2023: Hammudids - Hansawi

 Hammudids

Hammudids.  Refers to a dynasty of the period of the Muluk al-Tawa’if, which reigned over various towns in Muslim Spain from 1016 until 1058.  The Hammudids were rulers of the taifa kingdoms of Malaga and Algeciras (1016/18-1058), rulers of Cordoba 1016-1027.  The Banu Hammud, arabicized Hispano-Berber dynasty, branch of the Idrisids.  Their leader, Ali ibn Hammud (r. 1016-1018), governor of Ceuta in 1013 and leader of the African contingent of the Spanish caliphate, rose to power in Malaga in 1016 and became caliph of Cordoba after the removal of the Umayyads.  Following his murder, his brother al-Qasim (r. 1018-1021 and 1023-1025), governor of Algeciras, Tangier, and Arzila, and his son Yahya (r. 1021-1023 and 1025-1027/35) ruled in dispute with each other in Cordoba and Malaga.  Driven out of Cordoba in 1027, Yahya (d. 1035) and his successors ruled briefly in Malaga and Algeciras, maintaining their position until Malaga fell to the Zirids of Granada and Algeciras to the Abbadids of Seville in 1058.  

The Hammudid dynasty is one of the Alid dynasties of Muslim Berbers in Al-Andalus (i.e. Muslim Iberia, in what is now southern Spain). It is named after their ancestor, Hammud, a descendant of Idris ibn Abdallah, i.e., it is of Idrisid lineage.

The dynasty ruled several principalities (taifas) after the decline of Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba in early 11th century.  The Hammudid ruled principalities include:

    * Córdoba (1016-1018: Ali ibn Hammud, 1018-1021: al-Qasim, 1021-1022: Yahya al-Mutali, 1022-1023: al-Qasim)
    * Sevilla (1016: al-Qasim)
    * Algeciras (1039–58: al-Qasim and heirs)
    * Málaga (1022-1057: Yahya al-Mutali and heirs).
    * Melilla

Hamza al-Isfahani
Hamza al-Isfahani (c.893-after 961).  Persian philologist and historian.  He is the author of a well-known chronology of pre-Islamic and Islamic dynasties.  He is also described as a Persian nationalist with strong prejudices against the Arabs.
Isfahani, Hamza al- see Hamza al-Isfahani

Hamza Beg
Hamza Beg (Imam Hamza Beg) (d. 1834).  Imam of Dagestan and the leader of the popular politico-religious movement which disturbed the northern Caucasus from 1832 to 1859.  
Imam Hamza Beg see Hamza Beg
Beg, Hamza see Hamza Beg

Hamza Fansuri
Hamza Fansuri (Hamzah Fansuri) (Hamzah Pansuri) (c. 1550-1600 [1608?]).  Indonesian Sufi of the sixteenth century.  Originating from the west coast of Sumatra, he was the author of treatises and poems in Malay.

Hamza Fansuri was probably born at Ayuthaya in Thailand, but his family evidently came from Barus in North Sumatra.  It was in North Sumatra where Hamza Fansuri subsequently settled.  

In his travels, Hamza Fansuri visited Arabia, Iraq, the Malay peninsula and Java.  He was initiated in Baghdad into the Qadiriyyah religious order.  Hamza Fansuri adhered to the so-called Wujudiyyah school of Sufis, who affirm the doctrine of Oneness of Being.

Hamza Fansuri wrote in Malay, but knew Arabic and Persian well.  He was much influenced by Ibn al-Arabi, Jili as well as other classical Sufi writers and poets, among whom are al-Ghazali, Attar, Jalal al-Din Rumi, Sadi and Jami.  

So far as is known, Hamza Fansuri was the first to write a systematic and definitive account of the Sufi doctrines in the Malay language.  By writing about Sufism, Hamza Fansuri introduced Muslim philosophical and mystical terminology into the Malay language.  

Hamza Fansuri is also credited with introducing the poetic verse genre of the ruba’i -- the quatrain -- which in Malay literature became popularly known as the sha’ir.  His ideas have always been very much misunderstood and misrepresented, even up to the present day.  

One of Hamza Fansuri’s most assiduous and potent accusers was Nuruddin Ar-Raniri who wrote several polemical treatises charging Hamza Fansuri with heresy.  In 1637, the works of Hamza Fansuri were ceremonially burned by order of the Sultan of Aceh.  
Hamzah Fansuri see Hamza Fansuri
Fansuri, Hamzah  see Hamza Fansuri
Hamzah Pansuri see Hamza Fansuri
Pansuri, Hamzah see Hamza Fansuri

Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib
Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib (d. 625).  Paternal uncle of the Prophet.  He became the central figure of a popular romance called The Romance of Amir Hamza, known in Persia, Turkey and Indonesia.  

Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib was the paternal uncle of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. However, he and Muhammad were raised together as they were almost the same age.

Hamza was known as "Lion of God" and "Lion of Paradise" for his bravery. Among the champions of early Islam, few have rivaled his reputation in battle. He was martyred at the Battle of Uhud on March 19, 625 by the Abyssinian slave Wahshy ibn Harb. He was one of the bravest warriors of Islam.

Hamza converted to Islam due to the actions of Amr ibn Hishām, (who is infamous by the name of

Abu Jahl and known for his hostility against the Muslims). Hamza, uncle of Muhammad, had returned to the city of Mecca after a hunting trip in the desert. Upon returning, he soon learned that Abu Jahl, avowed enemy of Islam had heaped abuse and insults upon Muhammad, who had not responded and walked away from where he had sat in the Haram. Outraged, Hamza dashed to the Kaaba, where Abu Jahl sat with other leaders of Mecca and began to beat him with his bow, crying, "Are you going to insult him now, now that I am of his religion and vouch for what he vouches for? Hit me if you can!" As the companions of Abu Jahl warily stood, approaching Hamza, Abu Jahl feebily cried out from the ground, "Let Abu Umarah be, for indeed, I insulted his nephew deeply." And he cowered at the feet of Hamza, while his friends could not meet Hamza’s eyes. As he departed, he kicked sand back at the men, leaving all shocked at what Hamza had just said, none more so than Hamza himself.

Hamza, the son of Shaiba ibn Hashim, was the brother of Abd Allah ibn Abd al Muttalib, Muhammad's father, but he had also been weaned by the same woman, Halimah bint Abi Dhuayb, making him his foster brother as well. The two had grown up together, being just two years apart in age. But as the boys had become young men, they developed different attitudes toward life. Muhammad became thoughtful and concerned with the problems of society, Hamza was not such a contemplative thinker and was comfortable in his status of being part of Meccan elite, though their relationship remained as strong as ever. So it was a conflicted Hamza that witnessed the escalating situation in the city as Muhammad declared the message of Islam. On the one hand, he had absolute faith in the character of his foster brother and nephew, being one of those who had been closest to him for all of his life. Yet some of his most honored values were the respect he held for his family and the traditions they had always followed, his pagan religion among these. So he was indifferent to the controversy, discouraging his peers from worrying about what they saw as a revolution in their midst and not bothering to join them in torturing the defenseless Muslims, while declining Muhammad's invitation to convert to Islam.

The conversion to Islam of Hamza, gave the Muslims much greater strength and better morale among its followers. They were now able to speak and pray in public. Hamza had been one of the most renowned warriors of the Quraysh, known for his solitary hunting expeditions in the desert and his prowess on the battlefield, and was known as the "Lion of the Desert". He became a staunch supporter of Muhammad, enduring the ostracization of the Muslims, and helped him get through the Year of Sorrow, when many of his close relatives died. And he became a trusted advisor after the Hijra, when Muhammad led the fledgling Muslim state in Medina. Hamza advised Muhammad to go on the offensive against those who had driven the Muslims from their homes and seized their property, which Muhammad decided to do by seizing a Quraysh caravan from Mecca at the wells of Badr.

Stories about Hamza's life are collected in the Hamzanama. Hamza is the protagonist of a dastan-goi -- "narrative tales" from Islamic India, where he is portrayed as a larger-than-life hero who fights demons, trades witty remarks with Emperors and fights great wars. It resembles both the Shahnameh and the Ramayana in form.


"Lion of God" see Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib
"Lion of Paradise" see Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib

Hamza ibn ‘Ali
Hamza ibn ‘Ali (Hamza ibn ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad) (Hamza al-Fatimi - "Hamza the Fatimid") (b.985).  Founder of the Druze religious doctrine of the eleventh century. Of Persian origin, he played a role in the proclamation of the divinity of the Fatimd Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. {See also Caliphs; Druze; Fatimids; and Hakim bi-

Hamza ibn ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad was an 11th century Ismaili and founding leader of the Druze sect. He was born in Zozan in Greater Khorasan in Samanid-ruled Persia (modern Khaf, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran).

Hamza is considered the founder of the Druze sect of Islam and the primary author of the Druze manuscripts.

After spending the first twenty years of his life in Samanid-ruled Persia, Hamza emigrated to Egypt and became known in the Fatimid Government as Hamza al-Fātimī --"Hamza the Fatimid". He arrived in Cairo (modern Egypt) just as the Fatimid Caliph Tāriqu l-Ḥākim built the House of Knowledge, which became one of the main cultural centers of the Fatimid state. In a very short period of time, Hamza became a close associate of al-Ḥākim and the Caliph appointed him Head of Letters and Correspondence.

Hamza took as his headquarters the Raydan Mosque, which was located outside the walls of Cairo. This mosque became the center where Hamza organized a new missionary movement. In May 1017, al-Ḥākim issued a decree naming Hamza the imām of "the Monotheists" (al-Muwahhidūn) immediately after declaring the beginning of the Divine Call. Hamza demonstrated brilliant leadership for four years under al-Ḥākim’s direction.

Al-Ḥākim granted Hamza the freedom to preach this new reformist doctrine openly. Public resistance to Hamza's teachings increased as he spoke against corruption, polygamy, remarriage of divorcees and other social customs as well as his theological disputes with other prominent Ismaili leaders.

During this external resistance, an internal rivalry arose between Hamza and one of his subordinates, ad-Darazī. Ad-Darazī deviated from the essence of the movement’s message and falsified the writings of Hamza to present al-Ḥākim as divine.

