Wednesday, September 27, 2023

2023: Yunfa - Yusuf

 


Yunfa
Yunfa (d. 1808).  Ruler of the Hausa kingdom of Gobir (r. c.1801-c.1808).  Tradition says that, in his youth, Yunfa was tutored by ‘Uthman, then a resident of Gobir.  When Yunfa’s father, the ruler of Gobir died, ‘Uthman rallied support for Yunfa against his cousins.  Yunfa soon came to fear ‘Uthman because of his immense popularity and the Muslim threat to traditional authority, and Yunfa may have attempted to assassinate him.  He banished the Fula leader to Gudu, in a distant part of the kingdom.  ‘Uthman attracted a large following which further frightened Yunfa, who attacked ‘Uthman in 1804.  The war continued until the final Muslim victory at Alkalawa in 1808, when Yunfa was killed.  The battles marked the beginning of ‘Uthman’s jihad (holy war) which swept through the Hausa states.

Yunfa was a king of the Hausa city-state of Gobir in what is now Nigeria. He is particularly remembered for his conflict with Islamic reformer Usman (Uthman) dan Fodio.

Nephew and designated heir of Bawa, Yunfa appears to have been taught by Fulani religious leader Usman dan Fodio as a young man. Though dan Fodio helped Yunfa succeed Nafata to the throne in 1801, the two soon came into conflict over dan Fodio's proposed religious reforms. Fearing dan Fodio's growing power, Yunfa summoned him and attempted to assassinate him in person.  However, Yunfa's pistol backfired and wounded him in the hand. The following year, Yunfa expelled dan Fodio and his followers from their hometown of Degel.

Dan Fodio soon called for help from other Fulani nomad groups and declared himself the imam of a new caliphate in jihad against Gobir. A widespread uprising soon began across Hausaland, and in 1804, Yunfa appealed to rulers of neighboring city-states for aid. In December of that year, Yunfa won a major victory in the Battle of Tsuntua, in which Dan Fodio's forces were said to have lost 2,000 men, 200 of whom knew the Qur'an by heart.

However, dan Fodio soon launched a successful campaign against Kebbi and established a permanent base at Gwandu. In October 1808, the jihadists seized the Gobir capital of Alkalawa and killed Yunfa.

Yunus al-Katib
Yunus al-Katib (al-Mughanni).  Musician and writer on music in the eighth century.  He is mentioned in the Thousand-and-One Nights and composed verses extolling the beauty of Zaynab bint ‘Ikrima ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman, which became the rage under the name of Zayanib.

Katib, Yunus al- see Yunus al-Katib
Mughanni, al- see Yunus al-Katib


Yusuf ibn Tashfin
Yusuf ibn Tashfin (Yunus ibn Tashufin). Sanhaja Berber who was the first independent ruler of the Almoravids (r.1061-1106).  In 1062, he founded Marrakesh as his capital.  After Toledo had fallen to Alphonso VI of Castile in 1085, he was summoned by the Muluk al-Tawa’if to save Islam in the Iberian Peninsula.  He defeated Alphonso in the battle of Zallaqa in 1086 and suppressed almost all the Tawa’if.

Yusuf ibn Tashfin was a king of the Berber Almoravid empire in North Africa and Al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia).

Yusuf ibn Tashfin emerged from a line of military rulers. Abu Bakr ibn Umar, one of the original disciples of Ibn Yasin, a natural leader of Sanjaha extraction who served as a spiritual liaison for followers of the Maliki school of thought, was appointed general after the death of his brother Yahya ibn Ibrahim. His brother oversaw the military for Ibn Yasin but was killed in a Saharan revolt in 1056. Ibn Yasin, too, would die in battle with the Barghawata three years later. Abu-Bakr was an able general, taking the fertile Sūs and its capital Aghmāt a year after his brother's death, and would go on to suppress numerous revolts in the Sahara himself, on one such occasion delegating permanent governorship of Sus and thus the whole of his northern provinces to his pious cousin Yusuf, who had received such authority in the interim; even going so far as to giving him his wife, Zaynab an-Nafzawiyyat, purportedly the richest woman of Aghmat. This sort of trust and favor on part of a seasoned veteran and savvy politician reflected the general esteem in which Yusuf was held, not to mention the power he attained as a military figure in his absence. Daunted by Yusuf's newfound power, Abu Bakr saw any attempts at recapturing his post politically unfeasible and returned to the fringes of the Sahara to settle the unrest of the southern frontier.

In the year 1091 the last sovereign king of al-Andalusia, al-Mu'tamid, saw his Abbadid-inherited taifa of Seville, controlled since 1069, in jeopardy of being taken by the increasingly stronger king of Castile-León, Alfonso VI. The Taifa period followed the demise of the Umayyad Caliphate. Previously, the emir launched a series of aggressive attacks on neighboring kingdoms to garner more territory for himself.  However, his military aspirations and capabilities paled in comparison to the Castilian king, who in the name of Christendom, in 1085, captured a culturally refined Toledo and induced parias, or tribute, from proud Muslim princes in places like Granada, al-Mu'tamid of Seville being no exception. The tribute of the emirs bolstered the economy of the Christian kingdom. These are the circumstances that led to the Almoravid conquest.

Yusuf was an effective general and administrator, evidenced by his ability to organize and maintain the loyalty of the hardened desert warriors and the territory of Abu Bakr, as well as his ability to expand the empire, cross the Atlas Mountains onto the plains of Morocco, reaching the Mediterranean and capturing Fez in 1075, Tangier in 1079, Tlemcen in 1080, Ceuta in 1083, as well as Algiers, Ténès and Oran in 1082-83. He is regarded as the co-founder of the famous Moroccan city Marrakech (in Berber Murakush, corrupted to Morocco in English). The site had been chosen and work started by Abu Bakr in 1070. The work was completed by Yusuf, who then made it the capital of his empire, in place of the former capital Aghmāt. By the time Abu Bakr died in 1087, after a skirmish in the Sahara as result of a poison arrow, Yusuf had crossed over into al-Andalus and also achieved victory at the Battle of az-Zallaqah, also known as the Battle of Sagrajas in the west. He came to al-Andalus with a force of 15,000 men, armed with javelins, daggers, most of his soldiers carried two swords, shields, cuirass of the finest leather and animal hide, as well as drummers for psychological combat. Yusuf's cavalry was said to have included 6,000 shock troops from Senegal mounted on white Arabian horses. Camels were also put to use. On October 23, 1086, the Almoravid forces, accompanied by 10,000 Andalusian fighters from local Muslim provinces, decisively checked the Reconquista, defeating the largest Christian army ever assembled up to that point. The death of Yusuf's heir, however, prompted his speedy return to Africa.

When Yusuf returned to al-Andalus in 1090, he saw the lax behavior of the taifa kings, both spiritually and militarily, as a breach of Islamic law and principles, and left Africa with the express purpose of usurping the power of all the Muslim principalities, under the auspices of the Abbasid caliph of Baghdad, who he had shared correspondence with and under the shibboleth "The spreading of righteousness, the correction of injustice and the abolition of unlawful taxes." The emirs in such cities as Seville, Badajoz, Almeria and Granada had grown accustomed to the extravagant ways of the east. On top of doling out tribute to the Christians and giving Andalusian Jews unprecedented freedoms and authority, they had levied burdensome taxes on the populace to maintain this lifestyle. After a series of fatwas and careful deliberation, Yusuf saw the implementation of orthodoxy as long overdue. That year he exiled the emirs 'Abd Allah and his brother Tamim from Granada and Málaga, respectively, to Aghmat, and a year later al-Mutamid of Seville would suffer the same fate. When all was said and done, Yusuf united all of the Muslim dominions of the Iberian Peninsula, with the exception of Zaragoza, to the Kingdom of Morocco, and situated his royal court at Marrakech. He took the title of amir al-muslimin (Prince of the Muslims), seeing himself as humbly serving the caliph of Baghdad, but for all intents and purposes he was considered the caliph of the western Islamic empire. The military might of the Almoravids was at its peak.

