 969 as the new capital of the Fāṭimid caliphate in Egypt. Al-Qahiratu is today known by the name Cairo.
After the Fāṭimids, under the third caliph, Ismail al-Mansur (946-953), had defeated the Khārijite rebellion of Abu Yazid, they began, under his son al-Mu‘izz, to turn their attentions back to their ambition of establishing their caliphate throughout the Islamic world and overthrowing the Abbasids. Although the Fāṭimids were primarily concerned with Egypt and the Near East, there were nevertheless campaigns fought by General Jawhar as-Siqilli against the Berbers of Morocco and the Umayyads of Spain. At the same time, Fatimid raids on Italy enabled naval superiority in the Western Mediterranean to be affirmed, at the expense of Byzantium, even capturing Sicily for a period of time.
The way to Egypt was then clear for the Fāṭimids, the more so given the state of crisis that the incumbent Ikhshidid dynasty found itself in and the inability of the Abbasids to counterattack. The country fell to Jawhar in 969 without any great resistance. After he had secured his position, al-Muˤizz transferred the royal residence from Al-Mansuriya to the newly-founded city of al-Qāhiratu l-Muˤizzīyatu ("al-Muˤizz's Victory"), i.e. Cairo, thereby shifting the center of gravity of the Fatimid realm eastwards. In Africa, the Zirids were installed as regents. In Egypt, several attacks by the Carmathians had to be fought off (972-974) before the restructuring of state finances under Yaqub ibn Killis could be embarked upon. Al-Muˤizz was succeeded by his son Al-Aziz (975-996).
Al-Muˤizz was renowned for his tolerance of other religions, and was popular among his Jewish and Christian subjects. He is also credited for having commissioned the invention of the first fountain pen. In 953, al-Muizz demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen which held ink in a reservoir.
Coptic Christians were allowed a degree of freedom under al-Muizz. Copts were among those appointed to the highest offices of the empire and were allowed to freely practice their religion. Under Al-Muizz, the viceroy of Syria was Quzman ibn-Nima, a Copt who remained a Christian. The Nayrouz festival, the celebration of the Coptic New Year, was permitted though prohibitions on some of the activities, such as fire illumination and water splashing, were instituted.
The relationship between al-Muizz and the Copts of Egypt has been the subject of a number of legends written later by Coptic Christians. One such legend involves al-Muizz challenge of Pope Abraham of Alexandria to move the Mokattam mountain in Cairo, recalling a verse in the Gospel of Matthew which says:
If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
According to Coptic sources, Pope Abraham of Alexandria ordered the Coptic community to keep vigil and to pray for three days and nights. On the third night, Pope Abraham had a dream in which Mary directed him to search for Simon the Tanner. The legend continues that with the prayers of the Coptic community, led by the Pope and Simon, the Mokattam mountain moved. This story is recounted in the book History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, written by Severus Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ. Later Coptic sources would further assert that this miracle led al-Muizz to convert to Christianity, and that he was baptized at the church of Saint Mercurius in Cairo in a baptismal font that continues to exist to this day, and which is known today as the Sultan's Baptistry. According to this legend, al-Muizz abdicated the throne in favor of his son, and spent the rest of his life in a monastery. This story is rejected by influential Muslim historians such as Ahmad Zaki Pasha and Muhammad Abdullah Enan.
Ma‘add al-Mu‘izz li-Din Allah see Mu‘izz li-Din Allah, Ma‘add al- Ma‘ādh Abū Tamīm al-Mu‘izz li Dīn Allāh see Mu‘izz li-Din Allah, Ma‘add al- Moezz, al- see Mu‘izz li-Din Allah, Ma‘add al- Fortifier of the Religion of God see Mu‘izz li-Din Allah, Ma‘add al-
Mujaddid Mujaddid. Arabic term which literally means “the renewer.” The term mujaddid refers to the scholar or holy-man who comes once every century to restore the true knowledge and practice of Islam.
Mujaddid, according to the popular Muslim tradition, refers to a person who appears at the turn of every century of the Islamic calendar to revive Islam, remove from it any extraneous elements and restore it to its pristine purity. A mujaddid might be a caliph, a wali, a prominent teacher, a scholar or some other kind of influential person. The concept is based on the following Prophetic tradition (hadith): "Allah shall raise for this Umma at the head of every century a man who shall renew (or revive) for it its religion."