Ad-Darazī had hoped that al-Ḥākim would favor him over Hamza, but instead there was public opposition to his teachings. Ad-Darazī then redirected the public’s resistance by declaring that he had acted on Hamza's instructions. Consequently, instead of attacking ad-Darazī, the crowds turned against Hamza and his associates, who were at Ridyan Mosque at the time. Although al-Ḥākim executed ad-Darazī for heresy and repudiated his teachings, many years later observers ironically attributed the Druze doctrine to ad-Darazī and did not mention Hamza at all. After the execution of ad-Darazī and his collaborators, Hamza continued his preaching activities for two more years.

Medieval chroniclers of the time not only failed to make the distinction between Druzes and Darazīs but attributed ad-Darazī’s doctrine to the followers of Hamza and argued that Hakim supported ad-Darazī’s ideas. Other historians have reported that it was Hamza who was subordinate to ad-Darazī, and still others have referred to Hamza and Darazi as the same person: Hamza ad-Darazī. As a consequence, the name “Druze” became synonymous with the reform movement.

Despite the ironic and misleading origins of the sect’s name, the title “Druze” never occurs in the Druze manuscripts of the 11th century. After the execution of Darazi and his collaborators, Hamza continued his preaching activities for two more years.

Many modern scholars have written that Hamza's and ad-Darazī's ideology was the same, which is preaching the literal divinity of al-Ḥākim, whom they say supported their claims. Such uncertainty is caused by the historical ambiguity of that era and the secretive, esoteric aspect of the Druze faith.

During the same year that al-Ḥākim disappeared in 1021, Hamza went into retreat and delegated the third leading figure, Baha'u d-Dīn as-Samuqī ("al-Muqtana Baha’ud-Dīn") to continue the missionary movement. Baha'u d-Dīn continued public preaching with the approval of Hamza, who was in a disclosed location known only to Baha'u d-Dīn and few other missionaries. Preaching was halted after the Druze sect was closed in 1043 by Baha'u d-Dīn.


Hamza ibn ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad see Hamza ibn ‘Ali
Hamza al-Fatimi see Hamza ibn ‘Ali
"Hamza the Fatimid" see Hamza ibn ‘Ali

Hamza ibn Habib
Hamza ibn Habib (d. 772).  One of the “Seven Readers” of the Qur’an.  He was a pupil of Abu Bakr ‘Asim. 

Hanafi, Hasan
Hanafi, Hasan (Hasan Hanafi) (b. 1935). Egyptian reformist thinker and professor of philosophy.  Born of Berber and Bedouin Egyptian ancestry, Hanafi earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at the University of Cairo in 1956 and a doctorat d’etat at the Sorbonne in 1966.  He taught Arabic at the Ecole des Langues Orientales to supplement a fellowship while he was a graduate student in Paris (1956-1966).  On his return to Egypt, he taught medieval Christian thought and then Islamic philosophy at the University of Cairo, where he continues to be a member of its department of philosophy.  As a visiting professor, he also taught at universities in Belgium (1970), the United States (1971-1975), Kuwait (1979), Morocco (1982-1984), Japan (1984-1985), and the United Arab Emirates (1985), and he was academic consultant at the United Nations University in Tokyo (1985-1987).  

As a student at Khalil Agha Secondary School in Cairo (1948-1952), Hanafi was introduced to the thought and activities of the Society of the Muslim Brothers.  In the summer of 1952, he formally joined the Muslim Brothers and, as a University of Cairo student (1952-1956), fully participated in their movement until they were banned.  His studies and travels overseas broadened his intellectual horizons and helped to deepen his conviction that Islam has a leading role in world culture as a unique program for humanity.  A staunch supporter of the populist ideals of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, Hanafi believed in a fusion of the populist ideals within a revitalized, reinterpreted Islam in order to form what he called “the Islamic Left” and brought about national unity in Egypt, social and economic justice for the downtrodden masses, a democratic state free from Western domination and Zionist influence, the unification of the Arab world, and the restoration of Islam to a central position in world culture.

Hanafi’s major intellectual contribution is a lifetime project he called Al-turath wa-al-tajdid (Heritage and Renewal).  Apart from his journalistic articles in Arabic – written originally for the general public and later collected in Qadaya mu‘asirah, Dirasat Islamiyah, Dirasat falsafiyah, and Al-din wa al-thawrah fi misr: 1952-1981 – Hanafi was engaged in producing a multi-volume scholarly study.  It reconstructed the Islamic heritage in a new historicist and critical interpretation.  It reassesses Western culture within a de-centering and downsizing critical approach; and it constructed a new hermeneutic of religious culture on a global scale in which Islam is the ideological foundation of a modern humanity liberated from alienation and provided with a comprehensive program of positive action leading to happiness, peace, prosperity, and justice for all.

Hanafi divided his project into three “fronts,” each of which had a theoretical introduction and was planned to be completed in several books.  The fronts are the following: “Our Attitude to the Old Heritage” in seven multi-volume books; “Our Attitude to the Western Heritage,” originally planned to be in five books but later reduced to three; and “Our Attitude to Reality” in three books.

Of these planned works, only some have been published.  Al-turath wa-al-tajdid: Mawqifuna min al-turath al-qadim (Heritage and Renewal: Our Attitude to the Old Heritage) introduced the project and offered a conspectus of its content and direction.  Min al-‘aqidah ila al-thawrah: Muhawalah li-i‘adat bina’ ‘ilm usul al-din (From Doctrine to Revolution:  An Attempt to Rebuild, the Science of Religious Fundamentals) was the first book of the first front.  It was an attempt to reconstruct past Islamic theology, showing on the one hand its rational relation to divine revelation to the historical conditions to which its development succumbed as it tried over the years to consolidate Islamic dogma and to defend its world view against internal sectarian dissension and other religions.  Hanafi argued that human beings and history were at the center of Islamic religious consciousness, and so he integrated the needs of modern Muslims into the Islamic theology he reconstructed, thus creating a liberation theology intended to serve as a revolutionary ideology enabling Muslims to face modern challenges and fight poverty, underdevelopment, coercion, westernization, and alienation.

His most recent work was a hefty tome entitled Muqaddimah fi ‘ilm al-istighrab (Introduction to the Science of Occidentalism) which he offered as a theoretical introduction to the second front of the project and as a temporary substitute for the three books on the Western heritage, while he continued writing the planned volumes of the first front.  In addition to creating the discipline of Occidentalism opposed to Orientalisms and to offer a critical reconstruction of Western culture showing its limitations, its provincialism, and its conditioning by its own circumstances.  Hanafi sees the Western heritage as a historical product in which divine revelation is no longer central, unlike the Islamic heritage that is strongly based on divine revelation recorded in the Qur’an, from which all aspects of Islamic civilization and history flow.  He argued against the claim of Western culture to universality and made great efforts to reduce it to what he believed to be its natural size within world culture.  His analysis of Western consciousness from its beginnings to modern times led to the conclusion that Western consciousness is in crisis and overcome by self-doubt and nihilism, while Islamic consciousness was on the rise to take its rightful place of world leadership, if properly oriented.

Despite Hanafi’s genuine interest in the Muslim masses, he had never gathered a popular following, and his influence was limited to academics, students, and other intellectuals.  The significance of his thought lies in the fact that he has forcefully articulated the modern Muslim need for self assertion.  For him, Muslims were not mere objects of study or manipulation by others; they were subjects in their own right.  Islam, as he had reinterpreted it, is a viable way of life that can and should have a leading role in the world.  
Hasan Hanafi see Hanafi, Hasan

Hanafites
Hanafites (in Arabic, Hanafiyya).  Members of the school of Islamic law named after Abu Hanifa al-Nu‘man ibn Thabit.  The Hanafi school originated in Iraq and was the school adopted by the ‘Abbasid caliphs.  The Hanafi school gained popularity in Transoxania, Khurasan, Afghanistan, India, and China.  In the Mediterranean, the Hanafi school became the school of the Ottoman empire, and is the one generally recognized in its former provinces.  Its method can be characterized as more formal and literalist than some other schools, although it allows greater use of legal stratagems to circumvent positive provisions of the law.

While the school took its name from the Kufan jurist Abu Hanifa, credit for its foundation is generally given to two of his pupils, Abu Yusuf Ya’qub (d. 798), author of a treatise on the tax of non-Muslims, and his better known contemporary Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani (d.805) who wrote a treatise central to the foundation of the school, The Book of Roots, and two works with the designations The Small Collection and The Large Collection.  

Since there is often disagreement among Abu Hanifa, Abu Yusuf, and al-Shaybani, the school is less uniform and coherent in its doctrine

than other schools.  During the period of controversy between the old legal schools and the Traditionists in the second and third Islamic centuries, the school was attacked for its use of the discretionary opinion (ra’y) of individual jurists, but in fact it is only slightly more tolerant on this point than the extreme Hanbalites, who prefer traditions -- hadith -- to juristic reasoning.

The Hanafite school used legal stratagems to circumvent the positive precepts of laws governing such things as interest on loans.  While interest is forbidden, it could be effected by use of the double sale in which the lender would buy the collateral, for an agreed price, and the borrower contracted to repurchase the collateral at a future date for a higher price, the difference between the two prices representing the interest.  In line with this use of stratagems, the Hanafites are more formalistic than either the Hanbalites or the Malikites and do not inquire into the motives of the individual, concentrating instead on the external act.

The Malikites accuse the Hanafites of permitting legal means to achieve illegal ends.  The Hanafites would not inquire into the motives of contracting, consummating, and ending the marriage of a woman to a third party in order to allow remarriage to a former husband after divorce, taking the act as evidence of having fulfilled the requirements of the law.

The Hanafi school originated in Iraq and spread to Syria, Khurasan, Transoxiana, Afghanistan, the Indian subcontinent, Turkish Central Asia and China.  It later became the favorite school of the Saljuqs and of the Ottomans and, as a legacy of Ottoman rule, it has retained official status even in those former Ottoman provinces where the majority of the native Muslim populations follows another school, e.g., in Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Syria.

