Thursday, May 18, 2023

2023: Fadli - Faqir

 Fadli

Fadli (Mehmed Fadli) (Qara Fadli) (d.1563). Turkish poet.  He owes his fame to his mathnawi, “The Rose and the Nightingale.”  Unlike most of his contemporaries, he does not follow any particular Persian model.
Mehmed Fadli see Fadli
Qara Fadli see Fadli


Fahd
Fahd (Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud) (Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques) ( 16 March 1921 – 1 August 2005).  King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Head of the House of Saud as well as Prime Minister. One of forty-five sons of Saudi founder Ibn Saud, and the fourth of his five sons who ruled the Kingdom (Saud, Faisal, Khalid, Fahad, and Abdullah), Fahd ascended to the throne on the death of his half-brother, King Khalid, on June 13, 1982.

Fahd was born in Riyadh as the eleventh son of the founder of the Saudi kingdom, Ibn Saud.  

In 1953, Fahd was appointed minister of education.  He resigned this position in 1960.  In 1962, Fahd was appointed interior minister.  He was appointed second deputy prime minister in 1967 and first deputy prime minister in 1969.

In 1975, when Khalid ibn Abdul Aziz became king, Fahd was named crown prince.  

In 1981, Fahd introduced a plan for peace in Southwest Asia which demanded that Israel withdraw from the occupied territories and abandon all Jewish settlements in the areas.  The plan was presented to the Arab League.  

In June 1982, Fahd became king of Saudi Arabia after the death of Khalid.  Later, in September of 1982, Fahd’s peace plan was adopted as the common position of the members of the Arab League.

In August 1990, Fahd called for United States help in protection against Iraq, after the invasion of Kuwait.  

In the mid-1990's, Fahd suffered a stroke, and his health began to decline.  Crown prince Abdullah became increasingly responsible for governing the country.  In 2000, Abdullah assumed the title of regent (one who governs in place of the king).

Some of the main issues Fahd encountered as king were strong economic growth built upon income from oil exports and development of alternative sources or revenue.  His politics were friendly towards the United States.  His main opponents were Islamists in his own country and Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein.

Fahd died on August 1, 2005.  He was succeeded by his half brother Abdullah.  Fahd is credited with having modernized Saudi Arabia while guiding it through economic, political, and religious upheavals. 


Faisal
Faisal.  See Faysal.


Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Faiz Ahmad Faiz (Faiz Ahmed Faiz) (1911-1984). Pakistani poet considered to be one of the most famous modern Urdu poets, though he also wrote in Punjabi. He was born in village Kala Kader Sialkot. Now in Distt Narowal, in the Punjab during British rule (now Pakistan). Faiz was a member of the Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind (Progressive Writers' Movement), and an avowed Marxist. In 1962 he was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union

Faiz Ahmed Faiz was born in Sialkot to Sultan Fatima and he acquired his literary skills from his father.

Following the traditions of the Muslim community in South Asia, Faiz, in his early age, was sent to the Masjid (Mosque) to be oriented with the basics of religious studies by Maulvi Muhammad Ibrahim Mir Sialkoti. Later, he went to the Scotch Mission School, Sialkot, for academic education and, after matriculation, joined the Murray College, Sialkot for intermediate and graduation. He acquired his post-graduate studies from the Government College, Lahore (Master of Arts in English Literature) and the Oriental College, Lahore to achieve another masters degree in Arabic Literature.

In the 1930s Faiz Ahmed Faiz married Alys Faiz, a British woman. They had two daughters Moneeza and Salima.

Faiz started a branch of the Progressive Writers' Movement in Punjab in 1936. Faiz was also an Editor of Mahanama (Monthly) Adab-e-Lateef (1938-1942). Faiz became a lecturer in English at M. A. O. College, Amritsar in 1935 and then at Hailey College of Commerce, Lahore. He briefly joined the British Indian Army and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1944. He resigned from the Army in 1947 and returned to Lahore to become the first editor in chief of the Pakistan Times, a paper started by Mian Iftikharuddin. In 1959, he was appointed Secretary of the Pakistan Arts Council and worked in that capacity until 1962.

Returning from London in 1964 he settled down in Karachi and was appointed Principal at Abdullah Haroon College. He was editor of the monthly magazine Adabe-Latif from 1947 to 1958. Faiz distinguished himself as a journalist and was editor of the Pakistan Times, the Urdu newspaper Imroze and the weekly Lail-o-Nihar. In the 1965 war between India and Pakistan he worked in an honorary capacity in the Department of Information. In exile he acted as Editor of the magazine Lotus in Moscow, London and Beirut.

