Saturday, April 22, 2023

2023: Gbagyi - Germiyan

 


Gbagyi
Gbagyi (Gbari) (Gwari).  A subgroup of the Gbari.  The Gbagyi live in four Nigerian states: Niger, Plateau, Kaduna and Kwara.  These states form the heartland of Nigeria and constitute an area of great ethnic heterogeneity.  Gbagyi come into contact with numerous peoples, ranging from centralized Town Fulani and culturally similar Kamberi.  All Gbagyi claim to come from Bornu and to have split into their two main sections after emigrating from there.  The Gbagyi Ngenge (“True Gbagyi”) live in Plateau State near Abuja.  Perhaps ten percent of the Gbagyi Ngenge are Muslim.  The Gbagyi Yamma (“Western Gbagyi”) are centered in Niger and Kwara states.  About half of the Gbagyi Yamma are Muslim.  

Gwari people were often enslaved by some of the nearby Hausa-Fulani emirates.



Gbari see Gbagyi
Gwari see Gbagyi


Gbaya
Gbaya. The Gbaya-speaking peoples (often referred to as the Baya), are the largest ethnic grouping of east-central Cameroon and the western Central African Republic.  The various Gbaya dialects have been classified in the Eastern (sometimes called Ubangian) branch of Greenberg’s Adamawa-Eastern language sub-family, which in turn is a part of the broad Niger-Congo language grouping.  

The Gbaya first came into contact with Islam in the early 1800's as a result of the Adamawa jihad of the Fulani from northern Cameroon and northern Nigeria.  In particular, the founding of the Fulani city state of Ngaoundere in the 1830s marked the start of significant Muslim influence on the Gbaya when regular slave raids on Gbaya groups began to be launched from Ngaoundere.  The Gbaya also first came into contact with Muslim Hausa and Kanuri traders, at this time, as long distance caravans penetrated the Gbaya area in search of slaves, ivory and kola nuts.  Some of these Muslim traders settled down in the larger Gbaya villages, and in continuing their commercial activities, they were active in disseminting Islam.  

By the 1850s, a number of Gbaya leaders had established regular tribute and trade relations with the Fulani and Hausa and used these links to increase their power within their local communities.  A condition of the establishment of friendly relations between Ngaoundere and these Gbaya groups was that the Gbaya chiefs espouse Islam.  Mosques or prayer grounds were established in the larger Gbaya villages, but the influence of Islam at this period was restricted to the immediate followings of chiefs.  This process of political centralization continued throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century, and in the 1890s when French and German explorers first entered this region, several relatively strong Gbaya chieftancies had developed at towns such as Bertoua, Baboua, Lokoti (near Meiganga) and Betare Oya.  

Thus, from the very outset of Gbaya contact with Islam, there has been a close association between this religion and centralized political power in Gbaya society. The association continues today in that Gbaya canton chiefs are all Muslim and mount a court display of titled officials and retainers, musicians and imams which is closely modelled on Fulani Muslim patterns.

The Gbaya live in Central African Republic, East-central Cameroon, the north of the Republic of Congo, and the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo. They numbered 970,000 at the end of the 20th century. They are the largest ethnic group in the Central African Republic, comprising 34% of the population there.



Baya see Gbaya.


Geber
Geber (in Arabic, Jabir ibn Aflah) (Abu Muhammad Jabir ibn Aflah) (1100, in Seville, Spain – 1150).  Astronomer of Seville of the twelfth century.  His astronomic work, which sharply criticizes certain views held by Ptolemy and contains a chapter on trigonometry, was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona.

Abu Muhammad Jabir ibn Aflah was an Arab Muslim astronomer, mathematician and inventor whose works, once translated into Latin (under his Latinized name Geber), influenced later European mathematicians and astronomers. He invented an observational instrument known as the torquetum, a mechanical device to transform between spherical coordinate systems.  Gerolamo Cardano noted much of the material of Regiomontanus on spherical trigonometry was plagiarized from the twelfth-century work of the Jäbir ibn Aflah.  Similarly the trigonometry that Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) outlined in the first part of his epochal work De revolutionibus was also apparently inspired by Jabir ibn Aflah.




Jabir ibn Aflah see Geber
Abu Muhammad Jabir ibn Aflah see Geber


Geber
Geber.  See Jabir ibn Hayyan.


Geelani, Syed Ali Shah
Syed Ali Shah Geelani (b. September 29, 1929, Zoori Munz, Kashmir and Jammu, British India – d. September 1, 2021, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India) was an Islamist,  pro-Pakistan separatist leader in Jammu and Kashmir,  regarded as the father of the Kashmiri jihad. He was a member of Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir between 1953 and 2004, and regarded as one of its top leaders. He left Jamaat in 2004 and founded Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, a key constituent of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a conglomeration of separatist parties in Kashmir. Geelani served as the Chairman of the Hurriyat Conference until he quit the group in June 2020.  Geelani was also a three-time Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Sopore constituency, elected on a Jamaat-e-Islami ticket in 1972, 1977 and in 1987.