While Hanafi doctrine from the beginning recognized the importance of the Qur’an as an essential source of law, Hanafis were at pains to insist on the indispensability of personal judgment or reason (ijtihad or ra’y) as a tool of juridical elaboration.  The freedom and flexibility that they sought to secure for juridical doctrine were given concrete expression in such concepts as istihsan (juridical preference) and qiyas (analogical reason).  Although these concepts are to be found in Maliki and Shafi’i law, it was the Hanafis who applied them most consistently and extensively.  The Hanafi school, however, did not entirely escape the influence of the traditionist movement, as a consequence of which Hanafis, too, were compelled to concede a larger role to prophetic tradition (hadith) as a source of law.  

While the Hanafi school had its origins in southern Iraq and reflected the legal consensus of that particular region, it rapidly established itself as the dominant school of law in the eastern provinces of the Abbasid empire, thanks in no small measure to the favor shown it by the court in Baghdad.  From Iraq and Persia, the Hanafi school found its way to Central Asia, Afghanistan, and India.  With the penetration of Islam into China, especially from the thirteenth century, the Hanafi school became the dominant legal influence there as well.  In each of these areas, the Hanafi school remains the legal affiliation of the vast majority of Muslims.

In modern times, Hanafi principles have influenced family law by their incorporation into the codes of several of the former Ottoman provinces (e.g., Turkey and Egypt), although, because of the adoption of Western style codes, these cannot still be said to belong to the Hanafi school.
Hanafiyya see Hanafites

Hanbalites
Hanbalites (in Arabic, Hanabila; in singular form, Hanbali).  Followers of the Sunni school of theology, law and morality which grew up from the teaching of Ahmad ibn Hanbal.  Hanbalism is the youngest of the four orthodox schools of law in Sunni Islam and it is based on a system of law and theology decidedly traditionalist in orientation.   Hanbalism recognizes no other sources than the Qur’an and the Sunna of the Prophet.  It is hostile to speculative theology (in Arabic, kalam) and to esoteric Sufism.   

While not rejecting reason altogether as a source of law, the Hanbali school sought vigorously to circumscribe its scope, emphasizing rather the Qur’an and the sunna as the primary sources of law.   Among the Sunni schools of law, Hanbalism was closest to that of the Shafi’is, differing from it mainly in the role assigned to reason. Under the Shi‘a Buyids, Hanbalism became a politico-religious opposition party in Baghdad, contributing decisively to Sunni restoration, as is clear from the works of many Hanbali theologians of this period.  The final two centuries of the caliphate in Baghdad (1061-1258) are the golden age of Hanbalism.  Some of the great Hanbalites of this epoch were ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Jawzi, Ibn Aqil (d. 1120), Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (d. 1166), and Ibn al-Jauzi (d.1200).  

Under the Bahri Mamelukes, Hanbalism remained very active in Syria and Palestine, the most famous Hanbalite then being Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328).  It lost some of its importance in Syria and Palestine under the Circassian Mamelukes, and was not favored by the Ottomans, who gave pre-eminence to Hanafism.  In the eighteenth century, under Ottoman rule, Shaykh Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab won over to Hanbalism the amir Muhammad ibn Sa‘ud, the founder of the al-Sa‘ud dynasty of Saudi Arabia.   Through the writings of Ibn Taymiyya and the efforts of the Wahhabi movement in the eighteenth century, Hanbali influences made their way to India and Southeast Asia, where even today they continue to be felt.
Hanabila see Hanbalites
Hanbali see Hanbalites

Hanifa, Abu
Hanifa, Abu.  See Abu Hanifa al-Nu‘man.
Abu Hanifa al-Nu‘man see Hanifa, Abu.

Hani’ ibn ‘Urwa al-Muradi
Hani’ ibn ‘Urwa al-Muradi (Ibn al-Hani Urwa Murad) (d. 680).  Yemeni chief who lost his life during the attempt made by ‘Ali’s son al-Husayn to seize power.   
Ibn al-Hani Urwa Murad see Hani’ ibn ‘Urwa al-Muradi

Haniyeh, Ismail

Ismail Abd al-Salam Ahmad Haniyeh (b. 1962 or 1963, Al-Shati refugee camp, Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip – d. July 31, 2024, Tehran, Iran) was a Palestinian politician who served as chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from May 2017 until his assassination on July 2024. He also served as prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority from March 2006 until June 2014 and Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip from June 2007 until February 2017, where he was succeeded by Yahya Sinwar. He was regarded as one of the most prominent leaders of Hamas since the death of Ahmed Yassin.

Haniyeh was born in 1962 0r 1963 in the al-Shati refugee camp in the then Egyptian controlled Gaza Strip to parents who were expelled or fled from Al-Jura (now part of Ashkelon) during the 1948 Palestine War. He earned a bachelor's degree in Arabic literature from the Islamic University of Gaza in 1987, where he first became involved with the militant group Hamas, which was formed during the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation. His involvement led to his imprisonment for three short periods after participating in protests. After his release in 1992, he was exiled to Lebanon, returning a year later to become a dean at Gaza's Islamic University. Haniyeh was appointed to head a Hamas office in 1997 and subsequently rose in the ranks of the organization.

Haniyeh was head of the Hamas list that won the Palestinian legislative elections of 2006, which campaigned on armed resistance against Israel, and so became Prime Minister of the State of Palestine. However, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, dismissed Haniyeh from office on June 14, 2007. Due to the then-ongoing Fatah-Hamas conflict, Haniyeh did not acknowledge Abbas' decree and continued to exercise prime ministerial authority in the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh was the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip from 2006 until February 2017, when he was replaced by Yahya Sinwar. Haniyeh was seen by many diplomats as one of the more pragmatic and moderate figures in Hamas. From 2017 until his assassination by Israel in 2024, he had mostly lived in Qatar. 

On May 6, 2017, Haniyeh was elected chairman of Hamas's Political Bureau, replacing Khaled Mashal.  At that time, Haniyeh relocated from the Gaza Strip to Qatar. Under his tenure, Hamas launched the October 7th attack on Israel, which he celebrated in Doha.  Following Hamas' attack in late 2023, Israel declared its intention to assassinate all Hamas leaders. In May 2024, Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), announced his intention to apply for an arrest warrant for Haniyeh, and other Hamas leaders, for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as part of the ICC investigation in Palestine. On July 31, 2024, Haniyeh was assassinated by an explosive device planted in his residence in Tehran by likely Israeli Mossad agents.

Hansawi
Hansawi (Shaykh Jamal al-Din Hansawi) (1184-1260).  Sufi mystic of the Indian Cishtiyya order.  His Persian diwan is the earliest known poetical work of a Cishti mystic, important for the history of North India in the early thirteenth century.  
Shaykh Jamal al-Din Hansawi see Hansawi
Jamal al-din Hansawi see Hansawi

2023: Harari - Hariri

 

Harari
Harari. Inside the walls of the old Muslim city of Harar in Ethiopia, its inhabitants evolved a unique pre-industrial urban culture which persisted from the 1500s to recent decades.  Although political and economic changes have dispersed the Harari from their old city, the ethnic group persists in mercantile centers in the region and has representatives in other urban centers throughout much of the world.

Harar had been an independent emirate since 1551, but it underwent a series of conquests beginning with the Ottoman Egyptian occupation from 1876 to 1885.  A brief restoration of the emirate was followed by the defeat of the city’s forces by Ras Makonnen in 1887 and the consequent incorporation of Harar in the expanding empire of Ethiopia.  During the early period of Ethiopian rule, Harar’s taxation and political affairs were managed by the occupiers, but its internal society and economy continued to function.  The erosion of Harari economy began at this time with the confiscation of lands by Ras Makonnen as rewards for his troops.  A much more long-lasting blow was dealt by the opening of the Djibouti-Addis Adaba railway in 1913, which bypassed Harar.  The rise of Addis Adaba and the opening of the interior of Ethiopia during the first half of the twentieth century was a period of increasing stagnation for the old city of Harar.

Harari, who had maintained trading posts on the caravan routes for centuries, began to leave the old city in significant numbers in 1948.  At that time, the newly restored Ethiopian rule of the city (following the Italian Occupation, 1936-1941) was perceived as hopelessly oppressive.  The richer markets of Addis Adaba and Dire Dawa provided sufficient impetus to break the rule that all Harari should raise their families in Harar.  As Harari of means shifted from agriculture to merchandising during the next two decades, this movement of population out of the city slowly gained momentum.  It became a virtual diaspora after the Ethiopian Revolution of 1974.  The already weakened economy of the Harari still residing in the old city, their number now reduced to about 8,000, was vitiated by two major reforms of the revolutionary government.  The Rural Property Act of 1975, which proclaimed a maximum individual landholding of ten hectares (about 25 acres) and which affected a much needed land re-distribution throughout Ethiopia, eradicated the extensive Harari holdings of farms which had been tilled by Oromo tenants.

Also, in 1975, the Urban Property Act restricted the ownership of the number of homes and rooms by individual landlords.  This was designed to eliminate exploitative landlords, particularly in Addis Adaba.  Its effect in Harar, however, was perceived as a cultural disaster.  The reform mandated a redistribution of occupancy without regard to ethnic affiliation.  The Harari found themselves sharing their compounds and sometimes their homes with outsiders, most of them Christian Amharas.  The city had ceased to be either the locale of a comfortable way of life or the sanctuary of Harari culture.  

Despite the dispersal of Harari, the ethnic group continues to thrive, albeit under altered conditions.  Although they are one of Ethiopia’s smallest ethnic groups, they have contributed significantly to the country’s managerial and executive (although not its military) ranks.  In the 1980s, there were several Harari M.D.’s and Ph.D.’s in Ethiopia, and elsewhere.  An Ethiopian ambassador and a cabinet minister were Harari, as was the president of Addis Adaba University. 

Harawi
Harawi (Ilyas Harawi).  Elected president of Lebanon in 1989.
Ilyas Harawi see Harawi

Harbi
Harbi, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ishaq al- (Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ishaq al-Harbi) (9th century).  Author of Al-Hammam and its Manners, a book on the appropriate protocol of bathing in hammams -- bath houses.

