Allah
Allah (God). Muslim name for the Supreme Being. The term is a contraction of the Arabic "al-Lah", “the God.” Both the idea and the word existed in pre-Islamic Arabian tradition, in which some evidence of a primitive monotheism can also be found. Although they recognized other, lesser gods, the pre-Islamic Arabs recognized Allah as the supreme God. While Islam rejected the other pre-Islamic Arab deities, al-Lah was described as the one eternal, omnipotent God. Al-Lah is therefore not a proper name, but rather a description. The word Allah also came to be used by Arab Christians and the word Allah is used in the Arabic Bible -- the Qur’an.
The Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, asserts that Allah is the creator and the one who rewards and punishes; that Allah is unique and can only be one; that Allah is eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, and all-merciful. The core of the religion is submission to the will of Allah; people must abandon themselves entirely to God’s sovereignty.
Although as creator Allah is utterly transcendent and not to be compared to any of Allah’s creatures, Allah is nevertheless a personal god, a fair judge, merciful and benevolent. Each chapter of the Qur’an begins with “Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate,” and before fulfilling religious obligations the Muslim recites, “In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.”
Islam does not admit of any mediator between Allah and humans. A person approaches Allah directly in personal prayer and in reciting the Qur’an, which is considered literally the speech of Allah. The prophets, who conveyed the word of Allah, are not considered in any way divine.
The name Allah is found in numerous inscriptions of the pre-Islamic period in both North and South Arabia. It is of uncertain origin. Some believe it is derived from a contraction of the definite article "al-" and the word for deity, "‘ilah", meaning “god”. However, many Western scholars see an ultimate foreign origin for this formation in the Aramaic "elaha".
Allah was a central figure in the pre-Islamic pantheon, but Allah seems not to have been worshiped as the chief deity. The Qur’an at Sura 53:19-20 mentions three deities who were apparently thought to be daughters of Allah: Manat, al-Lat, and al-‘Uzza, who were widely venerated. This notion parallels the position of Baal in the Northwest Semitic pantheon.
The Meccans regarded Allah as the creator and possibly the controller of the weather, a function which would seem appropriate for the head of a pantheon (see Sura 13:16; 29:61, 63; 31:25; 43:9-19). It is uncertain as to what degree concepts of God derived from Judaism and Christianity had penetrated the pre-Islamic view of Allah, but it is known that several individuals abandoned paganism in favor of the monotheistic worship of Allah. Those who chose monotheism were called Hanifs, a term also applied to the patriarch Abraham and were clearly influenced by Jewish and Christian doctrines, as is seen in the career of Waraqa ibn Nawfal, the cousin of Muhammad’s first wife, Khadija. When the idea of Allah as a universal and transcendent God was introduced by Islam, the pre-Islamic Arabs are represented as aware of this notion, although rejecting it.
Muhammad rejected any definition that associated anything with Allah. The creedal statement, “There is no deity except Allah,” which is said by millions of Muslims several times daily, is the essential condensation of the Qur’anic view. Allah was for Muhammad the only reality, the Truth, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Possessor, the Destroyer, the Redeemer, who has all power and all might.
Human relationships to Allah are subservient and contractual. People are God’s servants. All that they have is from God and their obligations are to God {Sura 23:60}. In the Qur’an, God is seen as above God’s creation. God is seen as directing the universe by God’s Will. God guides whom God wills and leads into error whom God wills {Sura 13:27; 74:31}. God seals the hearts of sinners {Sura 7:99-100}. God is also the giver {Sura 3:8} and the provider {Sura 51:58}. Humans are obligated to recognize this fundamental dependent relationship but are saved from arbitrary acts by God’s promise that whoever acts in accordance with the precepts of Islam will be properly rewarded.
Mankind owes Allah gratitude, worship, and right conduct. To be ungrateful is to be an unbeliever. The Qur’an is filled with terminology describing personal relationships to Allah, and the notion of Islam itself, as a kind of peace deriving from the certitude of divine reward and punishment, is contrasted with the non-contractual uncertainty of paganism, in which the individual is subject to the whim and caprice of numerous deities whom it is impossible to please or appease.
In Islam, there are 99 names of God, but these should not be considered as proper names (the idea of actually naming God, for Muslims, is regarded as a way of reducing God into a human framework. The high number of names must be understood as an expression of the incapacity of man to grasp the total nature of God. Most common of the 99 names are ar-Rahman (“the Merciful”) and ar-Rahim (“the Compassionate”).
While the term Allah is best known in the West for its use by Muslims as a reference to God, it is used by Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, in reference to "God". The term was also used by pagan Meccans as a reference to the creator-god, possibly the supreme deity in pre-Islamic Arabia.
The concepts associated with the term Allah (as a deity) differ among the traditions. In pre-Islamic Arabia amongst pagan Arabs, Allah was not considered the sole divinity, having associates and companions, sons and daughters - a concept which Islam thoroughly and resolutely abrogated. In Islam, the name Allah is the supreme and all-comprehensive divine name. All other divine names are believed to refer back to Allah. Allah is unique, the only Deity, creator of the universe and omnipotent. Arab Christians today use terms such as Allāh al-ʼAb ("God the Father") to distinguish their usage from Muslim usage. There are both similarities and differences between the concept of God as portrayed in the Qur'an and the Hebrew Bible.
