Concise Encyclopaedia of Arabic Civilization: The Arab West

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CONCISE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ARABIC CIVILIZATION

STEPHAN AND NANDY RONART

CONCISE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ARABIC CIVI LIZATIO N THE ARAB EAST

FREDERICK A. PRAEGER, Publishers New York

Also by Dr. S. Ronart:

albanien von heute, Vienna 1932 bulgarien von heute, Vienna 1933 griechenland von heute, Vienna 1935 turkei VON HEUTE, Vienna 1936 The last mentioned work has been translated into English: turkey to-day, London 1937 French: la turquie d’aujourd’hui, Paris 1937

BOOKS THAT MATTER Published in the United States of America in 1960 by Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., Publishers 64 University Place, New York 3, N.Y. All rights reserved

{©

Djambatan N.V. 1959

Library of Congress catalog card number 60-10553 Printed in the Netherlands

PREFACE BY THE AUTHORS In laying this book before the public we feel that a few words ought to be said about some of its features. To begin with the title. Instead of ‘Encyclopaedia’ we would rather have chosen a term which might less easily seem to make too high a claim for what it covers, yet at the same time convey the idea of a text arranged under about a thousand headings in alphabetical order. We did not find any. We hope that the attribute ‘concise’ will be accepted as an adequate corrective, the more so as conciseness was one of our principal aims. Then the restriction - The Arab East. The Arab lands spread from the Atlantic Ocean to the Taurus Mountain, the Iranian Highland and

the

Persian Gulf.

Within this region, it is

true, there exist considerable differences in the social and economic organization as well as in the degree of technical advancement. It is crossed by boundaries of different states with different types of government and different, often contradictory political interests. Arabic civilization, however, is a unity. The people speak the same language, are moved by the same mental and emotional forces, feel bound together by the same traditions and customs. Nevertheless, a dividing line had to be drawn somehow, if this book was not to grow unwieldy. If all goes according to plan, a second part treating the Arab West Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Lybia and the Sudan - will follow in the not too distant future. The geographical scope of the present part comprises the homeland of the Arabs and the countries which were the first to become their realm: the Arabian Peninsula (present-day Saudi Arabia,

Yemen,

Aden Colony and

Protectorate,

Bahrain,

Kuwait, Muscat and ‘Uman, Qatar and Trucial ‘Urnan); Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Altogether about 2.200.000 square miles with a population of some 40 million, the basic sector of the Middle East. It holds the world’s richest petroleum sources; controls some of its vital sea and air traffic routes; and is one of the most sensitive fields in the struggle for supremacy between the two great ideological power-blocs. Further - the arrangement. This is supposed to answer a twofold purpose. The separation into selfcontained articles is intended to facilitate

rapid

and

condensed

information on

individual

elements in the general pattern of civilization. The asterisks after certain words are meant as sign-posts which lead to connected reading. We attempted to present, if we may use

v

this comparison, an image not in the manner of a broadcontoured fresco but of a mosaic whose many small and multi¬ coloured stones, each reflecting a detail, may be examined disjointedly as well as assembled into a coherent picture. Finally - the spelling of Arabic words. The Arabic language has some particular sounds not easily differentiated by the untrained ear, to which correspond certain letters and diacritical marks without equivalent in the European alphabets. Their precise rendering, essential in scientific works, requires a system of dashes placed over the vowel signs and of dots under some of the consonant signs. Several such systems are in existence but none has found general acceptance. Titles of books and names of sects and political parties were capitalized;

they were

translated when accepted translations were found, otherwise they were mentioned in Arabic only. For familiar place names we used the current English spelling; for others, less widely known, the transliterated form. By this method we tried to facilitate continuous reading. We hope that the mistakes and involuntary inconsistencies which doubtlessly have occurred, will not impair the sense. This book is not a scholarly work by an orientalist nor is it meant for the Arabic scholar. What we aimed at was to serve all those who wish to understand the convictions, attitudes and reactions of the Arab people either by reason of pure intellectual attraction or as an ancillary guidance in the fields of other studies or because of professional or commercial contacts with the Arab countries. We have tried to give an unbiased outline of the social, econonomic, political and religious structure of their world; of the manifestations of their intellectual and artistic life; of their attainments, their errors and their efforts towards the development of their human and natural resources. We kept away both from easy romanticism and the enumeration of statistical data. We were careful to maintain an appropriate proportion as to the space and weight attributed to the various subjects. Some of them may perhaps at first glance appear as of being of too slight a significance to justify their inclusion in a necessarily condensed selection. Yet it is our opinion that a certain amount also of the minor lights cannot be dispensed with lest the truthfulness of the picture be impaired. On the other hand, there are doubtless queries which remained un¬ answered because of the limitations imposed by the size of a volume convenient to handle. These are gaps that we must leave to the second part to fill. Questions of rather theoretical bearing, VI