During the age of the Roman Empire, the Romans developed a bathing process.  For the Romans, the bath was in an elaborate building complex, complete with a medium heated room or Tepidarium, a hot steam room or Caldarium, and a room with a cold plunge pool or Frigidarium.  In some of the larger baths there were other sections with changing rooms called Apodyterium, a reading room and sports area.  But these bathing centers were for the rich and political elite only.  

With the demise of the Roman Empire, the bathing centers were abandoned. While these baths fell into disrepair as the Roman Empire lay in tatters, on the other side of the Mediterranean the Arabs, who had been under Roman rule in countries like Syria, inherited the tradition of using the bath.  Instead of the waters becoming stagnant as the Romans left, the Arabs and then the Muslims gave them special promotion because of Islam's emphasis on cleanliness, hygiene and good health.  

The bath house, or hammam, was a social place and it ranked high on the list of life's essentials.  The Prophet Muhammad proclaimed that "cleanliness is half the faith."  Hammams then were elaborate affairs with elegant designs, decor and ornamentation.  Under the Mameluke and Ottoman rule, they were especially sumptuous buildings in their rich design and luxurious decorations, furnished with beautiful fountains and decorative pools.

The hammam was, and still is, a unique social setting for Muslim communities, playing an important role in the social activities of the community.  As an intimate space of interaction for various social groups, it brought friends, neighbors, relatives and workers together regularly to undertake the washing ritual in a partying atmosphere.  Group bonds strengthened, friendships rekindled and gossip was swapped.  This therapeutic ritual was carried out by both men and women at separate times, with the women usually bathing in daylight and men in the evening and night.  

The intrigue and sociability at the hammam did not just stop at scrubbing and gossip, as traditionally the setting played a significant role in matchmaking.  In conservative communities such as those of North Africa, women who were looking for suitable brides for their sons would go to the hammam.  Here they had the perfect opportunity to have a closer look at the bride to be and select the most physically fit.   

It is also customary in many parts of the Muslim world for the new bride to be taken with her friends to the hammam, where she is prepared, groomed and adorned in stylized designs with henna, the herbal paste that leaves a reddish/brown color on the hair, hands and feet.  The groom is also escorted there the night before he meets his bride.

The art of bathing in hammams is guided by many rules, such as: men must always be covered in "lower" garments, and women are forbidden to enter if men are present.  Quite a few books have been written about the art of bathing in hammams, including Al-Hammam and its Manners from the 9th century by Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ishaq al-Harbi.

Hariri, Abu Muhammad al-
Hariri, Abu Muhammad al- (Abu Muhammad al-Hariri) (Abu Muhammed al-Qasim al-Hariri) Muhammad al-Qasim ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Hariri) (al-Hariri of Basra) (1054–1122).  Arabic poet and philologist.  His best known work is the Sessions, which imitate very closely those of al-Hamadhani, but of which they are no more than a pale reflection.  On the other hand, al-Hariri possessed an unequalled mastery of the Arabic language and a perfect command of its inexhaustible vocabulary.

Al-Hariri was a native of Basra in Iraq where he held a small administrative post.  Al-Hariri produced a volume of 50 maqamat, which, although often longer and more elaborate than those of al-Hamadhani, follow almost exactly the same pattern.  Their hero was another vagabond, Abu Zaid of Saruj.

The maqamat are written in rhymed prose, with interpolated passages of verse, and they are designed principally to exhibit the author’s skill in the manipulation of the Arabic language, the depth of his erudition in all branches of learning, and his adeptness at refined obscurity of allusion.  In all of these al-Hariri’s writing is considered to be superior to that of al-Hamadhani. Al-Hamadhani perhaps tells a better story than al-Hariri, but, in this too, the latter is by no means deficient.  Indeed, al-Hariri’s Maqamat could hardly have remained so populist had they not possessed the power of entertaining as well as that of exercising the learned.   Some commentators have noted that for the better part of seven centuries, the Maqamat of al-Hariri “has been esteemed as, next to the Qur’an, the chief treasure of the Arabic tongue.”

The Maqamat of both al-Hariri and al-Hamadhani are particularly interesting to us as representing a picture of life in a Muslim community in the tenth and twelfth centuries.  
Abu Muhammad al-Hariri see Hariri, Abu Muhammad al-
Abu Muhammed al-Qasim al-Hariri see Hariri, Abu Muhammad al-
Muhammad al-Qasim ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Hariri see Hariri, Abu Muhammad al-
Hariri of Basra, al- see Hariri, Abu Muhammad al-

Hariri, Rafiq
Hariri, Rafiq (Rafik Hariri) (Rafic Baha El Deen Al-Hariri) (November 1, 1944 – February 14, 2005).  Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until his resignation on October 20, 2004.  (1944-2005).   

Hariri was born into a Sunni Muslim family in Sayda.  In 1965, Hariri enrolled as a student of business administration at Beirut Arab University.  He left the university in 1966, reportedly because he lacked sufficient funds to pay tuition.  Hariri emigrated to Saudi Arabia and began working for a construction company.  

In 1969, Hariri established his own construction company, CICONEST, which benefited greatly from the oil boom of Saudi Arabia in the 1970s.  In 1975, the Lebanese Civil War began.  Hariri stayed in Saudi Arabia, but was involved in both help projects in Lebanon, as well as in funding opposing militia groups.

In 1978, Hariri was granted Saudi citizenship as a reward from the royal family for his high quality of entrepreneurial services.  Hariri subsequently purchased the French construction company Oger, and became the largest in the construction sector in the Middle East.  

Hariri’s rise to power in Lebanon has a doubtful background.  He bought support from Syria in the 1980s, and following the end of the Civil War he also bought support from leading politicians in Lebanon.  Soon he had control over most of the reconstruction work, as well as control over Lebanese media:  the radio and television stations, newspapers and magazines.  The Lebanese media typically portrayed Hariri as the economic savior of Lebanon.

In the 1980s, Hariri was ranked one of  the 100 richest men in the world.  By that time, much of his activities were also based in Lebanon.  Aiming at good political relations with Syria, Hariri constructed a new presidential palace in Damascus.  This was, however, not to the liking of Hafiz al-Assad, who soon turned it into a conference center.  

In August of 1987, Hariri tried to buy president Amin Gemayel out of office before the end of this term, and tried also to buy Syrian support for making Johnny Abdo president.  Abdo had promised to make Hariri prime minister in such a case.  However, Gemayel rejected this commitment.

In 1989, according to some sources, Hariri bought support from Lebanese delegates for allowing Syrian control over Lebanon during the reconciliation conference held in At Ta’if, Saudi Arabia.  

In 1990, Hariri returned to Lebanon, where he started a campaign for involvement in the reconstruction process after the end of the civil war.  Hariri donated a mansion to president Elias Hrawi and gave great sums of money to other leading politicians.  

In 1992, President Hrawi appointed Hariri prime minister, hoping that the latter’s influential position in business would help bring the reconstruction process forward.  This appointment occurred after Hariri had expressed his pro-Syrian attitude.  The reactions in Lebanese society to Hariri’s appointment were very positive.  Among Hariri’s first changes was the cutting of income and corporate taxes to ten percent.  Hariri also borrowed billions of dollars to rebuild the infrastructure of Lebanon, in particular the infrastructure of Beirut.  Hariri appointed many of his closest staff members from his own companies as ministers of the government, letting them fill important positions like finance minister (Fouad Siniora) and justice minister (Bahij Tabbara).  

The matter of the economy was one where Hariri had little reason to blame anyone but himself, as Syria gave him wide autonomy in this field when he first became prime minister in 1992.  He focused on rebuilding Beirut instead of the other cities of Lebanon.  He was focused on the financial sector instead of the industries and the agriculture.  According to his own ideology, if the financial sector ran well the rest of the economy would follow.  This did not happen, and through the 1990s Lebanon went into a financial crisis.  

Hariri was both the architect behind the reconstruction work of Beirut, as well as the one profiting most from it.  The work was performed by The Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut’s Central District, in which Hariri was the main shareholder.  The company expropriated lands in exchange for shares, and the Lebanese state paid for the construction work with foreign loans.

In 1994, Hariri was accused of corruption and offered his resignation to the president.  Hrawi refused.  Later in the year, Hariri banned public demonstrations.

In 1995, with the possible start of a general strike, Hariri dispatched the army into the streets to quell the opposition and, in 1996, the Lebanese security forces cracked down on two initiatives for general strikes.  

In 1998, the failure of Hariri’s corrupt economic politics became increasingly evident.  The growth rate had dropped from an annual eight to two percent, and the foreign debt had risen above what Lebanon could handle.  The heir apparent of the Syrian presidency, Bashar al-Assad started a campaign to remove potential opposition to his future presidency.  With this, many of Hariri’s Syrian allies were stripped of their positions in the society.  Bashar soon had Hariri removed from his position and Hariri was replaced by Salim al-Hoss.

In 2000, after the politics of Hoss did not result in increased economic growth in Lebanon, Damascus began transferring its support back to Hariri.  At the parliamentary elections, Hariri received the necessary support to become prime minister for the second time.  Hariri embarked on a policy that involved reform in Lebanon’s bureaucracy and some more independence from the directions of Damascus.  

In his second term in office, Hariri showed more independence towards Syria, which angered the rulers in Damascus.  He also established better contacts with the United States.  It is speculated that Syria wanted to remove him from office, but hesitated as they saw him as important for Lebanon’s economy, and Lebanon’s economy was important for Syria.

Hariri was assassinated on February 14, 2005, in a car bombing, which United Nations investigators later tied to Syrian government officials.  The assassination led to peaceful demonstrations.  The demonstrations culminated in a March 14, 2005 rally in Beirut, Lebanon's capital, in which 1.5 million people -- almost forty percent (40%) of the entire Lebanese population -- participated.  The demonstrators carried placards calling for the immediate withdrawal of Syrian troops and the Syrian intelligence services.  The demonstrators also demanded to know the truth about Hariri's assassination and the assassinations of other political and religious leaders allegedly ordered by Syrian officials.  

