Habash - Ha'ik

 

Habash
Habash (Habasha).  Applied in Arabic usage to the land and peoples of Ethiopia and at times to the adjoining areas in the Horn of Africa.
Habasha see Habash

Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi
Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi (Ahmad ibn 'Abdallah Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi).  Early Muslim astronomer in Baghdad during the ninth century.  He possessed a perfect mastery of trigonometrical functions and their application to the problems of spherical astronomy.

Ahmad ibn 'Abdallah Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi was a Persian astronomer, geographer, and mathematician from Merv in Khorasan, Persia.  He flourished in Baghdad, and died a centenarian between 864 and 874. He worked under the Abbasid caliphs al-Ma'mun and al-Mu'tasim.

He made observations from 825 to 835, and compiled three astronomical tables: the first were still in the Hindu manner; the second, called the 'tested" tables, were the most important; they are likely identical with the "Ma'munic" or "Arabic" tables and may be a collective work of al-Ma'mun's astronomers; the third, called tables of the Shah, were smaller.

Apropos of the solar eclipse of 829, Habash gives us the first instance of a determination of time by an altitude (in this case, of the sun); a method which was generally adopted by Muslim astronomers.

In 830, he seems to have introduced the notion of "shadow," umbra (versa), equivalent to our tangent in trigonometry, and he compiled a table of such shadows which seems to be the earliest of its kind. He also introduced the cotangent, and produced the first tables of for it.

Al-Hasib conducted various observations at the Al-Shammisiyyah observatory in Baghdad and estimated a number of geographic and astronomical values. He compiled his results in The Book of Bodies and Distances, in which some of his results included the following:

Earth
Earth's circumference: 20,160 miles (32,444 km)
Earth's diameter: 6414.54 miles (10323.201 km)
Earth radius: 3207.275 miles (5161.609 km)

Moon
Moon's diameter: 1886.8 miles (3036.5 km)
Moon's circumference: 5927.025 miles (9538.622 km)
Radius of closest distance of Moon: 215,208;9,9 (sexagesimal) miles
Half-circumference of closest distance of Moon: 676,368;28,45,25,43 (sexagesimal) miles
Radius of furthest distance of Moon: 205,800;8,45 (sexagesimal) miles
Diameter of furthest distance of Moon: 411,600.216 miles (662,406.338 km)
Circumference of furthest distance of Moon: 1,293,600.916 miles (2,081,848.873 km)

Sun
Sun's diameter: 35,280;1,30 miles (56,777.6966 km)
Sun's circumference: 110,880;4,43 miles (178,444.189 km)
Diameter of orbit of Sun: 7,761,605.5 miles (12,491,093.2 km)
Circumference of orbit of Sun: 24,392,571.38 miles (39,256,038 km)
One degree along orbit of Sun: 67,700.05 miles (108,952.67 km)
One minute along orbit of Sun: 1129.283 miles (1817.405 km)


Marwazi, Habash al-Hasib al- see Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi
Ahmad ibn 'Abdallah Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi see Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi
Marwazi, Ahmad ibn 'Abdallah Habash al-Hasib al- see Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi

Habash, George
Habash, George (George Habash) (August 2, 1926 - January 26, 2008).  Leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Marxist Palestinian Arab group.  

George Habash was a Palestinian nationalist. Habash, a Palestinian Christian, founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which pioneered the hijacking of airplanes as a Middle East terror tactic. Habash served as Secretary-General of the Palestine Front until 2000, when ill-health forced him to resign. He died in Amman, Jordan in 2008.

Habash was born in Lydda (today's Lod) to a Greek Orthodox Palestinian family. As a child, he sang in the church choir. Habash, a medical student at the American University of Beirut, was visiting his family during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. In July 1948, the Israeli military captured Lydda from Jordanian and Arab Liberation Army forces. Habash and his family became refugees and were not allowed to return home.

In 1951, after graduating first in his class from medical school, Habash worked in refugee camps in Jordan, and ran a clinic with Wadie Haddad in Amman. He firmly believed that occupied Palestine must be liberated by all possible means, including armed resistance. In an effort to recruit the Arab World to this cause, Habash founded the Arab Nationalist Movement in 1951 and aligned the organization with Gamal Abdel Nasser's Arab nationalist ideology.

He was implicated in the 1957 coup attempt in Jordan, which had originated among Palestinian members of the National Guard. Habash was convicted in absentia, after having gone underground when King Hussein proclaimed martial law and banned all political parties. In 1958 he fled to Syria (then part of the United Arab Republic), but was forced to return to Beirut in 1961 by the tumultuous break-up of the UAR.

Habash was a leading member of the Palestine Liberation Organization until 1967 when he was sidelined by Fatah leader Yasser Arafat. In response, Habash founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

In 1964, he began reorganizing the ANM, regrouping the Palestinian members of the organization into a "regional command." After the Six-Day War in 1967, disillusion with Nasser became widespread. This prompted the foundation, led by Habash, of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) as a front of several Palestinian factions, like the "heroes of return" and "Palestinian Liberation Front", along with the ANM on December 11, when he also became its first Secretary-General. Habash was briefly imprisoned in Syria in 1968, but escaped. In the same year, he also came into conflict with long-time ally Wadie Haddad, but both remained in the PFLP.

At a 1969 congress the PFLP re-designated itself a Marxist-Leninist movement, and has remained a Communist organization ever since. Its pan-Arab leanings have been diminished since the ANM days, but popular support for a united Arab front has remained, especially in regard to Israeli and western political pressures. It holds a firm position regarding Israel, demanding its complete eradication as a racist state through military struggle and promotes a one-state solution (one secular, democratic, non-denominational state).

The 1969 congress also saw an ultra-leftist faction under Nayef Hawatmeh and Yasser Abd Rabbo split off as the Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PDFLP), later to become the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). During Habash's time as Secretary-General, the PFLP became known as one of the most radical and militant Palestinian factions, and gained world notoriety after a string of aircraft hijackings and attacks against Israel affiliated companies as well as Israeli ambassadors in Europe mostly planned by Haddad. The PFLP's pioneering of modern international terror operations brought the group, and the Palestinian issue, onto newspaper front pages worldwide, but it also provoked intense criticism from other parts of the Palestine Liberation Organization. In 1970, Habash was evicted from Jordan due to the key role of the Popular Front in the Black September clashes. In 1974, the Palestinian National Council adopted a resolution recognizing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Habash, who opposed this, formed the Rejectionist Front from several other opposition parties.

Habash aligned the PFLP with the PLO and the Lebanese National Movement, but stayed neutral during the Lebanese Civil War in the late 1970s. After a stroke in 1980, when he was living in Damascus, his health declined and other PFLP members rose to the top.

After the Oslo Agreements, Habash formed another opposition alliance consisting of Rejectionist Front members and Islamist organizations such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, that became prominent during the First Intifada. In 2000, he resigned from his leadership post of the PFLP due to poor health and was succeeded by Abu Ali Mustafa. He continued to be an activist for the group until 2008, when he died of a heart attack in Amman.

[edit] Black September
The PFLP ignored tensions with the mainstream leadership of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, and instead focused on bringing about revolutionary change in Jordan. Habash expressed the opinion that what proceeded was not "only military but also psychological warfare" and one had to "hold the Israelis under permanent pressure".

In 1970, Habash masterminded the hijackings of four Western airliners over the United States, Europe, the Far East and the Persian Gulf. The aircraft were blown up, after the passengers and crews were forced to disembark. Habash was also behind the hijacking of an Air France airliner to Entebbe, Uganda and an attack on Israel's Lod airport in which 27 people were shot to death. Forty-seven people were killed in the bombing of a Swissair jet in 1970. The Dawson's Field hijackings of 1970 were instrumental in provoking the Black September crackdown, which came close to destroying the PLO. The hijackings led King Hussein of Jordan to carry out a major offensive against the Palestinian militants in his kingdom, killing thousands of them. In autumn 1970, Habash visited Beijing.

After Black September, the PLO fedayeen relocated to Lebanon. In 1972, Habash experienced failing health, and gradually began to lose influence within the organization. The Palestinian National Council's (PNC) adoption of a resolution viewed by the PFLP as a two-state solution in 1974, prompted Habash to lead his organization out of active participation in the PLO and to join the Iraqi-backed Rejectionist Front. Only in 1977 would the PFLP opt to rejoin, as the Palestinian factions rallied their forces in opposition to Anwar Sadat's overtures towards Israel, pro-U.S. policies and fragmentation of the Arab world. During the Lebanese Civil War that broke out in 1975, PFLP forces were decimated in battle against Syria.  Later, the PFLP would draw close to Syria, as Syria's government shifted, but PFLP involvement in the Lebanese war remained strong until the U.S.-negotiated evacuation of PLO units from Beirut in 1982, and continued on a smaller scale after that.

In 1980, Habash suffered a severe stroke and with his consistently poor health younger members of PFLP began up to assume greater responsibilities. During this time Habash lived in Damascus, Syria and the PFLP neared the Syrian Ba'thist regime of Hafez al-Assad, united by the common opposition to Yasser Arafat's increasing concessions including the refusal to tie the PLO position with Syria's claims on the Israeli occupied Golan Heights and the concession of water rights, port access, and recovery of land occupied by Israeli settlers. In 1992 Habash left Damascus to return to Amman.