However, an eminent Muslim scholar, Muhammad Manzoor Nu'mani, maintains that the above hadith does not support the popular concept that a single Mujaddid will appear exactly at the turn of every century. His argument states that the pronoun used in the hadith is man ("who"), which can be used in both singular and plural sense. Additionally, at the time of Muhammad there was no Islamic calendar in use. It was devised after his demise, during the caliphate of Umar. This suggests that Muhammad was not referring to the centuries of the calendar that is in use today.
Mujahid, al-Muwaffaq ibn ‘Abd Allah Mujahid, al-Muwaffaq ibn ‘Abd Allah (al-Muwaffaq ibn ‘Abd Allah Mujahid) was the ruler of Denia (in Arabic, Daniya) in Spain and of the Balearics from 1014 to 1044. Like many other monarchs of the Muluk al-Tawa’if, he was a patron of studies, of theology in particular.
Muwaffaq ibn ‘Abd Allah Mujahid, al- see Mujahid, al-Muwaffaq ibn ‘Abd Allah
Mujahidin Mujahidin (Mujahedin). Arabic term which is applied to the “Soldiers of God.” The word mujahidin comes from the same root as the word jihad.
A Mujahid (Arabic: muǧāhid, literally "struggler", "justice-fighter" or "freedom-fighter") is a person who is fighting for freedom. The plural is mujahideen. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad ("struggle").
Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, muđahedin, mujaheddīn and variants.
The best-known mujahideen were the various loosely-aligned Afghan opposition groups, which initially rebelled against the incumbent pro-Soviet Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) government during the late 1970s. At the DRA's request, the Soviet Union intervened. The mujahideen then fought against Soviet and DRA troops during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. After the Soviet Union pulled out of the conflict in the late 1980s the mujahideen fought each other in the subsequent Afghan Civil War.
Afghanistan's resistance movement was born in chaos and, at first, virtually all of its war was waged locally by regional warlords. As warfare became more sophisticated, outside support and regional coordination grew. Even so, the basic units of mujahideen organization and action continued to reflect the highly segmented nature of Afghan society. Eventually, the seven main mujahideen parties allied themselves into the political bloc called Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen.
Many Muslims from other countries assisted the various mujahideen groups in Afghanistan, and gained significant bombs in suicidal warfare. Some groups of these veterans have been significant factors in more recent conflicts in and around the Muslim world. Osama bin Laden, originally from a wealthy family in Saudi Arabia, was a prominent organizer and financier of an all-Arab Islamist group of foreign volunteers. His Maktab al-Khadamat funnelled money, arms, and Muslim fighters from around the Muslim world into Afghanistan, with the assistance and support of the Saudi and Pakistani governments. These foreign fighters became known as "Afghan Arabs" and their efforts were coordinated by Abdullah Yusuf Azzam.
The mujahideen were significantly financed and armed (and are alleged to have been trained) by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the administrations of Carter and Reagan, and also by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan under Zia-ul-Haq, Iran, the People's Republic of China and several Western European countries. Pakistan's secret service, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was used as an intermediary for most of these activities to disguise the sources of support for the resistance. One of the CIA's longest and most expensive covert operations was the supplying of billions of dollars in arms to the Afghan mujahideen militants. The arms included Stinger missiles, shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft weapons that they used against Soviet helicopters and that later were in circulation among terrorists who fired such weapons at commercial airliners. Osama bin Laden was among the recipients of United States arms. Between $3–$20 billion in United States funds were funneled into the country to train and equip troops with weapons, including Stinger surface-to-air missiles.
Under Reagan, United States support for the mujahideen evolved into an official United States foreign policy, known as the Reagan Doctrine, which included United States support for anti-Soviet movements in Afghanistan, Angola, Nicaragua, and elsewhere. Ronald Reagan praised the mujahideen as "freedom fighters".
United States financing of the mujahideen Islamic insurgency started, however, before the Soviets invaded and, indeed, the support was provided to "suck" the Soviets into Afghanistan. United States policy, unbeknownst even to the Mujahideen, was part of a larger strategy "to induce a Soviet military intervention."
With instability and bloody civil strife raging in a country on their border, the Soviets invaded in December 1979, fulfilling the hopes of Washington.