The demonstrators achieved their goal on April 26, when Syria withdrew its troops and intelligence services.  Political commentators dubbed the popular movement that forced the withdrawal "the Cedar Revolution," in reference to Lebanon's national symbol, the cedars of Lebanon referred to in the Bible.
Rafik Hariri see Hariri, Rafiq
Rafic Baha El Deen Al-Hariri see Hariri, Rafiq

2023: Harith - Hashishiyya

Harith ibn Jabala, al-
Harith ibn Jabala, al- (529-569).  Most famous king of the Ghassanids.  He was an ally of Byzantium and fought the Persians and their Arab allies, the Lakhmids. 

Harith ibn Kalada, al-
Harith ibn Kalada, al- (Nafi ibn al-Harith bin Kalada al-Thaqafi) (d. 670).  Traditionally considered to be the oldest known Arab physician.  His personality is surrounded by a host of legends.

Nafi ibn al-Harith bin Kalada al-Thaqafi was an Arab physician of the Banu Thaqif and was recommended by the Prophet Muhammad and treated Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas. When Abu Bakr was dying, he designated his illness as poisoning.

Trained in the Academy of Jundishapur in Persia, he is

reported to have written a book named Dialog in Medicine.

He was half brother of Nufay ibn al-Harith (also known as Abu Bakra bin Kalada al-Thaqafi at-Thaifi).

Harithi, Salih ibn ‘Ali al-
Harithi, Salih ibn ‘Ali al- (Salih ibn ‘Ali al-Harithi) (1834-1896). Ibadi leader.  He was the shaykh of the confederation of tribes of eastern Oman known as the Sharqiyya Hinawis.  
Salih ibn ‘Ali al-Harithi see Harithi, Salih ibn ‘Ali al-

Harun al-Rashid
Harun al-Rashid (Harun ar-Rashid) (English: "Aaron the Upright," "Aaron the Just," or "Aaron the Rightly Guided") (March 17, 763 – March 24, 809). Fifth and most famous Abbasid Caliph (r.786-809).  He was the son of the third Abbasid caliph, al-Mahdi (r. 775-785), and succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother al-Hadi (r. 785-786).

Thanks to the “Thousand and One Nights,” Harun al-Rashid is almost a legendary figure which obscures his true historic personality.  In fact, his reign initiated the political disintegration of the Islamic empire.

Syria, inhabited by tribes with Umayyad sympathies, remained the bitter enemy of the ‘Abbasids and Egypt witnessed risings due to poor administration and arbitrary taxation.  The Umayyads had been established in Spain in 755, the Idrisids in the Maghrib in 788 and the Aghlabids in Ifriqiya in 800.  Besides, unrest flared up in Yemen, and the Kharijites rose in rebellion in Daylam, Kirman, Fars and Sistan.  Revolts also broke out in Khurasan.  A great part of Harun al-Rashid’s fame was due to his interest in Holy War against the Byzantines, in which he occasionally participated personally. From 791 to 809, Harun’s empire was at war with the Byzantine Empire, and in 807 his forces occupied the Byzantine province of Cyprus. He also paid attention to naval power.  

The period of Harun al-Rashid’s reign marked a notable development of culture.  Until 803, administrative power was entrusted to Yahya ibn-Khalid (d. about 803), the grand vizier, or councillor of state, and head of the illustrious family of the Barmakids.  During this time, Baghdad, the capital of Harun’s realm, became the most flourishing city of the period.  Tribute was paid to the caliph by many rulers, and splendid edifices were erected in his honor at enormous cost.  He is said to have exchanged gifts with Charlemagne.  However, Arabic sources do not substantiate that such an exchange ever occurred.

Harun was a generous patron of learning, poetry, and music, and his court was visited by the most eminent Muslims of the age.  He was celebrated in countless songs and stories, and is perhaps best known to the Western world as the caliph whose court is described in the Arabian Nights.  Toward the end of his reign, Harun was influenced to depose the Barmakids, and in 803 he imprisoned the grand vizier.  
Harun ruled from 786 to 809, and his time was marked by scientific, cultural and religious prosperity. Art and music also flourished significantly during his reign. He established the legendary library Bayt al-Hikma ("House of Wisdom").

Since Harun was intellectually, politically and militarily resourceful, his life and the court over which he held sway have been the subject of many tales: some are claimed to be factual but most are believed to be fictitious.  Among what is known to be fictional is The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, which contains many stories that are fantasized about Harun's magnificent court and even Harun al-Rashid himself.

Harun virtually dismembered the empire by apportioning it between his two sons al-Amin and al-Ma’mun.  The caliph died while on his way to put down an insurrection in the eastern part of his empire.  
Harun ar-Rashid see Harun al-Rashid
“Aaron the Upright” see Harun al-Rashid
"Aaron the Just" see Harun al-Rashid
"Aaron the Rightly Guided" see Harun al-Rashid

Harut and Marut
Harut and Marut.  Names of two angels, mentioned in the Qur’an, who are a reminiscent of the “fallen angels” of Genesis 6:1-4.  

Harut and Marut are two angels mentioned in the second Surah of the Qur'an, who were sent down to test the people at Babel or Babylon by performing deeds of magic. (Sura Al-Baqara, verse 102). The Qur'an indicates that although they warned the Babylonians not to imitate them or do as they were doing, some members of their audience failed to obey and became sorcerers, thus damning their own souls.

Hasan I
 Hasan I (Hasan I ibn Muhammad, al-) (b.1836).  Filali Sharif of Morocco (r.1873-1894).  On his initiative and that of Britain, the first international conference concerned with Morocco was held at Madrid in 1880.  It initiated the process which was to lead to the French Protectorate of 1912.  
Hasan I ibn Muhammad, al- see Hasan I

Hasan al-A‘sam, al-
Hasan al-A‘sam, al- (891-977).  Carmathian leader of Bahrain.  He took Damascus and fought the Fatimids. 

Hasan al-Banna'

Hasan al-Banna’ (Hassan al-Banna) (b. October 14, 1906, Mahmoudiyah, Beheira, Egypt – d. February 12, 1949, Cairo, Egypt), was an Egyptian social and political reformer, best known for founding the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the largest and most influential 20th century Muslim revivalist organizations. Al-Banna's leadership was critical to the growth of the brotherhood during the 1930s and 1940s. Convinced that Islamic society should return to the Qur’an and the hadith,  Hasan al-Banna’ founded the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928.  He was arrested several times and was assassinated in 1949 after the Brotherhood had been suppressed.

Hasan al-Banna’ was born on October 14, 1906 in Mohammediya in northern Egypt as the oldest son of a watch repairman.  Banna’s family was very religious.   In 1923, Banna went to Cairo Teachers College and finished his education as a teacher at the top of his class.  He was then admitted to the famous al-Azhar University.   

In 1927, Banna' began working as a teacher in a state school in the city of Ismailiyya near the Suez Canal.  In March 1928, he established the al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun (Ikhwanu al-Muslimin) -- the Muslim Brothers --  together with his brother and five others. 

The main inspiration for his religious involvement was from the magazine Al Manar which published the writings of Muhammad Rashid Rida.  The organization he started when he was 22 was initially a moderate one in its instruments, but changes in the political climate and reorientations in its ideology, made the Brotherhood active in violent operations from the late 1940s.

The first Brotherhood was a youth club stressing moral and social reform, promoting this through education and propaganda. 

In 1933, Banna' moved the headquarters to the capital Cairo, and, in 1942 to 1945, he travelled many times to Jordan, where he set up Brotherhood branches in many towns over the entire country. 

In 1948, Banna' declared that the Egyptian government was responsible for the Arab weakness in the First Palestinian War against newly formed Israel.

On February 12, 1949, Banna' was shot dead in Cairo by secret service agents.

Banna' was a prolific writer.  He wrote memoirs, as well as numerous articles and speeches.  Among his most important books is his “Letter to a Muslim Student,” a book in which Banna' explains the principles of his movement. 

Banna’s legacy is still active, and his movement has spread to many other Muslim countries. 


Hasan al-Banna’ see Banna’, Hasan al-
Hassan al-Banna see Banna’, Hasan al-

Hasan al-Basri
Hasan al-Basri (Abu Sa'id al-Hasan ibn Abi-l-Hasan Yasar al-Basri) (642-728).   Preacher of Basra.  The fragments of his sermons which have been preserved are among the best surviving specimens of early Arabic prose.

Hasan al-Basri, also known as Imam Hasan al Basri, was a well-known Muslim theologian and scholar of Islam who was born at Medina of Persian parents.  His father, Pirouz (later called Abul Hasan, or Hasan's Father, in Arabic), was a Persian landowner in a village of Khuzestan who was enslaved during a military campaign of Umar, the Second Caliph, and taken back to Medina. In the course of dividing spoils of war, Pirouz, along with a woman from his own village, was given to Umm Salama, a wife of Muhammad. Umm Salama gifted both to one of her close relatives where they were ultimately wed and freed by the couple who received them.

Tradition says that Umm Salama often nursed Hasan in his infancy. He was thus one of the Tabi'een (i.e. of the generation that succeeded the Sahabah). According to Abu Zur'a, at the age of 14 years, Hasan became the murid of 'Ali. Thereafter, Hasan migrated to Iraq.

Hasan did not take sides in the fitna of Ibn al-Zubayr. In 700 C. C., he joined the camp of Ibn al-Ash'ath during his revolt, as an amir. Hasan is not known to have supported any Caliph after Abu Bakr, but he was on decent terms with Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz.

After the revolt Hasan became a teacher in Basra (Iraq) and founded a madrasa (school) there. Among his many followers were Amr Ibn Ubayd (d.761) and Wasil ibn Ata (d.749), the founder of the Mu'tazilites - which name derives from the Arabic verb i'tizàl ("to part from", "to separate from"). Wasil ibn Ata broke all relations with his ancient Master. Among Hasan's juristic students were the Imam Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani and also Humayd.

Hasan married a woman of the Ahl al-Kitab (that is, he married a Jew or a Christian). They had three sons: 'Ali, Muhammad, and Sa'id. Hasan was buried in Basra.

Under the reign of Caliph 'Abd al-Malik and his governor in Iraq al-Hajjaj, Hasan came to oppose the inherited caliphate of the Umayyads (r.660-750).

