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Rumi, Jalal ad-Din, 1207-73, great Islamic Persian sage and poet mystic, b. in Balkh. His father, a scholar, was invited by the Seljuk sultan of Rum to settle in Iconium (now Konya), Turkey. His apprenticeship as a Sufi mystic was guided by the mysterious Shams ad-Din Tabrizi (d. 1247), who was considered one of the spiritual masters of Rumi's age. His major work is the Mathnawi, a vast 6 vol. work of spiritual teaching and Sufi lore in the form of stories and lyric poetry of extraordinary quality. The Mathnawi is one of the enduring treasures of the Persian-speaking world, known and memorized by most. It is popularly called "the Qur'an in Persian." The singing of the Mathnawi has become an art form in itself. Rumi also founded the Mawlawiyya (Mevlevi) Sufi order, who use dancing and music as part of their spiritual method, and who are known in the West as Whirling Dervishes. Rumi's influence spread to Persian-speakers in Afghanistan and central Asia, and beyond, to Turkey and India. His tomb in Konya is a place of pilgrimage, and the Mawlawiyya order is still centered in Konya.
See selections of his mystical poems, tr. by A. J. Arberry (1968) and by James G. Cowan (1992); critical works by R. A. Nicholson (1950), A. R. Arasteh (1965), and A. Schimmel (1978).
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Reinhardt, Ad (Adolph Reinhardt), 1913-67, American painter, b. New York City. Both a painter and an art theorist, Reinhardt is best known for his black paintings, begun in 1960. Associated with minimalism (see modern art), the paintings appear all black and exhibit only slight variations in hue and the presence of form on close scrutiny. In rejecting the conventional attributes of painting, he attempted to abstract the pure and contemplative qualities he admired in Eastern art.
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Nur ad-Din, 1118-74, ruler of Syria. He was the son of the conqueror Zangi, and he succeeded to power in 1145. He defeated the Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor and fought with Baldwin III of Jerusalem. His lieutenant Shirkuh barely forestalled the forces of Baldwin's successor, Amalric I, in occupying Egypt. Nur ad-Din built hospitals, mosques, and schools and was notable for his rule of temperance and justice. Aroused by the independent actions of Saladin, Shirkuh's successor, Nur ad-Din was preparing to invade Egypt at the time of his death.
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Nasir ad-Din, 1831?-1896, shah of Persia (1848-96). He and his able vizier, Mirza Taqi Khan, were responsible for shaking Persia from a long period of inertia. He traveled extensively in Europe and brought back many Western ideas, some of which he applied to the reorganization of the government. Nasir ad-Din Shah had ambitions to reclaim the old Persian territories to the east and made an effort to wrest Herat from Afghanistan, but British intervention put an end to his hopes and forced Persia to recognize the claim of Afghanistan. Nasir ad-Din Shah granted numerous concessions to the British, including the Reuter concession in 1872 and the Imperial Bank of Persia in 1889. Babism arose during his reign. He wrote travel diaries, and his simple and pithy style influenced later Persian literature. In later years, he resisted demands for reforms. He was assassinated by one of his subjects and was succeeded by Muzaffar ad-Din.
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Muzaffar ad-Din, 1853-1907, shah of Persia (1896-1907), son of Nasir ad-Din. A weak ruler, he borrowed money from Russia and failed to oppose the encroachments of Russia and Great Britain on Persian sovereignty. Much disaffection arose among the people. After the revolutionary outburst of 1906, he was forced to agree to the convocation of a national assembly. He died soon after signing the long-awaited liberal constitution. He was succeeded by Muhammad Ali.
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Khayr ad-Din: see Barbarossa.
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Khair ad-Din: see Barbarossa.
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Jabal ad Duruz, mountain, c.5,900 ft (1,800 m), S Syria, highest point of the Druze Mts.
