GLOSSARY OF NAMES AND TERMS

Abbasid. This strong Muslim dynasty, named after the Prophet Muhammad’s paternal uncle al-Abbas, took over from the Umayyads (see below) and ruled the Muslim world from 750 to 1258 C.E. Members of the family settled in Kufa first, before the second caliph Abu Ja’far al-Mansur (ruled 754-775) established Baghdad as the new center for Islam (762). During the reign of the Abbasids, especially the first phase (750-945), the Muslim empire was at its zenith. Baghdad is the setting for many of the realistic tales in the Arabian Nights.

 

Ayyubid. The Ayyubid dynasty, founded by Salah al-Din (Saladin; c.1138-1193), which at the end of the twelfth century and in the first half of the thirteenth century ruled Egypt, Muslim Syria-Palestine, the major part of Upper Mesopotamia, and the Yemen. The eponym of the family, Ayyub, was born in Armenia, to a Kur dish tribe. His son, Saladin, was the vizier for the Arab Fatimids in Egypt. In 1171 he abolished the Fatimid caliphate, and the Ayyubid dynasty ruled until 1250.

 

Baghdad. Also called the Abode of Peace, this city is situated on the banks of the Tigris River. Founded in 762 by the second Abbasid caliph, Abu Ja’far al-Mansur (ruled 754-775), for centuries it was the center of the Abbasid caliphate and the cultural capital of the Muslim world. After 1258 it became a provincial center, and it remained so under the Ottomans until the British occupation of 1917. In 1921 it became the capital of modern Iraq. Baghdad was designed as a circular city divided into four quarters, with walls separating the sections. The caliph’s palace, the mosque, the headquarters of the administration, and the police were in an inner part enclosed by a third wall. The market was outside the city as such; the tales contain many references to the secrecy and considerable planning needed to smuggle a merchant inside the walls.

 

Bairam. The word, which in the tales means “feast,” can refer to one of the main festivities in the Islamic calendar, such as the Lesser Feast (the breaking of the fast), which occurs on the first day of the tenth month in the Muslim calendar. For the Lesser Feast, people wear new clothes and take part in processions, visits, and meals with sumptuous dishes. Celebrations begin at the mosque, where alms are given and prayers take place, and then people exchange visits. Officials and dignitaries visit the caliph, the governor, or the emir. The Great Festival, which usually takes place at the time of pilgrimage to Mecca, is the sacrificial feast. Animals are sacrificed in nearby Mina and in many other locations, public and private, and the meat is distributed among relatives, friends, and the needy.

 

Barmecide. This family, of Persian extraction, was one of the wealthiest and most professional and educated families during the Abbasid caliphate. Its administrative knowledge and expertise was enormous. The grandfather, Khalid, a very prominent man, was in charge of the departments of the army and the land tax, and had other important official functions. His son Yahya was the caliph Haroun Alraschid’s tutor and became his vizier and adviser. Yahya was the most effective in running the empire. With his two sons, Ja’far and al-Fadl, he ruled unchallenged until the downfall of the family, in January 803. Al-Fadl and his father died in exile in Syria, while Ja’far was executed by the Caliph. Ja’far was a close friend and companion to the Caliph, whose motivations for turning on Ja’far remain unknown. Many explanations have been offered, including jealousy and suspicion, or an attempt by Haroun to demonstrate and increase his power. Certainly Ja’far was celebrated in literature, as he is in the Arabian Nights, for his sagacity, patience, prudence, and magnanimity. With the downfall of the Barmecides, it was no longer possible to think of the position of vizier as secure. The Barmicides (the Arabic word is Barmaki) of the Arabian Nights were described as generous, benevolent, and efficient. Indeed, the word “Barmecide” is indicative of abundance and generosity, though it is commonly used to mock those who pretend to be generous.

 

Cairo. Although there was an early Islamic garrison town named al-Fustat near the present site of Cairo, the city itself was established as al-Misr al-Qahirah (Egypt the Victorious; in Arabic al-Qahirah means “victorious”) by the Fatimid caliph al-Mu’izz li-Din Allah (ruled 953-975) in 970. Its university mosque, al-Azhar, was built between 970 and 972. The city was under the control of the Fatimids until 1169, when Salah al-Din (Saladin) conquered it; he reigned until his Ayyubid dynasty (see above) was succeeded by the Mamluks (see below), who ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1517.

 

Calender (Qalander). The word refers to an order within the Islamic mystical movement called Sufism, but was also used for the wandering and the homeless. The calenders, who flourished in the eleventh century, wore the garb of the Sufis, a patched robe of wool, as a sign of resignation and asceticism. In the tales, they also shave off their hair, eyebrows, beards, and all facial hair. The word’s origin could be Persian, in which it can mean an ugly, ungainly, or uncouth person; in Turkish, it means “a whittled piece of wood put behind a door to stop it opening,” indicating a dervish who has withdrawn from the world.

 

Fatimid. This dynasty, which reigned in North Africa, and later in Egypt, from 909 until 1171, takes its name from Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter. It had periods of greatness in administrative and financial statecraft, along with economic growth and abundance in wealth; under the Fatimids Cairo became a flourishing intellectual center. The dynasty had an effective court and chancery and ceremonial applications of great merit. There were also periods of misery and famine, due to military factions and the rivalries of viziers who appealed for the intervention of foreign powers.