Hasan held to a doctrine of human free will, called "Qadarism" by its enemies, as opposed to predestination. In particular, he refused to believe that a just God would predetermine a man to sin. His stance on this upset his non-Mutazil pupils Ayyub and Humayd, and embarrassed later Sunnis. Some, like Dawud bin Abi Hind, went so far as to forge anti-"Qadarite" opinions in Hasan's name.

Hasan was a great supporter of asceticism in the time of its first development. According to him, fear is the basis of morality, and sadness the characteristic of his religion. Life is only a pilgrimage, and comfort must be denied to subdue the passions. Al-Basri is also held in high regard by the Sufis for his asceticism, though he predated Sufism as a self-aware movement. Many writers testify to the purity of his life and to his excelling in the virtues of Muhammad's own companions.

Hasan is associated with the authorship of several epistles, many of which are known to be forged. Among the forgeries is an epistle to Abd al-Malik espousing human free will, first attested to by Abd al-Jabbar (d. 1024). This epistle, despite claiming "some of the ... best examples of Arabic linguistic prose style", is based on the theology of al-Rassi's Kitab al-Radd and on the politics of the Zaydi Shi'a. That is, it comes from Abd al-Jabbar's circle if not from Abd al-Jabbar himself.

Abu Sa'id al-Hasan ibn Abi-l-Hasan Yasar al-Basri see Hasan al-Basri

Hasan al-Utrush
Hasan al-Utrush (844-917).  Ruler in Tabaristan.  The Zaydis in Yemen recognize him as Imam under the official name al-Nasir al-Kabir. 

Hasan Bey-zade
Hasan Bey-zade (d. 1636).  Ottoman historian.  His History of the Ottomans is of great importance since it depends on his own experiences.  He also left a collection of maxims of government.   

Hasani
Hasani (in plural form, Hasaniyyun).  Name of the ‘Alid Sharifs descended from ‘Ali’s son al-Hasan.  In Morocco, the Hasani family have given birth to the Sharifian dynasties of the Sa‘dids and of the Filalis.
Hasaniyyun see Hasani

Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib, al-
Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib, al- (Al-Hassan ibn Ali ibn Talib) (c.624-669). Grandson of Muhammad, son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib (final Rashidun Caliph and first Shī‘a Imām) and Fātimah al-Zahraā (daughter of Muhammad). Hasan is an important figure in Islām as he is a member of the Ahl ul Bayt (the household of Muhammad) and Ahl ul Kisā, as well as being a Shī‘ah Imām, and one of The Fourteen Infallibles of the Twelver Shī‘a.

Hasan is portrayed as the favorite of the prophet Muhammad, his grandfather.  However, he did not get along well with his father and brother, Husayn, after the death of his mother, Fatima, in 633.

After Ali’s assassination in 661, Hasan was proclaimed caliph by his followers in Persia.  These followers were principally interested in ousting Syria from its position of power.  These followers wanted Hasan to start a war between Arabia and Syria.  However, after about six months, Hasan reached an agreement with the first Umayyad caliph Mu’awiya.

This was done in the mosque of Kufa in 661 and Hasan subsequently retired with wealth to Medina.

While Shi’i texts try to blame Mu’awiya for the death of Hasan, these texts are probably erroneous.  After all, at the time of his death, Hasan posed no threat to Mu’awiya.  The most likely conclusion is that Hassan died of consumption.  After his death his brother Husayn became the head of the 'Alids.

According to most Shi‘ites, Hasan was the rightful successor to 'Ali, and thus was the second imam.  However, there seems to have been, at least until his death, a faction of Shi‘ites who refused to recognize Hasan as imam because he renounced the caliphate.  Nevertheless, in the eyes of the Shi‘is, Hasan is the second Imam and in the Persian religious dramas he is one of the principal characters.

Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya, al-
Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya, al- (d. c. 710).  Grandson of the Prophet’s son-in-law ‘Ali.  He is the author of the two earliest texts on Islamic theology. 

Hasan ibn Ustadh-Hurmuz
Hasan ibn Ustadh-Hurmuz (c. 960-1011).  Leading figure of the Buyid regime.  He is praised for the impartial energy of his administration, which restored order and established a sound financial system.  {See also Buyids.}

Abu Ali Hasan Ibn Ustadh-Hurmuz was a governor and military buwàyhida.

El seu pare Ustadh-Hurmuz fou hudjdjab d' Adud al-Dawla i després (983) del seu fill i successor al Fars Sharaf al-Dawla , que el va nomenar governador d' Oman . His father Ustadh-Hurmuz was hudjdjab of Adud al-Dawla and after (983) of his son and successor to the lighthouses Sharaf al-Dawla, who appointed him governor of Oman. Quan va tranferir la seva lleialtat a Samsan al-Dawla , germà de Sharaf, fou obligat a retirar-se ( 984 ). When tranferir his loyalty to al-Dawla Samsan brother Sharaf, was forced to retire (984).

Llavors Hasan tenia uns 23 anys i ja estava al servei de Samsan al-Dawla que governava a Bagdad ; però al cap de pocs anys Samsan fou expulsat de l'Iraq per Sharaf al-Dawla ( 987 ); a aquest el va succeir el seu germà Baha al-Dawla ( 989 ). Then Hasan was about 23 years and was already serving Samsan al-Dawla who ruled Baghdad, but after a few years Samsan was expelled from Iraq by Sharaf al-Dawla (987), this was succeeded by his brother Baha al-Dawla (989). Samsan es va trobar amb el poder a Fars ( 990 ) a més de Kirman (que ja dominava des de el 983 ). Samsan found power in Fars (990) in addition to Kirman (already dominated from the 983). Hasan va anar a Fars i es va entrevistar amb Samsan al que va cònvencer de donar el govern de Kirman al seu pare Ustadh-Hurmuz. Hasan went Lighthouses and met Samsan that convinced the government to give his father Ustadh Kirman-Hurmuz. Hasan va romandre aquestos anys al Fars i va derrotar la revolta dels fills d' Izz al-Dawla Bakhtiar (cosins de Samsan al-Dawla). Hasan remained in these years and lighthouses defeated the revolt of the sons of Izz al-Dawla Bakhtiar (cousins Samsan al-Dawla). Fou també Hasan el que va sostenir la lluita a Ahwaz contra Baha al-Dawla. Hasan was also argued that the struggle in Ahwaz against Baha al-Dawla.

Mort Samsan el 998 en una segona revolta dels fills d'Izz al-Dawla Bakhtiar, Hasan va trespassar la seva lleialtat (i les seves tropes daylamites) a Baha. Death Samsan the 998 in a second rebellion of the sons of Izz al-Dawla Bakhtiar, Hassan was Trespasser their loyalty (and his troops daylamites) in Baha. Fars i Kirman van passar a Baha al-Dawla. Fars and Kirman went to Baha al-Dawla. El 1001 va nomenar a Hasan governador d' Ahwaz i el 1002 li va donar l'administració de l' Iraq , mentre el seu pare Ustadh-Hurmuz era nomenat al seu lloc a Ahwaz. In 1001 Hasan was appointed governor of Ahvaz and in 1002 gave the government rating of Iraq, while his father was appointed Ustadh-Hurmuz place in Ahvaz. En general es considera que va governar encertadament; al Iraq no va poder derrotar al rebel senyor de la Batiha Ibn Wasil ia les muntanyes no va poder amb al kurd Badr ibn Hasanawayh amb el que va acabar pactant. Generally considered to be rightly ruled, in Iraq could not defeat the rebel Lord Batiha Ibn Wasil and the mountains could not with the Kurdish Badr ibn Hasanawayh which ended with agreement being reached.

Va administrar Iraq fins a la seva sobtada mort el 1011 quan tenia uns 50 anys. Was administered Iraq until his sudden death in 1011 when he was about 50 years. El seu pare el va sobreviure quatre anys en els que va restar al govern d'Ahwaz. His father survived four years in which the government remained Ahvaz.

[ edita ] Bibliografia [Edit] References

Hasan ibn Zayd ibn Muhammad, al-
Hasan ibn Zayd ibn Muhammad, al- (d. 884).  Descendant of the Prophet’s son-in-law ‘Ali.  He founded the Zaydiyya in Tabaristan, which ruled there from 864 to 928. 

Hasan-i Sabbah
Hasan-i Sabbah (Hasan al-Sabbah) (Hassan-i Sabbāh) (Hassan aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ) (Hasan ibn Sabbah) (Hassan Ben Sabbah) (1050s-1124) . First chief propagandist (in Arabic, da‘i) of the Nizari Isma‘ilis at Alamut.  He seized the fortress in 1090 and held it against many Saljuq attacks.  His exposition of the Shi‘a doctrine that absolute authority in religious faith must be accepted greatly affected Abu Hamid al-Ghazali.   {See also Ghazali, Abu Hamid al-; Nizari Isma'ilis; Saljuq; and Shi'a.}

Hasan-i Sabbāh was a Persian Nizārī Ismā'īlī missionary who converted a community in the late 11th century in the heart of the Alborz Mountains of northern Iran. The place was called Alamut and was attributed to an ancient king of Daylam. He founded a group whose members are sometimes referred to as the Hashshashin.
 
Hassan is thought to have written an autobiography, which does not survive but seems to underlie the first part of an anonymous Isma'ili biography entitled Sargudhasht-i Sayyidnā. The latter is known only from quotations made by later Persian authors. Hassan also wrote a Persian treatise on the doctrine of ta'līm, i.e. the teachings of the imam. The text is no longer extant, but fragments are cited or paraphrased by al-Shahrastānī and several Persian historians.

The possibly autobiographical information found in Sargudhasht-i Sayyidnā is the main source for Hassan's background and early life. According to this, Hassan-i Sabbāh was born in the city of Qom (modern Iran) in Persia in the 1050s to a family of Twelver Shī‘a. His father was an Arab claiming Yemeni descent, who left the Sawād of Kufa (modern Iraq) to settle in the (predominantly Shi'a) town of Qom.

Early in his life, his family moved to Rayy (Rey, modern Iran). Rayy was a city that had seen a lot of radical thought since the 9th century and it had seen Hamdan Qarmaṭ as one of its voices. It had also seen a lot of missionary work by various sects.

It was in this center of religious matrices that Hassan developed a keen interest in metaphysical matters and adhered to the Twelver code of instruction. From 7 to 17, he studied at home, and mastered palmistry, languages, philosophy, astronomy and mathematics (especially geometry).