The term Allāh is derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article al- "the" and ʼilāh "deity, god" to al-lāh meaning "the [sole] deity, God" (ho theos monos). Cognates of the name "Allāh" exist in other Semitic languages, including Hebrew and Aramaic. The corresponding Aramaic form is ʼĔlāhā in Biblical Aramaic and ʼAlâhâ or ʼĀlōho in Syriac.
The contraction of al- and ʼilāh in forming the term Allāh ("the god", masculine form) parallels the contraction of al- and ʼilāha in forming the term Allāt ("the goddess", feminine form).
In pre-Islamic Arabia, Allah was used by Meccans as a reference to the creator-god, possibly the supreme deity.
Allah was not considered the sole divinity; however, Allah was considered the creator of the world and the giver of rain. The notion of the term may have been vague in the Meccan religion. Allah was associated with companions, whom pre-Islamic Arabs considered as subordinate deities. Meccans held that a kind of kinship existed between Allah and the jinn. Allah was thought to have had sons and that the local deities of al-ʻUzzá, Manāt and al-Lāt were His daughters. The Meccans possibly associated angels with Allah. Allah was invoked in times of distress. Muhammad's father's name was ‘Abdallāh meaning the “servant of Allāh.” or "the slave of Allāh"
According to Islamic belief, Allah is the proper name of God,] and humble submission to His Will, Divine Ordinances and Commandments is the pivot of the Muslim faith. "He is the only God, creator of the universe, and the judge of humankind." "He is unique (wahid) and inherently one (ahad), all-merciful and omnipotent." The Qur'an proves that "the reality of Allah, His inaccessible mystery, His various names, and His actions on behalf of His creatures."
In Islamic tradition, there are 99 Names of God ("al-asma al-husna" literally meaning: "the best names") each of which evoke a distinct characteristic of Allah. All these names refer to Allah, the supreme and all-comprehensive divine name. Among the 99 names of God, the most famous and most frequent of these names are "the Merciful" (al-rahman) and "the Compassionate" (al-rahim).
Most Muslims use the untranslated Arabic phrase "insha' Allah" (meaning "God willing") after references to future events. Muslim discursive piety encourages beginning things with the invocation of "bismillah"(meaning "In the name of God").
There are certain phrases in praise of God that are favored by Muslims, including "Subhan-Allah" (Holiness be to God), "Alhamdulillah" (Praise be to God), "La-il-la-ha-illa-Allah" (There is no deity but God) and "Allāhu Akbar" (God is great) as a devotional exercise of remembering God (zikr). In a Sufi practice known as zikr Allah (literally "remembrance of God"), the Sufi repeats and contemplates on the name Allah or other divine names while controlling his or her breath.
Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, use the word "Allah" to mean "God". The Christian Arabs of today have no other word for God than Allah. (Even the Arabic-descended Maltese language of Malta, whose population is almost entirely Roman Catholic, uses "Allah" for "God".) Arab Christians for example use terms Allāh al-ʼab meaning God the father, Allāh al-ibn meaning God the son, and Allāh al-rūḥ al-quds meaning God the Holy Spirit
Arab Christians have used two forms of invocations that were affixed to the beginning of their written works. They adopted the Muslim basm-allah, and also created their own Trinitized basm-allah as early as the eight century of the Christian calendar. The Muslim basm-allah reads: "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful." The Trinitized basm-allah reads: "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God." The Syriac, Latin and Greek invocations do not have the words "One God" at the end. This addition was made to emphasize the monotheistic aspect of Trinitarian belief and also to make it more palatable to Muslims.
The history of the word "Allāh" in English was probably influenced by the study of comparative religion in 19th century; for example, Thomas Carlyle (1840) sometimes used the term Allah but without any implication that Allah was anything different from God. However, in his biography of Muhammad (1934), Tor Andræ always used the term Allah, though he allows that this "conception of God" seems to imply that it is different from that of the Jewish and Christian theologies. By this time Christians were also becoming accustomed to retaining the Hebrew term "Yahweh" untranslated (it was previously translated as "the Lord").
Languages which may not commonly use the term Allah to denote a deity may still contain popular expressions which use the word. For example, because of the centuries long Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula, the word "ojalá" in the Spanish language and "oxalá" in the Portuguese language exist today, borrowed from Arabic. This word literally means "God willing" (in the sense of "I hope so").
God see Allah
Supreme Being see Allah
Rahman, ar- see Allah
"The Merciful" see Allah
Rahim, ar- see Allah
"The Compassionate" see Allah
Allah (God). Muslim name for the Supreme Being. The term is a contraction of the Arabic "al-Lah", “the God.” Both the idea and the word existed in pre-Islamic Arabian tradition, in which some evidence of a primitive monotheism can also be found. Although they recognized other, lesser gods, the pre-Islamic Arabs recognized Allah as the supreme God. While Islam rejected the other pre-Islamic Arab deities, al-Lah was described as the one eternal, omnipotent God. Al-Lah is therefore not a proper name, but rather a description. The word Allah also came to be used by Arab Christians and the word Allah is used in the Arabic Bible -- the Qur’an.
The Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, asserts that Allah is the creator and the one who rewards and punishes; that Allah is unique and can only be one; that Allah is eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, and all-merciful. The core of the religion is submission to the will of Allah; people must abandon themselves entirely to God’s sovereignty.
Although as creator Allah is utterly transcendent and not to be compared to any of Allah’s creatures, Allah is nevertheless a personal god, a fair judge, merciful and benevolent. Each chapter of the Qur’an begins with “Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate,” and before fulfilling religious obligations the Muslim recites, “In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.”
Islam does not admit of any mediator between Allah and humans. A person approaches Allah directly in personal prayer and in reciting the Qur’an, which is considered literally the speech of Allah. The prophets, who conveyed the word of Allah, are not considered in any way divine.
The name Allah is found in numerous inscriptions of the pre-Islamic period in both North and South Arabia. It is of uncertain origin. Some believe it is derived from a contraction of the definite article "al-" and the word for deity, "‘ilah", meaning “god”. However, many Western scholars see an ultimate foreign origin for this formation in the Aramaic "elaha".
Allah was a central figure in the pre-Islamic pantheon, but Allah seems not to have been worshiped as the chief deity. The Qur’an at Sura 53:19-20 mentions three deities who were apparently thought to be daughters of Allah: Manat, al-Lat, and al-‘Uzza, who were widely venerated. This notion parallels the position of Baal in the Northwest Semitic pantheon.
The Meccans regarded Allah as the creator and possibly the controller of the weather, a function which would seem appropriate for the head of a pantheon (see Sura 13:16; 29:61, 63; 31:25; 43:9-19). It is uncertain as to what degree concepts of God derived from Judaism and Christianity had penetrated the pre-Islamic view of Allah, but it is known that several individuals abandoned paganism in favor of the monotheistic worship of Allah. Those who chose monotheism were called Hanifs, a term also applied to the patriarch Abraham and were clearly influenced by Jewish and Christian doctrines, as is seen in the career of Waraqa ibn Nawfal, the cousin of Muhammad’s first wife, Khadija. When the idea of Allah as a universal and transcendent God was introduced by Islam, the pre-Islamic Arabs are represented as aware of this notion, although rejecting it.
Muhammad rejected any definition that associated anything with Allah. The creedal statement, “There is no deity except Allah,” which is said by millions of Muslims several times daily, is the essential condensation of the Qur’anic view. Allah was for Muhammad the only reality, the Truth, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Possessor, the Destroyer, the Redeemer, who has all power and all might.
Human relationships to Allah are subservient and contractual. People are God’s servants. All that they have is from God and their obligations are to God {Sura 23:60}. In the Qur’an, God is seen as above God’s creation. God is seen as directing the universe by God’s Will. God guides whom God wills and leads into error whom God wills {Sura 13:27; 74:31}. God seals the hearts of sinners {Sura 7:99-100}. God is also the giver {Sura 3:8} and the provider {Sura 51:58}. Humans are obligated to recognize this fundamental dependent relationship but are saved from arbitrary acts by God’s promise that whoever acts in accordance with the precepts of Islam will be properly rewarded.
Mankind owes Allah gratitude, worship, and right conduct. To be ungrateful is to be an unbeliever. The Qur’an is filled with terminology describing personal relationships to Allah, and the notion of Islam itself, as a kind of peace deriving from the certitude of divine reward and punishment, is contrasted with the non-contractual uncertainty of paganism, in which the individual is subject to the whim and caprice of numerous deities whom it is impossible to please or appease.
In Islam, there are 99 names of God, but these should not be considered as proper names (the idea of actually naming God, for Muslims, is regarded as a way of reducing God into a human framework. The high number of names must be understood as an expression of the incapacity of man to grasp the total nature of God. Most common of the 99 names are ar-Rahman (“the Merciful”) and ar-Rahim (“the Compassionate”).
While the term Allah is best known in the West for its use by Muslims as a reference to God, it is used by Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, in reference to "God". The term was also used by pagan Meccans as a reference to the creator-god, possibly the supreme deity in pre-Islamic Arabia.
The concepts associated with the term Allah (as a deity) differ among the traditions. In pre-Islamic Arabia amongst pagan Arabs, Allah was not considered the sole divinity, having associates and companions, sons and daughters - a concept which Islam thoroughly and resolutely abrogated. In Islam, the name Allah is the supreme and all-comprehensive divine name. All other divine names are believed to refer back to Allah. Allah is unique, the only Deity, creator of the universe and omnipotent. Arab Christians today use terms such as Allāh al-ʼAb ("God the Father") to distinguish their usage from Muslim usage. There are both similarities and differences between the concept of God as portrayed in the Qur'an and the Hebrew Bible.
The term Allāh is derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article al- "the" and ʼilāh "deity, god" to al-lāh meaning "the [sole] deity, God" (ho theos monos). Cognates of the name "Allāh" exist in other Semitic languages, including Hebrew and Aramaic. The corresponding Aramaic form is ʼĔlāhā in Biblical Aramaic and ʼAlâhâ or ʼĀlōho in Syriac.
