Humayun
Humayun (Nasir al-Din Humayun) (Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun) (March 17, 1508– March 4, 1556) (OS March 7, 1508-OS February 22, 1556). Son of Babur and the second Mughal ruler of Hindustan and Kabul (r.1530-1540 and 1555-1556). His first period of rule was a long struggle against his family, most of all his half-brother Kamran, and against the Afghan chief Shir Shah Suri (Sher Khan), who took over Bengal and used it as a base from which to expel Humayun from India.
Humayun was the second Mughal Emperor who ruled present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of northern India from 1530–1540 and again from 1555–1556. Like his father, Babur, he lost his kingdom early, but with Persian aid, he eventually regained an even larger one. On the eve of his death in 1556, the Mughal empire spanned almost one million square kilometers.
He succeeded his father in India in 1530, while his half-brother Kamran Mirza, who was to become a rather bitter rival, obtained the sovereignty of Kabul and Lahore, the more northern parts of their father's empire. He originally ascended the throne at the age of 22 and was somewhat inexperienced when he came to power.
Humayun lost his Indian territories to the Pashtun (Afghan) noble, Sher Shah Suri, and, with Persian aid, regained them fifteen years later. Humayun's return from Persia, accompanied by a large retinue of Persian noblemen, signaled an important change in Mughal court culture, as the Central Asian origins of the dynasty were largely overshadowed by the influences of Persian art, architecture, language and literature.
Subsequently, in a very short time, Humayun was able to expand the Empire further, leaving a substantial legacy for his son, Akbar.
Humayun, upon his accession, inherited troublesome brothers and a shaky empire surrounded by hostile regional powers. The most determined hostile element, however, lay within the empire, toward the east. The Afghans, from whom Babur had snatched the throne at Panipat, still commanded considerable strength, and an ambitious and competent leader was preparing them for the final trial with the Mughals. In 1540, the Afghan Sher Shah retrieved the imperial throne, which he held for five years. During this period, Humayun wandered about in western India (Sind) and Persia. In 1543, Humayun was obliged to seek the hospitality of Shah Tahmasp I of Persia, who forced Humayun to sign papers professing Shi 'ism. In 1545, aided by the Iranian shah, Humayun wrested Afghanistan from his brother Kamran and, in 1555, Humayun recaptured Delhi and Agra from Sher Khan's warring descendants. Thus, the second Afghan attempt at empire building in India lasted a mere fifteen years. Internal Afghan dissension facilitated Humayun’s return.
Humayun was a keen patron of mathematics and astronomy, wrote Persian verse, and carried books on his travels.
He died of an accident (from a fall), leaving the empire to his son, Akbar.
Nasir al-Din Humayun see Humayun
Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun see Humayun
Humayun (Nasir al-Din Humayun) (Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun) (March 17, 1508– March 4, 1556) (OS March 7, 1508-OS February 22, 1556). Son of Babur and the second Mughal ruler of Hindustan and Kabul (r.1530-1540 and 1555-1556). His first period of rule was a long struggle against his family, most of all his half-brother Kamran, and against the Afghan chief Shir Shah Suri (Sher Khan), who took over Bengal and used it as a base from which to expel Humayun from India.
Humayun was the second Mughal Emperor who ruled present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of northern India from 1530–1540 and again from 1555–1556. Like his father, Babur, he lost his kingdom early, but with Persian aid, he eventually regained an even larger one. On the eve of his death in 1556, the Mughal empire spanned almost one million square kilometers.
He succeeded his father in India in 1530, while his half-brother Kamran Mirza, who was to become a rather bitter rival, obtained the sovereignty of Kabul and Lahore, the more northern parts of their father's empire. He originally ascended the throne at the age of 22 and was somewhat inexperienced when he came to power.
Humayun lost his Indian territories to the Pashtun (Afghan) noble, Sher Shah Suri, and, with Persian aid, regained them fifteen years later. Humayun's return from Persia, accompanied by a large retinue of Persian noblemen, signaled an important change in Mughal court culture, as the Central Asian origins of the dynasty were largely overshadowed by the influences of Persian art, architecture, language and literature.
Subsequently, in a very short time, Humayun was able to expand the Empire further, leaving a substantial legacy for his son, Akbar.