Faiz wrote poems that opposed the bloodshed occurring in what became Bangladesh during the conflict with Pakistan.

In a certain period of his life, Faiz was a communist and was associated with the Communist Party (CP) of Pakistan. Faiz spent much of the 1950s and 1960s promoting the cause of communism in Pakistan. During the time when Faiz was editor of The Pakistan Times, one of the leading newspapers of the 1950s, he lent editorial support to the CP. He was also involved in the circle lending support to military personnel. This involvement with the CP and Major General Akbar Khan's coup plan lead to his imprisonment.

Faiz was an avowed supporter of Sufism. He had close relations with several Sufi saints of his time.

Faiz was charged with complicity in a failed coup attempt known as the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case and was sentenced to four years' imprisonment in 1951. The jail term gave him a first-hand experience of the harsh realities of life, and provided him with the much-needed solitude to think and write poetry. Two of his greatest works Dast-e-Saba and Zindan-Nama were products of this period of imprisonment.

Faiz's most notable works are

    * Naqsh-e-Faryadi, 1941
    * Dast-e-Saba, 1953
    * Zindan Nama, 1956
    * Mizan, a collection of literary articles, 1956
    * Dast Tah-e-Sang, 1965
    * Sar-e-Wadi-e-Seena, 1971
    * Sham-e-Shehr-e-Yaran, 1979
    * Merey Dil Merey Musafar, 1981
    * Nuskha-Hai-Wafa, 1984 (A collective work)
    * Pakistani Culture, (Urdu and English)

Faiz was the first Asian poet to be awarded the Lenin Peace Prize, the Soviet Union's equivalent to the Nobel Prize in 1963. Other notable recipients include Pablo Neruda, Nelson Mandela, W. E. B. Du Bois, Bertolt Brecht, Fidel Castro and Nobel Prize winning Chemist Linus Pauling. Before his death in 1984, Faiz was also nominated for the Nobel Prize.

Faiz Ahmad Faiz see Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Faiz Ahmed Faiz see Faiz Ahmad Faiz


Faiz Muhammad Angar
Faiz Muhammad Angar.  Kandahar businessman and member of the Wish Zalmayan (Persian for “Awakening Youth”), a Pashtun political club.  He published the Persian/Pashtu biweekly, Angar in 1951.  However, because Angar was critical of the Afghan government, it was banned after only a few months of existence.  Nur Muhammad Taraki claimed to have contributed an article, “What Do We Want?” that was censored and led to the demise of the paper.  Angar died in the 1970's in Kandahar.  
Angar, Faiz Muhammad see Faiz Muhammad Angar.


Fakhr al-Dawla
Fakhr al-Dawla (b. c. 952 - d. October or November 997) was the Buyid amir of Jibal (976-980, 984-997), Hamadan (984-997) and Gurgan and Tabaristan (984-997). He was the second son of Rukn al-Daula.

In January of 976 Rukn al-Daula met with his eldest son, 'Adud al-Daula, who ruled in Fars. 'Adud al-Daula consented to Rukn al-Daula's request that Fakhr al-Daula be made the ruler of Ray upon his death, while Hamadan would go to a third son, Mu'ayyad al-Daula, in exchange for a promise that both of them would recognize him as senior amir. Only eight months later, Rukn al-Daula died and Fakhr al-Daula succeeded him in Ray.

Fakhr al-Daula's reign was shortened by his attempts to repudiate 'Adud al-Daula's authority over him. He allied with his cousin 'Izz al-Daula, who ruled in Baghdad and was an enemy of 'Adud al-Daula. When the latter was defeated by 'Adud al-Daula in 978, Fakhr al-Daula struck up an alliance with the Ziyarid prince Qabus and asked for support from the Samanids. Mu'ayyad al-Daula, an ally of 'Adud al-Daula, was entrusted by the senior amir to eradicate Fakhr al-Daula's power. He marched into Fakhr al-Daula's territory, forcing the latter to flee to the Ziyarids. Mu'ayyad al-Daula continued his campaign, however, causing both Fakhr al-Daula and Qabus to seek refuge in Samanid Khurasan. Mu'ayyad al-Daula then ruled Ray as 'Adud al-Daula's subordinate.