The Sanhaja confederation, which consisted of a hierarchy of Lamtuna, Musaffa and Djudalla Berbers, represented the military's top brass. Amongst them were Andalusian Christians and heretic Africans, taking up duties as diwan al-gund, Yusuf's own personal bodyguard; including 2,000 black horsemen, whose tasks also included registering soldiers and making sure they were compensated financially. The occupying forces of the Almoravids were made up largely of horsemen, totaling no less than 20,000. Into the major cities of al-Andalus, Seville (7,000), Granada (1,000), Cordoba (1,000), 5,000 bordering Castile and 4,000 in western Andalusia, succeeding waves of horsemen in conjunction with the garrisons that had been left there after the Battle of Sagrajas, made responding, for the Taifa emirs, difficult. Soldiers on foot used bows and arrows, sabres, pikes, javelins, each protected by a cuirass of Moroccan leather and iron piked shields. During the siege of the fort-town Aledo, in Murcia, captured by the Spaniard Garcia Giménez previously, Almoravid and Andalusian hosts are said to have used catapults, in addition to their customary drum beat. Yusuf also established naval bases in Cadiz, Almeria and neighboring ports along the Mediterranean. Ibn-Maymun, the governor of Almeria, had a fleet at his disposal. Another such example is the Banu-Ganiya fleet based off the Balearic Islands that dominated the affairs of the western Mediterranean for much of the 12th century.

Although the Almoravids had not gained much in the way of territory from the Christians, rather they merely offset the Reconquista, Yusuf did succeed in capturing Valencia. A city divided between Muslims and Christians, under the waffling rule of a petty emir paying tribute to the Christians, including the famous El Cid, Valencia proved to be an obstacle for the Almoravid military, despite their untouchable reputation. Abu Bakr ibn Ibrahim ibn Tashfin and Yusuf's nephew Abu 'Abdullah Muhammad both failed in defeating the El Cid. Yusuf then sent Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali al-Hajj but he was not successful either. In 1097, upon his fourth trip to al-Andalus, Yusuf sought to personally dig down and fight the armies of Alfonso VI, making way toward the all but abandoned, yet historically important, Toledo. Such a concerted effort was meant to draw the Christian forces, including those laying siege to Valencia, into the center of Iberia. On August 15, 1097, the Almoravids delivered yet another blow to Alfonso's forces, a battle in which El Cid's son was killed.

Muhammad ibn 'A'isha, Yusuf's son, who he had appointed governor of Murcia, succeeded in delivering an effective pounding to the El Cid's personnel at Alcira. Still not capturing the city, but satisfied with the results of his campaigns, Yusuf left for his court at Marrakesh only to return two years later on a new effort to take the provinces of eastern Andalusia. El Cid had died in the same year, 1099, and his wife, Jimena, had been ruling until the coming of another Almoravid campaign at the tail end of 1100, led by Yusuf's trusted lieutenant Mazdali ibn Banlunka. After a seven-month siege, Alfonso and Jimena, hopeless to the prospects of staving off the Almoravids, set fire to the great mosque in anger and abandoned the city. Yusuf had finally conquered Valencia and exerted complete dominance over the east of al-Andalus, now unquestionably the most powerful ruler in western Europe. He receives mention in the Spanish epic Poema del Cid, also known as El Cantar del Mio Cid, the oldest of its kind.

A wise and shrewd man, neither too prompt in his determinations, nor too slow in carrying them into effect, Yusuf was very much adapted to the rugged terrain of the Sahara and had no interests in the pomp of the Andalusian courts. According to Abd Allah's "Roudh el-Kartas" (History of the Rulers of Morocco) and A. Beaumier's French translation of the 14th century work, Yusuf was of "teint brun, taille moyenne, maigre, peu de barbe, voix douce, yeux noirs, nez aquilin, meche de Mohammed retombant sur le bout de l'oreille, sourcils joints l'un a l'autre, cheveux crepus"; meaning - "Brown color, middle height, thin, little beard, soft voice, black eyes, straight nose, lock of Muhammad falling on the top of his ear, eyebrow joined, wooly hair". He went on to reach the 100 years old mark and, unlike his predecessors, not die in battle.

Since Yusuf's reign represented the apogee of the Almoravid dynasty, something has to be said for its certain demise after his death. His son and successor, Ali ibn Yusuf, was viewed just as devout a Muslim but he neither commanded the same respect nor retained the clientele of his father. As he prayed and fasted the empire crumbled about him. Córdoba, in about 1119, served as the launch pad for Andalusian insurrection. Christians on the northern frontier gained momentum shortly after his father's death, and the Almohads, beginning about 1120, were to engulf the southern frontier. Both respective hosts seeing to the ultimate disintegration of Yusuf's hard-fought territories by the time of Ibrahim ibn Tashfin (1146) and Ishaq ibn Ali (1146–1147), the last of the Almoravid dynasty.

Much of the disparaging things written about the Almoravids, whether it be from Almohads or Christian sources, was propaganda. While Yusuf was the most honorable of Muslim rulers, he spoke Arabic poorly. Ali ibn Yusuf in 1135 exercised good stewardship by attending to the University of Al-Karaouine and ordering the extension of the mosque from 18 to 21 aisles, expanding the structure to more than 3,000 square meters. Some accounts suggest that Ali ibn Yusuf hired two Andalusian architects to carry out this work who also built the central aisle of the Great Mosque of Tlemcen, Algeria, in 1136.

In popular culture

    * Ben Yussuf is the name of Yusuf ibn Tashfin in El Cid.
    * Yusuf appears in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors as one of the primary antagonists in the "El Cid" campaign. However, he is described as "never showing his face", always covering it with a cloth.

Yunus ibn Tashufin see Yusuf ibn Tashfin


Yusuf ibn al-Hasan
Yusuf ibn al-Hasan (Dom Jeronimo-Chingulia) (c. 1606-c. 1638).   Sultan of Mombasa when most of the East African coast was under nominal Portuguese rule.  

When Yusuf was seven, his father was mysteriously murdered.  The Portuguese apparently wished to atone by raising Yusuf as a Christian.  He was sent to Goa, where he was educated by the Augustinians and baptized as a Dom Jeronimo.  He returned to Mombasa in 1626 to assume the office of Sultan but found himself despised by local Muslims and bullied by Portuguese officials.

After several years a rumor arose that Yusuf was observing Islamic prayers -- a capital offense to the Catholic Portuguese.  Hearing of a Portuguese plan to arrest him, he seized the initiative.  On a Catholic feast day in mid-1631 he entered the massive bastion of Fort Jesus with several hundred followers and massacred almost every Portuguese there.  He then renounced Christianity.

Within days, he was the true master of the city.  He attempted to raise a general coastal revolt but lacking military resources he found little sympathy.  The next year, the Portuguese muffed an attempt to retake Mombasa and retreated.  Yusuf seems to have lost heart, for the fled to Arabia, abandoning Mombasa to the Portuguese.  Over the next few years, he conducted minor raids against coastal towns, until he was killed, apparently by pirates, in the Red Sea around 1638.

Dom Jeronimo-Chingulia see Yusuf ibn al-Hasan
Jeronimo-Chingulia, Dom see Yusuf ibn al-Hasan


Yusufi, Mawlana
Yusufi, Mawlana (Mawlana Yusufi).  Secretary to the Mughal Emperor Humayun.  He acquired a place in Indian literature with his epistolary manual.

Mawlana Yusufi see Yusufi, Mawlana


Yusuf (Islam)
Yusuf (Yusuf Islam) (Yusef Islam) (Cat Stevens) (Steven Demetri Georgiou) (b. July 21, 1948, London, England).  Pop musician who achieved notoriety during the 1970s under the name Cat Stevens.  He was born in Soho, London, the son of a Greek London restaurateur and a Swedish mother.  In July 1966, he began his musical career playing folk music at Hammersmith College.  He contracted tuberculosis in 1968 and spent over a year recuperating.  Afterwards, he adopted a new more sensitive and reflective style which would catapult him to international success during the 1970s.  His hits included "Wild World", "Moon Shadow", "Peace Train", "Morning Has Broken", "Oh Very Young", and "Another Saturday Night".  His fame increased when his songs were used on the soundtrack of Hal Ashby’s cult movie, “Harold and Maude.” 