which we believe to fall into the domain of the specialist, have been only slightly mentioned or omitted, while others have been touched upon several times but from different angles. Certain striking figures or incidents of dramatic significance received greater attention. Here in particular we must ask the reader to remember that pride in the history of the nation and its famous men is very much alive in the Arab’s feeling and thinking, and links the old and the new far closer together than does the western mind. Allusion to the names of great scholars, poets, princes or soldiers of the past and to their achievements hardly ever fail to come up in books, in the press and in con¬ versation. Some acquaintance with this past is indispensable for the comprehension of the present. In personal contacts it greatly helps, this at least was our experience, in bringing about an atmosphere of sympathy and mutual understanding. There¬ fore we have stretched our framework somewhat wider when dealing with events or persons of remoter times even where they begin to fade into legend or dissolve into anecdotal details. Biographies of living persons were omitted. The preparation for this book goes back a long time. We have lived for quite a number of years in some of the Arab countries, and have travelled about a great deal in others. We studied the pertinent standard works, read many books and articles in newspapers and periodicals, and consulted the publications of study missions and reports of scientific surveys. In the pursuit of our professional tasks we could gain insight into the every¬ day life of the family, Moslem and Christian; the work of the schools; and the functioning of public institutions. We had the good fortune to benefit from the advice and suggestions of Arab scholars in comparing and checking our observations and experiences, and in correcting wrong interpretations. We are fully aware of the debt of gratitude we owe to the friendly interest of innumerable people in every walk of life teachers, students and officials as well as the neighbourhood grocer and the village sheikh, large landowners and business¬ men. They have all helped us in one way or the other, con¬ sciously or inconsonsciously, to gather together and build up our material. Far more of it is their contribution than our own, except the shortcomings which are ours alone. One more word of thanks - it goes to our publishers who never lost their patience when we did not stop changing, or adding to the manuscript while we were already reading the proofs.

VII

*

V

CORRIGENDUM

t: from top of page b: from bottom of page PAGE

LINE

REPLACE

BY

Muttalib

3

3/t

Mutallib

7

6/t 10/t

al-Subhah

ibn-al-Subah

Azma

Asma’

15 25

13/t; 6&11/b

Musta’il

MustadI

25

9/t

Tamin

Tamim

26

5/t

Shadid

Jadid

27

Title

A’hlan

Ahlan

55

Ajnah

Lajnah

„

cA’ishah bint Talhah

cA’ishah Kahhalin

34

7/t 25/t

Kahalin Mashshad

Mashhad

34

25/t

Adud

cAdud

36

6/b

Yusuf al-Hajjaj*

al-Hajjaj ibn-Yusuf ibn-

29 29 33

& 11/b

Matar 37

11/t

1358

1258

38

Title & 8/b

Mucaminin

Mu’minin

43

22/t

wasa’il

masa’il

47

25/t

ba'idah

ba’idah

51

8/t

ten

twenty

61

22/t

Maqalat

Makalat

62

Title & 1 /b

Asma’I; Asma’Iyat

Asma'i; Asmahyat

67

25/t

Ust

Usd

69

4/b

Mu’assam

Mu'azzam

69

9/b

1191

1199

76

12/t

1258

1276

76

20/t

Rifa’i

Rifaci

early 1957

late 1956

929

918

81

6/b

86

15/b

88

3/t

after their defeat

after his defeat

96

17/t

1177

1234

97

23/t

1071

1171

100 101

26/t

Shiehab

Shihab

14/t

Ma’arri

Ma'arri

106

12/t

Qatre

Q.atr

VIII

PAGE

LINE

REPLACE

BY

108

18/b

Khutba

Khutbah

111

13 & 17/t

Husn

Hisn

113

l&2/b

Masahiun (from

Masihiyun (comp. Messia

Massiah) 143

14& 15/t

Ma'adites; Ma'ad

Macaddites; Macadd

144

9/t

Ziman

Zimam

147

17/t

Hamza

Hamzah

147

22/t

Makam

Maqam

147

16/b

Qa'im

Qa’im

151

17/b

kuttub

kuttab

155

10/b

Aqlim

Iqlim

163

24/b

June 18

July 26

167

Tamm

Tamim

168

1/t 21/t

Suluq

Suluk

170

9/b

975-996

996-1021

171

20/b

Musta'il

Musta'li

173

13/t

ijma’