The deaths of 'Adud al-Daula in 983 and Mu'ayyad al-Daula in 984 gave Fakhr al-Daula the chance to recover his inheritance. Mu'ayyad al-Daula's vizier, Sahib ibn 'Abbad, held a gathering of the army in Gurgan and convinced it to accept Fakhr al-Daula as his late master's successor. Fakhr al-Daula, who was still in Khurasan, traveled to Gurgan, where he was proclaimed amir. This second ascension resulted in him actually possessing more territory than he had owned before his expulsion in 980. In addition to Ray, he now controlled Mu'ayyad al-Daula's holdings of Hamadan, as well as the formerly Ziyarid lands of Gurgan and Tabaristan. Taking the title of Shâhanshâh, he made Sahib ibn 'Abbad his vizier, and took his advice not to restore Qabus to his former territory.

Fakhr al-Daula managed to gain recognition as senior amir by Taj al-Daula and Diya' al-Daula, who had in the years following 'Adud al-Daula's death become the rulers of Khuzestan and Basra respectively. This diplomatic success was of little consequence, however, as the two princes were relatively minor and were forced to seek refuge in Ray when Sharaf al-Daula, who ruled in Fars, expelled them from their provinces. At the same time, Fakhr al-Daula attempted to gain a footing in Samanid Khurasan, by supporting the Turkish rebel Tash in his attempts to recover the governorship of that province. This support did not help him, however, as he was defeated and forced to flee to Gurgan at the end of 987. Fakhr al-Daula made him the governor of Gurgan, where Tash died in 988.

Sharaf al-Daula, who had united Fars and Iraq in 987, had died in 988 and left his brother Baha' al-Daula his empire. Another brother, Samsam al-Daula, seized Fars, Kerman and Khuzestan, depriving Baha' al-Daula of those areas. Fakhr al-Daula attempted to take advantage of their rivalry by invading Khuzestan, with the goal of cutting off Iraq from Fars. This action failed due to the rough terrain and climate, and succeeded only in uniting the two brothers against him.

This threat did not last, however, as Samsam al-Daula and Sharaf al-Daula eventually resumed hostilities against each other. Only a few years later, Samsam al-Daula recognized Fakhr al-Daula as senior amir in an effort to secure his increasingly weak position. This marked the height of Fakhr al-Daula's power. In addition to his own territories, he now had authority over Samsam al-Daula, who ruled Fars, Kerman, Khuzestan, and Oman.

Now the ruler of all of Buyid Iran, Fakhr al-Daula, with the support of his vizier Sahib ibn 'Abbad, decided to undertake a campaign to seize Khurasan from the Samanids. In 994 or 995, he invaded the province, but was to ultimately prove unsuccessful. Mahmud, the son of the Ghaznavid ruler Sebük Tigin, had been appointed by the Samanids as governor of Khurasan, causing the Ghaznavids to support the defense against the invasion. Despite his large amount of forces, Fakhr al-Daula was forced to retreat.

In 995, Sahib ibn 'Abbad died. The vizier had played an important part in maintaining Fakhr al-Daula's grip on Buyid Iran, and his loss was unfortunate. In 997, Fakhr al-Daula died. His eldest son, Majd al-Daula, succeeded him in Ray, while his younger son, Shams al-Daula, succeeded him in Hamadan. Due to their youth, Fakhr al-Daula's wife, the "Sayyida", assumed the regency. Fakhr al-Daula's death marked the beginning of the decline of the Buyids in northern Iran. Shortly afterwards, Qabus managed to restore Ziyarid rule to Gurgan and Tabaristan.


Fakhr al-Din I
Fakhr al-Din I (d. 1544). Druze amir of the Banu Ma‘n, and the ruler of the Shuf in Lebanon.


Fakhr al-Din II
Fakhr al-Din II (Fakhr al-Din II ibn Qurqumaz) (Fakhr-al-Din the Great) (Fakhreddine II) (1572–April 13, 1635).  Lebanese prince, son of Prince Qurqumaz from the Maan Druze dynasty and Princess Nassab. Grandson of Fakhr al-Din I.  Fakhr-al-Din (r.1591-1635) is considered one of the most powerful sovereigns to rule Mount Lebanon in the Early Modern period.

Born in Baakline, after the assassination of his father Korkomaz by the Ottomans, he was raised in the Lebanese village of Ballouneh by Sheikh Ibrahim Abou Sakr, a prominent Christian (Maronite Catholic) from the feudal Khazen clan. His childhoold in Ballouneh fostered his belief in the diversity and pluralism of Lebanon.