Syed Ali Geelani was born in 1929 in a village called Zurimanj, in the Bandipora tehsil (now Sopore tehsil), in the Baramulla district of northern Jammu and Kashmir. He was the son of a landless laborer in the canals department. Geelani was educated partly in Sopore and the rest in Lahore, Punjab, British India. He studied in a madrasa attached to the Masjid Wazir Khan and later enrolled in the Oriental College. He completed Adib 'Alim, a course in Islamic theology.


Returning to Kashmir after studies in Lahore, Geelani became active in the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference.  He was appointed the secretary of the party unit in Zurimanz. In 1946, during the Quit Kashmir movement of the National Conference, he came in contact with Maulana Sayeed Masoodi, the general secretary of the National Conference, who took a liking to him and made him a reporter to the party newspaper Akhbar-i-Khidmat.


Masoodi also sponsored further studies for Geelani, who completed an adib-i-fazil course in Urdu and other courses in Persian and English. After this, he took a job as a school teacher, first at Pathar Masjid and later at Rainawari in Srinagar. Here he came in contact with Saaduddin Tarabali, a follower of the Jamaat-e-Islami founder Maulana Abul A'la Maududi.  Maududi advocated a hardline Islamist ideology, whereby Islam had to be the foundation of the entire political order. Geelani had borrowed a book of Maududi from the local book store, which made a deep impression upon him. 


Geelani was soon moved out of Srinagar, and he came to work in the Intermediate College in Sopore. He stayed in this position for six years. During this time, he read the literature of Jamaat-e-Islami and conveyed its contents to his students in lectures. He also addressed congregations in mosques. He became a full-fledged member of Jamaat in 1952. He remained in Jamaat until 2003, when he was removed by the party leadership from the position of their representative.


Geelani was viewed as a key separatist leader in Kashmir.  Omar Abdullah, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, blamed Geelani for the rise in militancy and bloodshed in Kashmir, while Omar's father and former Union Minister Farooq Abdullah urged Geelani to follow a path which would save Kashmiri people from further destruction. In October 2013 Geelani was re-elected for the fourth time to serve a three-year term as the chairman of Hurriyat Conference (G), a faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference,  which split up in 2003.  He founded the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat party, to which he was separately re-elected as chairman for a three-year term in September 2013.


Geelani called for numerous general strikes or shutdowns, in response to the deaths of unnamed suspected militants, local militants and death of civilians in Kashmir.


Syed Ali Shah Geelani received the invitation to participate in the annual meeting of the foreign ministers of member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Kashmir Contact Group to be held in New York from September 27, 2015.


After the death of Burhan Muzaffar Wani and the ongoing 2016 Kashmir Unrest that lasted for five consecutive months, to restore normalcy in Kashmir, Geelani sent a letter to United Nations listing six Confidence Building measures (CBMS).


On November 29, 2010, Geelani, along with writer Arundhati Roy, activist Varavara Rao, and three others, was charged under sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between classes), 153B (imputations and assertions prejudicial to national integration), 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of peace) and 505 (false statemenr or rumor circulated with intent to cause mutiny or offence against public peace...) to be read with Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act of 1967. The charges, which carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, were the result of a self-titled seminar they gave in New Delhi, "Azadi - the Only Way" on October 21, 2010, at which Geelani was heckled.


Geelani appealed to people of Kashmir to boycott the 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly elections completely, not accepting the proposals for self-rule or autonomy that had been offered by the People's Democratic Party and the then ruling National Conference.  But despite repeated boycott appeals, the 2014 assembly election recorded a record voter turnout of more than 65% which was the highest in 25 years of history.  After the record voting percentage in Kashmir, Geelani, along with other separatists, were criticized by Indian media for misleading the people of Kashmir and for not representing true sentiments of Kashmiri people.

Geelani lived in Hyderpora, Srinagar. 

Geelani's passport was seized in 1981 due to accusations of "anti-India" activities. With the exception of his Hajj pilgrimage in 2006, Geelani was not allowed to leave India. However, he was diagnosed with renal cancer, and advised treatment from abroad in the same year. Due to the then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention, the government returned Geelani's passport to his son. 


In 2007, Geelani's condition worsened.  Although in the early stages of the cancer, it was life-threatening and surgery was advised. Geelani was set to travel to either the United Kingdom or the United States.  However, Geelani's visa request was rejected by the American government citing his violent approach in the Kashmir conflict. Geelani was forced to go to Mumbai for surgery. His supporters and family alleged that this was a human rights violation.