The contraction of al- and ʼilāh in forming the term Allāh ("the god", masculine form) parallels the contraction of al- and ʼilāha in forming the term Allāt ("the goddess", feminine form).
In pre-Islamic Arabia, Allah was used by Meccans as a reference to the creator-god, possibly the supreme deity.
Allah was not considered the sole divinity; however, Allah was considered the creator of the world and the giver of rain. The notion of the term may have been vague in the Meccan religion. Allah was associated with companions, whom pre-Islamic Arabs considered as subordinate deities. Meccans held that a kind of kinship existed between Allah and the jinn. Allah was thought to have had sons and that the local deities of al-ʻUzzá, Manāt and al-Lāt were His daughters. The Meccans possibly associated angels with Allah. Allah was invoked in times of distress. Muhammad's father's name was ‘Abdallāh meaning the “servant of Allāh.” or "the slave of Allāh"
According to Islamic belief, Allah is the proper name of God,] and humble submission to His Will, Divine Ordinances and Commandments is the pivot of the Muslim faith. "He is the only God, creator of the universe, and the judge of humankind." "He is unique (wahid) and inherently one (ahad), all-merciful and omnipotent." The Qur'an proves that "the reality of Allah, His inaccessible mystery, His various names, and His actions on behalf of His creatures."
In Islamic tradition, there are 99 Names of God ("al-asma al-husna" literally meaning: "the best names") each of which evoke a distinct characteristic of Allah. All these names refer to Allah, the supreme and all-comprehensive divine name. Among the 99 names of God, the most famous and most frequent of these names are "the Merciful" (al-rahman) and "the Compassionate" (al-rahim).
Most Muslims use the untranslated Arabic phrase "insha' Allah" (meaning "God willing") after references to future events. Muslim discursive piety encourages beginning things with the invocation of "bismillah"(meaning "In the name of God").
There are certain phrases in praise of God that are favored by Muslims, including "Subhan-Allah" (Holiness be to God), "Alhamdulillah" (Praise be to God), "La-il-la-ha-illa-Allah" (There is no deity but God) and "Allāhu Akbar" (God is great) as a devotional exercise of remembering God (zikr). In a Sufi practice known as zikr Allah (literally "remembrance of God"), the Sufi repeats and contemplates on the name Allah or other divine names while controlling his or her breath.
Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, use the word "Allah" to mean "God". The Christian Arabs of today have no other word for God than Allah. (Even the Arabic-descended Maltese language of Malta, whose population is almost entirely Roman Catholic, uses "Allah" for "God".) Arab Christians for example use terms Allāh al-ʼab meaning God the father, Allāh al-ibn meaning God the son, and Allāh al-rūḥ al-quds meaning God the Holy Spirit
Arab Christians have used two forms of invocations that were affixed to the beginning of their written works. They adopted the Muslim basm-allah, and also created their own Trinitized basm-allah as early as the eight century of the Christian calendar. The Muslim basm-allah reads: "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful." The Trinitized basm-allah reads: "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God." The Syriac, Latin and Greek invocations do not have the words "One God" at the end. This addition was made to emphasize the monotheistic aspect of Trinitarian belief and also to make it more palatable to Muslims.
The history of the word "Allāh" in English was probably influenced by the study of comparative religion in 19th century; for example, Thomas Carlyle (1840) sometimes used the term Allah but without any implication that Allah was anything different from God. However, in his biography of Muhammad (1934), Tor Andræ always used the term Allah, though he allows that this "conception of God" seems to imply that it is different from that of the Jewish and Christian theologies. By this time Christians were also becoming accustomed to retaining the Hebrew term "Yahweh" untranslated (it was previously translated as "the Lord").
Languages which may not commonly use the term Allah to denote a deity may still contain popular expressions which use the word. For example, because of the centuries long Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula, the word "ojalá" in the Spanish language and "oxalá" in the Portuguese language exist today, borrowed from Arabic. This word literally means "God willing" (in the sense of "I hope so").
God see Allah
Supreme Being see Allah
Rahman, ar- see Allah
"The Merciful" see Allah
Rahim, ar- see Allah
"The Compassionate" see Allah
‘Allal al-Fasi
‘Allal al-Fasi (Muhammad Allal al-Fassi) (January 10, 1910 – May 19, 1974). Moroccan politician, writer, poet and Islamic scholar.
'Allal al-Fasi was born in Fes, Morocco, and founded the nationalist Istiqlal party which was a driving force in the Moroccan struggle for independence from French colonial rule. He broke with the party in the mid-1950s, siding with armed revolutionaries and urban guerrillas who waged a violent campaign against French rule, whereas most of the nationalist mainstream preferred a diplomatic solution. In 1956, as Morocco gained independence, he reentered the party, and famously presented his case for reclaiming territories that had once been Moroccan in the newspaper, al-Alam. In 1959, after the left-wing UNFP split off from Istiqlal, he became head of the party.