Fakhr-al-Din worked on freeing Lebanon from Ottoman occupation, by uniting the different Lebanese lords behind him (Chehab, Harfouch, Hobeiche, Khazen…etc) and crushing all those in opposition (Sifa, Freich, etc.), taking control of their land, and uniting Lebanon's different regions under his authority.

In 1608, Fakhr-al-Din forged an alliance with the Italian duchy of Tuscany.

Fakhr-al-Din's popularity and nationalist ideology scared the Ottomans who gave authority for Ahmad El-Hafez, lord of Damascus, and an enemy of Fakhr-al-Din, to mount an attack on Lebanon in 1613, in collaboration with Youssif Sifa, in order to reduce Fakhr-al-Din's growing power.

Facing Hafez's army of 50,000 men, and with his Lebanese allies unfit for fighting, Fakhr-al-Din chose exile to Italy where in Tuscany he was received by the Medici Family, leaving the state in the hands of his brother Younes and his son Ali. However, Fakhr-al-Din's exile did not prevent the Lebanese army from refusing surrender to Hafez's army, thus maintaining its positions while the military operations raged. Until Prince Younes managed through negotiations and persuasion to bring an end to the killings, securing Hafez's army's retreat.

In Tuscany, Fakhr-al-Din was welcomed by the grand duke Cosimo II, who housed him through his stay. Fakhr-al-Din had wished to plan military operations with Tuscan cooperation to free Lebanon, but was met with a refusal since Tuscany was unable to afford such an expedition, and the prince soon gave up that idea, realizing eventually that such cooperation would only subject Lebanon to new occupation. His stay in Italy at the time though allowed him to explore the era of European cultural revival in the 17th century.

In 1618, political changes in the Ottoman sultanate resulted in the removal of many enemies of Fakhr-al-Din from power, signaling the prince's triumphant return to Lebanon soon afterwards.  Upon his return to Lebanon, he was able quickly to reunite all the lands of Lebanon beyond the boundaries of its mountains.  Having revenge on Youssif Sifa, Fakhr al-Din attacked his stronghold in Akkar, destroying his palaces and taking control of his lands.  Fakhr thereby regained the territories he had to give up in 1613 in Saida, Tripoli, Bekaa among others, and created the greater Lebanon which prospered economically and culturally. Under his rule, printing presses were introduced and Jesuit priests and Catholic nuns encouraged to open schools throughout the land.

In 1623, the prince was betrayed by the Harfouch lords who made arrangements with Mustapha Pasha, Lord of Damascus, to launch an attack against him.  At a battle at Majdel Anjar. Fakhr-al-Din's forces, although outnumbered, managed to capture Pacha and secure for the Lebanese prince and his allies a much needed military victory.

In 1624, Fakhr-al-Din earned his nickname Sultan Al Bar ("Emperor of Land"), given to him by the Turkish sultan who also gave him authority to control large regions of the western levant, extending from Aleppo in the north to Jerusalem in the south. This would not have occurred but for the prince's diplomatic skills in his relations with the sultan.

However, as time passed, the Ottomans seemed uncomfortable with the prince's increasing powers and extended relations with Europe. The promise they had made to the Medici family, regarding the Prince of Lebanon, was ignored. In 1632, Ahmad Koujak was named Lord of Damascus, being a rival of Fakhr-al-Din and a friend of Sultan Murad IV, who ordered Koujak and the sultanate's navy to attack Lebanon and depose Fakhr-al-Din. This time, the prince had decided to remain in Lebanon and resist the offensive, but the death of his son Ali in Wadi el-Taym was the beginning of his defeat. He later took refuge in Jezzine's grotto, closely followed by Koujak who eventually caught up with him and his family.

Fakhr-al-Din finally traveled to Turkey, appearing before the sultan, defending himself so skillfully that the sultan gave him permission to return to Lebanon.

Later though, the sultan changed orders and had Fakhr-al-Din and his family killed on April 13, 1635, in Istanbul, the capital city of the Ottoman Empire, bringing an end to possibly one of the greatest eras in the history of Lebanon, a country which would not regain its natural and current boundaries that Fakhr-al-Din once ruled until Lebanon was proclaimed a republic in 1920.