On March 6, 2014, Geelani fell ill with a severe chest infection, shortly after returning to his home in Srinagar.  He was under house arrest for most of the time after 2010, and was put under house arrest again on his return.  In May 2015, Geelani applied for a passport to visit his daughter in Saudi Arabia. The Indian government withheld it citing technical reasons, including the fact that he deliberately failed to fill in the nationality column required in the application.  On July 21, 2015 the Government granted Geelani a passport on humanitarian grounds, with a validity of nine months, after Geelani acknowledged his nationality as an Indian.


After the 2019 Pulwana attack, India took stronger action against pro-Pakistan separatists including Geelani. 


Geelani died around 10:30 p.m. on September 1, 2021 at his Hyderpora residence in Srinagar, due to prolonged illness. 



Gelofe
Gelofe (Galofo) (Wolof) (Ouolof).  African ethnic group, today known as Wolof, located in Senegal, many of whose members were shipped as slaves to Peru and the Caribbean.  Because of their insubordination and tendency to run away, the planters considered these Muslim slaves to be a very dangerous influence.  

The Wolof (also spelled Ouolof) are an ethnic group found in Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania.

In Senegal, the Wolof form an ethnic plurality with about 40% of the population self-identifying as Wolof. They are also the majority in the region stretching from Saint-Louis in the north, Kaolack in the center, and Dakar to the west. However, there are few Wolof who reside in Casamance.

In The Gambia, about 15% of the population are Wolof. Here, they are a minority, where the Mandinka are the majority with 40% of the population, yet Wolof language and culture have a disproportionate influence because of their prevalence in Banjul, The Gambia's capital, where 50% of the population are Wolof.

In Mauritania, about 7% of the population are Wolof. They live largely in the southern coastal region of the country.

Most Wolof are farmers, growing peanuts (groundnuts) as a cash crop and millet and sorghum as staples; many, however, live and work in Dakar and Banjul as traders, goldsmiths, tailors, carpenters, teachers, and civil servants. Traditional groups were characterized by a markedly hierarchical social stratification, including royalty, an aristocracy, a warrior class, commoners, slaves, and members of low-status artisan castes; at their head was a paramount chief.

In the past the Wolof observed double descent; i.e., descent was traced through both the male and female lines. Islamic influence, however, has tended to make the male line dominant. A household unit may consist of a nuclear family (husband, wife, and minor children) or a polygynous family (a husband, his several wives, and their children).  Other close kin, however, may sometimes be found together with the nuclear family. Wolof women are renowned for their elaborate hairstyles, abundant gold ornaments, and voluminous dresses.

The Wolof Empire was a medieval West African state that ruled parts of Senegal and The Gambia from approximately 1350 to 1890. While only ever consolidated into a single state structure for part of this time, the tradition of governance, caste, and culture of the Wolof dominate the history of north-central Senegal for much of the last 800 years. Its final demise at the hands of French colonial forces in the 1870s-1890s also marks the beginning of the formation of Senegal as a unified state.

Galofo see Gelofe
Wolof see Gelofe
Ouolof see Gelofe


Gemayel, Amin
Gemayel, Amin (Amine Pierre Gemayel) (b. January 22, 1942) was President of Lebanon from 1982 to 1988 and the leader of Kataeb Party.

Gemayel was born on November 10, 1942, in Bikfayya (20 kilometers east of Beirut) into a Maronite Christian family, as son of Pierre Gemayel, a founder of the Phalange Party.  In 1965, after graduating with a law degree from Saint Joseph University in Beirut, Gemayel began working as an attorney at law.

In 1970, Gemayel became a member of the parliament, representing the Phalange Party.  He was, at the time, the youngest member of parliament.

In 1976, Gemayel established contact with the Syrian forces that had intervened in the Lebanese Civil War.  

On September 21, 1982, after Gemayel’s brother Bashir had been assassinated on September 14, Gemayel was elected president of Lebanon.  Gemayel’s election was an attempt to fill the political void left by the demise of Bashir.  The parliament vote concerning Gemayel’s presidency was 78 to 1.

On May 17, 1983, under pressure from the United States, Gemayel signed an agreement with Israel, following discussions that had taken the first half of the year.   In September 1983, Gemayel sent a letter to Syrian president Hafiz al-Assad asking for the withdrawal of Syrian forces in Lebanon.

In February of 1984, Gemayel dispatched the army against the Shi‘i strongholds in West Beirut, but it failed to bring them under government control.  Instead, the Lebanese army started to split according to religious division lines.   In March, Gemayel appointed a new government led by Rashid Karami, a Sunni Muslim, intended to bring national reconciliation to Lebanon.  

On August 29, 1984, Gemayel’s father, Pierre, died.  The death of Pierre Gemayel resulted in a deterioration of Gemayel’s position in Lebanese politics, especially inside the Phalange Party.