Humayun, upon his accession, inherited troublesome brothers and a shaky empire surrounded by hostile regional powers. The most determined hostile element, however, lay within the empire, toward the east. The Afghans, from whom Babur had snatched the throne at Panipat, still commanded considerable strength, and an ambitious and competent leader was preparing them for the final trial with the Mughals. In 1540, the Afghan Sher Shah retrieved the imperial throne, which he held for five years. During this period, Humayun wandered about in western India (Sind) and Persia. In 1543, Humayun was obliged to seek the hospitality of Shah Tahmasp I of Persia, who forced Humayun to sign papers professing Shi 'ism. In 1545, aided by the Iranian shah, Humayun wrested Afghanistan from his brother Kamran and, in 1555, Humayun recaptured Delhi and Agra from Sher Khan's warring descendants. Thus, the second Afghan attempt at empire building in India lasted a mere fifteen years. Internal Afghan dissension facilitated Humayun’s return.
Humayun was a keen patron of mathematics and astronomy, wrote Persian verse, and carried books on his travels.
He died of an accident (from a fall), leaving the empire to his son, Akbar.
Nasir al-Din Humayun see Humayun
Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun see Humayun
Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-‘Ibadi
Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-‘Ibadi (Hunayn ibn Ishaq) ('Abu Zayd Hunayn ibn 'Ishaq al-'Ibadi) (Hunain ibn Ishaq) (808-873). Scientist and translator. He was the most important mediator of ancient Greek science to the Arabs. He is credited with an immense number of translations from Greek into Syriac and Arabic, among them those of Hippocrates and Galen. He also composed numerous original works, mainly on medical subjects, and had a special interest in ophthalmology.
Hunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Assyrian Nestorian Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating scientific and medical works in Greek into Arabic and Syriac during the glory years of the Abbasid Caliphate. Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq was the most productive translator of Greek medical and scientific treatises. He was originally from southern Iraq but he spent his working life in Baghdad, the center of the great ninth-century Greek-into-Arabic/Syriac translation movement. Impressively, Hunayn's translations did not require corrections at all. This perfection possibly came about because he mastered four languages: Arabic, Syriac, Greek and Persian. He studied Greek and became known among the Arabs as the "Sheikh of the translators." Hunayn’s method was widely followed by later translators.
Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-‘Ibadi (Hunayn ibn Ishaq) ('Abu Zayd Hunayn ibn 'Ishaq al-'Ibadi) (Hunain ibn Ishaq) (808-873). Scientist and translator. He was the most important mediator of ancient Greek science to the Arabs. He is credited with an immense number of translations from Greek into Syriac and Arabic, among them those of Hippocrates and Galen. He also composed numerous original works, mainly on medical subjects, and had a special interest in ophthalmology.
Hunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous and influential Assyrian Nestorian Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating scientific and medical works in Greek into Arabic and Syriac during the glory years of the Abbasid Caliphate. Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq was the most productive translator of Greek medical and scientific treatises. He was originally from southern Iraq but he spent his working life in Baghdad, the center of the great ninth-century Greek-into-Arabic/Syriac translation movement. Impressively, Hunayn's translations did not require corrections at all. This perfection possibly came about because he mastered four languages: Arabic, Syriac, Greek and Persian. He studied Greek and became known among the Arabs as the "Sheikh of the translators." Hunayn’s method was widely followed by later translators.
Huq, Saleemul
Saleemul Huq (b. October 2, 1952, Karachi, Pakistan – d. October 28, 2023, Dhaka, Bangladesh) was a Bangladeshi-British scientist who was the Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) based in Bangladesh. Huq was also Professor at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB). He was elected one of Nature's 10 top scientists in 2022.
Huq was an expert in the field of climate change, environment and development. He worked extensively on the inter-linkages between climate change mitigation, adaptation and sustainable development, from the perspective of developing countries, particularly in the least developed countries (LDCs). He was a lead author of the chapter on Adaptation and Sustainable Development in the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and was one of two coordinating lead authors of "Inter-relationships between adaptation and mitigation" in the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report (2007).
In addition, Huq contributed to the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC. Having established the climate change research group at the International Institute for Environment and Deveolopment (IIED), based in the United Kingdom, in 2000, he later became a senior fellow, and was also Senior Adviser on Locally Led Adaptation with Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA).
Huq strived to grow the capacity of Bangladesh stakeholders, while enabling people and international organizations to benefit from training in Bangladesh. His teaching experiences included at Imperial College London, the University of Dhaka and United Nations University. He was the founder and the Chairman of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), a leading research and policy institute in Bangladesh.
Huq attended all sessions of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 1995 until his passing. He actively engaged as an adviser on adaptation, loss and damage and climate finance to the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group in the UNFCCC and provided training to LDC negotiators. He was also involved as a board member of the Climate Vulnerability Forum under UNFCCC.