Fakhr al-Din II ibn Qurqumaz see Fakhr al-Din II
Fakhr-al-Din the Great see Fakhr al-Din II
Fakhreddine II see Fakhr al-Din II

Sultan Al Bar see Fakhr al-Din II
"Emperor of Land" see Fakhr al-Din II


Fakhreddin
Fakhreddin (Rizaeddin Fakhreddin) (1859-1936). Volga-Ural Muslim religious scholar and reformist.  One of the most prominent Muslims of the Volga-Ural region of the Russian empire, Fakhreddin was born on January 17, 1859, in Kichu Chati village in Samara guberniya, the son of Sayfetdin, the village mullah, and Mahuba, the daughter of Ramkol Maksud, imam of Iske Ishtirak village.  It is remarkable that Fakhreddin, an outstanding Islamic scholar, educator, writer, and journalist, was a product of Tatar village madrasahs and never attended school in Kazan or Bukhara.  He studied first at his father’s madrasah but at the age of seven went to study at neighboring villages, ultimately spending ten years at Tuban Chirshili studying Islamic theology, jurisprudence, Arabic, Farsi, and Turkish, while also learning Russian on his own.  He was an avid reader in all these languages and never missed an opportunity to buy books from the itinerant book merchants who frequented Tatar villages.  The library he began to accumulate was further enriched by copies of books he copied by hand.

Upon graduating from the madrasah in 1889, Fakhreddin was appointed imam in the village of Ilbak where, in addition to providing religious guidance to the community, he also taught at the madrasah.  By the time of this appointment, however, Fakhreddin had already attracted the attention of leading scholars such as Shakhabaddin Merjani by publishing works including an Arabic grammar (Kitaba-at-tas’riyf – 1887), a text on methodology (At-tokhfat al-Anisiya – 1887), a book of jurisprudence (Kitaba mokaddima – 1889), and one on social issues (Kitaba ig’tiraf – 1889).  

In 1891, Fakhreddin left Ilbak and moved to Ufa, having been elected a kazi (“judge”) and member of the Religious Board of the Muslims (Muftiat).   This move launched the “first Ufa period” (1891-1906) of his life, characterized by impressive productivity and breadth in his writings.  When Fakhreddin assumed the duties of a kazi, the Muftiat had been in existence for more than a hundred years.  Its rich archives, however, had never been organized, and he began compiling a systematic catalog of its holdings.  He also made copies of those archival materials that interested him most for his personal library.  Energized by the wealth of information that surrounded him in the Muftiat archives and by the ongoing discourse concerning the reasons for the backwardness of Muslims of the Russian empire, Fakhreddin entered a most productive period of his life, marked by the publication of literary works and studies on religion, social issues, and pedagogy, as well as contributions to major Muslim newspapers such as Terjuman, Vaqt, and Sharkiy Rus.

In 1906, Fakhreddin resigned from the Muftiat and moved to Orenburg to become editor of the newspaper Vaqt, a leading forum of Muslim reformism, to which he also contributed under the pseudonym Murat.  In January 1908, he became the chief editor of the bi-monthly journal Shura, retaining that position until the end of 1917, when the last of the journal’s 240 issues appeared.  Fakhreddin chose the name of the journal, meaning “council, forum,” and he acknowledged his intention of opening its pages to all those “interested in bringing science and education to their people.”  Fakhreddin’s own contribution to Shura amounted to some seven hundred pieces ranging from articles on the history of the Turkic peoples, to essays on the social, cultural, political life of the Tatars, to profiles of famous Western and Muslim thinkers.

Fakhreddin welcomed with hope the February 1917 revolution with its promises of liberty for all but watched with anxiety the coming to power of the Bolsheviks in October 1917.  When the first post-revolutionary All-Russian Muslim Congress met in May 1917, Fakhreddin was elected kazi in absentia and in January 1918 moved to Ufa to begin his work at the Muftiat.  This new assignment inaugurated his “second Ufa period” (1918-1936).  In 1922, he was elected mufti and as the head of the Religious Board of the Muslims embarked upon the most difficult period of his life, marked by the twin tragedies of personal poverty and imprisonment and the oppression of Muslim communities under the anti-religious policies of the Soviet government.  He died in Ufa on April 11, 1936, at the age of seventy-seven, leaving a rich legacy as a religious scholar, writer, journalist, and foremost spokesman for the movement of Muslim reformism.  