On September 22, 1988, on his last day in office, Gemayel appointed Michel Aoun as leader of an interim military government, in order to rule until a new president was elected.  On September 23, as his term of office came to an end, Gemayel stepped down as president.  In October, Gemayel moved to the United States where he became a lecturer and fellow at Harvard University.

In 1989, Gemayel moved to France, where he reverted to being a businessman, and as leader of the opposition.  Hoping that his absence would help to heal the divisions of Lebanon, Gemayel went into exile for the next twelve years, living variously in Switzerland, France, and the United States, where he lectured at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs (1988 - 1989) and at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2000, however, he returned to Lebanon and began to organize the opposition to the government of President Émile Lahoud, whom he regarded as a Syrian puppet. Unable to regain control of the then pro-Syrian dominated official Kataeb Party, he founded a new party, Al qaida al Kataebiya, which claimed to be the true successor to the old Kataeb Party founded by his father. He also joined the Qornet Chehwan Gathering, a group of anti-government politicians (mostly Christian) leading numerous different political parties.

In 2003, Amin Gemayel attempted to act as an intermediary between United States President George W. Bush and the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein. Although his efforts to forestall the ensuing Iraq War were not successful, they fuelled speculation that he might be a candidate for Secretary General of the United Nations when Kofi Annan's term expired.

After the Cedar Revolution the Kataeb factions were united under the leadership of Gemayel. In the August 2007 by-elections of the Metn region, Amin Gemayel lost by a small margin to a candidate presented by Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement.

Gemayel married Joyce Tyan in December 1967. They had a daughter (Nicole) and two sons (Pierre and Sami). Pierre Gemayel was elected to Parliament in 2000, and established his reputation as a moderate opposition politician before being appointed to the Cabinet in 2005. He was assassinated by unidentified assailants in Jdeideh, a Beirut suburb, on November 21, 2006. Amin Gemayel angrily blamed Syria for the murder of his son.

Gemayel was fluent in English and French, and he was regarded as a scholar of Classical Arabic.

Unlike his brother Bashir, Amin was never active in the Phalangist militia, and not directly involved in the Lebanese Civil War.  Amin was considered a moderate, and at his accession many Muslims hoped that he represented an end to the dominance of the extreme powers in the Phalange Party.  The problems Amin had to face were grave:  two foreign armies occupied large parts of the country (hence these areas were out of his jurisdiction), and there was extensive violence throughout the country.  In the north, pro- and anti-Syrian groups fought each other, and in the southern Israeli-dominated area, Phalangists and Druze faced each other.  Even in the government controlled areas in central Lebanon, many militia groups were fighting each other.

A central dilemma to Gemayel’s politics was the need of meeting the demands from the Muslims, without destroying the support from his own Christians.  Balancing the interests of Lebanon with those of Syria was another challenge.  While Gemayel was helped to power by the Syrians, he ultimately lost their support after a mere two years.
 

Amin Gemayel see Gemayel, Amin
Amine Pierre Gemayel see Gemayel, Amin
Gemayel, Amine Pierre see Gemayel, Amin


Gemayel, Bashir
Gemayel, Bashir (Bachir Gemayel) (Bashir al-Jumayyil El Gemaiel) (Bashir Joomayyeel) (November 10, 1947 –  September 14, 1982) was a Lebanese politician, militia commander, and president-elect. (1947-1982).  Lebanese politician who became the president-elect in 1982.

Bashir Gemayel was born on November 10, 1947 in Bikfayya (20 kilometers east of Beirut), into a Maronite Christian family, as the youngest son of Pierre Gemayel and the brother of Amin Gemayel.

In 1971, Gemayel graduated from St. Joseph University, Beirut with a bachelor degree in Law and Political Science.  In 1972, Gemayel was appointed political director of the Ashrafiyya district of Beirut.

In 1975, Gemayel became an attorney after three years of legal internship.  In April of 1975, with the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War, Gemayel joined the Phalangist militia, fighting the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) forces.

In July 1976 after the death of the Commander-in-Chief of the Phalangist Military Council, Bashir is appointed as his follower.  On August 30, Gemayel was appointed head of the unified command of the Lebanese Forces, a coalition of the Christian militias of the Phalange Party, the National Liberal Party, the Tanzim and the Guardians of the Cedars.

In 1977, Bashir married Solange Toutounji.

In June 1978, Bashir had Tony Franjiyah, the son of Lebanon’s president, assassinated.

On February 23, 1980, Bashir’s infant child Maya was killed by a car bomb which was intended for Bashir.  On July 7, 1980, the military alliance which Bashir led, was unified into one as the Lebanese Forces.  Bashir Gemayel became commander-in-chief.  In December of 1980, through the Lebanese Front, Bashir launched an initiative for a federal Lebanon.