On December 23, 1977, Stevens formally embraced Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam.  He retired from the music business in 1979 citing a desire to follow a more spiritual path and later that year he married Fouzia Ali at Kensington Mosque in London. 

In 1981, Yusef Islam financed the establishment of, and began to teach at, a Muslim school in North London.  In this year, he also officially confirmed that he had left show business.  He auctioned all the trappings of his pop career, including his gold records, and donated the money to his Islamic work. 

In February of 1989, Yusuf Islam sparked a controversy by concurring with the Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa calling for the death of Salman Rushdie.  In June of 1990, he was barred from entering Israel because he had become an “undesirable.”  In November 1990, Yusuf visited Iraq and successfully secured the release of a number of British Muslims held hostage during the Gulf War crisis.

In May of 1993, Yusuf, then the President of the Islamic Association of North London, won a libel action over an article which claimed the misused charitable funds to buy arms for Afghan rebels.  Yusuf subsequently donated his damage award to Islamic charities. 

In September of 1995, after 18 years of musical silence, Yusuf, living with his wife and five children at the Islamia School he founded in 1983 in the North London suburb of Kilburn, signed copies of his new album in London, the predominantly spoken word: The Life of the Last Prophet.

Yusuf Islam has been given several awards for his work in promoting peace in the world, including the 2003 World Award, the 2004 Man for Peace Award, and the 2007 Mediterranean Prize for Peace. In 2006, he returned to pop music with his first album of new pop songs in 28 years, entitled An Other Cup. He also began to go professionally by the single name "Yusuf".

Yusuf’s full return to music making came in 2006 with the release of An Other Cup. The album was enthusiastically received, delighting audiences who had dreamt of hearing his soft voice, compelling melodies, and poignant lyrics once again. Three years later another new album, Roadsinger, cemented his reconnection with the music industry. The "Guess I’ll Take My Time" tour followed which saw Yusuf perform songs from both his new and old catalog throughout the United Kingdom in 2009, Australia in 2010, and the rest of Europe in 2011.

In 2012, Yusuf explored a new musical avenue with the staging of a musical called Moonshadow which was launched in Australia in May of that year. The story tells the magical tale of a young man and his Moonshadow’s struggle against an oncoming darkness. Using songs from throughout his career, the musical explores many of the themes and ideas that have informed Yusuf's music. 

Yusuf’s return to music has been greeted with joy and excitement across the world but nowhere more so than in the United States. The emotional reaction to his performance at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in New York on the April 10, 2014, showed the love and appreciation that exists within the music industry for a legendary singer-songwriter who was truly considered one of their own. In 2016, the "Cat’s Attic" tour gave the American public their opportunity to echo these feelings.

2017 kicked off a series of significant anniversaries as it marked 50 years since the release of Yusuf’s first two albums, Matthew & Son and New Masters in 1967. The celebrations ramped up in 2020 with the 50th anniversary of two albums that began the seminal period of Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ career, Mona Bone Jakon and the legendary Tea for the Tillerman, and the festivities continued into 2021 as Teaser and the Firecat also reached half a century.

Yusef Islam see Yusuf Islam
Cat Stevens see Yusuf Islam
Stevens, Cat see Yusuf Islam
Islam, Yusuf see Yusuf Islam
Steven Demetri Georgiou see Yusuf Islam
Georgiou, Steven Demetri see Yusuf Islam


Yusuf Khass Hajib
Yusuf Khass Hajib (Yusuf Balasaghuni) (Yusuf Khas Hajib Balasaghuni) (Yūsuf Khāṣṣ Ḥājib Balasağuni) (Yusuf Has Hacip) (Yusuf Has Hajib). Turkish author of the eleventh century.  He wrote a “Mirror of Princes” for the Ilek-Khanid prince of Kashghar Bughra-Khan (d. 1102).  It is the first classic of Turkish poetry of Central Asia.

Yusuf Balasaghuni was an 11th century Uyghur scribe from the city of Balasaghun, the capital of the Karakhanid Empire. He wrote the Kutadgu Bilig and most of what is known about him comes from his own writings in this work.

Balasagun was located near present-day Tokmok in Kyrgyzstan. Yusuf Khass Hajib was about 50 years old when he completed the Kutadgu Bilig. After presenting the completed work to the prince of Kashgar he was awarded the title Khaṣṣ Ḥajib, an honorific similar to "Privy Chamberlain" or "Chancellor".

He is often referred to as either Yusuf Balasaguni or Yusuf Khaṣṣ Ḥajib.

Yusuf Khass Hajib died in 1085 at the age of 66 in the Uyghur city Kashgar, and was buried there. There is now a mausoleum erected on his gravesite. He is remembered as a prominent Uyghur scholar.

Hajib, Yusuf Khass see Yusuf Khass Hajib
Yusuf Balasaghuni see Yusuf Khass Hajib
Yusuf Khas Hajib Balasaghuni see Yusuf Khass Hajib
Yusuf Khaṣṣ Ḥajib Balasağuni see Yusuf Khass Hajib
Yusuf Has Hacip see Yusuf Khass Hajib

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

2023: Zacharias - Zaghlul

 

Zacharias
Zacharias (Zakariyya’) (Zechariah) (b. c. 100 B.C.T. - d. c. 20) Father of John the Baptist.  In the Qur’an, he is reckoned along with John, Jesus and Elias among the righteous.  His story is expanded by later legend.
 
Zakariyya is one of the prophets mentioned in the Qur'an. Muslims also believe Zechariah to be the guardian of Mary, mother of Prophet Jesus, and they believe Zakariyya to be the father of Prophet John.

Zakariyya see Zacharias
Zechariah see Zacharias

Zafar, Bahadur Shah
Zafar, Bahadur Shah (Abu Zafar Siraj ud-Din Muhammad Bahadur Shah) (Bahadur Shah II) (b. October 24, 1775, Delhi, India — d. November 7, 1862, Rangoon [now Yangon], Myanmar).  Poetic pen name of Abu Zafar Siraj ud-Din Muhammad Bahadur Shah, the last Mughal emperor of Delhi.  Living only the facade of a royal life, he endured with dignity his helpless position as a British pensioner.  His reign began only at the age of sixty.  As an old man of eighty, he was made the figurehead of the Rebellion of 1857.  For this, the British exiled him to Rangoon, where he died.  He is known as the author of a large number of melancholy and devotional Urdu poems and songs.  He is also known for his two brilliant court poets, Zauq and Ghalib.

Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor of India (r. September 28, 1837 – September 14, 1857), was a poet, musician, and calligrapher, more an aesthete than a political leader.

He was the second son of Akbar Shah II and Lal Bai. For most of his reign, he was a client of the British and was without real authority. He figured briefly, and unwillingly, in the Indian (Sepoy) Mutiny of 1857–58. During the mutiny, rebel troops from the city of Meerut seized Delhi and compelled Bahadur Shah to accept nominal leadership of the revolt. At the age of 82, and in fear of his life, he acquiesced. After the rebellion was put down by the British, he was exiled to Burma (Myanmar) with his family.

Bahadur Shah Zafar see Zafar, Bahadur Shah
Abu Zafar Siraj ud-Din Muhammad Bahadur Shah see Zafar, Bahadur Shah
Bahadur Shah II see Zafar, Bahadur Shah


Zaghlul, Sa’ad
Zaghlul, Sa’ad (Sa'ad Zaghlul) (Saad Zaghloul) (Sa'd Zaghloul Pasha ibn Ibrahim) (1857/1859-August 23, 1927).  Prime Minister of Egypt from January 26, 1924, to November 24, 1924.  Egyptian politician and nationalist.  Zaghlul was the founder of the Wafd movement.