Fakhreddin published some sixty books and seven hundred articles; he left many unpublished works comprising some forty volumes of manuscript on scraps of paper, since during the last years of his life he lived in such poverty that he was forced to sell some of his books in order to buy bread.  Many of Fakhreddin’s works were so widely read that they were published in ten or twelve editions.  Fakhreddin’s books fall into the following categories:  Islamic history and the history of the Turkic peoples; biographies of famous Muslims; Muslim reformism, education, and curricular reform; enlightenment, women, and the Muslim family; theology, jurisprudence, the Qur’an and the hadith; and social and political issues among Russian Muslims.

Fakhreddin’s thought developed under three equally important influences – Shaykh Merjani, Isma’il Gasprali (Gasprinskii), and Jamal al-Afghani.  Like Merjani, he valued the importance of education, science, and the Russian language.  Fakhreddin accepted only what was scientifically sound and ethically moral, but he always extended tolerance and respect to other people’s ideas.  From Gasprali he acquired the idea of the racial and cultural unity of the Turkic peoples, but he rejected political Pan-Turkism while advocating “social unity” for the Turkic peoples.  Al-Afghani’s emphasis on the need to reconcile Islam and modernity in order to defend the Islamic world against the encroachments of the West appealed to Fakhreddin, who as a Volga-Ural Muslim had experienced at first hand the meaning of Russian encroachment.

The importance of Fakhreddin’s religious writings rests in his emphasis on the integrative capacity of Islam, his restatement of the shari‘a as an all-inclusive concept that integrates the legal and the spiritual into one religious whole, and his advocacy of the codification of Muslim legal practices in Russia.  He advocated reform of the Muslim religious administration to enhance the position of the Religious Board and placing the mufti under its control.  Moreover, he emphasized the importance of having the mufti elected by the community on the basis of his competence in religious and secular sciences rather than accepting the nominee of the Russian government.  Fakhreddin also considered it necessary that the Muftiat supervise Muslim schools and devise a centralized curriculum for them.  His emphasis on ijtihad (creative interpretation of dogma) and on education as a weapon against economic backwardness and political encroachment were perhaps Fakhreddin’s most enduring legacies to the Muslims of the Russian empire.   

 
Rizaeddin Fakhreddin see Fakhreddin


Fakhri
Fakhri (d. c. 1618). Turkish silhouette-cutter.  The art of silhouette cutting was brought from Persia to Turkey in the sixteenth century, and to the west in the seventeenth century.


Fakhr-i Mudabbir
Fakhr-i Mudabbir (Fakhri Mudabbir) (d. c. 1236).  Persian author in India.  He is known for his extensive genealogical tables, extending from the Prophet to the Ghurids, and for his treatise on kingship and statecraft and a rather idealized consideration of the art of war. 


Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (May 13, 1905 - February 11, 1977).  Fifth president of India (r.1974-1977) and the second Muslim to hold that office.  Born in Delhi and educated in England, Ahmed joined the Congress party rather than the Muslim League upon returning to India and was first elected to the Assam state legislature in 1935.  For most of the next 30 years, Ahmed served in various state ministerial and legal posts.  In 1966, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi included Ahmed in her first cabinet.  Gandhi then secured Ahmed’s election to the presidency in 1974.  In return, Ahmed remained a loyal ally who implemented Gandhi’s emergency rule of 1975-1977.  Ahmed died just before Gandhi’s fall from power in 1977.  

Ahmed was born on May 13, 1905, in Delhi, India, to Colonel Zalnur Ali Ahmed and Ruqqaiya Sultan, the daughter of the Nawab of Loharu, Aizz-uddin Ahmad Khan (r. 1920-1926).  He was educated at Saint Stephen's College and Saint Catharine's College, Cambridge, and subsequently became an active member of the Congress Party. Picked for the presidency by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974, he became the second Muslim to be elected President. He would later use his constitutional authority as head of state to allow her to rule by decree once emergency rule was proclaimed in 1975. He died in office.

He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Pristina, in Kosovo in 1975, during his visit to Yugoslavia.

Ahmed, Fakhruddin Ali see Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed


fakir
fakir (in Arabic, faqir – “poor man”) was the term used to describe a member of any of the Muslim mendicant orders and, by extension, a member of one of the mendicant Hindu orders of India.  As applied specifically to Muslim devotees, the term is used synonymously  with "dervish."  Many fakirs pass their lives as itinerant beggars and preachers, although most Hindu fakirs live under the strictest monastic regimen, devoting themselves to meditation and prayer and practicing the severest forms of asceticism.