More than a half billion dollars of American funding through Pakistan went to the Hizb party led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, making Hekmatyar the recipient of the highest percentage of covert American funding through the Pakistani ISI. Hekmatyar had "almost no grassroots support and no military base inside Afghanistan." Hekmatyar also received the lion's share of aid from Saudi Arabia. The CIA allegedly also gave Hekmatyar immunity for his illegal drug trade activities.
The main base station of mujahideen in Pakistan was the town Badaber, 24 km from Peshawar. Afghan mujahideen were trained at Badaber by military instructors from the United States, Pakistan, and the Republic of China. The base served as the concentration camp for Soviet and DRA P.O.W.s as well. In 1985, a prisoner rebellion destroyed the base, but the incident was concealed by the Pakistani and Soviet governments until the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Mujahideen forces caused serious casualties to the Soviet forces, and made the war very costly for the Soviet Union. Thus in 1989, the Soviet Union withdrew its forces from Afghanistan. Many districts and cities then fell to the mujahideen. In 1992 the DRA's last president, Mohammad Najibullah, was overthrown.
However, the mujahideen did not establish a united government, and many of the larger mujahideen groups began to fight each other over power in Kabul. After several years of devastating fighting, a village mullah organized a new armed movement with the backing of Pakistan. This movement became known as the Taliban ("students" in Arabic), referring to the Saudi-backed religious schools known for producing extremism. Veteran mujahideen were confronted by this radical splinter group in 1996.
The mujahideen militants were portrayed favorably in several mainstream American and Western films:
* The Living Daylights, (1987), a James Bond film
* Rambo III (1988)
* The Beast (1988)
* Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
By 1996, with backing from the Pakistani ISI and Military of Pakistan, as well as al-Qaeda, the Taliban had largely defeated the militias and controlled most of the country. The opposition factions allied themselves together again and became known as the Northern Alliance. In 2001, with U.S.-NATO intervention, the Taliban were ousted from power and a new Afghan government was formed. Many of the former mujahideen gradually were incorporated into the new Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.
At present, the term "mujahideen" is sometimes used to describe insurgent groups (including Taliban and al-Qaeda) who are fighting NATO troops and the Military of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mujahedin see Mujahidin “Soldiers of God” see Mujahidin Strugglers see Mujahidin Justice Fighters see Mujahidin Freedom Fighters see Mujahidin
Mujahidin-i KhalqMujahidin-i Khalq (
Saziman-i Mujahidin-i Khalq-i Iran). The Saziman-i Mujahidin-i Khalq-i Iran (Holy Warrior Organization of the Iranian People) is better known simply as the Iranian Mujahidin.
It is a religious, but anti-clerical, organization and constitutes the main opposition to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Mujahidin’s ideology combines Shiism with Marxism.
It interprets Islam, especially the Qur’an, the hadiths (sayings of the Prophet and imams), and Shi‘a teachings, to be a divine message for social, economic, and political revolution. It also finds much of Marxism, but not dialectical materialism, to be an indispensible tool for analyzing politics, society, and history.
As one of its handbooks declares: “We say ‘no’ to Marxist philosophy, especially atheism.
But we say ‘yes’ to Marxist social thought, particularly to its analysis of feudalism, capitalism, and imperialism.”
Mujahidin ideas are so similar to those of ‘Ali Shari ‘ati, the famous contemporary thinker, that many commentators have jumped to the erroneous conclusion that Shari‘ati inspired the organization.
Actually, the two developed their ideas independently of each other.
The Mujahidin organization was created in the mid-1960s by a group of recent graduates from Tehran University, most from the Colleges of Engineering and Agriculture, who had also studied the Qur’an and Imam ‘Ali’s Nahj al-balaghah (Way of Eloquence) with Ayatollah Mahmud Taleqani.
The founding leaders had been members of Mehdi Bazargan’s Nahzat-i Azadi-yi Iran (Liberation Movement of Iran), but after the bloody demonstrations of June 1963, they found their parent party too moderate and too wedded to conventional politics.
Even more important, they were all deeply impressed by contemporary guerrilla movements, especially those in Cuba, Vietnam, and Algeria.
They concluded that the only way to challenge the Pahlavi regime was through armed struggle and heroic deeds of martyrdom.
In their own words: “After June 1963, militants -- irrespective of ideology -- realized one cannot fight tanks with bare hands.