In 1962, 'Allal al-Fasi briefly served as Morocco's Minister of Islamic Affairs. He was elected to the Parliament of Morocco in 1963, and served there as an Istiqlal deputy. He then went on to become a main leader within the " opposition" during the 1960s and the start of the 1970s. He died in 1974, on a visit to Romania where he was scheduled to meet with Nicolae Ceauşescu.
In 1925 Al-Fasi published his first book of poems. One of Allal al-Fasi's books (published in Arabic in 1948) was translated as The Independence Movements in Arab North Africa (1954).
Fasi, 'Allal al- see ‘Allal al-Fasi
Muhammad Allal al-Fassi see ‘Allal al-Fasi
‘Allal al-Fasi (Muhammad Allal al-Fassi) (January 10, 1910 – May 19, 1974). Moroccan politician, writer, poet and Islamic scholar.
'Allal al-Fasi was born in Fes, Morocco, and founded the nationalist Istiqlal party which was a driving force in the Moroccan struggle for independence from French colonial rule. He broke with the party in the mid-1950s, siding with armed revolutionaries and urban guerrillas who waged a violent campaign against French rule, whereas most of the nationalist mainstream preferred a diplomatic solution. In 1956, as Morocco gained independence, he reentered the party, and famously presented his case for reclaiming territories that had once been Moroccan in the newspaper, al-Alam. In 1959, after the left-wing UNFP split off from Istiqlal, he became head of the party.
In 1962, 'Allal al-Fasi briefly served as Morocco's Minister of Islamic Affairs. He was elected to the Parliament of Morocco in 1963, and served there as an Istiqlal deputy. He then went on to become a main leader within the " opposition" during the 1960s and the start of the 1970s. He died in 1974, on a visit to Romania where he was scheduled to meet with Nicolae Ceauşescu.
In 1925 Al-Fasi published his first book of poems. One of Allal al-Fasi's books (published in Arabic in 1948) was translated as The Independence Movements in Arab North Africa (1954).
Fasi, 'Allal al- see ‘Allal al-Fasi
Muhammad Allal al-Fassi see ‘Allal al-Fasi
Allenby, Edmund
Allenby, Edmund (Edmund Allenby) (Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby) (23 April, 1861 – 14 May, 1936). British soldier and administrator most famous for his role during World War I, in which he led the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the conquest of Palestine and Syria in 1917 and 1918. Allenby was arguably one of the most successful British commanders of the war, utilizing strategies he developed from his experiences in the Boer War and on the Western Front towards his Palestinian Campaigns of 1917-8. His management of the Battle of Megiddo in particular, with its brilliant use of infantry and mobile cavalry, is considered by many to be a precursor to the Blitzkrieg tactics so widely employed by Germany during World War II.
Allenby, Edmund (Edmund Allenby) (Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby) (23 April, 1861 – 14 May, 1936). British soldier and administrator most famous for his role during World War I, in which he led the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the conquest of Palestine and Syria in 1917 and 1918. Allenby was arguably one of the most successful British commanders of the war, utilizing strategies he developed from his experiences in the Boer War and on the Western Front towards his Palestinian Campaigns of 1917-8. His management of the Battle of Megiddo in particular, with its brilliant use of infantry and mobile cavalry, is considered by many to be a precursor to the Blitzkrieg tactics so widely employed by Germany during World War II.
Alloula, Abdelkader
Abdelkader Alloula (Arabic: عبد القادر علولة) (b. 1929 in Ghazaouet, Algeria - d. March 10, 1994 in Oran, Algeria) was an Algerian playwright. He was assassinated by Islamists.
Alloula was born in Ghazaouet in western Algeria, and studied drama in France. He joined the Algerian National Theatre upon its creation in 1963 following independence. His works, typically in vernacular Algerian Arabic, included:
- El-Aaleg (1969) - "The Leech", a satire of corrupt administration
- El-Khobza (1970) - "Bread"
- Homq Salim (1972) - "Salim's Madness", a monologue based on Nikolai Gogol's Diary of a Madman
- Hammam Rabbi (1975) - "The Lord's Bath", based on Gogol's The Government Inspector
- The Generous Trilogy:
- El-Agoual (1980) - "The Sayings"
- El-Adjouad (1984) - "The Generous"
- El-Litham (1989) - "The Veil"
He was working on an Arabic version of Tartuffe when he was assassinated by two members of FIDA (Islamic Front for Armed Jihad) during Ramadan on March 10, 1994, as he left his house in Oran. His widow, Radja Alloula, and friends set up the Abdelkader Alloula Foundation in his memory.
His brother, Malek Alloula, was also a noted Algerian writer.
Almanzor
Almanzor. See al-Mansur bi-’llah.
Almanzor. See al-Mansur bi-’llah.
Alp Arslan
Alp Arslan (b. 1030). The Great Seljuk (Saljuq) (r. 1064-1072). He conducted campaigns against the Armenians and the Georgians and defeated the Byzantines in the battle of Malazgird.
Alp Arslan (1029 – December 15, 1072) was the second sultan of the Seljuk dynasty and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponym of the dynasty. He assumed the name of Muhammad bin Da'ud Chaghri when he embraced Islam, and for his military prowess, personal valor, and fighting skills he obtained the surname Alp Arslan, which means "a valiant lion" in Turkish.