A certain class of fakirs, whose only connection with the genuine religious orders is a claim to sanctity, practice such mortifications of the flesh as lying on beds of nails, and perform tricks of sleight of hand, hypnotism, and ventriloquism to promote the collection of alms.  In many regions they are held to be unrivaled in the arts of magic, sorcery, and jugglery.  This type of fakir inspired the use of the term synonymous with “swindler” or “trickster” by confusion with “faker.”  
faqir see fakir
“poor man” see fakir


Falih Rifqi Atay
Falih Rifqi Atay (Falih Rifki Atay) (b. 1894, Istanbul - d. March 20, 1971, Istanbul).  Turkish writer, journalist and politician.  He was a great master of modern Turkish prose.


Atay, Falih Rifqi see Falih Rifqi Atay
Falih Rifki Atay see Falih Rifqi Atay
Atay, Falih Rifki see Falih Rifqi Atay


Fallata
Fallata.  Although strictly signifying the Fulani, the term Fallata is used for Muslim immigrants from the western Sudan, and in particular for those from northern Nigeria.


Faqih, Asad Mansur al-

Sheik Asad Mansur al-Faqih (1909 - April 2, 1988) was the first Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States. 


Sheik Faqih was a delegate to the founding conference of the United Nations in 1945, where he signed the charter on behalf of Saudi Arabia. He was appointed Ambassador to the United States later that year. He served simultaneously as Ambassador to Canada and Mexico and was his country's delegate to the United Nations from 1946 to 1955. He established Saudi embassies in China and Japan and served as chief inspector of diplomatic missions. He retired as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in 1963.

Sheik Faqih was also his country's Chief Justice and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and played a key role in maintaining strong Saudi ties with the Allies during World War II.

A resident of the United States after 1984, Sheik Faqih died of prostate cancer on April 2, 1988 at his home in Walnut Creek, Calif. He was 79 years old.  He was survived by his wife, Yacout; seven children, Aida Abi-Mershed of London, Selma Hassen, Saniya Hamady and Zuheir al-Faqih of Washington, and Dr. Khaled al-Faqih, Ghida Heaps and Mrs. Hoda Cox of Walnut Creek; 20 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.


Faqir of Ipi
Faqir of Ipi (Mirza Ali Khan) (1897-1960).  Pathan mullah and agitator along the Northwestern Frontier of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent.

Faqir of Ipi (born Mirza Ali Khan) was a Pashtun from today's North-Waziristan Pakistan, Federally Administrated Tribal Areas. The Tribal Areas was partially administrated by British India, but was never ruled completely by the English in India. Tribal Areas had unique status of partially independent area. Faqir's followers addressed him as ‘Haji Sahib' (or "Respected Pilgrim"). The village of Ipi is located near Mirali Camp in North Waziristan Agency, Waziristan, from where the Faqir of Ipi started his self styled Jihad against the British government. He waged a highly effective guerrilla warfare against the British Empire throughout the 1930s and 1940s until the British departure in 1947. At one point nearly 40,000 British and Indian troops were reported to be in the field trying to capture him, while he succeeding in evading the tight net surrounding him. His own force of armed tribesmen, probably not exceeding one thousand men, armed with rifles and a few machine-guns, and occasionally one or two pieces of antiquated cannon were fielded against this much larger British army equipped with modern artillery, tanks and aircraft. The Faqir of Ipi was always short of ammunition, had no radio communication, and relied upon a traditional network of informants and messengers for his intelligence while the British had much more sophisticated communications and intelligence capabilities developed in World War II.

Faqir of Ipi was born Mirza Ali Khan in 1897 in Shankai Kairta, which is located near Khajuri Post in North Waziristan Agency. His family was from the Bangal Khel clan of the Haibati Madda Khel section of the Tori Khel Wazirs, which belongs to the greater Utmanzai branch concentrated in North Waziristan. His father was a religious man, named Arsala Khan. Mirza first went to religious schools on the British side of the border, and eventually, to a place near Jalalabad, where he became a Murid (pupil) of the Naqib of Chaharbagh, at the time the most famous and influential religious leader in Afghanistan. In 1923 Mirza Ali Khan performed the Hajj in Mecca and thereafter settled down in the village of Ipi, situated near the British military road connecting Bannu and Razmak. He was known as a peaceful, religious preacher. There he gradually acquired the reputation of saintliness among the clan of Daurs, but not attracting as yet the attention of the authorities as a potential agitator.