Rayy was also home to the activities of Ismā‘īlī missionaries in the Jibal. At the time, Isma'ilism was a growing movement in Persia and other lands east of Egypt. The Persian Isma'ilis supported the da'wa ("mission") directed by the Fatimid caliphate of Cairo and recognized the authority of the Imam-Caliph al-Mustanṣir (d. 1094). However, after some time, Isfahan rather than Cairo came to function as their principal headquarters. The Ismā'īlī mission worked on three layers: the lowest was the foot soldier or fidā'ī, followed by the rafīk or "comrade", and finally the dā‘ī or "missionary". It has been suggested that its popularity in Persia owed something to dissatisfaction with their Seljuk rulers, who had recently removed local rulers.

In Rayy, young Hassan came in touch with Amira Darrab, a comrade, who introduced him to Ismā'īlī doctrine. Hassan was initially unimpressed. As he met Darrab, participating in many passionate debates that discussed the merits of Ismā‘īl over Mūsā, Hassan's respect grew. Impressed with the conviction of Darrab, Hassan decided to delve deeper into Ismā'īlī doctrines and beliefs. Hassan began to see merit in switching to Ismā‘īlī.

At the age of 17, Hassan converted and swore allegiance to the Fatimid Caliph in Cairo. Hassan's studies did not end with his crossing over. He further studied under two other dā‘iyyayn, and as he proceeded on his path, he was looked upon with eyes of respect.

Hassan's austere and devoted commitment to the da'wa brought him an audience with the chief missionary of the region: ‘Abdul-Malik ibn Attash. Ibn Attash, suitably impressed with the young seventeen year old Hassan, made him Deputy Missionary and advised him to go to Cairo to further his studies.

However, Hassan did not go to Cairo. Some historians have postulated that Hassan, following his conversion, was playing host to some members of the Fatimid caliphate, and this was leaked to the anti-Fatimid and anti-Shī‘a Nizam al-Mulk. This prompted his abandoning Rayy and heading to Cairo in 1076.

Hassan took about 2 years to reach Cairo. Along the way he toured many other regions that did not fall in the general direction of Egypt. Isfahan was the first city that he visited. He was hosted by one of the Missionaries of his youth, a man who had taught the youthful Hassan in Rayy. His name was Resi Abufasl and he further instructed Hassan.

From here he went to Azerbaijan, hundreds of miles to the north, and from there to Turkey. There he attracted the ire of priests following a heated discussion, and Hassan was thrown out of the town he was in.

He then turned south and traveled through Iraq, reaching Damascus in Syria. He left for Egypt from Palestine. Records exist, some in the fragmentary remains of his autobiography, and from another biography written by Rashid ad-Din Tabib in 1310, to date his arrival in Egypt at August 30, 1078.

It is unclear how long Hassan stayed in Egypt - about 3 years is the usually accepted amount of time. He continued his studies there, and became a full missionary.

While he was in Cairo, studying and preaching, he upset the highly excitable Chief of the Army, Badr al-Jamalī. It is also said by later sources that the Ismaili Imam-Caliph al-Mustanṣir informed Hassan that his elder son Nizar would be the next Imam. Hassan was briefly imprisoned by Badr al-Jamali. The collapse of a minaret of the jail was taken to be an omen in the favor of Hassan and he was promptly released and deported. The ship that he was traveling on was wrecked. He was rescued and taken to Syria. Traveling via Aleppo and Baghdad, he terminated his journey at Isfahan in 1081.

Hassan’s life now was totally devoted to the mission. Hassan toured extensively throughout Iran. To the north of Iran, and touching the south shore of the Caspian Sea, are the mountains of Alborz. These mountains were home to a people who had traditionally resisted all attempts at subjugation. This place was also of Shī‘a leaning. Within these mountains, in the region of Daylam, Hassan chose to pursue his missionary activities. Hassan became the Chief Missionary of that area and sent his personally trained missionaries into the rest of the region.

The news of this Ismā'īlī's activities reached Nizam al-Mulk, who dispatched his soldiers with the orders for Hassan's capture. Hassan evaded them, and went deeper into the mountains.
 
Hassan's search for a base from where to guide his mission ended when he found the castle of Alamut in the Rudbar area in 1088. It was a fort that stood guard to a valley that was about fifty kilometers long and five kilometers wide. The fort had been built about the year 865. Legend has it that it was built by a king who saw his eagle fly up to and perch upon a rock, of which the king, Wah Sudan ibn Marzuban, understood the importance. Likening the perching of the eagle to a lesson given by it, he called the fort Aluh Amut - the "Eagles Teaching".

Hassan’s takeover of the fort was one of silent surrender in the face of defeated odds. To effect this takeover Hassan employed an ingenious strategy. It took the better part of two years to accomplish. First Hassan sent his Daˤiyyīn and Rafīks to win the villages in the valley over. Next, key people were converted and in 1090 Hassan took over the fort. It is said that Hassan offered 3000 gold dinars to the fort owner for the amount of land that would fit a buffalo’s hide. The term having been agreed upon, Hassan cut the hide in to strips and joined them all over along the perimeter of the fort. The owner was defeated. (This story bears striking resemblance to Virgil's account of Dido's founding of Carthage.) Hassan gave him a draft on the name of a wealthy landlord and told him to take the money from him. Legend further has it that when the landlord saw the draft with Hassan’s signature, he immediately paid the amount to the fort owner, astonishing him.

With Alamut as his, Hassan devoted himself so faithfully to study, that it is said that in all the years that he was there – almost 35, he never left his quarters, except the two times when he went up to the roof. He was studying, translating, praying, fasting, and directing the activities of the Daˤwa. The propagation of the Nizarī doctrine was headquartered at Alamut. He knew the Qur'ān by heart, could quote extensively from the texts of most Muslim sects, and, apart from philosophy, he was well versed in mathematics, astronomy, alchemy, medicine, architecture, and the major science fields of his time. Hassan was one who found solace in austerity and frugality. A pious life was one of prayer and devotion. Hassan was a charismatic revolutionary. It was said that by the sheer gravity of his conviction he could pierce the hardest and most orthodox of hearts and win them over to his side.

Hassan's community and its branches spread throughout Iran and Syria and came to be called Hashshashin or Assassins, an Islamic mystery cult.

Hassan was extremely strict and disciplined. The event of the Great Resurrection (al-qiyāmat al-kubrā) occurred under the later Ismaili Imam Hasan ala-dhikrihi as-salaam in 1164.

Not much is known about Hassan from first hand sources, but legends abound as to the tactics used to induct members. They either stem from Sunni polemicists who were motivated to discredit the Nizari Isma'ili on political and religious grounds, and Crusaders returning to Europe. Marco Polo also claimed to have visited Alamut, although the timeframe he gives makes his assertion dubious.

According to polemical accounts which would evolve into legend, a future assassin was subjected to rites very similar to those of other mystery cults in which the subject was made to believe that he was in imminent danger of death. But the twist of the assassins was that they drugged the person to simulate a "dying" to later have them awaken in a garden flowing with wine and served a sumptuous feast by virgins. The supplicant was then convinced he was in Heaven and that Sabbah was a representative of the divinity and that all of his orders should be followed, even to death. This legend derives from Marco Polo, who visited Alamut just after it fell to the Mongols in the thirteenth century.

Other accounts of the indoctrination attest that the future assassins were brought to Alamut at a young age and, while they matured, inhabited the aforementioned paradisaical gardens and were kept drugged with hashish. As in the previous version, Hassan occupied this garden as a divine emissary. At a certain point (when their initiation could be said to have begun) the drug was withdrawn from them, and they were removed from the gardens and flung into a dungeon. There they were informed that, if they wished to return to the paradise they had so recently enjoyed it would be at Sabbah's discretion, and that they must, therefore, follow his directions exactly, up to and including murder and self-sacrifice.

Given the pillars of devoted adherence to the path of the faith, it is unlikely that the usually accepted "Assassin" postulate is accurate. Hassan had his son executed for drinking wine and another person was banished from Alamut for playing the flute. Furthermore there have emerged traces that there was a name given to Alamut by the people with Nizarī leanings: al-Assas "the foundation". It was the base for all operations that Hassan wished to effect. Members of al-Assas became known as al-Assasīn.


Hasan al-Sabbah see Hasan-i Sabbah
Sabbah, Hasan al- see Hasan-i Sabbah
Sabbah, Hasan-i see Hasan-i Sabbah

Hasan Pasha
Hasan Pasha (Hasan Pasha ibn Khayr al-Din).  Commander in Algiers in the years 1544 to 1551; 1557 to 1561; and 1562 to 1567.  He fought the Spaniards and tried to enroll the Kabyles in his service against the Moroccans.
Hasan Pasha ibn Khayr al-Din see Hasan Pasha
Pasha, Hasan see Hasan Pasha

Hasanwayhids
Hasanwayhids (Hasanuyid).  Name of a Kurdish dynasty descended from Hasanawayh. Between 959 and 1015, they maintained more or less autonomous principalities in Western Persia.

The Hasanawayhid or Hasanuyid was a Kurdish principality from 959 to 1015, centered at Dinawar (northeast of present-day Kermanshah). The principality ruled western Iran and upper Mesopotamia. The founder of the dynasty was Hasanwayh bin Husayn from the Kurdish tribe of Barzikani. He managed to successfully resist Sahlan bin Musafir, the Buyid governor of Hamadan, and the Buyid vizier, Ibn Al-Amed. In 970, he reached a compromise with Amed's successor which guaranteed his autonomy. Hasanwayh died in 979 at Sarmaj, located in south of Bisitun.

After Hasanwayh's death, conflict broke out between several of his sons. The intervention of Buyid Muayyid al-Dawla of Ray led to the defeat of Fakhr al-Dawla, one of Hasanwayh's sons. Then another heir, Abul-Najm Badr (Nasir Al-Dawla), was installed as the leader of Bazikani Kurds, and the principality became a vassal of Buyids. Abul-Najm expanded Hasanwayhid's control to Shapur-Khwast, Dinawar, Nahavand, Asadabad, Borujerd, Ahwaz, Ilam, Kermanshah, Hulwan and Sharazur (Kirkuk).