In January 1981, Bashir became Chief of the Phalange Security Council, and a member of the party’s political bureau.

In June 1982, Bashir cooperated with Israeli troops stationed in the outskirts of Beirut.  On August 23, he was elected president, with 57 out of 65 votes in the parliament.  Bashir started preparing for the presidency by conducting talks with Muslim and Christian leaders.  On September 1, he met with Menachim Begin and agreed to commence diplomatic relations with Israel.  

On September 14, 1982, Bashir Gemayel was killed by a bomb in the Phalangist headquarters in Ashrafiyya, Beirut, together with 26 others.  This was only eight days before he was to be installed in office.  It was later discovered that the bomb had been placed at the headquarters by Syrian agents.

Gemayel was a ruthless politician.  He strove to become president by having rivals assassinated, or stripped of power through tactics.  He was also the architect behind a secret cooperation with Israel.   The background for this was one of his main objectives – to get rid of Palestinian (PLO) guerrillas in Lebanon.  

Gemayel was also a charismatic and strong leader.  Singlehandedly, he brought prominence to the Phalange Party.  Gemayel was the leader of the Phalange and was responsible for bringing it into the forefront of Lebanon’s political life.  

Even while he was a military leader, Gemayel was a shrewd politician.  He used the Lebanese Forces to provide for basic public services, in fields where the state services had disappeared: water, electricity, road maintenance, garbage collection, social relief as well as running two radio stations and a television station.  

At his death in 1982, Gemayel left a wife, Solange, and two children.  
Bashir Gemayel see Gemayel, Bashir
Bachir Gemayel see Gemayel, Bashir
Gemayel, Bachir see Gemayel, Bashir
Gemaiel, Bashir al-Jumayyil El see Gemayel, Bashir
Joomayyeel, Bashir see Gemayel, Bashir


Gemayel, Pierre
Gemayel, Pierre (Pierre Jmayyel) (Pierre Jemayyel) (Pierre al-Jumayyil) (November 6, 1905 – August 29, 1984).  Lebanese politician and the founder of the Phalange Party.  He was respectfully known as Shaykh Pierre.

Pierre Gemayel was born on November 6, 1905, into a notable Maronite Christian family in Bikfayya (20 kilometers east of Beirut).  In 1914, because his family opposed Ottoman rule in Lebanon, they all had to seek refuge in Mansoura in Egypt.

In 1918, the Gemayel family returned to Lebanon after the fall of Ottoman power.  

In the 1920s, Pierre attended universities in Beirut and Paris, France, in an effort to become a pharmacist.  He subsequently opened up a pharmacy in Beirut.

In 1936, Pierre founded the Phalange Party (or Kataeb Party) as it is also known together with four others: Charles Helou (who later became president of Lebanon), Shafic Nassif, Emile Yared and Georges Maccache.  In 1937, the Phalangists rallied to demonstrate in Beirut.  The demonstration was crushed by French authorities.  Gemayel was arrested, but released after a short time.

In 1958, during the two month civil war, Gemayel and the Phalange Party sided with president Chamoun against the pan-Arabists.  On September 23, Fuad Chehab became the new president, and Gemayel was appointed to the four member interim cabinet.

In June and July of 1960, Gemayel was elected to the parliament.

In 1962, an assassination attempt was made on Gemayel’s life.

In September of 1964, Gemayel became Minister of Finance in the government of Hussein Oweini.  

In 1968, with the general elections, Gemayel formed a triple alliance together with Chamoun and Raymond Edde.  This alliance defined the presence of Palestinian militian men in Lebanon as a threat to national security.

In 1970, Gemayel gave his support to Suleiman Franjiyah in the president elections.  Franjiyah was elected president.

In April of 1975, with the start of the Lebanese Civil War, the Phalange militia became important in the fighting, and with them Gemayel’s son, Bashir.

In 1976, the Phalange Party turned to its secret ally, Israel, for support against the Syrian backed groups.  Gemayel helped to form the Lebanese Front, an alliance of Christian parties.  Chamoun was also one of the participants in this effort.

In May 1978, Gemayel visited Israel to sign an arms and training agreement.

On June 5, 1979, another assassination attempt was made on Gemayel’s life.  

In 1980, following fighting between the militia of the Phalange Party and Chamoun’s party, Gemayel and Chamoun decided to solve the conflict by merging the two parties.  

In September 1982, Gemayel’s son Bashir, the president-elect, was killed by Syrian agents.  A week later Gemayel’s other son, Amin, was elected president.

In April of 1984, Gemayel joined the government of Rashid Karami.  Later, in May of 1984, during the National Reconciliation Conference in Switzerland, Gemayel together with Chamoun, gave support to forming a federal system of government in Lebanon.  However, Gemayel did not garner sufficient support from other participants and the proposal died.