ijmac

176

14/b

akhtaf

aktaf

183

14/t

Theodosius

Tiberius

191

5/t

da’if

da'if

191

6/t

munqati’

munqati'

191

17/t

IXth cent.

Xth cent. hisn

191

8b

husn

191

21/b

Rab’

Rabc

196

17/t

cAi’shah

'A’ishah

198

15/b

Resurrections

Insurrections

199

12/t

929

922

200

829

929

201

7/b Title

Mutallib

Muttalib

201

15/b

of some ancient poet’s of his own as some z cient poet’s work work as his own

204

7/b

madhab

madhhab

216

1/b

Ukdud

Ukhdud

226

Title

Husn

Hisn

239

5/b

253 257

Mu’allaqat

Mu'allaqat

19/t

Qazim

Kazim

16/b

Zi'baq

Zi’baq

262/3 titles

Jami'ah

Jam'ryah

264

17/b

jawar

jiran

265

25/t

265

18/t

(t 922) Naqaid

Naqa’id

266

18/t

1912

1932

Muftah... Zakkaki

Miftah... SakkakI

Hasan

Hassan

276

2/b

278

14/t

(Xth cent.)

IX

LINE

REPLACE

BY

287

15/t

Janabataan

Janabatayn

291

18/t

Najd

Najda

22/t

Qainuqa’

Quinuqa' 1944

PAGE

293 297

4/b

1936

298

18/b

144

114

316

21/b

al-Lubnan

Lubnan

321

22/t

1925

1926

325

18/t

Ma'mun

Ma’mun

328

21/t

madhab

madhhab

332

9/b

Vllth cent.

VUIth cent.

350

3/t

709-705 B.C.

721-705 B.C. that begin to appear

375

9/t 19/t

that appear 869

879

375

21/t

870

970

387

in the genealogical table the relationship should be marked:

355

Isma'il

Abbas I

Viceroy, later Khedive

Viceroy (1849-54)

(1863-79)

Tawfiq Khedive (1879-92)

Husayn Kamil Sultan (1914-17)

Ahmad Fu’ad Sultan, later King (1917-36)

389

10/b

mujathidun

mujtahidun

391

17/b

al-Qalawun

delete

403

12/b

al-Liwa

al-Liwa’

407

13/t

Biqa’

Biqa'

415

12/b

Ma'mun

Ma’mun

419

2/t 6/b

saj’

saj'

424

al-Zabda’

al-Zabba’

433

9&17/b

Mu'miniyah

Mumimyah

434

1/b

kafiyah

qafiyah

444

10/b

Mustansir

Mustanir

448

12/t

ghasw

ghazw

448

12/b

(1165-1202)

(1165-1240)

487

21&25/b

Qasim

Kazim

488

Table No 7

Qazim

Kazim

al-Karafah

al-Qarafah

495

6/b

502

24/t

(VUIth cent.)

(VUIth/IXth cent.)

503

24/b

al-Surlya

Suriya

509

17/b

(1299/1300)

(1280)

513

17/b

tabi'u

taba'u

514

15/b

514

17/b

X

55

sababah

55

sabahah

REPLACE

BY

1/t

son of

delete “of”

540

3/t

887

878

PAGE

537

LIKE

544

23/b

Mu'aminln

Mu’minin

549

Title

Affan

cAffan

556

2/b

1936

1944

557

5/b

Taymihah

Taymlyah

580

13/b

160 A.D.

260 A.D.

581

17/b

al-Zabda’

al-Zabba’

583

13/t

t 627

f 656

Misplaced lengthening strokes over the vowels ‘a’, ‘i’ indicated only when occurring in the title of an entry.

z U)

UJ

H

vo