Zaghlul was born in July of 1857 into a middle-class peasant family in Ibaynah in the Nile River delta.  During his youth, he was educated at the Muslim University of Al-Azhar in Cairo, as well as at the Egyptian School of Law.

In 1892, Zaghlul was appointed judge at the Court of Appeal.

In 1895, Zaghlul married the daughter of the Prime Minister of Egypt, Mustafa Pasha Fatmi.

In 1906, Zaghlul became head of the Ministry of Education.  Later in the year, he partook in the establishment of Hizbu al-Ummah, which was a moderate group in a time when more and more Egyptians claimed to revive their independence from the British.

In 1910, Zaghlul was appointed Minister of Justice.

In 1912, Zaghlul resigned from the post of Minister of Justice after a disagreement with Khedive Abbas Hilmi II.  Later in the year, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly.

In 1913, Zaghlul was appointed vice-president of the Legislative Assembly, a position he used to criticize the government.

From 1914 to 1918, during World War I, Zaghlul and many members from the old Legislative Assembly formed activist groups all over Egypt.  World War I led to much hardship for the Egyptian population, due in large part to the many British restrictions.

On November 13, 1918, with the end of World War I, Zaghlul and two other former members from the Legislative Assembly called upon the British high commissioner, asking for the abolishment of the protectorate.  They also ask to be representative for Egypt in the peace negotiations after the war.  These demands were refused, and Zaghlul’s supporters, a group now known as Wafd, instigated disorder all over the country.

In March of 1919, Zaghlul and three other members of Wafd were deported to Malta.  Zaghlul was soon released after General Edmund Allenby took over as high commissioner of Egypt.  He travelled to Paris, France, in an attempt to present his version of Egypt’s case to representatives of the Allied countries, but without much success.

In 1920, Zaghlul had several meetings with the British colonial secretary, Lord Milner.  They reached an understanding, but Zaghlul was uncertain of how the Egyptians would see him if he forged an agreement with the British, so he withdrew.  Zaghlul then returned to Egypt and was welcomed as a national hero.

In 1921, Zaghlul used his supporters to hinder the establishment of a British-friendly government.  Allenby responded by deporting Zaghlul to the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.

In February of 1922, Egypt received limited independence, according to Lord Milner’s recommendations, as these were designed through the talks with Zaghlul.

In 1923, Zaghlul was allowed to return to Egypt.

In February of 1924, Zaghlul became prime minister after the Wafd won ninety percent of the parliament seats in the elections.  Zaghlul then found out that not even he was able to stop demonstrations and riots among Egyptians.  In November of this year, after the British commander in chief of the Egyptian army was killed, Zaghlul was forced to leave office.

In 1926, Zaghlul became president of the parliament and from this position, he was able to control the actions of extreme nationalists.

On August 23, 1927, Zaghlul died in Cairo.

Zaghlul was considered as too moderate and cooperative by many nationalists until 1913.  In 1913, his politics changed, and he used his position as vice-president of the Legislative Assembly to criticise the government.  

Zaghlul was not a great leader.  However, he proved to be the most effective leader of popular opinions of his time.  In many ways, he was the instigator of the process that led to total independence of Egypt nearly thirty years after his death.  Zaghlul was shrewd politician, who knew well how to deal with both the British opponent and his fellow Egyptian countrymen at the same time.  Often, he played a double game.

Zaghlul derived much of his charisma and success from a combination of intelligence, diplomacy and eloquence, as well as a humble background with which most Egyptians could identify.

Zaghlul was born in Ibyana village in the Kafr el-Sheikh Governorate of Egypt's Nile Delta. For his post-secondary education, he attended Al-Azhar University in Cairo. In the 1880s, he became politically active, for which he was arrested. After his release from prison, Zaghlul went on to practice law. He became increasingly active in nationalist movements, and in 1918, he led a delegation demanding complete independence from Britain at the Paris Peace Conference. The British in turn demanded that Zaghlul end his political agitation. When he refused, they exiled him to Malta and later to the Seychelles. At the time of his arrival in the Seychelles, a number of other prominent anti-imperialist leaders were also exiled there, including Mohamoud Ali Shire, the 20th Sultan of the Somali Warsangali Sultanate, with whom Zaghlul would soon develop a rapport.

Zaghlul's absence caused disturbances in Egypt, ultimately leading to the Egyptian Revolution of 1919. Upon his return from exile, Zaghlul led the Egyptian nationalist forces. The elections of January 12, 1924, gave the Wafd Party an overwhelming majority, and two weeks later, Zaghlul formed the first Wafdist government.

Following the assassination on November 19, 1924, of Sir Lee Stack, the Sirdar and Governor-General of the Sudan, and subsequent British demands which Zaghlul felt to be unacceptable, Zaghlul resigned, deciding to play no further role in government.

Zaghlul's wife, Safiyya, was the daughter of Mustafa Fahmi Pasha, the Egyptian cabinet minister and two-time Prime Minister of Egypt. A feminist and revolutionary, she was also active in politics.

Sa'ad Zaghlul see Zaghlul, Sa’ad
Saad Zaghloul see Zaghlul, Sa’ad
Sa'd Zaghloul Pasha ibn Ibrahim see Zaghlul, Sa’ad

Monday, September 25, 2023

2023: Zahawi - Zahrawi

 Zahawi, Jamil Sidqi al-

Zahawi, Jamil Sidqi al- (Jamil Sidqi al-Zahawi) (1863-1936).  Arab poet, scholar and philosopher of Kurdish descent from Iraq.  He associated with the Young Turks, was opposed to the Wahhabis and an ardent champion of the emancipation of women.  He is also celebrated as a Persian poet.

Jamil Sidqi al-Zahawi was a prominent Iraqi poet and philosopher. He is regarded as one of the greatest contemporary poets of the Arab world and was known for his defense of women's rights.

Zahawi was born in Baghdad. His father, of Iraqi Kurd origin, was the Mufti of Iraq and a member of the Baban clan. His mother was a Turkmen. He lived in Baghdad, then left for Istanbul, then to Jerusalem to complete his studies.

During the Ottoman era he held numerous positions: as a member of the Baghdad Education Council, where he championed education for women; as an editor of the only newspaper in Baghdad, al-Zawra; as a member of the Supreme Court in Yemen and Istanbul; as a professor of Islamic philosophy at the Royal University and as a professor of literature at the College of Arts in Istanbul. After Iraq's independence in 1921, he was elected to parliament twice and appointed to the upper chamber for one term.

He was one of the leading writers in the Arab world, publishing in the major newspapers and journals of Beirut, Cairo, and Baghdad. In the 1930s, because of his political views, he was marginalized by the political establishment.

Jamal Sidqi al-Zahawi see Zahawi, Jamil Sidqi al-

Zahedi, Ardeshir

Ardeshir Zahedi (b. October 16, 1928, Tehran, Persia [now Iran] – d. November 18, 2021, Montreux, Switzerland).  An Iranian politician and diplomat who served as the country's foreign minister from 1966 to 1971, and its ambassador to the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s.

Born in Tehran, Ardeshir Zahedi was the son of Fazlollah Zahedi and his wife, Khadijeh Pirnia. Fazlollah Zahedi, was general who served as prime minister after participating in the CIA-led coup which led to the fall of Mohammed Mossadegh, and his wife Khadijeh Pirnia.

Zahedi received a degree in agriculture from Utah State University in 1950, where he was a member of Kappa Sigma. Seven years later, he married the daughter of the Shah of Iran, Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi.  The marriage ended in divorce in 1964.

Zahedi served as ambassador to the United States from 1960 to 1962 and to the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1966.  Under Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveida, Zahedi served as minister of foreign affairs from 1966 to 1971.

Zahedi again became ambassador to the United States from 1973 until the Iranian Revolution climaxed in January 1979. During his second stint in Washington, he won a reputation for extravagance. In the mid-1970s, Zahedi became known as a companion of the American actress Elizabeth Taylor.  During the 1977 Hanafi Siege of a federal building in Washington, Zahedi and two other ambassadors from Muslim nations were able to talk the hostage-takers into surrendering and releasing 149 hostages.