In July of 1984, Gemayel stepped down as chairman of the Phalange Party.

On August 29, 1984, Pierre Gemayel died from a heart attack in his home in Bikfayya.

Pierre Gemayel’s politics were based upon a profound belief that Muslims and Christians of Lebanon could co-exist.  However, his main political act was inspired by a distinctly non-tolerant organization:  the Nazi Youth Movement that he had seen in Hitler’s Germany.  During the first ten years, the Phalange Party grew from a handful of members to nearly 40,000, both men and women.  

Other central motifs of Gemayel’s politics were his opposition to both pan-Arabism and the French mandate. Gemayel wanted to build Lebanon into a country that was free from any foreign influences.  

Gemayel’s importance as a politician was often of an indirect nature.  He had influence on other politician’s careers, and could practice a great deal of pressure on their politics.  The completion of this was when he had his son Amin elected president of Lebanon in 1982 (Pierre’s other son, Bashir, had at first been elect but was assassinated).  
Pierre Gemayel see Gemayel, Pierre
Shaykh Pierre see Gemayel, Pierre
Jmayyel, Pierre see Gemayel, Pierre
Jemayyel, Pierre see Gemayel, Pierre
Jumayyil, Pierre al- see Gemayel, Pierre


Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan.  See Jenghiz Khan.
Jenghiz Khan see Genghis Khan.

genie
genie (in Arabic, jinn or djinn or jinni or jinniyah – “spirit” or “sprite”).  The Qur’an teaches that the genies were created of smokeless flame, while mankind and the angels, the other two classes of intelligent beings, were created of clay and light.  Genies are capable of salvation.  They play an important role in Arabic, Turkish, Indian and Indonesian folklore.  The Arabic term zar, a loanword from the Amharic language of Ethiopia, indicates spirits who may temporarily become incarnate in particular human beings.  Belief in the existence of such genie is widespread in Ethiopia itself, in Somalia, Egypt, the Hejaz and in Oman.  

In Arabic, a Djinn is a supernatural creature which occupies a parallel world to that of mankind, and together with humans and angels makes up the three sentient creations of Allah. Possessing free will, a djinn can be either good or evil.

The Djinn are mentioned frequently in the Qur'an, and there is a Surah entitled Al-Jinn. While Christianity maintains that Lucifer was an angel that rebelled against God's orders, Islam maintains that Iblis was a Djinn who had been granted special privilege to live amongst angels prior to his rebellion. Although some scholars have ruled that it is apostasy to disbelieve in one of God's creations; the belief in Djinn has fallen comparably to the belief in angels in other Abrahamic traditions.
 
The word genie derives from Latin genius, which meant a sort of tutelary or guardian spirit thought to be assigned to each person at their birth. English borrowed the French descendent of this word, génie. Its earliest written attestation in English, in 1655, is a plural spelled genyes. The French translators of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights used génie as a translation of jinnī because it was similar to the Arabic word in sound and in meaning. This use was also adopted in English and has since become dominant.

The Arabic root JNN means "hidden, concealed", as in the verb janna "to hide, to conceal". (This is not to be confused with the Arabic word jannah, which means "paradise").  Arabic lexicons, such as William Lane's lexicon provide the rendered meaning of jinn not only for spirits, but also for anything concealed through time, status, and even physical darkness. In Arabic, the word jinn is plural; jinnī is the singular (and adjective). The feminine form is jinnīyah.

Amongst archaeologists dealing with ancient Middle Eastern cultures, any spirit lesser than angels is often referred to as a djinn, especially when describing stone carvings or other forms of art.

The pre-Islamic Zoroastrian culture of ancient Persia believed in jaini/jahi, evil female spirits thought to spread diseases to people. However, Zoroaster himself did not believe in the existence of such evil female spirits.

Inscriptions found in Northwestern Arabia seem to indicate the worship of djinn, or at least their tributary status.

Types of djinn include the Shaitan, the Ghul, the Marid, the Ifrit and the Djinn. According to the information in The Arabian Nights, Ifrit seemed to be the strongest form of djinn, followed by Marid, and then the rest of the djinn forms.

In Islamic theology, djinn are said to be creatures with free will, made from 'smokeless fire' by Allah in the same way humans were made of earth. According to the Qur'an, Djinn have free will, and Iblis used this freedom in front of Allah by refusing to bow to Adam when Allah told Iblis to do so. By disobeying Allah, he was thrown out of Paradise and called “Shaitan”. Djinn are frequently mentioned in the Qur'an, Sura 72 of the Qur'an (named Al-Jinn) is entirely about them. Another Sura (Al-Nas) mentions Djinn in the last verse. The Qur’an also mentions that Muhammad was sent as a prophet to both humanity and the Djinn.