After the signing of the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993, Habash and the PFLP again broke completely with Arafat, accusing him of selling out the Palestinian revolution. The group set up an anti-Arafat and anti-Oslo alliance in Damascus, for the first time joined by such non-PLO Islamist groups such as, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which had grown to prominence during the First Intifada. After finding the position sterile, with Palestinian political dynamics playing out on the West Bank and Gaza areas of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Habash carefully sought to repair ties to Arafat, and gain a hold in post-Oslo politics without compromising PFLP principles. However, there is no indication that he ever accepted the two-state solution. This balancing act could not save the PFLP from being eclipsed by the militant Islamist factions on the one hand, and the resource-rich Fatah with its PNA patronage network on the other. The significance of the PFLP in Palestinian politics has diminished considerably since the mid-90s. The PFLP participated in the Palestinian legislative elections of 2006 as Abu Ali Mustafa won 4.2% of the popular vote.

In the late 1990s, Habash's medical condition worsened. In 2000 he resigned from the post as Secretary-General, citing health reasons. He was succeeded as head of the PFLP by Abu Ali Mustafa who was assassinated by Israel during the Second Intifada. Habash went on to set up a PFLP-affiliated research center, but he remained active in the PFLP's internal politics. Until his death he was still popular among many Palestinians, who appreciate his revolutionary ideology, his determination and principles, the rejection of the Oslo Agreements and his intellectual style.

Habash died on January 26, 2008, at the age of 81 of a heart attack in a hospital in Amman, Jordan. The President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas called for three days of national mourning. Habash was buried in a suburban cemetery of Amman with processions by the Greek Orthodox Church.


George Habash see Habash, George

Habib Allah
Habib Allah (Habibullah) (Habibullah Khan) (June 3, 1872 - February 20, 1919).  Ruler of Afghanistan (r.1901-1919).  He adopted a pro-British policy and, in internal affairs, introduced needed reforms.

Habibullah Khan was the Emir of Afghanistan from 1901 until 1919. He was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the eldest son of the Emir Abdur Rahman Khan, whom he succeeded by right of primogeniture in October 1901.

Habibullah was a relatively secular, reform-minded ruler who attempted to modernize his country. During his reign he worked to bring Western medicine and other technology to Afghanistan. In 1904, Habibullah founded the Habibia school as well as a military academy. He also worked to put in place progressive reforms in his country. He instituted various legal reforms and repealed many of the harshest criminal penalties. But one of his chief advisors Abdul Lateef was sentenced to death in 1903 for apostacy. He was stoned to death in Kabul. Other reforms included the dismantling of the repressive internal intelligence organization that had put in place by his father.

He strictly maintained the country's neutrality in World War I, despite strenuous efforts by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, spiritual ruler of Islam, to enlist Afghanistan on its side. He also greatly reduced tensions with India, signing a treaty of friendship in 1905 and paying an official state visit in 1907.

Habibullah was assassinated while on a hunting trip at Laghman Province on February 20, 1919. His brother Nasrullah Khan did not succeed him as he was imprisoned by Amanullah Khan, a nephew, who seized power and then murdered him.


Habibullah see Habib Allah
Habibullah Khan see Habib Allah

Habib ibn ‘Abd al-Malik
Habib ibn ‘Abd al-Malik.  Cousin and confidant of ‘Abd al-Rahman I, the founder of the Umayyad amirate in al-Andalus in the eighth century.  He was the founder of the line of Habibis, which provided al-Andalus with some notable men of learning and of letters. 

Habib ibn Maslama
Habib ibn Maslama (617-662).  Military commander of the Umayyad caliph Mu‘awiya I.  He served as a representative of the Mu‘awiya in the negotiations with the fourth Caliph ‘Ali after the battle of Siffin. 

Habre, Hissene
Habre (Hissene Habre) (b. August 13, 1942, Faya-Largeau, Chad - d. August 24, 2021, Dakar, Senegal).  Prime minister of Chad (1977-1982) who became the president of Chad in 1982.

Of Daza speaking Toubou origin, Habre was born in the northern town of Faya-Largeau.  After attending local schools, he worked as a civilian employee for the French army, and then as a sub-prefect in Mao and Moussoro.  Afterward, he went to France for advanced studies, and received a law degree, returning to Chad in 1971 to work in the ministry of foreign affairs.

Upon his return, he became increasingly active in the Front de liberation national du Tchad (FROLINAT), a largely northern Muslim movement which began as a peasant rebellion against the southern Christian dominated government, in response to the imposition of heavy taxes and a callous administration.  Much of FROLINAT’s support originated in the giant province of Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti (BET), which comprises half of Chad.  Although Chad obtained independence in 1960, BET was occupied by the French military until 1965, as the Chadian government could not control it.  By 1966, FROLINAT had emerged as a resistance movement.  Within a few years, Habre had become FROLINAT’s military leader.

The political leadership of FROLINAT was based in Tripoli.  Tension between Habre and the party’s secretary general, Abba Sikkick, ultimately resulted in Habre breaking off a splinter group, whose followers were mainly of the Garone tribe from northern Chad.  Ultimately, Habre assumed control of FROLINAT. 

In 1974, Habre’s forces kidnapped some French and German citizens in Bardai, an administrative town in BET.  The West German government paid a steep ransom for repatriation of its citizen.  France at first refused to pay the $2.4 million demanded by Habre for the release of archeologist Francoise Claustre, but later gave in.  However, Claustre and her husband (who was taken prisoner when he came to Chad to try to win Francoise’s release) were held captive until 1977.

In 1975, President Francois Tombalbaye, who was responsible for much of the mistreatment of Muslim northerners, was assassinated.  His successor, General Felix Malloum, attempted a policy of reconciliation with the rebels.  Meanwhile, continuing dissension within FROLINAT resulted in Habre being replaced by Goukouni Oueddei as head of the movement.  Although Habre signed an agreement with Malloum in 1977 which was hoped would lead to the formation of a new government to include FROLINAT, Goukouni’s refusal to cooperate caused the agreement to fall apart.  FROLINAT launched a major offensive, which the Chadian army was able to counter only with French assistance.

A second attempt to form a new government was initially successful and, in August, 1977, Malloum retained the position of president while Habre became prime minister and formed a government.  However, by the end of December, amidst renewed fighting, the agreement collapsed.  Malloum’s army completely lost control of the north.  Subsequent efforts to form a unified government failed.  In 1980 serious warfare broke out.  France, meanwhile, decided to pull its forces out of Chad, which it saw as another Vietnam.  In the middle of the year the coalition opposing Habre, known by its initials as GUNT, enlisted Libyan aid to defeat Habre’s forces.  Libya occuped northern Chad, and President Goukouni, who had replaced Malloum, pledged an eventual unification with Libya.  Reliance on Libya was very unpopular among many of the groups within the coalition, and resulted in a weakening of the alliance against Habre.  In 1982, Habre achieved a military victory and captured the capital, N’Djamena.  Goukouni fled to Libya.  Habre proclaimed himself president and set about to form a broadly representative government.

Chad faced an immediate threat from Libya, which armed Goukouni’s forces.  By now Habre had backing from the United States and a reluctant France, which sent troops back into Chad.  Libya, however still maintained control over much of the north until early 1988, when Habre’s forces pushed them out of the country.

Despite this victory, Habré's government was weak, and strongly opposed by members of the Zaghawa ethnic group. A rebel offensive in November 1990, which was led by Idriss Déby, a Zaghawa former army commander who had participated in a plot against Habré in 1989 and subsequently fled to Sudan, defeated Habré's forces. The French chose not to assist Habré on this occasion, allowing him to be ousted. It is possible that they actively aided Déby. Explanation and speculation regarding the reasons for France's abandonment of Habré include the adoption of a policy of non-interference in intra-Chadian conflicts, dissatisfaction with Habré's unwillingness to move towards multi-party democracy, and favoritism by Habré towards American rather than French companies with regard to oil development. Habré fled to Cameroon, and the rebels entered N'Djamena on December 2, 1990.  Habré subsequently went into exile in Senegal.

Human rights groups hold Habré responsible for the killing of thousands of people, but the exact number is unknown. Killings included massacres against ethnic groups in the south (1984), against the Hadjerai (1987), and against the Zaghawa (1989). He authorized tens of thousands of political murders and physical torture. For these crimes, he received the nickname "the African Pinochet", after the brutal Chilean dictator.

Between 1993 and 2003, Belgium had universal jurisdiction legislation allowing the most serious violations of human rights to be tried in national as well as international courts, without any direct connection to the country of the alleged perpetrator, victims or where the crimes took place. Despite the repeal of the legislation, investigations against Habré went ahead and in September 2005 he was indicted for crimes against humanity, torture, war crimes and other human rights violations. Senegal, where Habré in exile, placed Habré under nominal house arrest in Dakar.