We had to ask the question ‘what is to be done?’
Our answer was straightforward: ‘armed struggle.’” In their early discussion groups, they studied Che Guevara’s Guerrilla Warfare, Lenin’s What Is to Be Done?, Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, Regis Debray’s Revolution within the Revolution, and most important of all, Amar Ouzegan’s Le meilleur combat.
Ouzegan, a former communist who had become the leading theoretician of the Algerian FLN, argued that Islam was a revolutionary socialist creed and that the only way to fight imperialism and its local lackeys was to resort to the armed struggle and appeal to the religious sentiments of eh masses.
The early Mujahidin adopted Le meilleur combat as their main handbook.
In the late 1960s, the Mujahidin collectively wrote a path-breaking book of their own entitled Nahzat-i Husayni (The Husaynite Movement).
In this book they argued that Imam Husayn had taken up arms because the Ummayyad Caliphate was exploiting the masses and betraying the Prophet’s
true cause -- the establishment of a classless society, which they termed nizam-i tawhidi (unitary order). This became their battle cry first against the shah and later against the regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The eternal message of the holy month of Muharram, when Husayn was martyred, Nahzat-i Husayni stressed, was that human beings, unlike animals, had the sacred duty to fight political oppression and class exploitation. The Shi‘a martyrs, the book concluded, were like Che Guevara: they accepted martyrdom as a revolutionary duty and considered the armed struggle against class oppression as their sacred obligation. In short, both the martyrs and Guevara had died fro the cause of social equality. The Mujahidin developed similar ideas in pamphlets entitled Takamul (Evolution toward Perfection), Shinakht (Knowledge), and Iqtisad bih zaban-i sadah (Economics in a Simple Language).
The Mujahidin also developed their own tafsir (explanatory method) for understanding scriptural texts, especially the Qur’an and the Nahj al-balaghah. These texts, they argued, should be treated not as dead parchments, but as “guides” and “living inspirations for revolutionary action.” They should be placed in their proper “historical context” and read for their “real radical essence.” They further argued that the clergy had done to these texts what the reformist Social Democrats of Europe had tried to do to Marx and Engels -- paid lip service to them, turned their teachings into harmless banalities, and emasculated their revolutionary essence.
These early works gave new meanings to old Islamic and Shi‘a terms. For example, the meaning of mustaz‘afan changed from “the meek” to “the exploited masses” (as in Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth); ummah, from “a religious community” to “a dynamic society in constant motion toward a classless society”; jihad, from “crusade” to “liberation struggle”; mu’min, from “the pious believer” to “the true fighter for social justice”; shahid, from “religious martyr” to “revolutionary hero”; mujahid, from “holy warrior” to “freedom fighter”; and most ironic of all, imam, from “religious leader” to “charismatic revolutionary leader.” Some of these new meanings eventually found their way into Khomeini’s own pronouncements.
The Mujahidin launched their guerrilla struggle in 1971 with a series of bombings and armed attacks. In the course of the next eight years, the organization gained a nationwide reputation for courage, determination, and efficiency. At the same time, however, it lost many of its leaders and cadres through arrests, executions, and street shootouts. Of the eighty-three Mujahids who lost their livers from 1971 to 1979; almost all came from the ranks of the young intelligentsia in Tehran and the central Persian-speaking provinces. They were engineers, teachers, accountants, and most often, university students. By the mid-1970s, the Mujahidin, as well as the Marxist Fida’iyan, were considered to constitute the main opposition to the shah.
Despite this success, the Mujahidin suffered a major schism in 1975. Some members declared themselves Marxist-Leninists and denounced Islam as a “conservative petit bourgeois ideology.” Their religious disillusionment was caused by the discovery that Khomeini and the clergy, with the notable exception of Taleqani, refused to support their armed struggles. These Marxists later renamed themselves the Saziman-i Paykar dar Rah-i Azadi-yi Tabaqah-yi Kargar (The Combat Organization for the Emancipation of the Working Class) -- Paykar, in short. Ibrahim Yazdi, a Nahzat-i Azadi leader, argued that this schism so weakened the Mujahidin that it paved the way for the clergy to come to power. The split, he claimed, changed the whole course of Iranian history Akharin Talash-ha dar akharin ruz-ha (The Last Struggles in the Last Days).