Over the course of 1978, it was reported in some circles that Zahedi urged the Shah to appease the rioters by making scapegoats of several high-ranking officials, including Amir Abbas Hoveida (then Prime Minister) and SAVAK director Nematollah Nassiri.  When the Shah left Iran in 1979, Zahedi was still serving as ambassador in Washington, but resigned as soon as Khomeini came to power. He started fervent attempts at securing political asylum for the ailing Shah and the Imperial family in Panama, Mexico, Morocco and finally Egypt. He was present at the Shah's death bed and funeral in Cairo in 1980. 

Zahedi lived in retirement in Montreux, Switzerland. He received many awards and honors from nations around the globe for his humanitarian service and record in international affairs.

In an interview in May 2006, Zahedi voiced his support for Iran's Nuclear Program asserting that it as an "inalienable right of Iran", under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).  Zahedi told Voice of America that the United States approved the start of Iran's $50 billion nuclear program in the 1970s. Two documents in particular, dated April 22, 1975, and April 20, 1976, show that the United States and Iran held negotiations on a nuclear program and the United States was willing to help Iran by setting up uranium enrichment and fuel reprocessing facilities.

Ardeshir Zahedi died in Switzerland on November 18, 2021, at the age of 93.



Zahir al-Din al-Mar‘ashi, Sayyid
Zahir al-Din al-Mar‘ashi, Sayyid (Sayyid Zahir al-Din al-Mar‘ashi).  Persian statesman and historian of the fifteenth century.  He composed a chronicle of Tabaristan from the earliest times to 1476.  

Sayyid Zahir al-Din al-Mar'ashi see Zahir al-Din al-Mar‘ashi, Sayyid


Zahir Ghazi, al-Malik al-
Zahir Ghazi, al-Malik al- (al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi) (Az-Zahir Ghazi) (1172-1215/October 8, 1216). Ayyubid prince.  He was the second son of Saladin, who made him ruler of Aleppo in 1186.  During the wars with the Crusaders he loyally assisted his father and later his brother al-Malik al-Afdal, the ruler of Damascus., and his uncle al-Malik al-‘Adil, the ruler of Egypt and, after al-Afdal had been deposed, of Damascus.  He played an energetic part in the fighting for Acre and Jaffa.  In 1198, he recognized al-‘Adil’s suzerainty.

Az-Zahir Ghazi was governor and then ruler of Halab (now Aleppo) from 1186 (A.H. 581) to 1216 (A.H. 613). He was the third son of Saladin and his lands included northern Syria and a small part of Mesopotamia.

In 1186, az-Zahir's father appointed him governor of Aleppo, Mosul and supporting areas which had recently been taken from the Zengids. At the same time his two older brothers were appointed, respectively, as governor of Syria (al-Afdal) and Egypt (al-Aziz). The lands that az-Zahir received had been under the control of his uncle, Saladin's brother al-Adil, and al-Adil took an avuncular interest in az-Zahir. As the third son, when he inherited in 1193 he was to owe suzerainty to his eldest brother, al-Afdal, in Damascus. However, he failed to do so, and he conducted his affairs independently from his brothers.

In 1193, faced with the on-going revolt of the Zengid 'Izz al-Din in Mosul, he called upon his uncle, al-Adil, to provide the forces to suppress the revolt, which was quickly quelled. In 1194 az-Zahir received Latakia as part of a settlement in which he recognized al-Afdal's authority. However, by 1196 al-Afdal had proved himself incompetent as a ruler, and had lost the support of his uncle, al-Adil. Az-Zahir joined with his brother al-Aziz and uncle al-Adil in deposing and exiling al-Afdal. In October 1197, noting that Amalric of Lusignan had retaken the port at Beirut and that Bohemond III of Antioch was threatening the ports of Latakia and Jableh, az-Zahir destroyed the ports. Although Bohemond took the two locations, they were no longer advantageous, and he soon withdrew. At which point az-Zahir reoccupied them, and rebuilt the fortress at Latakia.

While ruler in Aleppo, az-Zahir kept many of his father's advisors. He appointed Baha ad-Din as a qadi ("judge") in Halab. He brought the unorthodox as-Suhrawardi to Halab, but was forced to imprison him in 1191 due to the demands of the orthodox ulama ("men of learning").

When al-Aziz died in Egypt in 1198 and was succeeded by his son Malik al-Mansur, a boy of twelve, al-Aziz's ministers, worried about the ambitions of al-Adil, summoned al-Afdal from exile to act as Regent of Egypt in the name of his young nephew. Early in the next year, while al-Adil was in the north suppressing an Artuqid rebellion, al-Afdal and az-Zahir came together in alliance and were joined by most of the other Ayyubid princes. Together they besieged Damascus, but as it held out for several months az-Zahir, as did other Ayyubid princes, lost interest and withdrew his troops. Al-Adil was not pleased and after conquering Egypt, he returned and reduced az-Zahir's territories to the area around Aleppo, forcing him to recognize overarching al-Adil suzerainty. During the last decade of his life he skirmished with crusaders and lent his army to support other Ayyubid princes. In 1206, King Leo of Cilicia defeated az-Zahir forces at the Battle of Amq, but was unable to secure any permanent advantage against Aleppo. In 1207, the French attacked and besieged Homs and its emir, an Ayyubid prince called Mujadid Shirkuh II, appealed to az-Zahir, whose troops lifted the siege.

Prior to his death in 1216, Az-Zahir appointed his younger son Malek al-Aziz Mohammed (b. 1213) to succeed him.

Malik al-Zahir Ghazi, al- see Zahir Ghazi, al-Malik al-
Zahir Ghazi, Az- see Zahir Ghazi, al-Malik al-
Az-Zahir Ghazi see Zahir Ghazi, al-Malik al-

Zahiriyya
Zahiriyya (al-Zahiriyya). Name of a school of law, which would derive the law only from the literal text (in Arabic, zahir) of the Qur’an and Sunna.  Founded by Dawud ibn Khalaf, it spread in Iraq, Persia and Khurasan.  In Spain, it was codified by Ibn Hazm, who remained practically isolated.  Only in the reign of the Almohad Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub al-Mansur was the Zahiri school recognized as the state code.

Ẓāhirī is a school of thought in Islamic jurisprudence and Aqida. The founder of this school was Daud ibn Khalaf (d. 270/883),[1] better known as Daud al-Zahiri because of his insistence on sticking to the manifest (zahir) or literal meaning of expressions in the Qur'an and the Sunnah; the school and its followers are called Zahiriyah.

Among the textual evidence for their claim, the Zahirists use verses similar to "...this is a clear Arabic language" (Quran 16:103) to back their view. Anyone, in their understanding, possessing knowledge of the Arabic language is able to understand the message of God inasmuch is necessary to fulfill his religious duties.

However, it should be known that the name Zahiri itself is not endorsed by the adherents of this method, using other textual proof to suggest that there is no name to be known by except what has been mentioned thereby in the religious texts. God said, "He named you submitters [Arabic muslimeen) from before and in this." (Quran 22:76) Ibn Hazm, a well-known practitioner and teacher of this school, would refer to himself and those who followed this view as ashab al-zahir, or "the people of the literal sense," defining rather than labeling.

In history the Zahiri understanding has been persecuted by those preferring to interpret the texts by their inward meanings; this happened to such an extent that many of the scholars of Sunni and Shi'ite sects have labeled the Zahiri school extinct, but it is not clear that this is the case.

The modern Salafi movement can be described as influenced by the Zahiri school.

The famous quotation "Satan was the first to do Qiyas" is commonly used.