Huq, who trained as a botanist, was perhaps the principal proponent of the idea that the developed world’s emissions of greenhouse gases were having a disproportionate impact on the climate in poorer countries, and that wealthy countries should pay for measures to curb or reverse those effects.
For his contributions at addressing the climate change issues, Huq was awarded 2020 National Environment Award by the Government of Bangladesh. Huq was also appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to combating international climate change.
Huq received his early education in Germany, Indonesia, and Kenya. He later went and received Bachelor of Science degree in Botany from the Imperial College at London University in the United Kingdom in 1975, and a Ph.D. in Botany from the same university in 1978.
Before joining IIED, Huq was the director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, which he founded in 1984. He was founding director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development at the Independent University, Bangladesh. He was involved in the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for which he has served as the lead author and coordinating lead author in Working Group II, which focused on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation.
Huq published reports and articles on climate change, particularly on adaptation to climate change. He was the lead author of the chapter on Adaptation and Sustainable Development in the third assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He was a Senior Fellow in the Climate Change Group at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development.
As a researcher, Huq contributed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). His work with the IPCC and ICCCAD contributed significantly to Goal 13 (Climate Action) and Goal 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
Under Goal 13, Huq's research helped to achieve the following targets:
- Target 13.3: Build knowledge and capacity to meet climate change
- Target 13.a: Implement the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
- Target 13.b: Promote mechanisms to raise capacity for planning and management
Saleemul Huq died from a heart attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on October 28, 2023, at the age of 71.
Hurmuzan, al-
Hurmuzan, al- (d. 644). Persian ruler and general. He was killed at Medina by ‘Ubayd Allah ibn ‘Umar under the suspicion of being involved in Caliph ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab’s murder by the Persian slave Abu Lu’lu’a.
Hurmuzan, al- (d. 644). Persian ruler and general. He was killed at Medina by ‘Ubayd Allah ibn ‘Umar under the suspicion of being involved in Caliph ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab’s murder by the Persian slave Abu Lu’lu’a.
Hurrem Sultana
Hurrem Sultana (Sultana Roxalena) (d. 1558). First woman to formally marry a sultan.
As with most of the women who passed through the harems of the Ottoman Sultans, Roxalena’s origins are shrouded in mystery. Presumably she was a Russian slave from the Ukraine. Such an origin might explain the name “Roxalena” or “Russalena.” Roxalena was purchased at the open air market by Suleyman’s best friend, the grand vizier, Ibrahim.
The portraits of Roxalena suggest a mosaic refinement, with classical features and blazing red hair. There is depth and intelligence in her eyes. An extraordinary strategist and a true political artist, Roxalena planned her moves as if she were playing chess.
At the beginning, Suleyman was attracted to Roxalena by her silent charm. Lured by her beauty and intelligence, Suleyman made Roxalena his favorite. Soon she bore him a son and this birth elevated her to third kadin -- the third most powerful woman in the hierarchy of the harem.
Despite her lofty status, Roxalena knew all too well that, according to the Code of Laws established by Muhammad the Conqueror, the throne passed to the oldest male child of the Sultan and that once the oldest male child ascended to the throne, all of his brothers were subject to being put to death. As such, Roxalena realized from the beginning that the ascension of the eldest son of Suleyman, Prince Mustafa, meant the death warrant for her own male children.
In 1526, a vicious quarrel erupted between Roxalena, and Gulbahar Sultana, the first kadin and the mother of Prince Mustafa. During the quarrel, Gulbahar pulled Roxalena’s hair and badly scratched Roxalena’s face. Wounded, Roxalena confined herself to her apartments. Using her disfigurement as an excuse, Roxalena refused to appear before the Sultan. She continued to withhold favors from Suleyman, and began to demand that he legally marry her and consent to share not only pleasure but also power with her.
Roxalena’s bold obstinacy could well have cost her her life. However, Suleyman was intrigued and impressed by Roxalena’s sharp mind and her seeming fearlessness. In partial concession to her demand, Suleyman appointed Prince Mustafa to be governor of Manisa, a province far from the seat of power. Mustafa’s mother, Gulbahar, in accordance with protocol, was dispatched along with Mustafa. To further cement his fidelity to Roxalena, Suleyman slowly released his other concubines, marrying off many of the most beautiful women to his pashas.
Ultimately, Suleyman acceded to Roxalena’s every demand, including marriage. In triumph, Roxalena became the first woman to officially marry a sultan.