Similar to humans, djinn have free will allowing them to follow any religion they choose. They are usually invisible to humans and humans do not appear clear to them. However, djinn often harass and even possess humans, for various reasons, such as romantic infatuation, revenge, or because of a deal made with a practitioner of black magic. Djinns have the power to travel large distances extremely quickly and live in remote areas, mountains, seas, trees, and the air, in their own communities. Like humans, djinns will also be judged on the Day of Judgment and will be sent to Heaven or Hell according to their deeds.

Every person is assigned a special djinn to them, also called a qareen, the djinns that whisper into your soul and tell you to give in to your evil desires. Muhammad's djinn turned into a Muslim djinn, on the recitation of the Qur'an, as the djinn found it very beautiful. However, the notion of a qareen is not universally accepted amongst all Muslims.
 
The social organization of the jinn community resembles that of humans - such as they have kings, courts of law, weddings, and mourning rituals. Muhammad reportedly divided djinn into three classes: those who have wings and fly in the air, those who resemble snakes and dogs, and those who travel about ceaselessly. Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud (d. 652), who was accompanying Muhammad when the djinn came to hear his recitation of the Qur'an, described them as creatures of different forms; some resembling vultures and snakes, others tall black men in white garbs. They may even appear as dragons, onagers, or a number of other animals. In addition to their animal forms, the djinn occasionally assume human form to mislead and destroy their human victims. One such jinni who had assumed the form of a beautiful woman was identified because of her beastly feet by her human victim, who killed her by throwing a rope around her neck and dragging her behind his camel. This type of jinn is called mardāzmā, (tester of men) among the Baluch people. Muhammad is also said to have told the djinn that they may subsist on bones, which will grow flesh again as soon as they touch them, and that their animals may live on dung, which will revert back to grain or grass for the use of the djinn flocks.

Muslims believe that the djinn account for much of the "magic" perceived by humans, cooperating with magicians to lift items in the air unseen, delivering hidden truths to fortune tellers, and mimicking the voices of deceased humans during seances.

The Qur'an states that King Solomon (Sulayman) is said to have compelled the djinn into his service and given them dominion over 25 parasangs of his realm. In his court, the djinn stood behind the learned humans, who in turn, sat behind the prophets. Solomon’s wife, the Queen of Sheba, was reportedly born of the marriage between a djinn and a human, some sources suggesting a djinn named Rayḥāna was her mother. It was this connection to the djinn that made people apprehensive about Solomon’s marriage to her. They feared that if their master Solomon married a half-djinn, they would be forced to remain in the service of the offspring of that marriage forever. Thus, to make Solomon fall out of love with her, they told him that she was insane, and that her feet were hairy and resembled

those of a donkey.

The djinn remained in the service of Solomon, who had placed them in bondage, and had ordered their king, Zūba’a, to perform a number of tasks throughout his life. Upon Solomon’s death, however, Zūbaa went to the places where his subjects were toiling, and called out to them to stop working. They happily obeyed, and one of them carved a message in stone, enumerating what they had built during their servitude.


jinn see genie
“spirit” see genie
“sprite" see genie
djinn see genie
jinni see genie


George
George (Saint George) (in Arabic, Jirjis).  Islam honors Saint George, the Christian martyr, as a symbol of resurrection and renovation.

Saint George (ca. 275/281 – 23 April 303, traditionally Lydda, Palestine [now Lod, Israel]) was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, and the Eastern Catholic Churches. He is immortalized in the tale of Saint George and the Dragon and is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. His memorial is celebrated on April 23, and he is regarded as one of the most prominent military saints.  He is the patron saint of England.

Nothing of George’s life or deeds can be established, but legends about him as a warrior-saint, dating from the 6th century, became popular and increasingly extravagant. Jacob de Voragine’s Legenda aurea (1265–66; Golden Legend) repeats the story of his rescuing a Libyan king’s daughter from a dragon and then slaying the monster in return for a promise by the king’s subjects to be baptized. George’s slaying of the dragon may be a Christian version of the legend of Perseus, who was said to have rescued Andromeda from a sea monster near Lydda. It is a theme much represented in art, the saint frequently being depicted as a youth wearing knight’s armour with a scarlet cross.

George was known in England by at least the 8th century. Returning crusaders likely popularized his cult (he was said to have been seen helping the Franks at the Battle of Antioch in 1098), but he was probably not recognized as England’s patron saint until after King Edward III (reigned 1327–77) made him the patron of the newly founded Order of the Garter. He was also adopted as protector of several other medieval powers, including Portugal, Genoa, and Venice. With the passing of the chivalric age and finally the Protestant Reformation, the cult of Saint George dwindled. His feast is given a lesser status in the calendar of the Church of England; a holy day of obligation for English Roman Catholics until the late 18th century, it is now an optional memorial for local observance.