By late 1978 and early 1979 little remained of the Mujahidin -- those who were left were incarcerated in prison and led by Mas’ud Rajavi, one of the few early members to have survived the executions and the armed confrontations. A graduate of Tehran University’s law school, Rajavi had been arrested in 1972 and condemned to death. An international effort made on his behalf by his brother, a student in Switzerland, had persuaded the shah to commute Rajavi’s death sentence to life imprisonment. Rajavi did not leave prison until late 1978, but when released, he promptly regrouped his followers, who then helped deliver the old regime its coup de grace in the final street battles of February 1979.
In the two years after the Iranian Revolution, the Mujahidin grew rapidly into a major force. It established branches throughout the country. It rebuilt an underground armed network -- much to the consternation of the new authorities. Its organ, Mujahid, became one of the country’s largest circulation newspapers. Its parliamentary candidates drew substantial votes, in some constituencies posing serious challenges to the clerical favorites. Its electorarl supporters included not only numerous trade unions, leftist organizations, professional associations, and regional parties -- notably, the Kurdish Democratic party -- but also an impressive array of prominent writers, lawyers, politicians, anti-shah politicians, and even some maverick clergymen. Its rallies drew tens of thousands -- sometimes hundreds of thousands -- of enthusiastic supporters. Gradually, the Mujahidin became allied with Abol-Hasan Bani Sadr, the popularly elected president, who, after taking office, accused the clergy of monopolizing power and plotting to establish the “dictatorship of the mullatariat.”
The Mujahidin grew for a numberof reasons. It had a well-earned mystique of revolutionary martyrdom. It adhered to Shiism, but opposed Khomeini’s brand of Islam. It denounced his concept of vilayat-i faqih (wilayat al-faqih – jurist’s trusteeship) and his claim that the clergy had the divine right to rule. It dismissed as “medieval” his attitutdes toward women and his interpretation of shari‘a -- especially on the questions of corporal punishment and laws of vengeance. The Mujahidin often cited Taleqani’s famous warning that “the most dangerous form of tyranny is that of the clergy.” It called for political pluralism, freedom of the press, elected councils in towns, villages, and workplaces, and complete equality for all citizens (men and women, clerics and non-clerics, Muslims and non-Muslims, Shi‘as and Sunnis alike). Moveover, the Mujahidin advocated far-reaching social changes, including land reform, literacy campaigns, medical services, low-income housing, work projects, income redistribution, nationalization of large companies, and worker’s control of industrial factories. In short, the Mujahidin presented a radical but modernist interpretation of Islam.
The Islamic Republic’s restrictions on the Mujahidin intensified as the latter’s popularity increased -- especially after Taleqani, who had tried to mediate between the two, suffered a fatal heart attack. The regime labeled the Mujahidin iltiqati (“eclectic”) and gharbzadah (contaminated with the disease of Westernism). It barred Mujahidin spokesmen from the radio television network; disqualified Rajavi from the presidential race; periodically closed down Mujahid and its provincial offices; and stopped the ballot count in constituencies where Mujahidin candidates were doing well. The Khomeini regime also refused to grant demonstration permits, and it used club-wielders, known as Hizbullahis (those of the Party of God), to break up Mujahidin rallies. More than seventy Mujahids lost their lives in such incidents in 1980 and 1981 almost as many as had been killed in nine years of guerrilla warfare against the shah. Most of the victims were college and high school students. Finally, in June 1981, Khomeini pronounced the Mujahidin to be munafiqin (“hypocrites”), and cited the Qur’an to argue that the “munafiqin were more dangerous than the kafir [infidels].” The regime promptly declared the Mujahidin to be the “enemies of God” and ordered the revolutionary guards to execute summarily Mujahidin demonstrators, irrespective of age.
The Mujahidin countered state terror with its own brand of “revolutionary terror” -- ambushes, suicide attacks, bombings, and assassinations. The regime, in turn, retaliated with a reign of terror unprecedented in Iranian history: mass arrests, torture, executions, and even public hangings. During the height of this terror -- which lasted from June 1981 until September 1985 -- the Mujahidin suffered more than nine thousand dead. Most of them came from the young generation of the intelligentsia: they were teachers, civil servants, doctors, veterinarians, technicians, accountants, and most important, college and high school students. The dead also included some factory workers, especially ones with high school diplomas. In terms of geography, most came from Tehran, the Caspian region, and the Shi‘a and Persian speaking regions of central Iran and northern Khurasan.