"This week there has occurred in this city a most extraordinary event, one absolutely unprecedented in the history of the sultans. The Grand Signor Suleiman has taken to himself as his Empress a slave woman from Russia, called Roxalena, and there has been great feasting. The ceremony took place in the Seraglio, and the festivities have been beyond all record. There was a public procession of the presents. At night the principal streets were gaily illuminated and there is much music and feasting. The Houses are festooned with garlands and there are everywhere swings in which the people swing by the hour with great enjoyment. In the old Hippodrome, a great tribune is set up, the place reserved for the Empress and her ladies screened with gilt lattice. Here Roxalena and the court attended a great tournament in which both Christian and Moslem Knights were engaged, and tumblers and jugglers and a procession of wild beasts, and giraffes with necks so long they, as it were, touched the sky. ... There is a great deal of talk about the marriage and none can say what it means." England’s Sir George Young (1530)
In Roxalena, Suleyman found his soul mate. They became devoted to each other. Suleyman was a poet. He loved the language of poetry, and within Roxalena was the blood of a poet as well. They courted each other through verse, her voice carrying through the fields of battle, muting the sounds of cannon and slashing swords. Suleyman had found a woman who not only fulfilled him in bed but also became his companion in affairs of state and in a shared appreciation of the arts.
"He bears her such love and keeps such faith to her that all of his subjects marvel and say that she has bewitched him, and they call her the ziadi [jadi], or the witch. On this account the army and the court hate her and her children, but because he loves her, no one dares to protest: For myself I have always heard every one speak ill of her and of her children, and well of the first-born and his mother." Da Zara
Under Roxalena, the harem became a place of beauty and enlightenment. Indeed, for Suleyman, Roxalena became synonymous with lightness and, accordingly, he named Roxalena “Hurrem” – “the laughing one” -- because of her crystalline laughter and freedom from inhibition.
However, despite these displays of lightness, Roxalena also had her dark side.
Having vanquished her chief female rivals, Roxalena soon focused her attention on another rival for Suleyman’s favors. Roxalena soon focused her attention on the man who had originally owned her -- Ibrahim, the grand vizier.
Ibrahim was the inseparable friend and companion of Suleyman. Ibrahim shared Suleyman’s tent and his dreams. Ibrahim had been promoted from the status of royal falconer to Lord of Rumelia and, later, grand vizier. Ibrahim had also been chosen to marry the sultan’s own sister, Hatice Sultana, and had been the recipient of great wealth and honor.
Grown resentful of his influence and jealous of Suleyman’s affection of him, Roxalena set out to orchestrate Ibrahim’s death. Roxalena took advantage of every bit of gossip and information to inflame Suleyman’s mind against his friend. One night, when Ibrahim was in the harem as a privileged friend of the sultan, the deaf-mute guards strangled him in his sleep. It is believed that the person responsible for this assassination was none other than Roxalena.
In 1541, when the Old Palace, which housed the sultan’s harem, partially burned down, Roxalena, with her entourage of odalisques and eunuchs, moved to the Grand Seraglio, where she could be closer to Suleyman and the seat of power. This move marked the beginning of the Grand Harem and the period of Ottoman history known as “The Reign of Women.”
Some time after Ibrahim’s death, Suleyman declared to Roxalena that he wanted to build her a new palace. Roxalena feared that this declaration was an attempt by Suleyman to distance himself from her. As a diversionary countermeasure, Roxalena came up with a more challenging project for her “beloved” sultan. She suggested to Suleyman that he instead construct a mosque utilizing the services of the greatest architect of the time, Sinan. The mosque was to be named after Suleyman and was to be the grandest mosque ever constructed.
Suleyman fell for the ploy. Construction on the mosque -- the Suleymaniye -- began in 1549 and would not be finished until 1556, two years before Roxalena’s death.
As Roxalena’s sons grew older, the heir to the Ottoman throne, Prince Mustafa, loomed as a greater and greater threat. Mustafa was an able and intelligent prince. He was much admired by the people and the army. He was also Suleyman’s favorite son. However, these were merely obstacles for the devious Roxalena to overcome.
Somehow a forged letter supposedly written by Mustafa to the shah of Persia declaring that Mustafa wanted to dethrone Suleyman and asking for the shah’s assistance wound up in Suleyman’s hands. This forgery turned Suleyman against Mustafa and provoked a battle between the two on the plains of Eregli. It is said that several times both Suleyman and Mustafa turned back as they rode to the battlefield, both reluctant to face their loved one in battle. But fate (or perhaps the force of Roxalena’s will) urged them forward. Their history had already been written by kismet.
Mustafa ran to his father, alone, unarmed, to redeem himself. He reached the sultan’s tent, going through four partitions. When he came to the fifth, his cries echoed through the plains. It is said that Suleyman shed tears for the son he had killed as well as for himself -- the woeful father who had wrongly killed his own glorious son.