However, there is a tradition in the Holy Land of Christians and Muslims going to an Eastern Orthodox shrine for Saint George at Beith Jala. Jews also attend the site in the belief that the prophet Elijah was buried there.  According to custom it is believed that Saint George killed the dragon in Palestine. There many churches and convents were named after him. The church at Lydda was dedicated to Saint George.  So was a convent near Bethlehem, and another small one just opposite the Jaffa gate, and others beside. The Arabs believed that Saint George could restore mad people to their senses. It is notable that the Muslim Arabs shared this veneration for Saint George, and sent their mad people to be cured by him, as well as the Christians. However, they commonly call him El Khudder —The Green—according to their favorite manner of using epithets instead of names.  A possible explanation for this color reference is Al Khidr, the erstwhile tutor of Moses.

It has also been noted that Muslims, who usually identify Saint George with the prophet Elijah, at Lydda confound his legend with one about Christ himself. Their name for Anti-christ is Dajjal, and Muslims had a tradition that Jesus will slay the Anti-christ by the gate of Lydda. The notion sprang from an ancient bas-relief of George and the Dragon on the Lydda church. But Dajjal may be derived, by a very common confusion between n and l, from Dagon, whose name two neighboring villages bear to this day, while one of the gates of Lydda used to be called the Gate of Dagon.
Jirjis see George
Saint George see George


Germiyan
Germiyan (Germiyan-oghullari). Germiyan, at first the name of a Turkmen tribe, was afterwards applied to a family, then to an emirate.  The Germiyan appeared for the first time in 1239 in the region of Malatya.  In 1299, the emirate was founded by Ya‘qub ibn ‘Ali Shir with its capital at Kutahya.  At the battle of Ankara in 1402, one of Ya‘qub’s successors, Ya‘qub Celebi, pointed the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I out to Timur and thus contributed to his capture.  After 1411, the Germiyan amir reigned under the protection of the Ottomans until the emirate was bequeathed to the Ottoman sultan Murad II in 1428.

The Anatolian Turkish Beylik of Germiyan with its capital in Kütahya was one of the prominent frontier principalities established by Oghuz Turkish clans after the decline of Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm.

For a brief period in the second half of the 14th century, the Germiyan Dynasty was second only to Karamanoğlu Dynasty in its rising power. But they were later taken over by the neighboring Osmanoğlu dynasty, who were to found the Ottoman Empire later.

Germiyans played a crucial role in settling Turkish populations along the coastal regions of the Aegean Sea, the founders of the Beyliks of Aydınoğlu, Saruhan, İnançoğlu and Menteşe having started out as Germiyan commanders.

The beylik was probably established by members of the Afshar clan of Oghuz Turks. Because of various factors arising from the Mongol invasion, their branch of the clan had left the regions of Fars and Kirman, and headed west into Anatolia, having remained for a time around Malatya, and then moving to the Kütahya area, where their beylik was formed rather rapidly.

They rebelled against the central power in 1283, upon the execution of the sultan Kaykhusraw III by the Mongols, and placing of Mesud II on the Seljuk throne. The struggle between combined Mongol-Seljuk forces based in Konya and the rebel forces of Germiyan continued until 1290. An agreement could only be reached in 1299, upon which the Germiyan Dynasty also entered into possession of Ankara. When the Ilkhanid governor Emir Çoban took over Anatolia in 1314, they declared allegiance and concentrated on raids towards the regions to their west.

Their western offshoots that were the Beyliks of Menteşe, Aydınoğlu, İnançoğlu, Saruhan and Karesi were all subject to the Germiyan in the early periods of their foundation, while the Beyliks of Sâhib Ata and Hamidoğlu to the south had to rely on them for protection against attacks from the Karamanoğlu. As for the northern regions of Anatolia, Byzantine sources record Umur Bey, a commander and son-in-law to the Germiyan family, to be the possessor of Paphlagonia, where the Candaroğlu dynasty was to rule only after Germiyan power weakened.

Their strong political entity was eventually surrounded by newer states established by their own former commanders, leaving the Germiyan no outlet to the coastline or to Byzantine territory. Their powerful Karamanoğlu neighbors exerting constant pressure from the east, Germiyan gradually fell under the rising influence of the Ottomans.

The actual Turkish province of Kütahya was called the sub-province (sanjak) and later province (vilayet) of Germiyan until the early years of the Republic of Turkey, when which it was re-named after its central town.

The founding dynasty of the beylik produced descendants who illustrated themselves either under the Ottoman Empire or in present-day Turkey, a notable one among these being the 19th century grand vizier Abdurrahman Nureddin Pasha.
Germiyan-oghullari see Germiyan


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