 

Genie (Jinn). Demons are among the spirits that populate the universe, as mentioned in the Qur’an. In the tales, these powerful creatures can be subdued through human intelligence, by other supernatural beings, or by caliphs, in their role as vicars of God. In the Qur’an genies belong to another world, but they are part of this universe, too. Only Solomon has been endowed with control over the world of the genies; those who disobey Solomon are punished, usually by imprisonment in a sealed jar. Among genies there are believers and unbelievers; the Koran (Qur’an) divides them as such, exactly as it does human beings.

 

Haroun Alraschid [Harun al-Rashid]. The legendary Commander of the Faithful in the Arabian Nights was born around 760 and died in 809. In Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Recollections of the Arabian Nights” he is the caliph of a period known as the “golden prime.” Proclaimed the fifth Abbasid caliph on September 14, 786, he ruled during a period known for its enormous cultural growth, extensive foreign relations, and relatively flourishing economy. His reign made use of taxes paid by the provinces to enrich Baghdad markets with every kind of commodity—including grain, barley, fruits, and every other product—but also was a time of considerable political turmoil. Haroun Alraschid was behind the death of the seventh Shiite imam Musa al-Kazim (799). Perhaps, with the advice of his friend supreme judge Abu Yusuf, he was more strict than he should have been with dhimmis—Jews, Christians, and Sabaeans. He ordered the dhimmis (specifically those living in Baghdad) to wear different clothes and ride different animals from those of Muslims; in 806 churches along the borders of Muslim and Byzantine areas were demolished under his orders. In the last years of his life he divided the empire among his three sons, and the empire’s disintegration followed due to this division and rivalry, in what many consider to be his lasting legacy.

 

Ishaq (born Ibrahim al-Mawsili, also known as Musili). Ishaq, who was born in Rayy in 767 and died in Baghdad in 850, was a man of letters and a renowned musician who influenced music in the Abbasid court and Muslim Spain. As a child, he received a wide and thorough education in every field of knowledge. His major musical influence was his father, along with the best musicians and composers of his age; he was highly appreciated as a singer. Caliphs from Haroun Alraschid (see above) to Ma’mun (died 833) and al-Mutawakkil (died 861) thought highly of him. Al-Ma’mun allowed him the costume of a jurist and granted him a place among the ’ulama, or learned men. As controversies between modernists and traditionalists raged, he defended the old style in music, as well as in ancient poetry, with its particular music, language, and style. He was credited with a fine systematization of musical melodies, and his compositions in music were considered among the best and most influential.

 

Mamluk. This is the name applied to the rule established and maintained by emancipated slaves (mamluks) who had acquired enough military and administrative power to rule in Egypt from 1250 to 1517 and to control Syria from 1260 to 1516.

Muslim calendar. The Muslim era began with the migration (hijra) in 622 of the Prophet Muhammad and his chosen followers from Mecca to Medina, prompted by mounting opposition from Meccan notables, especially the Sufyanids. By 630 the Prophet had mastered enough power to subdue Mecca and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula, and soon after Islam began to grow as the faith of many peoples and lands. In the Muslim calendar years are counted from 622 and given as A.H. (Latin for “in the year of the Hijra”).

Mustansir Billah. He was the caliph of Baghdad from 1226 to 1242, in the period before the fall of the city to the Mongols in 1258.

 

The Rightly Guided Caliphs. The Prophet’s companions (also commonly called the Orthodox caliphs) succeeded him in ruling the Muslim world. They were Abu Bakr (ruled 632-634), Omar (634-644), Uthman (644-656), and Ali (656-661).

 

Sabaism. The ancient religion of the Sabaeans (a Semitic people who lived in south-western Arabia) flourished under the Abbasids. Sabaeans are among the “People of the Book,” according to the Qur’an 2:62. They were entitled to the same protection and were on the same footing as Christians and Jews. Many Sabaeans enjoyed high posts and offered great service to the Abbasids.

 

Sassanid. This royal Persian dynasty (224-651), founded by Ardashir I, initially was based on a cult of divine kingship that the Sassanids inherited from their predecessors, the Arsacids. The Sassanid system was centralized, with a royal court attended by sub-kings and the heads of Parthian noble families. There were royal cities in territories and centers that were part of the kingdom. The sons had the names of deities. Particularly, Shapur, in the third century, was more attuned to the Magian cults of fire instead of images, and he showed tolerance to Christians and Jews in return for their tax payments and respect for Persian law. The Ma gians also cared to esoteric and other kinds of knowledge. Shapur acknowledged their sciences, as well as the sciences of other groups like Christians and Jews and was keen on bringing all into the Mazdayasnian religion, which he believed to be a universalizing syncretism.

 

Umayyad. This dynasty ruled the Muslim world soon after the assassination of Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law in 661. Mu’awiya (ruled 661-680) established the Umayyad caliphate in Damascus. He originally served there as governor, appointed by his relative, the third caliph, Uthman. Changing the caliphate into a dynasty and virtually eliminating competitors from the Prophet’s family, he retained the power of his family, the most powerful family of unbelievers in Quraysh, the Prophet’s tribe in Mecca, before Islam. The Umayyad dynasty was defeated by the Abbasids in 750, and only a small number were able to flee, including Abd al-Rahman al-Dakhil; also known as the Eagle of Quraysh, he enjoyed the support of tribes in North Africa as he continued efforts to conquer Iberia, already begun by the Umayyads in the early 700s.