As for Roxalena, she had triumphed. The line of succession now clearly ran through her. Roxalena had four sons, Muhammad (Mehmed), Cihangir, Bayazid (Beyazit), and Selim. Of Roxalena’s four sons, Muhammad died young of natural causes; Cihangir, although possessed of a brilliant mind, was deformed and epileptic; and Bayazid was able but cruel. That left Selim as Roxalena’s choice as heir. Roxalena, preferred Selim, in part, because she was convinced that Selim’s soft nature would not allow him to murder his brothers. Roxalena also knew that Selim drank to dull his prophetic awareness of his own impending death.
Roxalena wanting to preserve all her sons encouraged Selim’s weakness. Against the wishes of Suleyman, Roxalena supplied Selim with the wine that he needed to ease his pain. Selim became an alcoholic. He became known as “Selim the Sot.”
Although Roxalena had set the stage for the succession of her son, she did not get to see the play. Roxalena died in 1558, eight years before Selim assumed the throne.
However, her legacy was not simply through the sultancy. Her promotion of the weak Selim would lead to the dominance of the sultancy by women, namely Roxalena’s own daughter, Mihrimah, and her granddaughter, Aisha Humashah. The “Reign of Women” had begun.
Hurrem Sultana was born in 1506. She was the wife of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent and she played an important role in the Ottoman history as being the favourite wife of the Sultan. Hurrem Sultana was Russian originated and her real name was Roxelanne. As a child, she was presented to the Ottoman palace by the Khan of The Crimea because of her beauty. She had a special education in the palace. She attracted the interest of Sultan Suleyman, by using her femininity, intelligence and talents. She became very influential for the women of Harem and for the other people of the palace. She won the love and reliance of Sultan Suleyman in a short time and became the legal wife of him. She acted very well planned and her intrigues very negatively effected the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. Prince Mustafa was the eldest son of Sultan Suleyman, born from Gulbahar Hatun. Hurrem Sultan had ordered firstly to strangle her most dangerous rival Gulbahar Hatun and next 40 years old prince Mustafa. Hurrem Sultan became very influential in the governmental administrations and she supported the war with Persia and she restored the peace with Russia and Poland. She died before seeing, one of her sons on the throne. She was 52 years old when she died.
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Sultana Roxalena see Hurrem Sultana
Roxalena see Hurrem Sultana
Russalena see Hurrem Sultana
"The Laughing One" see Hurrem Sultana
"Laughing One" see Hurrem Sultana
Hurrem Sultana (Sultana Roxalena) (d. 1558). First woman to formally marry a sultan.
As with most of the women who passed through the harems of the Ottoman Sultans, Roxalena’s origins are shrouded in mystery. Presumably she was a Russian slave from the Ukraine. Such an origin might explain the name “Roxalena” or “Russalena.” Roxalena was purchased at the open air market by Suleyman’s best friend, the grand vizier, Ibrahim.
The portraits of Roxalena suggest a mosaic refinement, with classical features and blazing red hair. There is depth and intelligence in her eyes. An extraordinary strategist and a true political artist, Roxalena planned her moves as if she were playing chess.
At the beginning, Suleyman was attracted to Roxalena by her silent charm. Lured by her beauty and intelligence, Suleyman made Roxalena his favorite. Soon she bore him a son and this birth elevated her to third kadin -- the third most powerful woman in the hierarchy of the harem.
Despite her lofty status, Roxalena knew all too well that, according to the Code of Laws established by Muhammad the Conqueror, the throne passed to the oldest male child of the Sultan and that once the oldest male child ascended to the throne, all of his brothers were subject to being put to death. As such, Roxalena realized from the beginning that the ascension of the eldest son of Suleyman, Prince Mustafa, meant the death warrant for her own male children.
In 1526, a vicious quarrel erupted between Roxalena, and Gulbahar Sultana, the first kadin and the mother of Prince Mustafa. During the quarrel, Gulbahar pulled Roxalena’s hair and badly scratched Roxalena’s face. Wounded, Roxalena confined herself to her apartments. Using her disfigurement as an excuse, Roxalena refused to appear before the Sultan. She continued to withhold favors from Suleyman, and began to demand that he legally marry her and consent to share not only pleasure but also power with her.