The reign of terror forced the leadership, especially Rajavi, to move into exile, first to Paris, after June 1986, to Iraq. In Paris, the Mujahidin created a broad coalition named the Shura-yi Milli-yi Muqavamat (National Council of Resistance). Its avowed goal was to replace the Islamic Republic with a Democratic Islamic Republic. Initially the council included Bani Sadr, the Kurdish Democratic party, and a number of leftist and liberal organizations as well as prominent national figures. In Iraq, the Mujahidin set up training camps, a radio station named Sada-yi Mujahid (Mujahid Voice), and most important, the National Liberation Army -- a well-equipped force of some seven thousand men and women. Moreover, the Mujahidin, using the National Council name, established public-relations offices in the United Nations and in many capitals -- in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, as well as in the West. These offices hold press conferences, fax news bulletins, publish pamphlets, and circulate videos to convince their host publics both that the present Iranian regime is highly unstable and that the National Council is the only viable alternative to the Islamic Republic. In early 1986, for example, these offices collected signatures from more than five thousand public figures -- including thirty-five hundred legislators in Western countries -- denouncing mass executions and violations of human rights in Iran.
Although it remains a significant force in exile, the Mujahidin lost much of its social basis within Iran. The open alliance with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein -- especially during the Iran-Iraqi War -- alienated the general public. Important allies, notably Bani Sadr and the Kurdish Democratic party, have gone their separate ways. In fact, the National Council has been reduced to a mere front organization. The Mujahidin has lost some of its own cadres; some have dropped out of politics, others have created rival off-shoots, yet others have made their peace with Tehran. The organization’s denunciation of former allies as “traitors,” “leeches,” “garbage,” and “parasites” has led many to wonder whether its version of Islam would be any more tolerant than that of Khomeini.
The Mujahidin increasingly became an inward looking religio-political sect. It surrounded its leader with an intense personality cult, proclaiming that “Rajavi is Iran, and Iran is Rajavi.” It purged the half-hearted and denounced them as the enemies of Iran. It ceased publishing intellectual works, serious analyses, and even regular newspapers. For some secular observers, it became another sect -- albeit an armed one -- eagerly awaiting the New Revolution, much in the same way as the early Shi‘as expected the Return of the Mahdi.
Saziman-i Mujahidin-i Khalq-i Iran see Mujahidin-i Khalq
Holy Warrior Organization of the Iranian People see Mujahidin-i Khalq
Mujibur Rahman
Mujibur Rahman (Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) (Shekh Mujibur Rôhman) (Sheikh Mujib) (b. March 17, 1920, Tungipara, India [now in Bangladesh] — d. August 15, 1975, Dhaka, Bangladesh). Prime minister of Bangladesh (1972-1975) and was the president of Bangladesh in 1975. Mujibur began his political career as a student in Calcutta in 1940. He joined with Hussain Shahid Suhrawardy in forming the Awami League in 1949 and became organizer for East Bengal (later East Pakistan). He served jail terms under the Muslim League and Ayub Khan governments. He was minister of commerce in East Pakistan from 1956 to 1957 and assumed leadership of the East Pakistan Awami League after Suhrawardy’s death in 1963. Mujib announced his six-point program for East Pakistani autonomy in 1966; the plan would have retained Pakistan as a confederal entity. He led the Awami League to overwhelming victory in the 1970 elections, winning all but two national assembly seats in East Pakistan and a majority in all of Pakistan. He was arrested by the Pakistan government as part of a military crackdown in March 1971 and held in jail in West Pakistan. He was released and returned to Bangladesh in January 1972. Mujibur led the new Bangladeshi parliament to adopt a parliamentary constitution and became prime minister. In the face of growing opposition he obtained parliamentary approval for a presidential system with himself as president in January 1975. This was followed by creation of a one-party state in June 1975 and increasing authoritarianism. He was assassinated on August 15, 1975, by disgruntled middle-grade military officers.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a Bengali politician and the founding leader of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, generally considered in the country as the father of the Bangladeshi nation. He headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its Prime Minister. He is popularly referred to as Sheikh Mujib, and with the honorary title of Bangabandhu (Bôngobondhu, "Friend of Bengal"). His eldest daughter Sheikh Hasina Wajed became the leader of the Awami League andthe current Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
A student political leader, Mujib rose in East Pakistani politics and within the ranks of the Awami League as a charismatic and forceful orator. An advocate of socialism, Mujib became popular for his leadership against the ethnic and institutional discrimination of Bengalis. He demanded increased provincial autonomy, and became a fierce opponent of the military rule of Ayub Khan. At the heightening of sectional tensions, Mujib outlined a 6-point autonomy plan, which was seen as separatism in West Pakistan. He was tried in 1968 for allegedly conspiring with the Indian government but was not found guilty. Despite leading his party to a major victory in the 1970 elections, Mujib was not invited to form the government.