Zahir, Mohammed
Zahir, Mohammed (Mohammad Zahir)  (Mohammed Zahir Shah)  (Mohammed Zahir) (Muhammad Zahir) (Zahir Shah) (October 16, 1914, Kabul, Afghanistan - July 23, 2007, Kabul, Afghanistan).  King of Afghanistan.  Zahir was born into the Pashtun Barakzai dynasty of Afghanistan.  He was a descendant of Sardar Muhammad Khan, the half-brother of Dost Muhammad.  His great grandfather, Yahya Khan was responsible for the mediation between Yaqub Khan and the British during the Gandomak Negotiations which is known as the Gandomak Treaty.  After the signing of the treaty, Yaqub Khan and Yahya Khan fled to British India.  His Pashtun heritage and his preference of the Persian (Farsi) language gave him credibility with the two most important groups of the country.  The Pashto-speaking tribes of the south and the Farsi-speaking elite of Kabul.  Zahir Shah was educated in France, where he observed the democratic process and brought back progressive ideas that would be implemented over the course of his reign.  He spoke fluent Pashto, French, English and Italian.

Zahir married Homairah Begum on November 7, 1931.  They would have six sons and two daughters.

On November 8, 1933, Zahir was proclaimed king after the assassination of his father, Mohammed Nadir Shah, which he witnessed.  For the first twenty years, Zahir did not effectively rule, ceding power to his paternal uncles.  Between 1933 and 1963, the king was dominated by his uncles and his cousin Mohammad Daud.  They ruled while he reigned.  When Zahir finally took over the government, he introduced several reforms, including, in 1964, a new constitution.  Zahir instituted programs of political and economic modernization, ushering in a democratic legislature, and education for women.  These reforms put him at odds with the religious militants who opposed him.  However, he started an anti-Persian program to popularize the Pashtu language which resulted in failure.

Zahir was also known for being an ethno-centric during his rule.  Most government officials and members of parliament were from Pashtun origin and Pashtuns had more privilege than non-Pashtuns which resulted into the creation of anti-government movements and parties, for instance Sitam Milli headed by Tahir Badakhshi, Abdur Rahman Mahmoudi's movement and many more.  By the time Zahir returned to Afghanistan, in the 21st century of the Christian calendar, his rule had been characterized by a lenghty span of peace.

In 1973, Zahir's cousin and former prime minister, Mohammad Daud staged a coup d'etat and established a republican government while Zahir was in Italy undergoing eye surgery for lumbago.  As a former prime minister, Mohammad Daud had been fired by Zahir a decade earlier.  Following this coup, Zahir abdicated rather than fight.

Zahir lived in exile in Italy for twenty-nine years in a large villa in the affluent community of Olgiata on Via Cassia, north of the city of Rome.  He was barred from returning to Afghanistan during Soviet-backed Communist rule in the late 1970s.

In 1991, Zahir survived an attempt on his life by a knife-wielding assassin who pretended to be a Portuguese journalist.

During the fundamentalist Islamic regime of the Taliban, Zahir remained secluded in Italy and refused to speak out against the Taliban.  Upon his return to Afghanistan in 2002, he vowed not to challenge Hamid Karzai for the presidency.

In April 2002, Zahir returned to Afghanistan while the country was under American occupation to open the Loya Jirga which met in June 2002.  After the fall of the Taliban, there were open calls for a return to the monarchy.  Zahir entertained the idea of becoming president.  However, he made it clear that he did not want to return as king.  Instead, Zahir was given the title "Father of the Nation," symbolizing his role in Afghanistan's history as a non-political symbol of national unity, even though he was an ethno-centric king during his reign.  

Hamid Karzai, a prominent figure from Zahir's clan became the president of Afghanistan and Zahir's relatives and supporters were handed over key posts in the transitional government.  Zahir moved back into his old palace but was refused to be given the throne by the Loya Jirga.  Criticisms focused on Zahir's overzealous attempts to modernize Afghanistan often putting his policies against traditional values and his failure to come to a working and stable agreement with neighboring Pakistan which also contains a significant Afghan and Pashtun population.

In an October 2002 visit to France, Zahir slipped in a bathroom, bruising his ribs and, on June 21, 2003, while in France for a medical check-up, he broke his femur by slipping again in a bathroom.  On February 3, 2004, Zahir was flown from Kabul to New Delhi, India, for medical treatment after complaining of an intestinal problem.  He was hospitalized for two weeks and remained in New Delhi under observation.  On May 18, 2004, Zahir was brought to a hospital in the United Arab Emirates because of nose bleeding caused by heat.  

On December 7, 2004, Zahir attended the swearing in of Hamid Karzai as the President of Afghanistan.

In 2005, Zahir reportedly attempted to sell his former palace, which by then was the property of the government of Afghanistan.

In his final years, Zahir was frail and required a microphone pinned to his collar so that his faint voice could be heard.  In January 2007, Zahir was reported to be seriously ill and bedridden.  On July 23, 2007, Zahir died in the compound of the presidential palace in Kabul after a prolonged illness.  His death was announced on national television by President Karzai.  

Weak, albeit well-meaning during his forty-year reign, Zahir was a symbol of a yearned for peace and unity in a nation that struggled to emerge from the turmoil that began with his 1973 ouster in a palace coup.  His return to Afghanistan from three decades of exile to bless the war-battered country's fragile course toward democracy brought hope for change.

The sons of Moḥammad Nāder Shah, Zahir and his brothers reasserted central government control during a period of anarchy and banditry in the late 1920s. Zahir Shah came to the throne at the age of 19, after the assassination of his father in November 1933, having previously served as a cabinet minister. For a number of years Zahir Shah remained in the background while his relatives ran the government, but he asserted his power through the constitution of 1964, which established a constitutional monarchy and prohibited royal relatives from holding public office.

Zahir Shah undertook a number of economic development projects, including irrigation and highway construction, backed by foreign aid, largely from the United States and the Soviet Union. He was also able to maintain Afghanistan’s neutral position in international politics. His reforms seemed to have little effect outside the Kabul area, however. In the early 1970s the country suffered drought and famine. Pashto tribes along the Pakistan border continued to press for autonomy, and the political structure in the capital was unable to deal with the country’s economic problems. In a bloodless coup on July 17, 1973, Zahir Shah was deposed. The leader of the coup, General Mohammad Daud Khan (the king’s brother-in-law), proclaimed Afghanistan a republic with himself as its president. Zahir Shah formally abdicated on August 24, 1973, and went into exile in Italy. Following the U.S. overthrow of the Taliban, he returned to Afghanistan in 2002. Zahir Shah, who publicly opposed the restoration of the monarchy and declined to run for president, was later given the honorary title Father of the Nation.

Mohammad Zahir see Zahir, Mohammed
Muhammad Zahir see Zahir, Mohammed
Zahir Shah see Zahir, Mohammed
Mohammed Zahir see Zahir, Mohammed
Mohammed Zahir Shah see Zahir, Mohammed

Zahrawi, Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-
Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi 
(Abu al-Qasim al-Zahravi) (Abul Qasim al-Zahravi) (Abul Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas al-Zahravi) (Albucasis) (Abul Kasim) (Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn ʿAbbas az-Zahrawi) (Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi) (Albucasis) (b. c. 936, near Córdoba [Spain] - d.  c.
1013).  Undoubtedly the greatest surgeon of the Middle Ages, Al-Zahrawi is best known for several original breakthroughs in surgery, as an inventor of several surgical instruments, and for his famous Medical Encyclopedia.  Al-Zahrawi is considered as “Father of Modern Surgery.”

Al-Zahrawi was born and brought up in Zahra, the royal suburb of Cordova (in Arabic, Qurtuba), the capital of Muslim Spain.  During this time Zahra competed in grandeur and magnificence with Baghdad and Constantinople.  Al-Zahrawi served in the capacity of the court physician to King al-Hakam II of Spain.  

Al-Zahrawi was a prominent surgeon.  Patients and students from all parts of Europe came to him for treatment and advice.  At this time, Cordova was the favorite destination for Europeans seeking surgical operations, and the services of al-Zahrawi were much in demand.  

Al-Zahrawi’s principles of medical science surpassed those of Galen in the European medical curriculum.  He is famous for his thirty-volume medical encyclopedia ‘Al-Tasrif li man ajaz an-il-talif.  Three volumes of this vast encyclopedia deal with the surgical knowledge including his own inventions and procedures.  The last volume contains many diagramsand illustrations of more than two hundred surgical instruments, most of which he developed.  Al-Zahrawi gave detailed descriptions of many surgical operations and their treatment, including cauterization, removal of stone from the bladder, surgery of eye, ear and throat, midwifery, removal of the dead fetus, amputation, dissection of animals, and stypics.