Roxalena’s bold obstinacy could well have cost her her life. However, Suleyman was intrigued and impressed by Roxalena’s sharp mind and her seeming fearlessness. In partial concession to her demand, Suleyman appointed Prince Mustafa to be governor of Manisa, a province far from the seat of power. Mustafa’s mother, Gulbahar, in accordance with protocol, was dispatched along with Mustafa. To further cement his fidelity to Roxalena, Suleyman slowly released his other concubines, marrying off many of the most beautiful women to his pashas.
Ultimately, Suleyman acceded to Roxalena’s every demand, including marriage. In triumph, Roxalena became the first woman to officially marry a sultan.
"This week there has occurred in this city a most extraordinary event, one absolutely unprecedented in the history of the sultans. The Grand Signor Suleiman has taken to himself as his Empress a slave woman from Russia, called Roxalena, and there has been great feasting. The ceremony took place in the Seraglio, and the festivities have been beyond all record. There was a public procession of the presents. At night the principal streets were gaily illuminated and there is much music and feasting. The Houses are festooned with garlands and there are everywhere swings in which the people swing by the hour with great enjoyment. In the old Hippodrome, a great tribune is set up, the place reserved for the Empress and her ladies screened with gilt lattice. Here Roxalena and the court attended a great tournament in which both Christian and Moslem Knights were engaged, and tumblers and jugglers and a procession of wild beasts, and giraffes with necks so long they, as it were, touched the sky. ... There is a great deal of talk about the marriage and none can say what it means." England’s Sir George Young (1530)
In Roxalena, Suleyman found his soul mate. They became devoted to each other. Suleyman was a poet. He loved the language of poetry, and within Roxalena was the blood of a poet as well. They courted each other through verse, her voice carrying through the fields of battle, muting the sounds of cannon and slashing swords. Suleyman had found a woman who not only fulfilled him in bed but also became his companion in affairs of state and in a shared appreciation of the arts.
"He bears her such love and keeps such faith to her that all of his subjects marvel and say that she has bewitched him, and they call her the ziadi [jadi], or the witch. On this account the army and the court hate her and her children, but because he loves her, no one dares to protest: For myself I have always heard every one speak ill of her and of her children, and well of the first-born and his mother." Da Zara
Under Roxalena, the harem became a place of beauty and enlightenment. Indeed, for Suleyman, Roxalena became synonymous with lightness and, accordingly, he named Roxalena “Hurrem” – “the laughing one” -- because of her crystalline laughter and freedom from inhibition.
However, despite these displays of lightness, Roxalena also had her dark side.
Having vanquished her chief female rivals, Roxalena soon focused her attention on another rival for Suleyman’s favors. Roxalena soon focused her attention on the man who had originally owned her -- Ibrahim, the grand vizier.
Ibrahim was the inseparable friend and companion of Suleyman. Ibrahim shared Suleyman’s tent and his dreams. Ibrahim had been promoted from the status of royal falconer to Lord of Rumelia and, later, grand vizier. Ibrahim had also been chosen to marry the sultan’s own sister, Hatice Sultana, and had been the recipient of great wealth and honor.
Grown resentful of his influence and jealous of Suleyman’s affection of him, Roxalena set out to orchestrate Ibrahim’s death. Roxalena took advantage of every bit of gossip and information to inflame Suleyman’s mind against his friend. One night, when Ibrahim was in the harem as a privileged friend of the sultan, the deaf-mute guards strangled him in his sleep. It is believed that the person responsible for this assassination was none other than Roxalena.
In 1541, when the Old Palace, which housed the sultan’s harem, partially burned down, Roxalena, with her entourage of odalisques and eunuchs, moved to the Grand Seraglio, where she could be closer to Suleyman and the seat of power. This move marked the beginning of the Grand Harem and the period of Ottoman history known as “The Reign of Women.”
Some time after Ibrahim’s death, Suleyman declared to Roxalena that he wanted to build her a new palace. Roxalena feared that this declaration was an attempt by Suleyman to distance himself from her. As a diversionary countermeasure, Roxalena came up with a more challenging project for her “beloved” sultan. She suggested to Suleyman that he instead construct a mosque utilizing the services of the greatest architect of the time, Sinan. The mosque was to be named after Suleyman and was to be the grandest mosque ever constructed.
Suleyman fell for the ploy. Construction on the mosque -- the Suleymaniye -- began in 1549 and would not be finished until 1556, two years before Roxalena’s death.
As Roxalena’s sons grew older, the heir to the Ottoman throne, Prince Mustafa, loomed as a greater and greater threat. Mustafa was an able and intelligent prince. He was much admired by the people and the army. He was also Suleyman’s favorite son. However, these were merely obstacles for the devious Roxalena to overcome.