On March 17, 2006, the European Parliament demanded that Senegal turn over Habré to Belgium to be tried. Senegal did not comply, and it at first refused extradition demands from the African Union which arose after Belgium asked to try Habré. The ATDPH  expressed its approval of the decision. If he were to be turned over, he would have become the first former dictator to be extradited by a third-party country to stand trial for human rights abuses. In 2007, Senegal set up its own special war-crimes court to try Habré under pressure from the African Union. On April 8, 2008, the National Assembly of Senegal voted to amend the constitution to clear the way for Habré to be prosecuted in Senegal. Ibrahima Gueye was appointed as trial coordinator in May 2008. A joint session of the National Assembly and the Senate voted in July 2008 to approve a bill empowering Senegalese courts to try people for crimes committed in other countries and for crimes that were committed more than ten years beforehand. This made it constitutionally possible to try Habré. Senegalese Minister of Justice Madicke Niang appointed four investigative judges on this occasion.

A 2007 movie by director Klaartje Quirijns, The Dictator Hunter, tells the story of the activists Souleymane Guengueng and Reed Brody who led the efforts to bring Habré to trial.

On August 15, 2008, a Chadian court sentenced Habré to death in absentia for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with allegations that he had worked with rebels inside Chad to oust Déby. François Serres, a lawyer for Habré, criticized this trial on August 22 for unfairness and secrecy. According to Serres, the accusation on which the trial was based was previously unknown and Habré had not received any notification of the trial.

On September 16, 2008, 14 victims filed new complaints with a Senegalese prosecutor, accusing Habré of crimes against humanity and torture.

The Senegalese Government added an amendment in 2008, which would allow Habre to be tried in court.  Senegal later changed their position, however, requesting 27 million euros in funding from the international community before going through with the trial.  This prompted Belgium to pressure the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to force Senegal to either extradite Habre to Belgium or to proceed with the trial.  

The ICJ declined to force extradition, finding the prosecution was an international obligation the violation of which was a wrongful act engaging the responsibility of the State, while extradition was an option offered to the State.  Senegal was found to have failed international obligations by (1) failing to immediately make a preliminary inquiry into the fact relating to the alleged crimes and (2) failing to submit the case to its competent authorities for prosecution.  The ICJ rejected Senegal Defenses of insufficient funds and opposition by domestic law, instead unanimously ordering Senegal to submit the case to authorities for prosecution or extradite him without delay.

In November 2010, the court of justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ruled that Senegal could not hold trial in the matter through a local court only, and asked for the creation of a special tribunal on the matter of Habre's prosecution.  In April 2011, after initial reticence, Senegal agreed to the creation of an ad hoc tribunal in collaboration with the African Union, the Chadian state and with international funding. 

Senegal changed their position again however, walking out during discussions on establishing the court on May 30, 2011, without explanation.  The African Union commission on Habre, in preparation for their next summit on June 30, 2011, published a report which urged pressing Senegal to extradite Habre to Belgium.

On July 8, 2011, Senegal officials announced that Habre would be extradited to Chad on July 11, 2011, but this was subsequently halted.  In July 2012, the ICJ ruled that Senegal must start Habre's trial "without delay."  Amnesty International called on Senegal to abide by the ICJ's ruling, calling it "a victory for victims that's long overdue".  A trial by the International Criminal Court (ICC) was ruled out, because the cirmes took place before the ICC was fully established in 2002, and its jurisdiction is limited to events that took place before the ICC was fully established in 2002, and its jurisdiction is limited to events that took place after that date.

In December 2012, the Parliament of Senegal passed a law allowing for the creation of an international tribunal in Senegal to try Habre.  The judges of the tribunal would be appointed by the African Union, and come from elsewhere in Africa.

On June 30, 2013, Habre was arrested in Senegal by the Senegalese police.  Chadian President Idriss Deby said of Habre's arrest that it was a step towards "an Africa free of all evil, an Africa stripped of all dictatorships."  Senegal's court, set up with the African Union, charged Habre with crimes against humanity and torture.  That year he was also sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity by a Chadian court.  

On July 20, 2015, the trial of Hissene Habre began.  Waiting for the trial to commence, Habre shouted: "Down with imperialists. [This trial] is a farce by rotten Senegalese politicians.  African traitors.  Valet of America."  After this outburst, Habre was taken out of the courtroom and the trial began without him.

On July 21, 2015, Habre's trial was postponed to September 7, 2015, after his lawyers refused to participate in court.

On May 30, 2016, the Extraordinary African Chambers found Habre guilty of rape, sexual slavery, and ordering the killing 40,000 people during his tenure as Chadian president and sentenced him to life in prison in the Prison du Cap Manuel in Senegal.  The guilty verdict marked the first time an African Union backed court convicted a former ruler of another country for crimes against humanity.  

On April 7, 2020, a judge in Senegal granted Habre two months' leave from prison, as the jail was being used to hold new detainees in COVID-19 quarantine.  After finishing his two months leave, Habre returned to prison on June 7, 2020.

Habre died in Senegal on August 24, 2021, a week after his 79th birthday, after being hospitalized in Dakar's main hospital with COVID-19.  He had fallen ill while in jail a week earlier.  In a statement, Habre's wife, Fatime Raymonne Habre, confirmed that Habre had succumbed to COVID-19.  

Habre was buried in Yoff Muslim cemetery.

Hissene Habre see Habre, Hissene

Habshi
Habshi (Siddi) (Siddhi) (Sheedi) (Zanj) (Seng Chi).  Term derived from the Arabic-Persian word "Habashi," meaning Abyssinian, and used in India to indicate slaves of Abyssinian (but maybe also of Nilotic and Bantu) origin.  Many of them rose to positions of power and eminence as early as the thirteenth century.  They are found among the Khaljis and the Tughluqids, in Gujarat, in Bengal and, perhaps most conspicuously, the Deccan.  The most prominent of the Habshis in Ahmadnagar in the seventeenth century was the vizier Malik ‘Ambar.  Habshis were also prominent in the navies of Gujarat and the Deccan powers.  

The Siddi are an Indian ethnic group of Black African descent. The Siddi population is currently estimated to be 20,000-55,000, with Gujarat state of India being the main population center. Siddis are mainly Sufi Muslims, although some are Hindus and some Roman Catholic Christians.

There are conflicting hypotheses on the origin of the name Siddi. One theory is that the word was a term of respect in North Africa, similar to the word Sahib in modern India and Pakistan. Another holds that it is a degeneration of the word Sayyid or Sayyadi, which is used for descendants of Prophet Muhammad. A third theory is that the term Siddi is derived from the title borne by the captains of the Arab vessels that first delivered Siddi slaves to India. These captains were known as Sayyid (again, signifying the lineage of the Prophet Muhammad), so their black captives were named after them.

Similarly, another term for Siddis, Habshi (from Al-Habsh, the Arabic term for Abyssinia), is held to be derived from the common name for the captains of the Ethiopian/Abyssinian ships that also first delivered Siddi slaves to the subcontinent. The term eventually came to be applied to other Africans as well, and referred not only to emancipated Siddis but to their descendants too.

Siddis are also sometimes referred to as Afro-Indians. Siddis were referred to as Zanj by Arabs, and Seng Chi (a malapropism of Zanj) by the Chinese.

A fine example of Indo-Islamic architecture, the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque in Ahmedabad, India was constructed in 1572 by Sidi Saiyyed, a slave of Sultan Ahmad Shah.

The first Siddis are thought to have arrived in the Indian subcontinent in 628 at the Bharuch port. Several others followed with the first Arab Islamic invasions of the subcontinent in 712. The latter group are believed to have been soldiers with Muhammad bin Qasim's Arab army, and were called Zanjis.

Most Siddis, however, are believed to be the descendants of slaves, sailors, servants and merchants from the Bantu-speaking parts of East Africa who arrived and became resident in the subcontinent during the 1200-1900 period. A large influx of Siddis to the region occurred in the 17th century when Portuguese slave traders sold a number of them to local princes.

In Western India (the modern Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra), the Siddi gained a reputation for physical strength and loyalty, and were sought out as mercenaries by local rulers, and as domestic servants and farm labor. Some Siddis escaped slavery to establish communities in forested areas, and some even established small Siddi principalities on Janjira Island and at Jaffrabad as early as the twelfth century. A former alternative name of Janjira was Habshan (i.e., land of the Habshis). In the Delhi Sultanate period prior to the rise of the Mughals in India, Jamal-ud-Din Yaqut was a prominent Siddi slave-turned-nobleman who was a close confidant of Razia Sultana (1205-1240). Although this is disputed, he may also have been her lover.

As a power center, Siddis were sometimes allied with the Mughal Empire in its power-struggle with the Maratha Confederacy. However, Malik Ambar, a prominent Siddi figure in Indian history at large, is sometimes regarded as the "military guru of the Marathas," and was deeply allied with them. He established the town of Khirki which later became the modern city of Aurangabad, and helped establish the Marathas as a major force in the Deccan. Later, the Marathas adapted Siddi guerrilla warfare tactics to grow their power and ultimately demolish the Mughal empire. Some accounts describe the Mughal emperor Jahangir as obsessed by Ambar due to the Mughal empire's consistent failures in crushing him and his Maratha cavalry, describing him derogatorily as "the black faced" and "the ill-starred" in the royal chronicles and even having a painting commissioned that showed Jahangir killing Ambar, a fantasy which was never realized in reality.