Around 1006, the principality came into conflict with the Annazid to the west. Abul-Najm Badr finally died in a minor battle in 1014. The principality was conquered by Abul-Shawk, the Annazid ruler. However the princely family continued to rule their stronghold at Sarmaj until Seljuk Ibrahim Inal entered their territory in 1047.

Hasanuyid see Hasanwayhids

Hashid wa-Bakil
Hashid wa-Bakil.  Large confederation of tribes in the highlands of northern Yemen between San‘a’ and Sa‘da, which has played a role since the dawn of history.

The Bakil federation is the second largest tribal federation in Yemen. Imam Yahya's campaign to subject the country, and more specifically the tribes, to his control, led him to undertake massive campaigns against their influence and power; in fact, his efforts succeeded in permanently eliminating all but two of the ancient confederations (the Hashid is the other one to survive). The member tribes of the Bakil Confederation are found primarily in the far north of the country; its leaders today are the Abu Luhum clan, of the Nihm tribe.

Hashid and Bakil the sons of Jashim bin Jubran bin Nawf bin Tuba'a bin Zayd bin Amro bin Hamdan, Bani Hamdan was already a well known tribe in the 1st century of yhr Chtisyian calendar and it was mentioned in Sabean inscripts. Therefore, Hashid and Bakil (the brothers) must have lived in the B.C.T. era. In the 3rd century most of Hamdan migrated to Syria. Hashid and Bakil switched their alliance to Himyar.

In the year 622, the Prophet Muhammad sent Khalid ibn Al-Walid to Yemen to call them to Islam. However, Khaled managed to push the Najrani and Tihami Yemenis into Islam but he did not get a warm response from the Hamdani Yemenis of the highlands. So the Prophet Muhammad sent over Ali bin Abi Talib and he was much more successful in converting the Hamdani Yemenis.

After the death of the Prophet Muhammad the Hamdan tribe remained Muslim and neutral. It did not join in the wars against other Yemeni tribes that backed Islam.

The Hamdan tribe remained on the side of Ali, after the defeat of Ali and later his sons. The tribes remained in alliance to Ali but did not oppose the Ummayads or ally themselves with the other Shi'as.

At that time Yemen was experiencing a great population movement forming the bulk of the Islamic Expansion mainly settling and Arabizing North Africa/Spain. However, the majority of the Hamdan tribe remained in Yemen which later helped the Hashid/Bakil Hamdani tribes become the biggest local key player, benefiting from the departure of the bulk of the most powerful Nomadic Yemeni tribes of that time into North Africa/Spain in Wetsward movements that continued until the 13th century.

By the 10th century, the Imam al-Hadi Yahya bin al-Hussain bin al-Qasim (a scion of Imam al-Hasan, grandson of the Prophet) arrived in the Northern Highlands on invitation from the Hamdan tribe and from that time until the present day the Zaidi moderate Shia teachings became dominant in north Yemen.

Imam Yahya's campaign to subject the country, and more specifically the tribes, to his control, led him to undertake massive campaigns against their influence and power. Indeed, his efforts succeeded in permanently eliminating all but two of the ancient confederations (the Bakil is the other one to survive).

Many writers have referred to the Hashid and Bakil confederations as the "two wings" of the Zaidi imamate in the sense that many of the tribes that belong to these confederations are and were strongly committed to Zaidi Islam. The imams were recognized - to a greater or lesser degree - as the heads of the Zaidi community and could, therefore, count on a measure of support and loyalty. Not all the tribes, however, accepted the temporal and even legal role that the imams arrogated to themselves. Consequently, many imams (Imam Yahya and Imam Ahmad in the twentieth century included) complained bitterly about the tribes' inordinate political power.


wa-Bakil, Hashid see Hashid wa-Bakil.
Bakil, Hashid wa- see Hashid wa-Bakil.

Hashim ibn ‘Abd Manaf
Hashim ibn ‘Abd Manaf (Hashim ibn Abd al-Manaf) (d. ca. 497).  Great-grandfather of the Prophet and the name giving ancestor of the Hashimites -- the clan to which the Prophet belonged.  He had made the tribe of Quraysh dominant in Mecca and had reorganized the pilgrimage.  He is said to have died at Gaza on a journey to Syria.  

Hashim ibn 'Abd Manaf was the great-grandfather of both Muhammad and 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (the first Shi'a imam and the fourth Sunni caliph).  He also was the originator of the Banu Hashim clan of the distinguished Quraysh tribe in Mecca.  His grave can be found in Jannatul Mualla cemetery, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

His real name was Amr which means "ruler" or "commander," but he was given the nickname "Hashim," which translates as "pulverizer" in Arabic, because he initiated the practice of providing crumbled bread in broth for the pilgrims to the Kaaba in Mecca.  According to tradition, he was a descendant of Ishmael and thus Ibrahim (Abraham).  He married Salma bint Amr, a woman of Medina.  He is said to have died while doing business in Gaza, Palestine in 497.  His grave is preserved, and Gaza is called "Ghazzah Hashim" or Hashim's Gaza.  

Hashim is credited with initiating trade caravans of the Quraysh after obtaining an edict from the Byzantine emperor, exempting Quraysh from duties or taxes when operating in the countries under his domain.  He obtained the same concession from the emperor of Ethiopia.  Thus, the Quraysh engaged in trade in Yemen, Syria, and Ankara which allowed them to flourish economically.

Hashim's father was 'Abd Manaf ibn Qusai and he had two brothers that are known to history, the elder 'Abd Shams ibn 'Abd Manaf and a younger brother Muttalib ibn 'Abd Manaf who would become his successor.   


Hashim ibn Abd al-Manaf see Hashim ibn ‘Abd Manaf

Hashimids
Hashimids (al-Hawashim).  Collective name of the four main branches of Hasanid Sharifs, who ruled Mecca from 960 to 1924.  The name al-Hawashim is used to distinguish them from the Hashimites of the Hejaz, Iraq and Jordan.  The eponym of the Hashimids was Hashim ibn ‘Abd Manaf.  They were descended from Musa I al-Jawn, a great-grandson of ‘Ali’s son al-Hasan.  Musa I’s son ‘Abd Allah al-Shaykh al-Salih was the sire of the Meccan Sharifs, and from the latter’s son Musa II sprang the four main branches of the dynasty -- the Musawids, the Sulaymanids, the Hashimids and the Qatadids.  A Hashimid is also a supporter of the militant mawali Shi‘a sect in the late Umayyad times.  
Hawashim, al- see Hashimids

Hashimite
Hashimite (Hashemite). Name of two Arabian dynasties, both of which claim descent from Hashim of the tribe of Koreish, traditionally the custodians of the sacred Muslim shrine, the Ka‘ba, at Mecca.  The Hashimites included the founders of Islam, notably the Prophet Muhammad.  His paternal uncle Abbas, progenitory of the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, which ruled Islam from 750 to 1258, and his son-in-law, the caliph Ali.  The modern Arabian dynasty, by tradition descended from Muhammad, was founded in 1916 by Husein ibn Ali (1856-1931), sharif of Mecca, who at that time made himself king of the Hijaz (al-Hijaz).  Sons of Husein ibn Ali were Ali ibn Husein (1878-1935), who succeeded his father in 1924 but was overthrown in 1925 by Ibn Saud, king of Saudi Arabia; Abdullah ibn Husein, king of Jordan; and Faisal I, king of Iraq.  King Hussein I of Jordan is a grandson of Abdullah ibn Husein, Faisal II, the last king of Iraq, was a grandson of Faisal I.

Hashimite, today, is the term used to describe a member of the dynasty which ruled the Hijaz (1908-1925), Syria (1918-1920), Iraq (1921-1958), and which rules Jordan (1921- ) to this day.  The family belongs to the Dhawu ‘Awn, one of the branches of the Hasanid Sharifs of Mecca. They claimed descent from the Prophet’s grandson, al-Hasan.  

In 1908, the Ottoman sultan appointed Husayn ibn ‘Ali as sharif and amir of Mecca and of the Hijaz. Emir Husayn (Hussain or Hussein) I ibn Ali (1856-1931), sharif of Mecca from 1908 under Ottoman sovereignty, conducted negotiations with the British in 1915 over an Arab kingdom under British mandate.  Following the Sykes-Picot Agreement, under which the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire were divided into British and French zones of influence, he became king of the Hijaz (central Arabia with Mecca and Medina) in 1916.  In 1924, he was expelled by Ibn Saud.  His eldest son, Ali, who assumed the title of king in 1924, also had to yield in 1925.  Of his younger sons, Faisal I (1883-1933), was elected king of Syria in 1920 by the Arab National Congress (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine).  Driven out by the French, he became King of Iraq in 1921 at the initiative of the British.  The Iraqi Hashimite branch was brutally removed by Iraqi officers in 1958 with the assassination of his grandson, Faisal II.  His brother, Abdallah I (1882-1951), became emir of Transjordania and Palestine under British sovereignty in 1921/23 (in return for assurances of an Israeli state for the Jews) and in 1946 king of the independent Jordan.  Following his assassination, his grandson, Hussain II (Hussein II) (1952-1999), steered a tricky course between national independence, support for the Palestinians expelled to Jordan, foreign and economic policy dependence on the United States, resistance to Egyptian influence (President Nasser’s pan-Arabism), and reconciliation with Israel while fending off several attempted coups.  In February 1999, Hussain II was succeeded to the throne by his son, Abdallah II.
Hashemite see Hashimite

Hashimiyya
Hashimiyya. In Umayyad times, the term was applied to a religio-political faction who believed that the Imamate had passed from the ‘Alid Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya to his son Abu Hashim (d. 716).  The ‘Abbasids inherited Abu Hashim’s party and organization, the Hashimiyya, which was the main instrument of the ‘Abbasid propaganda and movement in Khurasan.  The term was then applied to members of the ‘Abbasid house, and understood as denoting the descendants of Hashim ibn ‘Abd Manaf, the common ancestor of the Prophet, of the latter’s son-in-law ‘Ali and of al-‘Abbas.

Hashishiyya
Hashishiyya.  See Assassins.