In March 1936, however, came the turning point in the Faqir's career. The incident was the trial case of the so-called 'Islam Bibi',the crisis was triggered by the conversion and marriage of a 15-year-old Hindu girl Ram Kori, named and known as Islam Bibi, to a Pashtun school teacher Syed Amir Noor Ali Shah of Bannu. A minor girl still, the British Resident of Waziristan and the Brigade Commander Bannu applied strong political pressure on the Torikhel and Madda Khel Waziris for the release of the girl. The next morning, two companies of Tochi Scouts surrounded the village holding Islam Bibi, and a flight of fully armed RAF Audaxes circled overhead in a show of force. The tribal elders acceded to the Political Agent's plea to allow Islam Bibi to declare her decision in front of a Jirga comprising both sides. Before such a Jirga could be arranged, however, the Deputy Commissioner of Bannu, with the concurrence of the NWFP Government, somehow managed to whisk Islam Bibi and her parents away into the interior of the Punjab.

The school teacher was accused of abduction and arrested. The case reached the court in Bannu city 'amid a blaze of publicity.' The trial magistrate found no evidence to suggest that Islam Bibi left her home under compulsion.

Noor Ali Shah's claim to the girl's custody was dismissed as he could not prove 'legal marriage'. He received two years imprisonment for abduction. This verdict proved the trigger for the Faqir.

The verdict 'enraged' the Muslims - especially the Daur tribesmen, Faqir Ipi's kinsmen, the Daur Maliks and mullahs left the Tochi for the Khaisora Valley to the south to rouse the Torikhel Waziris. The enraged tribesmen mustered two large lashkars 10,000 strong and battled the Bannu Brigade, with heavy casualties on both sides. Widespread lawlessness erupted as tribesmen blocked roads, overran outposts and ambushed convoys. The British retaliated by sending two columns converging in the Khaisora river valley. They suppressed the agitation by imposing fines and by destroying the houses of the ringleaders, including that of the Faqir of Ipi. However, the pyrrhic nature of the victory and the subsequent withdrawal of the troops was credited by the Wazirs to be a manifestation of the Faqir's miraculous powers. He succeeded in inducing a semblance of tribal unity, as the British noticed with dismay, among various sections of Tori Khel Wazirs, the Mahsuds and the Bhittannis. He cemented his position as religious leader by declaring a Jihad against the British. This move also helped rally support from Afghan tribesman across the border.

Soon after the campaign a general uprising broke out throughout Waziristan, realising the futility of confronting the British Army directly especially with their advantage of airpower tribesmen switched to guerrilla warfare. In one attack alone a British convoy of 200 heavy vehicles, escorted by 6 armored cars, was ambushed and wiped out in a narrow defile at Shahpur Tangi. Squadrons of the two air forces (RAF and RIAF) tried many tactics including scorched earth retaliation involving the burning of standing crops with jerry can petrol bombs and the killing of cattle with strafing attacks. This situation continued till Indian independence and the creation of Pakistan in 1947.

During World War II, till as late as 1942, extensive efforts were made by Germany and Italy to ally with the Faqir and organize a full scale tribal uprising against the British. Support included money, weaponry and propaganda. The assistance was limited because of the obvious difficulties in supply and communication. These efforts were followed up primarily by the Italians as the Germans believed a British defeat was inevitable at that stage. However with the advent of the USSR in the war, pressure was put on Afghanistan to halt German and Italian infiltration of the tribal areas.

The creation of Pakistan in 1947 significantly dulled the Faqir's insurgency. As the Government was Muslim led, the religious grounds for the insurgency had been lost. This did not stop the Faqir from causing problems for the Pakistani government until his death. On 4 November 4, 1954 his Commander in Chief, Mehar Dil, surrendered himself personally to the Deputy Commissioner Bannu, and this, in effect, brought the Waziristan insurrection to an end.

The Faqir of Ipi died at night on April 16, 1960. A long term sufferer of asthma during his last days, he became so sick that it was not possible for him to walk for a few steps. People from far away often used to come and see him and ask for his blessing. His funeral prayers or Namaz-I-Janaza was held at Gurwaikht led by Maulavi Pir Rehman. Thousands of people from different places came for his Namaz-I-Janaza. He was buried at Gurwaikht.


Mirza Ali Khan see Faqir of Ipi
Haji Sahib see Faqir of Ipi
Respected Pilgrim see Faqir of Ipi

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