Somehow a forged letter supposedly written by Mustafa to the shah of Persia declaring that Mustafa wanted to dethrone Suleyman and asking for the shah’s assistance wound up in Suleyman’s hands. This forgery turned Suleyman against Mustafa and provoked a battle between the two on the plains of Eregli. It is said that several times both Suleyman and Mustafa turned back as they rode to the battlefield, both reluctant to face their loved one in battle. But fate (or perhaps the force of Roxalena’s will) urged them forward. Their history had already been written by kismet.
Mustafa ran to his father, alone, unarmed, to redeem himself. He reached the sultan’s tent, going through four partitions. When he came to the fifth, his cries echoed through the plains. It is said that Suleyman shed tears for the son he had killed as well as for himself -- the woeful father who had wrongly killed his own glorious son.
As for Roxalena, she had triumphed. The line of succession now clearly ran through her. Roxalena had four sons, Muhammad (Mehmed), Cihangir, Bayazid (Beyazit), and Selim. Of Roxalena’s four sons, Muhammad died young of natural causes; Cihangir, although possessed of a brilliant mind, was deformed and epileptic; and Bayazid was able but cruel. That left Selim as Roxalena’s choice as heir. Roxalena, preferred Selim, in part, because she was convinced that Selim’s soft nature would not allow him to murder his brothers. Roxalena also knew that Selim drank to dull his prophetic awareness of his own impending death.
Roxalena wanting to preserve all her sons encouraged Selim’s weakness. Against the wishes of Suleyman, Roxalena supplied Selim with the wine that he needed to ease his pain. Selim became an alcoholic. He became known as “Selim the Sot.”
Although Roxalena had set the stage for the succession of her son, she did not get to see the play. Roxalena died in 1558, eight years before Selim assumed the throne.
However, her legacy was not simply through the sultancy. Her promotion of the weak Selim would lead to the dominance of the sultancy by women, namely Roxalena’s own daughter, Mihrimah, and her granddaughter, Aisha Humashah. The “Reign of Women” had begun.
Hurrem Sultana was born in 1506. She was the wife of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent and she played an important role in the Ottoman history as being the favourite wife of the Sultan. Hurrem Sultana was Russian originated and her real name was Roxelanne. As a child, she was presented to the Ottoman palace by the Khan of The Crimea because of her beauty. She had a special education in the palace. She attracted the interest of Sultan Suleyman, by using her femininity, intelligence and talents. She became very influential for the women of Harem and for the other people of the palace. She won the love and reliance of Sultan Suleyman in a short time and became the legal wife of him. She acted very well planned and her intrigues very negatively effected the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. Prince Mustafa was the eldest son of Sultan Suleyman, born from Gulbahar Hatun. Hurrem Sultan had ordered firstly to strangle her most dangerous rival Gulbahar Hatun and next 40 years old prince Mustafa. Hurrem Sultan became very influential in the governmental administrations and she supported the war with Persia and she restored the peace with Russia and Poland. She died before seeing, one of her sons on the throne. She was 52 years old when she died.
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Sultana Roxalena see Hurrem Sultana
Roxalena see Hurrem Sultana
Russalena see Hurrem Sultana
"The Laughing One" see Hurrem Sultana
"Laughing One" see Hurrem Sultana
Hurriyyet we I’tilaf Firqasi
Hurriyyet we I’tilaf Firqasi (“Freedom and Accord Party”). Liberal political party in Turkey, formed in November 1911. The Liberals assumed power in 1912 but were overthrown by the Unionists in 1913. A second party of the same name was formed in 1919 but was rejected in the elections of that year.
"Freedom and Accord Party" see Hurriyyet we I’tilaf Firqasi
Hurriyyet we I’tilaf Firqasi (“Freedom and Accord Party”). Liberal political party in Turkey, formed in November 1911. The Liberals assumed power in 1912 but were overthrown by the Unionists in 1913. A second party of the same name was formed in 1919 but was rejected in the elections of that year.
"Freedom and Accord Party" see Hurriyyet we I’tilaf Firqasi
Hurufiyya
Hurufiyya. Unorthodox Muslim sect of gnostic-cabalistic tendencies founded by Fadl Alah Hurufi (1340-1394) of Astarabad in Persia.
Hurufism (Arabic: hurufiyya) was a mystical kabbalistic Sufi doctrine, which spread in areas of western Persia, Anatolia and Azerbaijan in later 14th - early 15th century. The Arabic word hurūf literally means "letters" (of the alphabet).