Alp Arslan led Seljuk Turks to victory against the Byzantines in 1071. He succeeded his father Chagri Begh as governor of Khorasan in 1059. When his uncle Toğrül died he was succeeded by Suleiman, Alp Arslan's brother. Alp Arslan and his uncle Kutalmish both contested this succession. Alp Arslan defeated Kutalmish for the throne and succeeded on April 27, 1064 as sultan of Great Seljuk, and thus became sole monarch of Persia from the river Oxus to the Tigris.
In consolidating his empire and subduing contending factions he was ably assisted by Nizam ul-Mulk, his Persian vizier, and one of the most eminent statesmen in early Muslim history. With peace and security established in his dominions, he convoked an assembly of the states and declared his son Malik Shah I his heir and successor. With the hope of acquiring immense booty in the rich church of St. Basil in Caesarea Mazaca, the capital of Cappadocia, he placed himself at the head of the Turkish cavalry, crossed the Euphrates and entered and plundered that city. He then marched into Armenia and Georgia, which he conquered in 1064.
In 1068, en route to Syria, Alp Arslan invaded the Byzantine Empire. The emperor Romanos IV Diogenes, assuming the command in person, met the invaders in Cilicia. In three arduous campaigns, the first two of which were conducted by the emperor himself while the third was directed by Manuel Comnenos (great-uncle of Emperor Manuel Comnenos), the Turks were defeated in detail in 1070 and driven across the Euphrates. In 1071 Romanos again took the field and advanced with 40,000 men, including a contingent of the Cuman Turks as well as contingents of Franks and Normans, under Ursel of Bahol, into Armenia.
At Manzikert, on the Murad Tchai, north of Lake Van, Diogenes was met by Alp Arslan. The sultan proposed terms of peace, which were rejected by the emperor, and the two forces met in the Battle of Manzikert. The Cuman mercenaries among the Byzantine forces immediately defected to the Turkish side; and, seeing this, "the Western mercenaries rode off and took no part in the battle." The Byzantines were totally routed.
Emperor Romanos IV was himself taken prisoner and conducted into the presence of Alp Arslan, who treated him with generosity. The terms of peace having been agreed to, dismissed him, loaded with presents and respectfully attended by a military guard. This famous conversation is recorded to have taken place after Romanos was brought as a prisoner before the Sultan:
Alp Arslan: "What would you do if I was brought before you as a prisoner?"
Romanos: "Perhaps I'd kill you, or exhibit you in the streets of Constantinople."
Alp Arslan: "My punishment is far heavier. I forgive you, and set you free."
Alp Arslan's victories changed the balance in near Asia completely in favor of the Seljuk Turks and Sunni Muslims. While the Byzantine Empire was to continue for nearly another four centuries, and the Crusades would contest the issue for some time, the victory at Manzikert signalled the beginning of Turkish ascendancy in Anatolia. Most historians date the defeat at Manzikert as the beginning of the end of the Eastern Roman Empire. Certainly the entry of Turkic farmers following their horsemen ended the themes in Anatolia which had furnished the Empire with men and treasure.
Alp Arslan's strength lay in the military realm. Domestic affairs were handled by his able vizier, Nizam al-Mulk, the founder of the administrative organization which characterized and strengthened the sultanate during the reigns of Alp Arslan and his son, Malik Shah. Military fiefs, governed by Seljuk princes, were established to provide support for the soldiery and to accommodate the nomadic Turks to the established Persian agricultural scene. This type of military fiefdom enabled the nomadic Turks to draw on the resources of the sedentary Persians and other established cultures within the Seljuk realm, and allowed Alp Arslan to field a huge standing army, without depending on tribute from conquest to pay his soldiery. He not only had enough food from his subjects to maintain his military, but the taxes collected from traders and merchants added to his coffers sufficiently to fund his continuous wars.
The dominion of Alp Arslan after Manzikert extended over much of western Asia. He soon prepared to march to the conquest of Turkestan, the original seat of his ancestors. With a powerful army he advanced to the banks of the Oxus. Before he could pass the river with safety, however, it was necessary to subdue certain fortresses, one of which was for several days vigorously defended by the governor, Yussuf el-Harezmi, a Khwarezmian. He was, however, obliged to surrender and was carried a prisoner before the sultan, who condemned him to a cruel death. Yussuf, in desperation, drew his dagger and rushed upon the sultan. Alp Arslan, who took great pride in his reputation as the foremost archer of his time, motioned to his guards not to interfere and drew his bow, but his foot slipped, the arrow glanced aside and he received the assassin's dagger in his breast. Alp Arslan died four days later from this wound on November 25, 1072 in his 42nd year, and was taken to Merv to be buried next to his father Çağrı Bey. Upon his tomb lies the following inscription:
“O those who saw the sky-high grandeur of Alp Arslan, behold! He is under the black soil now...”
As he lay dying, Alp Arslan whispered to his son that his vanity had killed him. "Alas," he is recorded to have said, "surrounded by great warriors devoted to my cause, guarded night and day by them, I should have allowed them to do their job. I had been warned against trying to protect myself, and against letting my courage get in the way of my good sense. I forgot those warnings, and here I lie, dying in agony. Remember well the lessons learned, and do not allow your vanity to overreach your good sense..."