After talks broke down with President Yahya Khan and West Pakistani politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Sheikh Mujib on March 26, 1971 announced the declaration of independence of East Pakistan and announced the establishment of the sovereign People's Republic of Bangladesh. Subsequently he was arrested and tried by a military court during his nine month detention. Guerrilla war erupted between government forces and Bengali nationalists aided by India. An all out war between the Pakistan Army and Bangladesh-India Joint Forces led to the establishment of Bangladesh, and after his release Mujib assumed office as a provisional president, and later prime minister. Even as a constitution was adopted, proclaiming socialism and a secular democracy, Mujib struggled to address the challenges of intense poverty and unemployment, coupled with rampant corruption. Amidst rising popular agitation, he banned other political parties and established a one party state. After only seven months, Mujib was assassinated along with most of his family by a group of army officers.
Mujib, the son of a middle-class landowner, studied law and political science at the Universities of Calcutta and Dacca (now Dhaka). Although jailed briefly as a teenager for agitating for Indian independence, he began his formal political career in 1949 as a co-founder of the Awami League. The league advocated political autonomy for East Pakistan, the detached eastern part of Pakistan. Mujib’s arrest in the late 1960s incited mob violence that eroded the Pakistani president’s authority in East Pakistan. In the elections of December 1970, Mujib’s Awami League secured a majority of the seats in the National Assembly, and Mujib demanded independence for East Pakistan. Troops from West Pakistan were sent to regain control of the eastern province but were defeated with the help of India. East Pakistan, renamed Bangladesh, was proclaimed an independent republic in 1971, and in January 1972 Mujib, recently released from prison, became the country’s first prime minister. Faced with increasing problems, Mujib took tighter control and assumed the presidency in January 1975. He, along with most of his family, was killed in a coup d’état just seven months later. His daughter, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, who was out of the country at the time of the overthrow, also served as prime minister of Bangladesh (1996–2001; 2009– ).
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman see Mujibur Rahman
Shekh Mujibur Rohman see Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujib see Mujibur Rahman
Bangabandhu see Mujibur Rahman
Bongobondhu see Mujibur Rahman
Friend of Bengal see Mujibur Rahman
Mujir al-Din al-‘Ulaymi
Mujir al-Din al-‘Ulaymi (Mujir al-Din) ('Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-'Ulaymi) (1456-1522). Arab historian. His principal work is a history of Jerusalem and Hebron.
Mujīr al-Dīn al-'Ulaymī was a Jerusalemite qadi and Arab historian whose principal work chronicled the history of Jerusalem and Hebron in the Middle Ages. Entitled al-Uns al-Jalil bi-tarikh al-Quds wal-Khalil ("The glorious history of Jerusalem and Hebron") (c. 1495), it is considered to be invaluable, constituting "the most comprehensive and detailed source for the history of Jerusalem" written in its time.
Commonly known simply as Mujir al-Din, he was born 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-'Ulaymi during the period of Mameluke rule over Palestine into a family of notables native to the city of Jerusalem. Among his many nisbas is al-Hanbali, referring to the Islamic school of thought to which he adhered. Another is al-'Umari, denoting that his ancenstral lineage traces back to 'Umar ibn al-Khattāb (c. 590-644), the second Rashidun caliph. This nisba and a third, the shuhra ("nickname") of al-'Ulaymi, indicate his association with a prominent 15th century Jerusalemite family of Hanbali scholars and judges, one of whom was the chief Hanbali judge of the city, Shams al-Din al-'Umari al-'Ulaymi.