Presented as slaves by the Portuguese to the local Prince, Nawab of Junagadh, the Siddis also live around Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, the last refuge in the world of the almost extinct Asiatic Lions, in Junagadh a district of the state of Gujarat, India.

On the way to Deva-dungar is the quaint village of Sirvan, inhabited entirely by Siddis, a tribe of African people. They were brought 300 years ago from Africa, by the Portuguese for the Nawab of Junagadh. Today, they follow very few of their original customs, with a few exceptions like the traditional Dhamal dance.

Although Gujarati Siddis have adopted the language and many customs of their surrounding populations, some African traditions have been preserved. These include the Goma music and dance form, which is sometimes called Dhamaal. The term is believed to be derived from the Ngoma drumming and dance forms of East Africa. The Goma also has a spiritual significance and, at the climax of the dance, some dancers are believed to be vehicles for the presence of Siddi saints of the past.

In Pakistan, locals of Black African descent are called "Makrani", "Sheedi" or "Habshi". They live primarily along the Makran Coast in Balochistan, and lower Sindh. In the city of Karachi, the main Sheedi centre is the area of Lyari and other nearby coastal areas. Technically, the Sheedi are a brotherhood or community distinct from the other Afro-Pakistanis. The Sheedis are divided into four clans, or houses: Kharadar Makan, Hyderabad Makan, Lassi Makan and Belaro Makan. The sufi saint Pir Mangho is regarded by many as the patron saint of the Sheedis, and the annual Sheedi Mela festival, is the key event in the Sheedi community's cultural calendar. It features songs and dance clearly derived from Africa.

Linguistically, Makranis are Balochi or Sindhi and speak a dialect of Urdu referred to as Makrani.

Famous Sheedis include the historic Sindhi army leader Hoshu Sheedi and Urdu poet Noon Meem Danish. Sheedis are also well known for their excellence in sports, especially in football and boxing. The musical anthem of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, "Bija Teer", is a Balochi song in the musical style of the Sheedis with Black African style rhythm and drums. Younis Jani is a popular Sheedi singer famous for singing an Urdu version of the reggaeton song "Papi chulo... (te traigo el mmmm...)."

Films depicting the Siddis include:

    * From Africa...To Indian Subcontinent: Sidi Music in the Indian Ocean Diaspora (2003) by Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy, in close collaboration with Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy and the Sidi community.

    * Mon petit diable (My Little Devil) (1999) was directed by Gopi Desai. Om Puri, Pooja Batra, Rushabh Patni, Satyajit Sharma.

    * Razia Sultan (1983), an Indian Urdu film directed by Kamal Amrohi, is based on the life of Razia Sultan (played by Hema Malini) (1205-1240), the only female Sultan of Delhi (1236-1240), and her speculated love affair with the Abyssinian slave Jamal-ud-Din Yakut (played by Dharmendra). He was referred to in the movie as a habshee.

Habashi see Habshi
Abyssinian see Habshi
Siddi see Habshi
Siddhi see Habshi
Sheedi see Habshi
Zanj see Habshi

Haddad
Haddad.  The most despised, subjugated and socially ostracized peoples of the African Sahel are the Haddad, the blacksmiths, a most puzzling Muslim ethnic group.  The Haddad subsist as clients to patrons in a relationship of mutual contempt, scorn and a dependency which guarantees service to the patrons and security for the client.  

The Haddad live outside the societies they serve and whose societal values, therefore, do not apply to them.  The most basic factor for their being placed outside society is that collectively they can hold no property rights to animals or usufruct (legal) rights to land.  Similarly, they are not allowed to use wells, except for themselves individually and their riding animals.  Being unable to engage in either agriculture or animal husbandry on their own (although occasionally they do farm small plots), they can only forge iron, hunt and gather and perform various special tasks for their patrons.  

Haddad marginality is expressed in many different ways.  They are despised to such an extent that ritually, socially and spatially they are forced to live apart from their hosts.  Money is thrown in front of them, not handed to them, although the more enlightened will place the money in a Haddad’s breast pocket.  Wandering Haddad minstrels play the drum and sing from inside a makeshift hut so that neither performer nor audience sees the other.  Touching, such as in shaking hands, let alone eating with a Haddad, is considered repulsive and taboo.  If a Haddad’s private grain crop looks promising, it is not unusual for the local chief to have the plants pulled for fear the Haddad will become self-sufficient and thus independent.  Masalit women have been known to tickle their babies so they would laugh at a Haddad passing by.  Intermarriage with a Haddad is forbidden by most ethnic groups.  

Subjugated, relegated to a subservient and inferior status, the Haddad have developed an attitude of scorn and superiority themselves.  They despise society as much as society despises them.  They exemplify this with their Quranicly sanctioned claim to be descendants of David to whom God taught ironworking.  From hindsight, the social inferiority of the Haddad is the result of an intricate dialectic (discussion) fed by repulsion on the part of pastoral immigrants for indigenous hunting techniques and skills in ironworking and magic.  Additionally, there is the urge to survive collectively on the part of the Haddad.  This is exemplified by their propensity to inspire fear, initially in all innocence, by living according to their own customs and by their willingness to actively cater to special demands which were abhorrent to their hosts’ sense of morality.  Thus, the Haddad who never formed part of society had little feelings of solidarity or responsibility towards it.  

Historically, the Haddad of the sultanates of Wadai, Darfur and Dar Masalit were governed, judged and taxed by a special Haddad “sultan,” who, moreover, held an important position in the courts of the more recognized sultanates.  In Wadai, the “sultan” of the Haddad was the physician for the royal family and as such was permitted to enter the harem.  Also, it was his duty, at the beginning of a new reign, to blind the sultan’s brothers, nephews and cousins.  He also had the tasks of shaving the sultan’s head weekly and preparing the body of a dead sultan for burial.  

Prior to and during the Islamization of the Sahel and the Sudan, states were often headed by sacred kings whose subjects believed that it was they who brought life and death, sickness and health.  Frequently, the king remained in seclusion, veiled from the view of his people and outsiders.  He conversed with visitors and petitioners through intermediaries or from behind a curtain.  It was forbidden to see the king eat or in other ways note his “humanness.”  If he became ill, he was likely to be killed by family insiders lest the mortality of the king be exposed.  The introduction of Islam did not immediately disturb the mythic basis of royal authority.  As recently as the 1870s, the sacrality of the king still largely existed, even though the kings had been Muslims for 200 years.  Only when rulers turned Islam from an imperial cult into a state religion and thus brought it to the masses did their sacrality break down.  

Throughout this experience, the Haddad, being outside the society, did not have to recognize the sacrality of the rulers.  They could converse directly with the king and do many things that no other mortal would contemplate doing.  
blacksmiths see Haddad.

Haddad, al-Tahir al-
Haddad, al-Tahir al- (al-Tahir al-Haddad) (c.1899- December 7, 1935).  Nationalist and reformist Tunisian writer, considered the pioneer of the movement for the emancipation of women in his country.  His most noted work was Imra 'tuna fi 'l-sharia wa 'l-mujtama.
al-Tahir al-Haddad see Haddad, al-Tahir al-

Hadi ila’l-Haqq, al-
Hadi ila’l-Haqq, al- (Musa ibn al-Mahdi) (Abu Abdullah Musa ibn Mahdi al-Hadi) (d. September 14, 786) was an Abbasid caliph who succeeded his father Al-Mahdi and ruled from 785 until his death in 786.

Al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq is the regnal name of the ‘Abbasid caliph Musa ibn al-Mahdi who reigned from 785 to 786.  His attitude of frank hostility to the ‘Alids led to the massacre of Fakhkh.  

Al-Hadi was the eldest son of Al-Mahdi and like his father he was very open to the people of his empire and allowed commoners to visit him in the palace at Baghdad to address him. As such, he was considered an enlightened ruler, and continued the progressive moves of his Abbasid predecessors.

His short rule was wreaked with numerous military conflicts. The revolt of Husayn ibn Ali ibn Hasan broke out when Husayn declared himself caliph in Medina. Al-Hadi crushed the rebellion and killed Husayn and many of his followers, but Idris b. Abdallah b. Hasan b. Hasan b. Ali, a cousin of Husayn, escaped and aided by Wadih, Egyptian postal manager, reached Morocco where he founded the Idrisi state. Al-Hadi also crushed a Kharijite rebellion and faced a Byzantine invasion. However, the Byzantines were turned back, and the Abbasid armies actually seized some territory from them.

Al-Hadi died in 786.  He was succeeded by his younger brother, Harun al-Rashid.

Musa ibn al-Mahdi see Hadi ila’l-Haqq, al-
Abu Abdullah Musa ibn Mahdi al-Hadi see Hadi ila’l-Haqq, al-

Hadi ila’l-Haqq, Yahya al-
Hadi ila’l-Haqq, Yahya al- (Yahya al-Hadi ila’l-Haqq).  Founder of the Zaydi imamate in Yemen (r.893-911).  His tomb in the mosque of Sa‘da became a place of pilgrimage for the Zaydis.  