Alp Arslan's conquest of Anatolia from the Byzantines is also seen as one of the pivotal precursors to the launch of the crusades.
From 2002 to July 2008 under Turkmen calendar reform, the month of August was named after Alp Arslan.
Both Alp and Alparslan (concatenated version of Alp Arslan) are among the most loved and used Turkish names in Turkey.
Arslan, Alp see Alp Arslan
"Valiant Lion" see Alp Arslan
Alp Arslan (b. 1030). The Great Seljuk (Saljuq) (r. 1064-1072). He conducted campaigns against the Armenians and the Georgians and defeated the Byzantines in the battle of Malazgird.
Alp Arslan (1029 – December 15, 1072) was the second sultan of the Seljuk dynasty and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponym of the dynasty. He assumed the name of Muhammad bin Da'ud Chaghri when he embraced Islam, and for his military prowess, personal valor, and fighting skills he obtained the surname Alp Arslan, which means "a valiant lion" in Turkish.
Alp Arslan led Seljuk Turks to victory against the Byzantines in 1071. He succeeded his father Chagri Begh as governor of Khorasan in 1059. When his uncle Toğrül died he was succeeded by Suleiman, Alp Arslan's brother. Alp Arslan and his uncle Kutalmish both contested this succession. Alp Arslan defeated Kutalmish for the throne and succeeded on April 27, 1064 as sultan of Great Seljuk, and thus became sole monarch of Persia from the river Oxus to the Tigris.
In consolidating his empire and subduing contending factions he was ably assisted by Nizam ul-Mulk, his Persian vizier, and one of the most eminent statesmen in early Muslim history. With peace and security established in his dominions, he convoked an assembly of the states and declared his son Malik Shah I his heir and successor. With the hope of acquiring immense booty in the rich church of St. Basil in Caesarea Mazaca, the capital of Cappadocia, he placed himself at the head of the Turkish cavalry, crossed the Euphrates and entered and plundered that city. He then marched into Armenia and Georgia, which he conquered in 1064.
In 1068, en route to Syria, Alp Arslan invaded the Byzantine Empire. The emperor Romanos IV Diogenes, assuming the command in person, met the invaders in Cilicia. In three arduous campaigns, the first two of which were conducted by the emperor himself while the third was directed by Manuel Comnenos (great-uncle of Emperor Manuel Comnenos), the Turks were defeated in detail in 1070 and driven across the Euphrates. In 1071 Romanos again took the field and advanced with 40,000 men, including a contingent of the Cuman Turks as well as contingents of Franks and Normans, under Ursel of Bahol, into Armenia.
At Manzikert, on the Murad Tchai, north of Lake Van, Diogenes was met by Alp Arslan. The sultan proposed terms of peace, which were rejected by the emperor, and the two forces met in the Battle of Manzikert. The Cuman mercenaries among the Byzantine forces immediately defected to the Turkish side; and, seeing this, "the Western mercenaries rode off and took no part in the battle." The Byzantines were totally routed.
Emperor Romanos IV was himself taken prisoner and conducted into the presence of Alp Arslan, who treated him with generosity. The terms of peace having been agreed to, dismissed him, loaded with presents and respectfully attended by a military guard. This famous conversation is recorded to have taken place after Romanos was brought as a prisoner before the Sultan:
Alp Arslan: "What would you do if I was brought before you as a prisoner?"
Romanos: "Perhaps I'd kill you, or exhibit you in the streets of Constantinople."
Alp Arslan: "My punishment is far heavier. I forgive you, and set you free."
Alp Arslan's victories changed the balance in near Asia completely in favor of the Seljuk Turks and Sunni Muslims. While the Byzantine Empire was to continue for nearly another four centuries, and the Crusades would contest the issue for some time, the victory at Manzikert signalled the beginning of Turkish ascendancy in Anatolia. Most historians date the defeat at Manzikert as the beginning of the end of the Eastern Roman Empire. Certainly the entry of Turkic farmers following their horsemen ended the themes in Anatolia which had furnished the Empire with men and treasure.
Alp Arslan's strength lay in the military realm. Domestic affairs were handled by his able vizier, Nizam al-Mulk, the founder of the administrative organization which characterized and strengthened the sultanate during the reigns of Alp Arslan and his son, Malik Shah. Military fiefs, governed by Seljuk princes, were established to provide support for the soldiery and to accommodate the nomadic Turks to the established Persian agricultural scene. This type of military fiefdom enabled the nomadic Turks to draw on the resources of the sedentary Persians and other established cultures within the Seljuk realm, and allowed Alp Arslan to field a huge standing army, without depending on tribute from conquest to pay his soldiery. He not only had enough food from his subjects to maintain his military, but the taxes collected from traders and merchants added to his coffers sufficiently to fund his continuous wars.