Mujir al-Din's father, Muhammad ibn 'Adb al-Rahman, was a scholar, and he instructed his son in the religious sciences. His formal education began early, and by the age of six, Mujir al-Din was successfully tested on his knowledge of Arabic grammar by another of his instructors, Taqi al-Din al-Qarqashandi, a Shafi'i sheikh, with whom he also studied the hadiths. At ten years old, he studied Quranic recitation with a Hanafi faqih (one who received the Islamic equivalent of a Master of Law).
He attended Islamic jurisprudence classes given by Kamal al-Din al-Maqdisi, a prominent Shafi'i scholar and qadi, at al-Madrassa al-Salahiyya, the most prestigious college in the city, and at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Al-Maqdisi granted Mujir al-Din an ijaza when he was thirteen years old. In his youth in Jerusalem, he also studied hadith with two other Hanafi scholars (ibn Qamuwwa, a faqih, and the sheikh Shams al-Din al-Ghazzi al-Maqdisi), studying grammar and Hanbali fiqh with a Maliki scholar (the chief judge Nur al-Din al-Misri). When he was approximately eighteen years old, he left for Cairo, where he pursued his studies under the tutlelage of Muhammad al-Sa'di, a qadi, for about ten years, returning to Jerusalem in 1484.
Extensive knowledge of Arabic, Hanbali jurisprudence, and Islamic theology, as well as his hailing from a highly regarded and well-connected family, led to Mujir al-Din's procuring important posts as a public servant. He was appointed the qadi of Ramla in 1484, and the chief Hanbali qadi of Jerusalem in 1486, holding this position for almost three decades until completing his service in 1516.
Mujir al-Din's writings included two volumes of Quranic exegesis, a biographical dictionary of Hanbali scholars, a general history from the time of Adam through to the Middle Ages, and a work on the visitation of holy places, but the only one of these to be published was "The glorious history of Jerusalem and Hebron". The central focus of the book, despite its title, is the history of Jerusalem. Though many books had been written by other Arab and Muslim authors on the virtues of Jerusalem, including about 30 composed during the Mameluke period alone, none of these set out to provide a comprehensive history of the city, making Mujir al-Din's work unique in both scope and design.
The book is divided into four parts. The first outlines the history of Jerusalem, and to a lesser degree Hebron, from the time of Adam to the end of the 13th century of the Christian calendar, incorporating both political developments and events of importance to Islamic and pre-Islamic monotheistic traditions. The second part provides a physical description of shrines and landmarks in Hebron and Jerusalem, with a focus on Muslim sites. Biographies of the various governors of Jerusalem and Hebron in the Ayyubid and Mameluke periods, as well as those of notable Mameluke figures who undertook special works in these cities are provided in part three. The fourth part concerns itself with the history of Jerusalem during Mujir al-Din's own lifetime, under the rule of Mameluke Sultan Qait Bay. Composed in Jerusalem, Mujir al-Din alternates in referring to his place of residence as Filastin ("Palestine") and al-Ard al-Muqaddasa ("the Holy Land").
Mujir al-Din's writings are quoted extensively in the works of 19th century Orientalists and 20th and 21st century scholars alike. It is particularly valuable for what it reveals about the topography and social life of 15th century Jerusalem.
Mujir al-Din died in 1522. He was buried at the base of the Mount of Olives just outside the walls of the Old City, a little to the north of the Garden of Gethsemane, between it and the Tomb of Mary. His tomb, with its gondola-shaped dome, lies in the middle of the sidewalk on the main road and there are steps leading down from it on both sides to the Tomb of the Virgin.
There is also a shrine in Nablus dedicated to the memory of Mujir Al-Din.
Members of the Jerusalemite family of Quttainah are documented to be the descendants of Mujir al-Din al-Hanbali. On a Palestinian geneaology website, they write that the nickname Quttainah (meaning "dried fig") was given to the al-Hanbali family some 300 years ago due to their use of dried figs to cover gold they were trading in within Palestine from road robbers. The Quttainah family continues to own numerous properties in and around the Old City, including waqf properties. Since the 1948 Palestinian exodus, some members of the family live in the Palestinian diaspora, in other Middle Eastern countries and the Persian Gulf region.
Mujir al-Din see Mujir al-Din al-‘Ulaymi
'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-'Ulaymi see Mujir al-Din al-‘Ulaymi