The Imams of Yemen were religiously consecrated leaders belonging to the Zaidiyyah branch of Shi'a Islam. They established a blend of religious and secular rule in parts of Yemen from 898. Their imamate endured under varying circumstances until the republican revolution in 1962. Zaidiyyah theology differed from Ismailis or Twelver Shi'ites by stressing the presence of an active and visible imam as leader. The imam was expected to be knowledgeable in religious sciences, and to prove himself a worthy headman of the community, even in battle if this was necessary. A claimant of the imamate would proclaim a "call" (da'wa), and there were not infrequently more than one claimant.

The imams based their legitimacy on descent from the Prophet Muhammad, mostly via al-Qasim ar-Rassi (d. 860). After him, the medieval imams are sometimes known as Rassids. The first of the ruling line, his grandson al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya, was born in Medina and summoned to govern the highland tribes of Yemen in 893 and again in 896-98. He introduced practices that evolved into the particular Yemenite Zaidiyyah brand. He could not, however, create an enduring state, due to the strong localism persisting in the region. For long periods during the Middle Ages the imams were marginalized by other Muslim dynasties in the area, such as the Rasulid (1229-1454) and Tahiride (1454-1517) dynasties. The Ottoman Turks ruled from the lowlands in the period 1538-1636, and defeated the Zaidiyyah. From the early 17th century one the Rassid branches, the Qasimids, managed to gather the entire Yemen under their authority and expel the Turks. For a time, the imams ruled a comprehensive territory, including South Yemen and areas even further to the east. Their economic base was strengthened by the coffee trade of the coastal entrepot Mocha. Unlike in the previous practice, the Qasimids ruled as a hereditary dynasty. The power of the imamate declined in the 18th and 19th century, especially in the wake of the Wahhabi invasions after 1800. It was further eclipsed by the second coming of the Turks to lowland Yemen in 1848, and to the highlands in 1872. The occupants were eventually driven out by 1918, by a Qasimid side-branch which inaugurated the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen. The ruling imams, also called kings (malik), were in charge of North Yemen up to 1962 when the last one was deposed, and the Yemen Arab Republic was proclaimed.

There is no uncontested list of imams of Yemen, since many imams were not universally recognized, and sometimes eclipsed by the rule of lowland dynasties or by the Turks. The following list is fairly inclusive.

    * al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya bin al-Husayn bin al-Qasim ar-Rassi 898-911 (descendant of the Prophet)

    * al-Murtada Muhammad 911-913, d. 922

    * an-Nasir Ahmad 913-934 or 937

    * al-Hasan 934-936 or 939

    * al-Mukhtar al-Qasim 936-956

    * al-Mansur Yahya 934-976

    * ad-Da'i Yusuf 977-999

    * al-Mansur al-Qasim bin al-Ayyani Ali 999-1003

    * ad-Da'i Yusuf 1003-1012

    * al-Mahdi al-Husayn 1003-1013

    * al-Mu'ayyad Ahmad bin al-Husayn 1013-1020

    * Abu Talib Yahya 1020-1033

    * al-Mu’id li-Din Illah 1027-1030

    * Abu Hashim al-Hasan 1035-1040

    * Abu'l-Fath an-Nasir ad-Daylami bin al-Huasyn 1038-1053

    * Hamzah 1060-1066

    * al-Mutawakkil Ahmad bin Sulaiman 1138-1171

    * al-Mansur Abdallah bin Hamzah 1185-1217

    * an-Nasir Muhammad 1217-1226

    * al-Hadi Yahya bin Muhsin 1217-1239

    * al-Mahdi Ahmad bin Husayn 1249-1258

    * Hasan bin Badr ad-Din Muhammad 1258-1260, d. 1285

    * Yahya bin as-Saraji Muhammad 1260-1271

    * al-Mahdi Ibrahim bin Taj ad-Din Ahmad 1272-1276

    * al-Mutawakkil al-Mutahhar bin al-Murtada Yahya 1276-1298

    * al-Mahdi Muhammad 1301-1327

    * al-Mu'ayyad Yahya bin Hamzah 1328-1349

    * Nasir ad-Din Ali bin Salah 1328-1329

    * Ahmad bin al-Fathi Ali 1329-1349

    * al-Mutahhar 1349

    * al-Mahdi Ali bin Muhammad 1349-1372

    * an-Nasir Muhammad Salah-ad-Din 1372-1391

    * al-Mansur Ali 1391-1436

    * al-Mahdi Ahmad bin al-Murtada Yahya 1390-1391, d. 1436

    * al-Hadi Ali bin al-Muayyad 1393-1432

    * al-Mahdi Salah-ad-Din bin Ali 1436-1440

    * al-Mansur an-Nasir bin Muhammad 1436-1462

    * al-Mutawakkil Yusuf bin Muhammad 1436-1474

    * al-Mu’ayyad Muhammad 1462-1502

    * an-Nasir Muhammad 1474-1487

    * al-Hadi Izz-ad-Din bin Hasan 1474-1495

    * al-Mansur Muhammad bin al-Washali Ali 1475-1504

    * an-Nasir al-Hasan 1495-1522

    * al-Mutawakkil Yahya Sharaf-ad-Din bin Shams-ad-Din 1507-1558

    * al-Mutahhar

1558-1572

    * an-Nasir Hasan bin Ali 1579-1585

    * al-Mansur al-Qasim bin Muhammad 1597-1620

    * al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad I 1620-1644

    * al-Mutawakkil Isma'il 1644-1676

    * al-Mahdi Ahmad bin al-Hasan 1676-1681

    * al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad II 1681-1686

    * al-Mahdi Muhammad 1687-1718

    * al-Mansur al-Husayn I bin al-Qasim 1716-1720

    * al-Mutawakkil al-Qasim bin al-Hasan 1716-1727

    * an-Nasir Muhammad bin Ishaq 1723, d. 1754

    * al-Mansur al-Husayn II 1727-1748

    * al-Mahdi Abbas 1748-1775

    * al-Mansur Ali I 1775-1809

    * al-Mutawakkil Ahmad 1809-1816

    * al-Mahdi Abdallah 1816-1835

    * al-Mansur Ali II 1835-1836

    * an-Nasir Abdallah bin al-Hasan bin Ahmad 1836-1840

    * al-Hadi Muhammad 1840-1844

    * al-Mansur Ali II 1844-1845

    * al-Mutawakkil Muhammad bin Yahya 1845-1849

    * al-Mansur Ali II 1849-1850

    * al-Mansur Ahmad bin Hashim 1849-1853

    * al-Mu'ayyad Abbas bin Abd ar-Rahman 1850

    * al-Hadi Ghalib 1851-1852

    * al-Mansur Muhammad bin Abdallah 1853-1890

    * al-Mutawakkil al-Muhsin bin Ahmad 1855-1878

    * al-Hadi Ghalib 1858-1872

    * al-Mansur al-Husayn bin Muhammad bin al-Hadi 1859-1863

    * al-Hadi Sharaf ad-Din bin Muhammad bin Abd ar-Rahman 1878-1890

    * al-Mansur Muhammad bin Yahya Hamid ad-Din 1890-1904

    * al-Mutawakkil Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din 1904-1948

    * as-Sayyid al-Hadi Abdallah bin Ahmad al-Wazir 1948

    * Saif-al-Islam Ahmad bin Yahya 1948-1962

    * Muhammad al-Badr 1962, d. 1996
Yahya al-Hadi ila’l-Haqq see Hadi ila’l-Haqq, Yahya al-

Hafiz, ‘Abd al-
Hafiz, ‘Abd al- (‘Abd al-Hafiz) (Moulay Hafid) (b. 1880-1937). Filali Sharif of Morocco (r.1907-1912).  The Agadir Incident, provoked by a German attempt to challenge French rights in Morocco by sending a warship to the Moroccan port of Agadir, took place in 1911.  The Sharif abdicated in 1912 after the French General Lyautey had been appointed Resident Commissioner General.
>‘Abd al-Hafiz see Hafiz, ‘Abd al-
Moulay Hafid see Hafiz, ‘Abd al-

Hafiz, al-
Hafiz, al- (1073-1149).  Regnal name of a Fatimid caliph (r.1130/31-1149).  His rule was marked by continuous internal troubles.

Al-Ḥāfiz assumed the caliphate as the cousin of the murdered Al-Amir (1101-1130). Since al-Amir had not named an heir when he died, the succession of al-Ḥāfiz was not uncontested - a group of Shī‘a recognized al-Amīr's son Ṭayyib Abī al-Qāṣim as rightful heir, leading to a new schism. Additionally, Abu Ali Ahmad bin al-Afdal, whose father was regent to al-Musta'li before he was thrown when al-Amer succeeded him, challenged and jailed al-Hafiz and in fact ruled for a brief while before he was assassinated, presumably by supporters of al-Hafiz.

Under al-Ḥāfiz, Fāṭimid power was confined to Egypt, and even there it was not unchallenged. There were constant power struggles between ministers, governors and generals, hampering the ability of the empire to resist the expansion of the Crusader states.

Hafiz-i Abru
Hafiz-i Abru. Nickname of a Persian historian of the Timurid period (1370-1506) recording part of the text of the Qur’an published in Cairo in 1923.  