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Ibn al-Arabi or Ibn Arabi, Muhyi ad-Din Muhammad bin Ali al-Hatimi at-Tai, 1165-1240, a Muslim Sufi mystic b. in Murcia, Spain. As a child in Seville, Ibn al-Arabi had a formative religious experience in the aftermath of a vision. His pilgrimage to Mecca evolved into a two-year extended stay. His numerous travels, punctuated by his prolific writings, ended in Damascus, where he settled in 1230 and lived until his death. Considered one of the greatest of Islamic metaphysical thinkers, his works include al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya [Arab.,=the Meccan Revelations] in 37 volumes, begun in Mecca and containing a full exposition of his Sufi doctrine; Fusus al-Hikam, [Arab.,=Bezels of Wisdom], a summary of the teachings of 28 prophets, from Adam to Muhammad, dictated to Ibn al-Arabi by the Prophet of Islam in a dream; and Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, a love poem on which he later wrote an extensive commentary to explain its inner or hidden meaning. Ibn al-Arabi viewed the knowledge acquired through reason or through mystic states as inferior to that coming from God and acquired through a profound mystic training. God, in Ibn al-Arabi's thought, is represented as a quasi-unknowable existence free of all attributes. Ibn Arabi viewed human spiritual progress as a series of three journeys, away from, toward, and within the Divine. Not everyone could undertake these journeys, and then, only after completing a set of conditions, including silence, isolation, hunger, and sleep deprivation. Ibn al-Arabi's ideas have always been controversial among conservative Muslims. Many have considered him to be a heretic and, as recently as 1979, his al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya was banned in Egypt.
See H. Corbin, Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi (tr. 1969); W. Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge (1989).
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Ibn Taymiyya, Taqiyy ad-Din Ahmad, 1263-1328, Muslim theologian and jurist. He lived in Damascus after the collapse of the central caliphate to the Mongol invasion from the East, and during the continuous threat of Christendom from the North and West. Influenced by Ibn Hanbal, he was unyielding in his political and religious positions, and was frequently persecuted and imprisoned. A prolific writer, Ibn Taymiyya advocated a doctrine of conservative reformism, stressing the need for communal solidarity. He remains one of the lasting influences on contemporary political Islam, notably on Wahhabiya (see Wahhabi) and Salafiyyah.
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Farid ad-Din Attar, 1142?-1220?, b. Nishapur, Persia, one of the greatest Sufi mystic poets of Islam. His masterpiece is the Mantiq ut-Tair (The Conference of the Birds), a long allegory of the soul's search for divine truth. His many other works include Tadkhirat al-Awliya, (Biographies of the Saints) which contains biographies of many Sufi mystics. His name also appears as Ferid Eddin Attar and Farid ud-Din Attar.
See his Conference of the Birds (tr. 1971), and Muslim Saints and Mystics (tr. 1979).
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Chishti, Muin ad-Din Hasan, 1142-1236, Indian Muslim saint, b. Sistan, Persia. He founded a Sufi mystic order responsible for spreading Islamic teachings in India. After traveling extensively in the Middle East and central Asia he went to Lahore and later settled in Ajmer, India. His splendid mausoleum there is an important center of pilgrimage. The Chishti sect today has a number of sub-orders sharing the core of initiation rites (music, isolation, meditations on the Divine name) and differing in their devotional prayers.
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Attar, Farid ad-Din: see Farid ad-Din Attar.
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Ad Diwaniyah, city, S central Iraq, on a branch of the Euphrates River and on the Baghdad-Basra railroad. It is a marketplace for dates and grains.
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(born Dec. 24, 1913, Buffalo, N.Y., U.S.—died Aug. 30, 1967, New York, N.Y.) U.S. painter. He studied art after graduating from Columbia University. He employed several abstract styles in the 1930s and '40s, but by the early 1950s he had restricted his works to monochrome paintings incorporating symmetrically placed squares and oblong shapes against backgrounds of similar colour, in which drawing, line, brushwork, texture, light, and most other visual elements were suppressed. He explained his style as a conscious search for an art that would be entirely separate from life. He influenced the Minimalist movement of the 1960s, more as a polemicist than as a painter.
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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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