As an inventor of many surgical instruments, al-Zahrawi is famous for developing instruments for internal examination of the ear, internal inspection of the urethra and for applying or removing foreign bodies from the throat.  He introduced such new procedures as cauterization of wounds, crushing stones inside the bladder, vivisection and dissection. He applied cauterization procedure to as many as 50 different operations.  In addition, al-Zahrawi discussed the preparation of medicines and the application of such techniques as sublimation and decantation.  He prescribed the use of diuretics, sudorifics, purgatives, the absorption of pure wine and hot baths.  Al-Zahrawi was the first to give detailed descriptions of hemophilia and was the first to use silk thread for stitching wounds.

Al-Zahrawi was also an expert in oral surgery and dentistry.  His Al-Tasrif contains sketches of complex instruments that he developed.  He discussed the problem of non-aligned or deformed teeth and procedures to rectify these defects.  In addition, he developed the procedure for preparing and setting artificial teeth made from animal bones.

Gerard of Cremona (1114-1187) translated Al-Tasrif into Latin in the Middle Ages.  It was then translated into Hebrew, French, English and into Latin dialect of the Provencal.  Al-Zahrawi’s Al-Tasrif was an essential component of the medical curriculum in European countries for many centuries.  The famous French surgeon Guy de Chauliac (1300-1368) appended its Latin edition to his own book on surgery.  Several editions of this book (surgical chapters) were published including one at Venice (1497), at Basel (1541) and at Oxford (1778).  This book was taught for approximately five centuries as a standard textbook on surgery at universities of Salerno in Italy, Montpellier in France, and several European universities.

After a long and distinguished medical career, al-Zahrawi died in 1031.

Al-Zahrawi was Islam’s greatest medieval surgeon, whose comprehensive medical text, combining Middle Eastern and Greco-Roman classical teachings, shaped European surgical procedures until the Renaissance.

Abu al-Qasim was court physician to the Spanish caliph ʿAbd ar-Raḥman III an-Naṣir and wrote Al-Taṣrif liman ʿajazʿan at-Taʾalif, or Al-Taṣrif (“The Method”), a medical work in 30 parts. While much of the text was based on earlier authorities, especially the Epitomae of the 7th-century Byzantine physician Paul of Aegina, it contained many original observations, including the earliest known description of hemophilia. The last chapter, with its drawings of more than 200 instruments, constitutes the first illustrated, independent work on surgery.

Although Al-Taṣrif was largely ignored by physicians of the eastern Caliphate, the surgical treatise had tremendous influence in Christian Europe. Translated into Latin in the 12th century by the scholar Gerard of Cremona, it stood for nearly 500 years as the leading textbook on surgery in Europe, preferred for its concise lucidity even to the works of the classic Greek medical authority Galen.

Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi  see Zahrawi, Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-
Abu al-Qasim al-Zahravi see Zahrawi, Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-
Abul Qasim al-Zahravi see Zahrawi, Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-
Abul Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas al-Zahravi see Zahrawi, Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-
Albucasis see Zahrawi, Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-
Father of Modern Surgery see 
Zahrawi, Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-


2023: Za'im - Zamindar

Za‘im

Za‘im.  In modern usage the word za‘im means a political leader who possesses the support of a locally circumscribed community and who retains this support by fostering or appearing to foster the interests of as many as possible from amongst his clientele.  The main distinction of this type of leadership is that it is personal and not party based in the modern sense of organizations with political or ideological grassroots.  

There is a traditional social dimension that dictates visits by the clients to the za‘im and by him on special occasions and the observance of wajibat (“obligations”) between them.  The za‘im might have a religious or community base or transcend confessional boundaries by having a local or geographic base.  He might also have a purely economic base as a large employer or landowner.  His authority also has a moral dimension and involves a certain amount of reciprocity.

Some distinguish among three different types of zu‘ama’, each referring to a different mode of political activity.  First, there are feudal zu‘ama’ who are based mainly in the countryside where large estates and traditional lordships exist and whose power rests on their position as landowners, often of ancient lineage, and their ability to give protection and patronage.  Second, there are populist politicans of the mainly Christian regions in the northern half of Lebanon where smallholdings are common who maintain leadership on a less-solid base of socio-economic power.  Leadership is derived on the one hand from the use of powers of protection and patronage to maintain political clans and on the other from some kind of ideology or program of action.  Third, there are Muslim leaders of the coastal cities who also obtain and retain leadership by ideological appeal and the exercise of patronage but add to these a third source of power -- the manipulation of the urban masses mobilized by strongarm men or qabadays.

In modern Lebanon, za‘imship is often linked to the attainment of high office, such as membership of parliament or a ministerial post.  Political loyalty is also expressed by voting during elections.  Relations among zu‘ama’ ensure a wider availability of favors to the clients, and competition among them, especially in urban areas, provides a minimum of checks and balances to the otherwise absolute power that a za‘im may wield.

The holding of an office is also important because the za‘im provides two kinds of services: general services, such as the provision of electricity, roads, and other amenities to the region or community; or personal services, such as the provision of employment, wasta’ (mediation), and access to welfare services.  Hence the za‘im’s power can be based on the loyalty of people in his district, the relationship he has with the state or central authorities, or both.  Both wealth and frequent return to high office, giving the za‘im access to state patronage, are important components in the legitimization of his powers.

Za‘imship as a system can be described as the relations between zu‘ama’ and their clients together with the relationship between local and national zu‘ama’  in a continuous process of fine tuning of the provision of favors and services in exchange for political loyalty and power.  In this system, every transaction is connected and dependent on the other.  It is often referred to as the traditional political system as opposed to the modern one based on political parties and state institutions.

The final results of the process were not always seen as coinciding with the wider national interest, and the za‘im system was seen as a parallel or “backstage” system, which predominated over the “frontstage” of state institutions.  The clash between the system and central gvoernment, when the latter impinged on the powerbase from which the authority of the former was derived, was seen as restrictive of state sovereignty and authority and as a hindrance to the development of a strong central government.

The decline and demise of the za‘im system has been declared, but it endures and sometimes emerges stronger from crises and government reforms, for example, during the presidency of General Fuad Chehab (Fu’ad Shihab, 1958-1964), who was particularly opposed to the system.  It is also common to attack the system in political rhetoric, even by its very practitioners.

The civil war of 1975-1990 has, however, had consequences on the system which it is still too early to fully appreciate.  The prolonged absence of state authority and institutions, the paralysis of the normal political process, the emergence of new powers in Lebanon, and the fragmentation of society must have taken their toll on the traditional system of zu‘ama’.  Whether this involves a radical structural change or simply a change in the cast of characters, with the emergence of new and different types of zu‘ama’, remains to be seen.

Zaki, Sherif

Sherif Zaki (b. November 24, 1955, Alexandria, Egypt - d. November 21, 2021, Atlanta, Georgia, United States).  A pathologist who as America's chief infectious disease detective helped identify the Covid-19, Ebola, West Nile and Zika viruses along with the severe acute respiratory syndrome -- SARS.

Sherif Ramzy Zaki was born on November 24, 1955, in Alexandria, Egypt. He spent his first six years in Chapel Hill, N.C., where his father, Ramzy Zaki, was attending graduate school. He later lived in the Caribbean, the Middle East and Europe, where his father worked for the United Nations’ International Labor Organization. His mother, Dalal (Elba) Zaki, was a teacher.

Zaki graduated second in his class of 800 from the Alexandria Medical School in Egypt in 1978. But he was less interested in practicing medicine than in unraveling mysteries, which had been an obsession of his ever since he was captivated by the novels of the British author Enid Blyton as a child.  Zaki's obsession with solving puzzles and resolving mysteries was at the heart of his work at the C.D.C

Zaki earned a master’s in pathology from Alexandria University. But since autopsies were not permitted in Egypt for religious reasons, he did his residency in anatomic pathology at Emory University in Atlanta, where he also received a doctorate in experimental pathology.