Ḥāfiẓ-i Abrū was apparently educated in the city of Hamadān. Later he became an extensive traveler and went with the Turkic conqueror Timur on a number of campaigns, including those in the Middle East against Aleppo and Damascus in 1400–01. After the ruler’s death, Ḥāfiẓ-i Abrū entered the service of Timur’s son, Shāh Rokh (1405–46), and his grandson, Prince Baysunqur (d. 1433), as court historian.
Abru, Hafiz-i see Hafiz-i Abru.

Hafiz Ibrahim
Hafiz Ibrahim (Hafez Ibraheem) (Shai'er al-Neel - "Poet of the Nile") (1872-1932).  Egyptian poet and writer.  His poetry is the echo of the sufferings and hopes of the Egyptian people.

Hafez Ibrahim was an Egyptian poet, called Shāiʻer al-Neel‎ which means the Poet of the Nile. He was one of several poets that revived Arabic poetry during the latter half of the 19th Century. While still using the classical Arabic system of meter and rhyme, these poets wrote to express new ideas and feelings unknown to the classical poets. Hafez is noted for writing poems on political and social commentary.

He was born on a ship floating in the Nile near Dairout, which is a city in Asyut District. His father was Egyptian, and his mother was Turkish. Both died when he was young. Before his mother died, she brought him to Cairo. There, he lived with his poor uncle, a government engineer. His uncle later moved to Tanta, where Hafez went to school. Hafez was touched by his uncle's poverty. However, after a time, he left his uncle. ِ After this, Hafez spent some time living on the Tanta streets. He eventually ended up in the office of Mouhamed Abou Shadi, who was one of the 1919 revolution leaders.

Many poems were written by Hafez, for example:

    * Albasoka Al-deema' Fawq Al-deema', (They have dressed you the blood over blood)
    * Ya Saidy wa Emami, (O, My Mister and my Imam)
    * Shakrto Jameela Sonekom,  (I've thanked your favor)
    * Masr Tataklam 'an Nafseha,  (Egypt talks about herself)
    * Le Kes'a An'em behe mn Kes'a,  (I've a dress, and what an excellent dress)
    * Qol lel ra'ies Adama Allah Dawlatahu, (Tell the President, May Allah eternized his state)
Ibrahim, Hafiz see Hafiz Ibrahim
Hafez Ibraheem see Hafiz Ibrahim
Ibraheem, Hafez see Hafiz Ibrahim
Sha'ier al-Neel see Hafiz Ibrahim
"Poet of the Nile" see Hafiz Ibrahim

Hafiz Shirazi
Hafiz Shirazi (Muhammad Shams al-Din Hafiz Shirazi) (Shams al-Din Muhammad Shirazi) (Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muḥammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī) (Hafez) (1315-1390).  Known by his pen name Hāfez, Hafiz Shirazi was the most celebrated Persian lyric poet and is often described as a poet's poet. His collected works (Divan) are to be found in the homes of most Iranians, who learn his poems by heart and use them as proverbs and sayings to this day. His life and poems have been the subject of much analysis, commentary and interpretation, and have influenced post-Fourteenth Century Persian writing more than anything else has.

Hafiz was a Persian poet who, by common consent, is deemed to be the greatest and most popular poet of ghazals (lyrics) in the Persian language.  Originally named Muhammad Shams al-Din, he gained the respectful title Hafiz, meaning “one who has memorized the Qur’an,” as a teacher of the Qur’an.  He was a member of the order of Sufi mystics and also, at times, a court poet.  His poems on one level celebrate the pleasures of drinking, hunting, and love at the court of Shiraz.  On a deeper level, according to some scholars, they reflect his consuming devotion as a Sufi to union with the divine.  They also satirize hypocritical Muslim religious leaders.

Hafiz was born in Shiraz (now in Iran) into a poor family.  His father, Baha al-Din, was a petty businessman from Isfahan who had settled in Shiraz.  The poet’s mother was from Kazirun, a town to the southwest of Shiraz.  The death of Baha al-Din left the family in dire poverty.  Shams al-Din had to earn his living (reportedly as a baker’s apprentice) at a young age, but he managed to receive a sound education in his hometown, which, despite repeated political turmoil, was still a major center of learning in the Islamic world.  He mastered the Arabic language, studied religious sciences, and attained the status of hafiz.  His poetry bears witness to his thorough knowledge of the early masters of Persian poetry. 

Hafiz Shirazi, the supreme lyricist in the classical Persian language, lived his whole life in his native Shiraz (except for a brief interlude in the early 1370s).  Though Hafiz lived in poverty in his youth, his brilliant academic record won him a position of influence and wealth at the royal court in Shiraz.

Hafiz lived in troubled times, witnessing the fall of two dynasties.  His first royal patron was Shaikh Abu Ishaq Inju, under whose liberal rule Hafiz seems to have enjoyed the comforts of life.  But Abu Ishaq was defeated and killed in 1353 by the Muzaffarid Mubariz al-Din Muhammad, who decided to make Shiraz his capital.   Muhammad was a ruthless religious zealot who had no use for Hafiz and his poetry, although his vizier seems to have patronized the poet.  Muhammad’s stern religious restrictions imposed on the wine-loving Shirazis gave him the sobriquet Muhtasib (“one who restricts”) that Hafiz immortalized in more than one ode.   However, in 1358, Muhammad was deposed and blinded by his son, Shah Shoja, himself a poet of some merit.  Hafiz could not but express his delight at the turn of events, but for reasons that are not entirely clear he lost the new monarch’s favor and had to try his fortune at Isfahan and Yazd, other centers of Muzaffarid rule.  Disappointed, he returned to Shiraz after a year or two, calling Yazd “Alexander’s Prison.”  In 1387, Shiraz was captured by Timur, who reportedly had an encounter with the poet and, impressed with his wit, granted him royal favor.

Except for short sojourns in Isfahan and Yazd and a reported trip as far as Hormuz on the way to India, Hafiz spent all of his life in his beloved Shiraz, which he has characterized as “Solomon’s Dominion” (Mulk-i Sulayman).  He is reported to have had a teaching job at a religious college in Shiraz, but his main source of income seems to have been the allowances and gifts he received from the court and the nobles whom he panegyrized.  Particularly in his old age, however, he led a life of poverty.  His poetry is rich in Sufi symbolism and imagery, but we have no report concerning his attachment to any particular Sufi order.

Hafiz died and was buried in Shiraz.  His wife and son predeceased him.  His mausoleum (the Hafiziyya) in Shiraz is the best-known monument there and a site frequenty visited by tourists.  During the last ten years of the Pahlavi regime parts of the much-publicized annual art festival of Shiraz were held in the Hafiziyya.

Hafiz is considered the pre-eminent master of the ghazal form of poetry.  He excelled not only in selection of lyrical phrases but also in juxtaposition of metaphors that maximize the ambiguity of his dominant theme.  For Hafiz, the theme of love in all its variations (bodily and spiritual, profane and sacred, terrestrial and celestial) absorbs the attention of man and draws man to the heights, and the depths, of emotional, aesthetic and mystical experience.

Hafiz’s poems have traditionally been interpreted as mystical allegories, to such an extent that his poems, like Virgil’s in Europe, were opened at random in search of a guide to conduct.  However, Western scholarship now inclines to take them literally.  Thus, the use of the term “Beloved” in his love poems is today taken to stand for a human beauty and not for God.  

Hafiz’s work, collected under the title of Divan, contains more than 500 poems, most of them in the form of a ghazal, a short traditional Persian form that he perfected.  Each consists of up to 15 highly structured rhyming couplets dealing with one subject.  The language is simple, lyrical, and heartfelt.  Hafiz is greatly admired both in Iran and, in translation, in the West.  Especially appealing are his love for the common person and his relation of daily life to the search of humanity for the eternal.  
Shirazi, Hafiz see Hafiz Shirazi
Muhammad Shams al-Din Hafiz Shirazi see Hafiz Shirazi
Shams al-Din Muhammad Shirazi see Hafiz Shirazi
Muhammad Shams al-Din see Hafiz Shirazi
Khwaja Sams ud-Din Muhammad Hafez-e Sirazi see Hafiz Shirazi
Hafez see Hafiz Shirazi

Hafiz Tanish
Hafiz Tanish (Nakhli).  Historian of ‘Abd Allah Khan II, the Shaybanid ruler of Bukhara (r.1583-1596).  
Nakhli see Hafiz Tanish
Tanish, Hafiz see Hafiz Tanish

Hafizullah Amin
Hafizullah Amin (Hafizollah Amin) (August 1, 1929 - December 27, 1979).  President of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from September 1979 until his assassination on December 27, 1979.  He was born in Paghman, Kabul Province.  He was of the Kharoti (Ghilzai Pashtun) tribe whose family came to Paghman in the 19th century of the Christian calendar.  He was educated in Afghanistan and the United States, where he was known as a Pashtun nationalist.  Graduating with a master’s degree from Teachers’ College at Columbia University in 1958, he became a teacher and later a principal of Ibn Sina and Teachers Training schools in Kabul.  Between 1963 and 1965, Amin spent two additional years at Columbia but returned to Afghanistan before receiving his Ph.D.    According to Amin, it was in the United States that he gained his “political consciousness.”   

Amin’s conversion to Marxism is said to have occurred in 1964.   In 1965, he joined the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan and was sympathetic to the Khalqi faction.  He was elected to a four year term in the 13th session of the Afghan Parliament in 1969 as a representative from Paghman.  