The dominion of Alp Arslan after Manzikert extended over much of western Asia. He soon prepared to march to the conquest of Turkestan, the original seat of his ancestors. With a powerful army he advanced to the banks of the Oxus. Before he could pass the river with safety, however, it was necessary to subdue certain fortresses, one of which was for several days vigorously defended by the governor, Yussuf el-Harezmi, a Khwarezmian. He was, however, obliged to surrender and was carried a prisoner before the sultan, who condemned him to a cruel death. Yussuf, in desperation, drew his dagger and rushed upon the sultan. Alp Arslan, who took great pride in his reputation as the foremost archer of his time, motioned to his guards not to interfere and drew his bow, but his foot slipped, the arrow glanced aside and he received the assassin's dagger in his breast. Alp Arslan died four days later from this wound on November 25, 1072 in his 42nd year, and was taken to Merv to be buried next to his father Çağrı Bey. Upon his tomb lies the following inscription:
“O those who saw the sky-high grandeur of Alp Arslan, behold! He is under the black soil now...”
As he lay dying, Alp Arslan whispered to his son that his vanity had killed him. "Alas," he is recorded to have said, "surrounded by great warriors devoted to my cause, guarded night and day by them, I should have allowed them to do their job. I had been warned against trying to protect myself, and against letting my courage get in the way of my good sense. I forgot those warnings, and here I lie, dying in agony. Remember well the lessons learned, and do not allow your vanity to overreach your good sense..."
Alp Arslan's conquest of Anatolia from the Byzantines is also seen as one of the pivotal precursors to the launch of the crusades.
From 2002 to July 2008 under Turkmen calendar reform, the month of August was named after Alp Arslan.
Both Alp and Alparslan (concatenated version of Alp Arslan) are among the most loved and used Turkish names in Turkey.
Arslan, Alp see Alp Arslan
"Valiant Lion" see Alp Arslan
Alp Takin
Alp Takin (Alp Tigin) (Alp Tegin) (d. 963). Turkish slave commander who ruled in Ghazna. Alp Takin (Persian: Alp Tegīn, Turkic for brave prince) was a general of Central Asian Turkic origin from Balkh who had risen from slave to general and eventually to the Governor of Khorasan based in Ghazni.
Later in a political fallout over succession of the Samanids he crossed the Hindu Kush mountains to capture Ghazni, located strategically between Kabul and Kandahar in modern Afghanistan on the road between Iran and India, where he established his independence.
Two military families arose from the Turkic Slave-Guards of the Samanids — the Simjurids and the Ghaznavids — who ultimately proved disastrous to the Samanids. The Simjurids received an appanage in the Kūhestān region of southern Khorasan and Alp Tigin founded the Ghaznavid fortunes when he established himself at Ghazna (now in Afghanistan) in 962.
When the Samanid Emir Abdul Malik I, died in 961 it created a succession crisis between Abdul Malik's brothers. He and Abu al-Hasan Simjuri, as Samanid generals, competed with each other for the governorship of Khorasan and control of the Samanid empire by placing on the throne emirs they could dominate. Abu al-Hasan died in 961, but a new rival Fa'iq rose and eventually Mansur I was elected by the court ministers, and having backed the wrong candidate Alp Takin retired from Khurasan to Ghazna, where he ruled as a largely independent sovereign, thus starting the Ghaznavid lineage in 962. Coins of the era however show that he still nominally acknowledged the Samanid authority.
Takin, Alp see Alp Takin
Alp Tigin see Alp Takin
Tigin, Alp see Alp Takin
Tegin, Alp see Alp Takin
Alp Tegin see Alp Takin
"Brave Prince" see Alp Takin
Alp Takin (Alp Tigin) (Alp Tegin) (d. 963). Turkish slave commander who ruled in Ghazna. Alp Takin (Persian: Alp Tegīn, Turkic for brave prince) was a general of Central Asian Turkic origin from Balkh who had risen from slave to general and eventually to the Governor of Khorasan based in Ghazni.
Later in a political fallout over succession of the Samanids he crossed the Hindu Kush mountains to capture Ghazni, located strategically between Kabul and Kandahar in modern Afghanistan on the road between Iran and India, where he established his independence.
Two military families arose from the Turkic Slave-Guards of the Samanids — the Simjurids and the Ghaznavids — who ultimately proved disastrous to the Samanids. The Simjurids received an appanage in the Kūhestān region of southern Khorasan and Alp Tigin founded the Ghaznavid fortunes when he established himself at Ghazna (now in Afghanistan) in 962.
When the Samanid Emir Abdul Malik I, died in 961 it created a succession crisis between Abdul Malik's brothers. He and Abu al-Hasan Simjuri, as Samanid generals, competed with each other for the governorship of Khorasan and control of the Samanid empire by placing on the throne emirs they could dominate. Abu al-Hasan died in 961, but a new rival Fa'iq rose and eventually Mansur I was elected by the court ministers, and having backed the wrong candidate Alp Takin retired from Khurasan to Ghazna, where he ruled as a largely independent sovereign, thus starting the Ghaznavid lineage in 962. Coins of the era however show that he still nominally acknowledged the Samanid authority.
Takin, Alp see Alp Takin
Alp Tigin see Alp Takin
Tigin, Alp see Alp Takin
Tegin, Alp see Alp Takin
Alp Tegin see Alp Takin
"Brave Prince" see Alp Takin
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