The creator and spiritual head of the Hurufi movement was Fazlallah Astarabadi also called Naimi (1340-1394). Born in Astrabad, Iran, he was strongly drawn to Sufism and the teachings of Al-Hallaj and Rumi at an early age. In the mid-1370s, young Naimi started to propagate his teachings all over Persia and Azerbaijan. While living in Tabriz Fadlullah gained an elite following in the Jalayirid court, where the writing of his main work — Jawidan-Al-Kabir — allegedly took place. At that time he was still in the mainstream of Sufi tradition. Later, he moved towards more esoteric spirituality, and, failing to convert Timur, was executed in 1394 near Alinjak castle in Nakhichevan by the ruler's son Miranshah. The uprising of Hurufis, who had gathered a large following, was crushed in Azerbaijan, but the popular movement survived for another decade or so in different guises.
According to Fadlullah, the key to open the seventh sealed book, the Qur'an, is a kabbalistic system of letters that is expounded by later Hurufis in the Hidayat-nama, Jawidan and in the Mahram-Nama. The Universe is eternal and moves by rotation. God's visage is imperishable and is manifest in Man, the best of forms — zuhur kibriya. God is incarnated in every atom. Hurufis considered Fadlullah a manifestation of God's force after Adam, Moses and Muhammad. God is also embodied in words and 28 letters of Arabic alphabet and 32 letters of Persian which are the basis for love and beauty in the world. Seven is a key number corresponding to noble parts of the face, the verses of fatiha and verbal confession of faith. Man is a supreme copy of the divine and the key to Haqiqa.
Hurufiyya. Unorthodox Muslim sect of gnostic-cabalistic tendencies founded by Fadl Alah Hurufi (1340-1394) of Astarabad in Persia.
Hurufism (Arabic: hurufiyya) was a mystical kabbalistic Sufi doctrine, which spread in areas of western Persia, Anatolia and Azerbaijan in later 14th - early 15th century. The Arabic word hurūf literally means "letters" (of the alphabet).
The creator and spiritual head of the Hurufi movement was Fazlallah Astarabadi also called Naimi (1340-1394). Born in Astrabad, Iran, he was strongly drawn to Sufism and the teachings of Al-Hallaj and Rumi at an early age. In the mid-1370s, young Naimi started to propagate his teachings all over Persia and Azerbaijan. While living in Tabriz Fadlullah gained an elite following in the Jalayirid court, where the writing of his main work — Jawidan-Al-Kabir — allegedly took place. At that time he was still in the mainstream of Sufi tradition. Later, he moved towards more esoteric spirituality, and, failing to convert Timur, was executed in 1394 near Alinjak castle in Nakhichevan by the ruler's son Miranshah. The uprising of Hurufis, who had gathered a large following, was crushed in Azerbaijan, but the popular movement survived for another decade or so in different guises.
According to Fadlullah, the key to open the seventh sealed book, the Qur'an, is a kabbalistic system of letters that is expounded by later Hurufis in the Hidayat-nama, Jawidan and in the Mahram-Nama. The Universe is eternal and moves by rotation. God's visage is imperishable and is manifest in Man, the best of forms — zuhur kibriya. God is incarnated in every atom. Hurufis considered Fadlullah a manifestation of God's force after Adam, Moses and Muhammad. God is also embodied in words and 28 letters of Arabic alphabet and 32 letters of Persian which are the basis for love and beauty in the world. Seven is a key number corresponding to noble parts of the face, the verses of fatiha and verbal confession of faith. Man is a supreme copy of the divine and the key to Haqiqa.
Hurufism was an expression of Ismailism in its mystical identification of human figure, but differed in recognition in the substance of letters rather than in the person of the Imam.
After his death Naimi's ideas were developed and propagated by Nasimi and Ali-ul A'la in Azerbaijan and Seyid Ishag in Turkey. Poet Imadeddin Nasimi (?-1417) and other Hurufis, make kabbalistic tendencies subordinate to mystic concepts of Sufism, and specifically those of Hallaj, who was another great influence on Nasimi.
Through Nasimi's poetry, Hurufi ideas influenced, in different degrees, people like Niyaz-i Misri, Fuzuli, Habibi, Khatai (Ismail I), and Rushani. The Bektashi sect in Turkey and the Ahl-e Haqq in Iran owe a lot of their theological vocabulary to Hurufism.
The Bektashi order in the Balkans (Albania) have preserved the legacy of Fadlullah's teachings the longest and still continue to this day. Gül Baba provided an extensive compendium of Hurufi ideas: The Key to the Unseen .
The Shattari tariqah is a contemporary repository of Hurf-e-Muqattiyat (secrets of the alphabets).
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