Amin’s principal function in the party was to recruit and organize sympathizers in the armed forces.  During the republican period (1973-1978), he successfully recruited followers in the army in competition with Parchami efforts.  Because of this role, after the April 1978 coup the official press called Amin the “commander of the revolution.”  Between April 1978 and September 1979, while Nur Muhammad Taraki (Noor Mohammed Taraki) was the Afghan president, Amin was generally regarded as the regime’s strongman.  

After the Saur Revolt he was appointed vice premier and minister of Foreign Affairs.  In April 1979, he became prime minister and, after he ousted Nur Muhammad Taraki, he became president on September 16, 1979.  He was at odds with Alexandr Puzanov, the Soviet ambassador to Kabul, and successfully demanded his recall.  Some observers called him the Afghan “Tito” because of his independence and nationalistic inclinations.  He was accused of responsibility in the assassination of thousands.  Soviet special forces attacked him in a bloody battle with his troops in Darulaman and assassinated him on December 27, 1979.  He was replaced by Babrak Karmal of the Parchami faction of the PDPA.  
Amin, Hafizullah see Hafizullah Amin
Hafizollah Amin see Hafizullah Amin
Amin, Hafizollah see Hafizullah Amin

Hafsa bint ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Hafsa bint ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (Hafsah bint 'Umar - "Daughter of a Lion") (609-665).  Wife of the Prophet, who married her in 625.  

Ḥafsa bint ‘Umar was the daughter of Umar (Umar ibn al-Khattab) and wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and therefore a Mother of the Believers.

She was married to Khunais ibn Hudhaifa, but became a widow when she was eighteen and according to Islamic tradition her father offered her to Abu Bakr and Uthman Ibn Affan. They both refused to marry her because Muhammad had told them that he was interested in her, which they failed to mention to 'Umar. When her father, 'Umar, went to the Prophet Muhammad to complain about their behavior, Muhammad replied, "Hafsa will marry one better than Uthman and Uthman will marry one better than Hafsa."

Muhammad married Hafsa after the battle of Badr in 2 AH. At the time of the marriage, Hafsa was around twenty years old and Muhammad fifty-six. With this marriage, Muhammad strengthened his ties to 'Umar, who now became his father-in-law.

According to Islamic tradition, Hafsa had memorized the Qur'an. The copy of Zayd ibn Thabit which was recorded by the instructions of Abu Bakr was given to Hafsa. Uthman ibn Affan, when he became Caliph, used Hafsa's copy when he authorized a single text of the Qur'an to be designated.

Sunnis believe that the reason why Abu Bakr and Uthman did not agree to marry Hafsa was that they knew Muhammad wanted to marry her.
Hafsah bint 'Umar see Hafsa bint ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
"Daughter of a Lion" see Hafsa bint ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab

Hafs al-Fard
Hafs al-Fard. Ninth century theologian from Egypt.  He taught that, on the Day of Resurrection, God will create the sixth sense in order to enable God’s creatures to see God.
Fard, Hafs al- see Hafs al-Fard.

Hafs ibn Sulayman
Hafs ibn Sulayman. Transmitter of al-‘Asim’s “reading” of the Qur’an.  The “reading” passed down by his efforts was adopted for the establishment of the text of the Qur’an published in Cairo in 1923.

Hafsids
Hafsids (Banu Hafs).  Berber dynasty in Tunisia, eastern Algeria, and Tripoli (r. 1228-1574).  Their main capital was Tunis.  The Banu Hafs, a Masmuda tribe in the High Atlas, were named after Abu Hafs Umar (1090-1175), one of the first supporters of, and a close adviser to, the founding father of the Almohads, Ibn Tumart.  His son became the hereditary governor of the Almohads in Tunisia.  

Abu Zakariya Yahya I ( r. 1228-1249), gained independence in 1228 and set up the largest empire to succeed the Almohads.  The founder of the dynasty, amir Abu Zakariyya’ Yahya, had commercial treaties with Provence, Languedoc, Sicily and Aragon.  His son and successor Abu ‘Abd Allah (r.1249-1277) adopted the caliphal title of al-Mustansir bi-‘llah.  Al-Mustansir bi-‘llah (Muhammad I al-Mustansir), fended off the Seventh Crusade in 1270. It was after this crusade that the good relations with Christendom suffered a temporary setback, and it was during this crusade that Louis IX died at Carthage in 1270.   

The death of al-Mustansir bi-‘llah was followed by bloody power struggles at the end of the thirteenth century between pretenders and the branches of the dynasty in Bougie and Constantine, and the occupation of territory by the Marinids (Merinids) from Morocco in the mid-14th century.  The recovery and greatest political advance came under the rulers Abu’l-Abbas Ahmad (r. 1370-1394; and from 1357 joint-ruler of Constantine), Abu Faris Azzuz (r. 1394-1434), and Abu Amr Uthman (r. 1435-1488).  During this period of peace and prosperity, Tunis became the most important center of the Levant trade.  

After 1494, there came a rapid decline in the power and independence of different towns and regions. Under the political dominance of the Ottoman corsairs (Aruj and Khair al-Din Barbarossa) from 1505, they were forced to accept the occupation of Tunis by Emperor Charles V in 1535.  The last Hafsids struggled to maintain their position between the resident Ottoman authorities and the attacking Spaniards.  The Ottomans conquered Tunis in 1534, again in 1569, and definitively in 1574.  In 1574, the Ottomans finally occupied Tunis and deposed the Hafsids.
Banu Hafs see Hafsids

Hagar
Hagar  (Arabic: Hajar) - "Stranger", Latin: Agar).  According to the Abrahamic faiths, an Egyptian handmaiden of Sarah, wife of Abraham. At Sarah's suggestion, she became Abraham's second wife. Her story is reported in the Book of Genesis in Judeo-Christian tradition. In Islam, her story is alluded to in the Qur'an, but her name is not mentioned. Her role is elaborated in Hadith. She was the mother of Abraham's son, Ishmael, who is regarded as the patriarch of the Ishmaelites i.e. the Arabs.

Hagar was Abraham’s second wife.  She was the mother of Ishmael (Isma‘il) – the proverbial forebear of the Arabs.  In the Old Testament, Hagar is designated as the concubine of the patriarch Abraham.  Hagar was the handmaid of Abraham’s wife, Sarah, who, because she was barren, gave Hagar to her husband in the hope of producing heirs.  When Hagar conceived a child, however, Sarah became jealous and regretted her decision.  To escape Sarah’s persecution, Hagar was forced to flee into the desert.  Reassured by an angel, she returned to bear Abraham a son, Ishmael {see Genesis 16}.  Eventually, Sarah conceived and bore a child, who was named Isaac.  After Isaac’s birth, Sarah persuaded Abraham to drive Ishmael and his mother away.  They wandered into the desert, where an angel appeared to them and prophesied greatness for Ishmael {see Genesis 21:1-21}.  

The story of Hagar has been interpreted in various ways.  According to some scholars, Hagar personifies a tribe that at one time had been closely related to some of the Hebrew clans.  Rivalry resulted in a separation, which is pictured as a dismissal of the inferior by the superior clan.

The story of Hagar is introduced in the New Testament and in rabbinical literature.  She is allegorically contrasted with Sarah by Paul, who represents Hagar, the bondwoman, as the earthly Jerusalem and Sarah, the free woman, as the heavenly Jerusalem.  Paul also similarly contrasts Ishmael and Isaac {see Galatians 4:22-31}.  A Jewish tradition identifies Hagar with Abraham’s second wife, Keturah {see Genesis 25:1}, and another makes her the daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh.

In Islamic tradition, Hagar is Abraham’s true wife, and Ishmael (Isma‘il), the favorite son.  Ishmael is identified as the progenitor of the Arabs.

Neither Sarah nor Hagar are mentioned by name in the Qur'an, but the story is traditionally understood to be referred to in a line from Abraham's prayer in Sura Ibrahim (14:37): "I have settled some of my family in a barren valley near your Sacred House". While Hagar is not named, the reader lives Hagar's predicament indirectly through the eyes of Abraham. She is also frequently mentioned in the books of hadiths.

According to Qisas Al-Anbiya, an Islamic collection of tales about the prophets, Hagar was the daughter of the King of Maghreb, a descendant of the Islamic prophet Salih. Her father was killed by Pharaoh Dhu l-'arsh and she was captured and taken as slave. Later, because of her royal blood, she was made mistress of the female slaves and given access to all of Pharaoh's wealth. Upon conversion to Abraham's faith, the Pharaoh gave Hagar to Sarah who gave her to Abraham. In this account, the name "Hagar" (called Hajar in Arabic) comes from Ha ajruka (Arabic for "here is your recompense").

According to another Islamic tradition, Hagar was the daughter of the Egyptian king, who gifted her to Abraham as a wife, thinking Sarah was his sister. According to Ibn Abbas, Ishmael's birth to Hagar caused strife between her and Sarah, who was still barren. Abraham brought Hagar and their son to a land called Paran or (Faran in Arabic) which is the land surrounding Mecca, where the angel Gabriel showed him the Ka'aba. The objective of this journey was to "resettle" rather than "expel" Hagar.