Zaki then went to work at the C.D.C. and became a naturalized American citizen. Zaki joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1988 and became chief of the agency’s infectious diseases pathology branch in the early 1990s.

Zaki and his team made strides in distinguishing rare diseases and their mutations and determining what made some of them, like SARS and Ebola, so contagious and lethal. To do so they applied a process called immunohistochemistry, which allows researchers to identify foreign pathogens by staining cells and observing them through electron microscopes capable of magnifying bacteria and viruses 740,000 times.

In 2001, after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Zaki determined that a number of people who had come into contact with letters containing a white powder had died from anthrax after their skin was exposed to the bacteria, or after inhaling it.

Zaki and his team helped identify a deadly outbreak of hantavirus in the Navajo Nation in 1993. That discovery spurred the expansion of the infectious diseases pathology branch. The expanded branch subsequently discovered a previously unidentified bacterial illness called leptospirosis in Nicaragua; and the mosquito-borne Zika virus in the brain tissue of babies in Brazil, establishing that it could be transmitted during pregnancy.

Zaki headed the agency’s Unexplained Deaths Project,  a squad of detectives of last resort responsible for delving into the causes of the 700 or so baffling fatalities from disease that occur in the United States every year.

After four people who received organ transplants in Massachusetts and Rhode Island developed a viral infection and three of them died, Dr. Zaki and his colleagues pinpointed the cause as lymphocytic choriomeningitis, a rare rodent-borne virus. It turned out that the organ donor’s daughter had a pet hamster.

In 2005, a few days after complaining to his pediatrician of a fever, a headache and an itchy scalp, a 10-year-old Mississippi boy became so agitated that he bit a relative. After the boy was hospitalized, tests were inconclusive, but he died two weeks later.

About a week after that, Zaki’s team detected rabies virus in the boy’s body. They learned from follow-up interviews that dead bats had been discovered in the boy’s home, and that he had found a live bat in his bedroom.

Zaki married Nadia Abougad.  They had two children, a daughter, Yasmin, and a son, Samy.


Zaky, Ali 

Ali Zaky (b. 1930 – d. March 12, 2005) was an Egyptian gymnast who competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics and the 1952 Summer Olympics. 



Zamakhshari
Zamakhshari (Abu’l-Qasim Mahmud al-Zamakhshari) (Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Umar al-Zamakhshari) (Jar Allah - "God's neighbor") (b. March 8, 1075, Khwarezm [now in Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan] - d. June 14, 1144, Al-Jurjaniya, Khwarezm).  Persian born Arabic scholar, theologian and philologist from Khwarazm.  As a theologian, he followed the teachings of the Mu‘tazila and as a philologist, in spite of his Persian descent, he championed the absolute superiority of Arabic. His principal work is a commentary on the Qur’an.  At the very beginning of the work, he declares the Qur’an created, but notwithstanding this clearly Mu‘tazila point of view, it was widely read in orthodox circles.  He also wrote grammatical works, a collection of old proverbs, and composed a series of moral discourses.

Al-Zamakhshari was a medieval Muslim scholar of Iranian origin who subscribed to the Muʿtazilite theological doctrine. He was born in Khwarezmia, but lived most of his life in Bukhara, Samarkand, and Baghdad.  His chief work is Al-Kashshaf ʿan Ḥaqaʾiq at-Tanzil (“The Discoverer of Revealed Truths”), his exhaustive linguistic commentary on the Qurʾān.

As is true for most Muslim scholars of his era, little is known of his youth. He was apparently well-traveled and resided at least twice (once for an extended period of time) in the holy city of Mecca, where he earned his nickname, Jar Allah. He studied at Bukhara and Samarkand (both now in Uzbekistan) and also spent time in Baghdad. At some point in his travels, one of his feet had to be amputated (probably because of frostbite), and thereafter—so the story goes—al-Zamakhshari felt obliged to carry with him affidavits from noted citizens attesting that his foot had not been amputated as punishment for some crime.

Theologically, he was affiliated with the rationalist Muʿtazilah school. As a philologist, he considered Arabic the queen of languages, in spite of the fact that his own native tongue was Persian (and though he wrote several minor works in that latter language). His great commentary, Al-Kashshaf ʿan Ḥaqaʾiq at-Tanzil, was written in Arabic and became the work for which he is best known. A comprehensive study of the Muslim scripture that focused on its grammatical nuance, it was completed in 1134. It was widely read, in spite of its Muʿtazilite bias, especially in the East. In the western portions of the Islamic world, his dogmatic point of view was offensive to the Malikiyah school, though the great 14th-century Arab historian Ibn Khaldun regarded the work highly.

Of al-Zamakhshari’s grammatical works, Al-Mufaṣṣal fi ʿilm al-ʿArabiyah (“Detailed Treatise on Arabic Linguistics,” written 1119–21; and sometimes titled Kitab al Mufaṣṣal fi al-Naḥw ["Detailed Treatise on Grammar"]) is celebrated for its concise but exhaustive exposition. He was also the author of a collection of old proverbs. Though well regarded, this work has been considered second to the anthology Al-Amthal ("The Proverbs") written by his close contemporary Abu Faḍl al-Maydani with whom al-Zamakhshari had a notorious and somewhat undignified feud. Al-Zamakhshari’s other works include three collections of apothegms -- maxims or sayings -- as well as treatises on moral discourses and a number of poems.

The works of al-Zamakhshari include:

    * Al-Kashshaaf ("the Revealer") — A tafsir of the Qur'an
    * Rabi al-Abrar
    * Asasul-Balaghat dar-Lughat
    * Fasul-ul-Akhbar
    * Fraiz Dar-ilm Fariz
    * Kitab-Fastdar-Nahr
    * Muajjam-ul-Hadud
    * Manha Darusul
    * Diwan-ul-Tamsil
    * Sawaer-ul-Islam
    * Muqaddimat al-Adab 
    * Kitab al-Amkinah wa al-Jibal wa al-Miyah 
    * Mufassal Anmuzaj 

Abu’l-Qasim Mahmud al-Zamakhshari see Zamakhshari


Zamindar
Zamindar (Zemindar) (Jomidar). Term which refers to a landowner.  Under the Mughals of India, the zamindar was a person who has a right to collect revenues from the land.  

In India, a zamindar was a holder or occupier (dar) of land (zamin). The root words are Persian, and the resulting name was widely used wherever Persian influence was spread by the Mughals or other Indian Muslim dynasties. The meanings attached to it were various. In Bengal, the word denoted a hereditary tax collector who could retain 10 percent of the revenue he collected. In the late 18th century, the British government made these zamindars landowners, thus creating a landed aristocracy in Bengal and Bihar that lasted until Indian independence (1947). In parts of north India (e.g., Uttar Pradesh), a zamindar denoted a large landowner with full proprietary rights. More generally in north India, zamindar denoted the cultivator of the soil or joint proprietors holding village lands in common as joint heirs. In Maratha territories the name was generally applied to all local hereditary revenue officers.

A zamindar or zemindar, was an official employed by the Mughals to collect taxes from Ryots (peasants). The zamindari system used the existing structure of the bhuiyan land tenure system of the pre-Mughal era by the Mughals as a key economic and political institution to implement the sharia-based Islamic rule over the "zimmis". The practice was continued under British rule with colonial landholders. After independence, however, the system was abolished in India and East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh). It is still current in modern Pakistan.

Other terms were and are used in various provinces. For example, a zamindar is known as a wadera in Sindh. In Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya pradesh, Himachal pradesh, Haryana, Uttrakhand, Chhatisgarh, and Bihar it is thakur. In the Punjab and Haryana, many different terms occur, such as chaudhary, lambardar, and sardar. Malik is an Arabic term used in the Punjab which literally means "king". The word zamindar itself comes ultimately from Persian zamin, "earth", and the common suffix -dar, "-holder".

Zemindar see Zamindar
Jomidar see Zamindar