The journey began in Syria, when Ishmael was still a suckling. Gabriel personally guided them on the journey (part of which took place on a winged steed). Upon reaching the site of the Kaaba, Abraham left Hagar and son Ishmael under a tree and provided them with water. Hagar, learning that God had ordered Abraham to leave her in the desert of Paran, respected his decision. Muslims believe that God ordered Abraham to leave Hagar in order to test his obedience to God's commands.

However, soon Hagar ran out of water, and baby Ishmael began to die. Hagar, according to Islamic tradition, panicked and climbed two nearby mountains repeatedly in search for water. After her seventh climb, Gabriel rescued her, pounding the ground with his staff and causing a miraculous well to spring out of the ground. This is called Zamzam Well today and is located near the Ka'aba in Mecca.

The story of Hagar's repeated attempts to find water for her son by running between the hills Safa and Marwah has developed into a Muslim rite (known as the sa`i). During the two Muslim pilgrimages (the Hajj and Umra), pilgrims are required to walk between the two hills seven times in memory of Hagar's quest for water. The rite symbolizes the celebration of motherhood in Islam, as well as leadership of the women.

To complete the rite, Muslims drink from the well of Zamzam. Muslims will often take back some of the water, regarding it as sacred, in memory of Hagar.


Hajar see Hagar
"Stranger" see Hagar
Agar see Hagar
 Ha ajruka see Hagar
"here is your recompense" see Hagar

Haidalla
Haidalla (Mohammed Khouna Ould Haidalla) (b. 1940).  Prime minister of Mauritania (1978 -1980) and president of Mauritania (1980-1984).  Haidalla was born in Beir Enzaran, Western Sahara, and received military training at St. Cyr in France, graduating as a second lieutenant in 1964.  Haidalla was a hero in Mauritania’s war against the Polisarios of the Western Sahara, who were fighting against the absorption of their territory by Mauritania and Morocco after Spain’s abandonment of the Western Sahara in 1975.

Divisiveness over the unpopular war led to the overthrow of Mauritania’s first president, Moktar Ould Daddah, in 1978.  Haidalla was first appointed defence minister and then prime minister and first vice-president under Lieutenant Colonel Moustapha Ould Salak, also serving as military chief of staff.  Salak later resigned as president and was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Louly.

In 1979, Haidalla renounced Mauritania’s territorial claims to the Western Sahara.  However, Morocco continued to lay claim to the territory, and Moroccan incursions into Mauritanian territory caused continuing conflict between the two countries.

In January 1980, Haidalla led a coup against Louly, assuming the positions of both president and prime minister.  Former president Ould Daddah was released from prison and went to France, where he formed an opposition movement.  In that year, Haidalla announced the abolition of slavery, and a compensation plan for slave owners was established.  Haidalla formed a civilian government and distributed a draft constitution permitting multiple political parties.  The constitution was abandoned in 1981 in the wake of continuing political instability caused by tensions over the Western Sahara issue and strained relations with Morocco.

In 1984, Haidalla formally recognized the political arm of the Polisarios.  This action caused increased tension in the military, which was split over the question of support for the guerrillas in the Western Sahara.  Shortly thereafter, Haidally was ousted in a bloodless coup led by Colonel Sid Ahmed Taya and placed under house arrest.  

Haidalla had been at a Franco-African Summit in Burundi and learned of the coup in Brazzaville, during his return to Mauritania, from Denis Sassou Nguesso, the president of the Republic of the Congo. Haidallah returned to Mauritania anyway and was arrested at the airport in Nouakchott. He was eventually released in December 1988. Taya promised to install democracy, but his rule was considered dictatorial by many. He was deposed by a military coup in 2005.

Haidallah was the head of state of Mauritania (Chairman of the Military Committee for National Salvation, CMSN) from January 4, 1980 to December 12, 1984. He was also an unsuccessful candidate in the 2003 presidential election and the 2007 presidential election.

Haidallah's main achievement was to make peace with the Western Saharan Polisario Front, which had been fighting Mauritania since it annexed part of the former Spanish colony in 1975. The CMSN opted for complete withdrawal from the conflict, evacuating southern Rio de Oro (which had been annexed as Tiris El Gharbiya) and recognizing the Polisario as the representative of the Sahrawi people. This led to a crisis in relations with the country's until-then ally Morocco, which had similarly annexed the remainder of Western Sahara, with Haidallah's government facing an attempted coup, troop clashes and military tension. Relations were completely severed between 1981 and 1985, when they were restored by Haidalla's successor. However, relations improved with Polisario's main regional backer, Algeria, with the Algerian government sending arms and supplies to bolster his regime. Haidalla's 1984 recognition of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR, the Polisario's government-in-exile) as a sovereign nation appears to have been one of the triggering causes for Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya's coup in 1984.

On the domestic front, Haidallah's most notable policies were the institution of Islamic sharia law in 1980-83, as well as several failed attempts to rebuild the political system shattered by the 1978 coup — first as a multi-party system, and then, after the first coup attempt against him, as a one-party state. It was also during Haidallah's rule that slavery was formally abolished in Mauritania, although the practice continues at a diminished level still today. He made a statement announcing the abolition of slavery in July 1980, and this was followed by a legal decree in November 1981. Political opponents were treated harshly, with imprisonments and those responsible for one of the failed coups against his government were executed.

After returning to Mauritania in 1984, Haidallah was held in administrative detention for several years by Ould Taya, during which time he fell sick. After his release, he stayed outside of politics until 2003, when he returned to head the opposition. He then unsuccessfully ran for president against Taya in November, campaigning on a moderately Islamist platform, whereas Taya, who had established full diplomatic ties with Israel, was considered pro-Western. Haidallah officially came in second with about 19% of the vote, although he alleged fraud; he was arrested immediately after the election, accused of plotting a coup. Haidallah had also been briefly detained just prior to the vote. On December 28, 2003 he received a five-year suspended sentence and, therefore, was set free, but barred from politics for five years. An appeals court confirmed this sentence in April 2004. Also, in April, his supporters attempted to register a political party, the Party for Democratic Convergence.

Haidalla was arrested again on November 3, 2004, accused of involvement in coup plots. The prosecutor sought a five-year prison sentence, but he was acquitted on February 3, 2005 at the end of a mass trial of 195 people.

Following a military coup against Taya in August 2005, an amnesty in early September freed Haidallah from his sentence, along with more than a hundred others sentenced for political offenses. On December 27, 2006, Haidalla announced that he would be a candidate in the presidential election scheduled for March 11, 2007. He campaigned on a nationalist-islamist platform, citing the struggle against poverty and slavery as priorities. On February 3, he gained the support of another registered presidential candidate, former opposition politician and prisoner under Ould Taya, Chbih Ould Cheikh Melainine, who dropped out of the race.

However, no longer having the political base that came with being the main candidate of the opposition under Ould Taya, Haidallah was even less successful in the 2007 election, coming in tenth place and receiving 1.73% of the vote.

After the election, which was won by Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, Haidalla announced his support for Abdallahi in October 2007. However, following the the coup that ousted Abdallahi in August 2008, Haidalla expressed his support for the coup in a statement on August 29, 2008, saying that it was necessary under the circumstances and urging all Mauritanians to support it. He also criticized the negative reactions of Western governments to the coup, alleging that they were interfering in Mauritanian affairs.

Mohammed Khouna Ould Haidalla see Haidalla

Haidar Ali
Haidar Ali (Hyder Ali) (Haidarlī) (1721/22–1782).  Muslim ruler of Mysore, who figured prominently in the fight against British encroachment in India during the eighteenth century.  The son of a soldier, he learned the art of warfare and diplomacy in the Anglo-French wars of 1751 to 1755 and supplanted his own master, the raja Nanjaraj, in 1761.    A soldier of fortune, he soon extended his dominions over most of south India, and defeated the British Bombay army in 1768.  In the First Mysore War (1767-1769), he appeared before the gates of Madras and dictated terms to the British.   Eleven years later, during the Second Mysore War (1780-1784), he allied himself with the nizam of Hyderabad and the Marathas against the British, again fighting them successfully until they managed to split the alliance. He caused the British great embarrassment by defeating their armies and by occupying large tracts of their territories.    Haidar was then defeated at the Battle of Porto Novo (1781).  He fought on, aided by his son and successor, Tipu Sahib, but died before the war was concluded.

Today, history records that Haidar Ali enlarged the Mysore kingdom and endowed it with an efficient system of administration and a well-disciplined army.  Although occasionally allying with his enemies, Haidar Ali fought constant wars with his neighbors, the Marathas and the nizam, who remained unreconciled to his rise as a power.   Haidar Ali is best remembered as the Indian ruler who inflicted severe blows on the English and damaged their reputation as an invincible power in India.  
Ali, Haidar see Haidar Ali
Hyder Ali see Haidar Ali
Ali, Hyder see Haidar Ali
Haidarli see Haidar Ali

Ha’ik
Ha’ik (Muhammad al-Ha’ik).  An eighth century compiler of the texts of songs deriving from Andalusian Arabic music.  A great number of these texts have been transmitted orally down to the present day.
Muhammad al-Ha’ik see Ha’ik